Ocasio-Cortez Has Fact-Checkers Working Overtime

New York congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has excited the liberal base with her media blitz touting Medicare-for-all, the elimination of ICE and more.

But according to Fox News,  the Democrat's rapid-fire claims about the state of the economy and other issues have fact-checkers scrambling to provide a reality check.

The Washington Post was the latest to put her myriad claims under the microscope.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

The newspaper took issue, for instance, with her claim that unemployment is low “because everyone has two jobs.” The Post shot this down, noting the number of people working two jobs is down from the recession -- and has remained steady at around 5 percent in recent years.

Other claims it summarily dismissed include a May 30 interview statement that ICE is “required to fill 34,000 beds with detainees every single night.” Both the Post and Politifact note that this is an “urban legend” and that ICE was only required to maintain that many beds -- not fill them.

Additionally, the Post called her out for saying a recent study found Medicare-for-all would cut health expenditures, when it found the plan would raise government expenditures by $32.6 trillion over 10 years. A separate fact check by The Associated Press aimed at this claim, made by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., notes it only cuts spending if hospitals accept Medicare-based payments of 40 percent less for those who have private insurance.

Some claims didn’t warrant a check, including one appearance on CNN where she asked, “Why aren’t we incorporating the cost of all the funeral expenses of those who died because they can’t afford access to health care?”

“Huh?” was the only response from the Post’s fact-checkers.