Fact -Check: Support for USMCA among labor unions was mixed. While the AFL-CIO backed the agreement, others did not. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the United Auto Workers all expressed disappointment over the deal.
NPR: Trump praised the record number of women in Congress, but that's almost
entirely because of Democrats, not Trump's party."
Social media strategist Caleb Hull pointed out that Trump "never claimed his party was responsible" for the increase in women in Congress.
OnTheIssues FactCheck: So who's right? Here's what Trump actually said: "We have more women in the workforce than ever before--and exactly one century after the Congress passed the Constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote, we also have more women serving in the Congress than ever before." Trump never claimed credit for himself nor for the Republican Party for the record number of women in Congress. Fox News is correct; NPR is incorrect. Trustworthy fact-check sources, such as OnTheIssues, always refer back to the original speech!
Short Answer: Yes, mines are opening, including a new one in Pennsylvania.
Long answer: That doesn't reverse the overall decline of the coal mining industry from its glory days. The mines that are opening produce a special kind of coal used in steelmaking and are opening largely because of events unrelated to federal policy, experts say. The market for the kind of coal used in electricity--the biggest use for coal--remains down relative to where it was several years ago. In other words, the industry has rebounded slightly after years of layoffs and closures caused mainly by competition from cheap natural gas.
Fact -Check: The U.S energy boom started more than a decade ago, driven by market forces and advanced technology such as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. According to the Energy Information Administration, the U.S. became the world's leading producer of natural gas in 2009. More recently it surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia in crude oil production. That was helped in part after President Obama signed a bill to lift a 40-year ban on most oil exports.
Republican opponents, agriculture groups and real estate developers have decried the Obama administration's 2015 rule--which included smaller streams and tributaries--as a regulatory overreach.
As a candidate and president, Donald Trump painted the Obama-era rule in a similar light, calling it "one of the worst examples of federal regulation," and making its repeal and revision a priority for his administration.
Previous remarks by Trump were not so effusive. Back in 2012, Trump tweeted, "Get it straight: Pakistan is not our friend. We've given them billions and billions of dollars, and what did we get? Betrayal and disrespect--and much worse. #TimeToGetTough". And in July 2012: "When will Pakistan apologize to us for providing safe sanctuary to Osama Bin Laden for 6 years?! Some 'ally.'"
Fact -Check: The agreement updates NAFTA, covering things such as digital commerce, which barely existed when the original deal was signed a quarter-century ago. But despite the president's claims, USMCA is mostly a cosmetic refreshing of NAFTA, not a wholesale replacement. On the whole, the USMCA's economic effects are expected to be modest. The main benefit of the deal is that it avoids the disruption that would have come had Trump made good on his threat to scrap NAFTA with no replacement.
Fact -Check: It's not clear where this timeline comes from--the Department of Health and Human Services proposed a rule for hospitals and a similar rule for insurers that would require them to reveal their negotiated prices to consumers in an accessible way. But hospitals have already sued to block the first rule, and the rule for insurers has not been finalized. New practices can take effect only after these legal hurdles have been resolved.
In its fact check of Trump's State of the Union speech, NPR relayed these assessments: "As for the 'state of our Southern border,' mayors along the Southwest border consistently say that their communities are among the safest in the nation. McAllen TX Mayor Jim Darling asserted that his city is the 3rd safest in Texas, according to FBI crime statistics, and 7th safest in the nation. 'Send social workers to process the asylum-seekers, not soldiers,' Darling said. Eddie Trevino, Cameron County judge in Brownsville, added, 'It is a misconception that the border is insecure. There is no Central American invasion. This is a manufactured crisis.' "
NPR Fact-Check: Trump's numbers are right, but it's generally a stretch for presidents to take credit for job creation. The unemployment rate for black Americans is currently 6.8%, the lowest level recorded since the government started keeping track in 1972. And Hispanic unemployment rate is at 4.9%, close to a record low. However, Trump is implying that he caused these low African-American and Hispanic unemployment rates. But those rates had been falling relatively steadily since around 2010, under Pres. Obama, and their declines don't appear to have picked up speed. This implies that there's nothing specific that Trump did to change this rate
Fact -Check: Trump here is mixing apples and oranges, comparing the labor force participation rate under President Obama with the number of jobs created under his own administration. But they are different numbers. It's true the participation rate fell from 65.7% to 62.9% during Obama's two terms in office, partly because the population was aging. It has since rebounded this year to 63.2%. But the economy also added 11.6 million jobs during Obama's two terms, and job creation has increased at a slightly slower rate under Trump.
Fact -Check: Notwithstanding Trump's desire to shrink American commitments in the Middle East, he has been sending more troops to the region and keeping in place many of those already posted there. Trump also has sent thousands more troops to the region as a hedge against a potential conflict with Iran following the U.S. killing of its top general and in the aftermath of re-imposed U.S. sanctions.
|
The above quotations are from National Public Radio election coverage.
Click here for other excerpts from National Public Radio election coverage. Click here for other excerpts by Donald Trump. Click here for a profile of Donald Trump.
Please consider a donation to OnTheIssues.org!
| Click for details -- or send donations to: 1770 Mass Ave. #630, Cambridge MA 02140 E-mail: submit@OnTheIssues.org (We rely on your support!) |