2020 FactCheck: on Government Reform

Barack Obama: FactCheck: Senate GOP blocked over 100 open judgeships

Excerpts from The Hill e-zine, March 29, 2018: "Republicans took control of the Senate in 2014 during Obama's last two years in office and did not confirm many of his nominees. The Senate's top Republicans, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, teamed up to block Democratic efforts to push forward Obama's nominees, slowing down confirmations by the most in six decades. Most notably, McConnell refused to hold a confirmation hearing on Obama's nominee for Supreme Court justice, Merrick Garland. The vacancies left behind by the Obama administration were not by choice.

Donald Trump: FactCheck: 128 judgeships open because Senate GOP forced it

Excerpts from The Hill e-zine, March 29, 2018: "Republicans took control of the Senate in 2014 during Obama's last two years in office and did not confirm many of his nominees. The Senate's top Republicans, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, teamed up to block Democratic efforts to push forward Obama's nominees, slowing down confirmations by the most in six decades. Most notably, McConnell refused to hold a confirmation hearing on Obama's nominee for Supreme Court justice, Merrick Garland. The vacancies left behind by the Obama administration were not by choice.

Mike Pence: FactCheck: Yes, voter ID laws may increase voter turnout

FactCheck from Poverty Action Lab ("The Effects of Voter ID Notification on Voter Turnout," 2012): To add evidence to this polarizing and often politicized debate, researchers evaluated the effect of sending various postcards describing relevant voter ID requirements to different voters in Tennessee and Virginia. They found that notifying voters of the ID requirements did not negatively affect turnout, and certain messaging actually increased turnout by as much as 1.5 percentage points.

Joe Biden: 30 years ago, I proposed campaign finance reform

Biden: You want to do that? Do what I proposed over 30 years ago: federally fund all elections.

FACT-CHECK: Did Biden propose campaign finance reform long ago? Yes, he proposed donation limits when there were no limits, in 1974, with federal matching funds:

Biden on 1974 WGBH "Open Vault" (PBS interview): "The system does produce corruption; I think implicit in the system is corruption. If the only way you can raise any money to run for public office is to go to vested interest groups, then you prostitute the ideas you have about government. If you limit the amount that can be spent, you run the risk of the tyranny of the incumbent [against] a challenger. [I support] a bill that limits the amount that an individual can contribute [to] $3,000. And I support [a bill to federally] match donations up to $100.

Cato Institute: FactCheck: Whistleblower rules never require 1st-hand report

The theory was initially propagated by The Federalist website on Sep. 27. The article claims that in "Aug. 2019, the intelligence community secretly eliminated a requirement that whistleblowers provide direct, first-hand knowledge of alleged wrongdoings."

Facts First: This is false. The whistleblower submission form was revised in Aug. 2019, but the revision did not change the rules on who can submit a whistleblower complaint. The inspector general of the intelligence community said that having firsthand knowledge of the event has never been required in order to submit a whistleblower complaint.