Email Louis Jacobson
The latest Truth-O-Meter items from Louis Jacobson
The Senate health care bill is longer than Tolstoy's 'War and Peace.'
A small business receiving a federal tax credit "to provide health care for its employees ... would be barred under the Stupak Amendment from allowing their employees to use ... the health care that they offer them for abortion."
In the House health care bill, "Something like 2 percent of the people would [be] eligible even to get the public option."
"Ronald Reagan faced an even worse recession" than the current one.
"The Stupak Amendment doesn't just say you can't use your federal insurance subsidy to pay for an abortion, it says, if you're getting a federal subsidy of any kind, you're not allowed to buy an insurance plan that covers abortion even with your own money."
"There were more people at the Air and Space Museum" than at a rally against the health care bills.
The health care bills will be "mandated spending. You can't cut it, regardless of the budget circumstances."
"President Obama campaigned on a promise to put reproductive health care at the center of his reform plan."
An amendment to the House health reform bill "puts new restrictions on women's access to abortion coverage in the private health insurance market even when they would pay premiums with their own money."
Three presidents in the last century — Harding, Kennedy and Reagan — all cut taxes during recessions and produced "rapid and dramatic economic recoveries," while two, Herbert Hoover and Barack Obama, did "the opposite."
Recent stories from Louis Jacobson
Health care bill or 'War & Peace' -- which is longer?Republican Orrin Hatch says the Democratic health care bill is longer than War and Peace. We count the words.
Abortion and the Stupak amendment, cont'd.We check Ed Rendell's claim that the Stupak amendment would bar employees of small businesses that receive tax credits from getting abortion coverage.
Fact-checking new claims in the Sarah Palin bookWe examine Sarah Palin's claims on the Reagan recession, cap and trade and the McCain tactics on ACORN.
Health promises stallWe add promises on reproductive care and allowing people to shop for health plans like members of Congress. Both get rated Stalled.
Health care reform and the abortion amendmentAbortion opponents put greater restrictions in the House bill. We sort out the details.
GOP health care reform: A simple explanationOur handy guide to the Republican alternative on health care reform.
GOP health bill analysis meets the Truth-O-MeterA Republican rebuttal to the House health care bill includes a number of distortions.
Do polls show 'majority support' for health plan?Obama aide claims lots of support. But a sampling of polls show that's a stretch.
Health care reform: A summary of recent distortionsA PolitiFact guide to distortions in the health care reform debate
Records not as vulnerable as group claimsThe Senior Citizens League says the new computerized records will be open to millions. But we find little to back that up.
Louis Jacobson is a staff writer for PolitiFact. He has served as deputy editor of Roll Call and as founding editor of its legislative wire service, CongressNow. He is also a contributing editor at National Journal magazine, where he spent more than a decade covering politics, policy and lobbying. In 2004, Jacobson originated the Out There column on politics in the states, which has run in Roll Call and stateline.org.
We want to hear your suggestions and comments. For tips or comments on our campaign promise database, please e-mail the Obameter. If you are commenting on a specific promise, please include the promise number. For comments about our Truth-O-Meter or Flip-O-Meter items, please e-mail the Truth-O-Meter. We’re especially interested in seeing any chain e-mails you receive that you would like us to check out.
PolitiFact is a project of the St. Petersburg Times to help you find the truth in American politics. Reporters and editors from the Times fact-check statements by members of Congress, the White House, lobbyists and interest groups and rate them on our Truth-O-Meter. We’re also tracking more than 500 of Barack Obama’s campaign promises and are rating their progress on our new Obameter. >> More
Keep up to date with PolitiFact:
- Sign up for our e-mail (about once a week)
- Put a free PolitiFact widget on your blog or Web page
- Subscribe to our RSS feeds
- Add us to your iGoogle page
- Follow us on Twitter
- Fan us on Facebook
