( CNN ) -- The new report out of the Congressional Budget Office confirms what Republicans have said all along : Raising the minimum wage could cost hundreds of thousands of jobs . Under normal circumstances , this would be a devastating blow to the Democrats . But these are exciting times . Now , evidence of one thing from nonpartisan sources can be mined and manipulated to read as evidence of the opposite . Earlier , when the CBO said the Affordable Care Act could make 2 million Americans less likely to seek work , that was spun by the left as : Obamacare releases 2 million workers from the pressures of `` job lock . '' The minimum wage report is also being spun . In the moments after the report was released , Democrats were already pulling the `` good '' bits from the report to tout the strength of their prior arguments . Both sides do that , of course . But the problem with this is that the `` good '' talking point Democrats are celebrating is one that was never questioned . By anyone . The `` revelation '' that raising the minimum wage to $ 10.10 an hour would increase hourly wages for millions of people hardly warrants the `` I told you so '' Dems want to deliver . It more warrants a `` no duh . '' After all , is anyone truly surprised that paying people more money will mean they make more money ? Where Democrats ca n't get off so easy is on the news that raising the minimum wage will result in a loss of half a million jobs . Although some will try to shrug that off -- such as @ benadgatemusic , who tweeted at me , `` oh noooooo .03 % of the workforce ! Nice concern trolling , S.E . '' -- most serious folks will recognize that 's no small number . But time and time again , Democrats have insisted that raising the minimum wage will not result in less hiring despite everything you or I have ever learned about supply and demand economics . Paul Krugman , for example : `` The great preponderance of the evidence from these natural experiments points to little if any negative effect of minimum wage increases on employment . '' Robert Reich , for another : `` It has been raised consistently , and it has never actually killed jobs . In fact , there has been no relationship between raising the minimum wage and losing jobs . '' President Barack Obama : There 's `` no solid evidence that a higher minimum wage costs jobs . '' This puts Democrats in a tricky position . Instead of being a little less committed to an economic principle they should have known to be false , they doubled down . Now they 're left explaining not only why raising the minimum wage is still a good idea but why they did n't seem to anticipate these findings . They can spin this all they want . And I 'll even throw them a bone -- the report also says that raising the minimum wage will reduce the number of people living in poverty by an estimated 900,000 . That 's a good thing . The question we have to ask ourselves : Would that be that worth the potential loss of 500,000 jobs ? The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of S.E . Cupp .
S. E. Cupp : New CBO report showing minimum wage increase could cost jobs flummoxes Dems . She says GOP has long held what CBO said ; Dems are trying to spin hike as poverty - reducing . CBO says raising minimum wage could indeed take 900,000 people out of poverty , she says . Cupp asks : Is doing that while potentially costing our jobs worth it ?