CBS' Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan did her best on Sunday morning to carry water for Kevin McCarthy and the extreme right Republican control of the House.
Yep, mainstream media is doing "their job" by already blaming President Biden over the debt ceiling fight.
Rep. Ro Khanna joined the CBS Sunday Morning talk show to discuss the impasse between the two parties.
MAGA Republicans raised the debt ceiling under the former guy with no hostage-taking. Since Biden won the White House, they want to gut the US budget for ten years. And it was completely on-brand for CBS to shift the blame on President Biden if Republicans vote not to raise the debt ceiling.
Brennan: About a looming one, what to do about the debt ceiling. The Fed is predicting a mild recession is ahead of us. The president has overseen the highest inflation that we have seen in decades in this country. Whether he calls it or not, he's overseeing it. You have all these looming issues, and now you have this standoff over the debt ceiling. It is not a sustainable position for the White House to say they're not gonna negotiate with Republicans, is it?
Khanna: Well, here's what's sustainable. The Republicans should do what I did under Donald Trump, and that's pay your bills. It's patriotic to pay your bills. Look, if you're a family, you have credit card debt.
Brennan: It sounds like you're agreeing it's not a sustainable position.
Khanna: Well, I think we should pay the bills and then negotiate. And we should negotiate on deficit reduction. The last person to leave a surplus was Bill Clinton. I'll tell you how we lower the debt. Let's repeal the Trump tax cuts. Let's repeal some of the Bush tax cuts for the very wealthy. Let's not have all these overseas wars. I mean, the Democrats have a plan and let's raise taxes on the top wealthy. But before we get there, we pay our bills. If you're a family, you have credit card debt. Who says, "let's not pay the bill?"
Brennan: But the president was saying, Kevin McCarthy passed something, or at least put out a plan, and I'll talk to you. Now he's passed something, and the president says he still will not engage with him. I understand the back and forth, but the political cost and the economic one are very real here, and it will stick to the president.
Khanna: Well, the president's saying he's not gonna be a hostage in having veterans' cuts on healthcare, in having cuts on K through 12 education, in having cuts on food stamps, in having cuts on manufacturing, to just pay our bills. He's saying we can discuss that, we can negotiate, but first pay your bills.
Khanna: And I think Senator McConnell understands this, and I think the president will sit down with Senator McConnell. He knows that we can't default.
Brennan: You think that's the back channel that's gonna figure this out?
Khanna: That's why I said that, or Kevin McCarthy's gotta come without 22% cuts on veterans' benefits.
Brennan: Well, we will see.
If Kevin McCarthy's bill also included an attempt to privatize Social Security, and Biden refused to negotiate, he'd be to blame by the Beltway press.
Remember, no matter how extreme Republicans have become, it's always the Democrats' fault, always.
