Editor-DN
Democrat Tim Walls and Republican JD Vance faced off in New York City on Tuesday night for their one and only vice presidential debate, hosted by CBS News.
Reuters reviewed 12 statements from two colleagues.
While Reuters monitored the entire debate, the fact-checker did not check every statement. It focuses on themes and narratives that are part of the broader public discourse and can be evaluated with credible evidence.
Walls Claim Statements
The U.S. is producing more natural gas and more oil than ever, Walls said. (Timestamp 9:15 p.m. ET)
What do we know?
This is mostly true. In March 2024, the government’s Energy Information Administration said in a release that the United States had produced “more crude oil than any other country at any time” for the sixth year in a row. The report added that it is unlikely that the 2023 record will be broken by another country in the “near term”, as none have a production capacity of 13.0 million barrels per day. The U.S. average this year was 12.9 million barrels per day.
Monthly production of dry natural gas in the US reached a record high in December 2023, having risen steadily for most of the past decade. However, production is forecast to decline in 2024, which would mark the first production decline since 2020.
Claim
“Donald Trump has paid no federal taxes in 10 of the last 15 years, and the last year as president.” (9:35 p.m.)
What do we know?
Based on the information available, this is mostly true. In 2020, The New York Times reported, based on an analysis of 2017 tax return data, that Trump had paid no income tax in 10 of the past 15 years. The Times said this was “largely because he reported losing far more money than he earned.” The newspaper added that Trump paid $750 the year he won the 2020 election, as well as in his first year in the White House. Trump dismissed the report as “fake news”.
In 2022, the US House Ways and Means Committee released Trump’s tax returns from 2015 to 2020, showing that Trump paid no income taxes during the last full year of his presidency. “Trump and his wife, Melania, paid some form of tax all four years, the documents show, but they were able to reduce their income taxes in many years because Trump’s business income was deductible. And the losses were greater.” Reuters reported. .
Claim
Minnesota’s child tax credit “reduces childhood poverty by one-third.” (9:30 p.m.)
What do we know?
It is unknown. A 2023 child tax credit program for low- and moderate-income families was projected to reduce child poverty by one-third in Minnesota, based on an analysis by Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy.
No report has been published examining whether the child tax credit program has reduced child poverty by one-third in the state.
An August 2024 press release from the governor noted data from the state Department of Revenue that said the program “added $545 million to the budgets of more than 215,000 Minnesota families” between 2023 and 2024. kept more than”.
Claim
Minnesota ranks first in health care (9:46 am)
What do we know?
It depends on who you ask. This is accurate based on data published by the financial information site WalletHub in July 2024, which Walls previously cited as governor of Minnesota.
The site ranked Minnesota as the state with the best health care system, providing low health care costs, a large number of simple care clinics per capita, a high-quality public hospital system and reduced emergency room wait times.
Minnesota also tops the chart in Forbes’ analysis, but other rankings rank states differently with different methods.
What do we know?
This is mostly true during certain periods in the last 1.5 years. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on the 12-month percentage change in the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation in metropolitan areas, found that in May and July 2023, the Minneapolis-St. The lowest rate of inflation was recorded in the country in March 2024.
Claim
Walls said Trump created the largest trade deficit in U.S. history with China. (9:34 p.m. ET)
What do we know?
This is true. During Trump’s second year in the White House, the U.S. goods trade deficit with China hit a record high. The trade gap widened 11.6 percent to $419.2 billion in 2018, from the previous record of $375.5 billion in 2017, the Commerce Department reported in 2019.
In 2018 under Trump, the U.S. imposed tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports, followed by Beijing imposing duties on $110 billion worth of U.S. products, including soybeans and other goods.
Statements by Venus Clem
Iran “received over $100 billion in unfrozen assets thanks to the Kamala Harris administration,” Vance said. (Timestamp 9:06 pm)
What do we know?
It is mixed. In August 2023, US President Joe Biden approved a prisoner exchange agreement between the US and Iran that included the unfreezing of $6 billion in Iranian funds frozen in South Korea.
After the Iranian-backed Palestinian group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, the United States said five days later that Iran would not be accessing funds held in a Qatari bank anytime soon, and that Washington’s Pass has this right. Funds
Separately, Biden previously sought to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which Donald Trump abandoned. The talks stalled in September 2022.
In 2015, U.S. officials said Iran would gain access to $100 billion in frozen assets if the deal goes through. Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in 2022 that the deal would give Tehran $100 billion a year to destabilize the Middle East, but he did not provide details for the calculation.
