President Barack Obama campaigned on behalf of Hillary Clinton in Greensboro, North Carolina today. Speaking at the White Oak Amphitheatre, Obama spoke about Clinton’s broad platform plans to help young Americans and the middle class get ahead while ensuring those at the top of the income bracket pay their fair share. Obama also went after Republican Donald Trump saying that he is “unfit to lead this country.” He spoke about the current election and the importance of voting saying, “I never thought that if they were in the Oval Office, America would spin out of control. I just thought they represented a different political party and a different philosophy. That is not the case with the current Republican nominee.” A video of Obama’s speech is below.
On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton announced a new plan that will expand tax relief to families with young children. The plan is outlined in the following release from Hillary for America:
As part of her plan to build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top, Hillary Clinton is announcing today a new expansion of the Child Tax Credit for families with young children. She will double the Child Tax Credit to a maximum of $2,000 per child up to and including age 4, and she’ll expand access to millions more families. As many as 15 million young children will be eligible for the credit of up to $2,000 – and millions more people will benefit from additional relief. And this is only a down payment on further relief for middle-class families.
“Hard-working, middle-class families are struggling with rising costs for child care, health care, caregiving and college,” said Clinton. “This new tax credit will make their lives a little bit easier and help restore fairness to our economy.”
Clinton has previously announced middle class tax relief in the form of an up-to-$5,000 credit for families with excessive out of pocket health costs, and up to $1,200 for families caring for parents and grandparents.
Specifically, Clinton is announcing today that she will:
Double the Child Tax Credit from $1,000 to $2,000 for each young child. Right now, the Child Tax Credit gives millions of families up to $1,000 per child each year to help cover all the burdens they face. Clinton will double the maximum credit to $2,000 for each young child up to and including age 4.
Expand Child Tax Credit refundability so millions more working families get additional relief. Under our current system millions of families do not qualify for the full credit or get very little benefit because they simply do not make enough money, since the tax code excludes the first $3,000 in earnings in determining whether a working family is eligible for refundable relief. Clinton will lower the threshold for refundability from $3,000 to the first dollar of earnings for families with children of all ages, so every working family can benefit. And she will increase the phase-in rate to 45% from 15% for families with young children. According to the nonpartisan Urban Institute, the credit is structured so that families at the low end of the income distribution do not receive the full credit, and those families that are left out are more likely to be African-American and Latino. Improving refundability and increasing the phase-in rate will help close this gap and increase the overall fairness in the system.
Provide further tax relief for middle-class families, including those without children, and with older children: Clinton believes we should go further than doubling the Child Tax Credit for young children. The expansion Clinton is calling for today is a down payment on her overall vision for tax relief for middle-class families. Clinton believes we should further expand the Child Tax Credit for families with older children, and expand refundable relief for low-income workers without children.
Clinton’s plan will be fully paid for by her proposals to ensure the wealthy, Wall Street, and big corporations pay their fair share. And like the current Child Tax Credit, it will phase out for higher-income families.
Refundable tax credits like the Child Tax Credit reward work, lift families out of poverty, and improve lifelong outcomes for kids. Studies have shown that the Child Tax Credit helps lift millions of Americans out of poverty each year. Not only does the Child Tax Credit help fight poverty for families in the year that they qualify for the tax cut, its effects can be seen for many years later. Parents in families that receive refundable credits like the Child Tax Credit are more likely to be in the labor force and contribute to the economy. Children in those families do better in school, are more likely to go to college and earn more when they become adults.
Clinton’s proposals to expand relief for hard-working families with children stand in strong contrast to Donald Trump’s plans. Because Trump’s child care and maternity leave plan gives far more to high-income families than middle-class families struggling with costs, and his tax plan rolls back dependent exemptions and other relief for parents with children, it would actually raise taxes on 8 million middle-class families to fund his tax cuts for the rich and multinational corporations, and $4 billion for his own family.
Specifically, hard-working families that get tax relief under Clinton’s plan would see tax increases, or a much smaller tax cut, under Trump:
A single parent earning $75,000 per year, with two young children, and $8,000 in childcare costs would see a $1,640 tax increase under Trump, and $2,000 in tax relief under Clinton’s plan. A recent academic analysis found that compared to current law, Trump’s plan would raise taxes on this family by $1,640, because it eliminates personal exemptions and the head-of-household filing status. Clinton’s expansion of the Child Tax Credit would give them an extra $2,000 in tax relief.
According to the same analysis, a married couple earning $50,000 per year, with two young children, and $8,000 in childcare costs would get a $93 tax cut under Trump’s plan, and $2,000 in tax relief under Clinton’s plan.
In response to new reports on the Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump tax plans from the Tax Policy Center, Hillary for America Senior Policy Advisor Jacob Leibenluft released the following statement:
“This report is further evidence of the clear choice for voters in this election. According to an independent analysis, Hillary Clinton’s plan would provide middle-class tax relief and pay for investments in good-paying jobs by requiring the wealthy, Wall Street and large corporations to pay their fair share. Donald Trump’s plan is the most extreme form of trickle-down economics: adding more than $20 trillion to the debt over the next two decades by providing massive giveaways to the richest Americans. In fact, the report shows Trump will give as much tax relief to the top 1% as everyone else combined – even as he raises taxes on millions of working families with children. And what’s more, the Tax Policy Center has exposed a lie Trump told at Sunday night’s debate: while Clinton would close the carried interest loophole that allows Wall Street money managers to pay a lower rate than many middle-class families, Trump’s plan would actually make that loophole even worse.”
Following last night’s debate, Hillary Clinton returned to the campaign trail with events in Michigan and Ohio. Clinton’s first event was on the campus of Wayne State University in Detroit. While her speech covered a number of platform points, she also spoke about bipartisanship saying that she is “winning more and more support not just from independents but also Republicans.” She then went after Donald Trump for his divisive campaign, name calling, and refusal to release his income tax records. “I believe everyone in this room has paid more income tax than (Trump) has,” she said. Clinton concluded by talking about the importance of voting in the November election. A video of Clinton’s speech is below.
Clinton then spoke at a rally at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. The event was by far the largest of the campaign with over 18,000 people filling the oval. During the event, Clinton spoke about a variety of her platform points including reigning in the costs of higher education. She also spoke about her opponent and criticized him for not buying steel made in the United States, but instead buying steel from China. Clinton also spoke about her time as a public servant saying, “When Donald Trump talks about what I have been doing for the last 30 years, I welcome that. Because in the 1970s, I was working to end discrimination and he was being sued by the Justice Department for racial discrimination. In the 1980s, I was working to improve the schools in Arkansas … while he was getting a loan for $14 million from his father to start a business. On the day that I was in the Situation Room watching the raid that brought Osama bin Laden to justice, he was hosting Celebrity Apprentice.” A full video of Clinton’s speech is below.
On Sunday night, presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton faced off in the second of three debates. The debate was intended to be a town hall style event moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper and ABC’s Martha Raddatz; however, it quickly descended into a series of personal attacks. Clinton hammered Trump for his comments about women, Muslims, immigrants, and everyone else has insulted. Trump went after Bill Clinton’s sexual scandals and threatened to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton if he is elected. For 90 minutes, the candidates bickered, and occasionally, spoke about policy.
