On Sunday’s This Week, Republicans taught ABC the 123s of how President Biden’s so-called Build Back Better (BBB) agenda was harmful to the middle-class and largely benefited more affluent Americans in blue states. And between Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, chief anchor and Clinton lackey George Stephanopoulos was in for a rough time.
After pressing Cassidy, who’s a doctor, about vaccinations, Stephanopoulos leaned on White House talking points to push back on his guest’s opposition to the Build Back Better bill. “But you're against the Build Back Better plan. You say it's going to fuel inflammation. The administration’s put forward 17 Nobel Prize-winning economists that said it won't,” he noted.
Cassidy immediately shot back by noting that those cherry-picked economists were looking at an outdated version of the bill. “If you go back, Glenn Kessler in The Washington Post looked at them. They said that was the bill they had then, not the bill they have now,” he said.
He also came armed with new analysis that proved how “bad, bad, bad” BBB actually was for the national debt and how the tax cuts only benefited the wealthy, raise prices on gasoline, and would allow federal control of preschools (Click "expand"):
The Wharton School of Business has a better analysis. Their analysis is it's about $1.53 billion in new revenue. But as it's probably going to be implemented, those things that don't sunset – that are supposed to sunset don’t, it's going to cost $4.65 trillion. $4.65 trillion on top of what the federal government is going to pay.
And my I make a note, George? One-third of the expenditures are tax cuts for billionaires. There's corporate welfare. It's going to raise the price of gasoline, at least, by about 20 cents a gallon. And it begins to have federal dictates as to how your child's preschool is handled, the curriculum even.
Stephanopoulos followed up by blaming Republicans for the need to raise the debt limit, which prompted Cassidy to call out how his host was omitting the fact Republicans were locked out of negotiations.
The Senator busted out the facts once more to explain to ABC’s viewers how the more affluent would benefit from electric car tax credits:
I wouldn't be giving the tax cuts to the billionaires that this bill does. The corporate welfare in this bill, if you earn $500,000 a year and buy an $80,000 electric vehicle, you can get like a $7,600 or $12,000 credit. What? My middle-class person can't afford a used car is paying for a tax credit for someone who makes 500,000 a year? Republicans wouldn’t agree to that. And yet, now we’re being asked to increase the debt limit to pay for it. That’s not a fair deal.
Later in the hour, Stephanopoulos tried a similar tactic with Christie, accusing Republicans of being hypocrites on tax cuts for only the wealth (which is not true).
Christie’s retort point out the “ideological” “hypocrisy” of Democrats of helping only the wealthy with tax cuts:
So, I think what they're seizing on is the ideological inconsistency, some would say hypocrisy, of saying you're for these folks, but on the other hand – Let me tell you, the average property tax bill in New Jersey is $8,000 a year. So, under the current SALT cap, everybody who has the average property taxes in New Jersey can fully deduct them. Who you're benefitting in New Jersey are the higher-income folks. And that's not the Democratic hymnal.
“So, when you're speaking – you know this George, when you're in politics and they’re speaking against brand, people kind of raise an eyebrow. And the SALT – lifting of the SALT cap is against brand Democrat moment and the Republicans are going to seize on it,” he said.
ABC’s poor attempt to defend President Biden’s Build Back Better Agenda was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Ring and Downy. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcript is below,click "expand" to read:
ABC’s This Week
November 28, 2021
9:15:58 a.m. Eastern(…)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You heard Senator Klobuchar on the Build Back Better plan. She believes the Democrats are going to get it done this month. I know you voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill. But you're against the Build Back Better plan. You say it's going to fuel inflammation. The administration’s put forward 17 Nobel Prize-winning economists that said it won't.
SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): So, those 17 – If you go back, Glenn Kessler in The Washington Post looked at them. They said that was the bill they had then, not the bill they have now. And they point out that if you're going to avoid inflation that you’ve to pay for it.
The Wharton School of Business has a better analysis. Their analysis is it's about $1.53 billion in new revenue. But as it's probably going to be implemented, those things that don't sunset – that are supposed to sunset don’t, it's going to cost $4.65 trillion. $4.65 trillion on top of what the federal government is going to pay.
And my I make a note, George? One-third of the expenditures are tax cuts for billionaires. There's corporate welfare. It's going to raise the price of gasoline, at least, by about 20 cents a gallon. And it begins to have federal dictates as to how your child's preschool is handled, the curriculum even.
What's not to like? It's a bad, bad, bad bill.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You mentioned the tax cuts. Republicans passed a huge tax cut under President Trump. That’s one of the things extending the debt limit has to pay for. So, why are you against extending the debt limit?
CASSIDY: Yeah. So, the debt limit, in the past, has been the result of bipartisan negotiations. Bipartisan, both about the spending, both about the debt limit. If you haven't noticed, Republicans have not been invited in at all to discuss this.
I wouldn't be giving the tax cuts to the billionaires that this bill does. The corporate welfare in this bill, if you earn $500,000 a year and buy an $80,000 electric vehicle, you can get like a $7,600 or $12,000 credit. What? My middle-class person can't afford a used car is paying for a tax credit for someone who makes 500,000 a year? Republicans wouldn’t agree to that. And yet, now we’re being asked to increase the debt limit to pay for it. That’s not a fair deal.
(…)
9:37:50 a.m. Eastern
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me put this question to Chris Christie. And of course, it's important to the state of New Jersey as well. But it is interesting to hear Republican senators who voted for the huge tax cuts under President Trump to be complaining about the tax cuts in the Democratic bill.
CHRIS CHRISTIE: Well, what I think is there's an ideological inconsistency. Right? So that the Democrats are saying, you know, “we're for the middle class folks.” In New Jersey, the middle-class folks – despite our high property taxes, the highest in the country – they will not be the ones who get the majority benefit from bringing the SALT cap tax back as a deduction. It will be folks in the higher income brackets who pay higher state and local taxes in blue states who will benefit from it.
So, I think what they're seizing on is the ideological inconsistency, some would say hypocrisy, of saying you're for these folks, but on the other hand – Let me tell you, the average property tax bill in New Jersey is $8,000 a year. So, under the current SALT cap, everybody who has the average property taxes in New Jersey can fully deduct them. Who you're benefitting in New Jersey are the higher-income folks. And that's not the Democratic hymnal.
So, when you're speaking – you know this George, when you're in politics and they’re speaking against brand, people kind of raise an eyebrow. And the SALT – lifting of the SALT cap is against brand Democrat moment and the Republicans are going to seize on it.
(…)
