Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy defended his vote against the bill that avoided the fiscal cliff this month. Joe Gigliotti reports.

Duffy spoke at town hall meetings in Ashland and at the Bong Center in Superior today.

He began his address to the crowd of about 45 in Superior by covering recent hot topics, including why he voted no on the fiscal cliff bill. “This bill did nothing to reform the way the way that our country spends money. The President has been talking about this balanced approach? There was nothing balanced about this deal.”

The Republican second-term Congressman from Weston voted for the “No Budget, No Pay Act” the House of Representatives passed on Wednesday. The deal extends the debt ceiling.

“The money had run out really at the start of the year, but the Treasury can move money around in the Federal Government and extend the debt limit before we run out of money. So, they said America’s gonna run out of cash middle of February/end of February, somewhere in there, and so what the House did is extend the borrowing capacity of the Federal Government to May 19th, and the condition of that is that the Senate has to pass a budget.”

The “no pay” part of the bill means members of Congress won’t get paid if they don’t meet the budget deadline. Their checks would be put in escrow until they come up with a deal.

Duffy is also confident federal tax loopholes can be dropped and gaps closed.

“I’m hopeful that as we look forward, that we can find tax reform that would include closing loopholes, and then reforming the code and using those revenues to bring rates down.”

The most asked questions by the crowd were on gun control. Duffy supports the right to bear arms, including assault rifles. “I’m willing to look at what the President put out. If the Senate’s gonna take action, we’ll look at that too, but in regard to limiting access to the current law for guns and law-abiding citizens, no.”

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