CNN This Morning bashed Republicans for a military spending bill that excluded payments for abortion, diversity promotion, and transgender care to military personnel on Friday. Its reporters exaggerated the past bipartisanism of the bill, claimed Republicans were throwing a fit and using the military as a political pawn, and seemingly compared the cut benefits to rolling back racial integration.
Anchor Phil Mattingly introduced the bill as “the cornerstone of U.S. defense policy” and “a pillar of bipartisan agreement,” and CNN congressional correspondent Lauren Fox referred to more than 60 years of bipartisan support this bill previously received.
“And for a long time, Republicans and Democrats put aside their partisan bickering on these topics because they knew that this was essential, and you never wanted to take a vote against the military, right?” Fox said. “Because everybody understood at the end of the day they were standing up for something bigger than politics.”