Here is a fact check of some of the allegations he made.
Biden defended his approach to migration at the southern border, claiming that “we are returning the vast majority of the families that come.”
Published data on customs and border protection for February show that 7 915 migrants who were part of a ‘family unit’ on the south-western border were suspended under the heading 42 pandemic eviction policy – about 41% of the 19 246 members of the family unit engaged in “meetings” with U.S. officers that month.
At another moment of the news conference, Biden said: “The vast majority of people who come to the border and cross over are sent back.” This is a reasonable assertion about what happened in February, when almost 72% of the 100 441 people encountered at the border – in other words, not just members of the family unit – were suspended under title 42.
Preliminary data for this month to March 17, reviewed by CNN, showed that the percentage of people suspended under Title 42 has dropped significantly since February. For the week ending March 17, 53% of the 34,526 people encountered on the southwestern border were suspended, the lowest percentage of a 2021 week to date. CNN did not review previous March data specifically on family evictions.
Filibuster Statistics
Biden claims that there were five times as many intentions to break the filibuster in 2020 as between 1917 and 1971.
“Between 1917 and 1971, the filibuster existed. There were a total of 58 motions to break a filibuster. All the time. Last year alone, there were five times as many,” Biden said.
Facts first: While experts on the filibuster say it is difficult to even determine the number per year, Biden’s figures are misleading. In 2020, the number of motions submitted to end a Senate debate – a proxy for the use of the filibuster – was about double, not five times, the number from 1917 to 1971.
Molly Reynolds, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who studied the filibuster, told CNN earlier that most scholars think that the best proxy measure is the number of motions filed for a color, an attempt to To end Senate debate.
According to Senate official data, 58 cloture motions were filed from 1917 to 1970 and 13 in 1971. If Biden referred to the number of cloture motions filed from 1917 to 1970, he would have been right when he said there were a total of 58 motions to break the filibuster, but if he included 1971, the total number of cloture motions would be 71.
Using one figure or another, Biden exaggerated the relative number of garment movements filed over the past year, although he was accurate in his general point that the number of filibusters had increased significantly over time. In 2020, only 118 motions were submitted, closer to the double amount submitted between 1917 and 1971.
Vaccinations in the US and the rest of the world
While discussing his goal of achieving 200 million Covid-19 vaccinations in the first 100 days of his administration, Biden reiterates his assertion that ‘no other country in the world has ever come close, not even close to what we do not ‘about the vaccine. before.
Facts first: It is true that no country has vaccinated more people than the US, but it is noteworthy that there are a few smaller countries that have vaccinated a larger portion of their total population. So far, the US has administered vaccines to more than 130 million people, a higher number than any other country in the world. But, 16 countries and territories – including Chile, Israel and the United Kingdom – administered more vaccines per capita. It should be noted that these countries and territories have much smaller populations.
The Trump tax cut and the best 1%
Biden disputes Republican criticism of the $ 1.9 billion cost of his pandemic law, which he said would put money in the pockets of “ordinary people.”
He asked rhetorically whether people had heard Republicans complain about President Donald Trump’s $ 2 billion tax cuts, which Biden said would go “83% to the highest 1%.” Biden and other Democrats have repeatedly cited an 83% figure.
Fact first: These statistics need context. While it is correct to say in general that the richest Americans were the biggest beneficiaries of Trump’s tax cuts in 2017, the figure “83%” is a prediction about what may happen in 2027 under certain circumstances, not about what is already happening do not have.
The Tax Policy Center estimated in 2017 that the best 1% in 2027 would receive approximately 83% of the benefits if the law’s individual tax cuts (which are designed as temporary) were allowed to extend without the extension and the tax cuts on the company which is designed as permanent) continues to exist. Conversely, the Tax Policy Center for 2018 estimated that the best 1% received 20.5% of the benefits, while the 95% -99% group received another 22.1%. For 2025, the estimate was 25.3% to the highest 1%, while the 95% -99% would still get 21.6%.
Biden was correct on his broader point that there is a significant difference in the way the new Biden Act and the 2017 Trump Act treat the rich and the poor. For example, the tax policy center has found that households earning $ 25,000 or less will receive an average tax cut of $ 2,800 this year from the new relief law, which increases their after-tax income by 20%. Under Trump law, these households experienced an average decrease of $ 60 in the first year, or about 0.4% of their income after tax.
The US bailout plan and economic growth
Biden claims that a “majority of forecasters have significantly increased their projections since the U.S. bailout plan was approved. It will now be more than 6%, a 6% GDP growth.”
Facts first: It is true that many economists have upgraded their 2021 gross domestic product forhas just before or after the legislation was passed, north of 6%, but it is difficult to say whether a majority did so without a survey among all economists.
As the adoption of a major bill on Covid became more likely, several economists improved their forecasts for U.S. GDP growth in 2021.
RSM chief economist Joe Brusuelas said the legislation would increase GDP by another 3 percentage points and now predicts growth of 7.2% in 2021.
In March, Goldman Sachs increased its 2021 GDP growth projection to 7% in 2021 from an earlier forecast of 6.8%. Morgan Stanley now predicts 7.3% growth, improving from the 6.4% it forecast in December.
Republican support for US bailout plan
Criticizing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Biden said he had the support of Republican voters. He said that even if McConnell says that “the last thing I did, this last piece of legislation, so far is be left, then he should look at his party. More than 50% of them should be over the edge because they support what I did. ‘
Facts first: Pray it a reasonable basis for this claim; there is an opinion poll that showed that a majority of Republicans support the US bailout plan. Several other polls, however, show that Republican support for the bill is far below the majority level. For example, a CNN poll Found March 3-8, 26% of Republicans were supportive and 73% of Republicans were against it. The result of the poll has seems to change with the wording of the questions of the opinion pollsters.
A Morning Consult / Politico poll conducted Feb. 19-22 found 60% support for the bill among Republican-registered voters – after respondents were told of the plan’s cost of $ 1.9 billion and some key provisions, including the direct payments of $ 1,400. In a Morning Consult / Politico poll conducted March 6-8, 59% of Republican support was found.
However, a poll by the University of Monmouth on February 25 to March 1 put Republican support at just 33%. In addition to the standard differences in the methodology and sampling of the poll (the Monmouth poll among adults, especially non-registered voters), it is noteworthy that Monmouth mentioned the plan’s $ 1.9 billion cost before asking respondents for their opinion. , but the payments of $ 1,400 until then did not mention demand.
Even in the CNN poll in which 73% of Republicans expressed their opposition to the bill, a majority of Republicans expressed support for three of its specific provisions: checks of up to $ 1,400 (55% support), billions schools to help re-enter staff classes (55%), and larger tax credits for families, making it easier for low-income families to claim them (73%). However, 71% of Republicans were opposed to the bill’s $ 350 billion support to state, local, tribal and territorial governments.
Children on the border
Addressing the recent influx of unaccompanied migrant children to the U.S. southern border, Biden claims that “nothing has changed” from the Trump administration – saying there has been a “28% increase in children at the border under my government” 31% increase in the same period of 2019 under Trump.
Facts first: Biden was wrong about the increase in children at the border during his own administration. It looks like he’s mixing two different statistics, one on children and one on migrants in general.
According to Customs and Border Protection data, the number of unaccompanied children found at the border increased by 61% between January and February 2021, not the 28% that Biden claimed. This is approximately double the increase between January and February 2019.
According to information on customs and border protection, overall encounters with migrants at the border increased by 28% from January to February this year. But Biden specifically referred to ‘children’.
This story has been updated with additional fact checks.
