Hope is slim the so-called “supercommittee” in the U.S. Congress will find a way to reduce the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion before the deadline this week

Evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, the 12 panel members must unveil a plan by Wednesday. But panelists said in interviews Sunday they cannot agree about whether and how to cut social programs and raise taxes.

The committee was formed in August when the Senate and the House of Representatives were unable to resolve the same dispute in order to raise the U.S. debt ceiling. The U.S. economy came within hours of being unable to pay its debts and the country's credit rating was downgraded for the first time in history.

This time, if no deal is reached, massive automatic cuts to defense and domestic programs will be triggered beginning in January 2013.

U.S. President Barak Obama is not involved in the committee's efforts, but he is calling on the panel to make tough choices and “do its job.”

A prominent U.S. economist, Mark Zandi of Moodys Analytics, suggests the financial markets will not react greatly if the committee fails because, he says, expectations have always been low. But he says a long-term failure by the United States to confront its debt problem will shatter investor confidence.