Researchers Withdraw Tax Report After GOP Complains

The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service released a report in September suggesting that cutting the top tax rate didn't aid economic growth; now, amid concerns from Senate Republicans, it has withdrawn the report. The move has sparked anger among Democrats. "They didn’t like a report, and instead of rebutting it, they had them take it down," Sen. Charles Schumer tells the New York Times. "This has hues of a banana republic." A rep for minority leader Mitch McConnell says Republicans "raised concerns about the methodology and other flaws."

Ultimately, the research service "decided, on their own, to pull the study pending further review," the spokesman adds. Among their concerns: The study's author didn't wait long enough to assess the effects of tax cuts, and the report used what the GOP calls loaded phrases like "tax cuts for the rich." It didn't help that the author, Thomas Hungerford, has donated $5,000 to Democrats this election cycle. The GOP may have won the battle, but the fight may just draw more attention to the report, notes the Times. (More Senate Republicans stories.)