Claim
“When was the last time an American president didn’t have a major controversy? The only answer is during the four years of Donald Trump’s presidency,” Vance said. (9:10 a.m.)
What do we know?
This needs more context. Trump joins other presidents such as Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower in officially not taking the United States into a new war since 1945. .
However, Trump’s presidency included military rivalry and the threat of new wars. Trump ordered a drone strike in 2020 that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, and launched an attack on a Syrian military base in 2017, marking an increase in the U.S. military’s role in Syria.
The former president also said during a 2017 address to the United Nations General Assembly that he would “totally destroy” North Korea.
Claim
Vance said the U.S. is “the cleanest economy in the entire world.” (9:12 p.m.)
What do we know?
This is a lie. According to the European Union’s Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research 2024 report, the United States was the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases globally after China last year.
The United States accounts for 11.25 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, while China accounts for 30.1 percent.
Per capita, greenhouse gas emissions for the United States in 2023 were 17.61 tons of CO2 equivalent, higher than China’s 11.11, the United Kingdom’s 5.55, and Mexico’s 5.15, but lower than Canada’s 19.39 and Russia’s 18.66.
In the 2024 World Economic Forum report on the Global Average Energy Transition Index, a measure of performance and readiness for a clean energy transition, the United States ranks 19th. Sweden tops the list, followed by Denmark, Finland, Switzerland and France.
According to this year’s Environmental Performance Index – a project by Yale and Columbia universities that evaluates countries based on indicators such as climate change mitigation, air pollution, deforestation and biodiversity conservation – Estonia is the pole in the rankings. ranked, followed by Luxembourg and Germany. The United States ranks 34th.
Claim
Discussing ways to combat carbon emissions, Vance said Kamala Harris’ policies have led to “more energy production in China, more manufacturing overseas” (9:13 p.m.).
What do we know?
Vance could cite a 2022 deflationary law that provides incentives to boost domestic energy production and manufacturing investment, including support for clean energy jobs and sales of new and used electric vehicles. .
It is too early to tell the impact of the IRA on the US manufacturing sector, but some research has found that it has benefited domestic clean energy production.
The IRA provides billions of dollars in tax credits to help consumers buy EVs and firms to generate renewable energy as part of the Biden administration’s plan to decarbonize the U.S. power sector. China, which dominates the global battery supply chain, is among four countries excluded from subsidies available to firms looking to invest in the US EV supply chain.
China has since asked the World Trade Organization to set up a panel to help resolve the dispute over what it describes as “discriminatory subsidies.”
Another area of the global supply chain that China dominates is solar panel manufacturing. Some Chinese-backed companies with factories in the U.S. are claiming these subsidies for clean energy manufacturing under the IRA, and a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced a bill in July that would give them subsidies for their U.S. factories. will stop claiming
Claim
Donald Trump’s economic policies have delivered the highest take-home pay in a generation, Vance said. (9:33 p.m.)
What do we know?
This is true. U.S. median household income hit a record high of $68,703 in 2019 under the Trump administration, a 6.8 percent increase from 2018 — the highest since the U.S. Census Bureau began tracking the data in 1967. I was the most viewed.
The White House Council of Economic Advisers said at the time that the increase in the number of workers in the country has increased incomes. “2.2 million more people were working at some point in 2019 than in 2018, and 1.2 million more people were working full-time year-round,” the council added.
Claim
“The vast majority, close to 90% of some statistics I’ve seen, of gun violence in this country is committed with illegally obtained firearms.” (10:00 PM)
What do we know?
This is misleading. According to research funded by the National Institute of Justice, the majority of mass mass shootings — a shooting in which four or more people are killed — were committed by legally obtained handguns between 1966 and 2019. were done.
Statistics show that “77% of those involved in mass shootings purchased at least some of their guns legally,” an article in a 2021 study said, while 13% of mass shootings involved illegally purchased firearms.
The report also found that more than 80 percent of those involved in K-12 school shootings stole guns from family members.
According to the Bureau of Alcohol’s 2023 report (page 7), between 2017 and 2021, more than 1.4 million crime guns were traced to a known buyer with a federal firearms license, 99 percent of which were dealers, pawns. Obtained from a broker or manufacturer. Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The report adds that these crime guns, however, “may change hands many times after that first retail sale, and some of these transactions may be stolen or violate one or more of the firearms trade regulations.” can be violated.”
(Other than the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
