Politics | Mitch McConnell McConnell: Big Deficit Deal Is Dead Top Republican blames White House insistence on tax hikes By Polly Davis Doig Posted Jul 10, 2011 9:16 AM CDT Copied Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks with reporters following a weekly Republican lunch on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, June 28, 2011. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Mitch McConnell is jumping right on John Boehner's pronouncement last night that a broad deal on the deficit is impossible, reports Politico. Appearing on Fox News Sunday this morning, the Senate's top Republican said the White House's insistence that a $4 trillion deal be accompanied by tax hikes doomed such a measure. "It is because everything they've told me and the speaker is that to get a big package would require big tax increases in the middle of an economic situation that’s extraordinarily difficult with 9.2 percent unemployment—we think it’s a terrible idea, it's a job killer," McConnell said. Click for McConnell's current thoughts on making Barack Obama a one-term president. Read These Next Officials say ICE agent who shot Renee Good had internal bleeding. NASA has completed its first medical evacuation. Verizon finally got phones out of SOS mode. Tennis player celebrates win—before losing to an American. Report an error