Q: Is the Social Security Administration paying $24 million to set up new electronic medical records for members of Congress?
A: False. The money is going to speed processing of applications for disability benefits. Furthermore, the money is coming from the stimulus bill and not from “withholding cost of living increases."
Stories by D'Angelo Gore
Staff Writer, FactCheck.org
Homeland Security Adviser?
Q: Was the suspected Fort Hood shooter an "advisor to Obama’s homeland security team" or a member of his "transition team"?
A: This is another false e-rumor. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was merely an audience member at some public events of a university-sponsored group that offered unsolicited advice to the new administration.
Health Care Overhaul and TRICARE
Q: Would health care overhaul efforts eliminate TRICARE health coverage for members of the military and military retirees?
A: No. This claim in a chain e-mail is false. Neither Congress nor President Obama has proposed legislation to that effect.
Corzine, Christie Spar Over Income Taxes
With their race coming down to the wire, the candidates in New Jersey’s gubernatorial contest are attacking each other as ferociously as ever.
A TV ad from Republican Chris Christie accuses Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine of not paying state income taxes last year. Corzine’s campaign says the claim is an "outright lie." We find it to be true in a literal sense, but its implications are false.
The Christie ad says: "Last year, millionaire Corzine paid nothing,
Cap-and-trade: “Green Jobs” or Job Killer?
A TV ad sponsored by business groups claims a bill to curb carbon emissions “will cost up to 2.4 million U.S. jobs” if enacted. That directly contradicts claims by President Obama and his allies who say the bill would create jobs – 1.7 million of them according to one TV spot …
Internet Access Denied?
Q: Is Obama seeking power to "disconnect your computer, shut down your favorite websites, or block your email"?
A: A Senate bill would allow the president to restrict access to government or "critical infrastructure" networks in case of a "cybersecurity emergency." But it has bipartisan support, and even critics admit it would not allow him to shut down all private Internet traffic.
RGA Not Amused by Daggett
Chris Christie, the Republican nominee in New Jersey’s gubernatorial contest, recently called the candidacy of Chris Daggett, a former Environmental Protection Agency administrator who’s running on the Independent ticket, an "amusement." But the Republican Governors Association isn’t so amused by Daggett.
With polls showing Daggett cutting into Christie’s lead, the RGA has released both a 15-second TV spot and a 60-second radio ad saying the Independent candidate is like the state’s current governor, Democrat Jon Corzine,
77-Cent Increase Per Gallon of Gas?
Q: Will the House cap-and-trade bill raise the cost of a gallon of gasoline by 77 cents?
A: That extreme estimate comes from the oil and gas industry’s lobby. Nonpartisan government experts project a lower increase, most likely between 12 and 67 cents per gallon in 2020.
McDonnell Ad Cites Praise, Leaves Out Criticism
More on that governor’s race in Virginia: Bob McDonnell, the GOP candidate and the former state attorney general, is running an ad that’s meant to bathe his "comprehensive transportation plan" in a warm glow. Ironically, though, the ad’s only reference for its claims is an editorial from the Washington Post in July that devotes far more space to criticizing McDonnell’s plan than to praising it.
Part of the ad – the portion that cites the Post‘s critique of state Sen.
Boehner and the Cost of Cap and Trade
On Sept. 20 on NBC’s "Meet the Press," House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio claimed that according to the Department of Treasury, the Democrats’ proposed cap-and-trade system would be costly for American families:
Boehner, Sept. 20: It’s a cap-and-trade system, this big giant tax on the American people that this week, we just find out, the Treasury Department said will cost the average family $1,700 per year.
That’s not true.