Jim Marter for Congress calls on opponent Lauren Underwood to set the record straight on her DNC Speech

OSWEGO, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES, August 29, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Jim Marter, Republican Nominee for Congress in Illinois’ 14th Congressional District, is calling upon his opponent, Democrat Lauren Underwood, to set the record straight about her 3 minute speech at the DNC Convention last week.

“Lauren Underwood told 5 whoppers and she needs to be held accountable and back up her rhetoric with facts,” said Jim Marter. “With a demonstrably false statement about every 30 seconds, we must demand better from our elected officials and that’s why I’m running.” The speech is readily available on the internet.

The first statement at issue is Underwood’s claim that “Joe Biden got it under control” referring to Covid. This statement conflicts with data on the CDC website. There were 463,052 more Covid deaths under Biden/Harris than under President Trump, including 102,757 more deaths in year one of the Biden Presidency, compared to Trump’s first year of the pandemic, in which, unlike Biden, he didn’t have a full year to prepare.

Marter would also like to set the record straight over Underwood’s statement that, “Donald Trump tried to take our healthcare away.”

“This isn’t about Trump,” said Marter, “It’s about honesty from our elected officials and Lauren Underwood’s claims misrepresent history and Republican policies.”

Even CNN contradicts Underwood, referencing this from April, 2024: https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/12/politics/obamacare-trump-administration/index.html CNN said, “Trump had four years to replace [Obamacare]” and the “Republican-led Congress failed to repeal it.” CNN went on to explain that Trump didn’t “strike at the core of the law,” and admitted “…Obamacare exchanges also stabilized during his [Trump’s] term…the average premium for the benchmark plan declined for three years in a row.”

CNN also pointed out that Trump’s actions lowered the monthly cost for many enrollees, and made it “easier for Americans to access alternative policies that have lower premiums” along with “effectively eliminating the individual mandate,” (which forced Americans to buy insurance or face a penalty). It’s simply Untrue that Democrat policies made health care better or more affordable or that Republican policies are harmful.

Next under the “fact check spotlight” is Underwood's claim, “We tried to expand Social Security and Medicare. Donald Trump tried to cut them...” The Washington Post gives this claim “Three Pinocchios” https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/no-every-trump-budget-did-not-seek-to-cut-social-security-and-medicare/ar-AA1p4Hy8 and calls it “disingenuous and misleading.”

According to the Post, “Virtually all of Trump’s proposed Medicare ‘cuts’ were good-government efforts intended to reduce costs and put the program on a sounder financial footing…Trump kept his promise not to mess with retirement and survivor benefits — the core of Social Security.”

“It’s false to say Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare and Lauren Underwood has made that claim specifically about me, in a campaign email that came out virtually the same time I was on the radio, telling people that Social Security and Medicare is their money and they are entitled to it,” said Marter.

In minute two of her DNC speech, Underwood said, “She [Kamala Harris] and President Biden passed my legislation to make healthcare more affordable and now, 4 out of 5 Americans can get covered through the Affordable Care Act for $10 or less per month.”

The Marter Camp asks if anyone’s health care costs them just $10 per month. In an article by Forbes titled "How much does health insurance cost in 2024," the average monthly premium for a Bronze ACA Plan is said to be $420 for a 40-year-old. Silver is $549 and Gold is $713 per month. The average Obamacare Plan has a $2,825 deductible for single coverage and out-of-pocket maximums of $9,450 for individual plans and $18,900 for a family. That all adds up to much more than $10 per month. Again, Underwood and others are lying when they say Democrats make healthcare more affordable.

The final fact-check challenge is a request for clarification of Underwood’s comment that, “Four years ago, it was not safe to hold a convention like this,” speaking from Chicago, obsessively trying to somehow connect things to Trump.

It’s unclear if she was referring to Covid or crime. Neither passes the “smell test.” If she was talking about Covid, the same week, 4 years ago, had only 104 deaths in a state of 12 million people, again, according to the CDC website. That doesn’t seem too “unsafe” for a convention.

On the other hand, if she was referring to crime, Illinois Policy shows year one of the Biden Administration was the “deadliest year for Chicago in 25 years,” and that includes the Trump years. https://www.illinoispolicy.org/press-releases/violent-crime-up-18-arrests-down-43-in-chicago-over-10-years/ The article states, “The number of violent crimes grew to its highest level in a decade last year, (2023) but the arrest rate dropped…Yet Chicago leaders have made efforts to reduce police resources.”

Additionally, 3 in 4 Chicago voters want a larger police force and that the Democrat-run Chicago Board of Education voted to remove all police officers from Chicago Public Schools, even if they asked to keep them. Meanwhile, Chicago’s carjackings and auto theft have nearly tripled since the last year of the Trump Administration, to 30,501.

The Marter campaign would like Underwood to clarify how things are safer under Democrat policies and were more unsafe under Trump.

“The whole speech was disingenuous and misleading,” said Marter. “Democrats are not keeping our communities safer or healthier and we need to stop tolerating elected officials who’ll lie to us for political gain. It was a lot of lies to pack into just 3 minutes and that’s why I’m renewing my challenge to Rep. Underwood, for a series of debates, to get to the truth. So far, her campaign has not responded to the challenge.”

“What we didn’t hear her talk about was Immigration, inflation, gas and food prices, education, anti-Semitism, the national debt, men in girls’ sports, the opioid epidemic, our veterans and the escalated threats from China, Russia, Iran and Hamas.”

On August 14th, 2024, Jim Marter challenged Lauren Underwood to a series of debates, beginning at the historic Lincoln-Douglas Debate Site located in Illinois’ 14th District. Full details may be found in the Press Release section of www.Marter4Congress.US

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