Former Bush White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer noticed a discrepancy as to how the USA Today covers large pieces of legislation depending on who's in office. In 2009, the editors seemed all too happy to report that President Obama had his landmark achievement in passing the Affordable Care Act.
Fast forward to this week's vote on tax reform, the editors weren't so complimentary. Fleischer juxtasposed the two front pages in a tweet Thursday to emphasize the contrast. It is "bias in action," he claimed.
Bias in action. This, ladies and gentlemen, is how the press puts its finger on the scale. It’s why liberal bias is over the top. They’re for Obamacare. They’re against tax cuts. pic.twitter.com/UPWe4prBzp
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) December 21, 2017
Other media outlets have taken liberties to editorialize their headlines.
BREAKING: House passes first rewrite of nation's tax laws in three decades, providing steep tax cuts for businesses, the wealthy.
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 19, 2017
Twitter let the AP know they had plenty of characters left to add the following:
**...oh, and also steep tax cuts for everyone else.
— nathanmills (@nathanmills) December 19, 2017
Since that tweet, tax reform has passed both chambers and President Trump signed it into law. It gave the AP a chance to repeat the narrative that corporations will be the biggest beneficiaries.
"Starting next year, the new law will give big cuts to corporation and wealthy Americans and more modest reductions to other families."
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The AP says there's also reason to pause about the child tax credit. That provision, which was expanded from $1,100 to $1,400 after some prodding by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), "may not be as generous as it seems," according to the editors.
"So do poor families stand to benefit?" Sarah Skidmore Sell writes. "Maybe. It depends on their circumstances."
Guy has covered the tax reform legislation extensively, each time noting that 80 percent of Americans stand to benefit from it. Even the left leaning Tax Policy Center admitted as much. Did the AP not get the memo?
Some major businesses have responded to tax reform by giving their employees bonuses and salary increases. Even the AP can't ignore that.
AT&T, Comcast, Wells Fargo are among corporations saying they'll use some of their tax-cut windfall for employee bonuses and raises https://t.co/gDHLwZPdPU by @JoshBoak
— AP Business News (@APBusiness) December 20, 2017
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