Issues: Medicare

Americans for Tax Reform: “Wrong Prescription for New York”

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Americans for Tax Reform attacks Rep. Bill Owens (D-NY) for supporting the Affordable Care Act, relying on a series of distortions about the law’s impact. In reality, the ACA does not raise taxes on most Americans, and it actually reduces the burden on many middle-class families. Moreover, the law reduces future Medicare spending without cutting seniors’ benefits, and the Senate-confirmed board responsible for finding additional savings is forbidden from cutting benefits or rationing care.

Read more after the jump.

Congressional Leadership Fund: “Join Me”

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Congressional Leadership Fund claims Rep. John Barrow (D-GA) “stood with Obama for Obamacare,” but Barrow voted against the Affordable Care Act and currently supports amending the law while acknowledging that “all or nothing” repeal would be harmful. The ad also misleads about the health care law’s effect on Medicare – it doesn’t cut benefits – and about the Recovery Act, which helped prevent an even deeper recession. Furthermore, Georgia has gained over 80,000 jobs since the end of the devastating recession that’s responsible for millions of job losses nationwide, even though the ad tries to blame Georgia’s economic difficulties on Barrow.

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American Crossroads: “No Slate”

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Calling her an “extreme politician,” American Crossroads suggests Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) voted to raise taxes on the middle-class, citing her support for health care reform. But the Affordable Care Act does not raise taxes on most Americans and actually reduces the overall burden on the middle class. The law also reduces future Medicare spending without cutting seniors’ current benefits. Meanwhile, the rising debt in recent years has been fueled by the recession and Bush policies, such as tax breaks for the wealthy that Baldwin opposed.

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Congressional Leadership Fund: “Heartbeat”

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Val Demings was an Orlando cop for decades, ending her career as Chief of Police, before deciding to run for Congress. But you wouldn’t know it from this American Action Network ad that dishonestly attacks “politician Val Demings” over the Affordable Care Act, and says that if she is elected she will raise health insurance costs. From seniors’ care to taxes, AAN’s claims about the ACA and Demings are all wrong.

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Crossroads GPS: “Roadblock”

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Crossroads GPS presents Heidi Heitkamp as an obstacle to Mitt Romney’s agenda in an ad called “Roadblock,” stressing that “every single vote” on the repeal of health care reform and the extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy will be crucial. The ad is highly dishonest about each of those policies, falsely claiming that ending Bush’s upper-income tax breaks means taxing small businesses, and accusing Heitkamp of “cutting Medicare spending” even though her opponent voted twice for the same Medicare savings.

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Crossroads GPS: “Blew It”

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Crossroads GPS attacks former Maine Governor Angus King with caricatures of his actual policies and ideas, and comes up short at every turn. The wind energy project he was involved with cut local taxes in half; his education cuts amounted to less than 2 percent of planned school aid; and he reduced Maine’s tax burden over his tenure, while returning the state’s budget to health. He supports the Affordable Care Act, but GPS misrepresents the law’s provisions.

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Crossroads GPS: “Both”

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Crossroads GPS doubles up in an ad hitting both President Obama and Tim Kaine for spending, deficits, taxes, and looming defense cuts brought on by the failure of a deficit-reduction super committee to reach a deal. The group also uses an out-of-context quote from Kaine to suggest he blindly supports the president’s policies. In reality, the recession created budget deficits on the state level, while Bush-era Republican policies are largely responsible on the national level. Spending growth is low under Obama, and Kaine cut billions to leave Virginia with a balanced budget. And while both Kaine and Obama supported the debt limit deal that created the super committee and imposed sequester as an incentive for compromise, both support finding a way to avoid the defense cuts.

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U.S. Chamber Of Commerce: “What’s Tim Kaine’s Plan For Virginia”

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Claiming Virginia Senate candidate Tim Kaine supports “higher taxes” and “fewer jobs,” an ad from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce attacks him over his support for a cap-and-trade plan and health care reform. But the taxes Kaine proposed during his tenure as governor of Virginia were designed to pay for much-needed transporation upgrades that Virginia’s Republican-controlled House wanted to pay for with long-term borrowing, and although Kaine spoke about the need for a plan to address the threat climate change poses to Virginia, he has not endorsed a specific plan. The Affordable Care Act, meanwhile, leaves the private system intact and does not raise taxes on most Americans.

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U.S. Chamber of Commerce: “A Serious Threat To Jobs”

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s argument against Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin (D) distorts her record on health care, energy, and tax policy. The insurance-industry-funded Chamber attacks Baldwin for supporting a health care bill that included a public option, ignoring consistent popular support for the proposal. Baldwin’s opposition to the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy does not amount to raising taxes on small businesses (a claim the Chamber supports by citing a biased report on a flawed study commissioned by the Chamber itself). And, finally, Baldwin opposed Republican energy legislation that would have stymied efforts to make offshore drilling safer.

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Now Or Never PAC: “Knock Down The Door”

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Now or Never PAC attacks Arizona Senate candidate Richard Carmona for supporting the “Obamacare takeover,” which the group describes as a “$716 billion cut to Medicare,” and for allegedly opposing tax cuts for small businesses. In reality, the Affordable Care Act relies on the private sector to increase insurance coverage and reduces future spending on Medicare without cutting benefits. Moreover, Carmona supports extending tax relief for the middle class while phasing out tax breaks for top income earners, which would affect few actual small businesses.

Read more after the jump.