Republican Congressman Dusty Johnson
of South Dakota.
Congressman, thanks
so much for taking the time this
You bet.
So.
So first on
the budget,
demands of your party
here, what specific programs
are you putting on the table to
Well, that's not how a negotiati
And in fact,
the law says that the president
to step forward with a budget fi
His team is going to miss
their February deadline.
They say they're not going to
get that done until March.
So here's what I think is step o
We need to have the president
and the speaker
in the same room that's going to
And we need to have President Bi
that he will negotiate
over the reckless
spending that our country
has been engaged in.
But as you know,
the debt ceiling
relates to budgets
already passed by Congress is in
with Republican votes
What are the positions?
Because a negotiation,
as you know, involves,
if you want to call it
that, involves two sides
presenting their positions.
Can you name a single
program that Republicans
would be willing to cut money
from to make a deal?
But see,
I think that's ridiculously unfa
And here's why.
The credit card bill comes to ou
We have maxed out our credit car
Now, of course,
listen, we're going
to pay that credit card bill.
We're legally obligated to do so
But rather than force
all of the onus on the Republica
which I know y'all love to do,
what a responsible, reasonable
and sensible family would do
is sit down together.
And by the way, I'm not doing th
Stop.
I don't want
putting all the onus on Republic
That's the law.
The law puts the onus on Congres
and the nation to pay its bill.
But but please go ahead.
Is there a program
that you can name
that you personally
would be willing to see money cu
Well, yeah,
there are lots of programs, but
but the point is,
I'm not going to negotiate
against the Republican Party on
The only thing that we're asking
today is for President
Biden to be responsible, sensibl
and reasonable
and being willing to come to the
and negotiate.
You know what's remarkable, mj?
Reporter She's great.
You know, she highlighted
how president biden is spending
taking jabs at kevin mccarthy.
How is kevin mccarthy
spending his time today?
He's getting together
with his republican team
to talk about
how do we try to bend these curv
from 20, 33 $32 trillion in debt
the our manu raju
is reporting that
defense budget
budget cuts are also on the tabl
Can you name a defense weapon
system or program
that you'd be willing to cut mon
if we honestly think that out of
or $900 billion in defense
spending a year
that there isn't anything
that can be cut.
I would just tell you
I think we've got to be willing
to roll up our sleeves
but I get what your goal is here
Your goal is to try to get Repub
to negotiate against themselves
and to try
to figure out what your position
when you're going
into a budget negotiation.
Presumably you have some program
that you'd be willing to cut.
So I'm asking the questions.
Can you name a defense program
to be willing to cut from?
Step one is to actually have
the president of United States
be willing to have this negotiat
I mean, why in the world
would Republicans
when the president
has the statutory obligation
to bring his budget forward firs
Why would we bring forth
all of these admittedly difficul
to discuss cuts?
Let the president off the hook.
He has shown a total unwillingne
to be the,
you know, the debt ceiling in th
The debt ceiling is about budgets already
and I should note that
when Republican presidents
were in office, George H.W.
Bush and Trump
Democrats did not push the count
the brink. And by the way,
Republicans did
not push their own Republican
president to the brink
on the debt ceiling.
Although I should note for our v
you voted against raising the de
ceiling yourself,
but the Republican leadership di
Why that difference?
Why push this president but not
I love this revisionist history.
Here are the facts for your view
After eight years of Republican
in the House.
Discretionary spending was lower
at the end of that
eight years than it was at the b
So why didn't Republicans
go to the brink?
It was because they had Republic
presidents
who were willing to work with th
on some of these much needed
spending cuts,
rather than a Joe Biden
who says he refuses.
He refuses to negotiate.
Listen, if we're really going
to get this done, it's
not about CNN or Joe Biden
putting all of the onus
on Republicans to identify cuts
it will be to responsible
men who should be the president,
United States
and the speaker of the House
sitting down to begin the negoti
rather than the onus
all being on one party.
I'm asking the question
because you represent
the Republican Party.
I've asked equal questions
of Democratic
lawmakers on this broadcast.
What you're welcome to watch
and I'll share with you afterwar
I do want to ask you about your
since you're on the China
Select Committee. It's a story.
It's an issue that I follow
quite closely.
Earlier this week,
we had an Air Force general,
the commander of Mobility
Command say that he believes
the US will go to war with China
in two years in the year 20, 25.
I know from speaking
to military officials that's not
Defense Department assessment.
But do you share that assessment
that the US and China are on the
of a hot war within two years ti
I do not share that assessment,
but I would tell you
that lots of reasonable
people are concerned
about a kinetic engagement
between China and the United Sta
in the next few years.
That's
why our work on the China
Select Committee is so important
and the three things that I thin
are most important, Robert.
Number one, our work will be bip
It has to be number two,
the Chinese people are not our e
The Chinese Communist
Party is our emissary.
And number three,
our committee has to be
our work
has to be wide ranging
because the threat of the CCP
is so wide ranging.
I don't share the assessment
about an actual hot war,
but we had better
make sure that we're prepared
to push back on Chinese aggressi
Congressman Dustin Johnson,
thanks so much
for joining us this morning.
Thank you for having me.