Hillary Clinton in First 2016 Presidential Debate
On Free Trade:
FactCheck: Yes, called TPP "gold standard," unambiguously
TRUMP said, "You called [TPP] the gold standard of trade deals. And then you heard what I said about it, and all of a sudden you were against it. " Clinton responded, " I did say I hoped it would be a good deal. I was against it once it was finally
negotiated and the terms were laid out."THE FACT CHECKER: Trump is right. Clinton is subtly adjusting her words here when confronted with a question about her consistency on policy positions. The fact is she never used the word "hoped."
Instead, she was more declarative, using the phrase "gold standard" when she was Secretary of State: "This TPP sets the gold standard in trade agreements to open free, transparent, fair trade, the kind of environment that has the rule of law and
a level playing field," she said in Australia in 2012. "And when negotiated, this agreement will cover 40 percent of the world's total trade and build in strong protections for workers and the environment."
Source: Washington Post Fact-check on First 2016 Presidential Debate
Sep 27, 2016
On Jobs:
FactCheck: Yes, experts say Hillar'y plan will gain 10M jobs
Hillary said, "Independent experts have looked at what I've proposed and looked at what Donald's proposed; [under his plan] we would lose 3.5 million jobs; under my plans, we will have 10 million more new jobs."Is that true?
Moody's Analytics
estimates that if the Democratic presidential nominee's proposals are enacted, the economy would create 10.4 million jobs during her presidency, or 3.2 million more than expected under current law. The pace of GDP growth would also accelerate to an
annual average of 2.7%, from the current forecast of 2.3%.
Moody's Analytics is an independent research group, but the lead author of the report on Clinton is Mark Zandi, who donated $2,700 to her campaign last year. Zandi was a vocal supporter of the
Obama's 2009 stimulus package, but he has also served as an economic adviser to former Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
Moody's published a similar analysis of Trump's plans. It concluded that 3.5 million Americans would lose their jobs.
Source: CNN 2016 Fact-check on First 2016 Presidential Debate
Sep 27, 2016
On Budget & Economy:
No trumped-up trickle-down: reward work, not transactions
TRUMP: Under my plan, I'll be reducing taxes tremendously, from 35 percent to 15 percent for companies, small and big businesses. That's going to be a job creator like we haven't seen since Ronald Reagan. It's going to be a beautiful thing to watch.
CLINTON: We need to have a tax system that rewards work and not just financial transactions. And the kind of plan that Donald has put forth would be trickle-down economics all over again.
In fact, it would be the most extreme version, the biggest tax cuts for the top percent of the people in this country than we've ever had. I call it trumped-up trickle-down, because that's exactly what it would be.
That is not how we grow the economy. We just have a different view about what's best for growing the economy, how we make investments that will actually produce jobs and rising incomes.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University
Sep 26, 2016
On Budget & Economy:
Trump's plan costs 3.5M jobs; mine creates 10M jobs
Independent experts have looked at what I've proposed and looked at what Donald's proposed, and basically they've said this, that if his tax plan, which would blow up the debt by over $5 trillion and would in some instances disadvantage middle-class
families compared to the wealthy, were to go into effect, we would lose 3.5 million jobs and maybe have another recession. They've looked at my plans and they've said,
OK, if we can do this, and I intend to get it done, we will have 10 million more new jobs, because we will be making investments where we can grow the economy. Take clean energy. So I've tried to be very specific about what we can and should do, and
I am determined that we're going to get the economy really moving again, building on the progress we've made over the last eight years, but never going back to what got us in trouble in the first place.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University
Sep 26, 2016
On Budget & Economy:
Jobs for you, not just prosperity for those at the top
We have to build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. That means we need new jobs, good jobs, with rising incomes. I want us to invest in you and your future. That means jobs in infrastructure, in advanced manufacturing,
innovation and technology, clean, renewable energy, and small business, because most of the new jobs will come from small business. I also want to see more companies do profit-sharing. If you help create the profits, you should be able to share in them.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University
Sep 26, 2016
On Civil Rights:
Ask ourselves hard questions about implicit bias by race
Q: Do you believe that police are implicitly biased against black people?A: I think implicit bias is a problem for everyone, not just police. I think, unfortunately, too many of us in our great country jump to conclusions about each other. And
therefore, I think we need all of us to be asking hard questions about, you know, why am I feeling this way? But when it comes to policing--since it can have literally fatal consequences--in my first budget, we would put money into that budget to help
us deal with implicit bias by retraining a lot of our police officers. I've met with a group of very distinguished, experienced police chiefs a few weeks ago. They admit it's an issue. They've got a lot of concerns. Mental health is one of the biggest
concerns, because now police are having to handle a lot of really difficult mental health problems on the street. They want support, more training, and more assistance. The federal government could be in a position where we would offer and provide that.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University
Sep 26, 2016
On Corporations:
Make wealthy pay their fair share; close corporate loopholes
TRUMP: Our jobs are fleeing the country. They're going to Mexico. They're going to many other countries. Thousands of jobs leaving Michigan, leaving Ohio. They're all leaving. And we can't allow it to happen anymore.
