VP debate fact check: Pence and Harris on Supreme Court, Swine Flu and more

During their first and only debate, Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris argued about the administration's handling of COVID-19, the Supreme Court, the Swine Flu, climate chang and more. CBS News' fact-checking team evaluated the truth of some of their claims. Here's what we found.

Statement — Mike Pence: "That Rose Garden event — there's been a great deal of speculation about it — my wife Karen and I were there and honored to be there. Many of the people who were at that event, Susan, were actually tested for coronavirus, and it was an outdoor event, which all of our scientists regularly and routinely advise."

Claim: Pence says that Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court nomination event was outdoors.

Fact check: Partially true

Details:

Vice President Pence defends Amy Coney Barrett's nomination event because it was held outdoors, and "many people" were tested. But in addition to the outdoor ceremony, President Trump hosted an indoor reception, which was captured on camera by New York Times photographer Doug Mills, who was invited by the White House to photograph some of the scenes inside the White House on the day of the nomination.

One photo shows President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, Maureen Scalia, Senator Thom Tillis (who later tested positive for COVID-19) and Barrett all speaking, without masks, in tight quarters in the Diplomatic Room.

Another photo shows President Trump, Senator Ben Sasse, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, now hospitalized with COVID-19, in the same room without masks.

Yet another photo shows Senator Mike Lee, also now COVID-positive, speaking with Barrett without masks.

By Kristin Brown

Statement — Mike Pence: "President Trump and I have a plan to improve health care and to protect preexisting conditions for all Americans."

Claim: Pence claims that he and Mr. Trump have a plan to protect preexisting conditions.

Fact check: Mostly false

In September, President Trump declared that it is now the official policy of the federal government to protect preexisting conditions, and he won't sign any bill that comes to his desk that doesn't protect them. But the fate of the health care law and preexisting conditions is not in Congress' hands right now. The next development on this front is likely to come from the Supreme Court.

While the Trump administration has often claimed it would protect preexisting conditions, which are covered by the Affordable Care Act, it has in fact been trying to kill the nation's health care law in the courts. The next Supreme Court case on the law will be heard a week after the election, when Republicans challenge the constitutionality of Obamacare's individual mandate.

In June, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to overturn Obamacare, arguing the individual mandate is unconstitutional and so, the rest of the law, which includes preexisting condition protections, should be struck down.

At a town hall in September, President Trump claimed to have "a much better plan," though moderator George Stephanopoulos pointed out that he has been in office for 3 1/2 years and has not yet presented a concrete plan to replace Obamacare.

Late last month Mr. Trump signed an executive action that purported to be a "vision" of a health care plan, but it has no legislative power. Larry Levitt, executive vice president of Kaiser Family Foundation, called the president's vision "something of a mirage."

By: Kathryn Watson

Statement — Kamala Harris: "On the other hand, you have Donald Trump, who measures the strength of the economy based on how rich people are doing, which is why he passed a tax bill benefitting the top 1% and the biggest corporations of America leading to a $2 trillion-dollar deficit that the American people are going to have to pay for. On day one, Joe Biden will repeal that tax bill. He will get rid of it, and what he will do with the money is invest it in the American people."

Claim: Harris says that on the first day of Biden's presidency, he will repeal the 2017 GOP tax cut.

Fact check: Misleading

Details:

Biden cannot single-handedly repeal the Tax Cut and Jobs Act; it would require an act of Congress. In addition to the White House, Democrats would need to flip three seats in the Senate to have a chance of repealing the act without GOP support.

Without further legislation, the Tax Cut and Jobs Act is scheduled to expire between 2025 and 2027, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

By Irina Ivanova

Statement — Mike Pence: "What's remarkable is the United States has reduced CO2 more than the countries that are still in the Paris Climate Accord. But we've done it through innovation and we've done it through natural gas, and fracking."

Claim: Pence claims the U.S. has reduced CO2 emissions through innovation

Fact check: Misleading

Details:

U.S. CO2 emissions decreased in 2017, the first year of the Trump administration, before spiking again in 2018. Emissions declined again in 2019, and are on track to decline in 2020. Most of that decline has taken place because the U.S. has been moving away from coal-powered energy in favor of renewable energy and even more so because of natural gas power produced by fracking. There has also been a steep dropoff in emissions this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Climate Action Tracker notes that the pandemic has restricted travel and transport, the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. Motor gasoline consumption was down 24% in the second quarter of 2020, compared to the same period in 2019.

