Fox Calls Savings In Reid Plan A “Gimmick”

Doocy On Reid's Plan: “People Are Going, 'Hmm, You've Got A Trillion Dollars' Worth Of Gimmick.' ” On the July 25 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-host Steve Doocy said that it is a “gimmick” that Reid's deficit reduction plan counts $1 trillion in savings from troop drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan. From the broadcast:

BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): So now they [the Senate] finally has a plan that Harry Reid has put forward. Get ready for this. They'll raise the debt ceiling exactly to the distance that the president wants, 2.4 million [sic], and that will get us through 2013.

DOOCY: Through the election.

KILMEADE: Yeah, through the election. That's exactly what the president demands.

DOOCY: Right.

KILMEADE: And they'll have $2.7 trillion dollars' worth of cuts with no entitlement refirm and no -- reform -- and no tax hikes, which is basically impossible.

DOOCY: Well, one of the things is, they're apparently counting money not going to be spent on war, which is a gimmick, and people are going, “Hmm. They've got a trillion dollars' worth of gimmick in there.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/25/11]

Kilmeade Claims Reid “Isn't Cutting Anything” In His Plan; Doocy Again Calls Plan's Assumptions “A Gimmick.” On the July 28 edition of Fox & Friends, Kilmeade claimed: “But [Reid's] not cutting anything. What he's doing is acknowledging that the wars are coming to an end in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that saves a trillion dollars.” Doocy responded by again saying, “It's a gimmick.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/28/11]

But The Same Savings Were Included In The Ryan Plan ...

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Some Republicans Criticized The Plan For Counting Savings From Ending The Wars” But The Ryan Budget Plan “Used The Same War Savings In Its Calculations.” From a July 26 article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Across the Capitol, Mr. Reid was laying out his competing plan to reporters: A $2.7 trillion reduction in future deficits through $1.2 trillion in discretionary spending cuts; $100 billion in cuts from mandatory programs without touching the Big Three entitlements -- Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid; $1 trillion realized by ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; and $400 billion in savings in debt interest.

Mr. Reid would also establish a 12-member joint committee to find more deficit reduction, with a fast-tracked vote by year's end.

Some Republicans criticized the plan for counting savings from ending the wars, because that isn't a change from current policy. Mr. Boehner dismissed the Reid proposal as “full of gimmicks.” But the controversial Republican budget authored by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., that passed the House this year used the same war savings in its calculations. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 7/26/11]

Wash. Post: Counting Money Not Spent On Wars “Is Widely Viewed As A Budget Gimmick ... [But] It Was Included In The Budget Blueprint House Republicans Adopted This Spring.” A July 24 article in The Washington Post, published before the details of Reid and Boehner's plans were made public, stated:

Reid offered no further details about the plan. A Senate Democratic leadership aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the plan has not been publicly released, said the package would include cuts of up to $1.2 trillion over the next decade to government agencies, including the Pentagon. Democrats had previously offered to accept those savings, as well as about $200 billion in cuts to non-health direct-payment programs, such as farm subsidies.

The aide declined to say what else the package might contain. But people familiar with the months-long search for a debt-reduction compromise said that hitting such a large target without raising taxes or cutting entitlement programs would probably require Reid to rely heavily on savings from ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- a figure budget analysts said could easily amount to more than $1 trillion over the next decade.

Counting money not spent on wars that the nation is already planning to end is widely viewed as a budget gimmick, and House GOP leaders have been reluctant to include it as savings. But it has a political advantage because it was included in the budget blueprint House Republicans adopted this spring. And Democratic sources said the option may look more attractive as the clock ticks down to Aug. 2, when Treasury officials say they will run out of money to pay all of the government's bills. [The Washington Post, 7/24/11]

CNN.com: Sen. Jon Kyl “Blasted [Reid's] Debt Ceiling Package” For “Phony Scoring” But “At The Same Time, [He] Acknowledged Republicans Have Supported The Same Approach.” From a July 25 post on CNN's blog Political Ticker:

The No. 2 Senate Republican blasted the debt ceiling package unveiled Monday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, saying its reliance on $1 trillion in savings from the winding down of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan amounts to “phony scoring.”

