Republic Senator Orin Hatch seems to have a sweet deal with the Washington Post. He recently wrote and op-ed on using reconciliation to pass the health care bill in the Senate. In his op-ed he makes some pretty bold claims. Hatch states that

This use of reconciliation to jam through this legislation, against the will of the American people, would be unprecedented in scope. And the havoc wrought would threaten our system of checks and balances, corrode the legislative process, degrade our system of government and damage the prospects of bipartisanship

Yet let us not forget that Hatch himself voted in reconciliation votes in 1989, 1995, 1996, twice in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, twice in 2005, and in 2007. He voted yes for all of those votes when Republicans were using reconciliation to break Democrat filibusters.

But Hatch says that is ok because in each of those instances reconciliation was used

but only when the bills in question stuck close to dealing with the budget. In instances in which other substantive legislation was included, the legislation had significant bipartisan support.

That is an outright lie. It isn’t a misspoken statement. It isn’t a difference of opinion. It is a lie, and Hatch knows it.

For instance: reconciliation was used on the Bush tax cuts in 2003. A vote so close that Vice President Dick Cheney had to come in and break the 50-50 tie. You remember, right Hatch? The same tax cuts that trashed the budget and exploded our deficit at the worst possible time – when we were already at war in Afghanistan and just beginning the costly war in Iraq. The tax cuts that gave nothing to middle income Americans and yet threw the bank at the top 2%.

Reconciliation was also used by Republicans in 2005 when the Medicaid laws were changed. The same laws that the majority of Americans were opposed to and that is still today wreaking havoc on our budget and preventing millions of elderly Americans from being able to afford prescription drugs. They only received 52 votes in favor of that bill. No significant bipartisan support.

So, how did this even get published? Yes, it is an op-ed. But is there no fact checking going on at the Washington Post? Hatch outright lied. He did not mislead or misspeak. He lied. And no one at the WP called him out for it.

And we wonder how politicians get away with lying about their record. It is because clearly our media no longer cares. If it is not sensational, they don’t cover it.