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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Christie Misrepresents State Workers’ Contract

Chris Christie is misrepresenting the facts about New Jersey union contract negotiations under his predecessor.
Christie has been battling state unions since becoming New Jersey governor in 2010. On CBS’ "Face the Nation" Feb. 27, he exaggerated the generosity of contract terms negotiated (and renegotiated) by Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine’s administration. He also misquoted Corzine’s comments at a state worker rally. 
Christie and host Bob Schieffer discussed the budget showdown in Wisconsin and whether state workers had the right to collective bargaining.

A Big, Fat Mistake

Mike Huckabee cited a bloated statistic, claiming obesity disqualifies three out of four young Americans from military service. The actual total is closer to one in four.
The former Arkansas governor (and possible GOP presidential contender in 2012) was on "Fox News Sunday" on Feb. 27, explaining why he has defended First Lady Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity campaign against attacks by some fellow Republicans.

Huckabee: What Michelle Obama has proposed is that we recognize that we have a serious obesity crisis,

Democrats Deny Social Security’s Red Ink

Some senior Democrats are claiming that Social Security does not contribute “one penny” to the federal deficit. That’s not true. The fact is, the federal government had to borrow $37 billion last year to finance Social Security, and will need to borrow more this year.

Sorry Statistics

Q: Do statistics in a chain e-mail give an accurate “report card” of President Obama’s first two years?
A: Not exactly. The author made many minor mistakes and some major omissions in describing the terrible economic conditions he attributes to the president.

Dems, GOP Exaggerate Spending ‘Cuts’

Senate Democratic leaders, under pressure from Republicans to cut the budget, have been misleading the public by claiming they already have "cut" spending by $41 billion.
The fact is that the Democrats haven’t "cut" any spending. Congress hasn’t passed a budget for fiscal year 2011, and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says federal spending continues to rise.
First a little background: House Republicans passed legislation in the early morning of Feb. 19 that would fund the federal government for fiscal year 2011.

Obama Bungles Budget Line

President Barack Obama messed up one of his favorite talking points about his 2012 budget proposal at a small business forum in Cleveland.
The president claimed that “I’ve designed a budget that freezes spending for five years and will help reduce the deficit by $400 billion over the next decade to the lowest level since Dwight Eisenhower was president.” That’s not even close to being true.
According to the fiscal year 2012 budget unveiled on Feb.

FactCheck Mailbag, Week of Feb. 15-21

This week, readers sent us comments about our new FactCheck Quiz, the debate on federal workers’ pay and our findings about Nancy Pelosi’s claim on fiscal discipline.
In the FactCheck Mailbag, we feature some of the e-mail we receive. Readers can send comments to editor@factcheck.org. Letters may be edited for length.

Rumsfeld on the World’s View of America

Donald Rumsfeld wrongly denied that the U.S. is viewed more favorably under President Barack Obama than it was under President George W. Bush. In fact, residents of several nations including Britain, Germany, France and China view the U.S. more favorably, according to a survey released last year by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project.
Rumsfeld, who served as Defense Secretary under Bush, told CNN’s Candy Crowley that he didn’t think there was any evidence to support claims that residents of other nations have a more favorable opinion of America than they used to:

Crowley,

IRS and the Health Care Law, Part II

Q: Is the IRS seeking more than 1,000 new workers to administer the new health care law?
A: Yes. But many of them will be needed to deliver tax credits, not dun taxpayers. IRS says it needs 291 agents to enforce the law, including 193 to "ensure accurate delivery of tax credits."