exception and they said very loudly that that wasn t true. so i asked them, on the floor that night, i asked a simple question. will you agree not to cut social security, not to cut medicare? would they agree to protect these essential programs, lifeline for millions of americans. programs that these americans have been paying into every single paycheck they have earned since they started working. and that provide so much peace of mind. the bright lights and cameras on, those few republicans who were protesting, they agreed. they said they wouldn t cut it. that s how we protected social security and medicare from the beginning. and from it being cut, period. health care was another priority for me, a top priority. i made it clear from the outset, i would not agree to any cuts in medicaid, another essential lifeline for millions of americans including children in poverty, the elderly in nursing homes and americans living with
it s a real issue, and so that s not the circus. but you just want to try to avoid a situation that we had where this becomes a political football, and trying also just not to negotiate against ourselves, having to throw essential programs of the american people away, while still protecting, you know, tax breaks for billionaires, and so that s our concern. member of the new york times editorial board, mara gay, thanks being on this morning. thank you mara. thank you for your patience. pj taking a shot of citifield. i m not sure what that was about. she s a met s fan. senator chris murphy says the left needs a spiritual renaissance and so does america. the connecticut democrat will explain that next on morning joe. we re back in one minute. g joe. we re back in one minute
you re talking about things that are vulnerable, when we look at one of the concessions that was made here, about a quarter of the irs funding that was passed, so $20 billion being cut, out of the $80 billion that was promised to the u.s., this was put out there as a way to not only modernize the technology, but also to go after high-income tax cheats. and the reason behind all of this, this was going to bring in more revenue. do these cuts jeopardize that goal? well, look, we don t think they jeopardize the ultimate goal. if this was the budget that the president had written on his own, with a democratic congress, it would have preserved 100% of that funding. but this is the nature of a bipartisan compromise and the nature of governing, like the president said yesterday. there was a ten-year time horizon on those funds. we think the irs will still be able to do its job in terms of modernizing, improving customer service, and going after wealthy tax cheats. and some of those funds
this deal is being touted as a compromise both from the president and from mccarthy, as well. i want to bring up the debt limit deal framework that we are hearing about. including to your budget deal, your debt limit increase, no changes to medicaid. do you see this as a compromise. as i said, this hasn t been a real negotiation from the start. i am proud of the president for getting into the room, making sure that we held the line on the central programs. some of the early demands of these extremists who have been holding our country hostage have been absolutely devastating. they were talking about cutting social security and medicaid, eviscerating basic social programs of millions of americans depend on. so it looks like, based on what we re hearing from the white house, that they were able to hold the line on those essential programs.