2023 State of the Union Address - Fact Check
Ever since the very first State of the Union Address (the 1790 State of the Union Address was the inaugural State of the Union Address delivered by President George Washington to the United States Congress on January 8, 1790, in New York City) every U.S. president in history uses this time as a chest-thumping, roaring applause, standing ovation opportunity.
And why not?
You’re on the international stage, touting what you THINK you and your party did so well over the past year. To hell with the facts! We, as viewers and listeners of the address, just want to feel good about what happened this past year, and what a bright future we have this year.
But then comes along the fact-checkers to give us the real story behind what we thought was such glorious news.
According to FactCheck.org, here are the whoppers JB told on 2/7/23.
Biden boasted that the 12.1 million jobs created in his first two years were more than the number of jobs added in four years under any president. But that job growth was fueled by a post-pandemic recovery that started under his predecessor, and his comparison doesn’t account for population growth.
Biden said he has cut the deficit by a record $1.7 trillion, but most of that was due to expiring emergency pandemic spending.
The president said “take-home pay has gone up,” which is true, but the rise is not as fast as inflation. “Real” weekly earnings, which are adjusted for inflation, have gone down.
He said “no president added more to the national debt in any four years” than his predecessor, Donald Trump, and that “nearly 25% of the entire national debt” was added by Trump. It’s accurate, but trillions of dollars of the accumulated debt under Trump were due to bipartisan coronavirus relief packages.
Biden said “for too many decades, we imported projects and exported jobs,” but now “we’re exporting American products and creating American jobs.” In fact, U.S. imports of goods and services have continued to exceed exports under Biden.
With the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the U.S. is “replacing poisonous lead pipes that go into 10 million homes in America, 400,000 schools and childcare centers,” he said. But the law didn’t provide enough funding to replace all lead pipes.
Well, Joe, there’s always next year to get it right. It’s just Common Sense Ohio.