After being asked on Wednesday’s NBC Today if he was “living in a fantasy world” regarding new tax reform legislation, on ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS This Morning, House Speaker Paul Ryan called out the liberal media for spreading disinformation about the legislation and fact-checked their Democratic Party talking points.
On GMA, co-host George Stephanopoulos touted “a lot of the public still skeptical” about the tax plan and “a new poll out this morning shows more than half of the public is opposed to this plan.” He pressed Ryan to answer critics: “What do you say to the doubters?” The Speaker wasted no time pointing out the source of such negative attitudes: “I think because people have sort of been hit on their TV screens by the media and the Democrats that everybody’s getting a big tax increase. That’s just not the case.”
“The average median family of four in America’s gonna get a $2,059 tax cut. Every – the average taxpayer in every income group’s getting a tax cut,” Ryan explained to viewers. He predicted a major shift in public opinion once reality disproved the media spin:
So I think when people actually see that instead of getting tax increases they’re getting a tax cut, when they see the withholding tables changing in February and seeing more money in their paychecks, when they’re seeing the economic growth that will result from historic tax reform, I think minds are gonna change and I think people are gonna change their view on this.
Ryan again held the press accountable for its distortion of the policy: “But they’ve been hit on TV with so many different confusing messages that there’s no wonder there’s a little confusion surrounding this.”
Proving Ryan’s point about biased coverage of the tax bill, Stephanopoulos was already urging the GOP leader to reverse the major achievement: “Big question from a lot of our viewers, how are you gonna pay for it? This is going to increase the deficit....you think growth is gonna pay for it. But what if you’re wrong? Are you willing to reverse the cuts?”
Amazing how after eight years cheerleading the Obama administration’s massive spending, media figures have suddenly all become deficit hawks.
Moments later in the exchange, Stephanopoulos tried to push even more liberal attack lines against the legislation: “The AARP has come out against the tax bill, in part because they say it’s gonna increase the national deficit, and that means $25 billion in cuts to Medicare next year alone. Those Medicare cuts are going to be triggered next month unless you vote – ”
Ryan shut down the deception: “Not gonna happen. I can just cut you off right there. You and I know these – you used to work here, so you know these budget rules. It’s kind of an arcane rule that will not occur and those cuts will not happen.”
Like Stephanopoulos, on CBS This Morning, fill-in co-host Anthony Mason cited that “polls show that most people view this bill as kind of...far more generous to corporations than it is to individual taxpayers.” He demanded: “Are they wrong?” Ryan pushed back:
Yeah, they are. I think what it is, is you’ve had this big debate on TV where Republicans and Democrats are arguing with each other, pundits in the media are saying this and that. When you actually break down the components of this bill, it polls extremely well....But more importantly, when it gets in place, when people see their paychecks getting bigger....that’s going to change its popularity, I am convinced. So I think there’s just tons of confusion out there as to what this does or doesn’t do. A lot of people think it’s going to raise their taxes. When every income tax group, on average, gets a tax cut.
Determined to provide even more evidence of slanted media coverage on the issue, co-host Gayle King immediately quoted Chuck Schumer denouncing the bill: “You’re right. It is confusing for a lot of people. Yesterday, Senator Schumer, on the floor, said, ‘Listen, this is a disgrace’....They point out, though, in 2027, Mr. Speaker that for the middle class this actually isn’t a break, that their taxes will actually go up. How do you address that?”
Ryan explained the absurdity of that argument:
Yeah, so, first of all, what they’re basically saying is we’re cutting them. They’re acknowledging that we’re cutting taxes for the middle class. And then, because there’s a sunset in those tax cuts at the end of the decade, because of Senate rules, they’ll go up. Now, we have no intention of allowing that to happen, but it’s unfortunate because of these Senate rules that we have to comply with that has that sunset. But Congress has every intention of making sure that that does not happen....to acknowledge that there’s an increase down the road is to acknowledge that we’re actually cutting people’s taxes right now.
