ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - It’s not perfect but Missouri’s Republican Senator says the fiscal cliff deal is “the best we could’ve hoped for…based on the election results”

Sen. Roy Blunt says that with the President’s re-election, Republicans couldn’t really stop an increase in the top tax rate. But, he adds, protecting everybody else was “pretty amazing.”

“We had a chance to stop the biggest tax increase in the history of the American economy and we did. I think it was the right thing to do,” he said.

“[Obama] was absolutely committed to raising that top tax rate and, unfortunately for lots of American families, he was more committed to the top tax rate than he was to who it applied to, exempting 99% of the taxpayers in the county.”

Blunt wishes the deal would have included spending cuts and says the fight for cuts began the minute the tax fight was over. He says that fight must end by the time the President requests the next debt ceiling increase.