The first 2012 Presidential Debate of the general election season focused on domestic policies - mostly on the economy. Here is a list of some noteworthy points made by the candidates during the debate along with some fact checking.
Medicare/Affordable Care Act:
- Romney said Obama's health care plan cut more than $700 billion from Medicare. This claim is partially true. The money that Romney mentions was never allocated to Medicare in the first place, rather, the Affordable Care Act has simply kept around $500 billion from being added to the Medicare budget, according to Politifact.com.
- Romney said he would repeal the Affordable Care Act, in part, to decrease Medicare costs. According to multiple sources, including The Associated Press, The New York Times and Politifact.com, citing a CBO study, this plan would actually add to the cost of Medicare. If Romney repealed the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare," an estimated $716 billion would be added to Medicare costs over the course of 10 years. Also, it would leave 30 million fewer people without health care by the year 2022.
Deficit:
- Romney correctly said Obama failed to cut the deficit in half during his first term, a promise made by Obama during his 2008 campaign.
- Romney also correctly said there has been more deficit spending under the Obama administration compared to the Bush administration. Obama has spent $5.3 trillion during his four years in office, compared to Bush's $2 trillion, according to Politifact.com.
- Romney said another reason for repealing the Affordable Care Act would be to help lower the federal deficit. This is false. By repealing the act, Romney would add an estimated $109 billion to the deficit, according to a CBO projection.
- Obama said his budget would cut the deficit by $4 trillion. This is partially true. Obama's budget on its own does not reach this goal. Obama is adding in $2 trillion cuts that have already been passed thanks to the House and Senate.
Taxes:
- The biggest argument of the night focused on Romney's $5 trillion tax cut. Romney repeatedly said he would not be cutting tax revenue by $5 trillion, however, Romney has proposed cutting all marginal tax rates by 20 percent, which would lead to a $5 trillion loss in tax revenue. Romney has said he would account for these losses but has failed to clarify how. According to Politifact.com, Romney cannot achieve his tax cut without raising taxes on middle-income households. Making such large cuts in tax revenue while remaining "revenue neutral" would mean eliminating deductions and tax exemptions. Households earning $200,000 or less would see taxes raised by an average of $2,000. However, this is not set in stone due to the fact that Romney has not released his full tax plan.
- Romney defended his tax plan saying five studies backed him up. However, two of these studies are editorial pieces from The Wall Street Journal and another comes from a campaign adviser. The other two come from Princeton University and The American Enterprise Institute. So, in reality Romney has two reputable studies backing up his tax plan.
Overall, the debate appeared to favor Romney in terms of poise and confidence. The Republican candidate met the president's eyes throughout the majority of the debate, talked over the moderator in order to get his points across and delivered a couple of the "zingers" he has been practicing.
However, in terms of accurate information, Obama came away from the debate in much better shape than his opponent. Romney attacked the president over his health care plan but made a large mistake by stating that repealing the Affordable Care Act would decrease the federal deficit and Medicare costs.
Andrew Mishler contributed to this story.
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