John Kline’s Priorities Are Out of Touch and his Claims are Out of this World

President Obama was in St. Paul yesterday to discuss his $300B transportation program. That program is designed to fix the nation’s infrastructure, including roads, bridges and rail lines. It will create hundreds, if not thousands, of new jobs.

John Kline chose yesterday to tweet his priority questions at the President. Kline, of course, was not in St. Paul to talk about how the President’s transportation program could aid Minnesotans, along with the rest of the country. It is is interesting to see what questions he raised. It is even more interesting to see what questions he did not raise (minimum wage, long term unemployment insurance, immigration, income inequality, opportunity inequality, voting rights, transportation). Here is what Kline chose to focus on:

·       Economic #stimulus created #debt not jobs. Will you join @HouseGOP to fix slowest economic recovery in generations?

o   Fact check: The Recovery Act increased U.S. GDP by roughly 2 to 2.5 percentage points from late 2009 through mid-2011. It added about 6 million “job years” (a full-time job for a full year) through the end of 2012. If you combine the Recovery Act with a series of follow-up measures, including unemployment-insurance extensions, small-business tax cuts and payroll tax cuts, the Administration’s fiscal stimulus produced a 2% to 3% increase in GDP in every quarter from late 2009 through 2012, and 9 million extra job years.
http://swampland.time.com/2014/02/17/economic-stimulus-recovery-act-anniversary-obama/#ixzz2uWm3OGCd

·       House passed #SKILLS Act reforming nation’s broken job training system. When will you support #EdWorkforce solution?

o   Fact check: The National League of Cities rejects this partisan program because it would:

1. Undermine the local delivery system that has been the cornerstone of job training programs since the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act of 1973 was passed into law 40 years ago by turning the program over to governors and their state workforce boards even though evidence otherwise points to the value of keeping the program locally based;
2. Establish a program that is based on political boundaries (states) rather than on economic regions and local labor markets, or the naturally evolving areas in which workers find paying work, employers find willing workers, and wage rates are determined;
3. Eliminate a strong role for local elected officials but require that they continue to be fiscally liable for funds spent in their local areas, even if they cannot control the use of those funds;
4. Change what was once a program targeted to those most in need - economically disadvantaged adults and youth and special population groups like veterans, migrant farm workers, and low income seniors - into a block grant to governors whose funds may be used to provide training and employment services to almost any segment of the population, including those who are not economically disadvantaged;
5. Contribute to the emerging division between those American's who have the requisite skills to find employment and those who do not, by failing to target those most in need of job training and employment services;
6. Mandate that certain workforce development programs whose expenditures currently equal approximately $14 billion be eliminated or consolidated into a single $6 billion workforce investment fund (block grant);
7. Cap program funding at $6 billion for seven years which would prevent the federal government, through the normal appropriations process, from responding to emerging economic and employment crises by investing additional resources in workforce development programs;
8. Prohibit thoughtful program consolidation and elimination by failing to focus on the desired outcome, but rather on the larger goals of substantially reducing the total number of programs, and reducing the overall federal investment in training and employment assistance; and
9. Eliminate targeted funding for disadvantaged and disconnected youth at a time when the nation's youth are facing an employment crisis, with young people three times more likely to be unemployed than adults and youth employment at its lowest level in 60 years.

http://www.nlc.org/media-center/news-search/why-is-the-skills-act-bad-public-policy

·       In @nytimes: teachers, school workers see hrs, income cut due to #ObamaCare. When will you give relief for all Americans?

o   Fact check: Kline has raised this issue before. http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/233791821.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue As previously reported, his anecdotal evidence proved to be wrong. http://mn2020hindsight.org/view/kline-fact-check-aca-will-not-undermine-education

·       Medicare Advantage is highly popular to tens of thousands of seniors in #MNCD2. Why is #ObamaCare gutting it?

o   Fact check: The proposed plan, not yet finalized, will make 1.9% cuts in federal payments to Medicare Advantage INSURANCE COMPANIES. While such cuts might—or might not—affect consumers, any impact on consumers is not yet known. http://spacecoastdaily.com/2014/02/cms-proposes-1-9-cut-in-medicare-advantage-payments/

