Quote:

---

A House Republican lawmaker says many of his fellow GOP colleagues in Congress, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), don’t live in “political reality.”

Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) said that shutting down the government “over a deep matter of principle” didn’t add up. He defected on a key vote during the shutdown, and called for a “clean” government-funding bill.

In an hour-long interview, Rigell stressed the need for the parties to work together to achieve fiscal solvency and stability.

“Gridlock is not acceptable,” said Rigell, who represents the Virginia Beach area.

“Revenues have to come up a bit because it’s a conservative principle that one generation pays for the goods or services that it benefits from,” Rigell said as he marked up a white board to explain his extensive calculation leading to the politically unpopular conclusion.

But politics factors into that equation, Rigell noted, as he tied the idea together with the word “r-e-a-l-i-t-y.”

Asked if Cruz recognizes political reality, Rigell calmly responded, “No.”

“We can pass a bill with 233 Republicans, thump ourselves on the chest ... but nothing gets done,” Rigell said. “Going on without a solution in this Congress is not an option ... time is working against us.”

“I’ve used leverage in my business — it’s almost like a rattlesnake. You got to hold it just [so],” he continued. “It can get away from you. We’re at risk as a country because of the debt that we have.”

The longtime Ford dealership owner said there must be a clear end game in sight — and said he couldn’t see it on a government shutdown strategy over defunding ObamaCare.

On the morning of the shutdown, Rigell tweeted, “We fought the good fight. Time for a clean CR.” It was retweeted more than 300 times.

Two weeks into the shutdown standoff, Rigell was overheard by a Washington Post journalist saying as much in a “heated” discussion with GOP Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.).

Saying that “tensions were high,” Rigell explained that he confronted the No. 4 ranked House Republican because “there was just a lack of clarity ... as to what exactly [was] the offer on the table and [was] it worth the pain being experienced?” http://thehill.com/homenews/house/188604-republican-many-in-gop-don%E2
%80%99t-live-in-political-reality

---