More Menendez, Kyrillos claims tested on Truth-O-Meter

Money was at the heart of two weekend rulings on the Truth-O-Meter.

In case you missed it, the Truth-O-Meter handed down two False rulings: one on Sunday to U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez for a claim about when the Senate last passed a budget, and one Monday to Joe Kyrillos for his claim about the last time he voted against increasing New Jersey’s minimum wage.

Both claims were made Wednesday during a debate on New Jersey 101.5 FM between Menendez, the Democratic incumbent, and Kyrillos, a Republican from Monmouth County. The two will face off for a six-year Senate seat on Nov. 6.

Menendez claim

The senator, seeking his second term in office, denied a Kyrillos charge that the Senate hadn’t passed a budget in three years, saying that the Senate passed a Budget Control Act that serves as the body’s budget.

A Budget Control Act performs budgetary functions – such as setting limits on certain types of future discretionary spending — but is not a traditional budget, PolitiFact New Jersey determined. Experts agreed.

Kyrillos claim

At another point in the debate, Menendez accused Kyrillos, a state senator, of voting against attempts to raise the state’s minimum wage. Kyrillos responded that he supports raising the minimum wage and last voted against raising it in the 1980s.

PolitiFact New Jersey determined that Kyrillos voted against hiking the minimum wage in 2005, but two weeks later introduced a bill raising it, at a slower pace. That bill was sent to a committee, but no vote was ever taken. As a state assemblyman, Kyrillos in 1990 voted against a three-phase increase in the minimum wage.

Talk to us

Election Day is three weeks away. If you hear a candidate claim that’s worthy of a fact-check, e-mail the claim to us at politifactnj@starledger.com and we may test it on the Truth-O-Meter. 

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