The Five react to Pelosi slamming media for not selling Biden agenda
Panel reacts to the House Speaker's marching orders
"The Five" reacted Wednesday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's, D-Calif., scolding the media for not "selling" Democrats' $3.5 trillion-Build Back Better plan during her press conference this week.
"Well I think you all could do a better job of selling it, to be very frank with you," Pelosi chided congressional journalists Tuesday.
"It's amazing that [Pelosi] can say that with a straight face," co-host Greg Gutfeld said. "But that's the advances of modern medicine. Is it her fault to expect [the media] to carry the water? I don't think it is."
PELOSI LECTURES REPORTERS, SAYS THEY 'COULD DO A BETTER JOB SELLING' BUILD BACK BETTER
Gutfeld emphasized the liberal media's role as advocates and mouthpieces of the Democratic Party.
"If you ask a lot of Democrats, they think the media is biased against them as well," co-host Dana Perino said. She added that former secretary of state Hillary Clinton would agree.
Perino also called out Pelosi's comments wherein she said the public "overwhelmingly supports" the bill.
"As soon as you start looking into it, people are saying, ‘Wait, we don’t really like this.' It's not a benign issue," Perino said. "All the polls are saying, ‘No, we don’t really think we need this. We don't think it will help us.'"
For an example, Perino pointed to the free pre-kindergarten component that would require all pre-kindergarten providers to have a college degree. This requirement would likely reduce the already-insufficient number of pre-K providers, but probably not the taxpayer cost of universal pre-K. The universal pre-K component would also exclude faith-based childcare providers from participating in the program.
"Pre-K basically is daycare, in reality," Geraldo Rivera said. "To have a college degree [is] unnecessary."
That's not the bill's only measure that drew the panelists' attention. "The Five" co-host Jesse Watters highlighted other unpopular provisions in the bill, which allocates $25 million for butterflies and $8 billion for climate police. It also "penalizes marriage" and heavily taxes small businesses.
Some other provisions include free college tuition for illegal aliens and $643 million for culturally-appropriate foods.
"What is that, Taco Tuesday?," Watters quipped.
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Democratic progressives have supported the budget reconciliation bill. Moderate Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) have so far opposed the legislation, citing too high of a price tag. Manchin has said he could support a $1.5 trillion bill instead.
Rivera asked the two senators "to be more specific" about their wishes for the bill.
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