Fact-checking the third debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump
WASHINGTON - Donald Trump painted an inaccurately dark portrait of manufacturing in America while Hillary Clinton stretched credulity in boasting that her spending plans won't add to the country's debt. As well, both struggled in the presidential final debate to explain comments from their past.
A look at some of the claims in the debate and how they compare with the facts:
TRUMP: “We're not making things anymore, relatively speaking.”
THE FACTS: Despite his “relatively speaking” hedge, the assertion is wrong. U.S. factory production has more than doubled since 1979, when manufacturing employment was at its peak.
The problem is that it takes fewer people to produce more. The United States has lost more than 7 million factory jobs, a drop of nearly 40 percent, since the 1979 manufacturing employment peak.
Factory production, minus the cost of raw materials and certain other expenses, reached $1.91 trillion last year, according to the Commerce Department, which uses 2009 dollars to adjust for inflation. That's a notch below the record set on the eve of the Great Recession in 2007. Factories have used robotics and computers to increase output even with fewer workers. The U.S. still produces plenty of autos, planes, steel and other metals, and large industrial machinery.
---
CLINTON: “I don't add a penny to the national debt.”
THE FACTS: Not true, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. It estimates her increased spending in areas such as infrastructure, more financial aid for college and early childhood education, would increase the national debt by $200 billion over 10 years. That is far less than their estimate for Trump, who they predict would add $5.3 trillion over 10 years. But it's plenty more than a penny.
---
TRUMP, referring to a 2010 U.S.-Russia treaty limiting both countries to 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads: “They create warheads. We can't.”
The FACTS: Incorrect. The New START treaty, which Trump called “Start Up,” does not prevent either the U.S. or Russia from building nuclear warheads. It restricts each country to a total of 1,550 warheads deployed on bombers, submarines and in underground silos and requires that this limit be reached by February 2018.
---
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.” The remarks suggest a broad interest in open trade but were not necessarily evidence that she would support the unfettered movement of people, as Trump charged.
---
CLINTON: “He held a number of big rallies where he said that he could not possibly have done those things to those women because they were not attractive enough.”
TRUMP: “I did not say that. I did not say that.”
THE FACTS: He did say that. At an Oct. 13 rally, Trump criticized the physical attractiveness of People magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff, who has said Trump forced himself on her at Mar-a-Lago while she was interviewing him for a story. Trump said: “Take a look. You take a look. Look at her, look at her words, you tell me what you think. I don't think so.”
---
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 would have the government pay for in-state tuition at public colleges and universities for students from families earning less than $125,000 a year. Students would still need to foot the bill for housing and food, which makes up more than half of the average $18,943 sticker price at a four-year public university, according to the College Board.
But Trump is correct that government would shoulder higher costs with Clinton's plan.
Her plan would cost the federal government an estimated $500 billion over 10 years, with additional costs possibly for state governments.
---
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.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: