Chuck Grassley and Mike Franken tossed a number of barbs at one another of their lone televised debate for a U.S. Senate seat from Iowa. For instance, there was the time Franken took Grassley to activity, saying Grassley opposed something that helped girls.

“It is a man who’s made it his profession to ban abortion, to assist unequal pay, to do nothing for paid household go away, to many occasions vote in opposition to the Violence Towards Girls Act,” Franken mentioned.

Grassley leaned on his lectern, checked out Franken, and mentioned, “My colleague, you’re in no place to lecture me about girls.”

It was a reminder that Franken’s former feminine marketing campaign supervisor accused him of kissing her on the mouth in an undesirable motion earlier this 12 months. Police have investigated and concluded that no legal intent was discovered.

Grassley, 89, of New Hartford, and Franken, 64, of Sioux Metropolis, debated on Iowa Public Tv on Oct. 6. However the battle between them over girls’s points, in addition to many others, saved going. A number of days later, on Oct. 10, Grassley introduced that he had launched a brand new Wholesome Mothers and Infants Act that would assist scale back mom and toddler mortality charges.

Past the invoice’s potential deserves, message was clear given the closeness to the November election, that Grassley would want to remain within the Senate to push his invoice. “Invoice will enhance care coordination/broaden telehealth/assist community-led prevention efforts,” a tweet from Grassley learn. The invoice would insert maternal and perinatal well being and psychological well being in sections of the Social Safety code to make sure that they’re coated by Medicaid if eligible.

Franken was on Twitter, too, on Oct. 10. One among his posts was a retweet of a Democratic Occasion tweet that celebrated Indigeneous Peoples Day with a photograph by which nearly each individual was a girl, the exception being kids, carrying an indication that learn: “My mother, sisters, aunties + grandmas are sacred.” 

So goes the struggle for ladies’s vote in Iowa’s U.S. Senate race. Grassley, a farmer, has been in elective politics most of his life, from 1959 by way of 1974 within the Iowa Legislature, 1975 by way of 1980 within the U.S. Home of Representatives and 1981 to the current within the U.S. Senate. Franken is a lifelong naval officer who reached the rank of vice admiral and served as a Division of Protection senior staffer and adviser earlier than retiring in 2017. 

Franken was correct throughout the debate when saying Grassley has adopted a pro-life platform that features attempting to limit abortion, and Grassley strongly lets individuals know he’s pro-life. However Franken additionally was correct about Grassley voting in opposition to payments codifying honest pay for ladies, such because the Lilly Ledbetter Truthful Pay Act in 2018 or, extra lately, the 2021 Paycheck Equity Act, when Grassley voted in opposition to cloture that might have allowed a Senate vote on that invoice.  

Grassley was a “no” vote on federal legal guidelines that expanded household go away. They included the 1993 Household and Medical Depart Act that allowed as much as 12 weeks off with pay for the start or adoption or foster care placement of a kid; to care for a kid, partner or father or mother with a critical well being situation; or to beat their very own critical well being situation that makes doing their common work not possible.

In 2020, Grassley supported a failed Republican-led effort to strike federally mandated sick pay and paid household go away and shift that accountability to the states, the place it might be administered unemployment insurance coverage techniques and funds. That invoice additionally referred to as for sending the states federal monetary assist to tackle the duties.

However Franken’s assertion about Grassley on the Violence Towards Girls Act omitted the truth that Grassley voted “sure”when the act was renewed in March in an omnibus appropriations invoice. But, Grassley voted “no” on the unique bipartisan laws that contained the Violence Towards Girls Act of 1994. That invoice, referred to as the Violent Crime Management and Regulation Enforcement Act of 1994, contained widespread modifications in then-President Invoice Clinton’s overhaul of the nation’s legal justice system.

Loads of different claims candidates are making about one another in interviews, advertisements and marketing campaign appearances. Here’s a take a look at just a few that got here out of the Oct. 6 debate, and our test on the details.

Grassley, talking about Franken: “He needs abortion to be accessible to the final minute start. He needs taxpayers to pay for that abortion. And he doesn’t need mother and father to have a voice within the abortion of a minor.”

