Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - November 11, 2015

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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential Briefing was sponsored by the Leadership Project for America.

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Wednesday's Leading Stories

• Ballotpedia has published commentary on and analysis of the fourth GOP debate that occurred last night. According to Ballotpedia’s Insiders poll, 62 percent of Republicans Insiders considered Rubio the biggest winner of the fourth GOP debate. Conversely, 60 percent of Republicans considered Kasich to be the biggest loser of the debate. (For more of Ballotpedia's extensive post-debate coverage, see: Insiders Poll, Basic information, Analysis and commentary)
• In post-debate analysis articles, multiple outlets agree that the winners of last night’s GOP debate were Rubio and Cruz. The same outlets also place Kasich among the biggest losers. (The Hill, Washington Post, Fox News)
• Poll: A Monmouth University poll released yesterday shows Clinton leading with support from 69 percent of likely voters in South Carolina and Sanders trailing behind with 21 percent support. The GOP counterpart to the poll shows Trump and Carson essentially tied at 23 and 24 percent support, respectively. (Politico)
• Poll: New McClatchy-Marist poll released Monday shows that as voters get to know Ben Carson more, they like him better. Of those polled, 67 percent like Carson better as they hear more. Conversely, the more voters hear about Jeb Bush, the less they like what they hear. Of those polled, 58 percent like Bush less as they hear more. The poll also showed Carson leading Trump 24 to 23 percent in overall support. (McClatchy DC)
• Poll: A Quinnipiac University poll from yesterday shows Trump leading Carson 31 percent to 16 percent, and Clinton leading Sanders 56 percent to 23 percent in New Jersey.(Quinnipiac University)
• Poll: A South Carolina poll from Public Policy Polling puts Trump at the top of the GOP field at 25 percent support, followed closely by Carson at 21 percent support. For the Democratic field, the same poll showed Clinton leading Sanders 72 percent to 18 percent. (Public Policy Polling)

Democrats

Hillary Clinton

• Hillary Clinton commented on her plan for reform of the Department of Veterans Affairs released yesterday. "As we work to improve the VA, I will fight as long and hard as it takes, to prevent Republicans from privatizing it as part of a misguided, ideological push. Privatization is a betrayal, plain and simple, and I am not going to let it happen," said Clinton. In the fact sheet she released, Clinton promised to: “Ensure veterans’ access to timely and high quality health care and block efforts to privatize the VHA;” “Modernize and refocus the full spectrum of veterans’ benefits;” “Overhaul VA governance to create a new veteran-centric model of excellence;” Help veterans connect “their unique skills to the jobs of the future;” “Strengthen the all-volunteer force;” “Strengthen services and support for military families.” (Hillary Clinton’s campaign website, CNN Politics)
• On Tuesday, RNC spokeswoman Allison Moore criticized Clinton for laughing at a man’s comment that he wanted to “strangle” Carly Fiorina. “By laughing off a male questioner's desire to strangle Carly Fiorina, Hillary Clinton and the Democrats have lost all credibility claiming to be a party that stands up for women. Jokes about committing acts of violence against women are always in poor taste and should be condemned every time," stated Moore. (CNN Politics)
• Clinton received criticism from the New Hampshire Republican Party after submitting Secretary of State Bill Gardner to a search on Monday when she filed for the state’s primary election. “Secretary of State Bill Gardner has served with distinction for nearly four decades and has never had to undergo this type of disrespectful behavior from a presidential candidate,” said New Hampshire Republican State Committee Chairman Jennifer Horn. (Washington Times)
• Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) endorsed Clinton yesterday. He said, “Across a wide range of issues from college access to manufacturing, from foreign policy to leadership, I'm thrilled to be endorsing her today in her run for president.” (CNN Politics)

Martin O’Malley

• On Monday, Martin O’Malley spokeswoman Gabi Domenzain criticized Clinton’s immigration policy in a statement. “Secretary Clinton bragging about building a border fence over in New Hampshire today is exactly the kind of outdated, intolerant thinking that the Democratic Party cannot represent. It is flat-out wrong to hear Secretary Clinton echo failed policy and sentiments that are more at home in the Republican Party, especially when their field is fueled by intolerance and false hysteria towards immigration,” said Domenzain. (The Hill)

