Biggest Budget Cut in U.S. History?
Democrats and Republicans alike are making grandiose — and unsupportable — claims that the budget deal contains the biggest spending cut in U.S. history.
Under the bipartisan agreement, the proposed budget for this fiscal year would be $38.5 billion less than last year’s budget. The federal government spent nearly $3.5 trillion in 2010, so the cut is a little more than 1 percent of total spending.
President Barack Obama called it "the biggest annual spending cut in history."
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of April 5-11
This week, readers sent us comments about Donald Trump, the Massachusetts health care law and the FactCheck quiz.
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.
Donald, You’re Fired!
If Donald Trump worked for us, we’d have to say: “Donald, you’re fired — for incompetence.” The successful developer and TV celebrity says he’d make a good president, and maybe he would — we take no stand either way about that. But when it comes to getting facts straight …
April 8: Medicare, Social Security, Abortion
Dems, GOP Fight Over Homeless Vets
In the fog of a historic budget battle, Democrats are exaggerating the impact of proposed GOP cuts on homeless military veterans. A GOP budget bill approved by the House in February would not fund 10,000 new housing vouchers for homeless veterans this fiscal …
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of March 29-April 4
This week, readers sent us comments about the Wisconsin budget battle and our scrutiny of Republicans and Democrats.
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.
Premium Nonsense On Medicare
Q: Will the new health care law raise Medicare’s basic monthly premium to $247 in 2014, as a viral message claims?
A: No, Medicare officials project the basic premium will be less than half that. But the law will eventually cause 14 percent of seniors with incomes over $85,000 a year ($170,000 for couples) to pay higher “income-related” premiums, up from 5 percent currently.
April 1: The ‘RomneyCare’ Edition
Santorum Wrong on Abortion, Birth Facts
Rick Santorum incorrectly stated that “one in three pregnancies end in abortion” in the United States. It’s actually fewer than one in four.
Santorum appeared on a New Hampshire radio talk show, blaming abortions for “causing Social Security and Medicare to be underfunded.” But he not only misstated the abortion statistic, he also got it wrong when he said that “our birthrate is now below replacement rate for the first time in our history.” The total fertility rate,