Republican leader nailed after freakout over a fake IRS poster actually made by an activist

On Wednesday, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) took to Facebook to rage against a poster from the Internal Revenue Service advertising the expansion of the Child Tax Credit to millions of new families, one of the many new programs created under President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan.

"Infuriating," wrote McCarthy of the poster, which was headlined "A monthly check to you." "The IRS is literally spending taxpayer money to advertise a government handout. This is welfare without work requirements."

There's just one problem. The poster wasn't actually taxpayer funded, or even released by the IRS. It was a parody mocked up by education policy wonk Tobin Stone, based on an old poster explaining Social Security benefits.

McCarthy's blunder was shortly noticed by Tobin himself.

Republicans opposed the American Rescue Plan from the start and voted in lockstep against it. However, surveys have found that their efforts to attack the $2 trillion stimulus program have largely fallen flat with voters.