Pundits from both sides of the aisle have lauded Mitt Romney’s strong
debate performance, praising his preparedness and ability to challenge
President Obama’s policies and accomplishments. But Romney only
accomplished this goal by repeatedly misleading viewers. He spoke for
38 minutes of the 90 minute debate and told at least 27 myths:
1) “[G]et us energy independent, North American energy independent. That creates about 4 million jobs”.
Romney’s plan for “energy independence” actually relies heavily on a
study that assumes the U.S. continues with fuel efficiency standards set
by the Obama administration. For instance, he uses Citigroup research
based off the assumption that “‘the United States will continue with
strict fuel economy standards that will lower its oil demand.” Since he
promises to undo the Obama administration’s new
fuel efficiency standards, he would cut oil consumption savings of 2 million barrels per day by 2025.
2) “I don’t have a $5 trillion tax cut. I don’t have a tax cut of a scale that you’re talking about.”
A Tax Policy Center analysis of Romney’s proposal for a 20 percent
across-the-board tax cut in all federal income tax rates, eliminating
the Alternative Minimum Tax, eliminating the estate tax and other tax
reductions, would reduce federal revenue $480 billion in 2015. This
amounts to $5 trillion over the decade.
3) “My view is that we ought to provide tax relief to people
in the middle class. But I’m not going to reduce the share of taxes paid
by high-income people.” If Romney hopes to provide tax relief
to the middle class, then his $5 trillion tax cut would add to the
deficit. There are not enough deductions in the tax code that primarily
benefit rich people to make his math work.
4) “My — my number-one principal is, there will be no tax cut
that adds to the deficit. I want to underline that: no tax cut that
adds to the deficit.” As the Tax Policy Center
concluded,
Romney’s plan can’t both exempt middle class families from tax cuts and
remain revenue neutral. “He’s promised all these things and he can’t do
them all. In order for him to cover the cost of his tax cut without
adding to the deficit, he’d have to find a way to raise taxes on middle
income people or people making less than $200,000 a year,” the Center
found.
5) “I will not under any circumstances raise taxes on
middle-income families. I will lower taxes on middle-income families.
Now, you cite a study. There are six other studies that looked at the
study you describe and say it’s completely wrong.” The studies Romney cites actually
further prove
that Romney would, in fact, have to raise taxes on the middle class if
he were to keep his promise not to lose revenue with his tax rate
reduction.
6) “I saw a study that came out today that said you’re going to raise taxes by $3,000 to $4,000 on middle-income families.” Romney is pointing to
this study
from the American Enterprise Institute. It actually found that rather
than raise taxes to pay down the debt, the Obama administration’s
policies — those contained directly in his budget — would
reduce the share of taxes that go toward servicing the debt by $1,289.89 per taxpayer in the $100,000 to $200,000 range.
7) “And the reason is because small business pays that
individual rate; 54 percent of America’s workers work in businesses that
are taxed not at the corporate tax rate, but at the individual tax
rate….97 percent of the businesses are not — not taxed at the 35 percent
tax rate, they’re taxed at a lower rate. But those businesses that are
in the last 3 percent of businesses happen to employ half — half of all
the people who work in small business.” Far less than half
of the people affected by the expiration of the upper income tax cuts
get any of their income at all from a small businesses. And those people
could very well be receiving speaking fees or book royalties, which
qualify as “small business income” but don’t have a direct impact on job
creation. It’s actually
hard to find a small business who think that they will be hurt if the marginal tax rate on income earned above $250,000 per year is increased.
8) “Mr. President, all of the increase in natural gas and oil
has happened on private land, not on government land. On government
land, your administration has cut the number of permits and licenses in
half.” Oil production from federal lands
is higher, not lower: Production from federal lands is up slightly in 2011 when compared to 2007. And the oil and gas industry is sitting on
7,000 approved permits to drill, that it hasn’t begun exploring or developing.
9) “The president’s put it in place as much public debt —
almost as much debt held by the public as all prior presidents
combined.” This is not even close to being true. When Obama took office, the national debt stood at
$10.626 trillion.
