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Fact checking DNC 2024 Day 4 speeches of Harris, Sen. Bob Casey
CBS News is fact checking some of the statements made by speakers during the 2024 Democratic National Convention this week, which is taking place in Chicago through Thursday, Aug. 22.
On Thursday, the final night of the convention, Vice President Kamala Harris is accepting her party’s nomination and delivering her acceptance speech.
CBS News’ Confirmed team is conducting the fact checks this week. CBS News is covering the DNC live.
Fact checking Harris’ claim that Trump’s tariff plan will cost families almost $4,000 per year: Partially true, needs context
Vice President Kamala Harris: “[Trump] intends to enact what in effect is a national sales tax, call it a Trump tax, that would raise prices on middle-class families by almost $4,000 a year.”
Details: Harris is citing an estimate of potential costs if former President Donald Trump were to implement tariffs on imported goods. Trump has advocated for a tariff of at least 10% on most imports and a tariff of at least 60% on Chinese imports.
Estimates of the potential costs and the likely scale of the tariffs vary. An analysis by the Center for American Progress Action, a progressive policy think tank, estimated that a 20% tariff on most imports, combined with a 60% tax on Chinese goods, would amount to a tax increase of around $3,900 annually for middle-income families.
The Tax Policy Center (TPC), a nonpartisan think tank, estimated that a 10% worldwide tariff and a 60% tariff on Chinese goods would lower average after-tax incomes by about $1,800 in 2025.
Economists told CBS News that everyday consumers would bear the brunt of higher import tariffs through increased prices on goods, effectively a tax on products made in other countries. In an interview with The New York Times, Robert Lighthizer, who served as Trump’s chief trade negotiator and still advises his campaign on trade issues, suggested the burden on American households could be offset by tax cuts.
By Emma Li
Fact checking Harris’ claim that Trump would give billionaires more tax breaks that would add $5 trillion to debt: Misleading
Harris: “[Trump] doesn’t actually fight for the middle class. Instead, he fights for himself and his billionaire friends. And he will give them another round of tax breaks that will add up to $5 trillion to the national debt.”
Details: Trump has proposed broad-based tax cuts during his presidential campaign, to high earners and other taxpayers.
Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017 that permanently cut corporate tax rates and lowered individual tax rates for most households.
Estimates from the nonpartisan congressional Joint Committee on Taxation and the Tax Policy Center found that the majority of people would benefit from these tax cuts.
Trump has said he would extend the individual tax rate cuts before they are set to expire in 2025, a move the Congressional Budget Office estimates could cost $4.6 trillion over the next decade.
The Biden-Harris administration has proposed extending some of the Trump-era tax cuts for families earning under $400,000 annually.
Trump has also called for other tax cuts, including eliminating taxes on tips, a policy proposal also backed by Harris.
By Laura Doan
Fact check on Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey’s claim that Democrats capped insulin costs for millions of Americans: True, but needs context
Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania: “When Big Pharma jacked up the cost of insulin, we passed a bill to stop them. Now, for millions of Americans, it’s capped at $35 a month.”
Details: In 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, mandating that all Medicare Part D and Part B plans cap monthly costs for covered insulin products at $35.
Previously, the Trump administration introduced a more limited voluntary program that allowed some Medicare Part D plans to cap out-of-pocket costs for certain insulin products at $35 per month. The health policy research site KFF noted less than half of all Part D programs participated in the Trump program. There were over 800,000 insulin users who had access to the $35 insulin cap under the Trump-era program in 2022, but after Mr. Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, far more insulin users on Medicare Part D — 3.4 million — had their insulin costs capped in 2023, according to estimates from Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
By Emma Li, Laura Doan and Amelia Donhauser
CBS News
Yellowstone hiker burned when she falls into scalding water near Old Faithful, park officials say
Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. — A New Hampshire woman suffered severe burns on her leg after hiking off-trail in Yellowstone National Park and falling into scalding water in a thermal area near the Old Faithful geyser, park officials said.
The 60-year-old woman from Windsor, New Hampshire, along with her husband and their leashed dog were walking off a designated trail near the Mallard Lake Trailhead on Monday afternoon when she broke through a thin crust over the water and suffered second- and third-degree burns to her lower leg, park officials said. Her husband and the dog weren’t injured.
The woman was flown to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho for treatment.
National Park Service / Jacob W. Frank
Park visitors are reminded to stay on boardwalks and trails in hydrothermal areas and exercise extreme caution. The ground in those areas is fragile and thin and there’s scalding water just below the surface, park officials said.
Pets are allowed in limited, developed areas of Yellowstone park but are prohibited on boardwalks, hiking trails, in the backcountry and in thermal areas.
The incident is under investigation. The woman’s name wasn’t made public.
This is the first known thermal injury in Yellowstone in 2024, park officials said in a statement. The park had recorded 3.5 million visitors through August this year.
Hot springs have injured and killed more people in Yellowstone National Park than any other natural feature, the National Park Service said. At least 22 people have died from hot spring-related injuries in and around the 3,471-square-mile national park since 1890, park officials have said.
TRENTON, N.J. — Democratic Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver has defeated Republican small businessman Carmen Bucco in a contest in New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District that opened up because of the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. in April.
McIver will serve out the remainder of Payne’s term, which ends in January. She and Bucco will face a rematch on the November ballot for the full term.
McIver said in a statement Wednesday that she stands on the “shoulders of giants,” naming Payne as chief among them.
She cast ahead to the November election, saying the right to make reproductive health choices was on the ballot as well as whether the economy should benefit the wealthy or “hard working Americans.”
“I will fight because the purpose of politics and the purpose of our vote is to give the people of our communities and our nation a bold voice,” she said.
Bucco congratulated McIver on the victory in a statement but said he’s looking forward to the rematch in November.
“I am not going anywhere,” he said in an email. “We still have a second chance to make district 10 great again!”
Who are LaMonica McIver and Carmen Bucco?
McIver emerged as the Democratic candidate in a crowded field in the July special election. A member of the city council of New Jersey’s biggest city since 2018, she also worked for Montclair Public Schools as a personnel director and plans to focus on affordability, infrastructure, abortion rights and “protecting our democracy,” she told The Associated Press earlier this summer.
Bucco describes himself on his campaign website as a small-business owner influenced by his upbringing in the foster system. He lists support for law enforcement and ending corruption as top issues.
The 10th District lies in a heavily Democratic and majority-Black region of northern New Jersey. Republicans are outnumbered by more than 6 to 1.
It’s been a volatile year for Democrats in New Jersey, where the party dominates state government and the congressional delegation.
Among the developments were the conviction on federal bribery charges of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who has denied the charges, and the demise of the so-called county party line — a system in which local political leaders give their preferred candidates favorable position on the primary ballot.
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who’s running for Menendez’s seat, and other Democrats brought a federal lawsuit challenging the practice as part of his campaign to oust Menendez, who has resigned since his conviction.
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Yellowstone hiker burned when she falls into scalding water near Old Faithful, park officials say
Wagon rolls over at Wisconsin apple orchard injuring about 25 children and adults