Stephanie
Diamond Member
- Jul 11, 2004
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my my...the Obama DOESN'T lie now does he...
The president went too far in his critique of the House Republicans' deficit-reduction plan.
April 15, 2011
Summary
President Barack Obama misrepresented the House Republicans budget plan at times and exaggerated its impact on U.S. residents during an April 13 speech on deficit reduction.
■Obama claimed the Republicans "Path to Prosperity" plan would cause "up to 50 million Americans to lose their health insurance. But that worst-case figure is based in part on speculation and assumptions.
■He said the GOP plan would replace Medicare with "a voucher program that leaves seniors at the mercy of the insurance industry." Thats an exaggeration. Nothing would change for those 55 and older. Those younger would get federal subsidies to buy private insurance from a Medicare exchange set up by the government.
■He said "poor children," "children with autism" and "kids with disabilities" would be left "to fend for themselves." That, too, is an exaggeration. The GOP says states would have "freedom and flexibility to tailor a Medicaid program that fits the needs of their unique populations." It doesnt bar states from covering those children.
■He repeated a deceptive talking point that the new health care law will reduce the deficit by $1 trillion. Thats the Democrats own estimate over a 20-year period. The Congressional Budget Office pegged the deficit savings at $210 billion over 10 years and warned that estimates beyond a decade are "more and more uncertain."
■He falsely claimed that making the Bush tax cuts permanent would give away "$1 trillion worth of tax cuts for every millionaire and billionaire." That figure which is actually $807 billion over 10 years refers to tax cuts for individuals earning more than $200,000 and couples earning more than $250,000, not just millionaires and billionaires.
■He said the tax burden on the wealthy is the lowest it has been in 50 years. But the most recent nonpartisan congressional analysis showed that the average federal tax rate for high-income taxpayers was lower in 1986.
For more about the presidents deficit-reduction speech, please read our Analysis section.
Analysis
This week, President Barack Obama laid out his ideas on how to curb the growing deficit over the next decade and more and he spent much of the afternoon speech at George Washington University criticizing a deficit-reduction plan, called "Path to Prosperity," released by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. But his critique strayed at times from the facts.
read it ALL here.
FactChecking Obama’s Budget Speech | FactCheck.org
The president went too far in his critique of the House Republicans' deficit-reduction plan.
April 15, 2011
Summary
President Barack Obama misrepresented the House Republicans budget plan at times and exaggerated its impact on U.S. residents during an April 13 speech on deficit reduction.
■Obama claimed the Republicans "Path to Prosperity" plan would cause "up to 50 million Americans to lose their health insurance. But that worst-case figure is based in part on speculation and assumptions.
■He said the GOP plan would replace Medicare with "a voucher program that leaves seniors at the mercy of the insurance industry." Thats an exaggeration. Nothing would change for those 55 and older. Those younger would get federal subsidies to buy private insurance from a Medicare exchange set up by the government.
■He said "poor children," "children with autism" and "kids with disabilities" would be left "to fend for themselves." That, too, is an exaggeration. The GOP says states would have "freedom and flexibility to tailor a Medicaid program that fits the needs of their unique populations." It doesnt bar states from covering those children.
■He repeated a deceptive talking point that the new health care law will reduce the deficit by $1 trillion. Thats the Democrats own estimate over a 20-year period. The Congressional Budget Office pegged the deficit savings at $210 billion over 10 years and warned that estimates beyond a decade are "more and more uncertain."
■He falsely claimed that making the Bush tax cuts permanent would give away "$1 trillion worth of tax cuts for every millionaire and billionaire." That figure which is actually $807 billion over 10 years refers to tax cuts for individuals earning more than $200,000 and couples earning more than $250,000, not just millionaires and billionaires.
■He said the tax burden on the wealthy is the lowest it has been in 50 years. But the most recent nonpartisan congressional analysis showed that the average federal tax rate for high-income taxpayers was lower in 1986.
For more about the presidents deficit-reduction speech, please read our Analysis section.
Analysis
This week, President Barack Obama laid out his ideas on how to curb the growing deficit over the next decade and more and he spent much of the afternoon speech at George Washington University criticizing a deficit-reduction plan, called "Path to Prosperity," released by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. But his critique strayed at times from the facts.
read it ALL here.
FactChecking Obama’s Budget Speech | FactCheck.org
