{mosads}Furious negotiations among congressional leaders over the weekend and in the beginning of this week have stalled over a disagreement on whether to raise taxes as part of the deal.

McConnell, who played a key roll in those negotiations, accused the White House of continually “moving the goal posts.”

“These discussions started with a shared goal of reducing the debt but quickly regressed to a public sideshow in which the price of admission became an insistence that we raise taxes on job creators and on millions of American families who do not have yachts or corporate jets,” said McConnell.

Regardless of his gloomy outlook, however, McConnell said he would continue to push Obama to back off his hard line on tax increases.

 “I will continue to urge the president to rein in our deficits and debt in a way that puts the short and long-term health of our economy ahead of his personal vision of government,” said McConnell.

“That’s what the American people want. That’s what Republicans will continue to insist on.”