NBC’s Curry: Do Tea Party Members of Congress ‘Know How to Govern’?
In a discussion with Meet the Press host David Gregory and Tom Brokaw on Monday's NBC Today about the debt ceiling deal, co-host Ann Curry contemptuously wondered: “…do you think that members of the Tea Party Caucus know how to govern or are they – do they understand that standing up for a cause is not the same as governing?” [ Audio available here ] Interestingly, Brokaw rejected Curry's argument: “Well, I don't think that you can separate the two. The fact is that they were elected to pursue the goals that they took before their constituents and said, 'This is what we believe in, this is why we're going to Washington.' And they have changed the tenor of the debate there and the details of it.” He further added: “…this has been a big morning for them so far…” View video after the jump Undeterred, Curry fretted to Gregory: “Well, what's to stop this same caucus, the Tea Party Caucus, from blocking the work of this new subcommittee, without the threat of the debt – of a default, David?” Curry went on to blame the weak economy on the debt ceiling debate: “What about an emotional impact on the recovery? In other words, is there potentially, even with what we think is now a deal, is there – has there already been a negative impact on the economy, Tom?” Brokaw warned that any cut in government spending could do further damage: A lot of people, both in the private sector and the public sector, do worry that these cuts will take out what is an imperfect stimulus, we know that. A lot of the money that is helping to prop up the economy right now is public money, it's government money. These cuts will pull that out or reduce a lot of those. The impact of that on what we know is a very fragile economy remains to be seen.
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on August 1, 2011. Filed under