This declare of wanting abortions to be authorized till the final minute of start is widespread from Republicans about their Democratic opponents. It’s a reference to the Girls’s Well being Safety Act of 2022. PolitiFact has addressed it a number of occasions, together with in Iowa’s 1st District congressional race. We constantly have rated the declare to be principally false as a result of it ignores that Democrats’ proposal solely would permit the process if a mom’s life have been at risk. 

Debate moderator O. Kay Henderson requested Franken when he thought a fetus was viable for start however Franken handed on giving a selected variety of weeks or days. He replied that “throughout these most non-public occasions, private occasions in a girl’s life we shouldn’t have the federal government stepping in to find out when viability exists.” 

Franken mentioned he helps turning into regulation the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court docket ruling that mentioned the correct to an abortion was constitutionally protected. The Supreme Court docket overturned Roe within the 2022 ruling, Hobbs v. Jackson Girls’s Well being Group.

Franken, responding to Grassley about late being pregnant abortion: “The identify has been chosen of that baby, the room has been painted, the cradle has been purchased, presents have been made, playing cards have been despatched out and a illness occurs. A lady’s life is at risk. Chuck Grassley’s world is let well being simply rule the day, no exceptions, no bans when the truth is this doesn’t occur in actuality.”

The declare that Republicans would permit no exceptions is a typical one Democrats working for workplace are making however Grassley’s voting document, albeit assured to be pro-life, exhibits in any other case. Grassley has mentioned a number of occasions that he wouldn’t wish to prohibit abortions to girls whose being pregnant was the results of rape or incest, or if the mom’s life have been at risk. He additionally has mentioned legal guidelines about abortion belong on the state stage.

He has had ample alternative to vote on numerous federal payments associated to abortion due to his longevity in Congress. For instance, in 2007, he supported in a vote main as much as a Well being and Human Providers funding invoice a failed modification to ban utilizing federal funds to pay for abortions. Grassley voted sure on the funding invoice, although. He has remained constant in repeated makes an attempt to cease federal funding for abortions, most lately as a co-sponsor for the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance coverage Full Disclosure Act of 2021 that didn’t advance within the Senate.

Grassley mentioned within the debate that he would vote “no” on a proposal by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, to ban abortions at 15-weeks gestation besides in instances of rape, incest or a mom’s well being. Grassley mentioned the matter must be determined by particular person states, not the federal authorities. However in the beginning of 2021, Grassley co-sponsored an analogous Graham invoice that might have established a brand new legal offense for performing or making an attempt to carry out an abortion after 20 weeks gestation, besides in instances of rape, incest or a mom’s well being.

Grassley defined that he supported federal intervention as a result of “the Supreme Court docket in Roe took the difficulty of abortion away from state policymakers and made it a federal situation…” Grassley spokeswoman Taylor Foy wrote to PolitiFact Iowa in a observe up e-mail after the controversy. Hobbs despatched the matter again to states, the place Grassley thinks the choices must be made, Foy wrote.

Franken: “There is no such thing as a instantaneous factor you are able to do as a Senator that’s going to out of the blue scale back inflation.”

Grassley had already criticized Franken in a marketing campaign industrial launched on Sept. 28, saying Franken didn’t have a plan to fight inflation. The industrial quoted Franken saying, “senators don’t have any position in that in any way.” 

Through the debate, Franken clarified that there are numerous issues that Congress can do to fight inflation however cautioned that they aren’t instantaneous. Franken accused Grassley of failing to do something to fight inflation, like chopping the prices of pharmaceuticals like insulin. 

Grassley voted in opposition to the unique model of the Inflation Discount Act that had the $35 insulin value cap talked about by Franken, and supported an modification within the U.S. Senate to take away the availability from the invoice. Grassley voted no in opposition to the ultimate model of the invoice. 

Nevertheless, Grassley launched the Prescription Pricing for the Folks Act that he would direct the Federal Commerce Fee to make sure aggressive drug pricing. Grassley additionally launched the Prescription Drug Pricing Discount Act of 2019 that might stop producers from growing costs quicker than inflation. 

Again to the principle assertion: can U.S senators struggle inflation immediately?

Nobody can instantaneously struggle inflation, and it takes time to struggle inflation due to a delay out there’s response to financial coverage, former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke mentioned on the 2007 Financial Economics Workshop of the Nationwide Bureau of Financial Analysis Summer season Institute. 

