Coons: It ‘Will Be Difficult’ to Accept Cuts to Domestic Spending

On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said that a debt ceiling deal that is only about cuts to domestic spending “will be difficult, because, for many of us, investing in education, workforce, health care is important.”

Host Martha MacCallum asked, “[I]sn’t it incumbent upon all of you to figure out a way to cut some spending? Clearly, there’s waste in government spending.”

Coons answered, “Martha, there [are] two parts of balancing any budget…there’s revenue and there’s spending. And our challenge here is that the House Republican majority is determined to make the Trump tax cuts permanent. That’s at a cost of $3.5 trillion in additional lost revenue over a decade. President Biden has continued to try and put on the table different proposals, ways that we could close tax loopholes or promote tax fairness or ensure that those who owe taxes are paying them –.”

MacCallum then cut in to ask, “But that’s all on the tax side, not on the spending side, Senator. Why not cut spending?”

Coons responded, “All I’m trying to say, Martha, is that the debate that is being held right now between Speaker McCarthy and President Biden and their representatives is a debate that is only on one side of the ledger, it’s on cutting spending going forward. And my strong hunch is it will end up, at the end of the day, being only about cutting domestic spending that isn’t the Defense Department. That will be difficult, because, for many of us, investing in education, workforce, health care is important.”

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