President Barack Obama told his Republican critics that if they don’t like his budget, they should propose their own. They did, but came under fire for a lack of specifics.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the Republican plan didn’t include any numbers.
“I think if I intoned to you that I would produce a 20-page document that outlined my budget priorities, that it might actually contain a chart with some numbers. I don’t think that’s a whole lot to ask,” he said.
We looked into the matter and found that Gibbs is right. We rated his statement
True
.
And in case you missed it, read our previous coverage of Obama’s budget:
• Obama said at a prime-time news conference that his budget plan would halve the deficit in five years, a claim we found to be technically true, but also somewhat misleading because the initial number is so big. We gave it a
Mostly True
.
• Republican Sen. Judd Gregg claimed Obama’s budget would double the national debt in five years. We gave that one a
Mostly True.
• Obama claimed in a news conference that with his plans, nondefense discretionary spending — as a percentage of the gross national product — will fall to its lowest level since the 1960s.We rated this one a
Barely True
.
• Republican Rep. Cynthia Lummis said that under Obama’s proposal, families earning at least $250,000 a year would lose their mortgage and charitable deductions. We found this one to be so alarmist and misleading, it earned our lowest rating,
Pants on Fire
.
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