He
appeared to wrongly claim that he was
responsible for a vast reduction in the price of
the F-35 jet, as well as falsely characterising
a report into the problems of immigration.
The
President's speech made contested claims about
the value of immigration, his success in office,
his plans for tax reform, and healthcare
coverage.
While
much of the speech was focused on the same
rhetoric that Mr Trump led his campaign with
including a commitment to bring jobs back to the
US and boost the military he also made a
number of factual claims about his work as
president.
The
controversial orders Donald
Trump has already issued
Here
are some of those false claims in full, as fact
checked by the Associated Press.
TRUMP:
"According to the National Academy of Sciences,
our current immigration system costs America's
taxpayers many billions of dollars a year."
THE
FACTS: That's not exactly what that report says.
It says immigrants "contribute to government
finances by paying taxes and add expenditures by
consuming public services."
The
report found that while first-generation
immigrants are more expensive to governments
than their native-born counterparts, primarily
at the state and local level, immigrants'
children "are among the strongest economic and
fiscal contributors in the population."
The
report found that the "long-run fiscal impact"
of immigrants and their children would probably
be seen as more positive "if their role in
sustaining labor force growth and contributing
to innovation and entrepreneurial activity were
taken into account."
TRUMP:
"We've saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of
dollars by bringing down the price" of the F-35
jet fighter.
THE
FACTS: The cost savings he persists in bragging
about were secured in full or large part before
he became president.
The
head of the Air Force program announced
significant price reductions in the contract for
the Lockheed F-35 fighter jet Dec. 19 after
Trump had tweeted about the cost but weeks
before he met the company's CEO about it.
Pentagon managers took action even before the
election to save money on the contract. Richard
Aboulafia, an analyst with the aerospace
consulting firm Teal Group, said there is no
evidence of any additional cost savings as a
result of Trump's actions.
TRUMP:
"We will provide massive tax relief for the
middle class."
THE
FACTS: Trump has provided little detail on how
this would happen. Independent analyses of his
campaign's tax proposals found that most of the
benefits would flow to the wealthiest families.
The richest 1 percent would see an average tax
cut of nearly $215,000 a year, while the middle
one-fifth of the population would get a cut of
just $1,010, according to the Tax Policy Center,
a joint project by the Brookings Institution and
Urban Institute.
TRUMP:
"Ninety-four million Americans are out of the
labor force."
THE
FACTS: That's true, but for the vast majority of
them, it's because they choose to be.
That 94
million figure includes everyone aged 16 and
older who doesn't have a job and isn't looking
for one. So it includes retirees, parents who
are staying home to raise children, and high
school and college students who are studying
rather than working.
They
are unlikely to work regardless of the state of
the economy. With the huge baby-boomer
generation reaching retirement age and many of
them retiring, the population of those out of
the labor force is increasing and will continue
to do so, most economists forecast.
It's
true that some of those out of the workforce are
of working age and have given up looking for
work. But that number is probably a small
fraction of the 94 million Trump cited.
TRUMP:
"Obamacare is collapsing ... imploding Obamacare
disaster."
THE
FACTS: There are problems with the 2010 health
care law, but whether it's collapsing is hotly
disputed.
One of
the two major components of the Affordable Care
Act has seen a spike in premiums and a drop in
participation from insurers. But the other
component, equally important, seems to be
working fairly well, even if its costs are a
concern.
Trump
and congressional Republicans want to repeal the
whole thing, which risks leaving millions of
people uninsured if the replacement plan has
shortcomings. Some critics say GOP rhetoric
itself is making things worse by creating
uncertainty about the future.
The
health law offers subsidized private health
insurance along with a state option to expand
Medicaid for low-income people. Together, the
two arms of the program cover more than 20
million people.
Republican governors whose states have expanded
Medicaid are trying to find a way to persuade
Congress and the administration to keep the
expansion, and maybe even build on it, while
imposing limits on the long-term costs of
Medicaid.
While
the Medicaid expansion seems to be working, the
markets for subsidized private health insurance
are stressed in many states. Also affected are
millions of people who buy individual policies
outside the government markets, and face the
same high premiums with no financial help from
the health law.
Larry
Levitt of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family
Foundation says "implosion" is too strong a
term. An AP count found that 12.2 million people
signed up for this year, despite the Trump
administration's threats to repeal the law.
But a
health care blogger and industry consultant,
Robert Laszewski, agrees with Trump, saying too
few young, healthy people have signed up to
guarantee the stability of the insurance
markets.
TRUMP:
His budget plan will offer "one of the largest
increases in national defence spending in
American history".
THE
FACTS: Three times in recent years, Congress
raised defence budgets by larger percentages
than the 54 billion dollars, or 10%, increase Mr
Trump proposes. The base defense budget grew by
41 billion dollars, or 14.3%, in 2002; by 37
billion dollars, or 11.3%, in 2003, and by 47
billion dollars, or 10.9%, in 2008, according to
Defence Department figures.
TRUMP:
"According to data provided by the Department of
Justice, the vast majority of individuals
convicted for terrorism-related offences since
9/11 came here from outside of our country. We
have seen the attacks at home - from Boston to
San Bernardino to the Pentagon and yes, even the
World Trade Centre."
THE
FACTS: It is unclear what Justice Department
data he's citing, but the most recent government
information does not back up his claim. Just
over half the people Mr Trump talks about were
born in the US, according to Homeland Security
Department research revealed last week. That
report said of 82 people the government
determined were inspired by a foreign terrorist
group to attempt or carry out an attack in the
US, just over half were native-born.
Even
the attacks Mr Trump singled out were not
entirely the work of foreigners. Syed Rizwan
Farook, who along with his Pakistani wife killed
14 people in the 2015 attack in San Bernardino,
California, was born in Chicago.
It is
true that in the immediate aftermath of
September 11, the FBI's primary concern was with
terrorists from overseas feared to be plotting
attacks in the US, but that is no longer the
case.
The FBI
and the Justice Department have been preoccupied
with violent extremists from inside the US who
are inspired by the calls to violence and mayhem
of the Islamic State group. The Justice
Department has prosecuted scores of IS-related
cases since 2014, and many of the defendants are
US citizens.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
