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Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during the CNN
Democratic presidential debate Tuesday, Oct. 13,
2015, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton revised
history in the Democratic debate when insisting she's
not a flip-flopper on a trade deal she promoted as
secretary of state but turned against as a presidential
candidate.
Bernie Sanders overstated the share of wealth being
taken by the richest Americans, a subject that goes to
the core of his campaign.
A look at some of the claims in the debate among
Democratic rivals Tuesday night and how they compare
with the facts:
CLINTON on the Trans-Pacific Partnership: "I did say,
I hoped it would be the gold standard'" of trade
agreements.
THE FACTS: Clinton did not say anything about mere
hope in her speeches around the world in support of the
trade deal. She roundly endorsed the deal taking shape.
In a November 2012 speech in Australia, she declared
the Trans-Pacific deal "sets the gold standard in trade
agreements," a sentiment she echoed in many venues.
Clinton said in the debate that when she looked at
the final agreement last week, "it didn't meet my
standards."
The final agreement, however, dropped or changed some
provisions that liberal activist groups — the wing of
the party she is assiduously courting at this stage of
the campaign — had strongly criticized.
___
SANDERS: "Almost all the new income and wealth is
going to the top 1 percent."
THE FACTS: Sanders appears to be relying on outdated
data. In the first five years of the economic recovery,
from 2009 through 2014, the richest 1 percent of
Americans captured 58 percent of income growth,
according to Emmanuel Saez, a University of California
economist whose research Sanders uses. While certainly a
large gain, that is a lot less than "almost all."
In just the first three years of the recovery, from 2009
through 2012, the richest 1 percent did capture 91 percent
of the growth in income. But part of that occurred because
of impending tax increases on the wealthiest Americans that
took effect in 2013.
Many companies paid out greater bonuses to their
highest-paid employees in 2012 before the higher tax rates
took effect. Those bonuses then fell back in 2013. And in
2014, the bottom 99 percent finally saw their incomes rise
3.3 percent, the biggest gain in 15 years.
___
CLINTON on her email practices: "I have been as
transparent as I know to be. ... I said I have answered all
the questions."
THE FACTS: Clinton has yet to explain how the server was
set up and serviced, whether she informed the State
Department about her decision to use the private system and,
most important, how it was protected from hacking attempts.
Russia-based hacking attempts tried at least five times
to trick her into infecting her computer system with malware
in 2011, The Associated Press learned, and her server was
hit by attempted cyber intrusions in 2014 from China, South
Korea and Germany.
Her server also was connected to the Internet in ways
that made it more vulnerable to hackers. But her campaign
has repeatedly declined to address these details.
__
SANDERS: "Make every public college and university in
this country tuition-free."
CLINTON: "My plan would enable anyone to go to a public
college or university tuition-free. You would not have to
borrow money for tuition."
THE FACTS: Free for the students, but someone has to pay.
Clinton and Sanders both would shift more college costs
onto taxpayers and away from parents and students.
Sanders' plan would cover tuition and fees at public
universities — a $70 billion annual expense with the federal
government picking up two-thirds of that tab by taxing
trading in the financial markets.
Students would still be on the hook for room and board costs
that average $9,804, according to the College Board.
The Clinton plan is bound to cost more than the $35 billion
per year over 10 years projected by her campaign. This is
because more students would probably switch to public
universities on the potential to graduate without debt, raising
costs for the government and potentially leaving many modestly
endowed private institutions in the lurch.
The potential of a debt-free education would also depend on
states providing reliable money streams and controlling costs —
both major sources of uncertainty. But the Clinton plan would
also expose a sharp generational divide. New college students
would be helped, but the 40 million Americans who already owe a
combined $1.2 trillion in education debt would receive little
aid other than refinancing at lower rates.
Neither candidate told TV viewers about the costs to the
treasury of what they propose.
___
SANDERS: "What we need to do is ... raise the minimum wage to
$15 an hour."
THE FACTS: That might boost pay for many workers, but as with
college tuition, there's a cost: His plan would probably cause
many low-wage employers to outsource or automate some jobs.
Economists have long debated the impact of raising the
minimum wage, and some recent research has found that modest
increases don't actually cost many jobs. But a jump to $15 an
hour would be more than double the federal minimum of $7.25. It
would also be far above the minimum wage's previous peak of just
under $11, adjusted for inflation, in 1968.
And a $15 minimum wage is above the median wage in eight
states, which suggests a boost to $15 could cause widespread job
losses in those states.
CLINTON on her Syria strategy as secretary of state:
"What I said was we had to put together a coalition ... and
yes, it included Arabs, people in the region, because what I
worry about is what will happen with ISIS gaining more
territory, having more reach, and frankly posing a threat to
our friends and neighbors in the region and far beyond."
THE FACTS: Clinton is ignoring much of the context of her
coalition-building effort in Syria: It was designed to push
Syrian President Bashar Assad from power, not target the
Islamic State or other extremist groups fighting among the
opposition.
As secretary, Clinton helped spearhead meetings of the
U.S. and various Arab and European countries frustrated by
the escalating conflict in Syria. The coalition was
concerned primarily with helping armed opposition groups
better defend themselves and directing political groups to
coalesce behind a common, inclusive platform for a
post-Assad Syria.
At that time, the Islamic State didn't exist. But
al-Qaida and other terrorist groups did. And even as they
gained a foothold and became increasingly prominent among
the anti-Assad rebels, the coalition Clinton worked on
didn't come up with a military plan for combatting them.
___
Associated Press writers Calvin Woodward, Bradley
Klapper, Matthew Lee, Stephen Braun and Jack Gillum
contributed to this report.
EDITOR'S NOTE _ An occasional look at political claims
that take shortcuts with the facts or don't tell the full
story.
2015 The Associated Press
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