Verbatim
The Latest from Verbatim
 February 24, 2017 Writing for The Intercept, Spencer Woodman claimed “Over the past few weeks, Republican legislators across the country have quietly introduced a number of proposals to criminalize and discourage peaceful protest.” Legislation introduced by Republican state lawmakers would not criminalize any form of protest because the proposed changes relate to acts that are already prohibited by law. Only one measure that was introduced after Woodman’s piece would create a new crime related to an already illegal type of protest. |
 February 22, 2017 The February 25th election for Delaware's 10th District senate seat will determine which party will control the chamber. In a recent debate, Republican candidate John Marino criticized Democratic opponent Stephanie Hansen for changing her position on testing opt-out. Marino is incorrect. Hansen's campaign website did not address opt-out as claimed by Marino, but did mention support of legislation to limit standardized testing. The current version reflects Hansen's explicit support of opt-out. |
 February 21, 2017 Commenting on the election of President Donald Trump, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wrote, “The truth is that people are right to be angry. Angry that wages have been stagnant for a generation, while basic costs like housing, health care, and child care have skyrocketed.” According to data compiled by the federal government, Warren is incorrect about wages, but she is correct that costs for housing, health care, and child care have all risen. |
 February 17, 2017 Referring to President Trump’s executive order, “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States,” Univision's Jorge Cancino claimed that it contains "a clause making it a crime to help an undocumented immigrant." However, executive orders are statements of policy and have no power to make law. The clause referenced by Cancino is a directive by Trump to the Secretary of Homeland Security to enforce existing immigration law, in this case the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). |
 February 16, 2017 Sacramento Bee writer Jim Miller wrote that CalPERS' reduced investment return assumption means school districts will have to contribute more to employee pensions. This is true. CalPERS projects a 30 to 40 percent increase in participating employer unfunded liability payments as a result, though the increased contributions are necessary to fund benefits already earned by government workers. |
 February 15, 2017 Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick recently told the Syracuse Post-Standard that the introduction of ridesharing services in upstate New York “could have a dramatic impact on reducing drunk driving and the fatalities attendant to the problem.” The potential impacts of legalizing ridesharing services in upstate New York is a matter of speculation. Research on the impacts of ridesharing is limited, and results are mixed. |
 February 14, 2017 The New York City Council adopted an ordinance requiring shoppers to pay five cents for each plastic or paper bag provided by a store. New York City Councilman Brad Lander claimed the bag tax will induce shoppers to bring bags with them to the store and get rid of plastic grocery bags. Lander is partially correct. Studies have shown that banning or taxing plastic or paper bags increases shoppers use of reusable bags and decreases use of plastic bags, but does not end plastic bag use. |
 February 13, 2017 Endorsing legislation to prohibit holding electronic devices while driving in Washington state, a Union-Bulletin editorial said, “Distracted driving is out of control.” Collisions involving distracted driving increased by 46 percent between 2009 and 2015. Fatalities resulting from distracted driving collisions increased 6 percent during this period. However, fatalities involving an impaired driver consistently accounted for a higher proportion of fatal collisions. |
 February 8, 2017 During the January 23 opening session of the Utah House of Representatives, Speaker Greg Hughes said, “This state has a homelessness crisis amongst us.” But according to HUD estimates, Utah saw reductions in both its total homeless population (6.8 percent) and those defined as “chronically homeless” (72 percent), between 2007 and 2016. During that same period, the population of the state grew by 13 percent. |
 February 7, 2017 Writing for Mother Jones in December, Tim Murphy stated that Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, President Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Department of the Interior, has “demonstrated a pointed skepticism about climate change," but that "It wasn't always that way." Zinke signed a letter in 2010 urging then-President Obama and congressional leaders to act on renewable energy and climate change. The letter does not address the extent to which human activity influences climate change, a question that has consistently been the crux of Zinke’s position. In 2009, Zinke said that the extent of human influence has not been determined, which is consistent with his more recent statements. |
 February 6, 2017 Primary elections for the next mayor of St. Louis will take place on March 7, 2017. Criticizing Democratic candidate Lyda Krewson's public safety proposals, opponent Antonio French said, "Her new crime plan … will cost taxpayers $34 million without adding one layer of additional oversight or accountability." French is correct. Krewson herself estimates that her proposed crime plan will cost $34 million, and her working group proposal does not include additional oversight that is not already provided by the city's current crime plan. |
 February 3, 2017 Stressing the need for a legislative solution to Oregon's projected budget deficit, state Sen. Mark Hass claimed: “We’re seriously underfunding education.” We found that: (1) Oregon's total education spending and education spending as a portion of all state spending has decreased since the FY 2005-2007 biennium. (2) Per-pupil spending increased between FY 2005 and FY 2014. (3) The proportion of revenues from federal and local sources expended for education decreased, and the proportion of state funds increased, between FY 2005 and FY 2014. |
