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In a hurricane of contradictions there has been no shortage of whoppers told during the sequester debate.
Since political news is usually strategically written, placed and timed you can chalk it all up to politics as usual. Even seemingly off the cuff, innocent responses seldom are.
With that in mind here are five recent news reports where “the facts” have been spun to a point where they are simply untrue.
To counter, we’ve given you the “un-spun facts” you’re entitled to as a taxpaying citizen.
Just don’t expect this nonsense to ever end…it’s what they do best.
Five Lies, Falsehoods, and Tall Tales About the Sequester
Whopper #1: Sen. Harry Reid, D-NV, said:”Millions of Americans will feel the pain of the sequester… The sequester could cost the country a cure for AIDS, Parkinson’s disease and cure for cancer.”
Meanwhile, Ted Okon from The Community Oncology Alliance easily cleared this one up. According to Okon, “No federal money will be cut to continue search for a cure for cancer. Won’t have an immediate impact on finding a cure for cancer.”
Whopper #2: Secretary of Education Arne Duncan claimed thousands of teachers could lose their jobs as result of sequester. “As many of 40,000 teacherscouldlose their jobs,” Duncan warned on CBS News’ “Face The Nation.” “There are literally teachers now who are getting pink slips, who are getting notices they can’t come back this fall,” he says.
But guess what?…
It just wasn’t true. No pink slips went out and teachers were not fired. To my knowledge neither Arne Duncan nor “Face The Nation” has never released a retraction.
Whopper #3: Department Of Transportation: The layoffs of air traffic controllers were implemented because there was not enough money to pay salaries due to the sequester. The result: an estimated 8,000 delays slowed or canceled flights during the time furloughs were initiated in several major airports
Yet, according to Sen. John Hoeven, R-ND, the 2012 FAA budget actually had more allotted money for air traffic controllers than does the future 2013 budget. The budget rollback was already adjusted and planned so no layoffs were needed now or when the future budget is implemented.
Additionally the FAA had an excess 500 million dollars for consultants that has never been used and that could have been applied to air traffic controller’s salaries.
Whopper #4: During the presidential race President Obama told Mitt Romney,
“The sequester is not something that I’ve proposed. It is something that Congress has proposed.”
Yet the president’s own White House Press Secretary Jay Carney shed some light on that claim when he said, “The sequester was something that was discussed,” Carney admitted. “It was an idea that the White House put forward.”
Whopper #5: On Feb 19, 2013 President Obama said, “Congress didn’t compromise…They haven’t come together and done their jobs, and so as a consequence, we’ve got these automatic, brutal spending cuts that are poised to happen next Friday.”
But because the sequester only affects 2% of the budget, the brutal spending cuts stated were never needed. That’s because a budget had not been signed and the president has the legal right and ability to move money at his discretion to where it is needed to run the country effectively without hurting anyone.
Knowing Washington, D.C., somehow I doubt that the list will end here…
For more lies and outrage surrounding the sequester, check out: Sequester Circus Proves How Much Washington Hates America
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