AP FACT CHECK: Biden’s auto hype, Trump’s false drug pledge

DETROIT (AP) — President Donald Trump exaggerated his administration’s efforts to lower prescription drug prices and Democratic rival Joe Biden claimed too much credit for reviving the U.S. auto industry in their latest series of misstatements in the 2020 campaign.

A look at some of their statements Wednesday:

BIDEN: “President Obama and I rescued the auto industry and helped Michigan’s economy come roaring back. Donald Trump squandered it — and hardworking Michiganders are paying the price every day.” — tweet.

THE FACTS: He’s assigning too much credit to the Obama administration for saving the auto industry and overstating it when asserting that Trump “squandered” Michigan’s economy.

As an initial matter, what Obama did was an expansion of the initial, pivotal steps taken by Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush.

In December 2008, General Motors and Chrysler were on the brink of financial collapse. The U.S. was in a deep recession and U.S. auto sales were falling sharply, in part because the 2008-2009 financial crisis made it harder for would-be auto buyers to get a car loan. GM, Chrysler and Ford requested government aid, but Congress voted it down.

With barely a month left in office, Bush authorized $25 billion in loans to GM and Chrysler from the $700 billion bailout fund that was initially intended to save the largest U.S. banks. Ford decided against taking any money. After Obama was inaugurated, he appointed a task force to oversee GM and Chrysler, both of which eventually declared bankruptcy, took an additional roughly $55 billion in aid, and were forced to close many factories and overhaul their operations. All three companies recovered and eventually started adding jobs again.

Trump did not squander Michigan’s economy, although the...