>> battle lines drawn in the debt ceiling debate. >> social security and medicare, guaranteed. >> a likely preview of reelection priorities. >> we need to shrink washington and grow america. >> a powerful wing of the gop issues its new demands ahead of the debt ceiling deadline. >> we will never surrender to the welcome of. >> top republican contenders make their pitches in a critical state. >> this is "washington week," corporate funding is provided by -- >> consumer cellular provides wireless service that helps

people connect. to learn more, visit our website. >> additional funding is provided by the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences. these individuals. robert and susan rosenbaum. the corporation from public broadcasting and by contributions from viewers like you. thank you. >> good evening and welcome to "washington week." early battle lines are converging between democrats and republicans as the deadline to raise the debt ceiling moves. at a speech in philadelphia, the president unveiled his proposed spending plan for the next fiscal year by previewing his priorities heading into the

election cycle. $6.8 trillion budget would increase military spending and a wide range of new social programs. it also aims to reduce future budget deficits by nearly $3 trillion of the next decade through savings and tax increases on corporations and the very wealthiest americans. it funds medicare by taxing households earning over $400,000. the president issued this challenge to speaker kevin mccarthy. >> i am ready to meet with the speaker any time. tomorrow if he has his budget. i will show you what i want to do. we will see what we agree and don't agree on. >> the house freedom caucus, a critical voting block, announced what they are arguing is necessary rollbacks to government spending. >> the only thing is responsible is for government to tighten. inflation is caused by massive

overspending by the federal government. the only way for america to grow is for washington to shrink. >> among the demands, ending the president's student loan forgiveness program, work requirements for welfare recipients, taking back billions of unspent covid-19 funds, money for irs for tax enforcement, and climate change spending. in a near freeze on discretionary spending for 10 years. joining me to discuss this is more is the chief white house correspondent for the new york times. the white house correspondent for the pbs newshour. and the co-author of the washington post. welcome to you all. thank you for being here. let's start with this fact. a budget is a statement of values. it is a wish list. what does this particular budget tell us about how the white

house sees their leverage right out? >> this is a big wish list from the president. he is trying to get reelected. he did a lot of asks in the first couple of years. he is doing some things on more spending. more spending on the border. he is trying to protect himself on those issues. all of that being said, the president's try to show the public that this is what he wants to do if he is reelected. he thinks democrats can run on all of these issues. public sentiment is on his side.

>> that message on deficit reduction, that struck me because that has been a ce republican message. why is the white house leaning into it? >> he is trying to outflank the republicans. they care about that when the democrats are in power. it unites them. what president biden is trying to do is say i will meet you there. let me do it my way by taxing the rich. he is trying to reclaim his more centrist persona. speaking to the values of most americans. he said the crime bill was too extreme for him. and immigration at the border. >> when you look at the

proposals from t house freedom caucus, that is a wing of the party that almost cost kevin mccarthy his speakership. have we heard from him on what he thinks of these proposals? >> it is really interesting update came out with their proposals today. the reason is they are the first ones to come out with them. what has been happening for a few weeks is the republican whip has been counting the votes. he has been holding listening sessions for republicans in small groups to find out what they need in the budget. while he is holding these listening sessions, the freedom

caucus has come out with their demands. it shows how difficult and tricky this is going to be for speaker mccarthy. >> they can come to some kind of compromise. >> i think that is exactly right. they do not have a single core beliefs. the problem with mccarthy in terms of what he wants to do, that is really hard to do. people don't remember how much of our budget is spent on those three things. what are you going to do? you have to cut 70% of everything else. veterans care, transportation. they have not explained how they

want to do that. >> thank you for coming back to that. the republican budget was supposed to b out april 15. that is what leadership said to me. now it will probably be delayed a few weeks. that is a challenge for them not only for timing. they need to come to agreement. >> that gives the president ammunition to go after them. i gave out my priorities today. they were out there talking to reporters saying we are waiting for them to say what they are going to prioritize. how they are going to affectively issue these cuts. how they are going to stick to their promise. after that they will start having conversations. >> it is a tough question.

the president has said over and over again i am ready to meet with speaker mccarthy. given where we are now, seeing the budget and the opening volley from the house freedom caucus, what is that first conversation going to look like? >> they have had someone of that conversation already. we know it is going to be difficult. i'm sure president biden will be asking over and over again, do you have the votes? if you agree to something with me? well the rest of your conference vote for it? ultimately democrats might have to come over and provide the remaining boats. when we get to the debt ceiling conversation, and whether or not the country goes over the fiscal cliff, there are a number of republicans who do not want to vote for anything. that will be hard for mccarthy. >> when you look at the time line, looking ahead to the debt

ceiling debate, we know there is a hard date coming in summer where they will have two raise the ceiling. republican say they will not go over the fiscal cliff. they will avoid it. is that what you are hearing? >> that is what mccarthy has said. that is what most republicans say. how they get there is the hard part. that is going to be most difficult. president biden once to separate these issues. house republicans do not. that is what the challenge is. if you can't even agree what you're going to vote on or the contours of it, it makes it very difficult. i will say, there is a little bit of a realization among some in the more far right faction of the party who is realizing that they will not get everything that they want. that is not all ofhem.