The biased coverage on the ABC and CBS morning shows was brought to viewers by Toyota, JCPenney, and Target.
Here are excerpts of the December 20 interviews:
GMA
7:07 AM ET
(...)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. Speaker, thank you for joining us this morning, and congratulations. You’re on the verge of the victory you’ve been working for, for most of your adult life. But as you know, a lot of the public still skeptical. A new poll out this morning shows more than half of the public is opposed to this plan. What do you say to the doubters?
PAUL RYAN: Well, I just think, first of all, thank you very much, George, and great to be with you. I think because people have sort of been hit on their TV screens by the media and the Democrats that everybody’s getting a big tax increase. That’s just not the case. The average median family of four in America’s gonna get a $2,059 tax cut. Every – the average taxpayer in every income group’s getting a tax cut. So I think when people actually see that instead of getting tax increases they’re getting a tax cut, when they see the withholding tables changing in February and seeing more money in their paychecks, when they’re seeing the economic growth that will result from historic tax reform, I think minds are gonna change and I think people are gonna change their view on this. But they’ve been hit on TV with so many different confusing messages that there’s no wonder there’s a little confusion surrounding this.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Big question from a lot of our viewers, how are you gonna pay for it? This is going to increase the deficit, according to congressional budget score-keepers, by about a trillion dollars. I know you disagree with that analysis, you think growth is gonna pay for it. But what if you’re wrong? Are you willing to reverse the cuts?
(...)
STEPHANOPOULOS: And that spending has a lot of people concerned as well. The AARP has come out against the tax bill, in part because they say it’s gonna increase the national deficit, and that means $25 billion in cuts to Medicare next year alone. Those Medicare cuts are going to be triggered next month unless you vote –
RYAN: Not gonna happen. I can just cut you off right there. You and I know these – you used to work here, so you know these budget rules. It’s kind of an arcane rule that will not occur and those cuts will not happen.
(...)
CBS This Morning
7:08 AM ET
(...)
ANTHONY MASON: Mr. Speaker, I think polls show that most people view this bill as kind of, as you pointed out, as far more generous to corporations than it is to individual taxpayers. Are they wrong?
PAUL RYAN: Yeah, they are. I think what it is, is you’ve had this big debate on TV where Republicans and Democrats are arguing with each other, pundits in the media are saying this and that. When you actually break down the components of this bill, it polls extremely well. But more importantly, when it gets in place, when people see their paychecks getting bigger in February because withholding tables have adjusted to reflect their tax cut, when businesses are keeping more of what they earn, when they can write off their expensing investments in their businesses and hire more people, that’s going to change its popularity, I am convinced. So I think there’s just tons of confusion out there as to what this does or doesn’t do. A lot of people think it’s going to raise their taxes. When every income tax group, on average, gets a tax cut. So the proof is in the pudding and I think the results will speak for themselves.
GAYLE KING: You’re right. It is confusing for a lot of people. Yesterday, Senator Schumer, on the floor, said, “Listen, this is a disgrace.” We don’t expect him to say, “Good job, Paul and company!” So we don’t expect him to say that. They point out, though, in 2027, Mr. Speaker that for the middle class this actually isn’t a break, that their taxes will actually go up. How do you address that?
RYAN: Yeah, so, first of all, what they’re basically saying is we’re cutting them. They’re acknowledging that we’re cutting taxes for the middle class. And then, because there’s a sunset in those tax cuts at the end of the decade, because of Senate rules, they’ll go up. Now, we have no intention of allowing that to happen, but it’s unfortunate because of these Senate rules that we have to comply with that has that sunset. But Congress has every intention of making sure that that does not happen. This has been done over and over again, again, because of Senate rules, where we don’t allow these artificial tax increases to ever occur. But I think to acknowledge that there’s an increase down the road is to acknowledge that we’re actually cutting people’s taxes right now.
(...)
