'That’s just math, congressman': CNN host schools GOP rep on actual effect of Trump cuts
Many opponents of the mass layoffs of federal workers being carried out by the Trump administration — with the help of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — are arguing that the layoffs will inflict a lot of economic pain without significantly reducing the United States' federal deficit.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tennessee), who is a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, vigorously defended President Donald Trump's economic policies and the DOGE cuts during a Tuesday afternoon, March 11 appearance on CNN. And host Brianna Keilar laid out some of the flaws with Burchett's math.
Burchett applauded Trump and Musk for tackling "waste, fraud and abuse" in the Pentagon as well as with "entitlement" programs.
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But Keilar, during the testy exchange, drew a distinction between "waste, fraud and abuse" and important government benefits.
Keilar told Burchett: "The issue is the cuts to the benefits versus waste, fraud and abuse ... The issue is that if you talk to folks who can actually know the amount of waste, fraud and abuse that you could tackle, they say you can't get that number of the cuts that he's talking about. They say you can't balance the budget, which is obviously something Republicans really want to do without being honest about cutting these entitlements. And yet, it seems something that Republicans are reticent to speak honestly about — that that's what would have to be done."
Keilar noted that economists who have been crunching the numbers with the Trump administration/DOGE cuts include those "who are interesting in that they are fiscally conservative." And Burchett responded, "Then, why don't they embrace the idea of exposing these things? They want to demonize Trump, and they want to demonize Elon Musk ... You all at CNN do not support one dadgum cut in any of this stuff."
The CNN host, however, maintained that economists who are criticizing the layoffs are concerned with "the math."
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Keilar told an angry Burchett: "I'm trying to do some math with you ... I'm looking at the numbers that DOGE has put out themselves. They say they're cutting contracts that have already ended. They say they're cutting a big amount; it turns out it's actually a smaller amount. That's just math, congressman. And we're going to continue to keep looking at the math."
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