AP Finds Missing Facts in Obama’s Claims That GOP Would Cut Education Funds
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says almost every chance he gets that Republicans would cut education spending by 20 percent if their party wins control of Congress in the Nov. 2 elections. He also says they would repeal a new college tuition tax credit.
But as Obama makes these assertions to draw contrasts between the parties and give voters a reason to keep Democrats in power on Capitol Hill, he’s leaving out some important facts.
Take his claims about the Republican campaign plan, the Pledge to America.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — An occasional look at assertions by public officials and how well they adhere to the facts.
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Obama says Republicans would pay to keep a set of expiring tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans by cutting spending on education, an area where he’s investing billions of dollars from kindergarten through college.
“And when you ask them, well, how would you pay for some of this stuff, they don’t really have good answers,” Obama said Sept. 28 in Albuquerque, N.M., shortly after Republicans released the plan. “But one way they would pay for it is to cut back our education spending by 20 percent and eliminate about 200,000 Head Start programs, and reduce student aid to go to college for about 8 million students.”
He’s argued the point almost daily since then, from discussions on the economy in voters’ back yards to statements in the sunny White House Rose Garden.
But the GOP plan doesn’t say that. A search of the document doesn’t find the word “education” anywhere in its 48 pages.
The White House says the claim is based on an analysis by the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities of the Republicans plan’s proposal to return federal spending to 2008 levels. A White House spokeswoman says the administration also crunched the numbers.
The think tank says such a reversal would require immediate cuts of 21 percent, or $101 billion, in spending on programs unrelated to national security or veterans. The center chose education as an example and said a cut that size would trim more than $8 billion from K-12 funding, on top of cuts by state and local governments.
Brendan Buck, a spokesman for the House Republican leadership, said the analysis is faulty. While the pledge calls for deep spending cuts, it doesn’t specify where they should be made, he said.
At a campaign event Tuesday night in Washington, Obama said the tuition tax credit “could be repealed if Republicans take over. They’ve already proposed to cut education spending by 20 percent.”
The American Opportunity Tax Credit, worth $2,500 a year, was included in the $814 billion economic stimulus bill Obama signed into law last year. The tax credit is available for the 2009 and 2010 tax years, but is scheduled to expire at the end of this year because of how the law is written. Obama on Wednesday called on Congress to make the credit permanent.
So how does a law that is expiring in just over two months get repealed by a party that’s not in power?
The White House says it would be repealed if Republicans make good on a promise to end the stimulus.
Liz Oxhorn, a spokeswoman for the stimulus program, said that if Republicans get their way they’d have to immediately freeze stimulus spending. Oxhorn said that if all stimulus spending were halted “today,” there would be no money to pay the tax credit next year when students and families who are now spending on tuition and other college costs would claim the credit on their 2010 income tax returns.
But it’s not that simple. Republicans don’t have enough votes now to freeze the stimulus; if they did, they could have ended the program already.
To end the stimulus, Republicans first must win control of the House and Senate on Nov. 2, then wait until a new Congress convenes in January before taking steps to fulfill any of the Pledge of America promises.
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Online:
Center for Budget and Policy Priorities: http://www.cbpp.org
Republican Pledge to America: http://pledge.gop.gov
Obama lies again!!! What a big surprise, not!!!!!! We have a President of the United States that Americans DO NOT or CAN NOT BELIEVE A SINGLE WORD THAT COMES OUT OF HIS MOUTH.
Democrats LIE again!!!!! What a big surprise, not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have a political party that Americans DO NOT or CAN NOT BELIEVE A SINGLE WORD THAT COMES OUT OF THEIR MOUTHS.
THEY KNOW THAT THEY ARE LYING TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BUT DO NOT GIVE A DAMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All they care about is keeping their power and to them the ends justify the means. So if they have to LIE, in order to keep their power THEY WILL DO IT.
Republicans aren’t perfect. I am not a Republican anymore either so I don’t have a dog in this race. I don’t think Republicans have learned their lesson and it will be the same ole same ole if they are returned to power. Yet, if I have to choose between the two parties I think Republicans are more honest.
We live in a time where AMERICANS DO NOT TRUST A WORD OUR PRESIDENT, CONGRESS OR BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES SAY. When you have a population of people who do not TRUST their own GOVERNMENT BECAUSE THEY LIE SO MUCH, it is not good for the nation. HONOR DOES MEAN SOMETHING. CHARACTER DOES MEAN SOMETHING. THE ENDS DO NOT JUSTIFY THE MEANS.
I HOPE THE DEMOCRATS ARE TAUGHT A LESSON THIS ELECTION AND THEY WILL UNDERSTAND AND KNOW THAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE NOT GOING TO TOLERATE THEIR LIES, DIRTY TRICKS, DOUBLE DEALING, AND DISHONORABLE BEHAVIOR.