FOXNews.com: Congress returns Sunday to strike deal to avert fiscal crisis, details and times fluid

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Congress returns Sunday to strike deal to avert fiscal crisis, details and times fluid Dec 30th 2012, 13:42 A compromise deal on the fiscal crisis could be reached as early as Sunday, when the House and Senate officially return to Capitol Hill to attempt to reach a compromise before the January 1 deadline for tax increases and massive spending cuts. Hill lawmakers and staffers have been working behind the scenes all weekend, with the chambers officially going back into session this afternoon. Leaders of the Democratic-controlled Senate are trying to craft a deal that will pass in their chamber and the Republican-controlled House. If Democratic Leader Sen. Harry Reid and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell cannot reach a deal, Reid purportedly will present President Obama's bare-boned plan of tax increases for families making more than $250,000 annually and extending unemployment insurance. Senate leaders worked off-stage Saturday to reach a final-hours deal to avert a fiscal crisis. A Senate aide with knowledge of the talks told Fox News that there was "no major progress."  A House Democrat and a House Republican said Saturday they do not expect a vote until after the weekend on any proposal to avert the looming fiscal crisis. Reps. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, and John Yarmuth, D-Ky., both told Fox News they expected the Senate to work on a proposal through Sunday and perhaps into Monday morning before voting, then pass the legislation to the House for a final vote. Reid adjourned the chamber until Sunday so Democratic and Republican leaders could negotiate on a deal to present to the House. The Nevada Democrat was not seen on Capitol Hill on Saturday and staffers said he did not plan to work from his Senate office. However, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was on the Hill. "We've been trading paper all day and talks continue into the evening," McConnell said as he left the Capitol.  A $500 billion mix of tax increases and federal spending cuts in 2013 would kick in January 1 should Congress fail to reach a deal. The House also is scheduled on Sunday to work on several remaining bills in the lame-duck session. However, neither the farm bill nor the emergency spending bill for Hurricane Sandy is on the docket. Senate leaders from both sides of the aisle vowed late Friday to scramble over the weekend to produce a new bill, on the heels of a high-stakes White House meeting with President Obama that is seen as the last chance to come together before the tax-hike deadline. Several senior administration officials told Fox News late Friday night that McConnell, R-Ky., is showing strong signs that he will help seal a deal. However, they acknowledge he will have a difficult time getting a deal passed in the Republican-controlled House, which  has so far rejected any plan that includes allowing tax rates to increase for higher-earning Americans. The pledge to work on a new bill is by no means a solution to the sweeping set of tax hikes set to hit Jan. 1, followed by steep spending cuts. Lawmakers still have to write the bill, and produce something that can pass both chambers.  Obama, speaking from the White House briefing room late Friday, voiced a dose of doubt about the Senate leaders' final push for a deal.  He said he's "modestly optimistic," but that if Reid and McConnell fail, the Senate should allow an up-or-down vote on a scaled-back proposal the president is pushing.  The developments late Friday, though, at least showed Reid and McConnell were beginning to work together. And it marked a decision by lawmakers that the Senate should make the first move, following House Speaker John Boehner's failed attempt to get his chamber to extending tax cuts for Americans making less than $1 million annually. It's unclear what the new bill would entail, but the Senate appears to want to tweak the Obama plan, which would include an extension of current tax rates for most Americans -- but potentially adjust it so fewer earners see a tax hike, and add a provision dealing with a looming expansion of the estate tax.  The debt ceiling, which Obama wants increased, would not be part of this bill. And a senior White House official admitted it is unclear how a looming set of spending cuts would be addressed.  The president's plan is a far cry from the kind of "grand bargain" lawmakers were shooting for just a few weeks ago -- something that would narrow the deficit, overhaul the tax code and set the country on a course to curb its entitlement spending, all while averting massive tax hikes and spending cuts.  The immediate challenge for negotiators, though, will be to craft a plan that does enough to spare most Americans a big hike without doing so much as to complicate the bill's passage. There is a host of expiring provisions next year -- from Medicare rates to doctors to payroll tax cuts -- that some lawmakers hoped to address before the end of the month. The more items added to the bill, the trickier it gets to pass it.  Lawmakers have been hesitant to predict whether Congress will be able to arrive at any solution.  Fox News' Ed Henry, Mike Emanuel, Chad Pergram and Fox Business Network's Rich Edson contributed to this report.

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