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Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) and three other House Democrats introduced legislation last week that would expand school lunch programs for low-income children to weekends and holidays. Titus plans to roll out the legislation at a Thursday event with area business leaders in her Las Vegas district

Tags: auto, budget, budget-cuts, children, debt-ceiling, democratic, taxes, thinkprogress, yahoo

Fox News deceptively edited a video of remarks recently made by President Obama to falsely accuse him of backtracking from earlier warnings on the harmful effects of upcoming spending cuts. On February 27, President Obama spoke at a Business Council dinner about the harmful economic effects of across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration.

Tags: breaking news, environment, friends, health, media, media matters, president, science, security, the nation

Senate Republicans unveiled their plan to avert sequestration this week, and though they are still demanding that the looming budget cuts be offset totally by a different set of budget cuts, they are refusing to say what new budget cuts they prefer. Instead, they want to give President Obama the authority to choose which programs would face cuts as part of the $85 billion plan.

Tags: bush, debt-ceiling, democrats, health, house speaker, lgbt, obama, taxes, tweets, yahoo

Washington Post  editor Bob Woodward pushed back on Fox News political analyst Karl Rove’s attempt to blame the across-the-board spending cuts known as the sequester on President Obama. Woodward  wrote in his 2012 book  that the White House first proposed the sequester during negotiations that resulted from the Republican congressional leadership’s decision to refuse to raise the debt ceiling without spending cuts.  Republicans  and their allies in the  conservative media  have recently used Woodward’s book in an attempt to blame Obama for the forthcoming cuts and the  damage  they will do to the economy if implemented.

Tags: economy, elections, environment, foreign policy, media matters, network, politico, science, security, united-states, war

After months of economic coverage narrowly focused on deficits, a new jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reinforces the need for the media conversation to shift toward growth. The alternative approach would require journalists and pundits to follow in the footsteps Rush Limbaugh laid out today when he insisted the BLS report says the opposite of what it does. In their coverage of These numbers demonstrate that government austerity has lopped nearly 15 percent off private-sector job growth over the course of the recovery.

Tags: articles, debt-ceiling, elections, environment, feeds, media matters, progressive news, science, video

Fox News’ Carl Cameron falsely claimed that Democrats are pushing for revenue increases without spending cuts in a report on the debt ceiling negotiations. In fact, President Obama and Democrats have offered billions in cuts to social insurance programs.

Tags: author, breaking news, budget, debt, environment, feeds, foreign policy, science, security

Following news that the economy had contracted slightly at the end of 2012, Fox News figures claimed both that government spending had not decreased, and that it had decreased because of President Obama’s desire to cut military spending. Both are false — the contraction in GDP came from a dramatic decrease in government spending, largely due to normal cycles in defense spending and the end of two wars.  Fox’s The Five covered a report by the Bureau of Economic Analysis which found that the economy contracted by 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012

Tags: articles, breaking news, economy, elections, environment, health, science, video, white house

The decision by television news producers to rely on political guests and reporter-pundits in their coverage of the recent debt ceiling dispute not only Economists are clear about the primary sources of recent deficits — on top of the Bush tax cuts, the Great Recession triggered massively higher counter-cyclical spending, some of which was automatic for things like jobless benefits and food stamps, and some spending that was newly enacted to buoy a collapsing economy. Middle- and long-term deficit projections are more controversial, but many economists argue that once economic growth catches up to its potential, our fiscal health will depend almost entirely on our ability to control health care costs . This mainstream economist perspective appeared in just 1.4 percent of the debt ceiling segments Media Matters reviewed from a three week period, while over 20 percent of those segments blamed entitlements for the fiscal gloom.

Tags: america, budget, debt, feeds, government, jobs, progressive news, social security, video

Ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on gun violence before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the National Rifle Association  released  the testimony of its representative, executive vice president Wayne LaPierre. When reporting on LaPierre’s remarks, the media have a responsibility to provide context for his frequently inaccurate statements.

Tags: articles, cnn, education, foreign policy, security, testimony, video, virginia

CNN contributor Erick Erickson is reportedly leaving the network for Fox News. During his nearly three-year tenure at CNN, Erickson repeatedly made inflammatory statements, indulged in conspiracy theories, and false statements such as the smear that Democrats support mythical “death panels.” Erickson Reportedly Out At CNN Politico : “Erick Erickson Is Leaving CNN For Fox News.” According to a report from Politico , Erickson is leaving CNN for Fox: “Red State blogger and conservative columnist Erick Erickson is leaving CNN for Fox News, sources at CNN confirm.” [ Politico , 1/29/13 ] Upon Hiring, CNN Called Erickson “A Perfect Fit” Who Is “In Touch With The Very People” Network Wants To Reach.

Tags: author, desktop, education, environment, government, president, security, the nation, transportation