US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said it will be difficult to reach a deal before Christmas to avoid looming spending cuts and tax rises.
His comments come after House Speaker John Boehner urged the White House to outline proposed spending cuts.
Lawmakers still say they hope to reach a deal to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff" before the year-end deadline.
Allowing the measures to take effect could derail the fragile US economic recovery, economists have warned.
Mr Reid said on Tuesday that legislation could not be written without details from Republicans.
"Until we hear something from Republicans, there's nothing to draft," Mr Reid said. "It's going to be extremely difficult to get it done before Christmas."
'Red ink'But earlier on Tuesday, Mr Boehner, the top Republican in the House of Representatives, said it was time for the White House to "get serious" and outline spending cuts first.
"Let's be honest, we're broke," Mr Boehner said, speaking from the floor of the House.
- Under a deal reached last year between President Obama and the Republican-controlled Congress, existing stimulus measures - mostly tax cuts - will expire on 1 January 2013
- Cuts to defence, education and other government spending will then automatically come into force - the "fiscal cliff" - unless Congress acts
- The economy does not have the momentum to absorb the shock from going over the fiscal cliff without going into recession
Mr Boehner said the plan favoured by President Barack Obama, which calls for a tax rise for the wealthy, would generate "red ink for as far as the eye can see".
The president's proposal to avoid the fiscal cliff calls for $1.6tn (£990bn) in new tax revenue over 10 years.
Mr Boehner has said that he is prepared to consider increasing tax revenue - by closing loopholes and limiting deductions rather than raising rates.
The Republican counter-offer would aim to collect $800bn in revenue by closing tax loopholes and deductions.
It would also reduce government spending by $1.4tn, raising from 65 to 67 the age of eligibility for Medicare, a popular healthcare programme for the elderly, and by changing the way annual increases in Social Security payments are calculated.
Extended benefits for the long-term unemployed and a temporary cut to payroll taxes are also scheduled to expire at the end of the year.
International observers, including Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, have warned that effects of going over the fiscal cliff would ripple out to the rest of the world.
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