Talks of the “fiscal cliff” continue this week, as the White House will again meet with Congress to discuss resolutions as the expiration of the Budget Control Act of 2011 approaches.

Last week the White House held the first meeting to begin addressing the trigger effects of the act, which will officially come to fruition at midnight Dec. 31. Solutions will call for bipartisan leaderships, as neither Republicans nor Democrats are willing to budge much on budget talks so far.

In last week’s meeting, Republicans favored raised revenues through entitlement reform, while Democrats leaned towards raised tax rates for wealthy Americans.

Tax rates are already set to rise automatically in January 2013, when tax cuts of the George W. Bush term expire. Republicans do not want to see this happen, but Democrats are disagreeing with Republican solutions on how to avoid this crisis.

Democrats are aware of the possibility of diving off the fiscal cliff for a short time, but in the face of Republican resolutions, plan to wait until they see changes to tax rates for the top two tax brackets. Democrats hope to see tax rates return to rates seen before the Bush tax cuts.

Before the tax cuts instituted during the George W. Bush administration, tax rates for the top two tax brackets were at 36 and 39.6 percent. With the tax cuts in place, rates have been at 33 and 35 percent.

Republicans plan to make up for this revenue by rewriting the tax code to eliminate loopholes and deductions for these top two brackets.

The term “fiscal cliff” itself is not a visual for a debt dive come Jan. 1, 2013. Instead, the fiscal cliff describes raised taxes and budget cuts, in order to begin cutting away at the deficit. Neither Republicans nor Democrats are satisfied with the ways in which the rates and cuts will adjust for 2013. Meetings will continue until the White House and Congress make permanent resolutions.