While pundits will argue who won and who lost last night’s debate, what is important is who you feel will best represent you. This political cycle has become more about personality and less about the issues at stake. Both candidates have outlined a series of policies they believe are important to them and that says a lot about their beliefs. What is key is that on November 8, you have a choice. You have a voice at the ballot box and make sure it is heard. Vote.
A video replay of the debate is below.
Hillary for America responded to the debate with two press releases. The first is titled “Results are In: Clinton Won the Debate” and second is titled “Another Night of Trump’s Lies.” Both press releases are below.
Results Are In: Hillary Clinton Won The Debate
The results from the second presidential debate are crystal clear, Hillary Clinton is the victor. Last night, Donald Trump repeated the same falsehoods he’s spewed since the start of his campaign, admitted to evading federal taxes for years and tried to mask his offensive comments and actions against women as “locker room talk.” Post-debate polls and journalist have agreed there’s only one candidate fit to be commander-in-chief.
@nytimes: Clinton endured the nuclear attack and Trump solved none of his problems.
@HuffingtonPost: Political figures from both parties thought Trump’s performance was a disaster
@Mic: Hillary Clinton won the second #debate, mostly because Donald Trump totally imploded
LA Times: Second presidential debate updates: Hillary Clinton won again, our analysts say “… He [Trump] had a big hole to climb out of, and he did not do it. He was snappish throughout, repeatedly interrupting Clinton and badgering the moderators. He repeated falsehoods — that neighbors of the San Bernardino terrorists saw bombs in their apartment and said nothing, that he had never tweeted about a sex tape involving last week’s Trump target, a former Miss Universe … Clinton, by contrast, was knowledgeable on policy matters and handled criticisms … It seems unlikely that he will benefit in any meaningful way from tonight’s debate, and it’s very possible she will benefit.”
Washington Post: On Twitter, Hillary Clinton won the debate “In general, Twitter users were more favorable to Clinton than Trump — in line with the snap polls. This was particularly true when she addressed the tape of Trump’s lewd comments about women and in the half-hour after the debate.”
New York Times: “With Donald J. Trump’s campaign engulfed in crisis, the second presidential debate promised a clash of grand proportions: a decisive, even cataclysmic showdown between one candidate on his heels and the other, Hillary Clinton, emerging as a strong front-runner.”
Reuters: “Wall Street rose on Monday morning amid gains across most sectors, driven by oil prices, and as Democrat Hillary Clinton was widely seen as the winner of the second presidential debate. A Clinton presidency would be more positive for the markets because her positions are more well known than those of her Republican rival Donald Trump, according to a Reuters poll.”
Economic Times: Hillary Clinton ‘clear winner’ of 2nd presidential debate: Polls “Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton today emerged as the “clear winner” after the second US presidential debate … Trump fell back on the tricks he has learned from his years in pro wrestling and reality television, making clear how deep his cynicism goes and how little regard he has for his party, let alone the presidency … The editorial added that during the debate, Trump “struggled” to construct coherent statements of his own policies, “wandering down strange, shadowy alleyways as he pursued his various claims about Clinton”, including that she, not he, was responsible for his birth”
Washington Post: “Winner: Hillary Clinton: … Clinton went into this debate with massive momentum in the race — much of it caused by Trump’s stumbles — and didn’t make any sort of glaring error that would allow the Republican back into the contest. She was steady, knowledgeable and pleasant — even in the face of some very personal attacks — throughout. And she let Trump talk, which, as has been the case since he got into the race, is always his undoing.”
New York Magazine: “On Sunday night, the Republican presidential nominee was asked why he had bragged about committing sexual assault. Donald Trump dismissed such boasts as locker-room talk, promised to prosecute his chief political opponent, attacked Hillary Clinton for allegations of sexual violence made against her husband (despite the fact that numerous women have made such allegations against Trump himself), all while sniffling into his microphone 93 times … Most early metrics suggest that Clinton won the debate”
Slate: “She had to appear unruffled while Trump, stewing and pacing, loomed behind her, physically menacing her with his bulk. He threatened to have her imprisoned if elected; she betrayed not a hint of rage or shock … Trump bullied and lied. He once again dismissed his hot mic boasts about sexual assault as “locker-room” talk. He denied sending an early morning tweet telling Americans to check out the (nonexistent) sex tape of a former Miss Universe, when the tweet, less than two weeks old, is on the internet for all to see”
Huffington Post: “The town hall format allowed Trump to stalk the stage, lurking behind Clinton as she answered questions, and he muscled his way into directly confronting the Democratic nominee on issues such as her emails and her modest record of accomplishment in Congress. He proudly admitted that he had indeed used $916 million in tax write-offs against his income, but attacked Clinton for not changing the very law he used … But other polls, including from CNN, showed Clinton winning handily.”
Business Insider: Clinton scores decisive victory over Trump in 2nd debate “A CNN/ORC instant poll taken immediately after Sunday night’s presidential debate in St. Louis gave Hillary Clinton a decisive victory over Donald Trump.Fifty-seven percent of 537 registered voters surveyed in the immediate aftermath of the political showdown said the Democratic nominee won the contest.”
The Oxford Eagle: Hillary Clinton won the presidential debate tonight over Donald Trump “Trump, the Republican, missed on facts in accusations against Clinton, he rambled at times late in the debate, and he spoke over moderators and Clinton at times. Trump even dissed his Republican vice presidential running mate at one point, when he disagreed with running mate Mike Pence’s position on the proper strategy to deal with the civil war and humanitarian crisis in Syria.”
Iowa State Daily Editorial: Clinton wins second presidential debate “… Trump seemed to cycle through sound bite arguments and, like last time, gave very little of anything resembling a straight answer. Almost immediately, Trump received questions about his latest scandal: his 2005 comments that depicted the Republican candidate bragging about sexual assault. And while Trump seems to think that this “locker room talk” means very little when faced with his favorite talking point, ISIS, he failed to show the American public not only remorse, but a stance that showed anything other than complete disregard for severity of sexual assault and the power of words.”
Denver Post Editorial: Trump doubles down on desperate strategy in second debate “Trump’s attacks before and during Sunday’s debate represented a cynical Hail Mary pass that we hope objective voters see through as the desperate acts of a badly damaged politician.Rather than trying to reverse the perception of him presented by a video recording in which he talks about women as if he were a common thug, Trump chose to blame Hillary Clinton for her responses to well-known problems she and her husband dealt with years ago. Only in a mind as unprincipled and undisciplined as Trump’s does such an argument make sense.”
Miami Herald Editorial: In debate, Trump’s scorched earth vs. down-to-earth Clinton “Donald Trump had one job at Sunday night’s debate: Persuade the group of undecideds in the room and beyond that his misogynistic bragging in a video that surfaced last week has absolutely no bearing on his fitness to be president. News flash: Donald Trump is unfit to to be president. He ducked, dodged, backtracked, spoke in ridiculously broad generalities — Hillary Clinton was a “disaster” as a U.S. senator — took responsibility for absolutely nothing … It was more of his scorched-earth approach, based on the belief that he will make life better for Americans simply because he says so.”
