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| Fact-Checking Night 2 of the 2020 Democratic Debates | Fact-Checking Night 2 of the 2020 Democratic Debates |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Ten candidates vying for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination took the stage on Thursday in Miami for the second of back-to-back debate nights. The 10 other candidates who qualified for the debates appeared on the same stage on Wednesday. | Ten candidates vying for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination took the stage on Thursday in Miami for the second of back-to-back debate nights. The 10 other candidates who qualified for the debates appeared on the same stage on Wednesday. |
| [Read highlights from night 2 of the first Democratic debates.] | |
| Here is how the candidates’ remarks stacked up against the truth. | Here is how the candidates’ remarks stacked up against the truth. |
| Senator Michael Bennet | Senator Michael Bennet |
| “Forty years of no economic growth for 90 percent of the American people.” | “Forty years of no economic growth for 90 percent of the American people.” |
| From 1979 to 2015, average income increased for every quintile of American households, according to the Congressional Budget Office. For the bottom 20 percent and for the middle three quintiles, the average income rose 32 percent. For the top 20 percent, the increase was 101 percent. | From 1979 to 2015, average income increased for every quintile of American households, according to the Congressional Budget Office. For the bottom 20 percent and for the middle three quintiles, the average income rose 32 percent. For the top 20 percent, the increase was 101 percent. |
| Joe Biden | Joe Biden |
| “I got Mitch McConnell to raise taxes $600 billion by raising the top rate.” | “I got Mitch McConnell to raise taxes $600 billion by raising the top rate.” |
| Mr. Biden is referring to the deal he struck with Mr. McConnell to end a partisan budget showdown in the early hours of New Year’s Day in 2013. The agreement did allow the top individual income tax rate to rise, increasing revenue by about $600 billion. But it also preserved and made permanent most of the Bush tax cuts and added trillions of dollars to the national debt. | Mr. Biden is referring to the deal he struck with Mr. McConnell to end a partisan budget showdown in the early hours of New Year’s Day in 2013. The agreement did allow the top individual income tax rate to rise, increasing revenue by about $600 billion. But it also preserved and made permanent most of the Bush tax cuts and added trillions of dollars to the national debt. |
| Joe Biden | Joe Biden |
| “I did not oppose busing in America. What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education. That’s what I opposed.” | “I did not oppose busing in America. What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education. That’s what I opposed.” |
| Mr. Biden was a leading opponent of busing in the Senate during the 1970s and 1980s, and his opposition went beyond the federal government’s role. | Mr. Biden was a leading opponent of busing in the Senate during the 1970s and 1980s, and his opposition went beyond the federal government’s role. |
| He supported several amendments and bills barring the Justice Department from seeking busing as a tool of desegregation, limiting federal funding for busing and allowing the federal government to participate in litigation to remove court-ordered busing. | He supported several amendments and bills barring the Justice Department from seeking busing as a tool of desegregation, limiting federal funding for busing and allowing the federal government to participate in litigation to remove court-ordered busing. |
| At the time, Mr. Biden spoke out against Delaware’s court-ordered school-busing program and called busing “a bankrupt concept” and “a rejection of the whole movement of black pride.” | At the time, Mr. Biden spoke out against Delaware’s court-ordered school-busing program and called busing “a bankrupt concept” and “a rejection of the whole movement of black pride.” |
| In his 2007 memoir, the former vice president wrote, “I was against busing to remedy de facto segregation owing to housing patterns and community comfort, but if it was intentional segregation, I’d personally pay for helicopters to move the children.” | In his 2007 memoir, the former vice president wrote, “I was against busing to remedy de facto segregation owing to housing patterns and community comfort, but if it was intentional segregation, I’d personally pay for helicopters to move the children.” |
| Mayor Pete Buttigieg | Mayor Pete Buttigieg |
| “Tariffs are taxes. And Americans are going to pay on average $800 more a year, because of these tariffs.” | “Tariffs are taxes. And Americans are going to pay on average $800 more a year, because of these tariffs.” |
| He is referring to tariffs imposed by President Trump on imports from China. Consumers are actually paying more than $800 a year. Mr. Buttigieg’s number appears drawn from a Federal Reserve Bank of New York report that estimated the average American household will pay an extra $831 per year as a result o f the additional tariffs that President Trump imposed on China this year. That is on top of the $414 households are paying from the tariffs that Mr. Trump imposed on Chinese imports in 2018. The Trump administration also imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from around the world last year, hitting businesses and consumers with other higher costs. | |
| Senator Michael Bennet | Senator Michael Bennet |
| “Bernie mentioned the taxes that we would have to pay. Because of those taxes, Vermont rejected Medicare for all.” | “Bernie mentioned the taxes that we would have to pay. Because of those taxes, Vermont rejected Medicare for all.” |
