Newt to GOP House: Don't Compromise

Politico reports:

As Congressional negotiators near a deal on funding the government for the remainder of the fiscal year, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said it would be a “profound mistake to go for a compromise without forcing the Senate Democrats to prove how liberal they are.”

The presidential hopeful didn’t say Republicans should reject the additional $33 billion in cuts that emerged in the last 12 hours, but he said he hoped and believed “that the Republican leadership here is going to be very firm in saying that they want the $61 billion.” The deal that’s reportedly under consideration doesn’t add up to $61 billion in cuts.

Gingrich made his comments after a meeting with House Republican freshmen in the Longworth House Office building where the former speaker discussed health care, leadership and blamed the “the 23 Democratic senators that are up for reelection” for stopping the “very dramatic changes” the GOP has proposed.

As the government faces its most serious threat of a shutdown since his speakership, Gingrich said he told the group that their “goal should be to avoid a shutdown, while not giving in on their core principles.”
But there’s a caveat.

“They can’t walk into a room and have President Obama think that they can be blackmailed by yelling the word shutdown,’ he said. “So I think they should seek to keep the government open, I think that they should try to find ways to pass continuing resolutions that can be signed, but I don’t think they can allow President Obama to reject the outcome of the 2010 election and dictate on his terms what he’ll do.”

Gingrich said his “prediction is that Republicans in the House are going to say they want $61 billion and they’re going to fight to get $61 billion.” On health care, the Georgian said freshmen should “have an absolute commitment to de-funding ObamaCare implementation this year.”