Las Vegas Sun Analysis: Donald Trump didn’t win anyone over with performance in second debate “Sunday night in St. Louis, Donald Trump proved yet again he’s not interested in winning over any voters outside of his loyalists. After reiterating a tepid apology for his disgusting hot-mic remarks in a 2005 video, he tried to divert attention from it by discussing former President Bill Clinton’s extramarital affairs and pledging to have a special prosecutor investigate Hillary Clinton over her email scandal if he were elected president. Classic Trump, the same as when he challenged moderator Anderson Cooper of CNN over the debate rules, saying he was in a “one-on-three” situation against Cooper, Clinton and moderator Martha Raddatz from ABC News. … As for those who question Trump’s fitness to serve, however, he did nothing to convince them to vote for him.”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial: A debate unlikely to win voters over to Trump’s side “Trump made clear he is not aiming for a campaign reset but instead will use misogyny as a theme to attack his opponent. As angry accusations flew between him and Clinton, Trump stated bizarrely, “We have a divided nation … because of people like her. Believe me, she has tremendous hate in her heart …tremendous hatred.” In response to the laundry list that Hillary Clinton gave of his insulting treatment of women, Latinos, Muslims, immigrants and disabled people, Trump’s response was to wave it off along with the scandal that erupted Friday regarding his 2005 remarks: “It’s just words, folks. Just words. … That was locker room talk.” He then, inexplicably, tried to transition from that to a critique of the Obama administration and the Islamic State. … Whether Trump managed to win over undecided voters with his show Sunday night is anyone’s guess. This newspaper is unswayed in our belief that he is dangerously unfit to be the next president.”
Chicago Tribune Editorial: Donald Trump may have lost the 2016 election in 2005 “The recording strikes Americans who’ve reliably loathed Trump as another we-told-you moment. They wonder, correctly, why all Republicans and Trump converts weren’t long ago repelled by his notorious comments about women, Mexicans, Muslims and others he has diminished. Why, Republicans, are you just now offended? Fair question. One answer: because this raw revelation reaches a more frightful order of magnitude. Here we have Trump not only demeaning women but describing how he preys on them. … We’ll be surprised if this week’s opinion polls don’t suggest that millions of Americans are finished with Trump. After Sunday night, this fate both echoes and looms: He may have lost the 2016 election in 2005.”
Salt Lake Tribune Editorial: Trump’s performance in Sunday’s debate did little to steady his ship “With all the slime attached to Trump’s campaign, and not just in the past few days, his only hope of repairing the damage to his own chances, and to the whole election cycle, would be for him to make a convincing case, in the little time remaining, that in spite of everything he has the ideas, the skills and the temperament to lead this nation. He didn’t do that Sunday.”
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Desperation, thy name is Donald Trump: Thoughts after the second presidential debate “Perhaps the only suspense that remains in the final month of this race is whether Trump will face this adversity with any dignity. Spoiler alert: The Trump who showed up Sunday in St. Louis for his second debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton seems determined to go down in a blaze of desperation. The New York businessman is grasping for anything that might stop the bleeding from a series of self-inflicted wounds dating to their first face-off nearly two weeks ago…If Trump’s goal Sunday was to reassure his remaining supporters and to keep undecided voters from giving up on him, he failed before the Washington University debate even began.”
Dallas Morning News Editorial: Debate exposes the same old mile-wide-and-inch-thin Trump “With Republicans in panic mode — some even encouraging Trump to step down in favor of vice presidential nominee Mike Pence — Trump showed himself Sunday to be incapable of contrition. He also exhibited an inability to describe any strategy he would employ — from health care to Syria — if elected to the White House. While Democrat Hillary Clinton talked more about policy and tactics, Trump resorted to broad-brush — and often bewildering — attacks, such as saying Clinton “has tremendous hate in her heart.”
Boston Globe Editorial: Vile words drown Trump’s mediocre performance “AS HIS FELLOW Republicans deserted him one by one, Donald J. Trump put up the best fight he’s capable of at the second presidential debate in St. Louis on Sunday night. But it was nowhere close to good enough. Trump wasn’t convincing as a potential president. … There are probably no magic words that Trump could have said that would have undone the damage he has inflicted on his campaign. If anything, Sunday’s debate will make it easier for his fellow Republicans to leave him to his fate.”
Another Night of Donald Trump’s Lies
Donald Trump kept fact checkers busy after last night’s debate. In the 12 hours following the debate, he garnered more than 75 fact checks. From his wild exaggerations to dangerous falsehoods, Trump continued his pattern of bold-faced lying to millions of viewers. Here are just some of the reviews of Trump’s untrue statements on topics including taxes, foreign policy, his own offensive comments and more.
Trump’s Lies About His Own Offensive Comments to Women:
AP: “Donald Trump, asked whether his early morning tweets directing people to check out a sex tape showed discipline, said: ‘It wasn’t ‘check out a sex tape.’’ THE FACTS: Wrong. Trump told his 12.2 million Twitter followers to check out a sex tape as he criticized a former Miss Universe.”
CNN: “Trump: I didn’t say ‘check out the sex tape’ VERDICT: FALSE”
FactCheck.org: “Trump said he never tweeted ‘check out a sex tape’ in the wee hours of the morning a few days after the first presidential debate. That’s false — he did.”
Huffington Post: “During Debate, Trump Denies Telling People To Check Out A Sex Tape On Twitter. Yeah, well, he literally directed people to check out a sex tape on Twitter.”
NPR: “[DJT:] I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women that I do. [FACT CHECK:] Trump has had many occasions to make this claim over the course of the campaign, dating back to his tense interaction with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly during the first Republican primary debate in Cleveland in August 2015, when Kelly reminded him of his history of offensive comments about women. Here is a partial list compiled by PBS.”
Politifact: “Trump said the tweet he sent out ‘wasn’t saying, ‘check out a sex tape’’ but rather to ‘just take a look at’ Machado’s background. That’s ridiculous. While Trump did urge his Twitter followers to check out Machado’s ‘past,’ he literally wrote ‘check out sex tape’ in the tweet. We rate his statement Pants on Fire!”
NPR: “[TRUMP:] No I didn’t say that at all. [FACT CHECK:] He did say that. The exact words were, ‘You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.””
Trump’s Lies About the Economy & Taxes:
Huffington Post: “Trump’s $20 Trillion Debt Line Is Ridiculous”
NPR: “[DJT:] We have no growth in this country. There is no growth. [FACT CHECKER:] The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international economic organization, evaluated the U.S. economy this summer and concluded: ‘Seven years after the financial crisis, the US economy has rebounded: output has surpassed its pre-crisis peak by 10%, robust private-sector employment gains have sharply reduced unemployment, fiscal sustainability has been largely restored and corporate profits are high.’”
AP:“Trump wrong on Clinton tax claim… DONALD TRUMP: ‘She is raising your taxes, and I am lowering your taxes. …She’s raising everybody’s taxes massively.’ HILLARY CLINTON: ‘He would end up raising taxes on middle-class families’ THE FACTS: Clinton is not raising taxes on ‘everybody.’ Nearly all of Hillary Clinton’s proposed tax increases would affect the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.”
Buzzfeed Reporter: “Trump says AGAIN that the US has the highest taxes in the world. That’s…untrue.”
FactCheck.org: “Trump said of Clinton’s plan, ‘She is raising everybody’s taxes massively.’ Everybody? No. Analyses by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center and the pro-business Tax Foundation both concluded that almost all of the tax increases proposed by Clinton would fall on the top 10 percent of taxpayers. Hardest hit would be the less than 0.1 percent of taxpayers who earn more than $5 million per year.”
