News Reporter: Fact Checker: The claim that Russia obtained 20 percent of American uranium is still not true

Friday, 3 November 2017

Fact Checker: The claim that Russia obtained 20 percent of American uranium is still not true

Democracy Dies in Darkness

The truth behind the rhetoric

The claim that Russia obtained 20 percent of American uranium is still not true

More than a year ago, Donald Trump, then a presidential candidate, made a slew of claims about Hillary Clinton's alleged role in the approval of the sale of a Canadian company, Uranium One, with mining rights in the United States to Rosatom, Russia's nuclear energy agency. The Fact Checker labelled it false at the time.

But this claim seems to resurface whenever news about the Russia investigation heats up. After Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), head of the House Intelligence Committee, announced Congress would lead a probe into the deal, the Fact Checker delved into the tale again. In an interview with Fox News, Nunes said, "How is it that our government could approve a sale of 20 percent of our uranium at the same time that there was an open FBI investigation?"

The 20 percent figure has long been in wide circulation. It comes from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, one of the agencies that approved the deal in 2010. It stated that as of 2010, the licenses "represent approximately 20 percent of the currently licensed uranium in-situ recovery production capacity" in the United States. But that did not mean 20 percent of U.S. uranium reserves. In-situ recovery is one of two ways uranium is mined and is generally used for low-grade ore that would otherwise be too expensive to mine.

Plus, the 20 percent number was an estimate. Today, the Uranium One represents only 2.3 percent of all U.S. production. And uranium produced in the U.S. represents a very small section of the world's total. In 2016, it accounted for 1,126 tons of the world's total 62,266.

So, the overwrought claims that Clinton "gave away" 20 percent of the U.S. nuclear supply or that Russia controls that much U.S. uranium are simply absurd. Clearly, the number is woefully out of date. We award Four Pinocchios.

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Senate Democrats' poorly play a game of telephone with talking points on the GOP tax plan

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) tweeted, "On average middle class families earning less than $86,000 would see a tax increase under the Republican 'tax reform' plan." A reader asked if it was accurate and after a little Twitter investigation, it was clear that Harris wasn't the only Democrat tweeting this talking point.

The talking point came from a document put out by the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, which sourced this factoid from another report. That report, by Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee, said, "If enacted, the Republican tax reform proposal would saddle 8 million households that earn up to $86,100 with an average tax increase of $794 a substantial expense for working families."

Note the difference between the talking point and what the JEC said. The JEC only looked at households that make $86,100 or less that would face a tax increase. Those are only 6.5 percent of the nearly 122 million households who fall in this income category. More than 97 million (80 percent) will receive a tax cut.

Like a bad game of telephone, Democrats have spread this false claim in their far and wide in haste to condemn the GOP tax plan. Senate Democrats collectively earn Four Pinocchios.

We're always looking for fact-check suggestions. You can also reach us via email, Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP, @mmkelly22, @nikki_lew or use #FactCheckThis), or Facebook (Fact Checker). Read about our rating scale here, and sign up here for our weekly Fact Checker newsletter.

Scroll down for this week's Pinocchio roundup.

–Meg Kelly