Tea party favorite Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) Sunday dismissed calls for Congress to hold hearings to find out if Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. had broken U.S. law by hacking phones or bribing police.

"We need to let law enforcement work here," DeMint told NBC's David Gregory. "Congress has got a big issue in front of us. We need to handle our own business for a change. And the focus this week is on the only plan we've got, and that's cut, cap and balance."

But Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) disagreed.

"I can tell you that there are questions about whether the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been violated by Rupert Murdoch and his news empire, and what's going on in England is startling," Durbin said. "To think of the extent that they went to break the law to try to report a story. We need to follow through with the FBI investigation and also with congressional investigations."