 February 2, 2017 During a confirmation hearing for Jeff Sessions’ Attorney General appointment, Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono referred to “the Supreme Court's decision that did away with major parts of the Voting Rights Act.” In Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court struck down section 4(b), which prescribes the formula for determining which states and political subdivisions are subject to federal preclearance for new voting laws under Section 5. The decision rendered Section 5 unenforceable until an updated formula is established, but it did not do away with Section 5. |
 January 31, 2017 The Rev. William J. Barber II, president of the North Carolina NAACP, criticized state legislation that he claims “seeks to remove oversight of the General Assembly's actions from the North Carolina Supreme Court's purview.” Barber is incorrect. The North Carolina Supreme Court retains authority to hear cases involving the General Assembly. Recent legislation only eliminated the right of direct appeal to the state supreme court for certain trial court cases. |
 January 30, 2017 Secretary of Labor nominee Andrew Puzder is facing accusations that CKE Restaurants, Inc., regularly violated labor law during his tenure as CEO. In The Hill, John Logan claimed, “According to a major study by the Department of Labor, 60 percent of CKE restaurants had at least one Fair Labor Standards Act violation.” There was no Labor Department study. The 60 percent figure is from a Bloomberg BNA analysis, which examined Labor Department reports on 60 of CKE’s 2,935 Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., restaurants. |
January 27, 2017 A Huffington Post article on North Carolina's legislative battles claimed that recently passed bills "drastically limit" the governor's administrative abilities. Although "drastically" is a subjective term, the new laws did limit the governor's authority to appoint department heads, personnel, and members of the State Ethics Commission and State Board of Elections. |
 January 26, 2017 In press release announcing his opposition to the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, claimed DeVos owed Ohio taxpayers $5 million. Brown is incorrect. He was referring to unpaid fines levied against a PAC, for which DeVos had served as a director. But Ohio law does not hold officers of a PAC personally liable for fines levied against the PAC. |
 January 25, 2017 Bishops of the Episcopal Church of Massachusetts expressed opposition to the nomination of Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). "We wonder why a person who has consistently and adamantly opposed all laws and policies that provide even minimal ‘protection’ to the environment should be entrusted with leading such an agency." This is inaccurate. Although he has challenged federal environmental regulations, Pruitt has also supported various initiatives. |
 January 20, 2017 A Heritage Foundation video questioned government estimates of the number of people insured by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). "The administration’s estimates are based purely on survey data, not actual calculations on the change in coverage in different markets." The Department of Health and Human Services stated in a March 2016 report that its latest estimate of coverage provided under the ACA is based on data obtained from two surveys: the National Health Interview Survey and the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. |
 January 19, 2017 Ian Millhiser, Justice Editor at Think Progress, recently claimed that “Nearly 36,000 people could die every year, year after year, if the incoming president signs legislation repealing the Affordable Care Act.” He said he based his conclusion on two studies: one predicting that 29.8 million people will lose health insurance if parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are repealed, and another that calculated one less death per year for every 830 adults that gained health insurance under Massachusetts’ reform plan. The methodology of each study precludes it as the basis of a credible prediction about the effects from repeal of Obamacare. |
 January 17, 2017 In a Facebook post, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich criticized Donald Trump’s intention to appoint his son-in-law Jared Kushner as a senior advisor to the president. Reich wrote, "Kings and despots install family members around them, to protect their power and money. Presidents do not – at least not until now." Reich is wrong. At least 11 presidents have appointed family members to executive branch positions. |
 January 16, 2017 During an interview with the BBC, CIA Director John Brennan said, it “would be almost unprecedented,” for Donald Trump to terminate an international agreement made by a previous administration, such as the Iran nuclear deal. Brennan is incorrect. At least nine presidents have terminated international agreements. |
 January 12, 2017 The draft of an EPA report noted that researchers identified instances of local impact on drinking water resources, but “did not find evidence” of widespread, systemic impacts by fracking. The final report also identified local impacts, but it stated researchers could not calculate or estimate the extent of broader impacts because of “significant data gaps and uncertainties in the available data.” f |
 January 9, 2017 Reacting to Ryan Zinke’s nomination as Secretary of the Interior, Theresa Pierno, president and CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association, said, “Mr. Zinke has repeatedly voted to block efforts to designate new national parks.” Zinke is a co-sponsor of HR 3946, which limits the President’s ability to designate national monuments, not national parks. He has also voted on amendments to bills which would limit funds for the designation of new national monuments, not national parks. |
January 3, 2017 After Ryan Zinke’s nomination as Secretary of the Interior, National Parks Conservation Association president and CEO, Theresa Pierno, stated, “Mr. Zinke has advocated for state control of energy development on federal lands.” Zinke co-sponsored legislation empowering states to regulate energy development on federal lands, and also said that states have more expertise in resource development than the federal government. |
 January 2, 2017 As Donald Trump’s electoral victory appeared certain on election night, CNN’s Van Jones said, “This was a white-lash against a changing country. It was a white-lash against a black president, in part.” Exit polling indicates that white voters made up a slightly smaller proportion of the electorate in this election than in 2012. Donald Trump won a smaller percentage of white voters, and a larger percentage of black, Latino, and Asian voters, than Mitt Romney did in 2012. |
