Talks toward resolving the so-called fiscal cliff before the end-of-year deadline had hit a "major setback" on Sunday afternoon due to a standoff over proposed changes to Social Security, Senate Democrats said, NBC's First Read team writes. Democrats said earlier that Republicans, led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Ky., insisted that a deal to resolve the fiscal cliff include what is known as "chained CPI" -- a change in how Social Security benefits are calculated to increase over time. That demand however was taken off the table after GOP senators returned from a closed door luncheon later on Sunday. Just before a self-imposed deadline at which Senate leaders were set to brief their respective caucuses about a prospective deal, negotiations toward a scaled-back agreement to avoid the onset of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts on Jan. 1 appeared on the verge of breakdown. McConnell said that he had even reached out to Vice President Joe Biden, a former senator who's helped hammer out previous deals, in hopes of jump-starting the talks. "He and the vice president, I wish them well," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said on the Senate floor. "In the meantime, I will try to come up with something," Reid added of Republicans' latest proposal, "but at this stage I don’t have a counter-offer to make."
