Paul Ryan in 2011 State of the Union address

On Budget & Economy: FactCheck:Stimulus spending created between 1.4M & 3.6M jobs

It's true that domestic spending has increased, but not nearly as much as Ryan claims. The 84% figure is the result of a flawed partisan report. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office showed that domestic discretionary spending rose from $485 billion in 2008 to $614 billion in 2010, an increase of 27%, including stimulus funds.

Also, Ryan said the stimulus "failed to deliver on its promise to create jobs." It's just wrong to say that the stimulus didn't create jobs. Ryan can say that the program failed to keep unemployment at 8%, as projected by the administration when lobbying for the bill. But the nonpartisan CBO says the stimulus increased employment by between 1.4 million & 3.6 million people in 2010, compared with what would have happened without it.

On Government Reform: FactCheck: all-time high government was 1943, not 2009

Ryan's spokesman said that the congressman was measuring size of government by spending as a percentage of gross domestic product. Federal spending as a percent of GDP was 24% in 2009--not even close to the real "all-time high" figure of 44% in 1943.

Ryan was closer with his claim about public skepticism of government, but still not quite right. Only 22% of those surveyed said they trusted the federal government "almost always or most of the time," according to the source poll for Ryan's claim. But other poll conducted over the years showed slightly lower percentages. In 1994, just 17% of respondents said they trusted the government most or all of the time.

The poll also found that the level of government trust and size of government are not connected.

On Health Care: FactCheck: costs go up just a bit; jobs go down just a bit

Health care spending overall is expected to rise a bit--by less than 1% over a decade. That's because about 34 million more Americans will gain coverage. As for "millions" losin their current coverage, there's truth to that, but context is required. about 8 million low-income workers will get subsidies to go buy their own insurance in state-based exchanges.

Ryan backed his claim about stifling job creation with a CBO report. CBO said the law would have a small impact on the labor supply, and that would be mostly due to workers retiring early or working less because they would have more secure health care options.

On Health Care: FactCheck: No evidence that healthcare reform explodes debt

The law is actually expected to reduce the deficit, according to the CBO, over the next two decade and beyond. It remains to be seen whether all of the cost-cutting measures will be fully implemented. But we went through various Republican claims about the supposed flaws in CBO's analysis and found the GOP assertions to be mostly bogus.

On Budget & Economy: Stimulus spending spree created debt but few jobs

Our debt is the product of acts by many presidents and many Congresses over many years. No one person or party is responsible for it. There is no doubt the President came into office facing a severe fiscal and economic situation.

Unfortunately, instead of restoring the fundamentals of economic growth, he engaged in a stimulus spending spree that not only failed to deliver on its promise to create jobs, but also plunged us even deeper into debt. All of this new government spending was sold as "investment." Yet after two years, the unemployment rate remains above 9% and government has added over $3 trillion to our debt.

On Government Reform: Individual liberty requires limited government

We believe that the government has an important role to create the conditions that promote entrepreneurship, upward mobility, and individual responsibility. We believe, as our founders did, that "the pursuit of happiness" depends upon individual liberty; and individual liberty requires limited government.

Limited government also means effective government. When government takes on too many tasks, it usually doesn't do any of them very well. It's no coincidence that trust in government is at an all-time low now that the size of government is at an all-time high. The President and the Democratic Leadership have shown, by their actions, that they believe government needs to increase its size and its reach, its price tag and its power.

Our nation is approaching a tipping point. We need to chart a new course.

On Health Care: Open-ended healthcare entitlement moves US toward bankruptcy

Businesses and unions from around the country are asking the Obama Administration for waivers from the mandates. Washington should not be in the business of picking winner and losers. The President mentioned the need for regulatory reform to ease the burden on American businesses. We agree--and we think his health care law would be a great place to start.

Last week, House Republicans voted for a full repeal of this law, as we pledged to do, and we will work to replace it with fiscally responsible, patient-centered reforms that actually reduce costs and expand coverage. The President's law is accelerating our country toward bankruptcy.