Republican Leader Repeats False Claim AGAIN

The DCCC issued this press release today:

Earlier today, House Republican Leader John Boehner again repeated a false talking point when he tried to claim Cap and Trade will cost the average family $1,700 a year. Boehner continues to stubbornly repeat this bogus claim even though the independent, non-partisan FactCheck.org called him out for using these incorrect numbers on Meet the Press. [Fact Check.org, 9/22/09]. Additionally, the non-partisan independent fact checker Politifact published a report calling this claim "false."

As Politifact made clear, the statement "that households will pay $1,761 in new taxes every year is based on a blogger's incorrect assumptions and overly simple math. The estimate does not account for revenue that will be returned to consumers in the form of rebates and other efficiency measures. Furthermore, the number is based on old numbers; the Treasury estimate was written on the premise that all permits would be sold, which, ultimately, is not the form that the Waxman-Markey legislation has taken. Finally, both Alexander and McCullagh portray money raised by selling these permits as a tax. We rate Alexander's claim False." [Politifact, 9/18/09]

BACKGROUND

• Republican Leader Boehner: "Democrats in Washington had egg on their faces when the Obama Administration's own estimates found that the national energy tax will cost families an extra $1,700 per year." [Republican Leader Boehner Statement, 9/30/09]



• Republican Leader Boehner: "Earlier today, the President addressed a United Nations ‘Climate Change Summit' in New York and touted a variation on the Democrats' national energy tax - legislation that, according to the Administration's own estimates, will cost families an average of $1,700 a year in higher costs." [Republican Leader Boehner Statement, 9/22/09]



• Republican Leader Boehner: "It's a cap and trade system, this big giant tax on the American people that this week, we just find out, the Treasury Department said will cost the average family $1,700 per year." [Meet the Press, 9/20/09]