U.S. President Barack Obama has cut his Hawaiian Christmas vacation short, returning to Washington Thursday.

That’s where lawmakers on the Democrat and Republican sides are playing chicken with each other, to see who will let up first in the fiscal cliff negotiations.

There are only four days left until the country goes over the so-called fiscal cliff, which would bring in a bevy of automatic tax increases and spending cuts.

If a deal is not reached to avert this cliff, some analysts fear the cliff could rattle a recovering but still fragile economy.

Obama and GOP House Speaker John Boehner are leading the charges on both sides, with Obama pushing for tax increases on the highest earning Americans.