(WASHINGTON, D.C.) -- Former UNC System President Erskine Bowles will join members of two independent panels to meet with Congress' so-called "super committee" on Tuesday. Bowles is part of a group that is trying to come up with a bipartisan plan to reduce the deficit.

"We face the most predictable economic crisis in history," said Bowles in an interview with MSNBC's Chuck Todd. "The fiscal path we're on is not sustainable. They know it and they've got to stand up to it.  We've simply made promises we can't deliver on."

Bowles and Wyoming's Alan Simpson co-chaired President Obama's fiscal commission on deficit reduction.  Simpson, Bowles, economist Alice Rivlin and former Senator Pete Domenici are expected to speak at a rare public hearing conducted by the "super committee."

Bowles also told MSNBC that the plan that the panel has designed should get the support from both leaders of Congress. "I think you elected the leadership to lead and that means doing what's right for the American people not necessarily what's right for Democrats or Republicans and what's right for this country is to solve this long-term fiscal problem."

The Super Committee's deadline to present a plan is just three weeks from Wednesday.