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Q: How much has the federal debt gone up under Obama?
A: During his first three years in office, it rose $4.7 trillion, an increase of 45 percent. Partisan graphics circulating via email and Facebook are both incorrect.
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Tag Archives: debt
Biden Bungles Talking Point on Debt
Joe Biden mistakenly claimed Americans own 85 percent of U.S. Treasury securities during his visit to China. Americans own 54 percent of the U.S. public debt — that is, the amount of debt held by the public. They own 69 percent of the total debt, which includes money the U.S. …
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FactChecking Iowa Debate
Republican presidential candidates squared off in Ames, Iowa, on Aug. 11, offering claims, criticism and arguments. We found some false and misleading statements among them …
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Posted in Articles
Tagged debt, Herman Cain, Libya, Mitt Romney, mosques, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, unemployment
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Default ‘Danger’ Revisited
President Obama's communications director said we’ve "never" been in danger of defaulting before. That's not true. Congress has come close to failing to raise the debt ceiling before defaulting more than once in recent years, under both Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer …
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‘Spenditol’ Silliness
A conservative Christian group makes some wildly improbable claims about government spending in a satirical ad targeting Democrats. The ad mimics the format of spots for prescription drugs, touting "Spenditol" as a cure for the "chronic pain" of rising gasoline and food prices and unemployment worries. While we do get …
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Posted in The FactCheck Wire
Tagged Concerned Women for America, debt, government spending
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Does the U.S. ‘Look a Lot Like Greece’?
Sen. Mitch McConnell strained the facts when he claimed that "[w]e look a lot like Greece already." The public debt of Greece is double that of the U.S. in relation to the size of each nation's economy McConnell made his comment in a July 6 news conference held prior to …
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Huntsman’s $1 Trillion Mistake
Jon Huntsman was off by $1 trillion or more when he claimed that Social Security, Medicare and interest payments would consume "every dollar of federal revenue" within 10 years. A spokesman says Huntsman meant to include Medicaid in that list, but even that wouldn't make the claim accurate. In his …
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Durbin’s Debt Problem
Sen. Dick Durbin incorrectly claimed that the U.S. borrows money "primarily from China" to fund the federal government. China owns about 8 percent of the total U.S. debt. The Illinois Democrat made the claim during a June 19 interview on NBC's "Meet the Press." Durbin, June 19: Keep in mind, …
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DCCC Dials Wrong Number
Democrats make false and misleading claims about the impact of the House GOP budget plan on Medicare and the federal debt in automated phone calls placed in 13 districts. The robocalls, paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee …
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Palin Whoppers on Debt, Oil Imports
Sarah Palin made two wildly inaccurate claims on the debt accumulated under President Obama and oil imports. She wrongly said that the debt had grown more under Obama than "all those other presidents combined." She also was way off when she claimed that the U.S. is going to spend "$8 …
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