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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Fostering a Fortune?

Q: Does Illinois pay a grandmother $1,500 per month per child to be the foster parent to her eight grandchildren?
A: No. State officials have no record of such a case, and state law would not allow it. This second-hand story spread by a Danville urologist isn’t true.

The Obama Phone?

Q: Has the Obama administration started a program to use "taxpayer money" to give free cell phones to welfare recipients?
A: No. Low-income households have been eligible for discounted telephone service for more than a decade. But the program is funded by telecom companies, not by taxes, and the president has nothing to do with it.

Obama’s ‘Welfare’

Summary
The McCain campaign has taken to denigrating some of Obama’s tax proposals as "welfare" rather than tax cuts. And it continues to mislead about who would see a tax increase.

A new McCain-Palin Web ad characterizes Obama’s proposed refundable tax credits as "welfare." But McCain himself proposes refundable tax credits, too, as part of his health care plan, and calls them "reform."
The ad also says "hard-working families" and "seniors" would pay higher taxes.