CLINTON: I want us to do more to support people who are struggling to balance family and work. I've heard from so many of you about the difficult choices you face and the stresses that you're under.
So let's have paid family leave, earned sick days. Let's be sure we have affordable child care and debt-free college. How are we going to do it? We're going to do it by having the wealthy pay their fair share and close the corporate loopholes.
We also have to make the economy fairer. That starts with raising the national minimum wage and also guaranteeing equal pay for women's work.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University
Sep 26, 2016
On Crime:
Stop-and-frisk is ineffective as well as unconstitutional
TRUMP: When you have 3,000 shootings in Chicago from January 1st, you have to have stop-and-frisk. We need law and order in the inner cities, because the people that are most affected by what's happening are African-American and Hispanic people.
CLINTON: I've heard Donald say this at his rallies, and it's really unfortunate that he paints such a dire negative picture of black communities in our country.
TRUMP: Ugh.
CLINTON: You know, the vibrancy of the black church, the black businesses
that employ so many people, the opportunities that so many families are working to provide for their kids. There's a lot that we should be proud of and we should be supporting and lifting up. But we do always have to make sure we keep people safe. There
are the right ways of doing it, and then there are ways that are ineffective. Stop-and-frisk was found to be unconstitutional and, in part, because it was ineffective. It did not do what it needed to do.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University
Sep 26, 2016
On Crime:
Race still determines too much, especially in justice system
Q: How do you heal the racial divide?A: Race remains a significant challenge in our country. Unfortunately, race still determines too much, often determines where people live, determines what kind of education in their public schools they can get,
and, yes, it determines how they're treated in the criminal justice system. We've just seen those two tragic examples in both Tulsa & Charlotte. We've got to do several things at the same time. We have to restore trust between communities and the police.
We have to work to make sure that our police are using the best training, the best techniques, that they're well prepared to use force only when necessary. Everyone should be respected by the law, and everyone should respect the law. Right now, that's
not the case in a lot of our neighborhoods. So I have, ever since the first day of my campaign, called for criminal justice reform. I've laid out a platform that I think would begin to remedy some of the problems we have in the criminal justice system.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University
Sep 26, 2016
On Crime:
End profit motivation to filling prison cells
It's just a fact that if you're a young African-American man and you do the same thing as a young white man, you are more likely to be arrested, charged, convicted, and incarcerated. So we've got to address the systemic racism in our criminal justice
system. We have to come forward with a plan that is going to divert people from the criminal justice system, deal with mandatory minimum sentences, which have put too many people away for too long for doing too little.
We need to have more second chance programs. I'm glad that we're ending private prisons in the federal system; I want to see them ended in the state system.
You shouldn't have a profit motivation to fill prison cells with young Americans. So there are some positive ways we can work on this.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University
Sep 26, 2016
On Foreign Policy:
Honor treaties with South Korea & Japan: our word is good
TRUMP: We defend Japan, we defend Germany, we defend South Korea, we defend Saudi Arabia, we defend countries. They do not pay us. But they should be paying us, because we are providing tremendous service and we're losing a fortune. We can't defend
Japan, a behemoth, selling us cars by the million. They may have to defend themselves or they have to help us out. CLINTON: Let me start by saying, words matter. Words matter when you run for president. And they really matter when you are president.
