En route to Hawaii for a nine-day tour of Australia and Indonesia, President Obama called the Democratic and Republican chairmen of the deficit supercommittee and urged them to reach a deal. If the supercommittee doesn't report its plan for cutting the deficit by Nov. 23, four days after Obama gets back, automatic and painful cuts will begin—and Obama said in the call that he wouldn't allow Congress to work around the penalty cuts. Politico sees the move as an attempt to get distance from Congress and send the message that it's their problem to solve.
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