✓ Devastated the American people with double-digit premium spikes
✓ Bizarrely launched an attack on a faith-based anti-poverty initiative
✓ Got caught profiting off of Wisconsin teenagers
Now, Mr. Clean is diving deeper into the gutter with false attacks on Ron Johnson’s work to combat the opioid epidemic.
As PolitiFact reports, Johnson’s efforts include supporting the first "multifaceted federal response to the prescription opioid and heroin epidemic," introducing bipartisan legislation aimed at reducing the overprescription of painkillers, holding multiple field hearings across the country about the epidemic, and leading an investigation into the Tomah VA tragedies.
Senator Feingold’s egregious lies about Johnson’s record are only compounded by his own failures.
Just last week, it was revealed that Senator Feingold did nothing after a veteran reached out to him about abuse at the Tomah VA six years before the 2014 death of a Marine. The report joined a "hand delivered" 2009 memo as further proof that Senator Feingold was part of the very problem that Johnson is working to combat.
PolitiFact rates Senator Feingold’s attacks "False."
Wisconsinites will rate Senator Feingold’s attacks disgusting.
In case you missed it, read more about Senator Russ Feingold’s latest lie from PolitiFact:
Heroin and prescription painkillers were a topic in the second and final Wisconsin U.S. Senate debate on Oct. 18, 2016, three weeks before election day.
It produced this exchange among Republican incumbent Ron Johnson, Democratic challenger Russ Feingold and moderator Mike Gousha.
Johnson: "I’ve been incredibly active on this. The fact that Senator Feingold attacked me, saying I’ve done nothing on this — completely false. And quite honestly, a very disgusting false attack."
Feingold: "I didn’t say he did nothing."
Gousha: "There was a radio ad that said that Senator Johnson essentially did nothing."
Gousha was correct. A Feingold campaign radio ad released Sept. 6, 2016 says:
"Heroin addiction and opioid abuse are killing Wisconsin, and yet after six years in Washington, Sen. Ron Johnson has essentially done nothing."
Johnson pushed back by posting the video clip of the debate exchange on Twitter and with a digital ad responding to Feingold’s attack.
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Johnson actions
Johnson pushed back on Feingold’s claim partly because a nephew of Johnson’s died from a fentanyl overdose.
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Here’s what Johnson’s campaign cited to us in terms of actions Johnson has taken:
1. Voted for the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, which was approved almost unanimously in Congress before being signed into law by President Barack Obama in July 2016.
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…the law does authorize $181 million in new federal money for opioid and heroin abuse efforts. Moreover, the bill also makes policy changes in what the nonpartisan Pew Charitable Trusts described as the first "multifaceted federal response to the prescription opioid and heroin epidemic."
2. Introduced in April 2016 the Promoting Responsible Opioid Prescribing Act, which is aimed at reducing financial incentives for doctors who over-prescribe pain medications. The bill has been referred to a committee.
3. The same month, as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, held field hearings about the opioid problem in Pewaukee, Wis., and Cleveland, Ohio. He also held a hearing in Phoenix in November 2015 on "America’s heroin epidemic at the border."
4. Johnson also takes credit for a bipartisan investigation done by his committee. A report by the committee, which was disclosed in May 2016, found oversight problems at the Veterans Affairs facility in Tomah, Wis., where the prescription of painkillers to veterans has been under scrutiny.
Our rating
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We rate Feingold’s statement False.