OPINION

Deficit reduction impasse comes down to tax question

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Washington (CNN) -- A day after meeting separately with President Barack Obama, the Senate's top Democrat and top Republican continued to spar Tuesday over whether increased tax revenue should be part of a deficit reduction agreement.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, told reporters that an insistence by Obama and Democrats to raise tax revenue "in the middle of an economic slowdown" was blocking progress on a deal demanded by Republicans in return for their support to raise the federal debt ceiling.