Rick Santorum: Obama 'Poisoned the Well' in Congress

Speaking of the budget deadlock on Capitol Hill, Rick Perry said, "We never would have gotten to this situation if I were president."

"I would have worked day in and day out. We would have a 20 percent flat tax and a 20 percent corporate rate," he said at Tuesday night's GOP debate.

Rick Santorum said a hyper-partisan and campaigning president "has poisoned the well in Congress."

Putting the supercommittee's task in perspective, Michele Bachmann noted that the panel was asked to cut spending by $1.2 trillion over 10 years.

"A balanced budget must be the first step toward chipping away at the national debt, which has grown from $8 trillion to $15 trillion in four years," the Minnesota congresswoman said.