Texas Sen. Ted Cruz became the first major Republican candidate to declare himself officially in the 2016 presidential race. In announcing his presidential ambition, Cruz repeated a number of dubious claims.

Cruz railed against a "government . that seeks to ban our ammunition." The Obama administration sought to ban a certain type of armor-piercing bullet, not all types of ammunition. The proposal has since been postponed. Cruz claimed that as a result of the Affordable Care Act "millions . have lost their health insurance." In fact, about 10 million people on net gained insurance between September 2013 and December 2014, according to the Urban Institute.

Cruz also claimed that as a result of the law "millions (have been) forced into part-time work." There's no solid figure on how many may have had their hours cut to part time, but one analysis of monthly labor surveys said the number was "likely" a few hundred thousand. Cruz painted a bleak picture of "economic stagnation" and "record numbers" of small-business failures. He's off base on both counts. Far from being stagnant, the U.S. economy has chalked up five consecutive years of growth, gaining nearly 11.5 million jobs since early 2010. It is actually new business establishment openings that have recently posted the biggest gains on record. The number of business establishment deaths is currently well below the record - which was set in late 2008.

Cruz cited a 1975 Newsweek article on "global cooling" to question the evidence of global warming, and in the process made several incorrect and unsubstantiated claims. Cruz said that "satellite data demonstrate that there has been no significant warming whatsoever for 17 years." This is misleading. Cruz cherry-picks a particularly warm year (1998) to deny the clear longer term warming trend. There have now been 360 consecutive months when the global temperature was above the 20th century average. Cruz compared "global warming alarmists" to "flat-Earthers" and himself to Galileo, saying "this heretic named Galileo was branded a denier" for insisting the Earth was round. This is wrong. Galileo's troubles with the church stemmed from his belief that the Earth orbits the Sun. The fact that the planet is round was accepted before Galileo was born.

Study ranks EPA rules as high benefit

The estimated annual benefits of major federal regulations reviewed by Office of Management and Budget from Oct. 1, 2002, to Sept. 30, 2012, for which agencies estimated and monetized both benefits and costs, are in the aggregate between $193 billion and $800 billion, while the estimated annual costs are in the aggregate between $57 billion and $84 billion. These ranges are reported in 2001 dollars and reflect uncertainty in the benefits and costs of each rule at the time that it was evaluated. These estimates exclude non-major rules and rules adopted more than 10 years ago. Rules with the highest benefits and the highest costs come from the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA proposed 32 major rules, those with costs/benefits of over $100 million a year. Benefits were $112 to $637.6, while costs were $30.4 to $36.5 (all costs in billions of dollars). The large estimated benefits of EPA rules were issued pursuant to the Clean Air Act and are mostly attributable to the reduction in public exposure to a single air pollutant: fine particulate matter. These 21 rules have benefits of $109.4 to $629.1 and costs $29.4 to $35.3. These rules have as either a primary or significant aim to improve air quality, accounting for 98 to 99 percent of the benefits of EPA rules.

Chip Tuthill lives in Mancos. Websites used: www.factcheck.org www.cbo.gov