FACT CHECKER: Loebsack attacks Miller-Meeks on outsourcing jobs
Introduction
The economy has come to the forefront of the Second U.S. House District race between incumbent Democrat Dave Loebsack and Republican challenger Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks. Loebsack’s campaign accuses Miller-Meeks of being in favor of “special tax breaks to outsourcing corporations” and claims she partnered with a company that sent “hundreds of good-paying American jobs to India.”
Source of claim
A TV ad from the Loebsack campaign.
Analysis
The ad from the Loebsack campaign attacks Republican challenger Mariannette Miller-Meeks, claiming she protects the outsourcing of American jobs overseas.
The first part of the claim references a story KCRG-TV9 aired on August 11, 2010, focusing on a $26.1 billion dollar state aid package during the recession, with about $10 billion for teacher salaries and $16 for Medicaid. To pay for this, H.R. 1586 changed rules for the Foreign Tax Credits, which is designed to prevent individuals and companies working overseas from paying taxes to both foreign governments and the U.S. Democrats, in a solid majority at the time in the House, claimed many companies abused the tax credit more than to avoid that double taxation.
Loebsack said, in our KCRG-TV9 story that aired at the time, the bill is “paid for by closing a tax loophole for businesses that go overseas.”
In response, Miller-Meeks said that, had she been in Congress for that vote (House Vote 518), she would have opposed it.
“We have added on an almost $10 billion tax on businesses,” Miller-Meeks is quoted in the story. She said, in a fragile economy, that calling it “closing a tax loophole” would hurt businesses in the middle of the recession.
The House vote was highly contentious in its 247-161 passage, with all but three Democrats voting for it and all but two Republicans voting against it. President Obama signed it into law hours later.
The second part of the ad refers to Dr. Miller-Meeks’ time as president of the Iowa Medical Society, a group that she helped lead, starting in 2006.
In 2007, IMS partnered with AthenaHealth, a Massachusetts-based company that handles data entry and billing service for medical offices.
A 2007 news release includes a Miller-Meeks quote that “it’s an offering IMS stands behind with confidence as we believe it will significantly help our physicians run more efficient practices and better serve patients.”
A 2005 Boston Globe article says the jobs AthenaHealth had in India were “200 low-wage workers”.
A 2007 filing from AthenaHealth with the SEC said the company claimed to have 26 workers in India. In 2013, that figure was 299 full-time workers, about 10% of its reported workforce.
Conclusion
While only a hypothetical vote, Dr. Miller-Meeks clearly opposed changing rules for the Foreign Tax Credit. Whether it closed tax loopholes or imposed an unnecessary tax on international companies is a question of politics.
The second claim is accurate but intentionally misleading. The IMS partnership with AthenaHealth had little to do with the company hiring workers in India. It is very questionable, too, whether those jobs were “good-paying jobs”, as the ad claims.
However, it is true that Miller-Meeks was in charge when IMS partnered with AthenaHealth.
We rate this ad mostly true.
