Chaffetz: Want to See 'Meat on Bones' of Obama 'Grand Bargain'

Republicans don't reject President Barack Obama's ideas just because they want to fight him, but because they disagree with them, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told MSBNC host Chris Hayes.

Appearing on Hayes' show "All In" on Tuesday, Chaffetz said Republicans don't believe the United States is "one tax increase away from prosperity."

Hayes admitted to being a left-wing idealogue, and said he actually admires "principled Republicans" such as Chaffetz because they end up keeping the Democratic president from passing laws that would make he and fellow "lefties" angry.

In a speech on Tuesday, Obama offered to cut corporate tax rates if Republicans would agree to short-term spending on job creation. Chaffetz said he would not blow the idea out of the water just because the idea came from Obama, "but with that said, I'm not interested in a tax increase."

Hayes responded, "In some ways you are the best ally I have in the U.S. government to make sure that these kind of deals don't get struck."

"Well, that scares the living daylights out of me," Chaffetz said, laughing.

Chaffetz said Obama's plan offered no details, and he wanted to see "the meat on the bones" before he would consider backing it.

On the flip side, Chaffetz said he introduced and passed a bill in the House to disallow federal grants to people who haven't paid their taxes. The bill is stuck in the Democrat-controlled Senate, and he'd like to see Obama give him some help pushing it through.

Obama, it turns out, introduced the same bill when he was Senator.