Facebook Twitter Tumblr Close Skip to main content
A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Stories by Eugene Kiely

Director, FactCheck.org

Rand Paul Exaggerates His Filibuster ‘Victory’

Rand Paul Exaggerates His Filibuster ‘Victory’
March 26, 2013

Sen. Rand Paul says it “took 13 hours of filibuster” to finally force the Obama administration “to say, no, we won’t kill noncombatants in America.” In fact, Attorney General Eric Holder said “no” at a Senate hearing shortly before Paul began his filibuster.
“After much gymnastics I am very glad to hear that it is the opinion of the Department of Justice that it would be unconstitutional to kill a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil if that individual did not pose an imminent threat,”

Rangel’s Assault Weapons Whopper

Rangel’s Assault Weapons Whopper
March 22, 2013

Rep. Charlie Rangel falsely claimed there are “millions of kids dying, being shot down by assault weapons.” In fact, fewer than 100,000 persons younger than 20 years old died of gun violence, including suicide, over a 30-year period through 2010, government data show. About two-thirds of those deaths — or nearly 65,000 — were homicides.
That’s for all guns, not just assault weapons. We don’t know how many of them were killed by assault weapons, but federally funded studies have shown that such weapons are used in a small percentage of crimes.

Cruz, Paul: A Menagerie of Misinformation

Cruz, Paul: A Menagerie of Misinformation
March 19, 2013

Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul got laughs at the federal government’s expense at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference, but the facts don’t jibe with the jokes.

Cruz accused the EPA of “trying to use a lizard to shut down oil and gas production” in West Texas to set up a one-liner about lizard boots. But the jab — an old campaign joke — no longer has any basis in fact. The federal government decided against listing the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard as “endangered”

Charting Ryan’s Debt Exaggeration

Charting Ryan’s Debt Exaggeration
March 14, 2013

Rep. Paul Ryan exaggerates future growth of the federal debt in a chart contained in his newly released budget plan.
The chart relies on Congressional Budget Office projections from last year that do not account for actions taken since then to reduce federal deficits by nearly $2 trillion over 10 years. The chart also projects debt levels out to 2060, although CBO warns that such long-term projections are “highly uncertain.”
Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican who chairs the House Budget Committee,

GOP Budget Revives ‘Obamacare’ Claims

GOP Budget Revives ‘Obamacare’ Claims
March 12, 2013

The release of the House GOP budget by Rep. Paul Ryan has sparked a resurgence of false and misleading claims about the Affordable Care Act, which the budget seeks to largely repeal. On the Sunday talk shows, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the head of the Democratic National Committee, and Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, each distorted the facts regarding revenues raised in the health care law. And Ryan wrongly said the law would take money away from Medicare and ration benefits for seniors.

Mark Sanford Falsely Accused in TV Ad

Mark Sanford Falsely Accused in TV Ad
March 7, 2013

John Kuhn, one of 16 Republicans seeking his party’s nomination in South Carolina’s special House election, falsely claims former Gov. Mark Sanford “supported a massive earmark spending bill.” Sanford in fact vetoed the bill, saying it was packed with “politically-driven, pork barrel spending,” including some at Kuhn’s request.
The ad also says Kuhn “opposed that bill and fought to stop wasteful spending.” But that claim only goes so far. It’s true that Kuhn filibustered the bill in 2003,

Biden Exaggerates Aid to Israel

Biden Exaggerates Aid to Israel
March 4, 2013

Vice President Joe Biden incorrectly told a pro-Israel group that President Obama’s $3.1 billion request for military aid to Israel last year was “the most in history.” The record was set in fiscal 2000, when the Clinton administration secured $3.12 billion for Israel — which is not only slightly more in nominal dollars but much more in inflation-adjusted dollars.
Biden is also taking credit for a level of spending that was set by the Bush administration as part of a 10-year,

The Sequester Blame Game

The Sequester Blame Game
March 1, 2013

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner emerged from their White House meeting on sequestration blaming each other for the automatic spending cuts and misrepresenting the other side’s position:

Obama’s remarks left the false impression that Boehner has reneged on a GOP plan to raise $800 billion by limiting tax breaks for the wealthy. Boehner offered that plan in December as an alternative to raising income tax rates. But that plan was dropped when Obama and Republicans agreed to raise rates,