created the supercommittee requires that $1.2 trillion in cuts starts in 2013. if the supercommittee doesn't figure it out, if congress doesn't pass something to cut that much, then automatic cuts kick in. automatic cuts in defense and domestic spending are triggered by congress failing. the committee's statement announcing they failed to reach a deal today, democratic senator patty murray of washington and republican congressman jeff hencerling of texas said they hope they find some way to move forward. republican senators john mccain and lindsey graham are trying to figure out a way to get everybody out of this mess, trying to figure out a way to undo the trigger, undo the bill that was already passed and signed into law. they say they're writing legislation to prevent those automatic cuts from ever going into effect. same goes for congressman buck mckean, chairman of the armed services committee e in the