Congressional Republicans were one step closer to realizing their hopes for tax reform on Thursday as it appeared as though the House and Senate had reconciled nearly all of the legislation. Hearing the recommendations and concerns of the public, the Republicans preserved the current tax code’s deductions for student loans, medical bills, and added a $10,000 cap for state and local taxes. But of the three major network news outlets, NBC was the only one that left them out of their evening broadcast.
Instead of reporting what was known to be in the GOP tax reform bill, NBC Nightly News instead chose to run two reports that played up the GOP “scrambling” to get votes and blatantly pasted off Democratic Party talking points as facts.
After stoking the unnecessary fears the repeal of net neutrality and hyping the firing/resignation of White House staffer Omarosa Manigault, NBC’s Kasie Hunt was playing up how hard a time the GOP leadership was having wrangling votes together:
Tonight Senator Marco Rubio now threatening to vote no unless Republicans leaders agree to give American families a bigger child tax credit … Senator Mike Lee is also undecided because of the child tax credit. And Senator Bob Corker is still a no on the bill. Because they can only lose two votes, that means Republicans could be at risk of falling short of the 50 votes they need to pass the bill.
She also highlighted how Vice President Mike Pence delayed a trip to the Middle East just to be around if he was needed to break a tie.
The second NBC report on tax reform was all about making people fear what it would do to their health care by shamefully using Democratic Party talking points to taint the discussion. “Unable to repeal and replace ObamaCare, Republicans are instead trying to undermine it. So is this a body blow to ObamaCare,” announced anchor Lester Holt at the start of the segment.
Holt handed the report off to Tom Costello who spewed liberal claims of the tax bill, which repealed ObamaCare’s insurance mandate. “While ObamaCare isn't quite on life support, independent health experts say the Republican tax plan does inflict a serious wound,” he declared. He also reported that it meant 13 million people would no longer be covered by insurance.
In an apparent miracle for honesty, Costello actually noted that the 13 million was driven by people choosing not to buy insurance because they weren’t forced to. But he fretted that it would cause insurance premiums to rise by 10 percent. They worry about that not but not the current sky-high deductibles or the other premium hikes under Obama.
“With fewer people on ObamaCare, the Congressional Budget Office predicts a $338 billion savings helping to offset tax cuts for the wealthy,” Costello asserted. The statement about the bill being just a tax cuts for the wealthy was straight out of the Democratic Party playbook.
What made NBC’s blatant blackout of the preserved popular tax deductions even more obviously biased, was that they had run previous reports showing the families and students that would be hurt by the evil Republicans.
NBC's bias was sponsored by Exxon Mobil, Lyrica, Liberty Mutual, and Alka-Seltzer.
Relevant portions of the transcript below:
NBC Nightly News
December 14, 2017
7:06:18 PM EasternLESTER HOLT: Now to those sweeping changes concerning your taxes. Senate Republicans are suddenly scrambling to lock down enough votes to pass their massive plan before Christmas. As some powerful GOP senators are now threatening to vote no unless their concerns are addressed. NBC's Kasie hunt is at the capitol.
[Cuts to video]
KASIE HUNT: Tonight Senator Marco Rubio now threatening to vote no unless Republicans leaders agree to give American families a bigger child tax credit.
(…)
HUNT: Senator Mike Lee is also undecided because of the child tax credit. And Senator Bob Corker is still a no on the bill. Because they can only lose two votes, that means Republicans could be at risk of falling short of the 50 votes they need to pass the bill. The President confident Rubio will come around.
(…)
HUNT: But Vice President Mike Pence, who has already had to cast six tie-breaking votes in the Senate this year -- delaying a critical trip to the Middle East in case they need him this time. Also a concern, 80-year-old Thad Cochran, who has missed votes this week for health reasons. And Senator John McCain fighting brain cancer.
(…)
HUNT: With time running out for the President and his party to make good on any major campaign promise before the year is out.
(…)
7:08:08 PM Eastern
HOLT: And as of right now, that GOP tax plan eliminates the so-called individual mandate which requires every American to have health insurance. It's a key element to the ObamaCare law designed to spread the cost of insurance to everyone not just the sick. Unable to repeal and replace Obamacare, Republicans are instead trying to undermine it. So is this a body blow to Obamacare? Again tonight, NBC's Tom Costello has our reality check.
[Cuts to video]
TOM COSTELLO: While Obamacare isn't quite on life support, independent health experts say the Republican tax plan does inflict a serious wound. By eliminating the individual mandate, 13 million people, mostly healthy, are expected to choose to go without insurance, driving up premiums by at least 10 percent for ObamaCare customers who don't get government subsidies.
(…)
COSTELLO: With fewer people on ObamaCare, the Congressional Budget Office predicts a $338 billion savings helping to offset tax cuts for the wealthy. Meanwhile, President Trump wants insurers to offer short-term coverage that doesn't cover pre-existing conditions as ObamaCare requires.
(…)
