Summary of 3rd Presidential Debate:
Source: https://charlierose.com/videos/11258
Important Moment 1:
Schiffer: The Issue of Healthcare is an issue that according to many polls is an important issue for many Americans so if either of you are elected what would be your plans to reform the system. Senator Clinton you go first
Clinton: Thanks Bob and as you know trying to pass universal healthcare as been a mission of mine since I became part of the national political stage as the first lady and it is something I have pushed for as a senator and will push for as President. Four Reforms I believe we can make instantly is one we should allow all Americas to buy into the same healthcare plan we in Congress get as the fact is we should not be receiving better healthcare than average Americans, two we should require large companies to provide their employees with health insurance or at least pay into their funds that will make it easier for their employees to afford healthcare, three we should expand Medicaid to cover more working class Americans , four we will lower the Medicare Age to 55 as doing so will cover Americans that are most likely to need it but who currently cant access it.
It also would lower healthcare costs for everyone else as the overall risk levels these insurance companies will have to take on will be covered. If you make these reforms you can I believe effectively create a system where every American can have access to healthcare .
Bush: Well the problem with Senator Clinton's plan is it does not change the fact that it only addresses the symptoms of the problems rather than addresses the problem itself and all it would do is result in costs being passed on to Americans in other ways . That would include the payroll tax being increased which means less take home pay for working Americans and her quasi employer mandate would result in them passing of those new costs they are now mandated to take on to you the consumer and that includes things everyone relies on such as groceries.
My plan instead would be very similar to the one where we tried to push last year and that includes tax credits to help people who are uninsured but otherwise are insured purchase health insurance, increase competition by letting people buy insurance across state lines which will help bring down prices, expand high-risk pools for individuals who cannot afford insurance and finally making it easier for people to invest money into an Health Savings Account. Doing this will increase competition in the healthcare market and also make it easier for people to afford healthcare without increasing a penny in taxes. Keep in mind this is also a plan that Senator Clinton and the Democrats filibustered last year for partisan politics so the fact is we could have already had this reform in place if not for them.
Clinton: The reason we filibustered this reform bill does not actually reform the system but rather only make it seem like it has been reformed and that is something I dont think is good. The fact is none of these reform would actually make it easier for many working class Americans like expanding Medicaid would or lowering the Medicare age would and the way you pay that is by implementing a surtax for people making $200,000 or more and by rolling back some of the corporate tax cuts passed by this last administration .
So the fact is that we can pay for my healthcare plan without raising a nickle in taxes for the vast majority of Americans and small businesses as well which is why I think it is the best way to go when it comes to healthcare.
Bush: The issue with the plan is raising the corporate tax rate means those taxes will be passed on to the consumer which then will result in Americans paying more for things they rely on and that is something I will vehemently oppose. The fundamental problem with Senator Clinton's plan is it doesnt actually lower prices but just changes the payment structure and my opinion is we need solutions that will actually lower the price and the way to do that is to increase competition.
Schieffer: Moving on
Important Moment 2:
Schiffer: While the US economy may be out of recession , many economists believe we are still only early in a recovery phase so what would be either of your plans to speeden up the recovery as fast as problem.
Bush: Bob the solution is pretty simple in my minds and that is we need to put more money in the hands of the people so they can spend it the way they like rather which is why I believe we should cut taxes by 10% across the board as doing so will let people keep more of their money which they can use it to spend on the economy which will result in more economic activity . Also keep in mind that most small businesses in our nation pay taxes at the individual rate not the corporate rate so cutting individual taxes will also put more money in the hands of small business owners which then will let them have the money they need to expand their business and hire new employees.
I also believe we need to expand the child tax credit so it can be easier for families to raise their kids and will allow more Americans who are unable to have kids have them if they choose to do so. Strong Families are a core part of what makes this country great and I will not let these economic times hamper that .
Clinton: Well what we need in my opinion to really boost our economy is a real stimulus plan and any good stimulus plan in my opinion would do these things: invest in our nation's infrastructure , invest in research and development, and gives relied to people struggling in these economic times. Doing this would allow us to directly stimulate the economy as workers who are struggling to find jobs in times like this would benefit more from our relief program than a tax cut which they then later will use on our economy. Also our infrastructure program not only will help build up the infrastructure needed in today's economy it will also create hundreds of thousands and maybe even millions of jobs which will help our economy recover quickly.
Now not only will this stimulus plan help address the economic issues facing us today but will help us create the jobs of tomorrow from the advances in R&D, all sorts of industries that can come to cities that they currently cannot due to inadequate infrastructure . This I believe is critical for our future as doing so will help make a better America and why it will be one of my top priorities as President.