 December 29, 2016 New York Times reporters Reed Abelson and Margot Sanger-Katz claimed that there are many locations across the United States where only one insurer is offering coverage through the government exchanges. They are correct; according to a recent Health and Human Services report and data from Healthcare.gov, a single insurer is offering coverage through ACA exchanges in five entire states and more than 1,000 counties. |
 December 28, 2016 Teachers in North Carolina claim state funding for classroom materials, including instructional supplies and equipment, has declined. Verbatim reviewed ten years of state public school budgets, and the teachers are correct. |
 December 23, 2016 In a Christian Science Monitor commentary, Ben Lilliston, director of climate strategies at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, noted the “rapidly rising costs to governments of dealing with climate-related events like Hurricane Matthew.” But there has not been a tested determination of its precise cause, and research is inconclusive about whether storms have increased in either number or severity due to climate change. |
 December 23, 2016 Donald Trump criticized the relatively low unemployment rate as deceptive, saying, "the millions of people that gave up looking for work...they're not considered in that number that's less than 5 percent." Trump is correct. The unemployment rate does not count people who have not looked for work in four weeks. |
 December 22, 2016 Following the release of the FBI’s latest Hate Crime Statistics report, a spokesman for Equality N.C. told the Daily Tar Heel that HB2 may have played a role in the increase in hate crimes against LGBT people in the statistics. But that isn't possible, since the report only covers incidents in 2015, and HB2 wasn't introduced until 2016. Also, the way the FBI compiles statistics prevents a credible comparison of reported hate crimes year over year. |
 December 16, 2016 Sen. Johnny Isakson claimed that most of the people with insurance through government exchanges chose bronze plans while a Politico reporter claimed that most chose silver. Isakson was incorrect. Nearly 70 percent of plan holders have silver plans. |
 December 14, 2016 In response to Oklahoma voters' rejection of a state sales tax increase, Grove Public Schools Superintendent Sandy Coaly said "we don't want to be at the bottom of anything else, so why do we want to be at the bottom for education.” Is Coaly correct? In terms of per-pupil revenue and spending, Oklahoma is one of the bottom five states. But student performance ranks at or near the national average. |
 December 13, 2016 City leaders in Savannah, Georgia are seeking legislation to give cities greater power to obtain private properties that it considers blighted. The Georgia Municipal Association correctly claimed that current law requires local governments to wait 20 years before selling condemned properties to private entities. |
 December 12, 2016 According to Iowa state Sen. Jake Chapman, Iowa has one of the highest effective individual income tax rates in the country. Chapman based his claim, in part, on a Forbes list that ranked Iowa as having the 10th highest effective tax rate, but Forbes did not follow standard methodology in determining effective tax rates for its list. |
 December 1, 2016 Yes. According to the State Department, the Iran nuclear deal “is not a treaty or an executive agreement, and is not a signed document.” The president has the authority to withdraw the U.S. from the deal, which would materially change its terms and conditions. |
 December 1, 2016 A veteran corrections officer at Illinois’ Stateville Correctional Center told The Herald-News, “We’re at an all-time low in staff.” Verbatim reviewed state documents about staffing at Stateville, and the officer’s claim is incorrect. |
 November 22, 2016 Media outlets have claimed that only a small number of Americans will be affected by premium rate hikes averaging 22 percent under the Affordable Care Act. Although a majority of enrollees will not directly pay the higher premiums, the costs don’t disappear. They are shifted to taxpayers instead, as are billions of dollars in other ACA costs. |
 November 8, 2016 Koster's opponent in the state's 2016 gubernatorial race, Eric Greitens, claims violent crime in Missouri increased 12.6 percent in 2015, murders jumped nearly 25 percent, and St. Louis is “the most dangerous city in the country.” The first two figures do not provide an accurate picture of the crime trends during Koster’s tenure as attorney general, and the ranking of St. Louis as “the most dangerous city” is subjective. |
 November 7, 2016 According to Gov. Pat McCrory, “Since 2013, North Carolina has one of the fastest growing economies in the nation, unemployment is at an eight-year low and more than 300,000 jobs have been added.” That is not entirely correct. The state’s unemployment rate is at an eight-year low, but North Carolina’s real gross domestic product is not one of the fastest growing in the country. Between 2013 and 2016, total employment has increased by about 260,000 jobs. |
 November 7, 2016 His opponent, Chris Sununu, says Van Ostern "has been out promoting a $300 million train that would take 2,000 people a day to work into Boston." Van Ostern does support development of a commuter rail line between New Hampshire and Boston, but the cost of his plan is estimated to be $195.1 million plus a $38.7 million contingency fund, and projects weekday ridership of 3,120. |
 November 6, 2016 During a debate, Rep. Andy Barr, a Republican, claimed most minimum wage workers are teenagers, and Barr’s Democratic challenger, Nancy Jo Kemper, claimed most of those workers are single mothers. Barr’s claim is wrong, and Kemper's is not supported by any government data on minimum wage workers. |
 November 6, 2016 Montana has no state sales tax, and during a recent town hall-style teleconference, Republican candidate for governor Greg Gianforte said, “I don’t support a sales tax. You know, never have.” During his campaign, Gianforte has consistently opposed the introduction of a sales tax, but during testimony before a state government committee in 2002, Gianforte said he was in favor of creating a sales tax as part of a plan to lower tax rates on income and capital gains. |
