The Council on Foreign Relations has joined in on those warning of the dangers of the fiscal cliff due to hit early January and unsustainable rising levels of debt. The helpful "backgrounder" piece explains both the domestic, national security, and economic consequences of the cliff as well as some context to how we got to this point.

Yesterday the Senate voted on two highly polarized tax plans, with a Democratic version passing 51-48 while the Republican supported bill failing to pass 45-54. Neither were paid for—the Republican plan cost $405 billion and the Democratic plan cost $250 billion ($368 billion including excluded elements)—nor took any initiative on long-term deficit reduction.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke addressed Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday and the House Finance Committee yesterday with more warnings about the fiscal cliff at the end of the year.

A few members of Congress are now proposing House-Senate working groups to try and negotiate a compromise that would avoid the squester. From The Hill:

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) said that forming the bipartisan working groups would be a critical piece in getting lawmakers in both chambers on the same page, regarding the automatic defense cuts under sequestration.

Former Director of the CBO Alice Rivlin and Former Sen. Pete Domenici testified today to the Senate Finance Committee on the long-term debt problem, the “fiscal cliff”, and the Domenici-Rivlin plan to address these challenges.

Earlier this week, about a third of the Senate met to open a bipartisan discussion about comprehensive fiscal reform and the impending fiscal cliff according to coverage from both the National Journal (subscription required), Politico, and Bloomberg.

Recently, both the House and Senate proposed cuts to the Department of Agriculture. Though the proposals are fairly similar in magnitude, they achieve their savings in very different ways. With the 2008 Farm Bill expiring in September, it will be interesting to see how these bills will shape the final outcome for that legislation.

One day after Senate Budget Committee chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) released a budget resolution based on the Fiscal Commission plan, another Budget Committee member, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) released his own budget. Overall, his budget relies on savings from spending cuts to bring the debt down.

At a press conference today, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) put forward a budget resolution that his Committee will be marking up starting tomorrow, one that is based on the Fiscal Commission plan. He explained the logic in proposing this budget rather than a strictly Democratic proposal:

Super Not So Duper – The word “super” has lost its luster lately. The failure of the Super Committee and the need for a super majority in the Senate to pass virtually anything have contributed to record-low approval ratings for Congress. Meanwhile, Super PACs are pouring unlimited funds into campaigns, resulting in even more negative advertising than usual and rising concerns that the political process is being distorted.