Pence: "We need to pick a fight."

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WANE) - In two interviews on national broadcasts Wednesday, Indiana Sixth District Congressman Mike Pence said conservative Republican lawmakers in Washington, D.C. need to "pick a fight" in order to ensure that the national government proceeds with deep spending cuts to avoid fiscal crisis.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are currently debating funding government operations for the rest of fiscal 2011. Republicans want $61 billion in cuts and are far apart from Democrats , who want far less.

“Right now what we’re trying to do is keep the promise we made with the American people in the Pledge to America and find at least $100 billion in savings off the president’s number," Pence told host Sean Hannity on Hannity's national radio program Wednesday. "That’s the $61 billion that will get you $100 billion off what the president wanted to spend."

Pence went on to criticize Senate Democrats for not being serious about cutting the size of government. "The Democrat alternative in the Senate today cuts, as you said, about $4.5 billion on top of $4 billion in the last two-week deal. It’s not serious," said Pence. "What we have to do is recognize that in Washington, D.C., things don’t change until they have to. And I think that if conservatives want to win in this battle, we need to pick a fight.”

"The deficit this year is at $1.65 trillion. This $61 billion is nothing more than a down-payment. I mean it’s earnest money on trying to restore some fiscal sanity to Washington, D.C.," said Pence. "What I mean by ‘picking a fight’ is that Republicans ought to say, ‘This far and no further.’ "

Pence made similar comments about picking a fight during a TV interview with Fox News earlier in the day.
 

Some national government operations could shut down if lawmakers can't reach an agreement. Once the matter of fiscal 2011 is settled, Republicans will be looking for much deeper cuts when debate begins on the budget for fiscal 2012.