The first prime-time Republican presidential debate featured the top 10 candidates, according to polling, and they twisted some facts:
1. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said that "over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks . have been wiped out" since the Dodd-Frank law was passed. The total number of commercial banks has gone down only 16 percent, continuing a longtime trend. The fact is, small and medium-size banks had been getting swallowed up by larger banks for decades before the Dodd-Frank bill was enacted.
2. Businessman Donald Trump said his net worth is $10 billion, but outside estimates put the figure much lower. The Bloomberg Billionaire's Index estimates Trump's worth at $2.9 billion.
3. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush twice claimed that he cut taxes in the state by $19 billion. But that includes cuts in Florida estate taxes mandated by federal law that Bush had nothing to do with. State legislation enacted during Bush's eight years as governor resulted in $13 billion in tax cuts, or $140 per resident.
4. Ohio Gov. John Kasich claimed his state's Medicaid program "is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country." Ohio ranks 16th in terms of enrollment growth post-Affordable Care Act among the 30 expansion states and Washington, D.C. Ohio is in the middle of the pack, not "one of the lowest rates in the country." The state's growth is slightly above the 22 percent average for all states, including non-expansion states.
5. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker claimed his state "more than made up" for the job losses from the recession. That's a stretch. The state's job growth has not kept pace with the rest of the country - which is reflected in the fact that Wisconsin ranks 34th in job growth rate during his time as governor. Since January 2011, Wisconsin has a job growth rate of 5.1 percent, while the U.S. as a whole has a rate of 8.4 percent.
6. Rubio said he had never advocated exceptions for rape or incest to abortion bans, but he cosponsored a bill in 2013 that contained just such exceptions. Although he is entitled to change his opinion over time, his claim that he never supported exceptions to abortion laws regarding rape or incest is false.
7. Boasting about his education initiatives while governor, Bush claimed that the graduation rate "improved by 50 percent." But most of the increase happened after Bush left office; the rate increased about 13 percent when he was governor.
8. Bush claimed that the U.S. spends more per student than any other country, but Luxembourg, Switzerland and Norway all spend more for primary and secondary education.
9. Bush and Planned Parenthood (PPH). Bush vetoed funding totaling 25% of PPH's budget in 2001.That money was not for abortions, but was used to provide family planning services to poor women, and had been available for more than a decade. The money paid for pap smears and sexually transmitted disease screening and treatments, and went to treat patients who had no health insurance or access to Medicaid.
10. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee repeated the old claim that Obamacare "robbed" Medicare of $700 billion. The savings come at the expense of insurers and hospitals, not beneficiaries. That's a reduction in the future growth of spending over 10 years. Experts question whether some of the cuts actually will be implemented. But if they are, Medicare will be able to stretch its revenues for a longer time than they would last otherwise.
Chip Tuthill is a longtime resident of Mancos. Websites used: www.factcheck.org and www.politifact.com.