DeMint vows: 'We won't default'

There are lots of things the government can do to hold off a catastrophic debt default, Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina said Sunday.

"We won't default," DeMint vowed on CNN's "State of the Union."

DeMint is warning his fellow Republicans that there will be political consequences for capitulating on what he called an urgent need to balance the federal budget by cutting spending. He said President Barack Obama could suffer, as well.

"If the president decides some time in October or November that he is not going to pay our bills because he refuses to balance the budget six or eight years out, then I think Americans ought to know that," DeMint said.

The senator said the federal budget issues must be resolved without resorting to tax hikes. Instead, he suggested, policymakers should consider entitlement cuts and clearing out onerous regulations, among other things.

"I was on an oil rig in the Gulf this weekend, it cost over $600 million," DeMint said. "It's been sitting there for months waiting for a permit. Thousands of jobs are on hold, but we don't do the things that create the jobs that create the revenue."

"The problem is this administration seems to be doing everything it can to make it harder and more expensive to hire people," DeMint said.