Bush: The problem once again with Senate Clinton's proposal is that it once again operates from the idea that the government knows how to best spend your money better than you do while I believe the best way to stimulate the economy is to let the people spend their money the way they want. Now of course areas like infrastructure are areas where you do need government to invest in but my belief is it is an area where the states and cities best know how which projects they need and it is not something that should be dictated top down. If they need funding I am in support of creating block grants which we can give to the states and then let them spend the money they want on infrastructure rather than it be tied up in the federal bureaucracy.
Clinton: Well the fact is for people who are unemployed a tax cut does not benefit them the same way programs like extended unemployment benefits, job retraining does and that is something I believe we should rather spend money on. A Tax cut even one across the board would mostly go towards people who dont need the Tax Cut while giving relief to struggling workers gives money to people who most need it. Second there are many infrastructure projects such as airports, better cross country public transportation that can only be done federally and that is what I will do as President.
Schieffer: Moving On
Important Moment 3:
Schieffer: Senator Clinton you have criticized the McCain administration for the budget deficits but many would argue they were unavoidable due to the War on Terror and now this economic slowdown we are in so why do you blame the President and what would you do differently.
Clinton: Well one the fact is the President's policies contributed to this economic slowdown due to the fact that we have failed to invest in areas where we need investments in , and along with the fact that even before the recession last year, economic growth was slower than we needed so I do not think we should let the President of the hook on that. Second The President a couple years ago decided to give large corporations a 500 billion dollar tax cut which increases are annual deficit by 50 billion dollars every year and in my opinion was a bad bill.
My plan to get back to a balanced budget is one to speeden up our economic recovery though the stimulus bill which will increases revenues in the coming years and two I would ask large corporations and the wealthy to pay a little more in taxes to ensure we can have a balanced budget in the future.
Bush: I want to add that it is completely unfair to blame the President for these deficits as keep in mind we have been fighting a war for the past 7 years and really if you go back and look in our history you will see wars create deficits so blaming the President for that is really unfair. Number 2 I want to add that the President inherited an economy that was on the verge of recession and then was later made worse by the 9/11 attacks which made recovering from it harder than we normally would have.
I do agree with Senator Clinton that robust economic growth is the only way we will get to a balanced budget which is why I believe my tax plan will generate the US government more revenues than it costs in the long run and number two our victory in Iraq will mean we wont have to spend nearly as much in Iraq as we do today so I do think we can have a balanced budget again.
Clinton: Listen the fact is we did pass tax cuts just two and a half years ago and it has not brought in the revenues Republicans claimed it would so why should we believe now another huge tax wouldn't do the same especially to the ones going to the wealthy. I also want to remind Americans that 16 years ago the President's father made the same argument against my husband that raising taxes would end up harming our economy and not bring down the deficit and guess what by the end of my husband's administration we arguably were in the greatest economic boom in our history and we had balanced the budget and it is a model I intend to follow.
Bush: I want to first add to the fact that President Bill Clinton also cut the capital gains rate, cut spending in areas many liberals would not approve of and the fact is for the so called greatest economy in history, left President McCain with an economy on verge of recession which is what ended up wiping out our defict. I would also like to add that in 1992 the year before Bill Clinton became President our economy was already growing by 3.5% and deficits started going down in the final budget my father President George HW Bush signed.
Clinton: I just want to end by saying isnt it amazing that my opponent wants his party to get all the credit for things that go right in Democratic administrations but say they should not blamed for things that go wrong in theirs.
Bush: There was a Republican President in 1992 not a Democratic one in office so that economic growth happened on his watch and blaming a recession on President McCain when he was only in office for a few months at the time is misleading.
Schieffer: Moving On
Polls show Clinton as narrow winner in Debate as race moves back into a tie:
Bush/Frist 223 47%
Clinton/Rockefeller 220 47%
Nader/Gonzalez 3%
Blitzer: So the race is once again a tie after the final debate so David could we say Senator Clinton won
Gergen: I would say if you had to choose a winner you would say yes she won but I would say it was effectively a tie as one point movement isnt much and now means unless something unprecedent happens in the finals few weeks of this campaign this race will remain the purest of tossups all the way till election day. So all I have to say is that I think at this point it is very likely we will have the closest election we have seen since 1960 and also not to believe anyone who says they know who will win.
Liking your timeline, especially how it actually sounds like Bush lost the debate
Poll
