Reality Check

Here on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, we value facts. Throughout Trump’s second term, his administration has consistently distorted science and statistics to fit its political agenda. Science Committee Democrats are here to set the record straight. On this page you will find counter arguments to the Trump administration’s blatant lies backed by real scientists, not charlatans. Click on each button below to see what is fact and what is fiction.

U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, & Technology

The Trump Administration Says:

“In order to deliver on NASA’s world changing mission, it’s going to require contributions from the best and brightest around the nation.”

- NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman at his Senate confirmation hearing, December 2025

The Reality Is:

“There is no longer a path for someone to come work at NASA when they grow up.”

- NASA whistleblower testimony shared in a report by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, September 2025

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The Trump Administration Says:

“All of the 2270 projects we evaluated were not evaluated in any way, shape or form based on where they were, and the award location.”

- DOE Secretary Chris Wright, Congressional testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the elimination of grants for energy projects exclusively in blue states, April 2026

The Reality Is:

“Defendants freely admit that they made grant-termination decisions primarily — if not exclusively — based on whether the awardee resided in a state whose citizens voted for President Trump in 2024.”

- U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, January 2026

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The Trump Administration Says:

“We’ve basically stopped all windmills in this country. It’s the most expensive energy you can get.”

- Donald Trump during an announcement to revoke the 2009 endangerment finding that allows the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, February 2026

The Reality Is:

“Utility-scale solar and onshore wind remain the most cost-effective forms of new-build energy generation on an unsubsidized basis (i.e., without tax subsidies).”

- Lazard Inc., global financial firm that produces the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) report on the cost competitiveness of energy generation technologies, June 2025

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The Trump Administration Says:

“GOOD RIDDANCE! After 15 years of Dumocrats promising that ‘Climate change’ is going to destroy the Planet, the United Nations TOP Climate Committee just admitted that its own projections (RCP8.5) were WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!”

- Donald Trump, Truth Social Post, May 2026

The Reality Is:

“The change in projections for RCP8.4, which is the worst-case scenario, reflects how we are making progress in slowing climate change with a well-established affordable range of solutions — especially, solar, wind, battery storage, and electrified transportation.”

- University of Michigan Environment Dean Jonathan Overpeck, May 2026

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The Trump Administration Says:

“I was never in the room with him socially, for business, or even philanthropy.”

- Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in reference to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, “Pod Force One with Miranda Devine,” October 2025

The Reality Is:

“The files show that you had interactions with Epstein over the next 13 years, including long after he was convicted in 2008 of soliciting the prostitution of a minor.”

- Senator Chris Van Hollen to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing titled “A Review of Broadband Deployment Funding at the Department of Commerce,” April 2026

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The Trump Administration Says:

“No, the New York Times is way ahead of their skis on this one.”

- EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin when asked about reporting from The New York Times that he planned to “fire more than 1,000 scientists in an effort to dismantle the Office of Research and Development,” Fox Business’ Varney & Co., March 2025

The Reality Is:

“Despite EPA Administrator Zeldin’s absurd denials, and Republicans’ obsequious insistence that ORD was still functioning, the truth is finally revealed. Trump and Zeldin have no intention to follow the law and support the use of the best available science but instead get rid of research to allow companies to pollute our Earth without regard to the health of American people.”

- Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren upon the EPA notifying Congress of its elimination of ORD, February 2026

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The Trump Administration Says:

"OCED is not going to be eliminated...I don't know all the details on the communication around that, but I can just tell you, that's one of the things I was able to check and it's just not going to be eliminated.”

- DOE Under Secretary for Science Dario Gil, testimony before the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, December 2025

The Reality Is:

“In the absence of compelling evidence, we have every reason to believe that OCED has been eliminated, despite DOE’s claims to the contrary. The Department’s scramble to find some way to legally defend its actions has turned OCED’s existence into a malleable talking point.”

- House Science, Space, and Technology Democratic Members in a letter to DOE Secretary Chris Wright, December 2025

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The Trump Administration Says:

"There is insufficient reliable information to retain the conclusion that greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles and engines in the United States cause or contribute to endagerment to public health and welfare in the form of global climate change."

-EPA, "Proposed Rule: Reconsideration of 2009 Endangerment Finding and Greenhouse Gas Vehicle Standards," July 2025

The Reality Is:

"Human activitities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming, with global surface temperature reaching 1.1 C above 1850 - 1900 in 2011-2020."

-Intergovernmental Panel on Climage Change (IPCC), August 2021

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The Trump Administration Says:

"In the winter, high pressure systems come in, bring an Arctic air mass, and they sit there... When you have a high pressure system sitting there, it's stagnant air. You don't get wind power."

- DOE Secretary Chris Wright at the United Nations General Assembly, September 2025

The Reality Is:

"Wind speeds are strong during winter, with average values above 10 m/s at wind-turbine hub-heights throughout the season, while summer shows smaller values."

- American Geophysical Union (AGU), April 2019

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The Trump Administration Says:

"If you're pregnant, don't take Tylenol, and don't give it to the baby after the baby is born. There are certain groups of people that don't take vaccines and don't tale any pills that have no autism."

- Donald Trump at Briefing on Autism, September 2025

The Reality Is:

"In more than two decades of research on the use of acetaminophen in pregnancy, not a single reputable study has successfully concluded that the use of acetaminophen in any trimester of pregnancy causes neurodevelopmental disorders in children."

- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), September 2025

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The Trump Administration Says:

"The ultimate impact of AI should be able to make our grid more secure and actually lower the average delivery cost."

- DOE Secretary Chris Wright on CNBC, October 2025

The Reality Is:

"Data center and cryptocurrency mining growth through 2030 could increase average U.S. electricity generation costs by 8% and greenhouse gas emissions from power generation by 30%."

- Open Energy Outlook Initiative by Carnegie Mellon University and North Carolina State University, July 2025

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The Trump Administration Says:

"We're about to enter an era of great experimentation."

- NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, Space Force Associations's Spacepower Conference, December 2024

The Reality Is:

"For the second year in a row, the President's Budget Request (PBR) includes a nearly one-quarter (23%) cut to NASA's top line, and what would be the largest drop in agency history, including a 47% cut to NASA science ... The skinny budget this year indicates that at least 40 missions would be canceled."

- The Planetary Society, Press Release, April 2026

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The Trump Administration Says:

"My Administration is committed to restoring a gold standard for science."

- Donald Trump, "Restoring Gold Standard Science," Executive Order, May 2025

The Reality Is:

"Termination of National Science Board members continues a troubling trend to dissolve scientific advisory bodies. Such actions remove key nonpartisan oversight of U.S. investments in fundamental science"

- Statement by the American Chemical Society in response to the firing of all NSF National Science Board members, April 2026

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The Trump Administration Says:

"Hydrocarbons are and will continue to be essential to improving the wealth, health, and lives of all human beings."

- DOE Secretary Chris Wright, X post, June 2025

The Reality Is:

"Hydrocarbon contamination can have significant impacts on the environment (groundwater systems, soil, and microbial activity) and public health, altering the region's geochemical, and hydrochemical signatures, which inversely affect the region's health status and soil microorganism performance."

- Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances, Volume 19, August 2025

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