FOUR PINOCCHIOS: Washington Post Slams Kevin Cramer for Lies About Tax Bill

(BISMARCK, ND) — Today, the Washington Post slammed Kevin Cramer for lies about the Washington Republican tax bill – lies from his bogus “get the facts” website, nonetheless. Cramer earned the Post’s worst rating – Four Pinocchios – for falsely claiming that the partisan tax bill would be paid for by economic growth.

Glenn Kessler, the Post’s fact checker, referred to Cramer’s claims as “poppycock.” Kessler also detailed Cramer’s desire to cut important programs like Social Security and Medicare in order to pay for the budget-busting tax legislation. Read more below:

Washington Post: N.D. Republican’s Senate campaign ‘fact-checking’ website promotes false claim on CBO estimates

• One pernicious response to the growth of political fact-checking is the trend by politicians to create their own faux fact-checking websites. So we looked with interest at a website created by the campaign of Rep. Kevin Cramer, a Republican who is challenging incumbent senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.).

• The other long-term issue that Heitkamp cites is the effect on the budget deficit. When the bill was approved, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the tax cut added at least $1.5 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years.

• This is where the website’s “truth-telling” starts to go off the rails. First, the article attacks Heitkamp for suggesting the tax bill may affect Social Security. “Claims of cuts to Social Security are ludicrous. There is nothing in the bill that cuts Social Security,” the article says. That’s technically correct, but it’s also misdirection.

• Cramer himself has suggested that the rising national debt in the wake of the tax bill will require lawmakers to tackle entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare.

• So although there is nothing in the tax bill specifically about Social Security, Cramer has acknowledged that the additional debt generated by the measure will require a closer look at reducing spending on programs such as Social Security.

• Then there is this jaw-dropping statement: “Heitkamp’s talk of deficits is pure speculation and none of it takes into account the economic growth the Trump pro-growth agenda is delivering.”

• Where does Heitkamp get her “talk of deficits”? From the CBO, the official scorekeeper of Washington. The CBO is so well respected that Cramer’s “fact” website cites a CBO projection in another article to attack the Affordable Care Act.

• Cramer’s website is simply wrong when he claims the deficits projected do not take into account the economic growth in Trump’s agenda. The CBO does take into account the economic feedback from tax cuts. As any mainstream economist will explain, the problem is that tax cuts do not pay for themselves.

• For a website that proclaims it is providing the truth and nothing but the facts, this line about the tax cuts and economic growth is poppycock. The CBO does take into account the economic effect of tax bills, so Cramer is simply wrong on that score. It’s even worse for a politician to suggest he is a deficit hawk — and ready to take on entitlements — and yet dismiss credible forecasts on future deficits by a respected agency.

• In the meantime, Cramer earns Four Pinocchios.