Huffington Post: “Note To Trump: This Is How The Senate Works. Trump seems to misunderstand how the Senate works. He accused Clinton of not doing enough to get rid of the carried interest loophole when she was a senator. Clinton noted that she has been in favor of getting rid it for years.”
Huffington Post: “Trump Says He’ll Get Rid Of A Wall Street Loophole. His Tax Plan Says He Won’t.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump admitted that he used a $916 million loss declared on his 1995 tax returns to avoid paying federal income taxes. But he refused to say how many years he paid no income tax and simultaneously claimed to have paid a ‘tremendous’ amount of taxes. More questions than answers.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said that growth is “down to 1 percent” and that taxes in the United States are the “highest in the world” Wrong.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said he would reduce the tax rate on business income to 15 percent. Not exactly.”
Washington Post: “Fact Check: IRS audit doesn’t prohibit Trump from releasing taxes”
Washington Post: “Fact Check: Trump’s wrong on the U.S. being the highest taxed nation”
Trump’s Lies About The Affordable Care Act:
AP:“Trump overstates cost of Obama’s health plan. DONALD TRUMP: Obamacare ‘is going to be one of the biggest line items very shortly.’ THE FACTS: Trump vastly exaggerates the cost of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. The cost of the coverage expansion in Obama’s health care law is nowhere near what the government spends on Medicare and Medicaid, for example.”
FactCheck.org: “He also cherry-picked high proposed premium increases in the exchanges, and he said that the law should be replaced with ‘something absolutely much less expensive,’ when repealing the law is expected to increase federal deficits.”
FactCheck.org: “Finally, Trump said that the ACA is ‘unbelievably expensive for our country. … We have to repeal it and replace it with something absolutely much less expensive.’ But the CBO and Joint Committee on Taxation’s latest estimates on the impact of repealing the law find doing away with it would likely increase federal deficits over the 2016-2025 time period.”
Trump’s Lies About Hillary Clinton and Health Care:
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said that Mrs. Clinton “wants to go to a single-payer plan” like the health care system in Canada. Untrue.”
NPR: “[DJT:] But she wants to go to single-payer. [FACT CHECKER:] Clinton does not support single-payer. She supports expanding Medicare to people 55 and over, but has not come out in support of a complete overhaul of the health system so that it would be more like Canada or many European health systems.”
Politifact: “Trump says Clinton ‘wants to go to a single-payer plan’ for health care. She has consistently said she would fight efforts to repeal Obamacare and would try to improve it. She said she wants a public option to be ‘possible’ but she has not called for moving to a system of only single payer. Clinton has not called for a single-payer plan. At times, she has praised the health care systems of other countries that have a single-payer plan, but she has not advocated that plan for the United States. We rate Trump’s claim False.”
AP:“Trump wrong on Clinton and health care. DONALD TRUMP: ‘She (Clinton) wants to go to a single-payer plan, which would be a disaster…she wants to go to single-payer, which means the government basically rules everything.’ THE FACTS: It’s Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — not Clinton — who supports a Canada-style government-run health care system.”
Buzzfeed: “Trump falsely claims Clinton is proposing Canada-style healthcare system.”
FactCheck.org:“Trump used an old GOP scare tactic, wrongly claiming that Clinton wanted to implement a government-run, ‘single-payer,’ health care system, like Canada’s… Clinton supports making Medicare available to those over age 55, and creating a ‘public option,’ or a federal insurance plan, that would compete with private plans on the ACA exchanges. She hasn’t called for a single-payer system.”
Trump’s Lies About Immigration:
Buzzfeed: “Donald Trump claimed that the US doesn’t have borders. ‘We’re going to have borders on our country that we don’t have now,’ Trump said. But enforcement along the US-Mexico border has never been higher. There are currently about 21,000 agents patrolling more than 6,000 miles of the nation’s borders.”
CBS News: “TRUMP: ‘I understand the border. She doesn’t. She wants amnesty for everybody.’… It is not true that Clinton supports ‘amnesty for everybody,’ but she does want to make it easier for people who came here illegally to stay by passing legislation with a path to citizenship.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump says Mrs. Clinton wants “amnesty for everybody, come on in, come on over.” Not her position.”
NPR: “[DJT:] […] we are letting people into this country that are going to cause problems and crime like you’ve never seen. We’re also leading drugs for through our southern border at a record clip. At a record clip and it shouldn’t be allowed to happen. [FACT CHECKER:] Apprehensions at the Southwest border—a proxy for attempted crossings—have dropped by 79 percent from the peak in 2000. The Pew Research Center reports more Mexicans left the US than entered between 2009 and 2014.”
NPR: “[DJT:] ICE just endorsed me. They’ve never endorsed a presidential candidate. [FACT CHECKER:] The federal bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not make an endorsement. A union of immigration and customs officers voted to endorse Trump.”
Washington Post:“Trump overstates, by a lot, when he said Syrian refugees are coming to the United States by the “hundreds of thousands.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said we have hundreds of thousands of people pouring into the United States from places like Syria, and we have no idea who they are. Way off.”
Buzzfeed: “Trump’s said the US took in ‘tens of thousands’ of Syrian refugees. That is not accurate.”
CBS News: “Donald Trump says ‘tens of thousands’ of people from Syria are coming to the U.S. TRUMP STATEMENT: ‘We are going to areas like Syria, where they’re coming in by the tens of thousands.’ FACT CHECK: False.”
Trump’s Lies About Muslims and Terrorism:
Buzzfeed: “Trump falsely claimed that Muslims in the United States are not reporting terror plots to the authorities. Trump cited San Bernardino where he said there were ‘bombs on the floor’ of the suspects’ apartment. There has never been any evidence that this was the case.”
CBS News: “Donald Trump claims that ‘many people’ saw bombs at the apartment of the San Bernardino shooters. TRUMP STATEMENT: ‘We have to be sure that Muslims come in and report when they see something going on. When they see hatred going on, they have to report it. As an example: San Bernardino, many people saw the bombs all over the apartment of the two people that killed 14 and wounded many, many people.’ FACT CHECK: False. To this day, no one has said they’ve seen bombs in the apartment of the San Bernardino shooters’ apartment.”
CBS News: “Donald Trump says Hillary Clinton will not say the phrase ‘radical Islam.’ TRUMP STATEMENT: ‘When there’s a problem, you have to state what the problem is or at least say the name. She won’t say the name and President Obama won’t say the name.’ FACT CHECK: False. Clinton used the term in June during an interview on NBC News’ ‘Today Show.’”
CNN: “Trump: ‘Many people saw the bombs all over the apartment’ VERDICT: FALSE”
FactCheck.org: “In stressing that Muslims need to notify the police of wrongdoing in their communities, Trump claimed without evidence that ‘many people saw the bombs all over the apartment of the two people that killed 14 and wounded many, many people’ in San Bernardino last year.”
Huffington Post: “Fact Check: Trump’s Claim That ‘Many People Saw The Bombs’ In San Bernardino Is False”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said Mrs. Clinton has never used the phrase ‘radical Islamic terrorism.’ Just flat wrong.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said ‘many people saw’ bombs all over the apartment of a couple who committed the terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif. Not true.”
