Fact-checking Trump’s address to Congress

CBS News’ Confirmed team is fact checking President Trump’s 2025 joint address to Congress Tuesday night, his first speech to both chambers of Congress since he won the presidential election in November. He spoke about his domestic and foreign policy agenda, as well as the economy.

False: Trump claims a large number of people over 120 years old receive Social Security benefits illegally 

Trump: “Believe it or not, government databases list 4.7 million Social Security members from people aged 100 to 109 years old. It lists 3.6 million people from ages 110 to 119….3.47 million people from ages 120 to 129. 3.9 million people from ages 130 to 139. 3.5 million people from ages 140 to 149. And money is being paid to many of them.” 

Details: While there is evidence of some Social Security fraud, there is no evidence that there are large numbers of people aged over 100 years old receiving Social Security benefits illegally. There is no one in the U.S. older than 116. 

In a statement on Feb. 19, the new acting Social Security Administration (SSA) commissioner, Lee Dudek, said people who are listed as over 100 years old in the Social Security system are “not necessarily receiving benefits,” but instead are individuals without a date of death on record. 

A 2023 report from the inspector general found there were 18.9 million people born in 1920 or earlier who had no death information in the SSA’s records, and 44,000 of them were still receiving payments. In 2020, there were 80,139 people who were 100 or older in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. 

The SSA has been using an automated process since 2015 to terminate benefits for people who are 115 years old or older.

A 2024 audit from the Office of the Inspector General found the agency had made $72 billion in improper payments from 2015 to 2022, which accounted for just under 1% of the $8.6 trillion in total payments during that period.

By Laura Doan, Layla Ferris, Julia Ingram

False: Trump claims DOGE has “found hundreds of billions of dollars” in fraud

Trump: “Many more have been found out and exposed and swiftly terminated by a group of very intelligent, mostly young people. Headed up by Elon- we appreciate it. We found hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud.” 

Details: The White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, the Elon Musk-led group aiming to slash government spending, claims on its website that it has saved $105 billion by slashing contracts and finding fraud. 

But as of Monday, the data DOGE has made available only itemizes a total of $8.86 billion in canceled federal contracts, and CBS News found this data contains numerous errors and often overstates the amount that was saved. 

Some contracts were counted multiple times, and others represent agreements for a dollar amount at an upper limit that contractors rarely reach. DOGE has not provided any specific evidence of fraud in the contracts that have been canceled.

When asked whether the canceled contracts were fraudulent or just at odds with Trump’s policies, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she “would argue that all of these things are fraudulent, wasteful and an abuse of the American taxpayer’s dollar.”

By Julia Ingram, Emma Li

Misleading: Trump claims autism went from 1 in 10,000 children to 1 in 36 children

Trump: “Our goal is to get toxins out of our environment, poisons out of our food supply, and keep our children healthy and strong. As an example, not long ago, and you can’t even believe these numbers, 1 in 10,000 children had autism, 1 in 10,000. And now it’s 1 in 36. There’s something wrong, 1 in 36.”

Diagnosed autism rates have grown for decades in the U.S., but experts and health officials have long cautioned it’s unclear how much of this reflects an actual increase versus a reflection of improved awareness and diagnosis.

Mr. Trump appears to cite figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s autism monitoring studies, which estimated around 1 in 36 children had autism spectrum disorder in 2020, up from 1 in 150 in 2000.

While the CDC says those estimates are not nationally representative, other estimates from the National Survey of Children’s Health show similar trends. The rise in estimates, however, may not stem from an increase in cases, according to the CDC.

“It is unclear how much this is due to changes to the clinical definition of ASD (which may include more people than previous definitions) and better efforts to diagnose ASD (which would identify people with ASD who were not previously identified),” the CDC says. 

False: Trump claims group “headed up” by Stacey Abrams got “$1.9 billion” for “decarbonization of homes”

Trump: “$1.9 billion to recently created decarbonization of homes committee, headed up — and we know she’s involved — just at the last moment, the money was passed over, by a woman named Stacey Abrams, have you ever heard of her?”

Details:  In 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency awarded a $2 billion grant to Power Forward Communities to support sustainable housing projects, according to USAspending.gov, which tracks government spending. 

But Stacey Abrams does not lead Power Forward Communities. The organization operates as a coalition of five nonprofit organizations, and Abrams joined one of the nonprofits, Rewiring America, as senior counsel in 2023. She left the organization at the end of 2024, her spokesman said. 

Power Forward Communities CEO Tim Mayopoulos told Politico in February, “Power Forward Communities has no relationship with Ms. Abrams, other than the fact that she’s one of the people who have advised one of our coalition members in the past.”

President Trump’s new EPA administrator has demanded that Biden-era grants for climate projects be returned, but the group announced on Feb. 24 that they are continuing to invest the funds which Congress made available through the Inflation Reduction Act.

By Laura Doan

False: Trump claims “21 million people poured” into the U.S. in four years, under Biden

Trump: “Over the past four years, 21 million people poured into the United States.”

Details: The number of migrants who entered the U.S. in the past four years is much lower than the figure referenced by President Trump, and not everyone who entered the country under President Biden was allowed to stay.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported nearly 11 million nationwide encounters with undocumented migrants between fiscal years 2021 and 2024, a time period mostly under the Biden administration, government figures show.

