A Fox Nation headline falsely claimed that President Obama called for “billions in new deficit spending” during his State of the Union speech, and linked to a FoxNews.com article that debunks its claim by including the president's statement that his proposals would not add to the deficit.

A Fox Nation post on the president's State of the Union speech declared in its headline: “Obama Pleads For Billions In New Deficit Spending.”

The post included this quote from Obama's speech: “Most of us agree that a plan to reduce the deficit must be part of our agenda. But let's be clear: deficit reduction alone is not an economic plan.” Fox Nation also noted that Obama pressed “for new spending aimed at helping the economy grow.”

But the FoxNews.com article that Fox Nation links to reported that Obama said his proposals would be “fully paid for” and included his statement that “nothing I'm proposing tonight should increase our deficit by a single dime.”

The transcript of the president's speech shows that he did not call for “billions in new deficit spending” (emphasis added):

Now, most of us agree that a plan to reduce the deficit must be part of our agenda.  But let's be clear, deficit reduction alone is not an economic plan.  (Applause.)  A growing economy that creates good, middle-class jobs -- that must be the North Star that guides our efforts.  (Applause.)  Every day, we should ask ourselves three questions as a nation:  How do we attract more jobs to our shores?  How do we equip our people with the skills they need to get those jobs?  And how do we make sure that hard work leads to a decent living? 

A year and a half ago, I put forward an American Jobs Act that independent economists said would create more than 1 million new jobs.  And I thank the last Congress for passing some of that agenda.  I urge this Congress to pass the rest.  (Applause.)  But tonight, I'll lay out additional proposals that are fully paid for and fully consistent with the budget framework both parties agreed to just 18 months ago.  Let me repeat -- nothing I'm proposing tonight should increase our deficit by a single dime.  It is not a bigger government we need, but a smarter government that sets priorities and invests in broad-based growth.  (Applause.)  That's what we should be looking for.