FACTCHECKING the 6th Democratic Debate

http://www.factcheck.org/2016/02/factchecking-the-sixth-democratic-debate/

Summary

One week after their last meeting, the Democratic presidential candidates debated in Milwaukee. We found:

• Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said his bill on Social Security would extend the life of the trust funds by 58 years. It’s 40 years, according to the Social Security Administration’s chief actuary.
• Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the Affordable Care Act “has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance.” But the Obama administration’s own figures show a larger drop in the uninsured among Latinos.
• Clinton repeated a claim that “Americans haven’t had a raise in 15 years.” Real weekly earnings went up 9.2 percent in that time frame.
• Both candidates glossed over some context during a disagreement about whether Sanders had once advocated regime change in Libya and Iraq.
• Sanders inflated unemployment figures, including the “real” unemployment rate for African American youth, which he says is more than 50 percent. The official rate for blacks age 16 to 19 is half that.
• The candidates disagreed over whether Sanders had been critical of Obama’s leadership, specifically in a blurb for a new book. Both made some accurate statements, but we provide context.