Romney Tells Gingrich He Would 'Fire' Him Over His Moon Colony Proposal

Here's the clip:

CBS reports:

Gingrich on Wednesday laid out an extensive plan to have a permanent U.S. base on the moon by the end of his second term as president. He said that once 13,000 Americans were living on the moon, the colony could apply for statehood. The promise could appeal to Florida's space industry, which has struggled since NASA ended the U.S. shuttle program in 2011.

In Florida, he said, Gingrich promises to spend "untold amounts of money" on a moon colony, while he promises a new Veterans Health Administration hospital in New Hampshire and a new interstate highway in South Carolina.

"This idea of going state to state and promising what people want to hear, promising billions, hundreds of billions of dollars to make people happy, that's what got us into the trouble we're in now," Romney said. "We've got to say no to this kind of spending."

Developing a lunar base would cost "hundreds of billions, if not trillions," Romney said, adding, "I'd rather be rebuilding housing here in the U.S."

In response, Gingrich reminded that he helped pass the 1997 Balanced Budget Act to balance the federal budget while doubling the size of the National Institutes of Health, "because we set priorities."

"It is possible to do the right things in the right order to make this a bigger, richer, more exciting country," he said.