Leaders to Stay Close to Deficit Panel. Party leaders are giving the new super committee some space to build a bipartisan deficit plan, but they are staying close enough to the process to continue as the unseen hands behind the scenes. Indeed, the new Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction is unlikely to reach a "grand bargain" without the leaders' signoff. Congressional Quarterly

Supercommittee to Meet on September 8. The new congressional supercommittee on deficit reduction will hold its first meeting next Thursday, Sept. 8, the panel's co-chairmen announced Friday. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) said the initial meeting would be open to the public and would feature opening statements and a consideration of rules. Five days later, the panel will meet again and hear testimony on "the history and drivers of our nation's debt and its threats" from the director of the Congressional Budget Office, Douglas Elmendorf. The Hill  

Congress Faces New Round of Spending Fights: Lawmarkers Brace for Clashes Over Disaster Relief Funding, Appropriations. Battle-weary from the year's constant spending fights and hyper-aware of stagnating job numbers, Congressional leaders are working to avoid a rehash of the same disputes in the impending debate to fund the government for the coming year. However, serious obstacles remain, including a potential clash over disaster relief funding and the fact that a deal must be completed in less than four weeks. The fight to finish last April's stopgap spending bill, set to expire Sept. 30, was the opening act for the debt ceiling debate that dominated the House and Senate floors for months. In both instances, lawmakers brought the government to the brink of financial calamity, narrowly avoiding a shutdown in April and a debt default in August. Roll Call

Appropriations This Week. The Senate Subcommittee on Energy-Water will mark up the Energy-Water appropriations bill today with the full committee marking it up on Wednesday. The Senate Subcommittee on Homeland Security will mark up the Homeland Security appropriations bill today. Congressional Quarterly

Air Ships on Their Way to Canada's North: 'It took us a while to get over the giggle factor.' What flies in the air, is shaped like a giant white cigar, stands up to six stories high, and may soon be seen over Nunavut? It's an airship, and many hope these new flying machines, which have been called "new wave blimps," will be able to provide mining industries with cheaper and cleaner travel by 2014. Nunatsiaq Online

House to Put Individual Spending Bills on Hold; Senate to Press Ahead. House Republican leaders have decided not to move standalone fiscal 2012 spending bills this month, greatly reducing the chances that any of the 12 annual appropriations measures will be enacted except as part of an omnibus. "No individual appropriations will come to the floor during September," said a House leadership aide, adding that the chamber will focus instead on the GOP's efforts to spur job growth by reducing federal regulation. Congressional Quarterly

More Rumors About Elusive Bering Strait Tunnel: Will it ever happen? This year's extent of Arctic sea ice could be the second smallest ever, making the Northwest Passage and Northern Sea Route ever more navigable. But in and around the Bering Strait, the amount of ice wouldn't matter if the plans to build an underwater tunnel between Russia and Alaska are realized. Though the idea was initially floated by Tsar Nicholas II in 1905, it was scrapped by the Soviets and then again by the economic meltdown of the 1990s following the Soviet collapse. Vladimir Putin reignited Russian interest in the project and raised the issue with former president George W. Bush in 2008. Alaska Dispatch 

Poor Arctic Communications Threaten Development, Canadian Sovereignty: Study. A recent study suggests weak northern communications networks are holding back economic development and impairing efforts to enforce Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic. "Communications ties in to safety and security. It also ties in to sovereignty," said Maj. Tom Bachelder of the Arctic Security Working Group. The Globe and Mail 

Iceland's President Welcomes Chinese Interest. High quality global journalism requires investment. Iceland's president has hailed a controversial Chinese investment as a sign of the country's blossoming ties with the rising Asian power, while alleging that Europe and the US abandoned their north Atlantic neighbor in the wake of its devastating financial crisis three years ago. "China and India lent Iceland a helping hand in many constructive ways whereas Europe was hostile and the US was absent," Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson told the Financial Times, as he responded to a controversy over the proposed sale of a large tract of Iceland to a Chinese tycoon for an eco-tourism resort. The Financial Times