Bernie Sanders

• Bernie Sanders appeared with labor protesters on Tuesday morning outside the U.S. Capitol to show solidarity for workers seeking a $15 minimum wage. Sanders told CNN, “My debate prep today is to stand with workers who are trying to get a living wage from a contractor with the United States government. That’s the kind of debate prep that inspires me.” Sanders encouraged protesters and thanked them for their work with the following words: “What you are doing and workers all over the United States are doing, you are having a profound impact. People are raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour. And you know who started it? You did. You started the movement. Now we’ve got to finish the job. Fifteen bucks and a union.” (CNN Politics, Huffington Post)
• Bernie Sanders supported Obama’s decision to appeal the 5th Circuit of Appeals ruling that blocks the president’s executive actions regarding immigration. Sanders said, “The president is absolutely right to appeal this unfortunate lower-court decision. American immigration policy should be about uniting families, not separating families. President Obama believes that the parents of children who are citizens or legal permanent residents should be able to stay with their children, not be forced out of the country. I look forward to the Supreme Court acknowledging the president’s position.” (Politicus USA)

Republicans

• Jim Gilmore and George Pataki did not file for the GOP primaries in Alabama and Arkansas. The filing deadline was on Monday. (Washington Times)
• NPR released an article today that analyzes the time spent on certain subjects during last night’s GOP debate. Not surprisingly, the topics of taxes, deficit, budget and debt were talked about for a combined 26:16 minutes. Income inequality was discussed least, with only 1:58 minutes of airtime. (NPR)
• Google Trends indicates that Donald Trump and Ben Carson got the most online attention during the main debate, and that Chris Christie received the most online attention during the earlier debate. (Google Trends)

The following selection of quotes comes from the transcripts of Tuesday night’s Republican presidential debates prepared by The Washington Post. (First, Second)

Jeb Bush

• On taxes and economic growth: A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the -- we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above -- below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over.
• On immigration reform: Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not -- not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal -- they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path -- a proper path.
• On foreign relations and national security: The threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this.
• On leadership and relations with Russia: We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's -- there's a huge difference where, without us leading voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let ISIS take out Assad, and then Putin will take out ISIS? I mean, that's like a board game, that's like playing Monopoly or something. That's not how the real world works. We have to lead, we have to be involved.

Ben Carson

• On raising the minimum wage: Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that -- and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. … I would not raise it [minimum wage]. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities.
• On recent challenges by the media concerning his integrity: I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about -- with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. … We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person.
• On taxes: Everybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get [sic] same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level.
• On foreign relations, particularly with Russia and Iraq: What we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if -- outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us.

