Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL) defended his stance against raising the debt limit and said that he will not run again if his constituents’ views change on the issue during a town hall event on Monday.
“If raising the debt ceiling was the answer, we wouldn’t have this discussion because we’ve raised it 14 times since 2001, and all we’ve done is gain more debt and more interest on our debt,” Yoho said at a town hall in Gainseville, Flordia.
Yoho added that his constituents elected him based on his platform, which included curbing Washington spending, but that if they change their minds, he will bow out.
“We had 65 percent of the vote, and I suspect that probably to change in the next election. And that’s fine,” Yoho said after a question from an audience member about why he forced a government shutdown.
“But I got elected on those stands, and people sent me up there saying, ‘We want you to do these things,'” he explained. “So, until that changes, and the majority says, ‘We don’t want you to do that’, I’m going to stay where I’m at. In fact, if it changes, to where people say, ‘I don’t want you to do that’, I won’t run again.”
During the government shutdown, Yoho said on CNN that the government cannot default.
“You know, constitutionally, we cannot default.” Yoho said. “If we as a nation, as legislators, address this condition of overspending and if we address that and we say to the rest of the world … I think the rest of the market would breathe a sigh of relief.”
Florida Radio station WUFT has audio from the town hall. Yoho defends his stance on the debt ceiling at 1:19 and again at 3:18, below:
