US economyCongress and the White House has a week to come out with a solution to the so-called fiscal cliff, that could result to automatic tax increases and spending cuts and send the nation back into another recession. Lawmakers were worried and some expressed some optimism that something can be done in time.

Senator Conrad, Senate Budget Committee chairman, said that Speaker John Boehner and the White House should meet in the middle on the most recent offers from both sides. That could mean around $1.45 trillion in spending cuts and $1.15 trillion in revenue for a total of $2.6 trillion.

Senator Joseph Liberman said that it is likely that the nation would go over the fiscal cliff. If Americans allow it to happen, it would be the most colossal consequential act of congressional irresponsibility in a long time. It affects almost all Americans.

President Barack Obama has already scaled down his goals for the budget. Before he left Friday, he called for a limited measure that would extend the Bush-era tax cuts for most tax payers and avoid the federal spending cuts. The president also asked Congress to extend the jobless benefits for long term unemployed. This could affect around 2 million people at the end of the year.

But Republicans in the House oppose the higher tax rates for the wealthiest Americans. House Speaker John Boehner scrapped his Plan B because his party members opposed it. Public opinion surveys showed President Obama has a higher jobs rating than Boehner and the GOP.

Republican Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia said that if the nation falls off the cliff after the president’s inauguration, he’ll come back and propose what he proposed and Congress would approve it. He asked his colleagues why no go ahead and act now instead of allowing it to fail.