Democrat Tim Walz and Republican JD Vance faced off Tuesday night in New York City for their only vice-presidential debate, hosted by CBS News.
Reuters examined 12 statements made by the two running mates.
Although Reuters followed the entire debate, this fact check did not examine every statement. It focuses on topics and narratives that are part of broader public discussion and that can be evaluated with reliable evidence.
Statement by Walz
Claim
Walz said the U.S. is producing more natural gas and more oil than ever before. (Timestamp 9:15 PM ET)
what do we know
This is mostly true. In March 2024, the government Energy Information Administration said in a release that the US had produced “more crude oil than any other country at any time” for the sixth consecutive year. The report said it is unlikely that the 2023 record will be broken by any other country in the “near term”, as none have production capacity above 13.0 million barrels per day. The US average that year was 12.9 million barrels per day.
US monthly production of dry natural gas reached a record high in December 2023, having risen steadily for most of the past decade. However, production is projected to decline in 2024, which would be the first decline since 2020.
Claim
“Donald Trump has paid no federal taxes in 10 of the last 15 years and in his final year as president.” (9:35 pm)
what do we know
Based on available information this is mostly true. In 2020, The New York Times reported, based on an analysis of 2017 tax return data, that Trump had paid no income taxes in 10 of the previous 15 years. The Times said, “This was largely because he reported that he lost more money than he made.” The newspaper said Trump was paid $750 upon winning the 2020 election as well as in his first year in the White House. Trump dismissed this report as “fake news”.
In 2022, the US House Ways and Means Committee released Trump’s tax returns for 2015 to 2020, which revealed that Trump paid no income taxes during the last full year of his presidency. According to the documents, “Trump and his wife Melania paid some form of tax during all four years, but in several years they were able to reduce their income taxes because of income deductions and losses from Trump’s businesses.” Was more than,” Reuters reported.
Claim
Minnesota’s child tax credit “reduces childhood poverty by one-third.” (9:30 pm)
what do we know
It is unknown. The 2023 child tax credit program for low- and moderate-income families was projected to reduce child poverty in Minnesota by one-third, based on analysis by Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy.
No report has been published examining whether the child tax credit program resulted in a one-third reduction in child poverty in the state.
An August 2024 press release by the governor cited state Department of Revenue data stating that the program “infused more than $545 million into the budgets of more than 215,000 Minnesota families” between 2023 and 2024.
Claim
Minnesota ranks first in health care (9:46 pm)
what do we know
It depends on who you ask. This is true based on data published in July 2024 by the financial information site WalletHub, which Walz previously cited when he was governor of Minnesota.
The site ranked Minnesota as the state with the best health care system that offers low health care costs, a high number of convenient care clinics per capita, a high-quality public hospital system, and low emergency room wait times.
Minnesota also tops the charts in the Forbes analysis, but states have varying ratings in other rankings with different methodologies.
Claim
“Minneapolis is the city where we’ve seen the lowest inflation rates,” the Minnesota governor said. (10:07 pm)
what do we know
This has mostly been true during certain periods over the last 1.5 years. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on the 12-month percentage change in the consumer price index, which measures inflation in metropolitan areas, found that the Minneapolis-St. Paul area recorded the lowest inflation rate in the country in May and July 2023. And again in March 2024.
Claim
Walz said Trump created the largest trade deficit with China in American history. (9:34 PM ET)
what do we know
This is true. The US trade deficit with China reached a record high during Trump’s second year in the White House. According to a Commerce Department report in 2019, the trade gap increased by 11.6% to $419.2 billion in 2018, from the previous record of $375.5 billion in 2017.
Under Trump in 2018, the US imposed tariffs on $250 billion of goods imported from China, followed by Beijing imposing tariffs on $110 billion of US products, including soybeans and other goods.
Statement by Vance
Claim
Vance said Iran “gained more than $100 billion in real estate thanks to the Kamala Harris administration.” (timestamp 9:06)
what do we know
This is mixed. In August 2023, US President Joe Biden approved a prisoner swap agreement between the US and Iran, which included the release of $6 billion in Iranian funds frozen in South Korea.
After Iran-backed Palestinian group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, the US said five days later that Iran would never get access to funds held in a Qatari bank and that Washington retained the right to block it. Nidhi.
Separately, Biden had earlier sought to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which Donald Trump abandoned. Negotiations stalled in September 2022.
