Whose Debt Committee Do You Like Better: Democrats or Republicans?

In a few months, the passing of the imperfect debt ceiling deal is going to probably look like the easy part.

The real horse trading has been going on for the past week on both sides of the aisle in an attempt to put together the group of 12 who will make up the new congressional "super" committee -- whose job it is to figure out ways to cut the deficit.

According to CNN, half the puzzle came into view on Wednesday when GOP leaders picked six fiscal conservatives for the board, with House Leader John Boehner and Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell each holding their own, separate announcements.

Boehner's list included: Reps. Jeb Hensarling (Texas), Dave Camp and Fred Upton (Michigan), with McConnell picking Senators Jon Kyl (Arizona), Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania) and Rob Portman (Ohio).

Camp is the House Ways and Means Committee chairman and Upton chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee and has taken moderate stances in the past, including attempting to decrease tax cuts during the George W. Bush administration. Kyl is #2 Republican behind McConnell – and a staunch advocate for the military, which faces big cuts if the committee doesn't come up with a plan by year's end -- and Portman is a former White House budget director in the Bush administration.

Toomey, who just joined the Senate in January, sits on the Senate Budget and Banking committees.

All are known for their conservative economic stances. Hensarling will co-chair the committee with Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, who was appointed Tuesday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. On Tuesday, Rein also named Senators Max Baucus (Montana) and John Kerry (Massachusetts) to the list. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi hasn't announced her three choices yet and has until August 16 to do so.

Baucus is a centrist leader and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, former presidential candidate Kerry is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Finance Committee member and co-chair Murray is a member of the Senate's Democratic leadership and is in line to be the senior Dem on the Senate Budget Committee in 2013.

"The debt crisis is a legitimate threat to our nation's future, and the American people cannot afford to wait any longer," Hensarling said in a statement. "Everyone can agree that we must stop spending money we don't have, and the time to act is now." Tamping down expectations, Hensarling warned that the committee won't solve the crisis within months, but will work hard on tax and entitlement reform as well as spending cuts.

Former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming, co-chair of Obama's debt commission, told CNN that the new committee has plenty of information to work with and shouldn't need to spend too much time collecting more in order to get the job done. What will be tough, he said, is the actual negotiations.

The committee's job is to find ways to carve out $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction on top of the more than $900 billion in spending cuts in the debt ceiling agreement. The work has to be completed by November 23, with Congress on the hook to vote on the proposal by December 23.