Bachmann called out for mis-stating Obama aide’s view of healthcare jobs impact

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann claimed again Monday that Christina Romer, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, estimated health care reform would cost 5.5 million jobs. Last month PolitiFact called that claim “problematic and contrary” to Romer’s statements. Now Media Matters slams Bachmann for repeating the claim “baselessly.” And on top of that, Bachmann misstated the percentage of Americans favoring the health care reform bill in a recent poll.

Bachmann told Fox’s Sean Hannity that “President Obama’s bill will mean 5.5 million jobs lost, and that’s according to his own economist, Christina Romer.”

But Romer has never said such a thing. That number was cooked up by Republicans based on a faulty analysis of Romer’s research, according to the St. Petersburg Times’ PolitiFact.

Romer’s actual take on jobs and health care reform: “Controlling health care cost growth would allow lower unemployment in the short and medium run, without putting pressure on inflation. Employment could be 500,000 higher for a number of years.”

Bachmann’s repeated mis-citation of Romer came near the end of the interview, but she made another misstatement right at the beginning, when she presumably was most ready with prepared remarks.

“Sixty-one percent of Americans do not want to have this bill,” she told Hannity. “Only 34 percent are in favor.”

As near as the Minnesota Independent can tell, Bachmann was citing a CNN survey (pdf) released last Thursday in which 36 percent said they favored the Senate bill.

And that survey question carried this disclaimer in all caps:

**IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS POLL WAS TAKEN BEFORE TUESDAY’S SENATE COMPROMISE ON THE PUBLIC OPTION. THE POLL DOES NOT REFLECT VIEWS OF THE NEW LANGUAGE ON THAT TOPIC BECAUSE IT WAS TAKEN LAST WEEK.

Here is the video of Bachmann on “Hannity” Monday. She starts at about the 1:20 mark.