>>>
let's turn now to politics and the
blame game
tied to the failure of the congressional super committee to work out a deficit reduction deal. kelly o'donnell is nbc's
capitol hill
correspondent. kelly, good morning to you.
>> reporter:
good morning, matt. what an embarrassing stumble for congress. the super committee with lawmakers with expertise punted on one of the nation's most series crises but their failure doesn't mean it's over. big cuts are coming anyway.
>>
-- meaning lless at this point.
>> reporter:
a rough, very partisan end for the super committee. no compromise on taxes and spending cuts, no deal to reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion over a decade.
>>
i'm sorry for our country, because this was a moment of important leadership. it was a real test.
>>
there were fundamentally different positions, people tried to find a way to bridge the differences and come up with common ground. we just weren't able to get there.
>> reporter:
this failure comes with a price, triggering sweeping spending cuts, both domestic programs and defense in
2013
.
president obama
had taken heat for not being more publicly involved, but when the super committee folded, the president spoke out late monday.
>>
one way or another, we will be trimming the deficit by a total of at least $2.2 trillion over the next ten years. that's going to happen, one way or another.
>> reporter:
one of those ways the trimming gets done hits the
defense department
hard, automatic cuts of close to $600 billion.
defense secretary
panetta says that would gut the military. republican candidates for
2012
blame the president.
>>
we're going to put the military on the cutting block. i can't imagine when that circumstance makes any sense at all and with that as a possible outcome, you have a president who didn't get involved in the process.
>> reporter:
republicans on the hill are already vowing to block those defense cuts, but the president had a warning.
>>
i will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts, domestic and
defense spending
. there will be no easy off ramps on this one.
>> reporter:
and there is turmoil over what happens next.
>>
the real news here are the economy, the uncertainty, the
stock markets
, anyone who is serious about deficits.
>> reporter:
and republicans here are taking that veto warning in stride, already preparing ways to try to undo those defense cuts, and now that the president has weighed in yet again he will inevitably be more involved. some democratic sources tell us they didn't want him to be too visible during the sumer committee time but now that ball is right back in his court because so much of this fight will play out on the campaign trail in
2012
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