Under the Trump administration, the Department of Health and Human Services has canceled or frozen billions of dollars in scientific research grants and attempted to cull around 20,000 agency employees, including some scientists. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., however, has misleadingly claimed that there have been no cuts to “life-saving” research or “working scientists.”
President Joe Biden has repeatedly claimed that past presidents, including his predecessor, have “ignored” or “failed to uphold” laws requiring that federal government money be used to purchase only U.S. materials or products. Biden has expanded and emphasized such requirements, but we found no indication other presidents didn’t abide by the laws on the books during their tenures.
President Joe Biden signed a $1.5 trillion bill that funds the federal government and provides assistance to Ukraine. Social media posts misrepresent the bill by implying Congress members gave themselves a 21% pay raise. The bill increases House office budgets by 21%, which likely will result in pay raises for staffers — but not for members of Congress.
In remarks about President Donald Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden made some questionable statements.
Sen. Rand Paul misrepresented two studies supported by federal grants, while advocating legislation he introduced to change the federal grant funding process.
Q: Did President Trump cancel funding to build Barack Obama’s presidential library?
A: No. That story originated on a satirical news site. All presidential libraries have been constructed using private or non-federal funds.
Rep. Lamar Smith said that, after national security agencies, “NASA received the most favorable budget request from the Trump administration.” True, but President Trump’s 2018 proposal would still cut NASA’s budget by about 3 percent compared with the agency’s enacted budget for 2017.
Some Democrats overstated the potential impacts of a congressional stalemate that threatens to leave the Department of Homeland Security without funding after Feb. 27.