Rep. Israel: Democrats stopped fiscal cliff; provided “adult supervision”

Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) reflects on the late House vote last night that avoided tax increases for most Americans and details why he supported it, but wishes there was broader deficit reduction. Later in the interview, Rep. Israel addresses the House not taking up the Senate bill to provide relief to Hurricane Sandy victims, saying that it was “indefensible.”

Rep. Israel says, “I voted for it. There were elements of the bill that I did not like. But at the end of the day, it was House Democrats who injected some adult supervision, some pragmatism, a sense of compromise and solutions. That’s what the country wants. So I voted for it because falling off the cliff just isn’t an option. I wish that he Republicans would have produced more votes. The best they could do was 85-86 votes. So even though they have the majority in the House of Representatives, it was House Democrats who stopped us from going off this cliff.”

Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien airs weekday mornings from 7-9am ET on CNN.