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Rick Perry

Rick Perry

Rick Perry is the U.S. Energy Secretary and was governor of Texas from late December 2000 through 2014. He was re-elected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. He unsucessfully ran for president in 2012 and 2016.

Rick Perry Website

Scorecard

true
0% 26 Checks
mostly true
0% 24 Checks
half true
0% 43 Checks
mostly false
0% 30 Checks
false
0% 31 Checks
Pants on Fire
0% 18 Checks
For more details, see the Principles of PolitiFact

Latest Fact-Checks By Rick Perry

Clear
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
stated on August 14, 2019 a speech
"The U.S. now leads the world in producing both oil and natural gas, and at the same time reducing energy-related emissions."
Half-True
By Madlin Mekelburg • August 27, 2019
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
stated on June 27, 2017 a White House briefing
France "wouldn’t buy Texas beef for some reason, yet 76 percent of their energy comes from nuclear power."
Mostly True
By W. Gardner Selby • June 30, 2017
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
stated on June 19, 2017 an interview
"Most likely the primary control knob (for the earth’s temperature) is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in."
False
By John Kruzel • June 22, 2017
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
stated on January 15, 2016 Radio interview
"Building a wall" on the U.S.-Mexico border "will take literally years."
True
By Eleanor Dearman • February 27, 2016
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
stated on August 2, 2015 an interview on "Fox News Sunday"
Says Donald Trump is for a single-payer health care system.
Half-True
By Linda Qiu • August 2, 2015
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
stated on June 4, 2015 his speech declaring his candidacy for president
"I deployed the Texas National Guard" to the Texas-Mexico border. "And the policy worked; apprehensions at the border declined 74 percent."
Mostly False
By Bradley Saacks • July 26, 2015
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
stated on July 2, 2015 a speech at the National Press Club
"Texas’ high school graduation rate went from 27th in the country in 2002, to second highest in the country in 2013."
Mostly False
By W. Gardner Selby • July 20, 2015
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
stated on June 4, 2015 his declaration for president
"Texas now has the second-highest high school graduation rate in the country. And it has the highest graduation rate for African Americans and Hispanics."
Mostly True
By W. Gardner Selby • June 19, 2015
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
stated on June 4, 2015 his speech declaring his candidacy for president
"In the last seven years of my tenure, Texas created 1.5 million new jobs. As a matter of fact, without Texas, America would have lost 400,000 jobs."
Mostly True
By W. Gardner Selby • June 8, 2015
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
stated on May 7, 2015 a visit to Deerfield, NH
"The entirety of North America -- Canada, the United States and Mexico -- there's more known reserves in those three countries than in Russia and Saudi Arabia."
Mostly False
By Clay Wirestone • June 5, 2015
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
stated on May 16, 2015 a speech in Iowa
"One out of five of our children live in a family that’s on food stamps."
True
By W. Gardner Selby • June 3, 2015
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
stated on May 5, 2015 an oped column
On reauthorization of Export-Import Bank.
Full Flop
By W. Gardner Selby • May 7, 2015
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
stated on April 7, 2015 an interview with the Texas Tribune
On in-state tuition for unauthorized immigrants.
Half Flip
By W. Gardner Selby • April 15, 2015
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
stated on February 24, 2015 a speech
"Thomas Paine wrote that ‘the duty of a patriot is to protect his country from his government.’"
False
By Sean Gorman • March 9, 2015
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
stated on February 27, 2015 a web ad
"At this particular point in time, looking at the field, there’s only one individual that’s ever had the uniform of his country on—and that’s me."
Half-True
By Alex Wilts, W. Gardner Selby • March 4, 2015
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
stated on February 24, 2015 a speech.
"America produces more oil and gas than any other nation in the world."
True
By Sean Gorman • March 2, 2015
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
stated on February 11, 2015 a statement
"Obama has chosen to deny the vicious anti-Semitic motivation of the attack on a kosher Jewish grocery in Paris."
False
By Lauren Carroll • February 12, 2015
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
stated on February 5, 2014 an interview with the Texas Tribune and Washington Post.
"When I came into office, our vaccination rate in Texas was 65 percent. When I left two weeks ago, it was 95 percent."
False
By W. Gardner Selby • February 12, 2015
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
stated on January 15, 2015 valedictory speech as governor to the Texas Legislature
Texas has "the lowest crime rate in this state since 1968" because of changes in law regarding nonviolent drug offenders.
Half-True
By W. Gardner Selby • February 3, 2015
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
stated on January 26, 2015 a breakfast talk in Iowa
The U.S. unemployment rate has "been massaged, it’s been doctored."
Pants on Fire!
By W. Gardner Selby • January 26, 2015
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Latest Fact-Checks About Rick Perry

Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton
stated on June 4, 2015 a speech
"Former Gov. Rick Perry signed a law that a federal court said was actually written with the purpose of discriminating against minority voters."
Mostly True
By Keely Herring, Linda Qiu • June 9, 2015
Texas Democratic Party
Texas Democratic Party
stated on February 12, 2015 a press release
More than 1 million Texans live without affordable health care because Rick Perry failed to "partner with the Legislature to find a Texas solution to closing the coverage gap."
Mostly True
By W. Gardner Selby • March 1, 2015
Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
stated on January 15, 2015 an email blast
"College tuition rates in Texas jumped by 55% since 2003."
Mostly True
By W. Gardner Selby • January 28, 2015
Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
stated on January 15, 2015 an email blast
Since Rick Perry became governor, "poverty rates in Texas increased from 15.1% to 17.5% — which is higher than the national average."
Half-True
By W. Gardner Selby • January 22, 2015
Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
stated on May 29, 2014 an email blast
Rick Perry doesn’t think there should be a federal minimum wage.
True
By W. Gardner Selby • May 30, 2014
Democratic Governors Association
Democratic Governors Association
stated on October 24, 2013 an email blast
"Texas Governor Rick Perry’s voter ID law is a blatant effort to defeat Wendy Davis by disenfranchising tens of thousands of women voters."
Pants on Fire!
By W. Gardner Selby • October 31, 2013
Gilberto Hinojosa
Gilberto Hinojosa
stated on September 25, 2013 an interview on YNN’s “Capital Tonight”
40,000 veterans in Texas won’t get health care because Perry rejected Obamacare's Medicaid expansion.
Mostly True
By Sue Owen • October 17, 2013
Stephanie Cutter
Stephanie Cutter
stated on September 18, 2013 an episode of CNN's "Crossfire"
"One out of 10 minimum-wage workers in the U.S. live in Texas."
True
By W. Gardner Selby • September 20, 2013
John Currie
John Currie
stated on September 9, 2013 a guest blog post
Unemployment in Texas has risen over two percentage points with Rick Perry as governor.
Half-True
By W. Gardner Selby • September 17, 2013
Jay Nixon
Jay Nixon
stated on August 27, 2013 a radio advertisement
Says that "unlike Texas, Missouri has a perfect AAA credit rating."
True
By W. Gardner Selby • August 30, 2013
Facebook posts
Facebook posts
stated on June 13, 2013 a fake Rick Perry 2016 poster.
"Texas ranks: #1 in worker deaths, #1 carbon emissions, #50 in high school graduates, #50 in funding for mental health patients."
Half-True
By W. Gardner Selby • July 19, 2013
Fix Austin Schools
Fix Austin Schools
stated on May 4, 2013 a leaflet.
Says that under Rick Perry’s plan, "Texas has cut funding for public schools by 25%."
Mostly True
By W. Gardner Selby • May 7, 2013
Jack Ohman
Jack Ohman
stated on April 25, 2013 a column on an editorial cartoon.
Says the fertilizer plant that exploded in West, Texas,"had not been inspected by the state of Texas since 2006."
False
By W. Gardner Selby • May 1, 2013
Nelson Wolff
Nelson Wolff
stated on April 1, 2013 a Texas Capitol press conference.
Says uncompensated health care costs absorbed by Texas hospitals are adding $1,800 a year to Texas private insurance rates.
Mostly False
By W. Gardner Selby • April 17, 2013
Sacramento Bee Editorial Board
Sacramento Bee Editorial Board
stated on February 6, 2013 an editorial.
Says Texas ranks first in executions among the states.
True
By W. Gardner Selby • February 8, 2013
Sacramento Bee Editorial Board
Sacramento Bee Editorial Board
stated on February 6, 2013 an editorial.
Says Texas ranks last in the percentage of residents with high school diplomas.
True
By W. Gardner Selby • February 8, 2013
Joseph
Joseph "Joe" Deshotel
stated on November 13, 2012 a press release.
"There is no evidence that poor people abuse drugs more frequently than any other socio-economic group."  
False
By W. Gardner Selby • November 26, 2012
Kinky Friedman
Kinky Friedman
stated on August 1, 2012
Says Texas is 1st in business climate, 49th in education.
Half-True
By Sue Owen • August 17, 2012
Julián Castro
Julián Castro
stated on June 8, 2012 his speech at the Texas Democratic Party State Convention in Houston
Says cuts by Gov. Rick Perry's administration left "12,000 teachers without a job."
Half-True
By Sue Owen • July 6, 2012
Rick Santorum
Rick Santorum
stated on January 11, 2012 comment to reporters.
Rick Santorum says Rick Perry requested 1,200 earmarks as governor of Texas.
Pants on Fire!
By Katie Glueck • January 20, 2012
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