His address to Congress included claims that didn't tell the full story.

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** Biden's Second SOTU Address
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Considering that the State of the Union address is one of the most fact-checked speeches, presidents and their speechwriters usually avoid making wildly false claims that will draw even more scrutiny.

But every year we still find plenty to write about, as heads of state often can't resist puffing up their record or straining the facts about their predecessor's. President Joe Biden did both in his address to Congress and the nation this week.

He first boasted that 12 million jobs were created in his first two years in office without mentioning that job growth was fueled by a post-pandemic recovery that started before he took office. Then he said that one-quarter of the nation's debt was added during the Trump administration without acknowledging that trillions of dollars of the accumulated debt under Trump was due to bipartisan coronavirus relief packages.

Biden also provoked boos from Republicans in attendance when he declared that some in the GOP have a plan to "sunset" Medicare and Social Security. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green even shouted out "liar."

No, Biden's claim wasn't completely made-up -- but he wasn't telling the full story either. We had to unspin other claims in his speech as well.

To read about them all, see "FactChecking the State of the Union ([link removed]) ."
HOW WE KNOW
We used the Department of Treasury's "Debt to the Penny ([link removed]) " webpage to check how much debt was added during Donald Trump’s presidency. The page provides figures for the debt held by the public and the total outstanding debt, which includes money the government owes to itself.

FEATURED FACT
The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services was $948 billion in 2022, a new record, according to ([link removed]) figures the Bureau of Economic Analysis released this week. It's the third consecutive year that the trade gap has increased, contrary to Biden's suggestion in his speech that U.S. imports have declined.
WORTHY OF NOTE
Hearst Television -- which has been one of our media partners since 2019 ([link removed]) -- aired a fact-checking segment about the State of the Union address that featured our article on the president's prime-time speech.

The segment, which aired on numerous ([link removed]) local TV news stations owned and operated by Hearst, looked specifically at Biden's statements about jobs, inflation, wages and the deficit.

You can view the segment ([link removed]) on the website of KMBC in Kansas City, Missouri, which was one of the many stations that aired the report.
REPLY ALL

Reader: Is it true that people who work at “hamburger” businesses cannot go to another “hamburger" restaurant to work for more money because of the non-compete clause, as stated by President Biden in his State of the Union speech?

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: This is what the president said: "For example, I should have known this, but I didn’t until two years ago: 30 million workers had to sign noncompete agreements with the jobs they take. Thirty million. So a cashier at a burger place can’t walk across town and take the same job at another burger place to make a few bucks more. It just changed — well, they just changed it because we exposed it. That was part of the deal, guys. Look it up. But not anymore. We’re banning those agreements, so companies have to compete for workers and pay them what they’re worth."

His example of "a cashier at a burger place" is wrong, but his larger point is correct. Let me explain.

During the 2020 campaign, Biden promised ([link removed]) to end noncompete clauses. Now, the Federal Trade Commission is seeking to fulfill that campaign promise by proposing a rule last month that it says ([link removed]) "would ban employers from imposing noncompetes on their workers, a widespread and often exploitative practice that suppresses wages." The FTC estimates that its rule "could increase wages by nearly $300 billion per year and expand career opportunities for about 30 million Americans."

The president, though, has frequently ([link removed]) and mistakenly ([link removed]) cited hamburger chains as an example of noncompete clauses. We wrote about that in 2020, when Biden was running for president and said: "McDonald’s making billions of dollars, but here’s the deal they’ve made you all sign noncompete contracts that you cannot go across town to try to get a job at Burger King."

In our story, "Biden's False Claim About McDonald's ([link removed]) ," Orley C. Ashenfelter, a Princeton University professor and co-author of a study on franchise contracts, told us that fast-food chains don’t block workers from going to work for their competitors. Many chains have had, however, a "no-poach" policy that blocked employees from moving to another franchise within the same company. “No-poach” agreements don’t apply to leaving for another company. But Biden was wrong in his campaign speech. McDonald's stopped that practice in 2017 after it was sued.

