President Donald Trump delivered his first speech before a "Joint Session of Congress" on Wednesday, but the speech fell short in one significant area: "The Facts." The Associated Press fact-checked key parts of the speech and found it to be short on veracity. Trump quoted a study by the National Academy of Sciences but misrepresented the study in their analysis on immigration. He claimed that immigration costs American taxpayers billions of dollars, but immigrants actually pay their fair share of taxes, a fact Trump left out of the message.
The children of immigrants are strong economic contributors.
In fact, the study said that the children of immigrants contributed more in various taxes on a per capita basis.
The National Academy of Sciences report also emphasized that long-run impact of immigrants and their children. There are seen as a positive aspect of immigration in sustaining labor force growth. They also contribute to innovation and start businesses.
#APFACTCHECK: Trump's statements can be in conflict with what actually happened:https://t.co/koY4svg1uA
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) March 1, 2017
Pentagon savings of millions were already in place
Then there was the claim of saving millions of taxpayer dollars on the manufacturing of the F-35 jet fighter and other programs. These were already in place during the Obama administration, but Trump tweeted on Dec.
19 about the rising costs. However, an analyst with the aerospace consulting firm Teal Group, Richard Aboulafia, saw no evidence of any additional cost savings as a result of a Trump tweet.
The most incredible claim is that more than ninety-four million Americans are out of the labor force. The vast majority of these "non-participants of the labor force" is because they choose not participate.
The number includes everyone 16 and older who does not have a job and aren't looking for a job, due to attending school. The number also included retirees and those unable to work. The true number is only a small fraction of the 94 million number.
Trump vague on DOJ report about 'convicted terrorists'
Trump also cited the Department of Justice that the vast majority of individuals convicted of terrorism (since 9/11) came here from overseas.
In fact, last week, the Department of Homeland Security said that more than half of the people convicted of terrorism were born in the United States.
Then there was the false claim that "Obamacare is collapsing" and that "Obamacare is a disaster." Obamacare offers a subsidy on private health insurance on the exchanges and has expanded Medicaid. More than 20 million Americans have insurance due to these two programs. The two big issues with Obamacare are rising premiums, which can be fixed, and too few young people signing up to help with the cost of older, less healthy workers. Sen. Bernie Sanders was blunt about this portion of the speech charging that trump will "gut" the law to benefit his billionaire friends.
Bernie Sanders rips Trump’s #JointAddress: He’ll gut Obamacare and give the money to his ‘billionaire friends’ https://t.co/DolSpBmDOI pic.twitter.com/QmJymI6LF4
— Raw Story (@RawStory) March 1, 2017
Democrats not impressed with Trump speech
Newly-installed DNC Chairman, Tom Perez, was not impressed. In a tweet, Mr. Perez said the speech was Steve Bannon, Trump's political strategist, on steroids with a smile. Mr. Perez said on MSNBC that the speech started with "alternative facts." It started out with, "I inherited a mess from Obama." But he pointed out that Obama inherited the Great Recession. In line with the AP fact check, Perez said that Trump took credit you had "nothing to do with."
DNC chairman: Trump's speech was "Steve Bannon on steroids with a smile" https://t.co/uA8UyvbCCF pic.twitter.com/ZN7W3myOjT
— The Hill (@thehill) March 1, 2017