Politifact: “Trump said of Clinton, ‘These are radical Islamic terrorists and she won’t even mention the word.’ After the Orlando shooting, Clinton said she had no problem saying ‘radical Islamism’ which is similar but not the same as ‘radical Islamic terrorism.’ She has also said that leaders should be careful not to demonize the religion of Islam, and that the United States needs specific strategies to fight ISIS. We rate this claim Mostly False.”
Washington Post: “Fact Check: Trump’s false claim on San Bernardino”
Huffington Post: “Don’t Believe Trump: No Syrian Refugees In The U.S. Have Been Linked To Terror”
Trump’s Lies About the Iraq War:
AP: “DONALD TRUMP: ‘I would not have had our troops in Iraq.’ Trump has repeatedly said in the campaign he opposed the Iraq War before it started. But the facts are clear: He did not.”
Buzzfeed: “Trump: ‘I was against the war in Iraq.’ No. He wasn’t.”
CBS News: “Donald Trump says he was against the war in Iraq, and that suggestions he was not have been debunked. TRUMP STATEMENT: ‘I was against the war in Iraq,’ Trump said, as he did in the first debate with Clinton. ‘It has not been debunked.’ FACT CHECK: False and false.”
CNN: “Trump: ‘I would not have had our people in Iraq.’ VERDICT: FALSE”
CNN: “Trump: My opposition to the Iraq War “has not been debunked” VERDICT: FALSE”
FactCheck.org: “And finally Trump pins too much blame for the rise in ISIS — whose origin dates back to the Bush administration — on the troop withdrawal…”
Huffington Post:“Donald Trump Continues To Lie About The Iraq War”
FactCheck.org: “Trump repeated that he ‘was against the war in Iraq’ and claimed that this ‘has not been debunked.’ But we have found no evidence that he was against the Iraq War before it began.”
Washington Post: “Fact Check: Yes, Trump’s Iraq War claim has been debunked.”
NPR: “[DJT]: I was against the war in Iraq. [FACT CHECKER:] There is no evidence to support this claim.”
Trump’s Lies About Libya:
FactCheck.org:“Trump conveniently leaves out that he posted a YouTube video in February 2011 voicing support for U.S. intervention in Libya to remove Moammar Gadhafi from power, and that he told CNN in a 2007 interview that the U.S. should ‘declare victory [in Iraq] and leave … [T]his is a total catastrophe and you might as well get out now, because you just are wasting time.’”
FactCheck.org:“It’s been half a year, and Trump is still making the false claim that ‘ISIS has a good chunk’ of Libyan oil fields. We first flagged this statement in April, when an expert on Libya’s oil operations told us there’s no evidence that the Islamic State has control of any oil fields in that country.”
Washington Post:“Fact Check: Trump’s wrong on ISIS and Libyan oil”
AP:“Trump wrong that IS is taking Libyan oil. DONALD TRUMP: ‘ISIS has a good chunk of their oil,’ referring to Libya. THE FACTS: Not quite. While it is true that the Islamic State group has targeted Libya’s oil fields and has aspired to grab some of the country’s oil resources, as it did in Syria, there is no evidence that it is reaping any revenue from Libyan oil. The prospect of the extremist group seizing Libyan oil is one reason the U.S. has conducted limited airstrikes against the Islamic State in Libya, where it now has a very small presence.”
FactCheck.org: “Trump said that ‘Ambassador [Chris] Stevens sent 600 requests for help’ before he was killed in an attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012. But as the Washington Post Fact Checker reported, not all 600 came from Stevens, nor were they all requests for security upgrades, as it may have appeared to those watching or listening to the debate.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said Clinton ignored 600 requests for increased security from J. Christopher Stevens, the ambassador to Libya, and only communicated with Sidney Blumenthal. Extremely misleading”
Washington Post: “THE FACT CHECKER | Trump made a ludicrous claim that U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens made 600 requests for help before he perished in the attack on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi.”
Huffington Post: “Clinton refused to answer Stevens’ calls for help, Trump claimed… However, repeated GOP-led investigations into the Benghazi incident have found no evidence to blame Clinton for the deaths of Stevens and three other Americans there in a 2012 attack.”
Lies About Iran:
CBS News: “Donald Trump claimed that the Iran nuclear deal meant the United States paid Iran $150 billion. TRUMP STATEMENT: ‘When I look at the Iran deal and how bad it is for us, it’s a one-sided transaction where we’re giving back $150 billion dollars to a terrorist state.’ FACT CHECK: False.”
CNN: “Trump says US is giving $150 billion to Iran REALITY CHECK: FALSE”
Washington Post: “Fact Check: Trump’s claim that Iran got $150 billion from the United States. THE FACTS: Trump always makes it sound like this is U.S. taxpayer money — and he always uses a too-high estimate.”
Trump’s Lies About Syria:
Buzzfeed:“Trump falsely declared that ‘Aleppo has already fallen.’”
Huffington Post: “Meanwhile, he added, only Assad’s coalition is fighting ISIS. In fact, Assad and his allies have focused on targeting civilians opposed to his rule and rebels who remain embedded among them ― allowing extremist militants to spread for years and control much of the country.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump accused Mrs. Clinton of being there for President Obama’s “line in the sand” in Syria. She said she wasn’t. Trump is wrong.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said Syria, Russia and Iran are fighting the Islamic State. Mostly misleading.”
NPR: “[DJT:] I think that it basically has fallen. OK? It basically has fallen. [FACT CHECKER:] Aleppo has not fallen to the Syrian government.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said that the United States signed a “peace treaty” to bring an end to the civil war in Syria. Not even close.”
Trump’s Lies About Russia:
Huffington Post: “Trump said he has no special ties to Russia, despite his campaign’s multiple ties to the country’s business and his stated admiration for Russian leader Vladimir Putin.”
NPR: “[TRUMP:] I don’t deal there and no businesses there have no loans from Russia. [FACT CHECKER:] Trump may not have current business ties with Russia, but he has in fact tried to engage his business interests with Russia since the 1980’s.”
Buzzfeed Reporter: “Trump just said ‘we don’t know if it is the Russians doing the hacking.’ Ummm… no.”
NPR: [DJT:] But I notice anytime anything wrong happens they like to say the Russians we don’t know if it’s Russian. [FACT CHECKER:] The U.S. intelligence community and Department of Homeland Security said Friday that Russia is behind this year’s campaign of hacks and the release of information related to the 2016 campaign.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said “maybe there is no hacking,” in response to Mrs. Clinton’s claim that Russians are engaged in an unprecedented effort to influence the election — on Mr. Trump’s behalf. Hacking is endemic.”
Trump’s Lies About Clinton’s Emails:
FactCheck.org: “Trump twisted the facts when he directly addressed Clinton about her use of a private email system while secretary of state. ‘You get a subpoena and after getting the subpoena you delete 33,000 emails. And then you acid wash them — or bleach them, as you would say — a very expensive process,’ Trump said…. there is no evidence that Clinton knew that the emails were deleted after the subpoena was issued.”
Trump’s Lies About Birtherism:
FactCheck.org:“Trump is wrong about Patti Solis Doyle, Clinton’s 2008 campaign manager. Solis Doyle has said that a ‘rogue volunteer coordinator’ in Iowa was immediately fired when the campaign found out that the aide forwarded an email promoting the birther conspiracy.”
