Fact Check: Education, Spending and Terror

Oct. 22, 2004 — -- In the closing days of the campaign, the misstatements and misleading remarks are flying.

In Milwaukee today, Sen. John Kerry slammed President Bush on education. "George Bush talks a lot about 'No Child Left Behind,' but what he doesn't tell you is that he's left the funding behind, and that's wrong," Kerry said.

Has Bush left funding behind for that bill?

Not exactly. According to the Department of Education, funding for programs covered under the new law has been around $24 billion -- a dramatic increase in new education spending. But Democrats claim they were promised $27 billion more than that, and they point out Congress authorized more than the president requested.

Speaking of spending, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., today, Bush said Kerry has "promised about $2.2 trillion of new spending. That's with a 't.' "

Has Kerry promised $2.2 trillion in new spending?

The figure, spread over 10 years, comes from a study by the American Enterprise Institute, a respected think tank that describes itself as being "dedicated to limited government [and] private enterprise."

Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, says the AEI figure "seems to exaggerate the amount of spending that he's proposed and probably doesn't give him credit for offsets that he's proposed as well." For Bixby and his group -- which is dedicated to the elimination of the deficit and national debt -- "the bigger point here is that both candidates are proposing over a trillion dollars in new initiatives that we just can't afford at this time."

Even though Kerry's speech was focused on women's issues -- like the pay gap between male and female workers -- he also managed to work in a reference to Halliburton. "When [President Bush] hands Halliburton a $7 billion no-bid contract," Kerry quipped, "well let me tell you, there isn't any pay gap there."

Did Bush hand Halliburton a $7 billion no-bid contract?

"The president didn't award those contracts, the Pentagon did," says Brooks Jackson of factcheck.org, "and that's an important distinction."