The Chairwoman of the DNC, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, (D-Fla.), told Chris Jansing there needs to be a deal on the fiscal cliff.
Last time around, she explained, she had to make tough choices during negotiations on the debt ceiling.
"I can tell you Chris, last summer, I voted for more than a trillion dollars in spending cuts that I know most of my constituents oppose, because I know it can’t be my way or the highway. I went home after I did that (so that we would make sure we avoided jeopardizing the whole credit of the United States) and I explained to my constituents that we needed to make a compromise and that we needed to strike a balance," Wasserman Schultz said on Jansing & Co.
Many Congressional Republicans believe they have a mandate to hold the line on spending and not raise taxes, as the President believes his mandate is to raise taxes on the rich.
"Right now what is happening is that you have a handful of tea party extremists, that potentially, are going to hold the full faith and credit of the United States, and the potential for us to go over the fiscal cliff—hostage. And that's, that's really unacceptable," Wasserman Schultz said.
USA Today reports staffers from the White House and John Boehner's office spoke Monday evening, with Obama staffers asking for details on tax rate increases and Boehner staffers asking for more details on entitlement cuts.
The president took his case to the people in Michigan on Monday. He rallied supporters at a plant in Detroit, telling them, "When you put it all together, what you need is taxes kept the same for middle class families. We make some tough spending cuts on things we don't need and ask the wealthiest to pay a slightly higher tax rate."
Senator Lindsey Graham,R- S.C., said during an interview on Fox News, "How about manning up here, Mr. President?"
Graham called the President's game "small ball" and warned the real fight will come when the debt ceiling will have to be raised.
Wasserman Schultz says tax reform, spending cuts and health care savings are all on the table.
"The bottom line is the Democrats have put a bunch of things that we are willing to agree on on the table and Republicans need to show their cards and stop playing chicken with our economy," Wasserman Schultz said.