Steven Blitz, chief U.S. economist at TS Lombard, an impartial financial analysis agency, mentioned in a February 2022 CNBC interview that modifications produced by financial coverage take time with a view to keep away from damaging the economic system. 

Nevertheless, legislative makes an attempt may be made to struggle inflation. The Committee for a Accountable Finances, a non-partisan group that goals to coach the general public on points with important fiscal coverage affect, has reported six methods the federal authorities may struggle inflation: authorities spending; decreasing the price of healthcare by way of funds to Medicare suppliers and by controlling the prices of prescription treatment; elevating extra tax income; decreasing power prices by decreasing taxes on power imports; and limiting discretionary spending. 

Grassley: “Bear in mind, inflation was 1.4% when this President went in, and you’ll’t blame the conflict in Ukraine like Biden needs to do as a result of it was nonetheless 6% in the beginning of that conflict.”

Grassley was proper on the primary quantity however off barely on the second. Bureau of Labor Statistics information present the Shopper Worth Index was 1.4% throughout the 12-month interval ending in January 2021. 

In February 2022, when the Ukraine conflict started, the Shopper Worth Index was 7.9%.

Grassley: “It looks like my opponent believes in an open border as a result of he mentioned the wall was an idiotic factor.”

Franken, as Grassley identified, referred to as the wall “idiotic” in a Could 2020 tweet. Whereas disagreeing with find out how to safe the U.S.-Mexican border doesn’t equate mechanically to wanting an open border, Franken has spoken favorably about rising the variety of immigrants allowed into america.

“We should always redouble efforts to extend immigration,” he mentioned in a KCCI tv interview that was printed on-line in Could. “We should always discover a pathway for individuals who are right here to future, full citizenship. And, I’m a fan, finally, of bringing these undocumented people in America into the sunshine. Cease residing on a wage scale that’s not livable, with a number of jobs and inhumane circumstances that may absolutely exist to your residing preparations.”

VoteSmart, the Des Moines-based nonpartisan collector of politicians’ political positions, exhibits Franken answering “no” when requested: “Do you assist requiring immigrants who’re unlawfully current to return to their nation of origin earlier than they’re eligible for citizenship?” The query was requested in VoteSmart’s Political Braveness Check, which gauges, partly, candidates’ willingness to reply a query.  

No reply seems for Franken to the query: “Do you assist growing safety alongside the southern US border?” Which means Franken didn’t reply the query but in addition that VoteSmart researchers couldn’t discover something recorded that might assist them reply the query, VoteSmart’s check protocol says.

Franken rejected Grassley’s “open border” accusation within the debate, referring to his navy profession. “So, open borders and a navy service actually doesn’t jive,” he mentioned. “And I’m a regulation and order kind of particular person and I imagine civil authority reigns supreme in a free and open society. So, let that simply dangle there.”

Within the debate, Grassely mentioned the border must be managed notably to cease unlawful, harmful medicine from coming into america. “Not only for marijuana, for fentanyl that killed 200 Iowans, 70 People and with an open border these items is simply coming into the nation,” Grassley mentioned.

Franken replied that a considerable amount of fentanyl comes throughout the border through DHL-tracked packaging through mail or delivery autos. and the mail and the like. “That which is introduced throughout the border isn’t being humped again by unlawful individuals crossing, by undocumented people crossing the border,” he mentioned.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration backs up Franken’s assertion. Its most up-to-date Nationwide Drug Menace Evaluation report, in 2020, mentioned drug cartels in Mexico primarily accountable for fentanyl shipments into america use hid compartments and commingled respectable items in industrial tractor-trailers and passenger autos, underground tunnels and main freeway routes. Additionally they use industrial cargo trains, ultralight plane, drones, passenger buses, backpackers and couriers when smuggling medicine throughout the southwest U.S. border, the report mentioned.

PolitiFact beforehand has written about claims that what Republicans name an open border has produced a rise in fentanyl shipments, score the declare to be principally false. “The time period ‘open border’ appears created to deceive and mislead,” Katharine Neill Harris, a fellow in drug Coverage at Rice College’s Baker Institute for Public Coverage, mentioned in a February 2022 PolitiFact story.

“No matter its official or authentic which means was, I feel when the general public hears it they think about that individuals are being allowed to cross into the nation the best way they’ll cross state strains. That’s simply not true.”

Emily Delgado contributed to this report.