CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Confronts Pro-Trump Congressman Over Credit Rating Downgrade
CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins confronted Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) over the downgrade of the United States’ credit rating, saying this is not what President Donald Trump’s supporters voted for.
Moody’s announced Friday they were dropping the U.S. credit rating from the AAA category to AA1, a first.
On Friday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Collins confronted Burchett over the downgrade amid wrangling over a budget bill that adds trillions to the deficit:
COLLINS: Yes, I’ve never said that. I think I’ve raised questions about how Republicans are going to achieve their goals, and get what they want if they don’t make those cuts? And so, Speaker Mike Johnson has said to wait and see what happens.
But I do ask, because tonight we saw Moody’s downgrade the United States credit rating, and they cited, in part, tax cuts, if they happen, and also the deficit going up. And I wonder, if that concerns you, Congressman. They cited Republicans and Democrats, I should note, in this, because the deficit has been a problem for years.
BURCHETT: Yes.
COLLINS: I know you care about that. Are you worried about that tonight?
BURCHETT: I am. But they said over the next 10 years, under Trump’s plan, that it could add $4 trillion to the deficit. But under Joe Biden, every 100 days, we added a trillion dollars. So you figure, 400 days, that’s $4 trillion.
So, he’s actually slowing the rate of our degradation down, if you will. And that’s what you got to do. You got a car coming at you, you need it to go the other way? It’s got to come to a stop at some point. And that’s what President Trump is doing, and I believe that’s what they’re trying to do with this.
Does it go as far as I want? No, it doesn’t. But that’s just the way it works. Not everybody’s going to be as conservative as I am. And not everybody is worried about our credit rating, and worried about spending money we don’t have, which is what we’ve been doing the last four years. So every dollar we sent to Ukraine was borrowed.
COLLINS: Well I just–
BURCHETT: So we have to — we have to be careful, and we have to be fiscally responsible.
COLLINS: I ask, because you’re criticizing how President Biden and Democrats were spending. It was in 2012, four years before Trump was ultimately elected, that he posted, You get what you vote for. The U.S. credit rating is about to be downgraded once again.
What do you say to Republican voters who say, This is not what I wanted to happen and is why I voted for President Trump?
BURCHETT: It’s better than it was. We’re in it — we’re on a better trajectory than we were under Joe Biden. I mean, it’s proven even. All economists will tell you that. But it’s not as good as it needs to be, and I don’t think it’s as good as President Trump wants it to be. I think that it’s — but it’s closer than we’ve ever been.
Watch above via CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.
