Biden's ABC town hall: Former VP lays out vision in stark contrast to Trump's

BIDEN'S CLAIM: "My deal is a crucial framework, but not the New Green Deal."

FACT CHECK: In addition to misstating the name of the Green New Deal, Biden was incorrect in how he laid out his view of the plan compared to how it is stated on his own campaign website.

"Biden believes the Green New Deal is a crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face," his website reads.

While Biden has said he does not support major aspects of the Green New Deal, his own plan calls for moving the nation's power system to net-zero emissions by 2035, a more ambitious timeline than his original climate plan laid out, which has been praised by progressive activists.

The Green New Deal was a resolution that laid out a broad framework for climate action but would not have changed any policies if it had passed.”

In one major distinction from that framework, Biden said he does not think it would be possible to completely eliminate fossil fuels by 2030, saying the country will need to be able to transition to more investments in renewable energy while improving sources that can release greenhouse gas emissions like natural gas.-ABC News' John Verhovek and Stephanie Ebbs

ABC News senior congressional correspondent Mary Bruce said viewers saw something that they haven't seen very often due to the pandemic: Biden interacting directly with voters.

"His campaign feels he shines in these moments, that he does best when he is able to speak directly with voters," she said.

"There was a lot of deep diving that he was doing into his policy proposals going forward. This was a night largely about Joe Biden and, actually surprising, not a lot about his opponent," she added.

BIDEN'S CLAIM: "I do not propose banning fracking. I think you have to make sure that
fracking is, in fact, not admitting methane or polluting the well or dealing with what can be small earthquakes and how they're drilling. So it has to be managed very, very well, No. 1. No. 2, what we have to do is the future rests in renewable energy."

FACT CHECK: Biden said he does not support a ban on fracking, the shorthand for the process of extracting natural gas, but he does support limiting its environmental impact, blocking its use on public lands and putting more focus on renewable energy.

The debate around fracking has focused on whether a candidate would "ban" the entire industry, but a president would only have the power to stop issuing new leases for oil and gas activity on public land, not activity on private property. 

Biden has said that he doesn't want to add new fracking on public lands. He has said he wants to move away from fracking and focus on more renewable energy sources to eventually get net-zero emissions, including preventing the release of the methane from natural gas activity.

He has also argued that a transition to clean energy is necessary to keep people employed and that it won't be possible to immediately eliminate all fossil fuels, including natural gas. 

Biden's environmental plan calls for an end to fossil fuel subsidies and for a massive investment in clean energy, including training fossil fuel workers for clean energy jobs.

-ABC News' Stephanie Ebbs and Averi Harper

BIDEN'S CLAIM: “(If) my home was in a white neighborhood on one side of the highway and yours is in a Black neighborhood, same exact home, your home will start off being valued 29% less than my home, yet your insurance for that home will be higher. You'll be taxed more for it. We’ve got to end this.”

FACT CHECK: Biden’s statement is generally accurate.

After the town hall concluded, Biden’s campaign told ABC News he had been referring to a 2018 study by the Brookings Institution that found “homes of similar quality in neighborhoods with similar amenities are worth 23 percent less ($48,000 per home on average, amounting to $156 billion in cumulative losses) in majority black neighborhoods, compared to those with very few or no black residents.”

His campaign said Biden misspoke and meant to say 23%.

The 1968 Fair Housing Act is supposed to prevent discrimination that leads to those disparities. But civil rights groups and anti-poverty advocates have long argued that even with the law, cities and states can perpetuate housing segregation through zoning laws, insurance and lending policies, as well as tax credits that often favor wealthier white families over others.

Under Trump, Housing Secretary Ben Carson finalized a rule in August 2019 making it harder for people to allege discrimination – a proposal advocated by insurance companies and others in the housing industry that said regulations weren’t clear enough.

-ABC News' Anne Flaherty