Hoyer Not Convinced Supercommittee Can Reach Deal

The November 23 deadline for the supercommittee to reach a deficit reduction plan is fast approaching and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has expressed apprehension over such a deal coming to fruition. 

“We need a big plan and I am hopeful that the committee will get there,” Hoyer told reporters at his weekly pen and pad session.

But when asked by a reporter why he was confident that the committee would reach a deal when reports have shown a lack of progress, Hoyer responded that he never said he was confident.

“Did i say I was confident? When people ask, ‘Are you optimistic?’ l say, ‘Look, I’m not optimistic,  I’m hopeful,’” Hoyer responded. “Time is short which doesn’t give you a lot of confidence but there is an honest working effort that makes one hopeful.”

Hoyer then clarified that he doesn’t have a lack of confidence that the Joint Committee will produce a bold and balanced agreement but an absence of confidence.

“An absence of confidence isn’t necessarily a lack of confidence,” Hoyer said.

The Joint Deficit Reduction Committee has been tasked with the daunting task to reach a bipartisan budget agreement that cuts $1.2 trillion over ten years by Thanksgiving. If they cannot, then there will be mass cuts among both military and domestic spending.