Politics

PolitiFact Florida on Rubio's Defense Spending; Patrick Murphy's Health Care Votes

WUSF | By Steve Newborn

Published March 31, 2015 at 11:05 PM EDT

Our military budget is back in the news.

Even with the U.S. combat role in Iraq and Afghanistan officially over, potential presidential hopeful Sen. Marco Rubio is calling for a reversal of a shrinking defense budget.

Earlier this month, Rubio moved to raise the Pentagon’s budget - despite the end to two wars. In a speech on the Senate floor, he said the defense budget already has gone down too much.

Now Rubio says when adjusted for inflation, defense spending has declined 21 percent since 2010. And he says even if we don't include the removal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, it has still declined by a quote, "dangerous 12 percent."

Here's the take from PolitiFact Florida:

Rubio said, "Inflation-adjusted defense spending has declined 21 percent since 2010 and even if we discount the drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan it has still declined by a dangerous 12 percent."

While Rubio’s office didn’t get back to us, a Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments economist confirmed it was taken from an analysis he wrote about the fiscal year 2015 defense budget. Experts we talked to said while the conclusion is correct, Rubio doesn’t put the decrease in context of the historic high funding from 2010.

PolitiFact Florida rates the statement Mostly True.

Next, one of the candidates who is vying to replace Rubio in the Senate is Patrick Murphy, a Democratic Congressman from Jupiter. (The town, not the planet)

When he announced he's running for Senate last week, the National Republican Senatorial Committee unveiled a website attacking his positions on several topics. That included this line: "Murphy voted to keep Obamacare the law of the land but also voted to allow members of Congress to receive taxpayer-funded health care for life!"

Did Murphy vote for permanent health care for members of Congress, including himself?

Here's PolitiFact Florida's ruling:

The NRSC said that Murphy "voted to allow members of Congress to receive taxpayer-funded health care for life."

The NRSC cites votes Murphy took against repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Even if those votes led to actual repeal -- which they didn’t -- members of Congress would not get free healthcare for life.

This was a misleading claim when Democrats tried their versions of it in the past -- and it’s just as misleading now.

PolitiFact Florida rates this claim Pants on Fire.