Chris Christie

• On taxes: There are tens of millions of Americans living that way after the worst recovery from an economic recession since World War II. And, let's be clear, if we do not change course, if we follow the President's lead, and that's exactly what Secretary Clinton will do, we're going to be in the same circumstance -- with government picking the winners and losers. So, let me be clear about what we'll do. First, make the tax code fairer, flatter, and simplier [sic]. Get rid of all the special interest deductions. You know, the American people feel like the tax code is rigged for the rich, and you know why they feel that way? Because it is. We'll get rid of all those special interest deductions except for the home mortgage interest deduction, and the charitable contribution deduction. Everyone will get lower rates, keep more of their own money, be able to file their tax returns in 15 minutes, and, by the way, the good thing, I'll be able to fire a whole bunch of IRS agents once we do that.
• On the Democratic party and Hillary Clinton: Let me ask the folks at home one very simple question, do you want to give Washington more control over your life? Do you think they're doing such a great job that now let's have them control what our corporations pay their employees? Let's have them control every aspect of our economy? Is Washington doing that good a job for you right now? And the fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton, she has made it very clear, she believes that she can make decisions for you better than you can make them for yourself. She believes that Washington, D.C., should pick the winners and losers in our economy, and in our life. And here's what I believe as a Republican, I believe the greatness of America is not in its government. The greatness of America is in the American people. And what we need to do is get the government the hell out of the way and let the American people win once again.
• On government spending: If you think that Mike Huckabee won't be the kind of President who will cut back spending, or Chris Christie, or John Kasich, wait 'til you see what Hillary Clinton will do to this country and how she will drown us in debt. She is the real adversary tonight and we'd better stay focused as Republicans on her. Now I've forward, I put forward an entitlement reform plan. We spend 71 cents of every dollar in America on entitlements and debt service, and if -- you know, Willy Sutton used to say, when they asked him why he robbed banks, he said that's 'cause that's where the money is, OK? And where the money is in the federal government are these entitlement programs and debt service. What I've said is we need to get a hold of that. We cannot continue to go down the $19 trillion in debt. So our plan will save over $1 trillion over the next 10 years and make sure that Social Security and Medicare are there for those who truly need it and also make sure that we have money to be able to reduce taxes and spend on the things we need to spend.
• On healthcare: We stopped Obamacare in New Jersey because we refused to participate in the federal exchange. But, here's the bigger issue. What do you think's going to happen when Hillary Clinton's elected president of the United States? The woman who tried to impose healthcare on this country over 20 years ago? And, she was stopped then by a strong group of republicans, and an American public that said, "No, thank you." What she will do -- what she will do is move us towards a single payer system. She will completely nationalize the federal health care system. That's what she wanted to do 20 years ago, and I guarantee you that's what she'll do if you give her the keys to the White House one more time. The fact is we need someone who knows how to beat democrats, who knows how to beat democrats in a democratic area. I've done it twice as governor of New Jersey, and Hillary Clinton doesn't want one minute on that stage with me next September when I'm debating her, and prosecuting her for her vision for America.

Ted Cruz

• On taxes and economic growth: From 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those -- whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan -- the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again.
• On taxes: My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board -- a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent -- again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board.
• On immigration: I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions -- of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law.
• On banking and government bailouts: I would not bail them [big banks] out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out -- look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women.

Carly Fiorina

• On taxes and economic growth: We've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the REINS Act so Congress is in charge of regulation, not nameless, faceless bureaucrats accountable to no one. We've become a nation of rules, not a nation of laws. And finally we actually, yes, have to hold government officials accountable for their performance. All this has to be done, and the citizens of this nation must help a President Fiorina get it done. We must take our government back.
• On healthcare: Obamacare has to be repealed because … it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism [sic] at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger -- and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike -- and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible [sic] understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete.
• On Dodd-Frank and banking: What do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back.

Lindsey Graham

Note: Lindsey Graham did not participate in either of the GOP debates on Tuesday.

• This week, Lindsey Graham defended Ben Carson against the media’s criticism of his accounts of events related to past violence and a West Point scholarship. He said, “I think Dr. Carson has been vindicated on the West Point thing. I don’t believe that he’s lied about getting a scholarship offer to West Point. Why would he? He went to Yale! About whether or not he he [sic] hit a guy with a lock, ya know, hit his mother, stabbed his cousin — I don’t know. I believe that he is telling the truth. Why would you lie about that? That’s what I don’t get over.” He also stated, “I believe that eventually people are gonna understand that the media is trying to nitpick him to death, rather than challenge him as a candidate.“ Graham clarified that he was not supporting Carson’s bid for the presidency and still has doubts about some of his political policies. (BuzzFeed)

