The congressional deficit-reduction committee on Monday said it had failed to reach an agreement on slashing the U.S. budget gap, a move that triggers mandatory cuts to military spending and some social programs starting in 2013. "After months of hard work and intense deliberations, we have come to the conclusion today that it will not be possible to make any bipartisan agreement available to the public before the committee's deadline," Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.) and Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R., Texas), the co-chairs of the the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, said in a statement/Siobhan Hughes and Kristina Peterson, Wall Street Journal. More here. (AP photo: co-chair Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., speaks outside her office on Capitol Hill as the work of the debt reduction panel ends in failure, in Washington, Monday)

Question: Anyone to blame for this failure?