Letter to the editor: Look past politicians' spin

Q: How can you tell when politicians are lying?

A: Their lips are moving.

Rep. Summer Lee and Sen. John Fetterman’s statements justifying their votes against the debt deal lend credence to this truism.

Lee said work requirements for able-bodied food-aid recipients 54 and under with no dependents (up from 49 currently), is part of a “cruel (Republican) agenda” that places “budget priorities over the poorest and most vulnerable.” It would, she said in a statement, make it “even harder for many of my constituents to access food … assistance they need to survive.”

Fetterman agreed, calling Republicans “obsessed with hurting poor people” (“Western Pa.’s Fetterman, Lee explain votes against debt ceiling bill,” June 2, TribLIVE).

The problem? It isn’t true.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that, under the debt deal, an average 78,000 more people per month would qualify for food aid. Program spending would increase by $2.1 billion over the life of the legislation.

Of course, more would know this if the sycophantic press stopped acting like nestlings, eagerly swallowing whatever the far left feeds them.

Aren’t journalists supposed to be skeptical and inquisitive? When did it become a best practice to source a story entirely from an elected official’s statement, particularly in these hyper-partisan times?

Here’s an idea: Subject the far left to the same scrutiny the mainstream media uses to challenge far right statements. Present both sides. Let your readers determine what to believe. In other words, the reason the framers embedded press freedom in the Bill of Rights.

Peter Busowski

Jeannette