FactCheck.org: “Trump: ‘Sidney Blumenthal — he’s another real winner that you have — and he’s the one that got this started’ As for Blumenthal, he has denied a claim made by McClatchy’s former bureau chief James Asher that Blumenthal, a senior adviser to Clinton’s 2008 campaign, encouraged McClatchy to chase the story of Obama’s birth… Other than that, there is no clear evidence to support Asher’s account.”
NPR: “[TRUMP:] Well, you owe the president an apology because, as you know very well, your campaign Sidney Blumenthal, he’s another real winner that you have. And he’s the one who got this started along with your campaign manager and they were on television just two weeks ago he was saying likely that. [FACT CHECKER:] We have fact-checked Trump’s birther claims previously (several times) online and on air. […] As we noted, ‘There’s a big difference between what fringe supporters of Clinton said at the time, who were disavowed by the candidate, and the campaign Trump himself undertook in the subsequent years.’”
Tim Kaine wrapped up a visit to Nevada this morning with an event in Henderson at the Sun City MacDonald Ranch. While Kaine spoke about he and Hillary Clinton’s platform, he primarily focused on health care during the event. He spoke about Clinton’s proposals to give tax credits to caregivers, provide grants to researchers to find a cure for Alzheimer’s, combat the rising costs of prescription drugs, and protect Medicare and Social Security. Following his remarks, Kaine answered question from those in attendance. A video from the event is below.
On Thursday, Hillary for America responded to an ad from Donald Trump that characterized a number of Trump’s key policies. Hillary for America Deputy Communications Director Christina Reynolds responded to the ad with the following statement and breakdown of the claims made.
“Another day, another false ad from Trump. The truth is Trump’s plan actually raises taxes on millions of middle class families, especially working single moms and dads, and showers the wealthy with huge tax cuts. Hillary Clinton has pledged not to raise taxes on the middle class and will work to build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. This stands in strong contrast to Donald Trump, who apparently did not pay a cent in federal income taxes for nearly 20 years and is now trying to hide the fact that his economic plan represents a huge boon to the very wealthy.”
TRANSCRIPT
TRUMP RECORD
VOICEOVER: What does electing Donald Trump president mean for you? Families making $60,000 a year? You get a 20% tax rate reduction.
MILLIONS OF FAMILIES, INCLUDING SINGLE PARENTS, WOULD SEE TAX INCREASES UNDER TRUMP’S TAX PLAN
Washington Post: “More Than Half Of America’s Single Parents And One-Fifth Of Its Families With Children Could See Their Federal Income Taxes Go Up Under Republican Donald Trump’s Revamped Tax Plan.” “More than half of America’s single parents and one-fifth of its families with children could see their federal income taxes go up under Republican Donald Trump’s revamped tax plan, according to a new analysis of the plan by a New York University professor who previously served as a tax specialist for the Obama administration and the Senate Finance Committee.” [Washington Post, 9/24/16]
Washington Post: “The Analysis Estimates That More Than Half Of Single Parents Would See Tax Increases.” “The analysis estimates that more than half of single parents would see tax increases, because Trump eliminates what is called ‘head of household’ filing status, which gives single parents a higher standard deduction and lower rates than they otherwise would have had. Other researchers have also flagged that possibility. ‘Single parents get hit with all three of the tax increases under Trump’s plan’ — the loss of personal deductions, the loss of head-of-household status and higher rates on some income — said Harry Stein, the director of fiscal policy for the liberal Center for American Progress Action Fund, who has written about the potential effects of the Trump plan.” [Washington Post, 9/24/16]
POLITIFACT SAID IT WAS TRUE TO SAY EXPERTS FOUND TRUMP’S TAX PLAN COULD RAISE TAXES ON SOME MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES
PolitiFact Said Hillary Clinton Was Correct In Saying Independent Experts Found Trump’s Tax Plan Would Add $5 Trillion To The Debt And Disadvantage Middle Class Families. “Clinton said that, according to ‘independent experts,’ Trump’s tax plan ‘would blow up the debt by over $5 trillion and would in some instances disadvantage middle-class families compared to the wealthy.’ Batchelder’s past work for Senate Democrats and the Obama White House may lead some to question whether she is an ‘independent expert.’ But her estimate of the debt increase was mirrored by findings by the more conservative Tax Foundation and the deficit-hawk Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. And the Tax Foundation said Batchelder’s analysis of tax increases for some families seemed ‘reasonable.’ We rate Clinton’s statement True.” [PolitiFact, 9/27/16]
VOICEOVER: Working moms? You get paid maternity leave and an average $5,000 childcare tax reduction.
TRUMP’S MATERNITY LEAVE POLICY WOULD LEAVE OUT SINGLE MOTHERS, FATHERS AND ADOPTIVE PARENTS
Ivanka Trump Said Her Father’s Paid Maternity Leave Was Meant To Help “The Mother Who Has Given Birth To The Child If They Have Legal Married Status Under The Tax Code.” Q: “OK, so when it comes to same-sex—” IVANKA TRUMP: “So it’s meant to benefit, whether it’s in same-sex marriages as well, to benefit the mother who has given birth to the child if they have legal married status under the tax code.” Q: “Well, what about gay couples, where both partners are men?” IVANKA TRUMP: “The policy is fleshed out online, so you can go see all the elements of it. But the original intention of the plan is to help mothers in recovery in the immediate aftermath of childbirth.” [Cosmopolitan, 9/14/16]
Trump’s Plan Specifically Provides Leave To Mothers, Not To Fathers Or To Those Who Need Paid Leave To Care For A Seriously Ill Family Member. “What about dads? The plan applies to women — specifically, mothers. It doesn’t apply to fathers or those who have to care for a family member with a serious illness, unlike the existing federal legislation. ‘Trump frames it as maternity leave. We don’t target a specific gender under the family paid leave program in the U.S. It’s available to a families as a whole,’ noted Mathur.” [NBC News, 9/14/16]
TRUMP’S CHILD CARE PLAN PROVIDES A DEDUCTION UP TO A STATE’S AVERAGE COST OF CHILD CARE – NOT A REDUCTION OF $5,000
