Congress's special deficit-cutting committee bowed to reality Monday and called it quits, with both sides having concluded it was easier to swallow failure than any of the possible compromise deals offered.

Because the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction couldn't come to an agreement, $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts are on track to begin in 2013, with roughly half coming from the Pentagon.

That clears the way for a yearlong legislative battle over whether to block those cuts or to replace them with another broad deficit-reduction plan. Republicans—including the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee—already are moving to ...