Now the national debt is over $16 trillion. That $5.374 trillion
increase is nowhere near as much debt as all the other presidents
combined.
10) “That’s why the National Federation of Independent
Businesses said your plan will kill 700,000 jobs. I don’t want to kill
jobs in this environment.” That study, produced by
a right-wing advocacy organization,
doesn’t analyze what Obama has actually proposed.
11) “What we do have right now is a setting where I’d like to bring money from overseas back to this country.”
Romney’s plan to shift the country to a territorial tax system would
allow corporations to do business and make profits overseas without ever
being taxed on it in the United States. This encourages American
companies to invest abroad and could cost the country up to
800,000 jobs.
12) “I would like to take the Medicaid dollars that go to
states and say to a state, you’re going to get what you got last year,
plus inflation, plus 1 percent, and then you’re going to manage your
care for your poor in the way you think best.” Sending federal
Medicaid funding to the states in the form of a block grant woud
significantly reduce federal spending for Medicaid because the grant
would not keep up with projected health care costs. A
CBO estimate
of a very similar proposal from Paul Ryan found that federal spending
would be “35 percent lower in 2022 and 49 percent lower in 2030 than
current projected federal spending” and as a result “states would face
significant challenges in achieving sufficient cost savings through
efficiencies to mitigate the loss of federal funding.” “To maintain
current service levels in the Medicaid program, states would probably
need to consider additional changes, such as reducing their spending on
other programs or raising additional revenues,” the CBO found.
13) “I want to take that $716 billion you’ve cut and put it
back into Medicare…. But the idea of cutting $716 billion from Medicare
to be able to balance the additional cost of Obamacare is, in my
opinion, a mistake. There’s that number again. Romney is
claiming that Obamacare siphons off $716 billion from Medicare, to the
detriment of beneficiaries. In actuality, that money is saved primarily
through reducing over-payments to
insurance companies under Medicare Advantage, not payments to beneficiaries. Paul Ryan’s budget plan
keeps those same cuts, but directs them toward tax cuts for the rich and deficit reduction.
14) “What I support is no change for current retirees and near-retirees to Medicare.” Here is how Romney’s Medicare plan
will affect current seniors:
1) by repealing Obamacare, the 16 million seniors receiving preventive
benefits without deductibles or co-pays and are saving $3.9 billion on
prescription drugs will see a cost increase, 2) “premium support” will
increase premiums for existing beneficiaries as private insurers lure
healthier seniors out of the traditional Medicare program, 3)
Romney/Ryan would also lower Medicaid spending significantly beginning
next year, shifting federal spending to states and beneficiaries, and
increasing costs for the 9 million Medicare recipients who are dependent
on Medicaid.
15) “Number two is for people coming along that are young,
what I do to make sure that we can keep Medicare in place for them is to
allow them either to choose the current Medicare program or a private
plan. Their choice. They get to choose — and they’ll have at least two
plans that will be entirely at no cost to them.” The Medicare program
changes for everyone,
even people who choose to remain in the traditional fee-for-service.
Rather than relying on a guaranteed benefit, all beneficiaries will
receive a premium support credit of $7,500 on average in 2023 to
purchase coverage in traditional Medicare or private insurance. But that
amount will only grow at a rate of GDP plus 1.5 percentage points and
will not keep up with health care costs. So while the federal government
will spend less on the program, seniors will pay more in premiums.
16) “And, by the way the idea came not even from Paul Ryan or
— or Senator Wyden, who’s the co-author of the bill with — with Paul
Ryan in the Senate, but also it came from Bill — Bill Clinton’s chief of
staff.” Romney has
rejected
the Ryan/Wyden approach — which does not cap the growth of the “premium
support” subsidy. Bill Clinton and his commission also voted down these
changes to the Medicare program.