Trump Campaign: “The [Childcare] Deduction Would Be Limited To The Average Cost Of Child Care… The Deduction Would Be Limited To $5,000 Per Year.” “The exclusion would apply to a variety of different kinds of childcare—institutional, private, nursery school, afterschool care, and enrichment activities—affording choice to parents. The deduction would be limited to the average cost of childcare in the state of residence for the age of the child. […] Similarly, the Trump plan would also allow an above-the-line deduction for eldercare costs necessary to keep a family member working outside the home. It would apply to costs like home care or adult day care costs for elderly dependents when those expenses are needed to keeping family members in the workforce. The deduction would be limited to $5,000 per year.” [Donald Trump Childcare Plan, accessed 10/6/16]
A FAMILY MAKING $60,000, SUBJECT TO A 15% INCOME TAX RATE, WOULD SAVE $750 – BECAUSE 15% OF $5,000 IS $750
Joint Filers Making $60,000 Are Subject To A 15% Tax Rate. [Internal Revenue Service, accessed 10/6/16]
TRUMP’S CHILD CARE PLAN WOULD HELP THE RICH FAR MORE THAN THE MIDDLE CLASS
Under Trump’s Plan, Wealthy Families Making $500,000 A Year Would Get A Child Care Tax Break Over 2.6 Times Larger Than The One A Family Making $60,000 Would Get. “The centerpiece of Trump’s child care plan is a tax deduction, which is simply the wrong policy for making child care affordable, since it will always offer the most help to those who need it the least. For example, under Trump’s plan, wealthy families making $500,000 would get a child care tax break that is 2.64 times larger than the same tax break for a family making $60,000. Put another way, Trump would give the wealthy family a tax deduction worth $39.60 for every $100 they pay for child care, since they are in the 39.6 percent tax bracket. Meanwhile, the middle-class family in the 15 percent tax bracket would get a tax deduction worth only $15 for every $100 spent on child care. Even if the middle-class family spends the same amount as the wealthy family for child care, the wealthy family’s tax cut is much larger.” [Harry Stein, US News, 9/14/16]
TRUMP’S CHILD CARE PLAN WILL “BARELY MAKE A DENT” IN THE CHILD CARE COSTS OF FAMILIES WHO DON’T PAY INCOME TAXES
Trump’s Child Care Tax Deduction Wouldn’t Help The 44 Percent Of Families That Don’t Pay Income Taxes, And Trump’s Solution To That, An Annual Rebate “Will Barely Make A Dent” In Most Child Care Bills. “And tax deductions do nothing for the 44 percent of families that don’t earn enough to pay income taxes. Trump’s solution for accommodating these lower-income families is to offer a rebate of $1,200 per year. With average child care expenses exceeding the cost of rent and college tuition in most states, this rebate will barely make a dent in most families’ child care bills.” [Vivien Labaton, CNBC, 9/14/16]
TRUMP’S TAX DEDUCTIONS WOULDN’T HELP FAMILIES PAY CHILD CARE COSTS ON A WEEKLY OR MONTHLY BASIS
Trump’s End-Of-Year Tax Break Wouldn’t Help Families That Pay Child Care Costs On A Weekly Or Monthly Basis. “Second, most families have to pay their child care provider weekly or monthly, so an end-of-year tax break is no help. Trump’s child care plan assumes parents can pay thousands of dollars up-front each month to even qualify for his deduction, and then wait up to a year to get reimbursed. When you’re struggling every week to make ends meet, an end-of-year deduction or rebate is too little too late.” [Vivien Labaton, CNBC, 9/14/16]
TRUMP CLAIMED HE OFFERED CHILD CARE FOR HIS EMPLOYEES, BUT IT WAS ACTUALLY A PROGRAM FOR RESORT GUESTS TO GET AMENITIES LIKE CHILD SPA SERVICES
“Trump Kids” And “Trumpeteers” Were Programs For Guests Of Trump’s Hotels And A Golf Club, Not His Employees. “The billionaire real estate mogul, who previously voiced his opposition to government-funded universal pre-K programs, said in Newton, Iowa, in November 2015 that he had visited many companies that offered workers on-site child-care centers — and added that he offered such programs himself. […] Trump pointed specifically to two programs: ‘They call ’em Trump Kids. Another one calls it Trumpeteers, if you can believe it. I have ’em. I actually have ’em, because I have a lot of different businesses.’ […] But the two programs Trump cited — ‘Trump Kids’ and ‘Trumpeteers’ — are programs catering to patrons of Trump’s hotels and golf club. They are not for Trump’s employees, according to staff at Trump’s hotels and clubs across the country.” [Associated Press, 8/11/16]
VOICEOVER: Business owners, your taxes get cut from 35% to 15% so you can expand and create more jobs.
TRUMP PLEDGED TO LOWER THE CORPORATE TAX RATE TO 15%, AND MAKE PASS THROUGH INCOME SUBJECT TO THAT RATE, WHICH COULD SAVE HIM MILLIONS
HEADLINE: “Donald Trump’s New Tax Plan Could Have A Big Winner: Donald Trump’s Companies” [Washington Post, 8/10/16]
CBPP: “Mr. Trump’s Plan Would Set The Individual Tax Rate On Pass-Through Business Income At 15 Percent, Ten Percentage Points Below His Proposed 25 Percent Top Tax Rate On Ordinary Income.” “Mr. Trump’s plan would set the individual tax rate on pass-through business income at 15 percent, ten percentage points below his proposed 25 percent top tax rate on ordinary income. If the ability to escape a 2.9 percent payroll tax (the payroll tax rate that would otherwise apply) encourages wealthy pass-through business owners to reclassify their labor earnings as ‘business’ income, a ten percentage-point tax-rate differential would provide a far greater incentive for such taxpayers to try to classify more of their ordinary earnings as pass-through business income.” [Center On Budget And Policy Priorities, 8/8/16]
Tax Policy Center Expert: Pass-Through Provision “Is A Really Nice Deal” For Trump. “’It’s a really nice deal’ for Trump and pass-through owners like him, said Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.” [Washington Post, 8/10/16]
Trump Claimed His 2015 Income Was “In Excess” Of $557 Million Excluding Dividends, Interest, Capital Gains, Rents, And Royalties. “Mr. Trump’s income as reported in the PFD statement is in excess of $557 million (which does not include dividends, interest, capital gains, rents and royalties). Mr. Trump’s net worth has increased since the last statement was filed in July of 2015. As of this date, Mr. Trump’s net worth is in excess of $10 billion dollars.” [Donald Trump, Press Release, 5/17/16]
VOICEOVER: Donald Trump. Prosperity for you, America great again.