it will take a lot of education and work from republican leadership to get people on board. >> that is something we will follow closely in the weeks ahead. 2024 hopefuls this week set their sights on the key state of iowa. ron desantis has yet to officially enter the race but he did make a stop in i to test on his message. >> we say very clearly in the state of florida, we will never surrender to the woke mob. our state is where woke goes to die. >> president trump well visit iowa on sunday. a new poll shows the percentage of iowa republicans who say they would definitely vote for trump if he were the nominee has plummeted more than 20 points since june of 2021. those numbers when you look at them, 69% of iowa republicans, now it is 47%.

still pretty strong. what does that number mean to you? >> he knows there is weakness. that is what he is getting out. he has not done much since he announced his presidency. he is watching the santos read -- ron desantis breathing down his neck. trump has the advantage of numbers. that is all you need. he is counting on people getting in. he said the more the merrier. there is a certain number of republicans who are not going to vote for him. they are looking for somebody else. a risk of indictment now seems to be looming. it is a pretty volatile moment. >> you look at those numbers and you dig into them, favorability ratings for many of the

candidates, his favorability is still among the highest among republicans. it is on par with ron desantis. what are you hearing? >> the field seems to be donald trump and ron desantis. that wing of the party. ron desantis is trying to peel off that base. then you have everybody else. it is really early. every election cycle there is a front runner early on. that front runner very rarely becomes the nominee. scott walker jumped into the race. and then he was gone. >> exactly. >> i think it is the base that

you have to win a primary. if they can cut into that, there is concern among republicans. that they will dilute the field. >> there are a number of republicans who maybe want to run. who say a crowded field is going to hurt us again. we will clear the way for mr. trump to win. that is why larry hogan decided not to run. at this stage when you look at where folks are, there was the never trump wing. now there is the thank you, next wing. is there an organized anti-trump effort of any kind? >> the short answer is no. there are a number of republicans trying to say it is

time to move on. that is the whole reason you see ron desantis and nikki haley. when it comes down to their policies and messages, they are nearly identical. there may be a conversation about if they are done with the man himself. potentially. there is no one who is forcefully trying to distance themselves from trump. ron desantis is running on his platform of legislation. florida just introduced a six week abortion ban. if a woman who gets an exemption for rape and incest, she has to provide proof. ron desantis says he supports it. i was talking to a republican strategist who said that type of messaging and platforming work in a primary. it is not necessarily going to

work in a general election. >> i talked to larry hogan and asa hutchinson this week. they said the next nominee has to be someone who can broaden the appeal. beyond the maga base. is there a moderate candidate? who republicans would get behind? is there anyone who stands out? >> that is the challenge. what candidate can get through a republican primary and also when a general election? that is the challenge right now. i talked a lot of republica on capitol hill. every has different ideas. a lot of people want someone other than trump. they are looking for something else. he still has a lot of support among the days. we analyze this. trump-endorsed over 160 people in the midtes.

people are starting to look elsewhere. who is that person? >> we always talk about the trump lane and the non-trump lane. they are all running for the same candidates. except personality. i can be trump without the baggage. that is what the messages. i am your guy without the indictments. without january 6. i am the guy who can move on. desantis is half the age of biotin. you can make -- biden. you can make a similar argument. >> you don't see a ton of report for -- support for desantis. >> asa hutchinson is a respected

former governor of arkansas. he was one of the impeachment managers for bill clinton. guys like him to not have appeal because they do not have that visceral connection with the base. are they willing to get behind people like that. he said nice things about him. >> another point of what we are talking about is the republican party beyond trump? the republican party as a whole, they do not call him out about january 6. they don't confront him about saving constitution should be terminated. they want to revise history.

the party as a whole is excusing him on january 6. and trying to revise history. >> i want to ask about the fact that we have seen a revision of history unfold on fox. we all know the role the media plays. in pushing that false claim. i want to share one of those text messages was revealed. this is from tucker carlsen. talking about then president trump. saying we are very close to being able to ignore him. i cannot wait. he said he hated him passionately. knowing what we know now, does

any of this make a dent? >> is a good question. we have learned how much fox is afraid of their own leadership. trump is afraid of his own base. he could have bragged about vaccines. he became afraid. we got a hold of this meeting that they had. they were taking so much blowback. that is not what journalism is supposed to be. but they are so captive to that. most fox viewers are not watching.

>> whether it makes a difference with the base, i don't think we know yet. when i was at cpac and i asked people about what was coming out , they said they excused it and said i still believe trump. i still believe the election was stolen. they didn't say they would stop watching fox. when we look at what fox did and what some the of these host did, it is very clearly propaganda. they were deciding to prioritize their profit. and what they thought would be profitable. versus what the actual facts were. they wanted to help jared kushner. that is why he revealed biden's

ad buys head of when they were released. he said he wanted to help his friend. that is not a news organization. >> 30 seconds left, what is your take? >> it really shines a light on what is happening behind the scenes. looking at fox, we look at that much differently now. now it is clear. they decided to ignore it. they should have a huge credibility issue on their hands. we will see where this goes. ultimately legally i'm not sure if it is enough for the minion to win the lawsuit. i am not a lawyer. >> that is "washington week" for tonight. thank you for sharing your reporting. be sure to watch pbs news weekend for the latest on the millions nationwide who are at

risk of losing medicaid coverage as the covid public health emergency winds down. good night from washington. >> corporate funding for washington week is provided by -- >> consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans. our customer service team can help find the plan that fits you. to learn more, visit our website. >> additional fundg is provided by the yuen foundation. committed to bridging culral differences in our communities. these individuals. robert and susan rosenbaum. and by contributions to pbs by viewers like you. thank you. ♪

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