And McDonald's is not alone in ending that practice. In 2017, the New York Times wrote about ([link removed]) the lawsuit against McDonald's, and how it was common practice within the fast-food industry. After that, numerous other fast-food chains also dropped their "no-poach" agreements in response to investigations and legal threats that were made by numerous state attorneys general. Other fast-food chains that dropped their rules included: Auntie Anne's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Carl's Jr., Cinnabon, Jimmy John's, ([link removed]) Arby's, Dunkin’, Five Guys, Little Caesars ([link removed]) , Burger King, Popeye's, and Tim Horton's
([link removed]) . (That list is not exhaustive.)

Bottom line, Biden's example was wrong, but he is seeking to fulfill his campaign promise to end noncompete clauses.


** Wrapping Up
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Here's what else we've got for you this week:
* "COVID-19 Vaccines Can Slightly Alter Menstrual Cycle Temporarily, But Don’t Harm Fertility ([link removed]) ": Research suggests COVID-19 vaccination can cause changes in a person’s menstrual cycle. But the changes are small and short-lived — and studies have shown there’s no effect on fertility. Yet people on social media are suggesting the cycle changes are evidence of harm.
* "FBI Reimbursed Twitter for Providing User Information ([link removed]) ": In an email to a Twitter lawyer in February 2021, an unidentified Twitter employee wrote that the company had received over $3.4 million from the FBI since October 2019 as reimbursement for Twitter’s processing of legal requests for user information. That is not evidence that the FBI paid Twitter to “censor” or “suppress” content.
* "Post Misstates Quote from Starbucks CEO on Marriage ([link removed]) ": Starbucks has a long history of supporting LGBTQ rights and same-sex marriage. But a post on social media twists a 2013 statement from its CEO at the time to falsely claim he said don’t buy Starbucks coffee “if you support traditional marriage.”
* "Hannity’s Dubious Claim About Studies Showing ‘No Systemic Racism in Policing’ ([link removed]) ": Discussing the fallout from the death of Tyre Nichols, Fox News’ Sean Hannity said two academic studies found police officers are as or less likely to shoot Black suspects, showing, “There is no systemic racism in policing. It doesn’t exist.” But that’s not what the studies say.
* "U.S. Spent Much More in Afghan War Than in Support for Ukraine So Far, Contrary to Online Claim ([link removed]) ": The U.S. spent more than $849 billion in the 20-year war in Afghanistan and has spent about $113 billion to support Ukraine since Russia invaded in 2022. But a video on social media falsely claims that the aid for Ukraine is “double the U.S. expenditure for its own war in Afghanistan.”
* "Moisture-Absorbent Tablet in Pregnancy Tests, Not ‘Hidden Plan B’ Pill ([link removed]) ": Pregnancy tests contain a desiccant tablet to absorb moisture and keep the test dry before use. But posts on social media falsely claim the tablet is a “hidden plan B” pill. Companies that produce pregnancy tests include a warning on their websites not to consume the desiccant tablets inside.

Y lo que publicamos en español ([link removed]) (English versions are accessible in each story):
* "La eliminación de la poliomielitis se debe a la vacunación, no al fin del uso de pesticidas ([link removed]) ": La poliomielitis, una enfermedad paralizante causada por un virus, ha sido eliminada en Estados Unidos (y erradicada en casi todo el mundo) gracias a las vacunas. Pero las redes sociales están resucitando viejas y falsas afirmaciones de que la poliomielitis es causada por pesticidas y que los brotes de la enfermedad terminaron cuando la gente dejó de usar DDT.
* "Es demasiado pronto para atribuir las tormentas de California al cambio climático, según los expertos ([link removed]) ": Las incesantes tormentas que azotaron California del 27 de Diciembre al 16 de enero provocaron inundaciones extremas y grandes daños en la mayor parte del estado, causando la muerte de al menos 22 personas. Pero expertos en climatología nos dijeron que es demasiado pronto para saber si el cambio climático tuvo un papel en este fenómeno en particular y, de ser así, en qué medida.
* "Tuit viral distorsiona informe de NOAA sobre el aumento de la temperatura global ([link removed]) ": La tendencia al calentamiento global continuó en 2022, que fue el sexto año más cálido registrado, según un informe reciente de la Oficina Nacional de Administración Oceánica y Atmosférica. Pero un tuit viral, que utiliza solo un pequeño segmento de un gráfico de NOAA, afirmó erróneamente que la agencia había anunciado una tendencia de “enfriamiento global”.

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