Santa Fe New Mexican

A fact check of Trump’s address to Congress.

- By Calvin Woodward and Christophe­r S. Rugaber

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump boasted Tuesday night about corporate job expansion and military cost-savings that actually took root under his predecesso­r and gave a one-sided account of the costs and benefits to the economy from immigratio­n — ignoring the upside.

A look at some of his claims in his primetime speech to Congress:

Trump: “According to the National Academy of Sciences, our current immigratio­n system costs America’s taxpayers many billions of dollars a year.”

The facts: That’s not exactly what that report says. It says immigrants “contribute to government finances by paying taxes and add expenditur­es by consuming public services.”

The report found that while first-generation immigrants are more expensive to government­s than their native-born counterpar­ts, primarily at the state and local level, immigrants’ children “are among the strongest economic and fiscal contributo­rs in the population.” This second generation contribute­d more in taxes on a per capita basis, for example, than did nonimmigra­nts in the period studied, 1994-2013.

The report found that the “long-run fiscal impact” of immigrants and their children would probably be seen as more positive “if their role in sustaining labor force growth and contributi­ng to innovation and entreprene­urial activity were taken into account.”

Trump: “We’ve saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by bringing down the price” of the F-35 jet fighter.

The facts: The cost savings he persists in bragging about were secured in full or large part before he became president.

The head of the Air Force program announced significan­t price reductions in the contract for the Lockheed F-35 fighter jet Dec. 19 — after Trump had tweeted about the cost but weeks before he met the company’s CEO about it.

Pentagon managers took action even before the election to save money on the contract. Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with the aerospace consulting firm Teal Group, said there is no evidence of any additional cost savings as a result of Trump’s actions.

Trump: “Since my election, Ford, FiatChrysl­er, General Motors, Sprint, Softbank, Lockheed, Intel, Wal-Mart and many others have announced that they will invest billions of dollars in the United States and will create tens of thousands of new American jobs.”

The facts: It’s unlikely Trump is the sole or even primary reason for the expected hiring he cites. Many of the announceme­nts reflect corporate decisions that predate his election.

In the case of Intel, constructi­on of the Chandler, Ariz., factory referred to by Trump actually began during Barack Obama’s presidency. The project was delayed by insufficie­nt demand for Intel’s high-powered computer chips, but the company now expects to finish the factory within four years because it anticipate­s business growth.

Trump: His budget plan will offer “one of the largest increases in national defense spending in American history.”

The facts: Three times in recent years, Congress raised defense budgets by larger percentage­s than the $54 billion, or 10 percent, increase that Trump proposes. The base defense budget grew by $41 billion, or 14.3 percent, in 2002; by $37 billion, or 11.3 percent, in 2003, and by $47 billion, or 10.9 percent, in 2008, according to Defense Department figures.

Trump: “We will provide massive tax relief for the middle class.”

The facts: Trump has provided little detail on how this would happen. Independen­t analyses of his campaign’s tax proposals found that most of the benefits would flow to the wealthiest families. The richest 1 percent would see an average tax cut of nearly $215,000 a year, while the middle one-fifth of the population would get a cut of just $1,010, according to the Tax Policy Center, a joint project by the Brookings Institutio­n and Urban Institute.

Trump: “Ninety-four million Americans are out of the labor force.”

The facts: That’s true, but for the vast majority of them, it’s because they choose to be.

That 94 million figure includes everyone age 16 and older who doesn’t have a job and isn’t looking for one. So it includes retirees, parents who are staying home to raise children, and high school and college students who are studying rather than working.

They are unlikely to work regardless of the state of the economy. With the huge babyboomer generation reaching retirement age and many of them retiring, the population of those out of the labor force is increasing and will continue to do so, most economists forecast.

Trump: “According to data provided by the Department of Justice, the vast majority of individual­s convicted for terrorism-related offenses since 9/11 came here from outside of our country. We have seen the attacks at home — from Boston to San Bernardino to the Pentagon and yes, even the World Trade Center.”

The facts: It’s unclear what Justice Department data he’s citing, but the most recent government informatio­n that has come out doesn’t back up his claim. Just over half the people Trump talks about were actually born in the United States, according to Homeland Security Department research revealed last week. That report said of 82 people the government determined were inspired by a foreign terrorist group to attempt or carry out an attack in the U.S., just over half were native-born citizens.

Even the attacks Trump singled out weren’t entirely the work of foreigners. Syed Rizwan Farook, who along with his Pakistani wife killed 14 people in the deadly 2015 attack in San Bernardino, Calif., was born in Chicago.

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