If only we had 60 Jim DeMints in the U.S. Senate.
Unlike too many of his Republican colleagues, DeMint clearly grasps the magnitude of the fiscal calamity in store for America if our leaders don’t get serious about drastically cutting federal spending. Furthermore, he says Republicans are at risk of losing their seats if they raise the ceiling again without meaningful changes in Washington’s spending habits.
It’s too bad he’s not running for President. He’d be a welcome addition to the field.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) warned lawmakers they won’t be reelected if they vote for a debt-ceiling increase without a balanced-budget amendment and serious across-the-board spending cuts.
Asked what would happen to Republicans who support a “clean” debt-ceiling increase, DeMint predicted they would be voted out of office.
“I think, for the most part, they’re gone. It would be the most toxic vote we could take,” he said.
“Based on what I can see around the country, not only are those individuals gone, but I would suspect the Republican Party would be set back many years,” DeMint said in an interview with ABC News Friday.
That also applies to presidential candidates, he added. He said it was a litmus test for all 2012 White House contenders.
“I don’t have many litmus tests, but this is one: Any candidate who doesn’t understand that we need to balance the budget should not be president of the United States,” he said.
DeMint, a favorite with the conservative Tea Party movement, has said that his coveted endorsement is available only to Republicans who sign a “Cut, Cap and Balance” pledge, which calls for spending cuts, spending caps and the passage of a balanced-budget amendment as a prerequisite for voting to raise the debt ceiling.
So far, Tim Pawlenty, Herman Cain, and Ron Paul have signed DeMint’s pledge, and Rick Santorum reportedly plans to sign it as well.
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