 November 5, 2016 In a debate on September 7, 2016, Senator Ayotte claimed that Governor Hassan voted to support “sanctuary cities” while a state senator. Is Ayotte’s claim accurate? Yes. In 2008, then-state Senator Hassan voted against Senate Bill 353 (SB 353), which would have prohibited New Hampshire and its subdivisions from serving as a sanctuary for illegal aliens. |
 November 4, 2016 Newsom wrote there were "over 10 mass shootings" between October 15, 2015 and October 20, 2016. While there is no standard definition of "mass shooting," two of the private groups that do track "mass shootings" report 42 and 47 in the time period cited. |
 November 3, 2016 Yes. Gallagher supports a plan by economist Andrew Biggs of the American Enterprise Institute that is intended to avert the looming insolvency of Social Security by setting a minimum benefit pegged to the poverty threshold of $950 per month. |
 November 3, 2016 No. The Illinois Constitution requires the state budget to be balanced, but it doesn't set deadlines for the budget to passed by the legislature or signed into law by the governor. |
 November 1, 2016 Has state spending increased by more than $800 million during Gov. Bullock’s time in office, as his 2016 opponent has claimed? Yes. General fund spending approved under the General Appropriations Act for Montana’s biennial budget has increased by $801.5 million under Gov. Bullock. However, this does not account for total state spending, and the governor does not unilaterally control the state budget process. |
 October 30, 2016 Democrat Zephyr Teachout claimed her Republican opponent in the race for the U.S. House seat in New York’s 19th Congressional District, John Faso, voted against equal pay four times when he was in the New York State Assembly. Actually, Faso voted against legislation related to equal pay six times between 1999 and 2002. |
 October 30, 2016 Verbatim concludes "yes." Bayh voted to authorize the Troubled Asset Relief Program, then earned $944,937 serving on the board of Fifth Third Bancorp, which received $3.408 billion from the federal government. |
 October 27, 2016 Yes, although certain criteria would have to be met first. A complaint would have to be filed with the state. If the state did not take action during a specified time period, a lawsuit could then be filed against those who financed, directed, sold, offered to sell, or caused to be sold a film alleged to violate Proposition 60. |
 October 24, 2016 Lt. Gov. Phil Scott issued a press release in which he criticized Minter for “supporting the creation of a new state sales tax on over 160 services.” Is this accurate? No. Minter said she was “interested in what can we really do to lower rates by expanding the base.” She did not endorse new sales taxes for over 160 services. |
 October 24, 2016 A new ad by Deborah Ross, Burr’s Democratic opponent in the election, claims the senator voted against funding the registry, but the vote the ad cites was against a large appropriations bill that contained more than $54 billion in funding for various federal agencies, in addition to funding for the registry. |
 October 20, 2016 Yes. Reporters, as well as the State of Florida, have discovered hundreds of non-citizens who were registered to, and many who voted in, past elections. However, the actual number of non-citizens who have voted could not be confirmed. |
 October 18, 2016 No. In 2007, the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission issued an advisory opinion on how McGinty’s agency should handle a grant application from an organization likely to hire her husband as a consultant. The opinion applied to future grant applications, and the commission did not issue a ruling on any previous grant awards. |
 October 13, 2016 In a recent ad, Gov. Maggie Hassan, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in New Hampshire, claimed incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte has voted six times to defund Planned Parenthood. We reviewed the record, and only two of the six votes cited in Hassan’s ad were to pass bills that would, if enacted, have cut off federal funds to Planned Parenthood. |
 October 10, 2016 |
 October 7, 2016 Proponents of Proposition 57 claim a federal court order would prohibit sex offenders from qualifying for parole under the measure, but the federal courts have never included such a prohibition in their orders on the parole system in California. |
 October 4, 2016 Housing prices are near, but have not yet matched, record-high 2006 levels, nor are they the highest in the nation. However, homeownership rates and rental vacancy rates are both at historic lows, indicating that many Californians in the most popular metropolitan areas face great difficulty buying a home or renting an apartment. |
October 1, 2016 Because neither Proposition 57 nor California state law defines what constitutes a “nonviolent felony,” and state law only specifies 23 felonies as violent, inmates convicted of such crimes as assault with a deadly weapon and domestic violence might be eligible for early parole if the measure passes. |
 September 29, 2016 |
 September 28, 2016 Governor Cuomo (D-NY) claimed that New York’s unemployment rate during his tenure had “dropped in half,” and the state had “[m]ore jobs than ever before in history." Based on data from the New York Department of Labor, the annual average unemployment rate dropped from 8.3 percent in 2011, when Cuomo took office, to 4.9 percent in August 2016—a difference of 41 percent, not 50 percent, as the governor claimed. |
 September 27, 2016 As cited by the Times Union, Grade 29 members of the Public Employees Federation (PEF) did see a 48 percent salary increase between 1999 and 2016. A 2016 proposed salary increase for members of the New York Legislature, at 47 percent, does track that of the state employees specified by the Times Union. |
 September 26, 2016 |
 September 16, 2016 |
 September 16, 2016 We reviewed the record, and Hardy did co-sponsor a bill that would have designated English as Nevada’s official language. But the other claims the campaign made about Hardy are less clear, or not well-supported. |
