The spirit of bipartisanship may be on life support with news that the supercommittee charged with reducing the federal deficit by more than $1 trillion has reached a proverbial dead-end after Democrats and Republicans failed to see the merits in each other’s plans.

The 12-member supercommittee, consisting of six Democrats and six Republicans, has until Nov. 23 to come up with a solution.  Republican members put forward a plan that would reportedly generate $300 billion in revenue while the plan put together by the Democrats relies on tax increases and entitlement cuts.

Both sides engaged in finger pointing.  A GOP aide told MSNBC “Democrats have effectively walked away from the negotiations. They remain intransigent.”  

Sen. John Kerry, a Democrat, disagrees with the assertion that his fellow Democrats have walked away from the table. “All we're doing is waiting for them to come back with a realistic, fair, balanced proposal with adequate revenue,” Kerry said.

The supercommittee has two more weeks to agree on a plan and submit it to Congress.  If the supercommittee cannot come to an agreement, automatic spending cuts will take effect in January 2013 though it is likely an extension would be granted.