The journalists at CBS This Morning on Monday placed the blame for the government shutdown on Donald Trump and the Republicans. Co-host Gayle King pressured the President to “do more” on ending the stalemate. The journalists failed to point out that Chuck Schumer in 2013 vowed not to shut down the government over immigration.
Talking to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Mick Mulvaney, King demanded, “Mick, talk about dysfunction for just a minute. Do you think the President should be doing more? He prides himself on being a deal maker.” (King, it should be reminded, is a Barack Obama fundraiser.)
Co-host John Dickerson mentioned Schumer, but put the responsibility for ending the shutdown on Trump’s actions: “You mentioned the meeting on Friday between Chuck Schumer and the President. That didn't work. Who has to be in the room in your estimation this morning?"
This might have been a good time to highlight Chuck Schumer’s October 6, 2013 declaration to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that Democrats would never shut down the government over immigration. But, of course, the remark didn’t come up on CBS.
Instead of Democratic hypocrisy, King tried to tout examples of Republicans being guilty of it:
You have experience, Director Mulvaney, with a shutdown. You voted for it over the issue of ObamaCare back in 2013 and now the Democrats are holding it up for DACA. Why was it okay back in 2013 and not okay now?
A transcript of the questions can be found below:
CBS This Morning
1/22/18
8:07NORAH O’DONNELL: Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget joins us from the White House. He's responsible for taking the steps necessary to implement the government shutdown. Director Mulvaney, good morning.
MICK MULVANEY: Good morning. Thanks very much for having me.
O’DONNELL: I want to get to the particulars of whether there will be a deal. But first, this. The death benefits to the families of military members killed in action will not be paid during this shutdown. Is the White House pushing Congress to act on this?
MULVANEY: Absolutely for that reason and a myriad of other reasons. I think that everyone admitted and acknowledges the President did not want to shut it down, actively worked to prevent the shutdown.
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JOHN DICKERSON: Mick, Senator McCaskill looked to with hold pay for members of Congress while the government is shut down. Should that happen?
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KING: Well, you have experience, Director Mulvaney, with a shutdown. You voted for it over the issue of ObamaCare back in 2013 and now the Democrats are holding it up for DACA. Why was it okay back in 2013 and not okay now?
MULVANEY: Keep in mind, when you say vote for a shutdown, what you do is vote for or against a funding bill, and in 2013, conservative Republicans like myself were asked to vote for a funding bill that included full funding for ObamaCare, something to which we objected. And for that reason, we refused to vote for it. This is different. This is something the likes of which Washington has never seen before.
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KING: Mick, talk about dysfunction for just a minute. Do you think the President should be doing more? He prides himself on being a deal maker.
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JOHN DICKERSON: Mick, who do you think has to get in a room to together to figure this out? You mentioned the meeting on Friday between Chuck Schumer and the President. That didn't work. Who has to be this the room in your estimation this morning?
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DICKERSON: Mick, how long does this last for?
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O’DONNELL: Did you talk to the president this weekend? Was he upset that he did not make it to Mar-a-Lago for the celebration of his one year in office?
MULVANEY: No. I think the President was upset the government was closed and we were talking about this in media instead of the tax plan and how many jobs he’s created and the stock market and how we’ve created ISIS.