September 13, 2016 North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr is running for a third term, which he has said will be his last. He is facing a challenge from Democrat Deborah Ross. At an August 4th event, Ross sought to make the case that Burr posed a threat to Social Security. "He has voted to cut Social Security," Ross was quoted as saying by The Fayetteville Observer. Is Ross’ claim accurate? No. The votes cited by the Ross campaign were procedural measures that had no direct effect on Social Security funding or benefits. |
 September 12, 2016 A new study in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology reported a dramatic increase in pregnancy-related deaths in Texas, and some health advocates blame changes in funding for women’s health services for the increase. But the study concluded it wasn’t possible to determine a reason for the increase, which began months before the changes in funding took effect. |
September 8, 2016 No. During a televised candidate forum on military and veterans issues, Hillary Clinton correctly stated that no Americans were killed during U.S. military operations in Libya in 2011. Following the forum, a highly edited video of Clinton’s remarks was posted on Donald Trump’s Facebook page, along with the claim that Clinton was saying no Americans had been killed during the 2012 attack on the American consulate in Benghazi. |
 September 7, 2016 Yes. Walberg voted in favor of all four of the trade deals that have come before Congress while he's been a member of the House. |
 August 27, 2016 No. Out-of-state PACs, including oil and gas industry PACs, have supplied 59 percent of Bishop’s 2015-2016 campaign receipts. Contributions from individual employees of oil and gas companies account for less than 1 percent of his total. |
 August 26, 2016 In an August 8 campaign ad, Conner Eldridge has criticized John Boozman for “mailing it in” during his time in Congress. “And after 14 years in Washington, he’s only passed five bills naming five post offices,” the ad states. Is it true? Not quite. Based on information from Congress.gov, four (not five) of the 211 bills Boozman has sponsored have been enacted. The Eldridge campaign erroneously included a fifth bill that actually was sponsored by another senator, and listed the wrong number for one of Boozman’s bills. |
 August 23, 2016 Donald Trump claimed in a tweet that MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program has low ratings. Host Joe Scarborough said his ratings are the highest ever. Who is telling the truth? According to Nielsen Media Research, Scarborough is correct. |
 August 22, 2016 Walker is taking credit for bringing almost $1 billion in capital and service funds, including $700 million in new hospital funding, to her east Brooklyn district. Our research found that Walker wasn’t involved in the budget negotiations that made those funds available. |
 August 22, 2016 In the last month, Sen. Rob Portman (R) has been endorsed by three unions that had endorsed his Democratic rival Ted Strickland in previous elections. Strickland has dismissed the importance of those endorsements, saying, "If you compare my union endorsements to his, there's no comparison.” We checked, and Strickland is right. Portman has received 4 union endorsements, while Strickland has been endorsed by 40 union groups. |
 August 20, 2016 Yes. While in Congress, Shea-Porter joined other Democrats in signing at least four letters to Obama Administration officials and others expressing concern over the potential adverse impacts of Trade Promotion Authority and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. She was also a member of the House Trade Working Group, which has opposed the prevailing “international trade model,” including the 2007 accord with Peru, which she voted against. |
 August 19, 2016 We found that Bayh voted against party leadership and the majority of Senate Democrats to block "fast-tracking" of a "cap and trade" plan that was expected to increase consumer energy costs. He also broke with his party on a second vote his campaign cites in support of his claim, although that vote does not appear to have been a vote against raising electric bills. |
August 19, 2016 Rep. Frank Guinta (R-N.H.) came out against the TPP in a July 27 video. Democratic candidate Carol Shea-Porter claimed he had changed his position because he had signed on to a March 2015 letter and voted in favor of TPA, also in 2015. But the March 2015 letter simply expressed support for free trade, and did not endorse TPP. The letter also urged the president to fight for passage of TPA. While Guinta did vote for TPA, his support for TPA does not translate into support for TPP. He can still vote against the deal. |
 August 18, 2016 We examined the history of presidential debates and the policies of the Commission on Presidential Debates, which has staged the debates since 1988, and it does seem the debates are rigged to exclude independent and third-party candidates. |
 August 17, 2016 U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar claimed that 4.7 million policies have been cancelled as a result of the Affordable Care Act. Verbatim was unable to identify an official tracking of policy cancellations related to Obamacare, and found that there are a variety of estimates. Some of the estimates do include millions of policies, but the exact number appears to be unknown. The 4.7 million figure cited by Gosar came from an Associated Press report. |
August 12, 2016 We examined the results of statewide propositions on the ballot between 1912 and 2014 to determine if there is a simple correlation between the number of propositions on the ballot and the proportion of propositions that are rejected by voters. In elections with more than 13 propositions, the average number of propositions on the ballot per election during the period, voters rejected 44 percent of propositions. In elections with 13 or fewer statewide propositions on the ballot, 42 percent were rejected. |
 August 11, 2016 Yes. Rivera's first Senate bill, which he submitted before his first legislative term officially started, was an ethics reform bill. Since then, he has introduced, co-sponsored, and/or voted for a number of other ethics initiatives. |
 August 10, 2016 State funding for public higher education has indeed declined in recent years, and tuition revenues have increased. However, those two data points alone do not establish a cause-and-effect relationship between declining state funding and higher tuition. Other variables, including higher spending and increases in federal funding should also be considered. |
