Freshman Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina is once again stirring controversy after making a false claim. This time Cawthorn claimed to be the first freshman Representative to have a bill passed in the House.
The claim, pertaining to a bill to aid veterans in job searches, is fallacious on multiple levels.
But that didn't stop Cawthorn from triumphantly tweeting his supposedly record-breaking announcement and once again taking credit where it was not due.
BREAKING: I am proud to announce that my office is the FIRST Freshman office to have a bill pass the House! \n\nThis bill will provide our veterans with much needed assistance as they reenter the workforce! \n\nNever forget, America is the land of the free BECAUSE of the brave.— Madison Cawthorn (@Madison Cawthorn) 1621431379
Cawthorn tweeted the announcement early Wednesday morning.
By lunchtime, he'd issued a retraction after scores of people pointed out the falsehood.
1) Cawthorn falsely claims he\u2019s first freshman to have bill passed, 2) Gets fact checked, 3) Adds second tweet saying oops actually he\u2019s not first GOP freshman to get bill passed, 4) Continues to ignore Dem (Bourdeaux) who got bill passed before either of thempic.twitter.com/44P7OFAM4X— Daniel Dale (@Daniel Dale) 1621456001
Not only is Cawthorn not the first freshman to pass a bill, he hasn't passed a single one of the 10 bills or resolutions he's introduced since taking office in January.
Not even the all-important bill to honor a Russian town that was the center of a rebellion 100 years ago.
And while the bill referenced in Cawthorn's tweet did in fact pass, it wasn't Cawthorn's work.
He merely co-sponsored—or added his signature to—the bill. Any member of Congress can co-sponsor any bill at any time, and it is a standard part of the job of being a Congressperson to do so.
Cawthorn himself has done so 110 times since January.
The actual honor of first freshman Congressperson to pass a bill goes to a Democratic Representative Carolyn Bourdeaux of Georgia, a fact Cawthorn was surely familiar with at the time of his tweet since he voted in favor of the bill in March.
To be fair, Cawthorn did retract and apologize for his previous tweet—but not to Representative Bourdeaux.
Rather, he apologized to the first Republican freshman to pass a bill.
Spoke too soon! Turns out @RepGarbarino holds the honor of first Republican Freshman! Massive shoutout to him and his team! Very proud to be among the first!— Madison Cawthorn (@Madison Cawthorn) 1621437938
And really, his retraction wasn't a retraction at all.
He ended it by clarifying he was proud to be "among the first." Which, to reiterate is not true, because he has never passed a bill.
You cannot make this stuff up. And on Twitter, people weren't about to let it slide.
but, will you bother to show up to vote for your own bill? I understand you are number one in absences for House voting - 16% of the time you don\u2019t show up to vote.— Pamela Johnson (@Pamela Johnson) 1621434140
He was trying to bury the story from yesterday about him having the absolute worst voting record of all freshman members of Congress, by a lot.https://www.axios.com/house-freshmen-skipped-votes-congress-648acd32-6554-4aef-9988-763165b317a3.html\u00a0\u2026— Science Matters (@Science Matters) 1621457700
Three bills that you have cosigned have passed the house. Nothing that you have written.\nH.R.1448, which had 317 cosponsors and also passed last year.\nH.R.1276, which had 54 cosponsors and passed in March.\nH.R.707, which had 299 cosponsors and passed yesterday.— Rochelle is fully vaccinated! \ud83e\udd73 (@Rochelle is fully vaccinated! \ud83e\udd73) 1621431718
Never actually doing the work & then lying about it is why you failed out of college & were then rejected by the Naval Academy, kid— Ned Pyle (@Ned Pyle) 1621459304
Once again you\u2019re riding on the coattails of others and dealing in misinformation. There are no bills that you have \u201csponsored\u201d that have passed. You\u2019re trying to make it sound like a bill which you are a \u201cco-sponsor\u201d for was written by you and passed.— \ud835\udce2\ud835\udcf9\ud835\udcf8\ud835\udcf8\ud835\udcf7\ud835\udcf2\ud835\udcee \ud835\udcdd\ud835\udcfe\ud835\udcfb\ud835\udcfc\ud835\udcee (@\ud835\udce2\ud835\udcf9\ud835\udcf8\ud835\udcf8\ud835\udcf7\ud835\udcf2\ud835\udcee \ud835\udcdd\ud835\udcfe\ud835\udcfb\ud835\udcfc\ud835\udcee) 1621433785
Cawthorn:\n\nGIVE ME A PARTICIPATION TROPHY! pic.twitter.com/MdZGCsu4k9— Rob Jackson (@Rob Jackson) 1621434911
More lies as always! You signed your name along with 54 others and had no part in writing it.https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_603c5e83c5b6d7794ae01026/amp\u00a0\u2026— Dayle Little (@Dayle Little) 1621434733
Actually Maddy...Carolyn Bordeaux beat you. On March 30th she became the first. Perhaps you were too busy missing so many votes to catch that.— Snarkastic Ginger With Shenanigans & Tomfoolery (@Snarkastic Ginger With Shenanigans & Tomfoolery) 1621435741
This guy can't even lie properly. He is not the first freshman to have a bill pass the House.https://twitter.com/CawthornforNC/status/1395010431597649924\u00a0\u2026— Bradley P. Moss (@Bradley P. Moss) 1621434523
Madison Cawthorn claims that his office is the first Freshman office to have a bill pass the House. \n\nNarrator: "It wasn't." \n\n(1/7)https://twitter.com/CawthornforNC/status/1395010431597649924\u00a0\u2026— Rochelle is fully vaccinated! \ud83e\udd73 (@Rochelle is fully vaccinated! \ud83e\udd73) 1621436550
This is a super weird, and incredibly easily disprovable, thing to lie about.https://twitter.com/CawthornforNC/status/1395010431597649924\u00a0\u2026— Joe Van Wye (@Joe Van Wye) 1621437372
Is there a time, perhaps in your still present childhood, that you can recall a single incident where you told the truth about anything?— Traveling Atheist\ud83c\udf0e (@Traveling Atheist\ud83c\udf0e) 1621433802
This is not the first time, or even the second or third, Cawthorn has been caught publicly lying about everything from legislation, to the accident that left him paralyzed, and even falsely claiming he was training for the 2020 Paralympics.
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