Washington — Led by President Obama, pressure is building on the new Congressional committee on deficit reduction to “go big” — beyond its mandate to shave as much as id="mce_marker".5 trillion from budget shortfalls over 10 years — even as doubts remain about the panel’s ability to find enough bipartisan agreement to meet even the original goal.

A group of at least 57 prominent business executives and former government officials have signed a petition in support of a greater deficit reduction, which they are to release at a news conference on Monday. Among them are former treasury secretaries, budget directors and economic advisers to eight presidents from Richard M. Nixon to Mr. Obama; former Congressional leaders; and executives of top companies.

Their letter reflects a broad sense of urgency in both parties, and among economists and businesses, that the nation must put in place long-range measures to shrink future deficits. At current spending levels, those deficits are expected to balloon over the next decade as the population ages and as health care costs rise.

The letter does not call for short-term job-creation measures like the tax cuts and infrastructure spending Mr. Obama proposed last week, which would add to deficits initially. Even so, many of the signers, liberals and conservatives, have called for such steps.

The petition does include what has fast become a catchphrase for those who believe Congress is thinking too small. “We urge you to ‘go big,’ ” they wrote, “and develop a large-scale debt-reduction package sufficient to stabilize the debt as a share of the economy.”

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