Issues: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

Restore Our Future: “Kindergarten”

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An ad from pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future complains about high federal debt and the slow economic recovery, asking if America is going “forward” or “backward.” Restore Our Future fails to note, however, that 4.6 million new jobs have been created over 30 consecutive months of private-sector growth, or that GOP-favored public-sector downsizing is dragging down the recovery. In addition, it’s Bush-era policies plus the global recession that set the U.S. on a path towards an explosion of the federal debt.

Read more after the jump.

Americans For Job Security: “Running”

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Americans for Job Security portrays the economy as still mired in recession, using a woman’s voiceover to suggest that President Obama has failed “to turn the economy around.” But while the economy has yet to dig out of the massive, nearly unprecedented hole created by the 2007-08 financial crisis, it has certainly turned around. The economy was hemorrhaging nearly a million jobs each month when President Bush handed over to Obama, and today the economy has been adding jobs for 30 months – two and a half years straight. Just as the ad’s depiction of the recent past is inaccurate, its insinuations about our immediate future are not supported by the evidence.

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Crossroads GPS: “Questionable”

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Crossroads GPS attacks Virginia Senate candidate Tim Kaine (D) over his support for last year’s deal to raise the debt ceiling, which created the deficit reduction “super committee” and imposed defense cuts as an incentive for members of the committee to reach a compromise. Now that the super committee has failed and the defense cuts are looming, GPS is accusing Kaine of backing a plan to “devastate America’s defense and Virginia jobs.” But Kaine supported the debt ceiling deal because it was necessary to avoid devastating economic default, and he has laid out a plan to avoid the impending defense cuts.

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Club For Growth Action: “Typical”

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An ad from Club for Growth Action portrays Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) as a “typical Washington liberal,” citing his support for President Bush’s bank bailout, the “failed” stimulus, and the “government takeover of health care.” However, the financial rescue and the Recovery Act both helped the nation avert a more severe economic collapse, while the Affordable Care Act relies on private insurance companies to extend coverage. Despite the ad’s attempt to cast him as a hardcore partisan, Donnelly has the eighth most independent voting record among representatives in the current Congress.

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Crossroads GPS: “Big Difference”

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Crossroads GPS bolsters North Dakota Senate candidate Rick Berg (R) with an ad attacking his opponent, Heidi Heitkamp (D), over health care reform law and the stimulus, emphasizing their impact on the debt. In reality, the Affordable Care Act does reduce the budget deficit, and the “wasteful” stimulus helped prevent an even deeper recession.

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American Crossroads: “Forward?”

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American Crossroads is countering the Democratic National Convention with an ad claiming that President Obama has taken the country “backward,” citing what the ad calls “America’s worst economic recovery ever.” However, the ad ignores the severity of the recession President Bush left behind, as well as the decline in government employment (which conservatives favor) that distinguishes the current recovery from previous ones. Indeed, the private sector has grown steadily for the past 30 months, adding 4.6 million jobs during that period. Crossroads also dishonestly calls the Affordable Care Act a “tax on middle-class families” and blames the president for deficits that are fueled by Bush policies and the recession.

Read more after the jump.

American Future Fund: “Tomorrow”

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A dramatic ad from the American Future Fund features a woman describing her worries about the economy, her husband’s job, stimulus spending, and debt, but getting a lot of details wrong as she blames New Mexico Senate candidate Martin Heinrich for the her woes. The ad cites an article about a Recovery Act-funded car company building cars in Finland, but all the money loaned to that business supported work done in the U.S. Four-and-a-half million private-sector jobs have been added over the last 29 straight months of unemployment, and it was Bush policies and the recession that drove up the debt.

Read more after the jump.

Crossroads GPS: “Mountain”

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Crossroads GPS attacks Rep. Tammy Baldwin for opposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, which it says would “stop the mounting national debt that threatens Wisconsin’s economy.” However, by forcing the government to make additional cuts any time the economy slumps and revenues fall, the balanced budget amendment would make future recessions even more severe. Meanwhile, the rising debt during Baldwin’s tenure has been fueled by President Bush’s policies, including costly tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans that Baldwin opposed.

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Crossroads GPS: “Every Single Day”

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An ad from Crossroads GPS attacks Montana Sen. Jon Tester (D) over the national debt, suggesting that he’s to blame even though it was Bush-era policies and the recession that drove up spending and decreased revenues. The Recovery Act helped prevent an even worse recession, and the “budget-busting” health care law actually reduces the deficits. Moreover, a vote against raising the debt ceiling wouldn’t keep down debt – it would have prevented the U.S. from paying bills it had already incurred and risked economic catastrophe.

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American Future Fund: “Bill Nelson, 1979”

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An ad from the American Future Fund attacks Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), over the national debt and over Nelson’s vote for the Affordable Care Act. What the ad leaves out is that the health care law reduces the deficit and improves care for seniors, while the national debt was been driven up by Bush policies – including tax breaks for the wealthy that Nelson opposed – and the recession.

Read more after the jump.