Managing Editor Lori Robertson tells Connecticut Public Broadcasting about House Republicans’ misleading Twitter claims that the Obama administration is spending $1.2 million “paying people to play video games.” The money in question went to university research on how video games can stimulate the cognitive abilities of seniors.
For more on this issue, see our Feb. 22 story, “Paying People to Play Video Games.“
The Sequester Blame Game
President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner emerged from their White House meeting on sequestration blaming each other for the automatic spending cuts and misrepresenting the other side’s position:
Obama’s remarks left the false impression that Boehner has reneged on a GOP plan to raise $800 billion by limiting tax breaks for the wealthy. Boehner offered that plan in December as an alternative to raising income tax rates. But that plan was dropped when Obama and Republicans agreed to raise rates,
March 1: Federal Budget, Education
‘Obamacare’ to cost $20,000 a Family?
Q: Did the IRS say that the cheapest health insurance plan under the federal health care law would cost $20,000 per family?
A: No. The IRS used $20,000 in a hypothetical example to illustrate how it will calculate the tax penalty for a family that fails to obtain health coverage as required by law. Treasury says the figure “is not an estimate of premiums.”
Boehner’s Revenue Reach
House Speaker John Boehner claimed the federal government will take in more revenue this year than any other year in history. That’s true in nominal dollars, but not as a percentage of gross domestic product — a measure preferred by most economists that accounts for growth in population, inflation and earnings.
In fact, as a percentage of GDP, revenues this year are actually lower than the historical average since World War II.
In an interview on CBS Evening News on Feb.
Sequester Spin
The Sunday talk shows included exaggerated claims from both sides about the debate over automatic spending cuts scheduled to take effect March 1:
Education Secretary Arne Duncan said “as many as 40,000 teachers could lose their jobs.” But that assumes the entire $2.8 billion in looming DOE cuts would come from teacher salaries. Duncan himself testified there would be cuts elsewhere — including cutting “more than 70,000 students from grant and work study programs”
Feb. 22: Sequester, Estate Tax, Preschool
Paying People to Play Video Games
House Speaker John Boehner tweets that the Obama administration is spending $1.2 million “paying people to play video games.” That’s misleading. The government did pay $1.2 million for university research that includes the study of how video games can stimulate the cognitive abilities of seniors. A fraction of that cost went to compensate seniors who participated in the study, researchers say.
Boehner was one of several prominent Republican congressmen who sent out a flurry of tweets – hashtag #cutwaste – distorting the research.
Feb. 15: Public Debt, Manufacturing Jobs, Health Care
SEIU Distorts Halvorson’s Record in Illinois Race
A radio ad from the Service Employees International Union grossly distorts the voting record of former Rep. Debbie Halvorson in the final days of the Democratic primary to fill the House seat left vacant by Jesse Jackson Jr.’s resignation. The union claims:
Halvorson “voted against extending unemployment benefits for millions of Americans.” That’s false. Congress extended or expanded the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program seven times while Halvorson was in the House, and she voted to approve each bill.