Mike Huckabee

• On job growth and manufacturing: I don't know why we have to move away from manufacturing. The only reason we have is because we have a tax code that has punished manufacturing. I hear a lot of people talk about the plans to simplify the tax code. I've got one better than any of the simplifications, it's called a, "Fair Tax", and it eliminates all of the taxes on our productivity. Here's what would happen. We'd get rid of taxes on people's work, so, we wouldn't punish people for working anymore. Yeah, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000 -- 160,000 manufacturing plants have close [sic] in this country, which means a lot of people … don't have jobs anymore. And the reason they don't have jobs is because their jobs are in Mexico, they're in China, they're in Indonesia. Bring the jobs back. And with the fair tax, you do that, because you don't tax capital and labor and you bring a real sense of equity to the opportunity so that people will not only make it easier to function, they'll get the manufacturing jobs back.
• On accepting Syrian refugees: Are we going to open the doors so that the ISIS people will come on in, and we'll give them a place to say, and a good sandwich, and medical benefits? My gosh, we have $19 trillion dollars in debt, we can't even afford to take care of Americans. So if we're going to do something for the Syrians let's find out who they really are, and the ones that are really in danger, let's help build an encampment for them, but closer to where they live, rather than bringing them here when they don't know the language, the culture -- and, frankly, if we've got as many homeless people as we have, I'm not sure this makes any sense.
• On taxes, particularly Huckabee’s plan to tax all purchases: Well, first of all, do you know an American that will just stop spending? I don't. No, that's not going to be the problem. Look, Americans will go to the marketplace with more money they've ever had. For the first time they'll be having their whole paycheck. You see, most people don't understand that when you buy something that is made in America, 22 percent of the cost of it is the embedded tax they never even know they paid. … Give a person his whole paycheck because every American would no longer have a payroll tax taken out. It means they'd see their real paycheck for the first time. When they go to spend that money, they'll actually have it. And they only pay taxes on the stuff that's new. So a lot of Americans will buy used stuff. Look, here's the point, Americans are not going to quit shopping. Americans are not going to quit buying. But it would be nice if Americans could control how much they paid in tax, rather than having the government reach into their pockets and take it out before they ever had a chance to even see it, much less spend it.
• On Welfare and the War on Poverty: Now the reason we still have so much poverty is because it [the War on Poverty] was never designed to get people out of poverty. It was designed to make sure that there was an industry of poverty, so that the people in the poverty industry would have a lot of jobs. But the people who are poor haven't been benefited. Having grown up poor, I know a little something about it. Nobody who is poor wants to be. That's a nonsense statement and I hear it all the time. Well, poor people ought to work harder. They're working as hard as they can, for gosh sake. But the problem is the system keeps pushing them down because, if they work, then they get punished. They lose all the benefits.

Bobby Jindal

• On job growth: In Louisiana, we're actually a top 10 state for job growth. As we sit here today, we have more people working in Louisiana than ever before, earning a higher income than ever before. We've had 60 months in a row of consecutive job growth in our state. So the reality is, we have diversified our economy. Yes, I've got an interview plan that says all of the above, that creates good manufacturing jobs in America. We've also got one of the fastest growing IT sectors by percentage. We are growing Louisiana's economy. But let me get to the point that is, I think, the most important issue here tonight. You're going to have several hours of debate on the economy and we're going to have a great discussion about energy plans and tax rates. And that's all great. The most important thing we have to do, we have a fundamental choice to make, folks. Are we willing to cut the government economy so we can grow the American economy? That is the most fundamental question we've got to answer. We are on the path to socialism right now.
• On taxes: Under our tax plan, look, the top rate is 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent. That 2 percent is the most important. I think everybody should pay something. I think everybody should have skin in the game. We shouldn't be creating one group of Americans that's dependent on government, another group that's paying taxes.
• On the Republican Party: I think right now there's not much difference between the two [Democratic and Republican] parties. The reason we keep losing nationally is we try to be cheaper versions of the Democratic party. What if the Republicans, what if Republicans actually embraced our own principles? So I earlier said if you want bigger paychecks, you want more jobs, you want less government dependence, you're going to have to cut government spending. Here's the dirty little secret. You're going to hear a lot of Republicans tonight in this debate and the next one talk about cutting government spending. It's going to sound great. There's only one of us that's actually cut government spending. Not two, there's one, and you're looking at him.
• On Kasich’s record regarding spending cuts: I admire your social views, I share many of those views, your record as Governor tells a different story. Was -- your time as Governor spending in Arkansas went up 65 percent, number of state workers went up 20 percent, the taxes for the average citizen went up 47 percent. That's not a record of cutting. I'm saying we've actually cut. We reduced the size of our budget. So wanting to cut is one thing, actually cutting is a different thing. Facts don't lie.
• On Christie’s record regarding spending cuts: Chris, I think records matter. I think the way we govern matter. Under your leadership in New Jersey, your budget has gone up 15 percent. It's gone down 26 percent in Louisiana. It has gone up $5 million in New Jersey. It's gone down $9 billion in Louisiana. In New Jersey, you've had nine credit downgrades, setting a record. We've had eight credit upgrades in Louisiana. My point is this. If politicians say they're going to be conservative, they say they're going to cut spending but they don't do it, why should we send them to DC? It gets harder, not easier, when we send them to DC. Let's not be a second liberal party. Let's actually cut government spending.

