Next week may well decide which of the three sets of discussions to stave off a government debt crisis has a chance of bearing fruit.

The first track, which was already complicated enough when it was the only track, is the attempt by the White House and members of Congress to strike a deal on spending cuts and tax increases. As this week showed, the ongoing disagreement over how much to cut and how much new revenue to generate has stalled this effort.

House Republicans on Friday afternoon released their "Cut, Cap and Balance" bill that the House is expected to take up next week.

Republicans have said they would only accept an increase in the federal debt ceiling if immediate cuts are made, federal spending is brought back into balance over the next several years, and a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution is approved by Congress. The GOP bill, H.R. 2560, would do all three.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee said members are making it difficult for President Obama to raise the debt ceiling because of his race.

The House has a light schedule of hearings next week, in large part because the House was only told recently it would be in session next week to continue work on a debt-ceiling agreement.

Nonetheless, two House committees are planning some consequential work. On Wednesday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will meet to mark up the 2012 foreign relations authorization act, and on Thursday, the House Agriculture Committee meets to discuss derivatives reform.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Friday rejected the assertion from Democrats that the vast majority of Americans support higher taxes as a way out of the government's looming fiscal crisis.

President Obama made that assertion in a Friday press conference, and it was repeated by House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) in a discussion with Cantor on the House floor. Hoyer cited a poll that said 74 percent of Republicans can accept a debt-ceiling agreement that includes new tax revenues.

"To the gentleman's suggestion that that's where the American public is, I just disagree," Cantor said in reply. "I don't talk to anybody that says, 'please raise my taxes.'"

Senate committees next week will hold a series of high-profile hearings to examine a range of issues, including the impact of the storms that tore across the Midwest in the spring to the Defense of Marriage Act.

Committees will also hold hearings on further exploiting domestic energy resources as well as facilitating appropriate oil and gas development on federal land and waters.

The House on Friday narrowly approved a 2012 appropriations bill funding the Department of Energy and related agencies.

Members approved the bill, H.R. 2354, by a 219-196 vote. All but 21 Republicans voted for the bill, along with just 10 Democrats.

The House on Friday voted down several proposals to significantly cut spending to the 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, including one amendment to cut another $1.5 billion from the bill.

The bill, H.R. 2354, already cuts about $1 billion from fiscal 2011 levels, and proposals to go beyond that were met with resistance from both Democrats and Republicans.

Freshman Republican Allen West (Fla.) described Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell's (Ky.) plan to raise the debt ceiling a "dog that don't hunt."

“That dog don’t hunt,” West said when asked about the proposal, according to Bloomberg News. "Seems like an acquiescence to me.”

McConnell’s proposal, which would give President Obama the power to raise the debt ceiling, has drawn fire from both sides of the aisle. 

“It seems to be a political document,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, (N.Y.), the Senate Democrats’ Policy Committee chairman, on Thursday.