On Friday, NBC's Today and CBS This Morning sympathized with left-wing Democrats upset by portions of a budget deal passed in the House Thursday night. On Today, correspondent Kelly O'Donnell declared: "Democrats had objected to a rollback of financial provisions that would help big Wall Street banks that take some high-risk investments with taxpayer ensured deposits. In the end, compromise, even ugly compromise, carried the night."
On This Morning, co-host Charlie Rose introduced a report on the legislation by remarking: "...some Democrats say House Republicans added Christmas presents to the bill for their friends." In the segment that followed, correspondent Nancy Cordes proclaimed: "Nancy Pelosi and her Democratic colleagues were furious about two last-minute additions to the bill, one allowing wealthy donors to give $324,000 per year to political parties, ten times the current limit, and another to roll back a key financial regulation that limits banks from trading in risky derivatives with government-backed funds."
Several soundbites ran of Democrats condemning the bill before Cordes finally noted conservative objections to the deal: "It wasn't just Democrats who had problems, a group of conservatives balked because the bill does not do more to block the President's recent immigration orders."
Wrapping up the story, Cordes again chided Republicans over another provision in the legislation: "In a controversial move, Republicans slipped in a measure blocking the District of Columbia from legalizing marijuana, even though 70% of local voters approved the pot measure last month. A lot of D.C. leaders are not happy about that."
On Today, O'Donnell made no mention of conservative opposition to the spending measure.
ABC's Good Morning America on Friday only featured two news briefs on the congressional deal, describing how the "crisis" of a "government shutdown" had been "averted."
Only NBC Nightly News did a full report on the budget compromise Thursday evening, hailing hard-left Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren as "the liberal wing's newest star." [1]
On Wednesday, Nightly News and ABC's World News Tonight both promoted liberal complaints [2] about the bill while ignoring criticism from conservatives.
Here are transcripts of the December 12 reports on Today and This Morning:
Today
7:10 AM ETMATT LAUER: Tamron is in while Natalie's on assignment. And lawmakers narrowly avoided shutting down the government.
TAMRON HALL: Quite a night in Washington, D.C. again. It is now, though, up to the Senate to pass a huge $1.1 trillion spending bill to keep the government running. The measure passed the House Thursday after a day of arm twisting. NBC's Capitol Hill correspondent Kelly O'Donnell with the very latest for us. Kelly, good morning.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Funding Bill Passes House; Senate Expected to Vote On $1.1 Trillion Measure]
KELLY O'DONNELL: Good morning, Tamron. The drama this time came from liberal Democrats who nearly scuttled the deal with hours to go before the deadline. The President got on the phone, the chief of staff from the White House was here. And by the narrowest of margins, the House did pass a government spending bill that keeps the federal agencies and departments running for a year.
Now, Democrats had objected to a rollback of financial provisions that would help big Wall Street banks that take some high-risk investments with taxpayer ensured deposits. In the end, compromise, even ugly compromise, carried the night. And so this was passed. It's now up to the Senate to follow through. The House also gave them a little wiggle room with extra deadline until Saturday. Tamron.
HALL: Alright, Kelly, thank you very much.
CBS This Morning
7:07 AM [7:07:31 - 7:09:53, 2 min 22 sec]
CHARLIE ROSE: The Senate could vote today on a budget bill to keep the government from shutting down. House members approved it by a small margin last night. Nancy Cordes is on Capitol Hill, where some Democrats say House Republicans added Christmas presents to the bill for their friends. Nancy, good morning.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Funding Bill Battle; House Passes Legislation Despite Late Add-Ons]
NANCY CORDES: Good morning. The House passed this $1.1 trillion spending bill with just two hours to spare last night. It funds the government, almost all of it, for nine months, and for Congress, that's an eternity. The House voted to fund the government, but only after a face-off that threatened to topple a carefully crafted compromise.
REP. NANCY PELOSI [D-CA]: This is a ransom. This is blackmail.
CORDES: Nancy Pelosi and her Democratic colleagues were furious about two last-minute additions to the bill, one allowing wealthy donors to give $324,000 per year to political parties, ten times the current limit, and another to roll back a key financial regulation that limits banks from trading in risky derivatives with government-backed funds.
REP. STEVE ISRAEL [D-NY]: If you're a big donor or if you're a big bank, we bail you out, but everybody else gets left out. Democrats should not be endorsing that view.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN [D-MA]: A vote for this bill is a vote for future taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street.
CORDES: The White House argued it was better to take a flawed deal now than wait until January.
JOSH EARNEST [WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY]: There's no doubt that the amount of leverage that Democrats have on Capitol Hill will be reduced as a result of the Republican gains that were made in the last midterm election.
CORDES: It wasn't just Democrats who had problems, a group of conservatives balked because the bill does not do more to block the President's recent immigration orders.
REP. DIANE BLACK [R-TN]: This lawless immigration overreach must not stand.
CORDES: But in the end, enough members from both sides said "Yes," to pass the bill by five votes.
In a controversial move, Republicans slipped in a measure blocking the District of Columbia from legalizing marijuana, even though 70% of local voters approved the pot measure last month. A lot of D.C. leaders are not happy about that.
The Senate could vote on this bill as early as today and then Congress can go home knowing that it has fulfilled one of its most basic duties, Jeff, that also turns out to somehow be one of its most difficult – funding the government.
JEFF GLOR: Nancy Cordes, thanks very much.
— Kyle Drennen is Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Kyle Drennen on Twitter. [3]