In one of his first interviews since being sworn into Congress earlier in the day, Cruz told CNN that he would not have voted in favor of the fiscal cliff compromise, calling it a “lousy deal.”

“Look, it wasn’t a perfect deal. Nobody was thrilled by it, but you got a deal with what’s doable in a divided Congress like we have,” Blitzer told him.

“The only reason this lousy deal happened is because President Obama and Harry Reid wanted to raise taxes on Americans,” Cruz responded. “I think that’s going to hurt growth and it’s going to hurt the middle class and working class–”

Interrupting, Wolf said: “But, remember, the president was reelected. Harry Reid is the majority leader — you’re in minority in the United States Senate. You got to deal with reality. You can’t just be — you can’t just be overly idealistic.”