CAT also noted that natural gas consumption is expected to decrease this year by 3%, "mainly because of lower consumption in the industrial sector" and electricity consumption will also drop this year.

These declines are still far short of what the U.S. pledged to achieve under the Paris Climate Accord, and CAT says that the Trump administration's "continuous rollback of climate policy" and suspension of environmental regulations during the pandemic will "counteract" some of the emissions reductions that have resulted.

Roughly 190 countries have ratified the climate accord. Some of those countries have failed to reduce CO2 emissions in recent years, but many nations' economies were also adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and experienced emissions reductions.

However, targets under the accord are different for every country, so simply comparing U.S. reductions to emissions of other countries is an unfair comparison.

By Adam Aigner-Treworgy

Pence statement: "When Joe Biden was vice-president of the United States, 60 million Americans contracted the swine flu. If the swine flu had been as lethal as the coronavirus, 2009, when Joe Biden was president, we would have lost 2 million American lives. His own chief of staff Ron Klain would say last year, that it was pure luck, and that they did everything possible wrong."

Claim: Pence says 60 million Americans contracted Swine Flu

Fact check: Misleading

Details:

According to the Centers for Disease Control, from April 2009 to April 2010, there were nearly 61 million cases of the H1N1 Swine Flu in the U.S. That is far more than 7.5 million cases of COVID-19 that have been contracted in the U.S. in the past six months.

But Swine Flu was a much less dangerous and deadly disease than COVID-19. Of those 61 million case of Swine Flu, just 0.004% of those cases, or nearly 275,000, required hospitalization. And less than 12,500 who contracted the disease died.

This hospitalization rate and mortality rate was significantly lower than the number of Americans who die each year from seasonal flu.

A report produced on the 10th anniversary of the Swine Flu found that "the impact of the H1N1 [swine] virus on the global population during the first year was less severe than that of previous pandemics" and that "the United States mounted a complex, multi-faceted and long-term response to the pandemic."

Klain did say in 2019 that President Obama's administration got lucky swine flu wasn't more deadly. But Klain now says those comments, made at a conference, were taken out of context.

In May, he told Politico that the Obama administration speedily adapted to the H1N1 situation, "quickly distributing emergency equipment from the federal stockpile, deferring to public health experts and having them take the lead on messaging." He said that was a stark contrast to the way the Trump administration has reacted to the coronavirus.

By Stephen Gandel

Statement — Mike Pence: "President Donald Trump did what no other American president had ever done, and that was, he suspended all travel from China. The second largest economy in the world. Now, Senator (Harris), Joe Biden opposed that decision. He said it was xenophobic."

Fact check: Inconclusive, mostly false

Details:

On suspending travel: This is mostly false. The travel policy announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on January 31 prohibited non-U.S. citizens, other than immediate family of U.S. citizens and permanent residents, who traveled to China within the last two weeks from entering the U.S. There was no restriction on Americans from traveling back and forth from China.

On January 24, a week before the travel restrictions were imposed, the CDC confirmed two cases of the novel coronavirus in the U.S. from individuals returning from Wuhan, China.

President Trump frequently defends his administration's early handling of COVID-19 by touting his decision to partially restrict travel from China in January 2020. However, his so-called "ban" did not actually rstrict travel, it merely limited it. His claims are misleading because there were 11 exemptions, including permanent US citizens and immediate family, and residents of "Special Administrative Regions" Hong Kong and Macau.

According to the Associated Press, nearly 8,000 Chinese and foreign nationals entered the U.S. several months after the ban was enacted. The regulations did not go into effect until February 2, 2020.

On xenophobia: This is inconclusive. During an Iowa campaign appearance on January 31 – the same day restrictions were announced – Biden said that "this is no time for Donald Trump's record of hysteria and xenophobia — hysterical xenophobia — and fear-mongering to lead the way instead of science."

But he did not explicitly mention or link his statement to travel restrictions announced by Azar earlier that day. The Biden campaign claims he was not directly referring to the China travel ban. Biden has also repeatedly accused the president of xenophobia on Twitter. Eventually, in April 2020, the campaign said Biden supported the ban.

"Science supported this ban, therefore he did too," said deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield.

By Nicole Sganga

This story will be updated.