17) “Well, I would repeal and replace it. We’re not going to
get rid of all regulation. You have to have regulation. And there are
some parts of Dodd-Frank that make all the sense in the world.” Romney has previously called for
full repeal of Dodd-Frank, a law whose specific purpose is to regulate banks. MF Global’s
use of customer funds
to pay for its own trading losses is just one bit of proof that the
financial industry isn’t responsible enough to protect consumers without
regulation.
18) “But I wouldn’t designate five banks as too big to fail
and give them a blank check. That’s one of the unintended consequences
of Dodd-Frank… We need to get rid of that provision because it’s killing
regional and small banks. They’re getting hurt.” The law merely says that the biggest, systemically risky banks need to
abide by more stringent regulations. If those banks fail, they will be unwound by a new process in the Dodd-Frank law that
protects taxpayers from having to pony up for a bailout.
19) “And, unfortunately, when — when — when you look at
Obamacare, the Congressional Budget Office has said it will cost $2,500 a
year more than traditional insurance. So it’s adding to cost.” Obamacare will actually provide millions of families
with tax credits to make health care more affordable.
20) “[I]t puts in place an unelected board that’s going to
tell people ultimately what kind of treatments they can have. I don’t
like that idea.” The Board, or IPAB is tasked with making
binding recommendations to Congress for lowering health care spending,
should Medicare costs exceed a target growth rate. Congress can accept
the savings proposal or implement its own ideas through a super
majority. The panel’s plan will modify payments to providers but it
cannot “include any recommendation to ration health care, raise revenues
or Medicare beneficiary premiums…increase Medicare beneficiary
cost-sharing (including deductibles, coinsurance, and co- payments), or
otherwise restrict benefits or modify eligibility criteria” (
Section 3403 of the ACA).
Relying on health care experts rather than politicians to control
health care costs has previously attracted bipartisan support and even
Ryan himself
proposed two IPAB-like structures in a 2009 health plan.
21) “Right now, the CBO says up to 20 million people will
lose their insurance as Obamacare goes into effect next year. And
likewise, a study by McKinsey and Company of American businesses said 30
percent of them are anticipating dropping people from coverage.”
The Affordable Care Act would actually expand health care coverage to
30 million Americans, despite Romney fear mongering. According to CBO
director Douglas Elmendorf,
3 million or less people would leave employer-sponsored health insurance coverage as a result of the law.
22) “I like the way we did it [health care] in Massachusetts…What were some differences? We didn’t raise taxes.” Romney raised fees, but he can claim that he didn’t increase taxes because the federal government funded
almost half of his reforms.
23) “It’s why Republicans said, do not do this, and the
Republicans had — had the plan. They put a plan out. They put out a
plan, a bipartisan plan. It was swept aside.” The Affordable
Care Act incorporates many Republican ideas including the individual
mandate, state-based health care exchanges, high-risk insurance pools,
and modified provisions that allow insurers to sell policies in multiple
states. Republicans never offered a united bipartisan alternative.
24) “Preexisting conditions are covered under my plan.” Only people who are
continuously insured
would not be discriminated against because they suffer from
pre-existing conditions. This protection would not be extended to people
who are currently uninsured.
25) “In one year, you provided $90 billion in breaks to the
green energy world. Now, I like green energy as well, but that’s about
50 years’ worth of what oil and gas receives.” The $90 billion
was given out over several years and included loans, loan guarantees and
grants through the American Recovery Act.
$23 billion
of the $90 billion “went toward “clean coal,” energy-efficiency
upgrades, updating the electricity grid and environmental clean-up,
largely for old nuclear weapons sites.”
26) “I think about half of [the green firms Obama invested
in], of the ones have been invested in have gone out of business. A
number of them happened to be owned by people who were contributors to
your campaigns.” As of late last year, only “
three out of the 26 recipients of 1705 loan guarantees have filed for bankruptcy, with losses estimated at just over $600 million.”
27) “If the president’s reelected you’ll see dramatic cuts to our military.”
Romney is referring to the sequester, which his running mate Paul Ryan
supported. Obama opposes the military cuts and has asked Congress to
formulate a balanced approach that would avoid the trigger.
