Fact Checker

The Gazette’s Fact Checker Team investigates claims made by Democratic state Sen. Joe Bolkcom on “the top 15 things Gov. Kim Reynolds will not tell Americans.”

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, selected by the GOP to deliver the Republican Party’s response to President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union Tuesday, scored a mix of A’s, B’s, C’s and D’s.

In a Feb. 15 news release, Sen. Joni Ernst criticized a federal harm reduction program, which would provide $30 million in grants funded by the American Rescue Plan to increase access to services and support to reduce drug overdoses and other public health challenges associated with drug use.

Gov. Kim Reynolds said earlier this month that state data has show an increase in “incidental” COVID-19 among hospitalized patients in Iowa in recent weeks when compared to hospitalizations rates in 2020. Incidental refers to patients who arrive at the hospital for other reasons, but test positive for the virus as part of routine screening.

We fact check the Iowa Senate Democrats tweet: “@KimReynoldsIA is proposing a budget cut to the already underfunded Iowa State Patrol. Kim Reynolds and Iowa Republicans are literally the only ones proposing to defund the police.”

As state lawmakers consider tax cuts, an Iowa senator claims, “Data has long shown the states with low or no income tax grow more quickly than states with high, punitive tax rates.” Academic consensus is less certain.

Sen. Chuck Grassley said police killings in 2021 reached the highest level since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Was he right?

Rep. Cindy Axne, the Democrat representing Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, touted her 2021 accomplishments in an end-of-year report published last month. The Gazette’s Fact Checker team takes a look at some of her claims.

Some statements in the 2022 Condition of the State address drew cheers, while others might have angered listeners. The Gazette Fact Checker checked 10 claims for accuracy.

U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson criticizes Biden administration for reported $450,000 payments to some immigrants separated from family members at the U.S. border in 2018. Were her claims accurate?

Fact Checker: Sen. Chuck Grassley, who has received campaign contributions from the NRA, blocked a gun control measure days after the deadly Oxford High School shooting, offering an alternative he co-sponsored. Would the provisions of the blocked bill have saved lives?

Republicans have been eager to blame rising prices on President Joe Biden and a new animated video Sen. Joni Ernst tweeted Nov. 23 does just that.

A technology advocacy coalition called Chamber of Progress takes aim at Sen. Chuck Grassley in online targeted ads for a new bill that would regulate Big Tech companies like Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Google. The ad claims the bill would block Amazon from selling its brand name products and end free shipping for customers.

Just before Halloween, the National Republican Congressional Committee released an ad saying “What’s scarier than Halloween? Democrats spending billions to hire an army of IRS agents to spy on your bank account.”

On Sept. 27, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley stated a number of individuals making less than $400,000 a year could see tax increases under the Build Back Better Act. Is he correct?