To reach agreement, negotiators sometimes postpone the resolution of certain issues until a later date. We look at how this practice plays out in the real world. Remember the federal debt ceiling talks? In mid-2011, congressional Republicans insisted on significant spending reductions from their Democratic counterparts in exchange for voting to raise the nation’s debt limit by an August 2 deadline. Following a flurry of rejected proposals, the White House and congressional leaders finally reached a bipartisan agreement, which had an interesting two-stage structure. In addition to immediately making 10-year spending cuts, the parties established a bipartisan “supercommittee” charged with recommending at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction.