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 May 1, 2017 Former Nebraska state Sen. Heath Mello, the Democratic candidate in Omaha’s mayoral race, was joined at a campaign rally by DNC Chair Keith Ellison, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb. In response, Ilyse Hogue, the president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, characterized Mello as an “anti-choice candidate.” In the Nebraska Senate, Mello voted in favor of three bills that limited the conditions under which abortions are legally available, and in favor of three other bills that attached conditions on receiving abortion services. |
.jpg/215px-Mia_Love_(16460681507).jpg) April 27, 2017 According to Rep. Mia Love, the threat of human trafficking has become “epidemic.” Estimates of human trafficking incidents range from thousands to millions worldwide. Human trafficking rates are much lower than those of other violent crimes. Researchers say that the low numbers may be the result of underreporting or difficulties distinguishing cases of human trafficking from other crimes. |
 April 25, 2017 At a town hall debate on health care, Sen. Bernie Sanders claimed, "if you were a family of four during the eight years under George Bush, your premiums doubled." One employer survey found that the average annual employee contribution to cover a family of four increased 54 percent between 2001 and 2008, and another found a 27 percent increase between 2003 and 2008. |
 April 24, 2017 Assemblyman Vince Fong claimed that California's general fund budget has grown by $36 billion since fiscal year 2012, and that none of it has gone to transportation infrastructure. The general fund budget has grown $36 billion. Transportation infrastructure spending from the general fund fell from $83 million to zero between FY 2012 and 2017. However, general fund spending made up one percent of all transportation infrastructure spending in that period. |
 April 21, 2017 Press Secretary Sean Spicer defended the Trump administration's decision to not release White House visitor logs ahead of schedule: “We're following the law as both the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act prescribe it." Is he correct? Yes. The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in 2013 that White House visitor logs for the president, his advisers, and immediate staff are governed by the Presidential Records Act, and need only be made public beginning five years after the end of an administration. |
 April 17, 2017 A Charlotte Observer editorial on repeal of North Carolina’s House Bill 2 law claimed that Gov. Roy Cooper discarded "his earlier promise not to accept any deal that left people vulnerable to discrimination." Evidence provided by The Charlotte Observer shows that Cooper promised to fight against discrimination and for repeal of HB 2 but not that he made promises about the nature of repeal legislation he would or would not sign. Throughout the gubernatorial campaign and during Cooper’s first months as governor, he promised to work to repeal HB 2. He also expressed support for a full repeal, and he opposed two proposals after his election. However, Cooper also expressed a willingness to compromise on repeal legislation since his election. |
 April 14, 2017 Bob Gray, a Republican candidate for Georgia's 6th Congressional District, claimed: "Unfortunately, only 1 in every 15 legal immigrants arrives in the United States with a skills-based visa. The majority of the remaining immigrants are either low-skilled or unskilled." One in 15 lawful permanent residents received employment-based visas. The majority of remaining lawful permanent residents were not necessarily low-skilled or unskilled. Rather, they were authorized to enter the U.S. under a non-employment related preference category. |
 April 13, 2017 The Value in Electing Women political action committee claimed that Georgia’s former Secretary of State Karen Handel reduced the department’s budget by nearly 20 percent. While she was in office, the department’s budget decreased by 24.1 percent. At least 7.3 percent of that reduction is attributable to statewide budget changes. Handel was responsible for implementing those across-the-board cuts as well as initiating other cost-cutting. |
.jpg/215px-American_Energy_Executive_Order_2083_(33549756752).jpg) April 3, 2017 In opposition to an executive order directing the EPA to reconsider the Clean Power Plan, a coalition of attorneys general claimed: "Addressing our country’s largest source of carbon pollution … is both required under the Clean Air Act and essential to mitigating climate change’s growing harm." The EPA has projected that the CPP would reduce CO2 emissions by hundreds of tons per year, but former EPA administrator Gina McCarthy told Congress that the reductions would not make a measurable difference in climate change. |
 March 31, 2017 In the election for Wisconsin superintendent of public instruction, Lowell Holtz claimed that incumbent Tony Evers failed to fix the achievement gaps in Milwaukee and Madison. Superintendents are not solely responsible for addressing educational achievement gaps. Gaps in test scores among black, Hispanic, and white students in Madison and Milwaukee widened between 2005 and 2014. The gap in four-year graduation rates between black and white students widened in Milwaukee between 2010 and 2015 and remained largely unchanged between Hispanic and white students. The gap in four-year graduation rates for both groups narrowed in Madison. |
 March 24, 2017 Rep. Buddy Carter claimed that "[of] the 20 million who have gained insurance as a result of Obamacare, 14 and a half million of those have come through Medicaid expansion." Rep. Carter is incorrect, and his mistake is a common one. 20 million represents net health care coverage gains as of early 2016, not number of distinct individuals who gained coverage through government exchanges and Medicaid expansion. HHS estimates that 11.2 million adults (not 14.5 million as Carter claimed) were enrolled in Medicaid under the expansion criteria as of 2016. |
 March 23, 2017 New Jersey Democrats introduced a bill to subsidize solar panel installations using electricity tax revenue. A Press of Atlantic City editorial expressed opposition, claiming that "N.J. politicians already have put a nation-leading tax burden on residents and a nation-leading government pension debt on future generations." New Jersey had the highest property taxes per capita in FY 2014, while its individual income tax and general sales tax per capita ranked seventh and 16th, respectively. New Jersey also ranked fifth for unfunded pension liabilities per capita. |
 March 22, 2017 A C-SPAN presidential historian survey rated former President Obama as 8th-best in economic management. An editorial in The Oklahoman responded: "the sluggish growth of the Obama years is one of the major strikes against his presidency." Of the previous 11 expansion periods, GDP grew at the slowest rate under the Obama administration, and employment and salaries grew more during five other expansion periods. |
 March 15, 2017 Maryland State Sen. Richard Madaleno is sponsoring bills to legalize the adult possession of small amounts of marijuana, and to regulate and tax its sale. “Colorado and Washington are bringing in hundreds of millions in revenue without any increase in crime,” Madaleno said. There is limited information on the impact of marijuana decriminalization in Colorado and Washington, but he is correct about revenue from the sale of marijuana. |
 March 13, 2017 Before submitting a proposed 2018-2019 budget, Ohio Gov. Kasich asked state departments to submit two funding plans: one at 100 percent funding, and one envisioning 10 percent cuts. According to the Columbus Dispatch, Public Defender Tim Young responded that his office has lost a third of its staff since 2000. Staff positions in the Public Defender's office decreased 27.5 percent between fiscal years 2000 and 2017. |
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 March 8, 2017 Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts is proposing to cut the state's top income tax rate. Becky Gould, executive director of Nebraska Appleseed, questioned why the state should lower income taxes, saying, "Nebraska has been doing well in most economic indicators." In several respects, the state’s economic indicators are consistent with or outpace national trends. However, a slump in crop prices has negatively affected farm income in the agricultural state. |
 March 6, 2017 In response to reports that the Trump administration is seeking to decrease the Environmental Protection Agency's budget, Elizabeth Thompson, vice president for climate and political affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement that this "goes against the wishes of the American public—67 percent of whom think EPA should stay the same or should be strengthened." Thompson correctly cited the results of a January 2017 Ipsos/Reuters poll. Other polls have found that a majority of Americans support government efforts to protect the environment, although favorability and job ratings of the EPA have been mixed. |
