Senate Democrats plan to introduce taxes on the extremely wealthy to combat Republicans' insistence that taxes must be off the table in a deficit-reduction deal. According to The Hill, they want to either cut the Bush tax cuts for people earning over $1 million a year or alternatively add a 3 to 5.4 percent surtax on millionaires and billionaires.

The docket of candidates for the Republican presidential field has almost finalized after a slow start earlier this year. It is increasingly clear that Michele Bachmann and Jon Huntsman are primed to enter the field, and both Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump removed themselves out of contention over the last several days. Mitch Daniels and Sarah Palin remain the only prominent possible candidates whose intentions are unclear.