“We are entitled to our own opinions, we are not entitled to our
own facts,” Sen. Al Franken hollered on the Senate floor moments
ago.
But apparently, he doesn’t think that saying should apply to
himself.
Franken was angrily pushing back against the Republican argument
that while taxes included in the health care bill would start
being collected in 2010, the benefits wouldn’t kick in until
2014.
Up to a point, Franken’s complaint was technically right in that
some benefits from the new legislation would kick in
immediately, but then he got carried away to the point of blatant
lying.
“The fact is that benefits kick in on day one and the
large majority of benefits kick in on day one,” he
shouted.
But in reality, the overwhelming bulk of the spending in the new
health care bill comes by expanding Medicaid and offering
subsidies to individuals to purchase insurance on the new
government exchanges, and those changes don’t go into effect
until year five (or 2014).
The Congressional Budget Office found that just $9 billion of
the $848 billion total spending aimed at expanding coverage from
2010 to 2019 would occur in the first four years, while the
remaining $839 billion wouldn’t come until the last six. In
percentage terms, a whopping 1 percent of spending would occur
from 2010 to 2014. This was one of the accounting gimmicks that
Democrats used to make the legislation appear cheaper over their
10-year budget window.
Yet this reality didn’t stop Franken’s sanctimonious rant.
“Sen. McCain a week ago said, ‘facts are stubborn things,’”
Franken shouted, pounding on the lectern. “These are stubborn
things!”
He continued, ironically saying, “I stand here day after day
after day, and hear my colleagues, my good friends from the other
side, say things that are not based on fact.”
