The weekslong partial government shutdown has led to around 800,000 federal employees not working or working without pay. It also has led to some false or questionable claims from Democrats about the shutdown’s impact on a host of federal services.
Democrats say the Trump administration is asking for more money for a border wall even though it has spent only 6 percent of the funds that Congress has appropriated for border security over the past two years. That’s misleading. About 60 percent has been awarded to contracts.
As Hurricane Florence continued to threaten the East Coast, Sen. Jeff Merkley released a document that he said shows nearly $10 million that could have been used for hurricane recovery efforts was diverted from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to immigration enforcement. The Department of Homeland Security insisted no relief funding was taken from FEMA. We review the facts.
A GMO labeling bill signed into law by the president has raised scientific and regulatory questions: Do foods processed from genetically modified organisms, like refined sugar and soybean oil, contain genetic material? If not, would they be labeled as GMOs?
An ad from Republican Monica Wehby cherry-picks data to make the case that Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley is “paying the women on his staff thousands less than their male counterparts.”
An ad from a Koch-backed group labels Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley an ineffective leader because he “wrote only one bill that became law” in six years. This claim betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the ways of Congress.
For years, President Obama promised millions of Americans with health insurance that “if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan” under his health care overhaul. He wasn’t the only one, either.