TRUMP’S ECONOMIC POLICIES WOULD PUSH AMERICA TOWARDS A RECESSION AND LEAD TO 3.5 FEWER MILLION JOBS
A Moody’s Analytics Report On Trump’s Economic Proposals On Taxes, Trade, Immigration And Spending Found That Trump’s Policies Could Sharply Reduce Economic Output And Reduce Employment By 3.5 Million Jobs During His First Term. “A new analysis concludes Donald Trump’s economic proposals, taken at face value, could produce a prolonged recession and heavy job losses that would fall hardest on low- and middle-income workers. The Moody’s Analytics report, which a person close to the Trump campaign strongly disputed, is the first that attempts to quantify the cumulative economic benefits and costs of Mr. Trump’s proposals on taxes, trade, immigration and spending. It determines that full adoption of those policies would sharply reduce economic output during his first term and reduce employment by 3.5 million jobs.” [Wall Street Journal, 6/20/16]
Moody’s Concluded That Trump’s Trade And Immigration Policies Would Sharply Boost The Prices Of Labor And Goods And Contribute To A Recession In 2018. “The report singles out trade and immigration policies as the most detrimental to the economy in the short run because they could sharply boost labor and goods prices at a time when there’s less slack in the labor market. ‘It is a massive supply shock to the economy that’s very pernicious, and the Fed doesn’t know how to respond to that,’ said Mr. Zandi. Moody’s concludes that those price pressures would force the central bank to raise interest rates at a faster-than-desired pace, contributing to a recession in 2018 that could produce a 25% drop in the S&P 500.” [Wall Street Journal, 6/20/16]
TRUMP REPEATEDLY CLAIMED AMERICAN WAGES WERE ALREADY “TOO HIGH”
Trump Opposed Raising The Minimum Wage Because: “Wages Too High, We’re Not Going To Be Able To Compete Against The World.” Trump said he wouldn’t raise the minimum wage, and the reason is that America ‘is a country that is being beaten on every front.’ The problem, he said: ‘Taxes too high, wages too high, we’re not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard, and they have to get into that upper stratum.’” [The Week, 11/10/15; Republican Primary Debate, Milwaukee WI, 11/10/15]
Trump: “We Have To Become Competitive With The World. Our Taxes Are Too High, Our Wages Are Too High. Everything Is Too High.” TRUMP: “But you know what? We have to become competitive with the world. Our taxes are too high, our wages are too high. Everything is too high.” [Morning Joe, MSNBC, 11/11/15; The Hill, 11/11/15]
TRUMP PLANS TO ELIMINATE THE ESTATE TAX, WHICH COULD SAVE HIS FAMILY $4 BILLION
HEADLINE: “Trump Pledges To Repeal Estate Tax” [The Hill, 12/5/15]
CNN: Trump’s Family Could Owe $3.997 Billion In Estate Tax. “Donald Trump says that he is worth $10 billion. We’ll go with his numbers, though it is worth pointing out that other estimates put Trump’s net worth around $4.5 billion. Trump falls into the top tax bracket and would owe 40% on his assets above the $5.45 million lifetime exemption, which leaves his estate with a $3.997 billion tax liability. […] So it’s TRUE that 99.8% of Americans would not benefit from the elimination of the estate tax. It is also TRUE that Trump’s family could owe just less than $4 billion in estate taxes if the family does not use any loopholes or exemptions.” [CNN, 9/25/16]
TRUMP’S TAX PLAN WOULD CREATE A NEW LOOPHOLE FOR REAL ESTATE DEVELOPERS, COSTING MORE THAN A TRILLION DOLLARS
New York Times: “It’s Hard To Imagine A Tax Code More Favorable To Real Estate Developers Than The One We Already Have. Donald Trump Has Come Up With One.” [James Stewart, New York Times, 9/1/16]
New York Times: Trump’s Tax Plan “Piles On New [Tax Breaks] For Real Estate Developers Like Mr. Trump Himself — At An Estimated Cost Of More Than $1 Trillion In Tax Revenue Over A Decade.” “Thanks to some major loopholes in the existing tax code that treat real estate developers as a special privileged class, it’s entirely possible (even likely) that Mr. Trump pays little or no federal income tax. But Mr. Trump’s new tax proposal doesn’t just preserve those breaks, it piles on new ones for real estate developers like Mr. Trump himself — at an estimated cost of more than $1 trillion in tax revenue over a decade.” [James Stewart, New York Times, 9/1/16]
Republican Economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin: “If You Want To Create A Recipe For An Abusive Tax Shelter, Take Those Elements And Bake For 15 Minutes.” [James Stewart, New York Times, 9/1/16]
TRUMP (V/O): I’m Donald Trump and I approve this message.
Hillary Clinton has received the endorsement of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants. In a press release, APFA president Bob Ross said, “I don’t think there is any question that she stands on the side of working families across this country, including those of over 26,000 American Airlines Flight Attendants.” Clinton responded to the endorsement with the following statement:
“Since 1977, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants has represented nearly 25,000 flight attendants of American Airlines. Through its relentless advocacy and activism, APFA has fought to create better and fairer working conditions both on the ground and in the skies. And I’m proud to have earned their endorsement.
APFA understands what’s at stake in this election. Donald Trump supports a tax system rigged for the rich and powerful. And we just learned he’s likely been exploiting that system to avoid paying taxes for years – even though he’s argued that wages for hardworking Americans are ‘too high.’
Trump personally hired a union-busting firm to keep workers at his Las Vegas hotel from organizing. He even opposes policies that would make it easier for Americans to balance work and family, like guaranteeing paid leave for all families. And he has said that women can earn the same as men only if they ‘do as good a job.’
In a Clinton-Kaine Administration, working families will always have a champion in the White House. We’ll reject bad trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, stand up to attacks on workers, and fight back against to discriminatory policies. I’m so grateful to APFA for their support, and I look forward to having their spirit and experience at my side as we build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top.”
Tim Kaine returned to the campaign trail on Wednesday following his strong debate performance on Tuesday night. During his speech in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Kaine claimed victory, but did address criticisms that he interrupted Mike Pence too many times joking that even his wife gave him a hard time about it. He did go after Pence for not defending his running mate Donald Trump saying, “Your running mate ought to be able to defend you.” Kaine continued with his speech talking about a number of Hillary’s key platform points including creating new jobs, raising the minimum wage, supporting labor unions, improving health care, supporting the middle class, and ensuring that everyone has an equal chance in America. A video of Kaine’s speech is below.
Bill Clinton remained in Ohio where he wrapped up a multiple day bus tour of the state. This morning he was in Youngstown where he spoke about Hillary’s plans to create new jobs and help communities that have been hit hard by unemployment and a loss of manufacturing and mining jobs. He said that he understands voters’ anger saying, “Look, there’s a reason for the road rage today. People go 15 years without a raise, they’re mad.” He then outlined a number of of Hillary’s platform proposals that would help communities like Youngstown including investments in infrastructure and clean energy. Speaking at the local UAW hall, Bill also spoke about the importance of labor unions and Hillary’s continued support for them while Republicans like Trump and Pence try to stamp out unions. A video from Bill’s speech is below.
Bill then traveled to Canton where he continued to his focus on the economy and job creation. He said, “I think we’re on the verge of the greatest period of prosperity, discovery and advancement in the history of this country, if we do that right thing.” But, Bill warned, there are people like Trump who are more interested in helping those at the top of the income scale and ignore those in the middle and working classes. He said that in order to grow the economy, we need to tap into previously untapped resources. “We need more manufacturing loans, we need more small business loans and more small business startups, we need more investments in science and technology,” he said. A video from the event is below.
On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton hit the campaign trail in Pennsylvania with her first event being in Haverford. The event was a town hall on families that featured Chelsea Clinton and actress Elizabeth Banks. During the event, Clinton spoke about a number of her policies and how they will help American families. She spoke about the importance of early childhood education, health care, police policies, women’s rights, criminal justice reform, climate change, and the economy. She said, “I want to do everything possible to put kids and families front and center, to make sure that we provide the opportunities that families deserve to have to have good jobs with rising incomes, the ability to pay for the necessities of life, affordable child care, affordable college.” A video from the event is below.
Clinton then spoke at an organizing event in Harrisburg where she encouraged everyone to register to vote. She said that voting is important in our democracy because it gives everyone a voice. Clinton said that even supporters of her rival, Republican Donald Trump, should register and vote because it is their civic duty, but if she elected, she will be be their president too. Clinton then outlined about a number of key points to her platform saying that she wants to focus on “kitchen table issues” which are the issues that affect the everyday lives of Americans. She continued, “By creating more fairness, we’re going to give people a chance to have better jobs with rising income.” A video from the Harrisburg rally is below.
Following her rally in Harrisburg, Clinton held a press conference during which she continued to speak about recent revelations from Trump’s 1995 tax return and the money his businesses lost in the mid-1990s. She then answered questions from reporters about a range of topics including recent polling numbers, Tim Kaine’s debate later tonight, and health care. A full video of the press event is below.
Hillary Clinton Speeches 