Articles On Information: Here's The Fact Check For Obama's State Of The Union Address

Here's The Fact Check For Obama's State Of The Union Address

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="clear-both" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="KonaBody post-content" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right">
<div>
<div class="image on-image" data-post-image="" style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="obama" border="0" height="425" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/54bf992c6bb3f7467c01c458-1200-800/rtr4m8ge.jpg" width="640" /><span class="source">Jonathan Ernst/Reuters</span><span class="caption">US President Barack Obama after his 2015 State of the Union address Tuesday.</span></div>
<div class="related-links-container minimal ks-see-also" data-bi-heatmap="54bf966d6da811d26cb83994">
</div>
<div class="related-links-container minimal ks-see-also" data-bi-heatmap="54bf966d6da811d26cb83994">
Obama Is Trying To Set The Agenda For His Successors As His Clout Diminishes In Washington<br />
<div class="">
<div class="media  last-story">
<div class="media-body">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
The US may not have "risen from recession" quite 
as rousingly as President Barack Obama suggested in his State of the 
Union speech Tuesday night.<br />
Seven years after that severe downturn began, household income hasn't
 recovered, and healthy job growth is complicated by the poor quality, 
and pay, of many of those jobs.<br />
It's always problematic when a president takes credit for an 
improving economy, just as it is when he's blamed for things going bad. A
 leader can do only so much, for better or worse, and there are two 
sides to every economy. But after an election in which Obama largely 
held off on chest-beating, he claimed credit in bold terms for what is 
going right.<br />
Also in his speech, Obama skimmed over the cost to taxpayers of free 
community college tuition and invited closer scrutiny with his claims 
about US support for Syrian moderates and about his record of 
public-lands preservation.<br />
<span class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><span class="image" data-post-image=""><img alt="infographic STOU Obama" border="0" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/54bf98a0eab8ea4f03a4637d-1200-462/screen%20shot%202015-01-21%20at%207.15.36%20am.png" /><span class="source">Reuters</span><span class="caption">Keywords in Obama's State of the Union addresses.</span></span></span><br />
A look at some of his claims, and the facts and the political climate
 behind them, as well as a glance at the Republican response:<br />
___<br />
<b>OBAMA:</b> "At this moment — with a growing economy, 
shrinking deficits, bustling industry, and booming energy production — 
we have risen from recession freer to write our own future than any 
other nation on earth."<br />
<b>THE FACTS:</b> By many measures, the economy is still recovering from the deep scars left by the Great Recession.<br />
Job growth has been healthy but fueled in part by lower-paying jobs 
in areas such as retail and restaurants, which have replaced many 
higher-paying positions in manufacturing and construction. Part-time 
jobs also remain elevated: There are still 1.7 million fewer workers 
with full-time jobs than when the recession began in December 2007.<br />
And the faster hiring hasn't pushed up wages much. They have been 
growing at a tepid pace of about 2% a year since the recession ended 5 
1/2 years ago. That's barely ahead of inflation and below the annual 
pace of about 3.5% to 4% that is typical of a fully healthy economy.<br />
That has left the income of the typical household below its 
pre-recession level. Inflation-adjusted median household income reached 
$53,880 in November 2014, according to an analysis of government data by
 Sentier Research. That is about 4% higher than when it bottomed out in 
2011. But it is still 4.5% lower than the $56,447 median income in 
December 2007, the month the recession began.<br />
Booming energy production is indeed a reality, but that's a 
phenomenon many years in the making, with the development of 
cost-effective extraction from fracking and other means playing into the
 rise of the US as an energy-production giant.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><span class="image on-image" data-post-image=""><img alt="Obama SOTU" border="0" height="243" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/54bf201cecad04c1385a6779-1200-750/rtr4m8ax.jpg" width="400" /><span class="source">Reuters/Jonathan Ernst</span><span class="caption">Obama during his State of the Union address on Tuesday.</span></span></span></div>
<b>OBAMA:</b> "I am sending this Congress a bold new plan to lower the cost of community college — to zero."<br />
<b>THE FACTS:</b> Zero for qualifying students; an estimated $60 billion over 10 years to the treasury.<br />
Obama confronts a Republican-controlled Congress that can be expected
 to be wary of a new program costing that much. Moreover, the proposal 
requires states to contribute about a quarter of the money, and getting 
them to go along is bound to be tough. Many states refused to expand 
Medicaid under the healthcare law, for example, even though Washington 
is picking up the entire cost in the first years.<br />
On the other hand, community college is an issue close to home for 
state government, perhaps more appealing than partnering with Washington
 on the health law, so the idea could have a fighting chance if it can 
get through Congress. Educators are divided on its merits, with some 
worrying that aid for a community college education could divert 
students and scholarships away from four-year schools.<br />
___<br />
<b>OBAMA:</b> "We've set aside more public lands and waters than any administration in history."<br />
<b>THE FACTS:</b> Waters is the key word here. Before 
expanding the Pacific Remote Islands National Monument last year from 
almost 87,000 square miles to more than 490,000 square miles, Obama had 
protected far fewer acres than his four predecessors, including 
President George W. Bush.<br />
Expansion of the massive Pacific islands monument puts Obama on top. 