·       House will pass HR 3865, stopping IRS from targeting groups of any political persuasion. Will you support our bill?

o   Fact check: The bill passed the House on February 26, with all 229 Republicans (2 were absent) and 14 Democrats supporting it. Kline was in DC voting on this bill, rather than being in Minnesota to talk about roads, bridges, and jobs. The bill puts into statute a regulation the IRS enacted four years ago. And the law automatically expires in one year. What a waste of legislative time. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d113:1:./temp/~bd6aG5:@@@L&summ2=m&|/home/LegislativeData.php| 

·       Recent study reveals #ObamaCare med device tax killed 33,000 jobs. When will you support @RepErikPaulsen plan to repeal?

o   Fact check: The study was done by the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed).

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/02/24/Study-Obamacare-Medical-Device-Tax-Killed-33-000-Jobs The Board of Directors of Advamed includes representatives from Medtronic, Boston Scientific, 3M, and St. Jude. Only 38 companies, representing only 40% of med tech sales, responded to the survey. The report http://advamed.org/res.download/417  says 14,000 jobs have been lost, not 33,000 as Kline claims (19,000 new hires were put on hold). Medtronic’s gross revenues increased in the third quarter of their fiscal year 2014, from the prior year ($4.163 billion compared to $4.027 billion, or $136 M)

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/64670/000119312514065035/d679424d424b2.htm Medtronic had previously estimated that the medical device excise tax would cost them between $100M to $150M per year. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/64670/000006467013000006/mdt-2013426x10k.htm Thus, Medtronic covered the annual medical device excise tax with one quarter’s worth of increased revenue.

·       Keystone expands American energy, creates 1000s of jobs, indirectly keeps propane prices lower. Will you support Keystone?

o   Fact check: KXL is designed to carry tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, from which it will be exported. This is not American energy. It will create jobs during the construction of the pipeline. It will not result in many, if any, permanent jobs. It will carry oil more safely than trains. KXL is a mixed bag, and is currently under review by the State Department.

·       Will you support #EdWorkforce #StudentSuccessAct stopping @whitehouse from dictating Common Core nat’l curriculum to states?

o   Fact check: While the Student Success Act requires states to adopt standards in reading and math, the bill does nothing to ensure that state standards are rigorous enough to make sure students graduate from school ready for college and career. The bill does not require states to set targets and goals to evaluate whether schools are improving student achievement and graduation rates. Under the bill, chronically underperforming schools can continue to conduct business as usual—endlessly. The idea here is that parents with children in underperforming schools will take it upon themselves to hold schools accountable on their own or rely on states and districts to act in good faith and intervene when schools are failing. The Student Success Act also neglects to close a well-known federal loophole that allows districts to allocate fewer total dollars to high-poverty schools compared to more affluent schools. The Student Success Act also removes federal requirements that ensure states and districts maintain their share of education funding from year to year. http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education/news/2013/07/18/70033/the-student-success-act-is-the-wrong-way-forward/

·       You promised premiums would drop by $2,000 due to #ObamaCare but Admin said premiums will rise for 2/3 small biz. Really?

o   Fact check: Mr. Kline continues to ignore the facts and figures derived from the State of Minnesota. http://mn2020hindsight.org/view/fact-check-obamacare-and-health-insurance-premiums

·       In @StarTribune: 140,000 MNs lost coverage due to #ObamaCare. Will you right your #BrokenPromise – Politifact lie of year?

o   Fact check: The Star Tribune reported that 140,000 Minnesotans insured through small business will experience an increase in premium, not that they will lose coverage. http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/221990161.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue That assumes none of these 140,000 people a) receive federal subsidies and/or b) acquire similar coverage at lower cost through MNSure, or otherwise shopping for new coverage.

It is easy to put out a 140 character Tweet. It appears difficult for Mr. Kline to be accurate about what he says. And it takes 1,400 words to set the record straight. Let’s stop wasting everyone’s time with this nonsense.