PolitiFact.com
Statements about Poverty
Tim Ryan

Tim Ryan

Mostly True

Poverty heightens health care challenge

Attacks on Planned Parenthood "come at a time when the poverty rate among women is the highest in nearly two decades and 1 in 5 women under 65 don’t have access to health care."

Lloyd Doggett

Lloyd Doggett

Mostly True

More food to more mouths

Says the main Central Texas food bank is delivering 50 percent more food to the poor than three years ago.

Stephen Sweeney

Stephen Sweeney

Half-True

Numbers right, blame is off

"New Jersey's poverty rate has increased since this governor took office and the number of New Jerseyans without health insurance has risen."

Herman Cain

Herman Cain

False

Cain's math doesn't add up

The 9-9-9 plan "does not raise taxes on those that are making the least."

Occupied Wall Street Journal

Occupied Wall Street Journal

Half-True

The numbers have merit, but some definitions aren't accurate

"More than 25 million Americans are unemployed. More than 50 million live without health insurance. Perhaps 100 million live in poverty."

Chain email

Chain email

False

The first one, since the last one

"Florida is the first state requiring drug testing to receive welfare!"

Rachel Maddow

Rachel Maddow

Mostly True

Older Americans hanging in there

"Poverty among Americans 65 and over is statistically unchanged" in recent years because of Social Security.

Ed Schultz

Ed Schultz

Half-True

Liberal think tank looks just at benefits, not taxes

"In (Sen. Marco) Rubio's state of Florida alone, Social Security lifts more than -- count it -- a million people out of poverty."

Doreen Costa

Doreen Costa

False

Studies show the opposite.

"The studies have shown us that [drug testing for welfare recipients] will be saving us money"

Ron Kind

Ron Kind

Half-True

Right on the numbers, wrong on the credit

"Before Medicare, only 51 percent of Americans 65 and older had health care coverage and nearly 30 percent lived below the poverty line. Today, thanks to Medicare ... nearly all seniors have coverage and 75 percent fewer struggle in poverty."

Sandra Cunningham

Sandra Cunningham

Pants on Fire!

Budget leaves payments intact

Says a Senate resolution would restore $140 in monthly general assistance payments and prevent people from committing crime.

Bill O'Reilly

Bill O'Reilly

False

Actually, the poverty rate has fallen, and plummeted for some groups

Since 1965, the United States has spent "untold trillions" yet the poverty rate hasn’t budged.

Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders

Half-True

140 characters is too short to get in all the nuances

"Since 2000, nearly 12 million Americans have slipped out of the middle class and into poverty."

Gary Sasse

Gary Sasse

True

Reasons why are elusive

Rhode Island spends "52 percent more per capita on human service programs than the national average."

David Cicilline

David Cicilline

Pants on Fire!

4 Falses in 46 seconds.

The WIC program "is an incredibly cost effective program, serving nearly 10 million Americans each year and costing less than $100 per person. In my district, more than 18 percent of residents suffer from food insecurity and depend on WIC to make ends meet."

Dennis Kucinich

Dennis Kucinich

True

In one county it's more than 50 percent

"Seventy of Ohio's 88 counties now have more than 25 percent of their residents eligible for emergency food."

Rick Scott

Rick Scott

Half-True

Studies are imperfect, reach different conclusions

"Studies show that people that are on welfare are higher users of drugs than people not on welfare."

Amy Hanauer

Amy Hanauer

True

Figures for 2010 broke a record set in 2009

"To give a sense of how families are struggling, a record four out of every 10 school kids in Ohio now qualifies for subsidized lunch."

Colleen Conley

Colleen Conley

Half-True

Only if you're a "vendor."

"We are the most generous in New England and New England is known for its generosity toward its welfare recipients."

Michael Moore

Michael Moore

True

Rarely heard comparison rings true

"Just 400 Americans -- 400 -- have more wealth than half of all Americans combined."

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