It's nearly all water, however, and the move has limited practical 
implications. While it bans commercial fishing, deep-sea mining, and 
other extraction of underwater resources, little fishing or drilling 
occur in the mid-ocean region now.<br />
<span class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><span class="image on-image" data-post-image=""><img alt="AP43386164637" border="0" height="427" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/54bf259669bedd652ad27821-1200-858/ap43386164637.jpg" width="640" /><span class="source">AP/Mandel Ngan, Pool</span></span></span><br />
<b>OBAMA:</b> "Thanks to a growing economy, the recovery is
 touching more and more lives. Wages are finally starting to rise 
again. We know that more small-business owners plan to raise their 
employees' pay than at any time since 2007."<br />
<b>THE FACTS:</b> A survey of small businesses by the 
National Federation of Independent Business does show that a rising 
proportion plans to raise wages. But plans to raise pay aren't the same 
as actually raising them.<br />
Average hourly earnings rose just 1.7% in December from 12 months 
earlier, according to the Labor Department. That's about half the rate 
that is typical of a healthy economy and actually lower than the 
previous month. Economists generally expect wage gains to accelerate 
this year, as unemployment continues to fall and businesses are forced 
to offer higher pay to attract workers. But there is scant evidence that
 it is happening yet.<br />
___<br />
<b>OBAMA:</b> "In Iraq and Syria, American leadership — 
including our military power — is stopping ISIL's advance. Instead of 
getting dragged into another ground war in the Middle East, we are 
leading a broad coalition, including Arab nations, to degrade and 
ultimately destroy this terrorist group. We're also supporting a 
moderate opposition in Syria that can help us in this effort."<br />
<b>THE FACTS:</b> The US has also been slow to set up 
long-promised training for the moderate Syrian opposition, and it has 
yet to begin the actual vetting of the rebels. Also, despite persistent 
pleas from the rebels, the US hasn't sent the more lethal weapons they 
want. US officials have expressed concerns that the weapons could end up
 in the hands of insurgents.<br />
Military leaders, however, agree that coalition airstrikes and the 
military effort in Syria and Iraq have stopped the momentum of the 
Islamic State group (also known as ISIS or ISIL), made it hard for the 
insurgents to communicate and travel, and hurt their oil revenues.<br />
<span class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><span class="image on-image" data-post-image=""><img alt="obama" border="0" height="464" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/54bb163469bedd1b09200ef9-1200-924/rtr4e4zj.jpg" width="640" /><span class="source">Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters</span><span class="caption">Obama in November.</span></span></span><br />
<b>SEN. JONI ERNST:</b> The freshman from Iowa listed 
Obama's healthcare law among his "failed policies" and added, "We see 
the hurt caused by canceled healthcare plans and higher monthly 
insurance bills."<br />
<b>THE FACTS:</b> The jury is still out on the law Republicans call "Obamacare."<br />
The number of uninsured people is down by at least 10 million. A 
large ongoing Gallup survey documented a steady drop in the nation's 
uninsured rate since the law's big coverage expansion began last year.<br />
The law's record on affordability is mixed. The share of Americans 
forgoing needed medical care because of cost is down significantly, 
according to a Commonwealth Fund survey, and fewer are struggling to pay
 medical bills. Yet many insured people with modest incomes still have 
problems with high out-of-pocket costs.<br />
As for harm caused by lost insurance, many in Ernst's party are 
intent on repealing the law, which would probably mean even more lost 
coverage, because many of the estimated 10 million uninsured people who 
have gained coverage through the Affordable Care Act would no longer be 
able to afford their premiums.<br />
___<br />
Associated Press writers Kimberly Hefling, Dina Cappiello, Lolita C. 
Baldor and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.<br />
<div class="nc_footer">
Copyright (2015) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
 may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>