U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell said he hopes a deal can be reached to avoid the fiscal cliff, but so far the talks have not gone well.McConnell said President Barack Obama is asking for a new stimulus package -- the unlimited ability to raise the debt ceiling and more than $1 trillion in new tax revenues.(The New York Times recently published a handy graphicoutlining where the sides stand.)And those proposals are not something Republicans want to concede, McConnell said.Even considering this, McConnell said he's hopeful a deal can be reached to avert the tax increases and large budget reductions scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1.“Well I sure hope so, unfortunately the private talks that the speaker and I have been privy too are not that different from the public talk,” McConnell said.And those are proposals the GOP aren’t willing to give on.“That sort of thing is not going to be given to him and so it’s not very encouraging at the moment I can tell you,” McConnell said.McConnell said he’d like to see entitlement reforms in any deal.
