it was a pandemic. so that shut down was merited in the early days of the trump administration. the wall street journal reminded us before the pandemic, poverty fell to the lowest place since 1959. look at the gains for different ethnic groups. hispanics up 7.1%. black americans, 7.9%. people remember this economy. it was not that long ago. they contrast it with what is going on now. that s right. unfortunately it seems like a distant memory. think about this. we have a government where we spend over $255 billion a year on the interest on debt alone. in fact, it s now getting over a trillion because of the current debt having skyrocketed. this is the same administration that we wasted $28 million, the department of v.a. on solar
it didn t work and now we have this across-the-board cut in defense and discretionary and you can t they can t don t have flexibility. and it is really going to bite and it is it is a ridiculous way to govern and i m i m hoping for two reasons that we can come to a settlement. one, because we should just from the point of view of the substance of having more rational budget but also just to prove to the american people we can do our most basic job. i think it is almost more important that we do something than what the details are. just to show that, you know, for the first time in four, five years, we can actually pass a budge net the united states congress. think of that. you know, you are in a unique position. you are an independent and we have the democrats and republicans at logger heads. the angus king plan. dealing with $255 billion in
relief keep that payroll tax relief and expanding unemployment benefits. i will say this. this is the president s initial proposal. the silence from the republicans is deafening. they can counter this. but all they have done is whine and weep and cry and laugh about like hysterical children. where is there for books will? be one less give the viewers the numbers. if there is a 50 billion dollars stimulus proposal for the infrastructure problem, he also wants to extend unemployment benefits and extend the two percentage point payroll tax and adding it all up together, it equals $255 billion out of the federal government pocket. we got into this cliff because
that proposal has come under heavy criticism from republicans who say wasn t serious. how speaker john boehner said he was flabbergasted. mitch mcconnell reportedly laughed out loud and in this debate over reducing the debt, the president is pushing for an additional $255 billion in spending. he wants those higher taxes to spend more, which is leading to some criticism. joining me now is brad blakeman, the former deputy to george w. bush. and chairman of the south carolina democratic party. a deal that is all about the republicans desire to cut back on the debt and deficit why would the president be proposing $255 billion in war spending? well, he s not. what he is proposing is shifting spending priorities. after those cuts, shifting priorities, and by the way this is infrastructure development. this is to make sure that people who have gone the payroll tax