Politics

White House Sends Out Error-Laden Economy ‘Fact Sheet’ On Eve Of SOTU

(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Diana Glebova White House Correspondent
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The White House sent out a misleading “fact sheet” about the economy on Monday, one day before President Joe Biden is set to address the American people in the State of the Union.

The “fact sheet,” entitled “The Biden Economic Plan Is Working,” lays out how the Biden administration has shown economic “progress” over the past two years — a topic the president aims to highlight in his Tuesday night speech. Despite Biden declaring an economic victory over the deficit, a “manufacturing boom” and winning against “Big Pharma,” several of the “facts” are misleading claims.

“In the last two years, the Administration cut the deficit by more than $1.7 trillion—the largest deficit reduction in American history. The President believes we need to continue that progress—and reward work, not wealth,” the statement reads.

The deficit largely fell because of the expiration of COVID-19 funding, not due to the Biden administration’s efforts, Check Your Fact reported.

“Eighty percent of that $1.8 trillion or so falling deficit is because of expiring or waning COVID relief. The remaining 20% you can explain by economic changes, including a stronger than expected economy and especially higher inflation which leads to higher tax revenue,” Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), told Check Your Fact in a phone interview in September. (RELATED: White House Misleads Americans With Claim About Gas Prices)

WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 01: U.S. President Joe Biden presides over a meeting of the White House Competition Council, including Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyamo (R), in the East Room on February 01, 2023 in Washington, DC. The council is meeting as inflation appears to be slowing, tens of thousands of tech workers are being laid off and the Federal Reserve Bank meets to consider another interest rate hike. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The “fact sheet” then claims that Biden’s economic plan has generated “a manufacturing boom across the country” and has built “an economy where no one is left behind.”

The “boom” of manufacturing the administration refers to, however, largely coincided with coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There were 12.785 million manufacturing employees across the country in February of 2020. The Trump administration saw a large decline of manufacturing jobs that coincided with the onset of the pandemic, dropping to 11.414 million in April of 2020, and the Biden administration brought the numbers back up to 12.999 million in January of 2023, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The “fact sheet” continues to tout Biden’s victory over “Big Pharma,” saying, “Medicare will be able to negotiate drug prices and cap out-of-pocket pharmacy costs at $2,000 per year.”

The victory claim is missing context, as the cap on “out-of-pocket pharmacy costs” will not go into effect until 2025.

Biden will discuss more economic claims in the State of the Union, specifically “cutting prescription drug costs, health insurance premiums, and energy bills, while driving the uninsured rate to historic lows,” the statement read.