Labrador: ‘If being fiscally responsible is extreme and crazy, then I am’
Freshman Idaho Congressman Raul Labrador appeared on CNN's "Situation Room" program just now, in a panel along with three other tea party-backed freshman Republicans, Reps. Ann Marie Buerkle of New York, Tom Graves of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona. CNN said it picked "one from each corner of the country," and was surprised to find the four split on tomorrow's budget-cuts vote: Two plan to vote in favor, one against, and Labrador is leaning against.
Labrador agreed with the others that the freshmen have made a difference, and helped bump up the level of cuts that now is being contemplated - though they want more. "When we started the debate, the initial offer was $31 billion in cuts. Some of us spoke up and said that it needed to be more," he told the program. "So we actually got it to $61 billion in cuts. And now we're getting $38, $39 billion in cuts. We're going to vote against these things, but I think we would have had much less."
At the close of the interview, the four were asked, "So are you crazy, or are you really the sanest people in America?" Labrador responded, "If being fiscally responsible is extreme and crazy, then I think I am."