AP FACT CHECK: Biden’s State of the Union disabled on guns and electric vehicles

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden recounted a flawed Democratic talking point on guns in his first State of the Union address, made his electric vehicle plan more advanced than he expected. is and has inflated the scope of its infrastructure set. On several fronts, he presented ambitions as achievements.

A look at some of his claims Tuesday night and a look at the Republican response:

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BIDEN: “Severe cases have fallen to a level not seen since July of last year.”

THE FACTS: Biden overstated the improvement, omitting a statistic that remains a worrying marker of the COVID-19 toll.

While hospitalizations are indeed down from last summer, deaths remain high. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID tracker shows 289 deaths on July 1, 2021. As of Monday, the CDC tracker reported 1,985 deaths.

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SHOTGUNS

BIDEN, calling on Congress to pass measures it believes would reduce gun violence: “Repeal the liability shield that makes gun manufacturers the only industry in America that cannot be sued, the only one. “

THE FACTS: This is false. Although gun manufacturers enjoy legal protection against liability for injuries caused by the criminal misuse of their guns through the Protection of the Lawful Arms Trade Act 2005, they do not are neither exempt nor immune. to be prosecuted.

The law provides exceptions in which manufacturers or dealers can be held liable for damage caused by their guns, such as defects or damage in the design of the gun, negligence, or breach of contract or warranty regarding the gun. buying a gun.

Families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, sued gun maker Remington, alleging ‘unlawful dealing’ in firearms, and agreed to a settlement last month of $73 million.

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ECONOMY

BIDEN, promoting its $1 trillion infrastructure bill: “We are done talking about infrastructure weeks. We are now talking about a decade of infrastructure. … We will build a national network of 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations.

THE FACTS: Not so fast.

Bipartisan legislation approved by Congress ended up providing only half of the $15 billion Biden had envisioned to fulfill a campaign promise of 500,000 charging stations by 2030.

Biden’s Build Back Better proposal aimed to fill the void by adding billions to pay for charging stations. But Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., in December declared that bill dead in its current form due to cost.

Administration officials now say the infrastructure law will help “pave the way” for up to 500,000 charging points by 2030. That’s different from charging stations, which could have multiple charging points. sale. They say private investment could help fill the void. There are currently over 100,000 electric vehicle outlets in the United States

The Department of Transportation’s plan calls for states to build a nationwide network of electric vehicle charging stations that would place new or upgraded ones every 50 miles along interstate highways. The $5 billion in federal money over five years relies on the cooperation of sprawling rural communities in the United States, which are less likely to own electric vehicles due to their generally higher price.

States are expected to begin construction as early as the fall.

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BIDEN, on Intel’s plans for new factories in central Ohio: “Up to eight state-of-the-art factories in one location, 10,000 new jobs.”

THE FACTS: His statement is premature. That many factories are not imminent and may or may not be built.

Earlier this year, Intel announced the opening of two factories that are expected to employ 3,000 people. The other 7,000 jobs that the project should create are temporary jobs in the construction sector. It also plans a chip foundry business that manufactures chips designed by other companies. Construction is expected to begin this year.

Intel has floated the possibility of building up to six more factories over the next decade, which could bring the total number of factory workers to 10,000. But that’s just a prospect, years from now. .

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BIDEN: “The pandemic has also disrupted the global supply chain… Look at the cars last year. A third of all inflation was due to automobile sales. There weren’t enough semiconductors to make all the cars people wanted to buy. And guess what? Automobile prices have skyrocketed…so we have a choice. One way to fight inflation is to drive down wages and make Americans poorer. I think I have a better idea for fighting inflation. Reduce your costs, not your salaries. People, that means making more cars and semiconductors in America. More infrastructure and innovation in America. More goods moving faster and cheaper in America… Instead of relying on foreign supply chains, let’s do it in America.

THE FACTS: It is dubious to suggest that more domestic manufacturing means less inflation.

Manufactured goods made overseas, especially in countries like China or Mexico where wages are lower, are generally less expensive than goods made in the United States.

Biden is also overemphasizing supply chain disruptions from abroad as a factor in the worst inflation in four decades. While these issues have indeed been a major factor in driving up costs, inflation is increasingly showing up in other areas, such as rent and restaurant meals, which reflect the rapidly growing economy. and wages over the past year and not a global supply bottleneck. These trends should continue to push prices higher even as supply chains recover.

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INFRASTRUCTURE LAW

BIDEN on infrastructure bill: ‘The biggest investment in history was a bipartisan effort.’

THE FACTS: No, it wasn’t that historic.

Biden’s infrastructure bill was large, adding $550 billion in new spending for roads, bridges and high-speed internet over five years. But measured as a proportion of the US economy, it’s slightly lower than the 1.36% of the nation’s gross domestic product that was spent on infrastructure, on average, during the first four years of the New Deal, according to an analysis by the Brookings Institution.. It is even lower than the roughly 2% spent on infrastructure in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

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REPUBLICAN RESPONSE

GOVERNMENT OF IOWA. KIM REYNOLDS, criticizing the Biden administration’s handling of immigration and bragging about Republican governors’ attention to the issue: “We actually went to the border – something that our president and our vice president don’t haven’t done since taking office.

THE FACTS: This is not true. Vice President Kamala Harris visited the border last year. Biden is not gone yet.

Harris visited a Customs and Border Protection processing center in El Paso, Texas, and met migrant children there. She also stopped at a reception center at the border and had a chat with local community organizations.

The half-day trip in June came after months of criticism from Republicans and some members of his own party over his and Biden’s absence from the border at a time when immigration officials have recorded a record number of encounters with migrants attempting to cross into the United States.

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Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Amanda Seitz in Washington, David Klepper in Providence, Rhode Island, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Karena Phan in New York contributed to this report.

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EDITOR’S NOTE — A look at the veracity of politicians’ claims.

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