That figure includes migrants who crossed the southern and northern borders, illegally and with the government’s permission; those arriving by sea; and airport arrivals of migrants, including those allowed into the U.S. under Biden administration programs.

Most of those encounters, roughly 8.7 million of them, occurred at the southern border. Encounters do not equal individual migrants because some cross the border multiple times after being turned around.

In addition to those encountered, some migrants successfully cross the southern border illegally without being caught by officials. Border Patrol estimates that roughly 1.7 million migrants have evaded apprehension since the start of fiscal year 2021. 

While CBP reported record high levels of migrant encounters in the past four years, the numbers are not close to the 21 million figure cited by Mr. Trump.

Additionally,­ just because migrants were processed by CBP does not mean they were allowed to stay. Many migrants were released into the U.S. by the Biden administration to await their immigration cases. But the U.S. also deported or turned away over 4.7 million migrants between fiscal years 2021 and 2024, according to Department of Homeland Security data. 

Misleading: President Trump claims he ended Biden-era electric vehicle mandate 

Trump: “We ended all of Biden’s environmental restrictions that were making our country far less safe, and totally unaffordable. And, importantly, we ended the last administration’s insane electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto workers and companies from economic destruction.”

Details: The Biden administration never imposed an electric vehicle mandate. In March 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency announced standards for new passenger cars beginning in model year 2027 and aimed at cutting carbon emissions.

Opponents of the Biden administration rule, mainly Republicans, argued it was a de facto mandate with criticism stressing concerns about costs. 

On the first day of his second term, Mr. Trump signed an executive order that in part said that “it is the policy of the United States….to eliminate the ‘electric vehicle (EV) mandate’ and promote true consumer choice.”

By Laura Doan, Hunter Woodall

Partially true: Trump claims illegal border crossings in February were “the lowest ever recorded.”

Trump: “As a result, illegal border crossings last month were by far, the lowest ever recorded. Ever.”

Details: The number of migrants crossing the U.S. southern border illegally in the first full month of President Trump’s second term plunged to a level not seen in at least 25 years, according to preliminary government data obtained by CBS News.

In February, Border Patrol recorded about 8,450 migrant apprehensions between official points of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border, the statistics show.

The total, which may still be adjusted when the data are published, would mark the lowest monthly apprehensions since fiscal year 2000, the earliest period with publicly available monthly data. While monthly data before fiscal year 2000 is not publicly available, the last time Border Patrol averaged roughly 8,000 apprehensions per month over a year was in fiscal year 1968, according to historical statistics. 

February’s total is a seismic change from recent years. During some days during a record-breaking spike in migrant crossings in 2023, the Biden administration recorded over 8,000 apprehensions in 24 hours. 

By Camilo Montoya-Galvez

Partially true: Trump claims U.S. maybe suffered “worst inflation in 48 years…perhaps in the history of our country”

Trump: “We suffered the worst inflation in 48 years, but perhaps even in the history of our country- they’re not sure.”

This is partially true: the rate of inflation in June 2022 was the highest since 1981, but not the highest of all time. 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the June 2022 inflation reading of 9% was the highest since November 1981. But inflation was higher for longer in the 1970s and 1980s, peaking in April 1980 at 14.6%. 

That inflationary period was above 9% for around two years, and above the target 2% rate for nearly a decade. Under Biden, inflation was elevated for about two years as well, but at lower levels. Inflation stands at 3% as of January 2025. 

By Emily Pandise 

Partially true: Trump says he has withdrawn from the World Health Organization

Trump: “I withdrew from the corrupt World Health Organization.”

Details: While Mr. Trump has signed an executive order announcing his intention to begin the yearlong process to withdraw from the World Health Organization, the withdrawal has not been completed yet – and both the president and the WHO have expressed openness to talks on potentially keeping the U.S. within the U.N. agency’s membership. 

In the meantime, Trump administration officials have been forced to grant exemptions for U.S. health officials multiple times to collaborate with the WHO, for instance, in the response to the Ebola outbreak in Uganda. 

The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were also allowed by the Trump administration to contribute to a key WHO meeting to update the annual flu vaccine, after concerns that a U.S. withdrawal from the process could undermine the ability to update next season’s shots accurately. 

By Alexander Tin

Partially true: Trump claims Biden “let the price of eggs get out of control”

Trump: “Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control—and we are working hard to get it back down.”

Details: While it is true that prices of eggs climbed to record highs under President Joe Biden, the Biden administration also launched several efforts attempting to address the bird flu outbreak, which officials and experts agree is largely to blame for the surge in egg prices. 

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced last month a new plan to combat the bird flu outbreak. But Biden administration and local agriculture officials said many of the proposals and funding touted by the Trump administration merely extended efforts launched under former President Joe Biden. 

Rollins also said officials had begun talks with other countries to temporarily boost egg imports to the U.S. market, but agriculture officials later said those private purchases would not be subsidized by taxpayer dollars.

Some of the biggest changes that Trump administration officials had initially floated, like changing the “stamping out” approach to culling all poultry flocks after they are infected, were ultimately walked back for now.

Agriculture Department officials said they were also ramping up planning around potentially vaccinating poultry, but said they would only launch immunizations if they first cleared key hurdles that have long blocked the rollout of vaccinations – better vaccines and a plan that would satisfy concerns from trade partners.

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• Donald Trump