Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), accompanied by Democratic Senators Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer, and Patty Murray, briefed the media on the ongoing “fiscal cliff” negotiations. He said that Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposal to raise the debt limit was a good step in the negotiations.
However, later in the day Senators McConnell and Reid could not agree on whether to require 60 votes for the passage of the debt limit agreement. 
“Fiscal cliff” referred to impending tax increases and budget cuts at the end of 2012 if Congress failed to reach a budget agreement.