Checking Trump’s State of the Union address
President’s health care, military statements fail
President Donald Trump delivered the 2020 State of the Union address in an atmosphere of intense partisanship Tuesday, the day before the Senate acquitted him for his dealings with Ukraine.
Before he spoke, Trump ignored an extended hand from Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. After he spoke, Pelosi ripped up a copy of his speech. There were other cheers and jeers, with Republicans shouting “four more years!” and Democrats yelling at Trump to pass their bill on drug prices. More women lawmakers wore white, a symbol of the suffrage movement.
Trump’s speech boasted about the improved economy and included some false lines that he has repeated in campaign rallies. We fact-checked many of them for accuracy or additional context.
Health care
“I’ve also made an ironclad pledge to American families: We will also protect patients with pre-existing conditions.”
This repeated line is Pants on Fire. His administration is doing the opposite in court.
The protections for patients with pre-existing conditions come from the Affordable Care Act, which passed under then-President Barack Obama. The law says that health plans cannot charge people more for insurance because of their medical history, and is one of the ACA’s most popular provisions.
Trump has repeatedly sought and supported congressional efforts to repeal the ACA, though those efforts memorably fell flat in 2017. More recently, his administration has declined to defend the law in a pending court case, known as Texas vs. Azar. In that case, a group of Republican states’ attorneys generals is arguing that the entire law should be struck down — including the pre-existing condition protection. The case is expected to end up before the Supreme Court, though not before the 2020 election.
The administration’s stance — endorsing the lawsuit and declining to defend the law — is almost unprecedented, legal experts say.
Neither the president nor congressional Republicans has unveiled a replacement plan for the ACA. In the event the Supreme Court ultimately strikes down the health law, health plans would once again be allowed to charge people more if they have had any medical issues. — Shefali Luthra, Kaiser Health News
Immigration
“We have now completed over 100 miles and have over 500 miles fully completed in a very short period of time. Early next year, we will have substantially more than 500 miles completed.”
This needs clarification.
The 100-mile reference is mainly about the replacement of older, dilapidated barriers with new fencing. It doesn’t mean that the nearly 2,000mile U.S.-Mexico border now has 100 more miles of barriers than it did before Trump became president.
The southwest border had 654 miles of primary barriers before Trump was elected. Three years into Trump’s term, that has increased by 1 mile, to 655 miles.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as of Jan. 24:
1 mile of barriers has been constructed where no barriers previously existed;
99 miles of barriers have been constructed to replace outdated or dilapidated designs that existed before Trump took office; and
10 miles of secondary barriers have been constructed to replace dilapidated fencing.
Customs and Border Protection said it’s identified about $11 billion from the Department of Homeland Security, Defense Department and the Treasury Forfeiture Fund to build 576 miles worth of barriers (which includes the 110 miles already built). About half the barriers would get new barriers to replace existing structures, and the rest would have barriers for the first time, according to the immigration agency.
— Miriam Valverde Economy
“After decades of flat and falling incomes, wages are rising fast — and, wonderfully, they are rising fastest for
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low-income workers, who have seen a 16% pay increase since my election. This is a blue collar boom.”
This is Half True. Looking at the change in weekly earnings since 2016, the bottom 10% saw a 14.6% rise, compared with 13.5% for the top earners. But looking at the change from year to year, in 2017 and 2019, earnings for the top 10% grew faster than for the lowest wage earners. Trump’s statement was true for one out of his three years in office.
But there are two key problems with using weekly earnings to compare the lowest to the highest groups. The government’s survey excludes the selfemployed, and at the high end, that means lawyers, engineers and other well-paid positions. Their income doesn’t show up. In addition, the survey doesn’t count earnings over $150,000. Someone making $250,000 would be entered as earning $149,999. That makes the high-end number in the data artificially low.
— Jon Greenberg Military
“Our military is completely rebuilt.”
This hasn’t happened. The Trump administration has increased military spending, but rebuilding the military would require new equipment that can take years to build and develop.
Only a portion of the Trump administration’s military spending has gone toward what would be considered a rebuild under any reasonable definition of the term.
The administration’s spending has helped make troops and equipment more ready for combat, said Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution. But overall, Trump’s claim of a total rebuild is “hyperbole.”
“Most weapons are the same as before,” O’Hanlon told us. “There is more continuity than change in defense policy from Obama to Trump.”
— Bill McCarthy