 August 8, 2016 Matt Dunne has been critical of candidates who give more to their own campaigns than the $4,000 any Vermonter can contribute to a candidate, and pledged not to contribute more than $4,000 to his own campaign. Last week Dunne loaned his campaign $95,000. Such loans are considered contributions in Vermont, unless and until they are repaid. |
 August 8, 2016 Feingold was the only Senator to vote against the original USA Patriot Act, which was approved 98-1 on October 25, 2001. The House earlier approved the legislation by a vote of 357-66, with 62 Democrats voting against it along with three Republicans and Independent Rep. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. |
August 5, 2016 Ross was twice quoted by the media as ”seriously concerned” about the possible ramifications of a sex offender registry. She also cited the sex offender registry legislation as a defeat for the NC-ACLU in a legislative memo to her staff. During a February interview she was asked about her time “lobbying against creating a Sex Offender Registry in North Carolina.” In response, Ross only stated her current support for the registry. However, Ross disavowed the claim in an unaired portion of a June 3 interview. Two former members of the N.C. Senate, who authored sex offender registry legislation, have also defended Ross. |
 August 5, 2016 No. According to public opinion polls, a majority of voters think Trump should release his returns, although there is some variation in opinion by party. Republican leaders have also called on him to release them. |
 August 4, 2016 There is no consensus among economists about the impact unions have on nonunion pay. However, Verbatim examined per capita income levels in the 10 states that had the biggest decline in percentage of union members in the workforce over a 20-year period, and found that per capita income rose in all those states. |
 August 4, 2016 No. Lottery funding for the form of direct aid controlled by municipalities and used for a range of public services has increased over time. |
 August 1, 2016 We took a look at the voting records and found that Schaefer was the only Republican Senator to vote against the bill but was one of three Republican State Legislators to oppose SB 749 in some form. |
 August 1, 2016 We found that some Chicago school facilities are in disrepair, and officials describe the district’s facilities as “aging” and available space in some schools as inadequate. They estimate the cost of needed repairs in the district at $4 billion. |
 July 29, 2016 Yes. Verbatim reviewed the annual rankings of Rhode Island’s business climate published by six media outlets and policy organizations since 2010, and five of the six consistently ranked Rhode Island as one of the worst states for business. |
 July 29, 2016 Is it true? Yes. According to a report released July 1, incidents of violent crime in California—which include homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault—rose 10 percent between 2014 and 2015. |
 July 27, 2016 Saying he would oppose Ted Cruz’s re-election in 2018, Donald Trump told a crowd, "[M]aybe I'll set up a Super PAC if he decides to run. Are you allowed to set up a super PAC if you are the president to fight somebody?" The answer is yes, but it would be subject to limitations that would not apply to a super PAC established by a non-officeholder. |
July 22, 2016 State Sen. Ben Hueso claims, “There isn’t a bill in support of [Uber and Lyft] that this governor won’t sign. And there isn’t a bill that this Legislature won’t support.” We examined the legislative record. There have been 18 bills regulating ride-hailing companies introduced and three have passed—an insurance bill supported by Uber and Lyft; a bill streamlining a bureaucratic process for the companies; and a bill that allows state employees using the companies to be reimbursed. All three bills were signed into law by Gov. Brown. |
 July 20, 2016 A June 28, 2016, New York Times article claims that students in "half the charters perform only as well, or worse than, Detroit's traditional public schools." Our research finds that claim to be misleading. |
July 20, 2016 We found that the Ross campaign’s claim relies on a designation of contributions of $200 or more as “big.” We also identified some problems with using that threshold to characterize donors. |
 July 18, 2016 Projections by the Rhode Island House Fiscal Advisory Staff show that the state’s 2017 enacted budget would result in a $313.6 million deficit by 2021. On job loss, the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training issued a release on June 16, which said that the state “lost a total of 3,900 jobs since March." |
 July 15, 2016 From 2005 to 2015, the overall homeless population in California decreased 38.5 percent (by 72,561). The state’s homelessness rate—the ratio of homeless population to the total population—fell by 43.7 percent. |
 July 12, 2016 Did Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke equivocate on selling or transferring public lands? No. While he voted for a bill that would allow states to manage up to 4 million acres of National Forest System land, the bill does not authorize the sale or transfer of federal lands to states. |
 July 12, 2016 We decided to take a closer look at Alaska Republican Party’s characterization of Beltrami as a "longtime union boss." |
 July 11, 2016 Yes. North Carolina Gov. McCrory's claim that North Carolina saw the largest increase in average teacher pay in the country in 2014 and state Attorney General Cooper's response that it only ranked 42nd nationwide for average teacher pay that year are both backed by data from the National Education Association. |
 July 7, 2016 Yes. Her state Senate proposal, which was enacted in 2012 as part of a larger animal protection bill, was a version of legislation she had previously introduced in the state House. Clark has also since sponsored similar bills at the federal level in the U.S. House. |
 July 6, 2016 In response to an analysis that suggested amending the state constitution to lower the cap on income tax rates might jeopardize North Carolina’s bond ratings, State Sen. Bill Rabon claimed Georgia’s 2014 amendment to its constitution, which capped income tax rates at 6 percent, had no negative effect on that state’s bond ratings. We examined Georgia’s bond ratings before and after the adoption of the amendment, and Rabon is correct. |
| Verbatim fact check: Did Utah Governor Gary Herbert raise taxes by over $600 million?
June 28, 2016 We determined the claim was true. According to our review of the data, tax revenue fell 56 times between fiscal 2011 and 2017, which totaled $338,337,750. Utah's tax revenue rose 26 times, during the same period, which totaled $984,487,817. The net increase is $646,150,067. |
 June 24, 2016 Is it true that Schumer has never held a private-sector job after graduating from college? Yes. Schumer’s official biography states that after graduating from law school he won a seat in the New York State House and has served in elected office ever since. But he did hold at least one job in the private sector before college. |
 June 24, 2016 The RGA PAC’s comparison of the $2 billion surplus and $1 billion deficit leaves out important information. The claim juxtaposes an actual reserve "surplus" with a projected deficit. Instead of ending fiscal year 2002 with a $1.2 billion deficit, the state recorded a $534 million reserve balance. |
 June 23, 2016 Yes. State sources report that drug overdose deaths averaged about seven per day in 2014—more than twice the number of lives lost to traffic accidents—and the number appears to be on the rise. |
 June 23, 2016 Gov. Herbert's assessment of Utah's unemployment rate and private sector job creation during his governorship is accurate. However, Utah's strong employment situation relative to the nation as a whole represents a trend that predates his administration. |
June 17, 2016 While fifteen states have laws that reference how bound delegates should vote at a national convention, Trump won 542 delegates in those states, meaning 1,930 of the convention's delegates are either not pledged to Trump or are not covered by any laws regarding how they vote. That is 693 more delegates than a candidate needs to win the nomination. |
 June 17, 2016 No. That claim misrepresents a procedural vote on the Referendum C bill as a substantive vote in favor of the bill. |
 June 13, 2016 After examining Nanney's voting history we found that she missed 32 percent of votes between the beginning of the 121st session, on January 13, 2015, and March 30, 2016. Between January 1, 2016, and March 30, 2016, Nanney missed 52 percent of votes. |
 June 10, 2016 We found Clinton’s claim that the District of Columbia v. Heller decision prohibits federal, state, and local governments from imposing “reasonable regulations” on the Second Amendment to be false. |
 June 10, 2016 No. There was no 700-page bill. The legislative package in question was made up of four bills, the longest of which was 54 pages. Also, only three of the bills were passed by the Assembly on the same day they were introduced in that chamber. |
 June 7, 2016 Yes. Superdelegates do not vote for a nominee until the Democratic National Convention, which begins July 25. Since superdelegates are free to vote however they want, some could change their minds. |
 June 7, 2016 While some discretionary funded programs under DOD, Homeland Security and the VA would have been suspended, many would have continued. Additionally, other types of federal spending would have remained unaffected by the shutdown. |
June 3, 2016 In order to vote by mail for a presidential candidate in June 7 primary, independent voters had to request a special ballot. We found that instructions for how to obtain that ballot weren’t consistent from county to county, and some counties provided voters with incorrect information. |
 June 3, 2016 Yes. The uninsured rate varies substantially by state, and by demographic group. But national estimates place the total number of uninsured at approximately 30 million. |
| Verbatim fact check: Did Ted Strickland cut spending for certain programs when he was governor of Ohio in 2009?
June 1, 2016 Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) accused challenger Ted Strickland, former governor of Ohio, of having cut funding for certain safety net programs in the 2010-2011 fiscal years. We determined that Portman's claim is only partially accurate. |
 May 31, 2016 Did Hayes vote to block DOT reform? Yes. At an April 28, 2015, Senate Finance Committee markup, Hayes voted to replace the text of a House bill that included DOT reform with the text of a Senate bill that did not. He also voted to move the revised legislation to the full Senate. |
 May 28, 2016 Since June 30, 2015, Quick has received a total of $40,876.73 in contributions, of which $18,300 (44.8 percent) came from out-of-state and out-of-area unions. |
 May 27, 2016 There is polling data that complements Sanchez’s claim, but we have not identified research that proves or disproves it. To the best of our knowledge, Sanchez has not identified the source of the figures cited in her claim. |
 May 26, 2016 Mendoza's claim misrepresents Mathis' vote. Mathis did vote for legislation that includes a new tax on state health care providers, but the legislation also contains tax cuts that are intended to offset the new tax. |
 May 25, 2016 After examining public records and interviewing an iVote spokesman, we conclude it is false to claim iVote is targeting Wyman for defeat in the November election. |
 May 23, 2016 We found that Wright has raised at least $134,400 from individuals and businesses engaged in real estate out of a total amount of funding of $587,294 raised between February 17, 2015, and March 31, 2016. That represents nearly 23 percent of his total funding for that period, which is the largest single share by industry. |
 May 22, 2016 Littlefield did vote to approve the Scottsdale Waterfront development project, which, among other things, involved the construction of two, 135-foot-tall residential towers; however, we find the claim that the vote “set a precedent” to be misleading. |
May 21, 2016 Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva claims the most recent FBI Uniform Crime Report shows the city had “its lowest crime rate in the past 15 years” in 2014. He’s right, but only if you combine the totals for both property crimes and violent crimes, something the FBI doesn’t do. While property crime declined, violent crime in Stockton actually increased. |
 May 20, 2016 Hanson misrepresents her primary opponents' policy prescriptions. Both Catherine Bernard and Alan Cole have advocated conservative policies on the campaign trail. |
 May 16, 2016 We determined that Knight voted for an amendment that would, if enacted, exempt faith-based employers from some anti-discrimination labor laws. However, neither sexual preference nor gender identity is cited in the statutes from which these religious-affiliated groups are exempted. |
May 13, 2016 After examining requirements and deadlines for appearing on the November general election ballot in all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, we confirmed it’s still possible for an independent candidate to qualify for enough state ballots to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to become president. |
 May 12, 2016 While the act did contain several “tough-on-crime” measures, the rise in federal and state prison populations—both in total and for African American males—was already underway by 1994. |
 May 12, 2016 That's not what we found. Avakian would be positioned to take action on his civics education and clean energy promises as secretary of state. |
 May 9, 2016 Jim Justice released an ad accusing his two opponents of wanting to raise taxes. We found that Kessler has said he wants to raise the taxes on cigarettes along with some other consumer taxes, while Goodwin has said he would not rule out raising taxes. |
 May 7, 2016 During the course of his long career in Congress, Sen. John McCain has voted for all these things. |
 May 6, 2016 We examined Schwartz's legislative record, and found that she did in fact play an instrumental role in passing legislation intended to limit emissions from coal-fired power plants. |
May 5, 2016 Feingold has promised in the past to raise most of his campaign funds from Wisconsinites, and his 2016 fundraising does not seem to line up with that promise. However, he's opted not to impose the same limits on his fundraising this election cycle as in years past, citing changes to the campaign finance landscape he didn't anticipate when he made those prior commitments. |
May 3, 2016 Sen. Ayotte has voted against refinancing student loans. However, her voting record on Pell Grants is much more complicated than Hassan's statement suggests. |
 May 2, 2016 Yes, the bill included exemptions for religious or religious affiliated organizations and nonprofit groups, as well as for small businesses with less than six employees. |
 April 30, 2016 Her voting record suggests otherwise. Ellmers has voted against Obama between 74 and 90 percent of the time every year she has been in Congress. |
 April 29, 2016 A campaign manager for Young's primary opponent, Marlin Stutzman, claimed that Young is "voting for more debt and deficit spending." An examination of Young’s record on debt and deficit spending, however, shows that the claim distorts Young’s record. |
 April 29, 2016 Since joining the House in November 2014, Rep. Donald Norcross has voted with Republican majorities, in opposition to a majority of House Democrats, 39 times. That is the highest number of such votes cast by any New Jersey Democrat in the House. |
 April 27, 2016 A controversial Massachusetts State Senate bill and a ballot measure likely to go before voters are pitting charter school advocates against teachers unions who claim that charter schools "drain" funding from traditional public schools. Although charter schools do compete with public schools for state funding, we found the teachers unions' claim to be false. |
April 26, 2016 Can the rules be changed so that the candidate with a plurality, rather than a majority, of delegates wins the nomination? Yes. Any convention rule can be changed if a majority of the delegates vote in favor of doing so. But long-standing tradition makes it unlikely that the threshold for victory will be lowered. |
 April 22, 2016 With 19 years on the federal bench, Merrick Garland does have more federal judicial experience than any previous Supreme Court nominee. But regularly selecting federal judges as nominees is a relatively recent development in the history of the high court. |
 April 22, 2016 No. Garland has not taken a substantive position on the Second Amendment, so it is an overstatement to describe his Second Amendment record as disastrous. |
 April 20, 2016 We were unable to find any official data tracking how many families are still displaced three and a half years after Superstorm Sandy. |
 April 19, 2016 Have the rules governing the 2016 GOP Convention been established? No. But there is a process in place for how those rules are established and who will make those decisions. |
April 18, 2016 No. But many do allow registered voters who aren't affiliated with a party to go to the polls. |
 April 15, 2016 Although a definitive answer isn't possible, all the studies published during the last four decades support the contention that the death penalty is more expensive than life in prison. |
 April 14, 2016 Is hard money is a greater share of political spending than outside money? We found the claim was true. |
 April 13, 2016 The claim made by Patty Judge's opponent in the Iowa U.S. Senate Democratic primary race, Tom Fiegen, is false. |
April 12, 2016 Clinton's claim is technically correct, but her presentation of the facts distorts reality. |
 April 11, 2016 We looked at Jim Justice's business activities and found that he did oversee companies that were sued over delinquent payments and back taxes. |
 April 8, 2016 Representative Mike Honda claims that "violating an ethics rule is not breaking a law." Is he right? |
 April 8, 2016 No. Whether you define "middle class" in cultural or economic terms, half of American adults can reasonably be considered middle class. |
 April 7, 2016 Not according to the legislative record. One of his opponents, Maryland Del. Kumar Barve, has written laws to reduce Maryland's carbon footprint, and played a leading role in enacting a 2015 moratorium on fracking in the state. |
 April 7, 2016 We find that fracking does have an impact on property values; however, whether that effect is positive or negative depends on a variety of variables. |
April 4, 2016 Nevada Senate Majority Leader Michael Roberson, who is running for higher office, promised to oppose tax increases when he was fist elected. Did he keep that promise? |
 March 25, 2016 Quite rare. From 2004 to 2014, nearly 90 percent of U.S. House races included incumbents. |
 March 24, 2016 Curbelo voted to freeze the maximum Pell Grant award for 10 years at $5,775, but we found the claim that he voted for "drastic cuts" to education to be inaccurate. |
 March 22, 2016 No. We found the claim that Blum's vote could lead to cuts in Social Security benefits “of as much as 45 percent” to be false. |
 March 16, 2016 Yes. Chicago's combined federal, state, and local per-pack cigarette tax of $7.17 is the highest in the nation. |
 March 14, 2016 It is reasonable to conclude that Strickland played "a central role." |
 March 14, 2016 We found that the claim is technically accurate but somewhat misleading. |
 March 11, 2016 We look at an ad from Kim Foxx, who is running to be the Democratic nominee for Cook County state's attorney, that claims the incumbent did nothing for 400 days after the Laquan McDonald shooting. |
 March 7, 2016 We examine the NRSC's claims on this topic and find that between 2009 and 2014, Masto, a 2016 senatorial candidate, took an average of six trips per year. |
 March 3, 2016 We researched the claim and found that Caforio moved to the district in November 2015, a month before he announced his plans to run for office. |
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