(BISMARCK, ND) – Congressman Kevin Cramer participated in a Facebook Live event Tuesday night, in which he had a hard time defending the Republican tax plan that threatens to hike taxes on tens of thousands of hardworking North Dakotans and increase the national debt by $1.5 trillion, triggering severe cuts to Medicare, crop insurance, farm programs, rural infrastructure, and many other vital services for North Dakota.
 
Cramer struggled to tap dance around the bill’s catastrophic impact on the national debt and misled about its impacts on farmers. He even cooked up some “fake news” of his own, to boot.
 
Here’s what we heard – or didn’t hear – during Cramer’s Facebook Live event:
 
BRUSHING OFF THE NATIONAL DEBT: Despite his long record as a supposed deficit hawk who once believed government spending needed to be brought under control, Congressman Cramer was remarkably flip about glaring economic analyses demonstrating that the Republican tax plan would add more than $1 trillion to the national debt. Perhaps that’s because Cramer threw out his convictions for “political survival”?

Not that you’d hear it from him, but here’s how Cramer’s tax bill would explode the national debt: 
 
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Republican tax plan would add more than $1 trillion to the national debt. Despite the GOP arguments, the Trump Administration’s Treasury Department released a report assuming economic growth more robust than many economists consider likely. Even with dynamic analysis, which attempts to account for “economic growth,” the tax bill still doesn’t pay for itself and leaves taxpayers with a one trillion dollar price tag.
 
TALL TALES FOR FARMERS: Instead of straight talk, Cramer has been known to parrot the typical GOP talking points, claiming that repealing the estate tax will benefit North Dakota family farmers – and Tuesday night was no exception. Cramer said many North Dakota farmers support the Republican tax plan because it would raise the threshold for the estate tax – and under the plan he voted for – eliminate the tax entirely. But in fact, the policy Cramer rubber-stamped helps out millionaires much more than your average North Dakota farmer:

Many farmers are voicing their strong concerns about this bill. Aaron Krauter, former head of the Farm Service Agency, points out that because the Republican tax plan spends over $1 trillion on tax cuts for millionaires, farm programs that are vital to North Dakota’s agricultural producers – like crop insurance and ag subsidies – will be subjected to deep sequestration cuts. He also took to task Congressman Cramer on the estate tax. The threshold is already set high enough to shield a vast majority of farmers and small businesses from the tax. That’s why, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), fewer than 10 North Dakota estates were required to file for the estate tax last year.

In Krauter’s own words, “Washington insiders like Ryan, McConnell and Cramer can continue trying to play farmers and ranchers for fools – but we know better and we won’t fall for it.”
 
“FAKE NEWS!!!” FOR MIDDLE-CLASS FAMILIES: When a constituent asked how many North Dakotans would see a tax hike under the GOP tax bill, Cramer promised that the middle-class wouldn’t see a tax hike under the GOP bill – and conveniently left out the tax increases North Dakota working families would see after ten years.

After 2027:

More than 90,000 North Dakotans would see a tax increase under the Senate Republican bill; under the House Republican bill, more than 30,000 North Dakota households would see a tax hike. Either way, Rep. Cramer voted to raise taxes on middle-class North Dakotans.

Cramer says there is a ‘different standard’ for Moore’s highly credible alleged abuse of minors because ‘you’re talking 40 years past’

But Cramer’s colleague Blake Farenthold used taxpayer dollars to settle sexual harassment lawsuit in 2014

(BISMARCK, ND) – Last night, while speaking with conservative TV pundit Chris Berg, Congressman Kevin Cramer rationalized numerous highly credible allegations of sexual misconduct against Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore, saying: “you’re talking 40 years past.” That’s right – Kevin Cramer thinks Roy Moore’s alleged abuse of minors should be judged with a “different standard.”

Here are the key quotes from his interview:

“I would also say the past, when you’re talking 40 years past, versus last year, two years ago in the case of both Senator Franken and Representative Conyers, you are talking about something a little bit different, you’re talking about a different standard.”

“I think then you have to let the past be the past.”  

Even if you agree with Cramer’s bizarre standard for rationalizing allegations of sexual misconduct — and we definitely do not — why, then, is Congressman Cramer silent when it comes to recent allegations against his own House Republican colleague Blake Farenthold?

Farenthold is accused of sexually harassing his former Communications Director, who brought a lawsuit against him in 2014 saying she was fired after raising concerns about sexual harassment and a hostile work environment created by the congressman’s multiple advances and inappropriate comments. Farenthold then used nearly $85,000 in taxpayer dollars to secretly protect himself and settle the lawsuit.

If Congressman Cramer takes recent allegations so seriously, shouldn’t he call for his colleague’s resignation?

(BISMARCK, ND) – Politicians are known for contradicting themselves, but their flip-flops usually don’t cost over one trillion dollars.
 
Kevin Cramer’s latest flip-flop does. And if he gets his way, North Dakota taxpayers are going to foot the bill.
 
For more than a decade, Kevin Cramer decried the national debt, calling on members of Congress to cut spending, eliminate programs that benefit North Dakota, and rein in deficits.
 
Now it’s 2017, and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has accomplished few – if any – major policy goals. In Cramer’s own words, Republicans are fighting for their “political survival” unless they pass something into law. Anything. Deficits be darned when Republican mega-donors are angry.
 