John Kasich

• On taxes and job creation: I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan -- the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. … When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America.
• On immigration: We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico -- to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense.
• On banking and government bailouts: As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money [sic] in those institutions. Let me -- no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. … When you are faced -- when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under -- with banks going under, and people, people who put their -- their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do.

Rand Paul

• On taxes: I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. … Ours is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions -- home mortgage and charity.
• On TPP and executive power: There is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade -- and I am for trade -- I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency.
• On foreign relations, particularly with Russia and Iraq:
  • I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq.
  • The first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm ISIS. Most of the people who want to the no-fly zone also favored arming the allies of al Qaeda, which became ISIS. That was the dumbest, most foolhardy notion. And most of the people up here supported it. They wanted to arm the allies of al Qaeda. Some of them still do. That's how ISIS grew. We pushed back Assad, and ISIS was allowed to grow in the vacuum. So the first thing you do is don't arm your enemies.
• On the environment: The first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we -- we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy.
• On military spending: As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt.
• On Rubio’s spending plans: We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's [Rubio’s] talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments -- a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative.

Marco Rubio

• On increasing minimum wage: What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers.
• On the economy: There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done -- tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century.
• On taxes: When we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro-family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the -- in the country, the family.
• On big banks and Dodd-Frank: Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all -- they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible.
• On American world leadership: We can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist [sic] in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea. Yes, I believe the world is a safer -- no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world.

Rick Santorum

• On tax incentives: We need to do something about a tax code that doesn't penalize. One thing that I'm excited about our tax code, proposed changes, is it's very pro-family. You have a $2,700 tax credit, period, for every person in that family, so that family, you know, would have about an $8,000 tax credit, which would be refundable. ... The problem with the tax code today, because of all the different provisions, you're right, you go back to work, you lose welfare benefits, you're losing money. … We have incentivized people not to marry. We've incentivized people to cohabitate instead of not [sic] marry, why? Because mom will lose welfare benefits if she marries father. It's not just mom going back to work, but it's mother and father marrying to form a more stable family for that child to be raised in a two-parent family. So we've got all sorts of really corrupt incentives that were put in place, well meaning by the left. But we need to remove those. We need to remove those incentives. We need to adopt a tax code that says we're going to be pro-family and pro-work.
• On Manufacturing: I'm one of the few people up here who actually believes that we need a level playing field when it comes to manufacturing. That means a good tax code, a good regulatory environment, low energy prices, better opportunities for workers to get training, and, also, I'm -- a supporter of the EXIM bank. Everybody else on this stage, everybody else, I think, in the entire field, is opposed to it.
• On infrastructure: We need to get the federal government out of this infrastructure business, other than vital economic highways. It has been said that if we cut the gas tax to 3 to 5 cents and send the rest back to the states, and just take care of the federal infrastructure that's vital for our economy, let the -- we don't need the federal government and the road business that it is today.
• On TPP: The TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend.

Donald Trump

• On raising the minimum wage: We are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, 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 have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this [raise minimum wage] if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it.
• On immigration and the 5th Circuit’s decision against Obama’s executive actions: I was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, [sic] because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is -- was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me.
• On foreign relations, particularly with Russia: If Putin wants to go and knocked [sic] the hell out of ISIS, I am all for it, 100%, and I can't understand how anybody would be against it… They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany -- tremendous economic behemoth -- why are we always doing the work? We are -- I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working -- but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country.

See also

• Presidential election, 2016
• Presidential candidates, 2016
• Presidential debates (2015-2016)
• Important dates in the 2016 presidential race
• Polls and Straw polls
• 2016 presidential candidate ratings and scorecards