Rep. Paul Ryan went on CNBC today, looked straight into the camera, and completely lied about the sequester to the American people.
On CNBC’s Squawk Box, Rep. Paul Ryan was asked if there is anything going on behind the scenes that could avert the sequester.
Ryan answered, “As you know, the sequester was designed to force action to deal with the deficit and debt. We passed a bill 300 days ago to deal with this. As recently as December the Senate still hasn’t done anything. So I do expect the sequester to take effect, because the Senate hasn’t acted, the president is around the country campaigning instead of governing. So I think what you’ll see happen next week is we will pass an appropriations Measure that gives the administration more flexibility.”
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What Ryan didn’t bother to mention was that the bill that the House passed 300 days ago is no longer valid because that action occurred in the previous Congress. In order to replace the sequester, the House would have to pass a new bill. The problem is that John Boehner won’t allow any sequester replacement bills to come to the House floor for a vote.
For Paul Ryan, lies are like Lay’s potato chips. He can’t stop at just one. While complaining that Obama moved the goalposts, Ryan told this whopper, “The president got the largest tax increase in American history eight weeks ago. Now he’s trying to move the goal post and say instead of spending cuts which the sequester is, ‘I need a bunch of tax increases’ for this, as well to fuel more spending.”
Just like they claimed Obamacare was the biggest tax increase in history, Republicans like Ryan are now claiming that the tax hike on the wealthy is the largest in history. The truth is that Obamacare is the sixth largest tax increase since 1968. The tax increase on the wealthy was nowhere near the largest in modern history. According to the Treasury Department, the biggest tax increase in the modern era belongs to Republican hero Ronald Reagan. President Reagan’s 1982 tax increase was 25% larger than Obama’s.
Paul Ryan looked America in the idea today, and totally lied about the sequester. Ryan lied about how we got here. He lied about his own advocacy for, and role in the sequester. He couldn’t even tell the truth about why the House refuses to act to replace the sequester.
As Rep. Keith Ellison said while taking Sean Hannity to the woodshed on his own show, “The president is telling the truth.” In a nutshell, that’s the problem for Ryan and his fellow House Republicans. Obama is telling the truth, and all they can do to counter these facts is to repeat their empty lies.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
