Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is taking the stage. Will she follow the lead of her friend (and donor) Donald Trump and repeat her already-debunked false claims?
LIE: PAM BONDI FALSELY CLAIMED NATIONAL STUDIES SHOWED NEGATIVE EFFECTS FROM THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
Pam Bondi: “National studies are already showing the negative effects that the health care law is having on businesses and our economy.” PAM BONDI: “Unfortunately, national studies are already showing the negative effects that the health care law is having on businesses and our economy. Businesses across the country are raising their prices in order to compensate for their added costs due to Obama’s health care plan. If they aren’t raising prices, they’re cutting jobs as a result of the added cost, both of which hurt our economy. According to a Mercer survey, more than 60 percent of employers expect the federal health care plan to increase their health costs. Twenty percent of those employers are bracing for at least a 5 percent increase in costs.” [Florida Chamber of Commerce, 11/28/12]
THE TRUTH: Politifact Florida: “We find no studies already showing the negative effects or evidence that businesses are cutting jobs or raising prices now. We rate Bondi’s statement False.” “It’s true that some large businesses — specifically, those with more than 50 employees who do not currently offer their employees health insurance — will face new costs because of the health care law. Starting in 2014, they will have to offer their employees health insurance or pay a financial penalty to the federal government. But Bondi’s comments ignore two points: These requirements haven’t taken effect yet, and it’s not clear whether businesses will find themselves forced to raise prices or cut jobs. We found no credible national studies showing these widespread effects, and certainly not showing those effects right now. We don’t doubt there’s anxiety among some businesses over what’s to come under the health care law, and maybe some are talking about whether they’ll have to raise prices or cut jobs. But Bondi didn’t talk about planning, she talked about what’s occuring right now, and we find no studies already showing the negative effects or evidence that businesses are cutting jobs or raising prices now. We rate Bondi’s statement False.” [Politifact, Florida, 11/30/15]
LIE: PAM BONDI LIED AND SAID THE UNITED STATES WAS THE ONLY FEDERALIST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD
Pam Bondi: “We’re the only system of federalism in the world.” “And I mean, we’re the only system of federalism in the world. And I think what this does, if we — and we are going to have a majority of the states joining in. And I think it’s going to vindicate our Constitution and what our Founding Fathers believed that our system should be made of.” [Fox News’ On The Record with Greta Van Susteren, 11/9/10]
THE TRUTH: Politifact Florida rated her statement False and said the United States was not the only federalist country in the world. “Appearing on Fox News, Bondi got off track in discussing a legal challenge to the federal health care law by saying the United States has the ‘only system of federalism in the world.’ The United States may have been the first, but it’s far from the only. We rate this statement False.” [Politifact Florida, 11/10/10]