CRS report critical of GOP economic policies squelched almost immediately

[nichomachus]

Congressional Research Service Meets Republican Memory Hole

Late on a Friday in September, the Congressional Research Service (CRS), a respected agency within the Library of Congress, released a report concluding, in effect, that there is no objective support for core Republican economic policies. Reducing the top tax rates, the report concludes, has no correlation with the nation’s economic growth, but does contribute to the growing gap between the wealthy and the rest of Americans.

Some media reports followed, and then two weeks later the CRS report quietly went away from the CRS website without having had much impact, even though it was a non-partisan debunking of Mitt Romney’s core economic argument. More than a month later, the New York Times published a story asking, in effect, “Now what was that all about?” One answer to the mystery turned out to be that Republican pressure on the CRS over the style and content of the report had effectively sent it down the collective memory hole.

Now the Congressional Budget Office has reached essentially the same conclusions, in a report issued November 8. So far, this report is still standing, but Republican intensity in defense of tax cuts for the wealthy is growing as their December 31 expiration date approaches.

No previous Congressional Research Service report in living memory has ever been withdrawn before, according to the New York Times. Not that the Times made a big deal about any of this. The story ran on Friday, November 2, on page B1 of the second section with the bland headline: “Tax Report Withdrawn At Request of G.O.P.” (CRS refused to answer a reporter’s inquiry, saying it only answers questions from Congress.)

[montanacowboy]

1. God forbid we ever let the American peoople know the truth

unbelievable