Franken calls out Thune for lying on Senate floor

Monday afternoon, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) stepped onto the Senate floor to to push yet another false Republican attack on health care reform.

Nothing unusual there, right? Another Republican, another lie.

But this time something pretty cool happened: Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) fired back, debunking Thune's false claim that the health care reform bill imposes taxes on day one without offering any benefits until 2014.

Franken didn't pull his punches, not only listing off several of the benefits that start on day one, but also bluntly telling Thune to stop lying. "We are not entitled to our own facts. And I stand here day after day after day and hear my colleagues, my good friends from the other side say things that are not based on fact. ...Let’s have an honest debate, for goodness sakes. Let’s not put up charts that contend one thing and that are just not true."

Watch:

Transcript after the jump.

Join the discussion in Ministry of Truth's recommended diary, Franken DESTROYS Thune! "We are entitled to our own opinions, we're NOT entitled to our own facts!".

Video transcript:

   FRANKEN: I walked in and my good colleague from South Dakota, Senator Thune, was — had a chart up, he had a chart up. He said when your taxes will kick in and when your benefits will kick in.

   I went up to him and I said I didn’t hear your whole speech. He went "Oh, man, that’s too bad."

   But I said, "Did you actually happen to mention any of the benefits that do kick in right away?"

   And he said, "Uh, no."

   Which I think is — you know, again, we are entitled to our own opinions. We’re not entitled to our own facts. Benefits kick in right away.

   THUNE: Will the senator from Minnesota yield for a question?

   FRANKEN: Absolutely.

   THUNE: Did the senator from Minnesota when I was pointing out on the chart understand the point I was making, that the tax Increases start 18 days from now, and that the benefits, the spending benefits under the bill which — which are the premium tax credits and the exchanges that are designed to provide the benefit that’s delivered under this bill don’t start until 2014?

   FRANKEN: The senator from South Dakota said did I realize that I was talking about the spending doesn’t start for 1,800 days on health care, the benefits don’t start. Here’s one. $5 billion in immediate Federal support, starts immediately for a new program to provide affordable coverage for uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions. I have a whole list of things that start.

   Prohibit insurers from imposing lifetime limits on benefits, starting day one. Starting day one. ... We are entitled to our own opinions. We’re not entitled to our own facts. The fact is benefits kick in on day one, and the large majority of benefits kick in on day one, And we shouldn’t be standing up here with charts that say the exact opposite.

   Small business tax credits will kick in immediately. The senator from South Dakota just said that nothing — no payments, nothing that costs any money will kick in right away. That’s not true. We are not entitled to our own facts. And I stand here day after day after day and hear my colleagues, my good friends from the other side say things that are not based on fact.

   Let’s have an honest debate, for goodness sakes. Let’s not put up charts that contend one thing and that are just not true.