And I want to reassure our allies in Japan and South Korea and elsewhere that we have mutual defense treaties and we will honor them. It is essential that America's word be good. And so I know that this campaign has caused some questioning and worries
on the part of many leaders across the globe. I've talked with a number of them. But I want to--on behalf of myself, and I think on behalf of a majority of the American people, say that, you know, our word is good.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University
Sep 26, 2016
On Foreign Policy:
For long-term US policy against nuclear proliferation
Trump: I agree with her on one thing. The single greatest problem the world has is nuclear weapons.Clinton: Donald has said he didn't care if other nations got nuclear weapons,
Japan, South Korea, even Saudi Arabia. It has been the policy of the US to do everything we could to reduce the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
His cavalier attitude about nuclear weapons is deeply troubling. That is the number-one threat we face. It becomes particularly threatening if terrorists ever get their hands on any nuclear material.
A man who can be provoked by a tweet should not have his fingers anywhere near the nuclear codes.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University
Sep 26, 2016
On Foreign Policy:
Glad the deal took nuclear off the table with Iran
Trump: [The Iran nuclear deal was] one of the great giveaways of all time, including $1.7 billion in cash. This is one of the worst deals ever made by any country in history. The deal with Iran will lead to nuclear problems. They don't have to do much.
Clinton: It's important that we look at the entire global situation. There's no doubt that we have other problems with Iran. I'd rather deal with the other problems having put that lid on their nuclear program.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University
Sep 26, 2016
On Free Trade:
Support deals good for US economy & security; not CAFTA!
When I was in the Senate, I had a number of trade deals that came before me, and I held them all to the same test. Will they create jobs in America? Will they raise incomes in America? And are they good for our national security? Some of them
I voted for. The biggest one, a multinational one known as CAFTA, I voted against. And because I hold the same standards as I look at all of these trade deals. But let's not assume that trade is the only challenge we have in the economy.
I think it is a part of it, and I've said what I'm going to do. I'm going to have a special prosecutor. We're going to enforce the trade deals we have, and we're going to hold people accountable.
When I was secretary of state, we actually increased American exports globally 30 percent. We increased them to China 50 percent. So I know how to really work to get new jobs and to get exports that helped to create more new jobs.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University
Sep 26, 2016
On Gun Control:
Gun epidemic is leading cause of death of young black men
We have to bring communities together in order to begin working on criminal justice reform as a mutual goal. And we've got to get guns out of the hands of people who should not have them. The gun epidemic is the leading cause of death of young African-
American men. We have to make sure the police respect the communities and the communities respect them. And we have to tackle the plague of gun violence, which is a big contributor to a lot of the problems that we're seeing today.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University
Sep 26, 2016
On Principles & Values:
Birtherism is a racist lie against our first black president
Q [to Trump]: You perpetuated a false claim that the nation's first black president was not a natural-born citizen.TRUMP: [Hillary's 2008 campaign] sent a highly respected reporter at McClatchy, [a news agency], to Kenya to find out about it. She
failed to get the birth certificate. When I got involved, I didn't fail. I figured you'd ask the question tonight, of course. I got him to give the birth certificate. And I think I did a good job.
CLINTON: As Donald just admitted, he knew he was going
to be asked this question, so he tried to put the whole racist birther lie to bed [two weeks ago, by declaring Obama was born in the US]. But it can't be dismissed that easily. He has really started his political activity based on this racist lie
that our first black president was not an American citizen. There was absolutely no evidence for it, but he persisted, year after year, because some of his supporters apparently believed it or wanted to believe it.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University
Sep 26, 2016
On Tax Reform:
Trump loophole: $4B tax benefit for Trump family
TRUMP: The wealthy are going tocreate tremendous jobs. They're going to expand their companies. I'm getting rid of the carried interest provision. It's a great thing for companies to expand. And when these people are going to put billions and billions
of dollars into companies, and when they're going to bring $2.5 trillion back from overseas, where they can't bring the money back, because politicians like Secretary Clinton won't allow them to bring the money back, because the taxes are so onerous.
