CBS' Face The Nation Is Unaware That Obama Has A Budget Plan

Face the Nation guest host Nancy Cordes falsely suggested that President Obama does not have a plan to cut the deficit. Cordes compared Obama to Republican vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), who Cordes claimed has released a plan that makes “tough choices.” In fact, Obama has a detailed plan to reduce the deficit.

Cordes said to Obama campaign manager Stephanie Cutter:

What about this argument by Republicans who point to Paul Ryan's plan and say, “hey, it may not all be popular, but at least he's making the tough choices”? We've got a $15 trillion debt, we've got entitlements that are exploding, and at least he's willing to put his plan out on the table while the president, at least initially, did not embrace his plan, the Bowles-Simpson plan.

Cutter responded that Obama has a plan, which is available on the White House website. She added that Obama's plan “does make those tough choices,” but is “not an ideological document like Paul Ryan's plan.”

Later, Cordes claimed that Obama may have a plan on his website, but on the campaign trail, Obama mostly talks about “raising taxes on the two percent. Where are the other bold plans that require sacrifice from the rest of the country?” Cutter pointed Cordes again to the White House website and noted that Obama has not only talked about his budget cutting plans, he has given an address to a joint session of Congress about it.

Cutter proceeded to provide details of Obama's plan to reduce the deficit.

Cordes' argument echoes false assertions by right-wing media figures who have tried to deflect attention away from the extremism of Ryan's budget proposal.

But the fact remains that Obama does have a deficit-cutting plan, one that's been lauded for its specifics and includes a combination of spending cuts and tax increases, with an emphasis on near-term stimulus and middle-term deficit reduction -- a hierarchy of priorities that coincides with the advice of economists, who note that unemployment is still the most immediate need.

And Obama's plan does not “def[y] the rules of math” as Romney's plan does. Nor can it be  dubbed “the most fraudulent budget in American history” as Ryan's plan can.