WASHINGTON (AP) — A look at some of the claims in the Republican presidential debate Wednesday night and how they compare with the facts:
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY): The new budget agreement “will explode the deficit, it will allow President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money.”
THE FACTS: The agreement allows $80 billion more spending over the next two years, which is only a small addition to the $3.67 trillion the government spends every year. The government’s annual budget deficit has declined to $439 billion, about 2.5 percent of GDP, below the average for the past 40 years.
Overall, whatever its faults, most economists have responded to this week’s budget deal between Congress and the White House with a sigh of relief. The agreement, approved by the House earlier Wednesday, sets funding levels and extends the government’s borrowing limit for two more years, thereby taking the threat of a government shutdown and debt default off the table.
A 2013 budget fight led to a 16-day partial government shutdown that was widely blamed by most economists for sharp drops in consumer and business confidence that dragged on the economy.
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GEORGE PATAKI: “Hillary Clinton put a server, an unsecure server, in her home as secretary of state. We have no doubt that that was hacked, and that state secrets are out there to the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese and others.”
THE FACTS: The former New York governor, speaking in the undercard debate, exaggerated what’s actually known about what happened to the emails of Clinton, the Democratic front-runner for her party’s presidential nomination. While Clinton’s email server was poorly configured and therefore more susceptible to hacking, there is no evidence of intrusion.
The FBI is studying the server, which was subjected to a phishing attack by Russian-linked hackers while she was secretary of state. It’s not known whether she clicked on any attachments, which would have exposed her account. Her account was also apparently the subject of cyberattacks originating in China, South Korea and Germany after she left office in early 2013. Determining whether a hack was sponsored by a nation, rather than just originating from that country, is notoriously difficult.
EDITOR’S NOTE _ A look at political claims that take shortcuts with the facts or don’t tell the full story
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