CBS Boosts White House's Doom and Gloom Talking Points About Sequester
Charlie Rose led Monday's CBS This Morning by hyping the allegedly catastrophic effect of the sequester during a promo for a report from correspondent Major Garrett: "Kids
without vaccines; schools without teachers; and massive airport delays –
we'll show you the worst-case scenario for government spending cuts."
Garrett himself could have been mistaken for an Obama administration
flack as he devoted much of the segment to publicizing the White House's
bombast about the impending $85 billion in spending cuts. He
uncritically forwarded the administration's hype about the general and
local effect of the cuts, which are set to take effect on March 1:
MAJOR GARRETT: The White House says these $85 billion in pending spending cuts to basic government services will hit consumers hard, could jeopardize economic growth, and significantly slow commercial air travel....
The White House tabulated the state-by-state impact of the cuts. In
New York, 12,000 furloughs of civilian Defense Department employees; in
Missouri, 1,200 fewer children in Head Start; and in California, more
than 15,000 children would go without vaccines.
Co-anchor Norah O'Donnell echoed Rose's teaser just before turning to Garrett: "What happens next could have far-reaching implications from classrooms to hospitals to airports."
The former Fox News journalist then launched into his first summary of
the administration's spin, which included the "hit consumers hard" line,
and played two consecutive soundbites of Cabinet members giving their
doom and gloom talking points.
Later, Garrett did play a single eight-second clip from a
Republican/conservative – Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. But he soon
followed it with a soundbite from freshman Democratic Senator Tim Kaine
from Virginia, giving his report a three-to-one Democratic to Republican
disparity.
This isn't the first time that the CBS journalist has acted as a White
House stenographer since becoming the Big Three network's chief White
House correspondent in November 2012. Back in January 2013, he spotlighted the administration's reaction to the Senate's temporary fiscal cliff fix: "I would say the three dominant words can be described as this: relief, a sense of triumph, and also, a sense of regret."
The full transcript of Major Garret's report on Monday's CBS This Morning:
CHARLIE ROSE: Congress and the White House have just four days to stop $85 billion in automatic spending cuts.
NORAH O'DONNELL: What happens next could have far-reaching implications from classrooms to hospitals to airports.
Major Garrett is at the White House. Major, good morning.
[CBS News Graphic: "Countdown To Cuts: Dire Warnings of Sequester's Consequences"]
MAJOR GARRETT: Well, good morning, Norah and Charlie. The White House
says these $85 billion in pending spending cuts to basic government
services will hit consumers hard, could jeopardize economic growth, and
significantly slow commercial air travel. Republicans call much of this
political hype, but it appears some pink slips are going out.
GARRETT (voice-over): The Education Department has already put some
teachers on notice: spending cuts mean your job could disappear.
GARRETT (from interview on CBS's "Face the Nation"): Is there a sky is
falling aspect to any of the things you're talking about?
ARNE DUNCAN, SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: But what it does – it creates
tremendous instability, and there are literally teachers now who are
getting pink slips – who are getting notices they can't come back this
fall.
GARRETT (voice-over): Another part of the White House full court press:
warnings about flight delays due to understaffed air traffic control
towers.
RAY LAHOOD, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION (from interview on CNN's "State
of the Union"): There has to be some kind of furlough of air traffic
control – air traffic controllers, and that then will also begin to
curtail or eliminate the opportunity for them to guide planes in and out
of airports.
GARRETT: The White House tabulated the state-by-state impact of the
cuts. In New York, 12,000 furloughs of civilian Defense Department
employees; in Missouri, 1,200 fewer children in Head Start; and in
California, more than 15,000 children would go without vaccines.
The only consensus in Washington: these spending cuts are coming.
Republicans said the White House could come up with less painful cuts.
GOV. BOBBY JINDAL, (R), LOUISIANA (from interview on NBC's "Meet the
Press"): My advice to the President is, stop the campaigning; stop
sending out your Cabinet secretaries to scare the American people; roll
up your sleeves, and do the hard work of governing.
GARRETT: The Senate will begin debates for the first time on an
alternative to these across-the-board cuts. Even some Democrats are
frustrated with the slow pace of action.
SEN. TIM KAINE, (D), VIRGINIA (from interview on CBS's "Face the
Nation"): I'm new here. I've been in the Senate for about six weeks.
There's no reason we should be playing this kind of brinksmanship.
GARRETT (on-camera): This debate is generally about the federal debt
and more than $16 trillion in national debt. An alternative to these
pending spending cuts, made up whether of new cuts or tax increases and
some other different cuts, won't change that essential problem. Those
numbers won't be reduced until the country has a debate about cost
savings to entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid, and that's not part
of the discussion at all. Charlie and Norah?
ROSE: Major Garrett, thanks.
