House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, on stage tonight, has a lot in common with his party’s nominee for president. They are both very experienced in using faulty information to prove political points. McCarthy once claimed that federal revenues were higher “than any other time,” a statement proven false by independent fact-checkers. Similarly, he said that a Democratically-controlled Congress spent more than the first 100 Congresses combined, also rated false by independent fact-checkers.
The one difference between McCarthy and Trump? Sometimes Kevin McCarty slips up and actually tells the truth, like when he admitted that the House Select Committee on Benghazi was actually a taxpayer-funded rouse to bring down Secretary Clinton’s poll numbers. Oops.
KEVIN MCCARTHY IS ACTUALLY FAMOUS FOR TELLING THE TRUTH
He once told the truth about the House Republican Committee on Benghazi
McCarthy: “Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today?” “I knew you’d want to ask it. What you’re going to see is a conservative speaker that takes a conservative Congress that puts a strategy (in place) to fight and win. “And let me give you one example. Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s un-trustable. But no one would have known any of that had happened had we not fought and made that happen.” [Fox News, 9/29/15]
Then he went right back to lying about the Benghazi Committee
Kevin McCarthy: “I did not imply in any way that the work [of the Benghazi Committee] is political, of course it is not.” “The battle over likely House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s open boasting about the Benghazi probe’s success in driving down Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers is only intensifying. And McCarthy went on Fox News again last night to try to clean up the mess: ‘This committee was set up for one sole purpose, to find the truth on behalf of families for four dead Americans,’ McCarthy told Bret Baier. ‘Now, I did not imply in any way that that work is political, of course it is not. Look at the way they have carried themselves out.’ He added: ‘That committee is solely to get the truth out, but it happened within the truth you found out about a server,’ a reference to the private email server Clinton has admitted she maintained while secretary of state.” [Washington Post, 10/2/15]
KEVIN MCCARTHY FALSELY CLAIMED FEDERAL REVENUES WERE HIGHER THAN “ANY OTHER TIME.”
2013: Kevin McCarthy on Federal revenue: “There’s more money going in than any other time.” MCCARTHY: There is no need for a tax increase out of this House. There’s more money going in than any other time. In the last four decades, on average, we brought in 17.9 percent of GDP. Now we’re going to bring in 19.1. The problem is we’re spending more!” [Fox News, 2/20/13]
Politifact: “To say that the nation will collect the most revenue in raw dollars in 2013, according to tax experts, is meaningless. We rate McCarthy’s statement Mostly False.” “McCarthy told Fox News, ‘There’s more money going in than any other time. In the last four decades, on average, we brought in 17.9 percent of GDP. Now we’re going to bring in 19.1.’ Starting in 2015, reputable projections show revenue rising to 19.1 percent of GDP, up from an average of 17.9 over the last four decades. But McCarthy’s wrong to say that there’s more money coming in than at any other time. In fact, the nation collected more than 19.1 percent of GDP in seven years of the last 40. To say that the nation will collect the most revenue in raw dollars in 2013, according to tax experts, is meaningless. We rate McCarthy’s statement Mostly False.” [Politifact, 2/28/13]
KEVIN MCCARTHY SAID CONGRESS SPENT MORE THAN PREVIOUS 100 CONGRESSES COMBINED
Kevin McCarthy claimed: “The Democratic majority led the 111th Congress to spend more money in two years than the first 100 congresses before them combined.” “I was not present for the votes because my son had surgery last week, and I came home to be with him and my family,’ said McCarthy, who will be the House Majority Whip in the new Congress. ‘If I had been in D.C., I would have voted against all of the bills mentioned in your reader’s letter. While there were a number of positive things in each of the bills, the tipping point was the spending. The Democratic majority led the 111th Congress to spend more money in two years than the first 100 congresses before them combined. Washington has lost touch and spent too much time focusing on the wrong issues. Americans need jobs, not more debt, and next year the new majority will be focused on just that.” [Bakersfield Californian, 1/5/11]
Politifact: McCarthy confused “annual spending for accumulated debt. And that’s enough to rule McCarthy’s statement False.” “So what about McCarthy’s statement? It’s similar to Cantor’s comment to Jon Stewart, but it’s not exactly the same. Whereas Cantor used as his comparison point ‘the last 200 years,’ McCarthy used ‘the first 100 congresses.’ Although his phrasing could be read to mean the 100 congresses prior to the 111th Congress, we’re giving him the benefit of the doubt that he meant the first 100 congresses in history. That means counting only from the 1st Congress to the 100th Congress — a period that ended 22 years ago, in January 1989. But he’s wrong by either measure. […] Ultimately, McCarthy’s statement in the Californian was slightly less wrong than Cantor’s statememt to Jon Stewart, since the ‘first 100 congresses’ formulation is ultimately more supportable than ‘the last 200 years combined.’ Still, McCarthy made the same error that Cantor, his fellow Young Gun, did a couple months earlier — confusing annual spending for accumulated debt. And that’s enough to rule McCarthy’s statement False.” [Politifact, 1/5/11]