Treasury Secretary Jack Lew twisted the facts during discussions about job growth and the debt ceiling on “Meet the Press.”
Lew Distorts Facts on Jobs, Debt Ceiling
Month: July 2013
King’s ‘Thin Air’ Immigrant Stat
Rep. Steve King attracted attention — and criticism from Republican leaders — for saying of immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children: “For every one who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there that they weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.”
Spitzer Ad Doctors Headline
Newspaper stories are often used to misleading effect in political ads, but a new one-minute ad from New York City comptroller candidate Eliot Spitzer puts a twist on the theme by actually doctoring a New York Times headline.
Cruz’s Nonfactual Illegal Immigration Figures
Sen. Ted Cruz says there will be “20 or 30 million” people living in the U.S. illegally “in another 10, 20 years” if the Senate immigration bill becomes law. But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says the bill, if enacted, will reduce future illegal immigration by 33 percent to 50 percent compared with current law.
July 26: Obama’s Numbers
GOP Mistweets #Obamacare Survey Results
House Speaker John Boehner, among other Republicans, wrongly tweeted that a recent “study” found “74% of small businesses will fire workers, cut hours under #Obamacare.” Actually, no more than 13 percent of the small businesses surveyed said that.
Gohmert Piles Distortion Upon Distortion
Rep. Louie Gohmert went on Fox News and accused President Obama of a pattern of discrimination against Christians, particularly in the military, but many of his examples were false, distorted or incomplete.
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of July 16-22
This week, readers sent us letters about penalties in the federal health care law and the new look of our website.
In the FactCheck Mailbag, we feature some of the email we receive. Readers can send comments to editor@factcheck.org. Letters may be edited for length.
Who’s Exempt?
On Connecticut Public Broadcasting, Managing Editor Lori Robertson explains who would be exempt from the requirement to have health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. The so-called individual mandate kicks in next year, with monetary penalties for those who don’t comply. But some will be exempt from the mandate.
For more on this topic, see our June 28, 2012, Ask FactCheck, “How Much Is the Obamacare ‘Tax’?“
Spitzer’s False Claim on Immigration
Eliot Spitzer falsely claimed that allowing immigrants living in the United States illegally to obtain driver’s licenses — a policy he attempted to implement as governor of New York in 2007 — is now the “law of the land.”