Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) warned House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to hold the conservative line in fiscal cliff negotiations and not agree to any tax increases.

Instead of raising taxes on the upper income brackets as the Democrats are determined to do, the GOP offered to make up the revenue through closing loopholes and capping deductions.

“Speaker Boehner’s $800 billion tax hike will destroy American jobs and allow politicians in Washington to spend even more, while not reducing our $16 trillion debt by a single penny,” DeMint said in a statement. “This isn’t rocket science. Everyone knows that when you take money out of the economy, it destroys jobs, and everyone knows that when you give politicians more money, they spend it.”

“This is why Republicans must oppose tax increases and insist on real spending reductions that shrink the size of government and allow Americans to keep more of their hard-earned money,” he continued.

He chided the GOPs for not remembering that big government is the problem, not the solution.

“Conservatives fought for a balanced budget amendment last year precisely because we knew the political establishment in Washington would never stop their tax and spend addiction without it. However, if neither party leadership is going to put forward a serious plan to balance the budget and pay down the debt, we should end this charade,” DeMint said. “We can stop the fiscal cliff with the bill that House Republicans already passed that simply extends the current tax rates and replaces the defense cuts with reductions in wasteful spending.”