Florida Rep.-elect Alan Grayson (D) on Wednesday night said that Democrats should not concede anything in a grand bargain with Republicans.
"Why talk about caving at all? The Democrats won the election," he told Current TV host Eliot Spitzer.
Huge automatic budget cuts are set to go into effect if Congress does not come up with a plan to reduce the federal deficit by December 31, 2012. Less than 24 hours after President Barack Obama was re-elected, Republican House Speaker John Boehner (OH) said he was willing to accept a budget deal -- but not one that raised taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
Grayson insisted Democrats should not accept any budget deal that lowers taxes for the wealthy or cuts Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
“If we go back to the principle that a dollar is a dollar and just because you’re rich, and you get it through capital gains, doesn’t mean you get some sort of special tax break," he said. "If we go back to the sense that a dollar is a dollar, they’re all green, let’s tax them equally, that itself will go substantially to reduce the deficit. That tax break alone is over $100 billion a year."
Watch video, courtesy of Current TV, below:
