By Eugene Kiely, Lori Robertson, Robert Farley and D’Angelo Gore, CQ-Roll Name

CHICAGO — In a torch-passing speech, President Joe Biden vowed that he could be “the very best volunteer” to assist the marketing campaign of his vice chairman, Kamala Harris. Biden additionally touted his accomplishments and took pictures on the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump. A number of claims by Biden, and a few from different Democrats on the Chicago conference, missed the mark.

  • Biden misleadingly cited “historic joblessness” in speaking about his Inauguration Day in 2021. The economic system was nonetheless struggling then, however most of the jobs misplaced within the early months of the pandemic had been regained.
  • Sen. Dick Durbin claimed that former President Trump “misplaced hundreds of thousands of jobs in America.” However that ignores the explanation for the job losses: a worldwide pandemic.
  • Biden stated he created “a report 16 million new jobs.” That’s a report quantity enhance for any president of their first 43 months. However on a share foundation, which accounts for inhabitants development, there was a barely bigger enhance in employment underneath President Jimmy Carter.
  • Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez stated Trump is “threatening to slash Medicare,” whereas Biden claimed that Trump needs to chop Medicare and Social Safety. However Trump has constantly stated he is not going to minimize both program.
  • Biden claimed that Trump “will do every thing to ban abortion nationwide,” though Trump stated in April that he wouldn’t signal a nationwide abortion ban if Congress handed one.
  • Durbin steered that in “Trump’s America,” in vitro fertilization remedy could be “shut down.” However Trump has stated that he “strongly” helps “the provision of IVF for {couples} who’re attempting to have a treasured child.”
  • Biden misleadingly steered his administration had prompted a drop within the homicide charge. Consultants say presidents have little to do with the modifications in homicide or violent crime whereas they’re in workplace.
  • Biden boasted that “inflation [is] down, manner down, and persevering with to go down.” Progress in inflation has been steadily declining from its peak of 9.1 % for the 12 months ending in June 2022, however total, it’s nonetheless up 19.4 % for the reason that begin of Biden’s presidency.
  • The president claimed that his administration is “eradicating each lead pipe in faculties and houses.” That’s a purpose of the administration, and it has made progress — but it surely doesn’t have the funding to finish the job.
  • Biden claimed that Trump “created the most important debt any president had in 4 years together with his $2 trillion tax minimize for the rich.” However Trump alone was not liable for all of the debt added throughout his presidency.
  • The president misleadingly claimed that investments in semiconductor manufacturing in the US will create manufacturing facility jobs that pay $100,000 a 12 months for these and not using a school diploma.
  • Elevating the specter of Jan. 6, Biden stated Trump is “promising a massacre if he loses” the upcoming election. However in context, Trump appeared to be speaking about the potential of an financial massacre if he’s not elected.
  • Biden claimed that Trump stated he needs to be a dictator on “Day 1.” Trump stated he wouldn’t be a dictator — “aside from Day 1,” when he would shut the southern border and drill for oil. Trump later stated he was joking.
  • Biden boasted that “border encounters have dropped over 50 %” and that “there are fewer border crossings at present than when Donald Trump left workplace.” Apprehensions of these attempting to cross the southern border illegally plummeted in July, however unlawful border crossings skyrocketed for many of Biden’s presidency.
  • The president repeated his deceptive declare that billionaires pay a mean federal tax charge of 8.2 %, which is a White Home calculations that components in earnings on unsold inventory as revenue.
  • Rep. Robert Garcia wrongly claimed that Trump “instructed us to inject bleach into our our bodies.” Trump steered having scientists take a look at whether or not utilizing “very highly effective mild” and “disinfectant” within the physique may kill the virus.

The Democratic Nationwide Conference kicked off on Aug. 19 and lasts till Aug. 22. Simply as FactCheck.org did for the Republican National Convention, it’s going to fact-check the speeches on every evening.

Pandemic joblessness

In talking about his Inauguration Day in 2021, Biden described the challenges then dealing with the nation and talked about “historic joblessness.” The economic system was nonetheless struggling at the moment, however most of the jobs misplaced within the early months of the pandemic had been regained.

“It was, as I instructed you then, a winter of peril and risk, of peril and risk,” Biden stated. “We had been within the grip of a as soon as in a century pandemic, historic joblessness, a name for racial justice lengthy overdue, clear and current threats to our very democracy.”

US President Joe Biden speaks on the primary day of the Democratic Nationwide Conference (DNC) on the United Heart in Chicago, Illinois, on August 19, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris will formally settle for the celebration’s nomination for president on the DNC which runs from August 19-22 in Chicago. (Photograph by MANDEL NGAN/AFP through Getty Pictures)

The economic system misplaced 21.9 million jobs in March and April 2020, after the COVID-19 pandemic pressured widespread enterprise closures and layoffs, but it surely regained 12.3 million from Could by means of November. That job development stalled in December, when the economic system misplaced 243,000 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So there was nonetheless loads of floor to make up from these pandemic-fueled job losses — however the “historic joblessness” had occurred a number of months earlier than Biden was sworn in.

The unemployment rate was 6.4 % the month of Biden’s inauguration, above the historic norm of 5.6 %, which is the median charge for all months since 1948.

As FactCheck famous earlier than, that charge would have been greater if hundreds of thousands of individuals hadn’t stopped on the lookout for work and subsequently had been not counted as a part of the labor drive. There have been 4.4 million fewer individuals in the labor force in January 2021, in contrast with February 2020. The unemployment rate is the share of adults within the labor drive who’ve regarded for work within the earlier 4 weeks.

The pandemic peak for the unemployment charge was 14.8 % in April 2020.

Job losses underneath Trump

Sen. Dick Durbin, the Democratic whipclaimed that Trump “misplaced hundreds of thousands of jobs in America,” including that Trump was one of many few presidents to depart workplace with fewer People working than when he took workplace. However that ignores the explanation for the job losses: a worldwide pandemic.

In Trump’s first 37 months as president, the U.S. economic system added almost 6.7 million jobs, or 180,000 jobs a month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of February 2020. However over the subsequent two months, as FactCheck.org stated, the U.S. misplaced a staggering 21.9 million jobs in March and April, as restaurantsstoresschools and manufacturing plants worldwide shut down in an try and sluggish the unfold of COVID-19.

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Expand

“Within the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered job loss within the labor market on a scale not seen for the reason that Nice Melancholy,” BLS economists said in a report. “A 12 months later, the financial scenario had improved. Roughly 60 % of jobs misplaced had returned, however employment was nonetheless down in comparison with pre pandemic ranges.”

When Trump left workplace in January 2021, the U.S. had 2.7 million fewer jobs than it did in January 2017, when Trump was sworn in.

“Presidents deserve little or no credit score, and presidents usually deserve little or no blame” for the employment figures on their watch, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, an economist, president of the “center-right” American Action Forum and a former director of the Congressional Price range Workplace, told FactCheck.org for an article in February.

Job features underneath Biden

Biden said he created “a report 16 million new jobs.”

As of July, complete nonfarm employment within the U.S. was up by virtually 15.8 million since he was inaugurated in January 2021, according to BLS information. In uncooked numbers, that could be a report enhance for any president of their first 43 months in workplace, based mostly on BLS information that return to January 1939. However on a share foundation, which accounts for inhabitants development, there was a barely bigger enhance in employment underneath Jimmy Carter (11.3 %) than Biden (11.1 %).

Additionally, the employment features underneath Biden are skewed by the lack of 21.9 million jobs firstly of the COVID-19 pandemic. When Biden took workplace, about 57 % of these jobs had come again amid the continued financial restoration, however there was nonetheless room for lots of job development. As of July, complete nonfarm employment had gone up about 6.4 million from the pre-pandemic peak in February 2020.

Social Safety and Medicare

Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez said Trump is “threatening to slash Medicare,” whereas Biden claimed that “Trump needs to chop Social Safety and Medicare.” However Trump has constantly stated he is not going to minimize both program, and he has suggested Republicans to not minimize these applications as nicely.

Earlier this 12 months, Biden and his marketing campaign based mostly the declare on Trump saying in a March 11 CNBC interview that “there’s a lot you are able to do by way of entitlements by way of slicing and by way of additionally the theft and the unhealthy administration of entitlements.” As FactCheck said, in context, as a substitute of lowering advantages, Trump was speaking about slicing waste and fraud in these applications.

“I’ll by no means do something that can jeopardize or harm Social Safety or Medicare,” Trump later stated in a March 13 Breitbart interview. “We’ll need to do it elsewhere. However we’re not going to do something to harm them.”

Throughout the GOP presidential major, Trump additionally criticized a few of his Republican opponents for proposing to boost the retirement age for Social Safety, which finances specialists have said would cut back scheduled advantages for these affected.

Some critics of Trump have argued that he can’t be anticipated to maintain his promise due to his previous finances proposals. As FactCheck has written, Trump proposed cuts to the Social Safety Incapacity Insurance coverage and Supplemental Safety Revenue applications, however to not Social Safety retirement advantages. And his budgets included solely bipartisan concepts to scale back the expansion of Medicare spending.

Trump has proposed one coverage that would scale back advantages sooner or later. He has said he would repeal the revenue tax on Social Safety advantages. The Committee for a Accountable Federal Price range estimated that might value the federal government $1.6 trillion to $1.8 trillion in revenues over 10 years and will lead to each Social Safety and Medicare turning into bancrupt ahead of scheduled. Future advantages could be lowered until Trump offers a plan to interchange the misplaced revenues or a future Congress and president act to interchange the misplaced funds.

Trump on abortion bans

Biden claimed that “Trump will do every thing to ban abortion nationwide,” which contradicts what Trump has stated in latest months.

In a video posted on April 8, Trump stated that abortion legal guidelines ought to be left as much as the states.

“The states will decide by vote or laws or maybe each, and no matter they determine should be the regulation of the land,” Trump stated within the video. “On this case, the regulation of the state. Many states can be totally different. Many can have a unique variety of weeks or some can have extra conservative than others, and that’s what they are going to be.”

And when asked on April 10 if he would signal a nationwide abortion ban if Congress handed one, Trump answered “no.”

As FactCheck wrote, Trump has modified course since his days as president and as a presidential candidate in 2016, when he said that he would assist a federal ban on abortion after 20 weeks of being pregnant.

Trump helps IVF

Durbin gave the misunderstanding that Trump doesn’t assist in vitro fertilization therapies.

“Need to have a toddler however want IVF? Too unhealthy, that’s shut down, too,” in “Trump’s America,” Durbin said.


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