Fox falsely claimed that a deficit reduction proposal by House Republicans mirrored a proposal made by former co-chair of the Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, Erskine Bowles -- after Bowles denied such a comparison.

In a letter detailing a Republican proposal to avert approaching tax cut expirations and spending cuts, House speaker John Boehner claimed that the proposal was based on former Clinton Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles' proposal in 2011, with “fair middle ground that allows us to avert the fiscal cliff without hurting our economy and destroying jobs.”

In response, Bowles released a statement saying the “the approach outlined in the letter Speaker Boehner sent to the President does not represent the Simpson-Bowles plan, nor is it the Bowles plan.” He continued, explaining that in a November 2011 statement made before the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, he outlined the sort of deal that could be struck given the public proposals that existed at the time, and did not propose the combination of tax and spending cuts proposed by Boehner.

Despite Bowles' outright rejection of Boehner's claim, Fox echoed his false claim. On Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade said the Republican plan was “the type of offer you negotiate off of” and that “the one thing Republicans have going for them is they are leaning on Erskine Bowles' portion of the Bowles-Simpson reform plan.”