DeMint: We must be willing to sacrifice our careers to balance the budget

In a fundraising message to supporters, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) pressured Republicans to join him in making a vote on raising the nation’s debt ceiling conditional on passage of a GOP-backed balanced-budget amendment released last week.

“Agreeing on the right policy is not enough to save our country,” DeMint said in an email to backers of his Senate Conservatives Fund. “Republicans also have to be willing to fight to enact that policy, even if it means sacrificing their political careers.”

DeMint’s message reveals the lengths he is willing to go in order to drum up support for the amendment, drafted by freshman Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), whom he endorsed in the 2010 midterms.