House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Sunday defended Republican gains in a debt ceiling deal.
During an interview on Fox News, host Maria Bartiromo pushed McCarthy to explain why Republicans did not get more from debt ceiling negotiations.
"I want to go through some of the criticism of this bill because some people say it really was different," she said, noting McCarthy failed to repeal funding for 87,000 IRS agents. She also pointed out that Republicans failed to get work requirements for Medicaid.
"Well, that's not true, Maria," McCarthy interrupted. "Maria, Maria, you're saying things that are not true."
"We repealed the 1.4 billion they would spend on hiring new [IRS] agents this year, so no new agents are being hired," he continued. "This is scored as the largest cut."
McCarthy also suggested he had won a badge of honor because progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) had voted against the bill.
"Did we get it in everything?" he added. "No, but we got [work requirements] in welfare that puts people back to work, the core of what we looked for."
"To be clear, the bulk of that money is still in the bill that the president signed," Bartiromo pushed back.
"OK, Maria, Maria, pause for one moment," McCarthy pleaded. "Maria, pause for one moment. That was already in law. We do not have the Senate. We do not have the presidency. But we just stopped them from hiring any IRS agents."
