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More lies and distortions

Posted by: Erin Kelly on Nov 20, 2009

The Chamber of Commerce has been on a roll lately! And by "on a roll," we really mean "on a campaign to derail health reform." They're definitely not being very subtle about it - or honest - and it's time we set the record straight.

The Washington Post has obtained a letter in which the president of the Chamber of Commerce attempts to solicit money from national business groups. The purpose behind the fund collection? They want to raise $50,000 to hire a "respected economist" to study the impact of health reform. While that may not sound so bad, consider this:

Step two, according to the e-mail, appears to assume the outcome of the economic review: "The economist will then circulate a sign-on letter to hundreds of other economists saying that the bill will kill jobs and hurt the economy. We will then be able to use this open letter to produce advertisements, and as a powerful lobbying and grass-roots document."

As we get closer to health reform, interest groups like the Chamber of Commerce have shown that they're willing to stop at nothing to block health reform. They can't rely on facts to support their arguments, so they resort to misrepresentation.

In fact, Media Matters caught the Chamber of Commerce in a series of lies just last week - lies you have probably heard, as they can be found on your very own TV.

One of their recent ads claims that health reform will result in taxes "skyrocketing," and will hurt small businesses. But Media Matters finds that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, these claims just aren't true.

The Chamber of Commerce won't stop until health reform is buried. But the only alternative they seem to be offering is the status quo. And that's just not good enough for the American people.