At the same time, Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona acknowledged Republicans have supported the same approach. House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin counted the same savings in the budget he proposed earlier this year.

“I know the Ryan budget used that approach as well but it's not valid scoring,” Kyl told CNN, as he headed to a meeting for all Republican senators to discuss the debt crisis. “It's going to be very hard for Republicans to say, 'Oh, we can get all the way to $2.4 trillion if that is a big piece of the score.' It just doesn't work.” [CNN.com, Political Ticker, 7/25/11]

CBPP: “Ryan Budget Plan Produces Far Less Real Deficit Cutting Than Reported” Including "$1.3 Trillion In 'Savings' " From Winding Down Wars. An April 8 report published by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) after Ryan's plan was released noted that included in the "$5.8 trillion in spending cuts over ten years" was "$1.3 trillion in 'savings' from the official CBO baseline that comes merely from the fact that the Ryan plan reflects the costs of current policy in Iraq and Afghanistan." The report went on:

Ryan himself said earlier this year on National Public Radio -- in attacking President Obama's 2012 budget proposal for not doing enough to reduce deficits -- that simply showing the costs of current policy in Iraq and Afghanistan produces “phantom savings” from an anomalous baseline, not real deficit reduction. [CBPP, 4/8/11]

... Which Fox Repeatedly Hyped

Kilmeade: Rep. Ryan “Might Be A Genius.” On the April 4 edition of Fox & Friends, while discussing Ryan's plan, Kilmeade said:

KILMEADE: But this is titanic in its implication. In my lifetime, I've never seen a House, or one branch of government, take such bold action to revamping our whole economic system, while the president, by almost all accounts, has punted. He said, I give you my budget. Everyone said, what's this? Even, the deficit commission said, “Did you listen anything I said?”

What Paul Ryan does, who, by the way, might be a genius, I'm pretty sure. He put together something that is so forward leaning, it's going to make people say, “Wait a sec, we can't easily demagogue this, because it's so hard to define.” He goes beyond $4 trillion dollars. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 4/4/11 via Media Matters]

Beck: Ryan Is “One Of The Only Serious People In Washington ... On The Budget.” From a discussion of Rep. Ryan's budget on the April 5 edition of Fox & Friends:

GLENN BECK: He's one of the only serious people in Washington, I think, on the budget. I mean, he can debate it, he can talk about it, he knows it inside and out. He knows what he's talking about.

The other option is to go, for instance, on Medicare, with the Zeke Emanuel complete live system, which is what helped design this whole system, which is a rationing of medical care and services. That is what's coming. They'll continue to deny it, but they've also continued to deny everything else that has been proven on this network.

DOOCY: One of the other details that, according to Mr. Ryan, is in his proposal, which he wrote about in the Wall Street Journal today, is he'd also like to reduce the top income tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent.

BECK: Good luck getting that done. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 4/5/11 via Media Matters]

Fox Hypes Ryan's Upcoming Hannity Appearance: “So Just How Much Does Paul Ryan Think He Can Save America?” During the April 5 Fox & Friends, a promo for Ryan's upcoming appearance on Hannity aired, asking, “So Just How Much Does Paul Ryan Think He Can Save America?” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 4/5/11 via Media Matters]

Special Report Whitewashes Expert Criticism To Help Ryan's Medicare Messaging “Sink In.” On the May 24 edition of Fox News' Special Report, Fox News host Bret Baier asked whether Ryan's argument that he is actually defending Medicare is “sinking in” with voters. Baier ignored experts who have said Ryan's plan to replace Medicare with vouchers would harm seniors and force them to increase their out-of-pocket health care expenses. [Fox News, Special Report with Bret Baier, 5/24/11 via Media Matters]

Doocy Lobs A Softball At Ryan: “You Want To Fix Medicaid, Medicare” But Dems Are “Using That As The Bogeyman.” During an interview with Ryan on the May 25 edition of Fox & Friends, Doocy said, “What we've seen is that the Democrats used the threat of your plan, where you want to fix Medicaid, Medicare -- they're using that as the bogeyman, to get people to vote for them.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 5/25/11 via Media Matters]