In 2015, US officials said that if the deal were implemented, Iran would gain access to $100 billion of frozen assets. Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in 2022 that the deal would give Tehran $100 billion a year to destabilize the Middle East, but did not provide details for the calculations.
Claim
“When was the last time there was no major conflict with an American president? The only answer is during the four years that Donald Trump was president,” Vance said. (9:10 pm)
what do we know
This requires more context. Trump joins other presidents such as Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower in not officially bringing the United States into a new war since 1945. Have become.
However, Trump’s presidency included military hostilities and the risk of new wars. Trump ordered a drone strike in 2020 that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, and attacked a Syrian army base in 2017, a move that marked an increased role for the US military in Syria.
The former president also said during a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in 2017 that he would “totally destroy” North Korea.
Claim
Vance said the US “has the cleanest economy in the entire world.” (9:12 pm)
what do we know
This is wrong. The US was second only to China as the highest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions globally last year, according to the European Union’s Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research 2024 report.
The US accounted for 11.25% of global greenhouse gas emissions, while China represented 30.1%.
Per capita greenhouse gas emissions for the US in 2023 were 17.61 tonnes of CO2 equivalents, higher than China’s 11.11, UK’s 5.55 and Mexico’s 5.15, but lower than Canada’s 19.39 and Russia’s 18.66.
In the 2024 World Economic Forum report on the global average Energy Transition Index, a measure of performance and readiness for a clean energy transition, the US ranked 19th. Sweden tops the list, followed by Denmark, Finland, Switzerland and France.
According to this year’s Environmental Performance Index – a project of Yale and Columbia universities that evaluates countries based on indicators such as climate change mitigation, air pollution, deforestation and biodiversity conservation – Estonia topped the ranking. followed by Luxembourg and Germany. America is at 34th place.
Claim
Discussing ways to address carbon emissions, Vance said Kamala Harris’s policies have led to “more energy production in China, more manufacturing overseas” (9:13 p.m.)
what do we know
Vance could be referring to the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act that provides incentives to boost domestic energy production and manufacturing investment, including support for clean energy jobs and sales of new and used electric vehicles.
It is still too early to tell the impact of the IRA on the US manufacturing sector, but some research has shown that it has benefited domestic clean energy manufacturing.
The IRA provides billions of dollars in tax credits to help consumers buy EVs and companies to produce renewable energy as part of the Biden administration’s plan to decarbonize the U.S. electricity sector. China, which dominates the global battery supply chain, is one of four countries excluded from subsidies available to companies looking to invest in the US EV supply chain.
China has since requested the World Trade Organization to set up a panel to help resolve the dispute over “discriminatory subsidies”.
Another area of the global supply chain that China dominates is solar panel production. Some Chinese-backed companies with factories in the US are claiming those subsidies for clean energy manufacturing under the IRA, and a bipartisan group of US lawmakers introduced a bill in July that would prevent them from claiming subsidies for their US factories. Will stop.
Claim
Vance said Donald Trump’s economic policies led to the highest take-home pay in a generation. (9:33 pm)
what do we know
This is true. America’s median household income reached a record high of $68,703 during the Trump administration in 2019, an increase of 6.8% from 2018 – the largest increase in the country since the U.S. Census Bureau began tracking data in 1967 Is.
At that time the White House Economic Advisory Council had said that the increase in the number of workers in the country had led to increase in income. “There were 2.2 million more people working at any time in 2019 than in 2018, and 1.2 million more people working full-time over the year,” the council said.
Claim
“The vast majority of gun violence in this country is committed with illegally obtained firearms, close to 90% in some of the statistics I’ve seen.” (10:00 PM)
what do we know
this is confusing. According to research funded by the National Institute of Justice, the majority of public mass shootings – shootings in which four or more people die – were committed by legally obtained handguns between 1966 and 2019.
An article on a 2021 study stated that data showed that “77% of people involved in mass shootings purchased at least some of their guns legally,” while 13% of mass shootings purchased firearms illegally. Were included.
The report also states that more than 80% of individuals involved in K-12 school shootings had stolen guns from family members.
According to the Bureau of Alcohol’s 2023 report (page 7), between 2017 and 2021, more than 1.4 million crime guns were found in the possession of a known purchaser with a federal firearms license, 99% of which were acquired from a dealer, pawnbroker, or manufacturer. Had gone. , tobacco, firearms and explosives.
These crime guns, however, “may change hands multiple times after that first retail sale, and some of those transactions may be stolen or violate one or more regulations on gun commerce,” the report said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
