U.S. on Brink as ‘Absolutist’ Tea-Party Supporters Resist, Murkowski Says
U.S. lawmakers allied with the “absolutist” Tea Party have put the nation on the financial brink with their aversion to compromise, Senator Lisa Murkowski said.
“I am really worried about where we are standing, and I think part of that has come about because you have individuals that say it is my ‘way or the highway,’” Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said yesterday in an interview at Bloomberg’s Washington office. “That is not how you govern.”
House Republicans backed by the Tea Party have vowed to support an increase in the $14.3 trillion debt limit only if it’s accompanied by spending cuts and doesn’t raise taxes. President Barack Obama and Democrats propose a mix of tax increases and spending reductions.
“You have folks who are so black-and-white, who are so absolutist, that we are in a process now where we are on the brink,” said Murkowski, 54, who was defeated by a Tea Party supporter last year in a Republican primary and then re-elected as a write-in candidate.