CLINTON: I don't see changes in the corporate tax rates or the kinds of proposals [Trump was] referring to that would cause the repatriation, bringing back of money that's stranded overseas. I happen to support that. I happen to support that in a way
that will actually work to our benefit. [Trump has] what is called now the Trump loophole, because it would so advantage you and the business you do. [He has] proposed an approach that has a $4 billion tax benefit for [his] family.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University
Sep 26, 2016
On Tax Reform:
Trickle-down hasn't worked; no slashing taxes on wealthy
When you look at what [Trump is] proposing, I call it "trumped-up trickle-down." Trickle-down did not work. It got us into the mess we were in, in 2008 and 2009. Slashing taxes on the wealthy hasn't worked. And a lot of really smart, wealthy people
know that. And they are saying, hey, we need to do more to make the contributions we should be making to rebuild the middle class. I don't think top-down works in America.
I think building the middle class, investing in the middle class, making college debt-free so more young people can get their education, helping people refinance their debt from college at a lower rate.
Those are the kinds of things that will really boost the economy. Broad-based, inclusive growth is what we need in America, not more advantages for people at the very top.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University
Sep 26, 2016
On Technology:
Cyberwarfare will be greatest challenge for next president
Q: How do we fight a cyber attack?A: I think cyber security & cyber warfare will be one of the biggest challenges facing the next president, because clearly we're facing at this point two different kinds of adversaries. There are the independent
hacking groups that do it mostly for commercial reasons to try to steal information that they can use to make money. But increasingly, we are seeing cyber attacks coming from states. The most recent and troubling of these has been Russia.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University
Sep 26, 2016
On War & Peace:
Iran had centrifuges whirling away until we negotiated
TRUMP: You started the Iran deal, that's another beauty where you have a country that was ready to fall. They were doing so badly. They were choking on the sanctions. And now they're going to be a major power at some point pretty soon, the way they're
going.CLINTON: With respect to Iran, when I became secretary of state, Iran was weeks away from having enough nuclear material to form a bomb. They had mastered the nuclear fuel cycle under the Bush administration. They had built covert facilities.
They had stocked them with centrifuges that were whirling away. And we had sanctioned them. I voted for every sanction against Iran when I was in the Senate, but it wasn't enough. So I put together a coalition that included Russia and China to impose
the toughest sanctions on Iran. And we did drive them to the negotiating table. [The recent nuclear deal] put a lid on Iran's nuclear program without firing a single shot. That's diplomacy. That's coalition-building. That's working with other nations.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University
Sep 26, 2016
On War & Peace:
Take out current ISIS leaders like we took out bin Laden
We need to do much more with our tech companies to prevent ISIS and their operatives from being able to use the Internet to radicalize, even direct people in our country & Europe & elsewhere. We also have to intensify our air strikes against ISIS and
support our Arab & Kurdish partners to be able to actually take out ISIS in Raqqa. We're making progress. Our military is assisting in Iraq. We're hoping that within the year we'll be able to push ISIS out of Iraq and then really squeeze them in Syria.
They've had foreign fighters coming to volunteer for them, foreign money, foreign weapons, so we have to make this the top priority. I would also do everything possible to take out their leadership. I was involved in a number of efforts to take out Al
Qaida leadership when I was secretary of state, including, of course, taking out bin Laden. We need to go after Baghdadi, as well, make that one of our organizing principles. We've got to do everything we can to disrupt their propaganda efforts online.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University
Sep 26, 2016
On War & Peace:
Work with allies around the world to fight homegrown terror
Q: Tell us specifically how you would prevent homegrown attacks by American citizens. A: We've got to have an intelligence surge, where we are looking for every scrap of information. So we've got to do everything we can to vacuum up intelligence from
Europe, from the Middle East. That means we've got to work more closely with our allies, and that's something that [Trump] has been very dismissive of. We're working with NATO to really turn our attention to terrorism. We're working with our friends in
the Middle East, many of which, as you know, are Muslim majority nations. [Trump] has consistently insulted Muslims abroad, Muslims at home, when we need to be cooperating with Muslim nations and with the American Muslim community. They're on the front
lines. They can provide information to us that we might not get anywhere else. They need to have close working cooperation with law enforcement in these communities, not be alienated & pushed away as some of [Trump's] rhetoric, unfortunately, has led to.
Source: First 2016 Presidential Debate at Hofstra University
Sep 26, 2016
Page last updated: Nov 30, 2021