Saturday, January 31st, 2015

Statements we say are Half-True

Half-True

25 percent is error, not fraud, rate

Rand Paul

Rand Paul

"When you look at the earned income tax credit, it has about a 25 percent fraud rate. We're looking at $20 billion to $30 billion."

Half-True

Most firms won't feel the pinch

John Boehner

John Boehner

The Affordable Care Act "basically puts a penalty or a tax on employers for every new job they create."

Half-True

Makes it sound better than it is

Barack Obama

Barack Obama

"In Iraq and Syria, American leadership, including our military power, is stopping (the Islamic State’s) advance."

Half-True

No smoking gun for numbers that high

Andy Puzder

Andy Puzder

"Obamacare has caused millions of full-time jobs to become part-time."

Half-True

How do we measure putting people back to work?

Barack Obama

Barack Obama

"Since 2010, America has put more people back to work than Europe, Japan, and all advanced economies combined."

Half-True

Glosses over some important details

John Thune

John Thune

Says President Barack Obama's own administration has done five environmental impact assessments of the Keystone XL pipeline, "all of which have said it would have a minimum impact on the environment."    

Half-True

Deduction skews to the rich, but not so drastically

Tom Coburn

Tom Coburn

The home-mortgage deduction is widely thought to be "a middle-class benefit. It's not -- 73 percent of it goes to people making a quarter-million dollars or more a year."

Half-True

Depends on which measure you use

Reince Priebus

Reince Priebus

Says Barack Obama has "the worst record of any president when it comes to putting America deeper in debt."

Half-True

No requirements on data collection

Marc Morial

Marc Morial

"The number of killings of citizens by police is at a two-decade high."

Half-True

All presidents acted, but few so sweepingly

Barack Obama

Barack Obama

"The actions I’m taking" are "the kinds of actions taken by every single Republican president and every single Democratic president for the past half-century."

Half-True

A deep dive into the numbers

Barack Obama

Barack Obama

"Over the last few years, we’ve put more people back to work than all the other advanced economies combined."

Half-True

It's more nuanced than that

Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz

Says Obama's net neutrality proposal "puts the government in charge of determining Internet pricing, terms of service and what types of products and services can be delivered."

Half-True

A big share, but not quite

Barack Obama

Barack Obama

"We've created more jobs in the United States than every other advanced economy combined since I came into office."

Half-True

Yes, but the difference may not mean much

Barack Obama

Barack Obama

"The states that have raised the minimum wage (this year) have had faster job growth than the states that haven’t raised the minimum wage."

Half-True

N.C. is actually in the bottom quarter of states

Thom Tillis

Thom Tillis

In North Carolina, "now we're near the national average" for unemployment.

Half-True

Some addition, some subtraction

Kay Hagan

Kay Hagan

Says Thom Tillis "has cut $500 million from public education."

Half-True

Not exactly when he took office

Barack Obama

Barack Obama

"When I took office, the deficit was nearly 10 percent of our economy. Today, it's approaching 3 percent."

Half-True

It's not all about ships and troops anymore

Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Graham

Under sequestration, the military was cut "down to the smallest Army since 1940, the smallest Navy since 1915."

Half-True

It's all speculation

Joni Ernst

Joni Ernst

Says personhood legislation she sponsored would not have restricted access to reproductive services and was "simply a statement that I support life."

Half-True

Wage gap narrows when you account for purchasing power

Facebook posts

Facebook posts

Countries with a higher minimum wage than the United States’ $7.25 an hour include Denmark at $21, Australia at $15.81, Germany at $11 and France at $12.35.