Press Releases

Fact Check: Republican Leader Boehner Repeats False Cap and Trade Claim

Earlier today, House Republican Leader John Boehner repeated a false talking point when he tried to claim Cap and Trade will cost the average family $1,700 a year. Boehner also made this bogus claim on Sunday's Meet the Press. The problem for Republican Leader Boehner is that the non-partisan independent Politifact published a report on Friday calling "false" this very claim.

As Politifact made clear, "The statement that households will pay $1,761 in new taxes every year is based on a blogger's incorrect assumptions and overly simple math. The estimate does not account for revenue that will be returned to consumers in the form of rebates and other efficiency measures. Furthermore, the number is based on old numbers; the Treasury estimate was written on the premise that all permits would be sold, which, ultimately, is not the form that the Waxman-Markey legislation has taken. Finally, both Alexander and McCullagh portray money raised by selling these permits as a tax. We rate Alexander's claim False." [Politifact, 9/18/09]

BACKGROUND

· Republican Leader Boehner: "Earlier today, the President addressed a United Nations ‘Climate Change Summit' in New York and touted a variation on the Democrats' national energy tax - legislation that, according to the Administration's own estimates, will cost families an average of $1,700 a year in higher costs." [Republican Leader Boehner Statement, 9/22/09]

Republican Leader Boehner: "It's a cap and trade system, this big giant tax on the American people that this week, we just find out, the Treasury Department said will cost the average family $1,700 per year." [Meet the Press, 9/21/09]

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