How claims on wall, TPP, deportations stack up
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both struggled in the final presidential debate to explain comments from their past. A look at some of the claims from the debate:
Clinton: “I want to make college debt free.”
The facts: Clinton might aspire to that lofty goal, but she has only proposed making college tuition free for in- state students who go to a public college or university. Even with expanded grant aid, room and board can lead students to borrow.
Clinton, on Trump’s charge that she called for open borders in a 2013 speech to a Brazilian bank: “I was talking about energy.”
The facts: She was actually talking about more than energy, but apparently less than an open border that immigrants can spill across at will, according to the partial transcript released by WikiLeaks. Clinton said in the speech that “my dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders, sometime in the future with energy that is as green as sustainable as we can get it, powering growth and opportunity for every person in the hemisphere.”
Trump: “Her plan is going to raise taxes and even double your taxes.”
The facts: Clinton’s plan wouldn’t raise taxes at all for 95 percent of Americans, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. The very wealthiest would take the greatest hit, though a doubling is highly questionable. Two- thirds of her proposed increases would hit the top 0.1 percent of richest Americans, the center estimates.
Clinton, on her opposition to the Trans- Pacific Partnership trade deal: “It didn’t meet my test.”
The facts: It met her test when she was secretary of state and she promoted it worldwide. Hacked emails from Clinton’s campaign, released Wednesday by WikiLeaks, showed that Jake Sullivan, her top foreign policy adviser, called her a “big champion” of the deal and worried about how to handle the issue in the face of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ opposition. She later flip- flopped into opposition during the Democratic primaries against Sanders.
Trump: “Hillary Clinton wanted the ( border) wall. Hillary Clinton fought for the wall in 2006 or thereabouts. Now, she never gets anything done, so naturally it wasn’t built.”
The facts: He’s partly right. As a senator from New York, Clinton did support the 2006 Secure Fence Act, which authorized the construction of hundreds of miles of fencing along the U. S.- Mexico border. But it was built, contrary to Trump’s assertion. Nearly 700 miles of fencing was put in place during President George W. Bush’s second term and the beginning of President Barack Obama’s first term.
Trump: “President Obama has moved millions of people out . . . millions of people have been moved out of this country.”
The facts: That’s true. Obama has overseen the deportation of more than 2.5 million immigrants since taking office in January 2009.