That something, it seems, is a massive budget-busting tax bill that benefits the wealthy at the expense of low- and middle-income families in North Dakota, who in many cases would actually see a tax increase.  
 
“If cutting taxes for the wealthy and hiking taxes on many low-and working-class people wasn’t bad enough, Kevin Cramer didn’t even bother to pay for the bill,” said Democratic-NPL executive director Scott McNeil. “What happened to the Kevin Cramer who was constantly sounding alarms over the national debt when we had a Democratic president? Did he forget about Congress paying its bills? Or did he never really care to begin with? His tax cuts for the wealthy are just another example of Cramer putting party and politics before North Dakotan families.” 
 

Timeline of Cramer’s statements on the deficit and debt leading up to his $1.3 trillion two-step:

November 16, 2017: Despite more than 10 years of statements to the contrary, Cramer disregards the national debt and votes in favor of a massive tax bill that threatens to stick taxpayers with a $1.3 trillion bill.  

…but before that… 

September 26, 2016: According to the Bismarck Tribune, “Cramer, 55, is seeking his third two-year term in Congress. He said he has worked with fellow lawmakers to reduce the federal deficit.”
 
January 16, 2014: According to Underwood News, “Cramer agreed: ‘We should be diligent with every penny,’ he said. Cramer added that the national debt will never get under control until entitlements are dealt with.”
 
October 7, 2013: According to the Williston Daily Herald, “Looking ahead, Cramer said the key to ending the shutdown is leadership and compromise. ‘Funding decisions are not easy with the national debt approaching $17 trillion,’ Cramer said.”
 
November 7, 2012: According to the Associated Press, “Cramer advocated eliminating a federal tax subsidy for the wind industry to help reduce federal budget deficits and debt.”
 
September 29, 2012: According to the Grand Forks Herald, “Cramer acknowledges the job losses linked to the expiration but said North Dakota’s economy is strong enough to absorb them. The national debt should be a bigger concern than support for the wind industry, he said. ‘Is that really the appropriate role for our government, to subsidize jobs when we have a $16 trillion debt?’ he said.”
 
March 14, 2010: According to the Bismarck Tribune, “For Public Service Commission Chairman Kevin Cramer and Fargo legislator and businessman Rick Berg, the economy, job creation, energy and health care have been major issues of the campaign. Both consider the economy and job creation to be priority No. 1, both are opposed to the health care bill and cap-and-trade, and both want to tackle the deficit.”
 
May 3, 1998: According to the Bismarck Tribune, Cramer expressed concern over “feeding the federal budget.” “Cramer – who had indicated this might be a kinder, gentler campaign than he waged two years ago – set the tone by saying, ‘It seems Earl is not concerned about the take-home pay North Dakota workers need to feed their families. He’s more concerned about feeding the federal budget.’”
 
April 16, 1996: According to the Bismarck Tribune, Cramer “renewed his call for another amendment, this one to require Congress enact balanced federal budgets. Raising taxes won’t eliminate the federal deficit, he said, but that amendment would.” 

(BISMARCK, ND) – A new report from The New York Times reveals how national Republican leaders are deliberately trying to undermine health insurance markets and increase costs for consumers, following their repeated failures to repeal and replace the federal health care law.

The Times article – which follows similar reports by BuzzFeed News and the Daily Beast – also highlights how continued silence from Republican officials and candidates like Rep. Kevin Cramer, state Sen. Tom Campbell and U.S. Sen. John Hoeven is contributing to the problem of uncertainty in the marketplace and rising costs for North Dakota families.

“With massive cuts to federal funds that help North Dakotans sign up for health insurance – and statements from Medica saying their ability to participate in North Dakota’s exchange is threatened by uncertainty with federal payments to help families afford coverage – one thing is clear: Deliberate attempts from Republicans to undermine the federal health care law are sowing chaos in the insurance marketplace and threatening North Dakotans’ access to care,” said Democratic-NPL executive director Scott McNeil. “Representative Cramer, state Sen. Campbell, and U.S. Sen. Hoeven must call for an end to these deliberate attempts to sabotage of our health care system and commit to working on real solutions that rein in costs and protect North Dakotans’ access to care.”

According to the Times:

“After the latest Senate effort to repeal the health law collapsed, insurers still have no commitment about whether the government will continue to allocate millions of dollars in critical financing […] 

“The changing circumstances and inaction by Congress have forced insurers to raise rates and experiment with different plans for those who are not eligible for federal assistance.”

According to BuzzFeed News:    

“All of the [Department of Health and Human Service’s] 10 regional directors were told not to participate in state-based events promoting open enrollment — a significant change from years past.

“The move follows a trend by the Trump administration of stepping away from past federal assistance for Obamacare and, particularly, of dialing back resources for the upcoming open enrollment period.”

According to the Daily Beast:

“The Trump administration said it cut the navigator programs because recipients had not met previous enrollment goals (PDF). But navigators say this deliberately ignores the work they do, from educating people about their health care options to convincing those they do enroll to persuade others to do the same. For them, the dialing-back of the program reeks of a White House trying to gut a law they couldn’t legislatively undo.”

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