Vice-presidential debate: Pence and Harris claim fact-checking

Vice President Mike Pence and his Democratic challenger Kamala Harris took part in the televised debate ahead of the November 3 US election.

We have factually reviewed claims on topics including dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, the economy and the environment.

Verdict: This is not right. Some people were released – it is estimated that thousands still flew to the US.

Vice President Mike Pence defended the U.S. government’s response to coronavirus, claiming that hundreds of thousands of lives were saved because President Trump suspended all travel from China in the early stages of the outbreak.

Mr Trump issued an order on January 31 preventing foreign nationals who had been in China for the past two weeks from entering the US, which took effect on February 2.

But the order has exemptions for U.S. citizens, legal residents and family members who are not civilians and with close ties. Flight data analyzed by the New York Times shows that 40,000 people arrived directly from China in the US in the two months following President Trump’s restrictions.

Verdict: This is not right.

Senator Harris criticized President Trump’s handling of the pandemic, accusing him of calling it a “joke” and saying the government “minimized its seriousness”.

President Trump did not directly call the virus a “fraud.”

He accused the Democrats in February of ‘politicizing the coronavirus’ and called the accusation process against him a “fraud”.

He further said that the criticism by the Democrats about his handling of Covid-19 was ‘their new joke’.

Verdict: This is more or less right.

From March to April this year, more than 22.7 million Americans lost their jobs,

according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Since then, about 11.4 million jobs have been added, but the unemployment rate is still much higher than before the pandemic.

The unemployment rate is currently 7.9%. It was 3.5% in February this year – before the outbreak in the US.

Verdict: This applies to the total number since February, but the current claims are significantly lower.

Unemployment insurance claims have risen 30 million since the outbreak began in February.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the number of claims has decreased over the past few weeks and about 12 million continue with claims.

Verdict: There are no details on how the Trump administration plans to protect people with pre-existing conditions.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), passed under President Obama, has made it illegal to deny coverage to people with a pre-existing condition. The Trump administration has tried to repeal and replace it and now wants to dismantle the law in the Supreme Court.

In September, President Trump signed an executive order stating: “access to health insurance must be maintained despite underlying health conditions”.

But there are no details on how this will be done or funded.

Verdict: The quote is correct, but President Trump said at the same press conference that he was not referring to neo-Nazis or white nationalists.

Kamala Harris raised President Trump’s controversial comments following right-wing rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. Violent clashes left one of the protesters dead.

According to a transcript of a press conference on August 15, President Trump said – when asked about the presence of neo-Nazis during the rally – “you had a lot of bad people in the group, but you also had people who very good were people on both sides. ‘

At the same press conference, however, Trump said, “I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be completely condemned.”

Verdict: This is not right. Joe Biden said he would not ban hydraulic fracturing, but he also said he may not authorize new hydraulic fracturing on federal ground.

During the debate, there were tough discussions about the future of hydrofracking – the controversial technique used to extract shale gas from the ground.

Senator Harris responded to Pence’s demand, insisting, “Joe Biden will not end the fracturing.”

In August 2020, Mr. Biden said, “I do not prohibit hydraulic fracturing. Let me say it again: I do not prohibit hydraulic fracturing.”

In March 2020, during a democratic debate, however, he said: “No more – no new hydrofracking.”

He later made it clear: “I have said I will not make any new leases on federal lands.”

At a CNN City Hall event in September 2019, Ms Harris said: “There is no doubt, I am in favor of banning fracking.”

Verdict: This figure is incorrect.

Manufacturing jobs have fallen under the Trump administration, but only since the outbreak of the coronavirus.

The latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that as of September, there were 179,000 fewer manufacturing jobs than when Trump took office.

Before the pandemic, the US added nearly half a million during its first three years in office.

Verdict: He is right about clean air (although it follows a long-term trend in the US), but not about water.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says the US currently has the cleanest air recorded.

Over the past few decades, air quality – a measure of six major pollutants – has improved significantly in the US.

According to the EPA, the total level of these pollutants decreased by 77% from 1970 to 2019. And this trend has largely continued in President Trump’s government with a 7% drop between 2017 and 2019.

In terms of water, according to Yale University, the US is 26th in the world in terms of sanitation and drinking water.

In this ranking, Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom have the cleanest water.

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