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The 鈥渇iscal cliff鈥� was supposed to offer Washington the chance to 鈥済o big,鈥� to take on the nation鈥檚 federal debt and deficit situation in a serious way.

Instead, Congress and President Obama look as if they鈥檙e going to go small 鈥� and that鈥檚 if they get anything done at all before 2013.

The current negotiations are a 鈥渉orrible waste鈥� of a great opportunity to fix America鈥檚 fiscal trajectory, says Rep. Steve LaTourette (R) of Ohio, who is retiring.

鈥淭he opportunity is there,鈥� he says.

But Washington hasn鈥檛 seized it.

First, there鈥檚 the immediate state of negotiations on the fiscal cliff that make any serious deal between Wednesday and the new year a heavy lift. With only five days left before more than $600 billion in higher taxes and lower government spending are scheduled to hit the economy, Washington鈥檚 power players aren鈥檛 even in the same place, much less in the negotiating game.

House Speaker John Boehner (R) of Ohio sent his troops home indefinitely after his fallback fiscal cliff legislation 鈥� a tactical maneuver stemming from his negotiations with the White House 鈥� couldn鈥檛 muster enough support from House conservatives last week.

Mr. Obama is returning to the White House late Wednesday evening from his vacation in Hawaii, and the Democrat-led Senate will be back to work on Thursday.

Before leaving town last week, the president asked congressional leaders to consider not the sweeping 鈥済rand bargain鈥� on the nation鈥檚 debt that he had sought, but a far less ambitious package. Principally, one that would extend the Bush-era tax cuts for middle-class Americans, allow longer unemployment insurance for the long-term jobless, and that would, nebulously, lay 鈥渢he groundwork for further work on both growth and deficit reduction.鈥�

鈥淭hat's an achievable goal,鈥� the president said just a few hours before jetting off to Hawaii. 鈥淭hat can get done in 10 days.鈥�

But even that modest target may be a long shot.

Stan Collender, a former House Budget Committee staffer, thinks there鈥檚 a 90 percent chance the political class turns up no accord with the current state of affairs.

鈥淓ven though it will be one of the worst possible outcomes economically, it's hard to argue with the procedural simplicity of doing nothing, because nothing would have to be debated, passed in the House and Senate, compromised, or signed by the president,鈥� Mr. Collender . 鈥淣o votes, caucus meetings, press conferences or negotiating sessions.鈥�

Yet even the biggest deal Washington attempted to accomplish was on the small side of the $4 trillion to $6 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade that independent economists and the president鈥檚 own debt and deficit commission have argued is necessary to fix the nation鈥檚 financial issues.

At most, Mr. Boehner and Obama have worked around a deal offering roughly $2.4 trillion in debt reduction, almost evenly split between higher tax revenue and cuts to government spending and entitlement programs. (By counting the $1 trillion in budget cuts agreed to last summer as part of the debt-ceiling deal and a handful of Washington budget gimmicks, the total deficit reduction could rise to around $4 trillion.)

At a press conference last week, Boehner noted that a deal of that size was along the lines of the smallest possible accord he had discussed with the Obama administration at the outset of their current talks.

鈥溾�榃hy should we be attempting to do the minimum credible plan?鈥欌�� Boehner said he told White House negotiators at their first postelection meeting. 鈥淲e have a very serious spending problem that needs to be addressed.鈥�

That feeling of inadequacy, that Washington let a golden opportunity slip through its fingers, is evident on both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill.

Lawmakers see problems in the way the president and the speaker discuss targets for savings without specifying many of the policies or programs they would alter to get there.

鈥淚 think this idea of just plucking a number out of the air and saying 鈥楾his is what we鈥檙e going to talk about,鈥� misses the point,鈥� says Sen. Ron Wyden (D) of Oregon, a leading Senate health policy wonk. 鈥淭he central question is 鈥榃hat are the policies that undergird the number?鈥� 鈥�

At best, members with an intense interest in fiscal issues say, the biggest deal the speaker and the president have discussed is a good start.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not as much as I would hope for,鈥� said Sen. Kent Conrad (D) of North Dakota, who is leaving the chamber at year鈥檚 end, 鈥渂ut it鈥檚 the right direction and it would be a significant step forward if we could get this put in place.鈥�

But as the fiscal cliff talks have dragged on, the interest lawmakers have in getting to a big deal 鈥� the one that many of them said would be the best way forward at the beginning of the process 鈥� appears to have waned with the year.

Representative LaTourette of Ohio said last week that he has talked about the Simpson-Bowles budget framework, the bipartisan debt plan that emerged from the president鈥檚 debt commission in 2011, in every meeting of the House GOP conference since that time.

That was until last week, when he was told he needed 鈥渢o quit talking about it鈥� because he was starting to sound like Rep. Frank Lucas (R) of Oklahoma, the agriculture committee chairman who has mounted a constant but quixotic campaign to pass a farm bill this year.

鈥淪o I鈥檓 supposed to shut up,鈥� LaTourette says.聽