| Vermont enacted a law in 2011 to establish something close to a single-payer health care system. The plan was not rejected by voters or the legislature, but it was abandoned in 2014 by then-Gov. Peter Shumlin, a Democrat. He blamed the “enormous” new taxes the plan would have required, including an 11.5 percent payroll tax on all Vermont businesses and a sliding-scale income tax of up to 9.5 percent. In all, he said, the plan would require about $2.5 billion in taxes annually, in a state that raises only about $2.7 billion in taxes annually. “These are simply not tax rates that I can responsibly support or urge the Legislature to pass,” Mr. Shumlin said at the time. | Vermont enacted a law in 2011 to establish something close to a single-payer health care system. The plan was not rejected by voters or the legislature, but it was abandoned in 2014 by then-Gov. Peter Shumlin, a Democrat. He blamed the “enormous” new taxes the plan would have required, including an 11.5 percent payroll tax on all Vermont businesses and a sliding-scale income tax of up to 9.5 percent. In all, he said, the plan would require about $2.5 billion in taxes annually, in a state that raises only about $2.7 billion in taxes annually. “These are simply not tax rates that I can responsibly support or urge the Legislature to pass,” Mr. Shumlin said at the time. |
| Andrew Yang | Andrew Yang |
| “We automated away 4 million manufacturing jobs due to automation.” | “We automated away 4 million manufacturing jobs due to automation.” |
| Mr. Yang’s figure likely comes from a 2015 study from Ball State University. It estimated that the United States lost 5.6 million manufacturing jobs from 2000 to 2010, about 4.9 million of which were due to increases in productivity. | Mr. Yang’s figure likely comes from a 2015 study from Ball State University. It estimated that the United States lost 5.6 million manufacturing jobs from 2000 to 2010, about 4.9 million of which were due to increases in productivity. |
| Other research, however, shows other factors were in play. The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute has contended that trade is the main culprit. A 2018 Bureau of Labor Statistics brief cited competition with China, a skills mismatch between employers and workers, and a decline in cross-regional migration. | Other research, however, shows other factors were in play. The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute has contended that trade is the main culprit. A 2018 Bureau of Labor Statistics brief cited competition with China, a skills mismatch between employers and workers, and a decline in cross-regional migration. |
| Senator Bernie Sanders | Senator Bernie Sanders |
| “Under that system, by the way, vast majority of the people in this country will be paying significantly less for health care than they are right now.” | “Under that system, by the way, vast majority of the people in this country will be paying significantly less for health care than they are right now.” |
| There are widely varying estimates of how much a single-payer health plan like Mr. Sanders’s would cost, but most conclude that patients would spend far less than they do now, and the federal government would spend far more, likely with new taxes. For some people, any tax increase might be more than offset by reductions in their spending on premiums, co-payments and other health care costs. But others could end up paying more in new taxes than they save. So far, none of the Medicare-for-all proposals include a detailed tax plan. But there would be minimal out-of-pocket expenses for medical care under Mr. Sanders’s plan, which would offer more generous benefits than Medicare currently does. | There are widely varying estimates of how much a single-payer health plan like Mr. Sanders’s would cost, but most conclude that patients would spend far less than they do now, and the federal government would spend far more, likely with new taxes. For some people, any tax increase might be more than offset by reductions in their spending on premiums, co-payments and other health care costs. But others could end up paying more in new taxes than they save. So far, none of the Medicare-for-all proposals include a detailed tax plan. But there would be minimal out-of-pocket expenses for medical care under Mr. Sanders’s plan, which would offer more generous benefits than Medicare currently does. |
| Senator Bernie Sanders | Senator Bernie Sanders |
| “We have a new vision for America and at a time when we have three people in this country owning more wealth than the bottom half of America.” | “We have a new vision for America and at a time when we have three people in this country owning more wealth than the bottom half of America.” |
| Mr. Sanders is referring to a 2017 Institute for Policy Studies report that found Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Warren Buffett have more wealth — nearly $250 billion — than a total of 160 million people, or 63 million households, which had wealth of about $245 billion. That gap has likely increased in the last two years as the national income gap has continued to widen. | Mr. Sanders is referring to a 2017 Institute for Policy Studies report that found Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Warren Buffett have more wealth — nearly $250 billion — than a total of 160 million people, or 63 million households, which had wealth of about $245 billion. That gap has likely increased in the last two years as the national income gap has continued to widen. |
| Fact-checks by Abby Goodnough, Alan Rappeport, Linda Qiu and Thomas Kaplan. | Fact-checks by Abby Goodnough, Alan Rappeport, Linda Qiu and Thomas Kaplan. |