Graham to GOP: Pass the Deal, Fight the Debt Ceiling Battle

Sen. Lindsey Graham says the GOP must “save their powder” for the debt ceiling fight in several months instead of amending or stalling the Senate-backed fiscal cliff deal and then “fold like a cheap suit.”

“Do the best you can, make it (the cliff deal) better if you can, but here’s reality: Right now all tax rates have gone up on all Americans,” Graham advised in a Fox News interview Tuesday.

“You need to understand this: If we don’t get this tax rate problem fixed for all Americans, the economy is going to collapse, the stock market will go down, the Defense Department is going to become unraveled.

“We’re going to get blamed and about two weeks into this, we’ll fold like a cheap suit. … Save your powder for the debt ceiling fight, the South Carolina Republican added.

Graham called President Obama a “small-minded guy in big times” and, as he has earlier, drew a red line for House and Senate Republicans for the upcoming debt ceiling fight.

“Work with me and others never to raise the debt ceiling again unless we address why we’re in so much debt,” he said. “That’s where we have leverage, that’s where we should go to next.”