Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio says he and his fellow Deficit Reduction Super committee members continue to work to beat a November 23rd deadline to come up with a plan to cut the federal budget deficit before drastic automatic budget cuts are triggered.

Portman says Republicans and Democrats are near a consensus on one controversial way of generating more revenue to shrink the deficit. Portman told reporters during a conference call Thursday "The plan to generate more revenue would include eliminating tax breaks for those in the top two brackets, so it would be a proposal that revenue would be coming from those who make over $200,000 to $250,000 a year as joint filers."

Portman says entitlement programs would also be overhauled. " It's matched by important reforms to entitlement programs in hopes of preserving them for the future," says Portman. He would not elaborate on exactly what changes Social Security and Medicare would face in the future as part of the deficit reduction plan.

Senator Portman says despite the super committee reaching a virtual impasse on some issues he remains optimistic it can come up with a workable plan to reduce the deficit before the deadline.

"If we do not succeed I believe the American people and our economy will be the casualties," says Portman.