President Obama is pushing congressional Republicans to accept more taxes as part of a deal to avoid $85 billion in across-the-board budget cuts.

Those cuts, called the sequester, take effect March 1 unless the White House and Congress come up with a deal.

Democrats want to raise money by closing tax loopholes on some businesses, like the oil and gas industries.They also want to tax millionaires at a rate of at least 30 percent.

Republicans say they went along with tax hikes as part of the fiscal cliff deal earlier this year. Now they say it's time to focus on spending cuts.