Experts warn US deficit panel about failure

* Bowles worried panel will fail

* Time for "real skin" and compromises, Murray says

By Donna Smith and Rachelle Younglai

WASHINGTON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - With less than a month to go before a congressional "super committee" must present a plan to slash huge U.S. deficits and no clear solution in sight, deficit experts warned on Tuesday of dire consequences if the panel fails.

"I'm worried you're going to fail, fail the country," Erskine Bowles, who was former President Bill Clinton's chief of staff and who helped lead a deficit-reductiton panel last year, bluntly told the committee that is charged with finding at least $1.2 trillion in savings over the next decade.

At a public hearing of the super committee, comprised of six Democrats and six Republicans, Democrats said they would make concessions as long as Republicans also budge from long-standing positions.

"It's not enough for either side to simply say they want to reduce the deficit," said Senator Patty Murray, the panel's Democratic co-chair. "Now is the time when everyone needs to be putting some real skin in the game and offering serious compromises."

Shortly before the hearing began, Democratic Senator Max Baucus said things were "starting to percolate." He would not elaborate but predicted the committee would reach a deal.

As the super committee was holding its hearing, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell was asked by reporters to assess the panel's chances for success. His answer reflected the uncertainty surrounding the panel's work.

"I have high expectations for the committee," McConnell said, but added, "I'm not going to speculate about what they may do. It was created to succeed, not to fail."

Baucus is one of a group of six -- three Republicans and three Democrats -- that has been loosely formed within the super committee to work on a deficit-reduction deal of between $1.2 trillion and $1.5 trillion.

Congressional aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters on Monday the breakout group was trying to make a deal because they thought differences between both sides over taxes and spending were too wide to agree on a multi-trillion dollar "grand bargain."

With little sign of progress in the super committee since last week when Democrats and Republicans swapped opening positions in line with long-held views, experts voiced worries over difficulties the panel faces.

Experts who have spearheaded past fiscal commissions said they feared party politics that were keeping lawmakers from tackling federal health and retirement programs spending and taxes would lead to a long-term decline of U.S. economic growth.

"The (super committee) has enormous power. What I don't know is whether it will use that power," said Pete Domenici, a former Republican Senate Budget Committee chairman who helped lead a debt reduction task force.

If the committee fails to reach a deal before a Nov. 23 deadline, $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts will be triggered across U.S. government agencies, beginning in 2013.