CBS News relied on an outdated, months-old “fact-check” this weekend to call “mostly false” Paul Ryan’s claim that President Barack Obama’s auto bailout favored unionized workers.
“The president likes to go around Ohio talking about how he saved the auto industry, how the auto bailout was such a success,” Ryan said on Saturday. “Tell you what: He hasn’t talked to these Oak Creek salaried employees, he hasn’t talked to these Ohio Delphi salaried employees, because this is one of those examples of the government picking winners and losers.”
“And yes, they picked some losers, and those people are here with us and all they want is to have fairness,” Ryan added. “All they want is transparency and honesty from their federal government, and they’re not getting it. And they deserve better than that.”
In an article published on Saturday, CBS News stated Ryan’s comment was “mostly false,” because in April PolitiFact labeled a similar charge from Ohio Republican Rep. Mike Turner mostly false.
The PolitiFact article relied solely on a December 2011 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report to make its argument. But GAO admitted to The Daily Caller in August that its report was incomplete and didn’t include the internal documents, emails and other evidence TheDC has published in recent months.
In early August, TheDC published a series of emails that showed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s team driving the termination of nonunion Delphi workers’ pension plans.
Since then, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Republican Rep. Dave Camp, has concluded, based on preliminary findings, that political officials in the Obama administration were behind the pension terminations.
And TheDC published emails this weekend further indicating that Treasury officials were involved.
GAO director Nikki Clowers testified during a June 10 House oversight committee hearing that GAO’s report was not comprehensive and was never meant to be.
The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Assets Relief Program (SIGTARP), an oversight and investigations official appointed by President Barack Obama, has launched a parallel investigation.
At the June 10 hearing, SIGTARP Special Inspector General Christy Romero testified about the administration’s role in the pension terminations.
“You said in your letter you believed the auto task force played a role in the pension decision, and these individuals’ failure to speak is a significant obstacle. You do believe that, right — that they played a role?” Turner asked.
“Yes,” Romero responded.