FactChecking Dueling Debt Speeches

In opinion-filled statements, Obama and Boehner also went beyond the facts.

July 26, 2011

Summary from FactCheck.org:

The president and House speaker restated familiar positions in their dueling debt ceiling speeches, but they took their points too far at times or made them without enough context.

Obama described raising the debt ceiling as historically "routine." It is true that every president, with the exception of Truman, has signed such a bill since the 1940s. But this request is the largest in history, even in inflation-adjusted dollars.
The president also accused Republicans of favoring tax breaks for oil companies and private jet owners at the expense of Medicare beneficiaries. But those populist tax hikes would not reduce the deficit by even 1 percent.
Boehner claimed Obama is adamantly against "fundamental changes" to entitlement programs. In fact, the president has proposed $650 billion in cuts to the future growth of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
Similarly, Boehner said Obama "wants a blank check today" just as the president did six months ago. It's true that six months ago Obama wanted the debt ceiling to be raised without cutting spending. But the president has now offered spending cuts of between $1.5 trillion and $1.7 trillion over 10 years, including the entitlement cuts we just mentioned.
Boehner touted the "bipartisan support" for the Cut, Cap and Balance Act of 2011. But the bill got only five Democratic votes in the House and no votes in the Senate.

For the most part, the two men stuck to the facts or offered their opinions. In our Analysis, we provide details on where they did stray too far from the facts.

Analysis

President Barack Obama was the first to speak, delivering a 15-minute speech to the nation on July 25 — just three days after the White House's debt ceiling negotiations with House Speaker John Boehner collapsed. The president's speech was quickly followed by a brief response from Boehner. Both blamed the other for failing to negotiate in good faith, as the country draws closer to the Aug. 2 date when the administration says the U.S. will not be able to borrow any more money and will not be able to pay all of its bills.

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FactChecking Dueling Debt Speeches

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