jeff stein ponder john fetterman to make him sound coherent, profound. to make him sound strong.t's modern journalism. and another moment, another eye-opening moment last week, in another moment of perhaps incoherence for this nation, and a 9-year-old di dianne feinstein came back and cast her vote in months. they didn't seem to realize that she missed a beat or two or misty vote. or two. despite at times being in the hospital for a long stays and most certainly not spending time in the united states capitol. if she said "no, i haven't been gone. i haven't been gone. i've been working. "what is going on here? who is using these people? they are useful idiots for home. if her jill biden, for gisele fetterman, for chuck schumer, we heard the united states of america were once led by strong men and in america we were led by visionaries not only who won a revolution against an empire, but had the humility to limit their own power through eternal principles enshrined in the constitution. titans, historic titans. and globally, we were led by men who between glasses of brandy and scotch

joining me now is jeff stein, the washington post white house economics reporter. t hard to follow all this, partly because it's opaque, partly because i think a lot of the stated rationale for a lot of it doesn't make a lot of sense. but if i am following it properly, about 85% of the total federal budget has been taken off the table by republicans, as have increases in revenue, increases in taxes, closing tax loopholes. so, it's like there's a tiny sliver of the budget left, and that's gonna have to get fairly severe cuts according to the math provided by the republican house caucus, right? >> well, what the republicans would say is that the numbers that they are proposing would still be below, even adjusting for inflation, what president obama called for at the end of his administration. so, by some standard, this is historically aided by european standards, western democracies, i look at levels of spending as percentage of gdp, but relative to where we were at the end of the obama administration, of course, if you are someone who relies on one of the dozens of p

just bring up this "the washington post" quote on advertise, jeff stein quoting fetterman at this hearingement after we bail out your bank. republicans more snap requirements hungry people than taxpayers who have to bail out these banks. in reality, this is what he said. >> shouldn't you have a working requirement after we sale your bank -- billions in your bank? because seem more preoccupied than snap -- requirements for works for hungry people but not about protecting the taxpayers that, you know, will bail them out of whatever does about a bank to crash it. >> bret: so when you bring this up, people say you are being critical of somebody who is having a problem. what do you say? >> well, i think we all would have sympathy for what john fetterman has been through. he had a very serious stroke. it could have killed him. but, what he was quoted as saying first of all "the washington post" cleaned that up and put it in quotation marks completely dishonest. >> bret: that reporter apologized and took the tweet down. >> good for him for doing that. he should have. but the -- the remark he mad

i'm going to shoto show w you ,t least in part, how a washington post reporter named jeff stein i watched that same clip we just played. jusand he transcribed it ineade a tweet. senaead like thi this.s, senaton fetterman to svp executive greg beckersv. av shouldn't you have a working requirement after we bailout your bank? tewejeff stein laundered john fetterman to make him sound coherent, to make him sound profound, to make him sound strong. that's modern journalism. that'sin another moment, anothee opening moment last week inhe another moment of perhaps incoherence for this nation. eighty nine year old dianne feinstein came back to the senate and cast her firstcast h vote in three months. but the california democrat didn'ter seem to realize that se had missed a beat or two or missed a vote or two despite times being in the hospital for mong extended stays and most certainlsty not spending time in the united states capitol. she said , quote, no sai, i hav. been gone.n' you should. i haven't been gone.t beeni've i've been working. what is going on here? >> who is using these people? they'