Elise Stefanik keeps pushing Trump's election lies Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) may lose her position as the No. 3 leader for the House Republicans, because she insists that former president Donald Trump is lying when he claims the 2020 election was stolen from him. One of the leading candidates to replace Cheney as Republican conference chair is Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a die-hard Trump supporter who insists on pushing roundly debunked claims of election "irregularities." It's a good litmus test for the House GOP and its adherence to the facts about what many experts call the most secure election in U.S. history. Among other debunked claims, Stefanik in a statement on Jan. 6 claimed that Georgia's secretary of state, a Republican and avowed Trump supporter named Brad Raffensperger, "unilaterally gutted signature matching for absentee ballots and in essence eliminated voter verification required by state election law. In addition, more than 140,000 votes came from underage, deceased, and otherwise unauthorized voters — in Fulton County alone." The statement is all wrong and merited Four Pinocchios. Signature matching was not gutted. Raffensperger's office had nothing to do with the legal settlement Stefanik is referencing (it was the state attorney general). The claim about 140,000 votes is absurd, as it would represent one-quarter of the votes in Atlanta-centric Fulton County. When we reached out, Stefanik's spokeswoman defended these falsehoods and added another one, to boot! Enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to someone else who'd like it! If this email was forwarded to you, sign up here. Did you hear something fact-checkable? Send it here; we'll check it out. Biden waves off deficit worries President Biden is proposing trillions of dollars in spending on infrastructure and social benefits, and has soothing words for anyone concerned about the bill. "Here's what the American Families Plan doesn't do: It doesn't add a single penny to our deficit," he said this week. That's a high bar. The $1.8 trillion American Families Plan consists mostly of transfer payments that would keep going, year after year, such as free prekindergarten programs, free attendance at two-year community colleges and child-care support. How would it be deficit-neutral? Almost half of the revenue for the Families Plan, $700 billion, supposedly would be the result of more rigorous tax enforcement. Biden has proposed a lot of money — $80 billion — to bolster the IRS, but congressional budget analysts might conclude the $700 billion estimate is too optimistic. The Penn-Wharton Budget Model, for instance, estimates Biden would raise only $480 billion. The White House is also projecting spending over 10 years but revenue over 15 years to claim the plan would not add to the deficit, which skews the picture for observers who do not dig too deeply. For now, we left the president's claim unrated and await a verdict from the Congressional Budget Office. We're always looking for fact-check suggestions. You can reach us via email, Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP, @rizzoTK, @mmkelly22) or Facebook. Read about our process and rating scale here, and sign up for the newsletter here. Scroll down for this week's Pinocchio roundup. | 
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