Clinton pledges not to ‘add a penny to the national debt’

Hillary Clinton is pledging not to “add a penny to the national debt.”

“I pay for everything I’m proposing,” the Democratic presidential nominee said at Wednesday’s debate in Las Vegas. “I do not add a penny to the national debt. I take that very seriously, because I do think it’s one of the issues we’ve got to come to grips with.”

She added that she is “going where the money is” and would increase taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations. “There is no evidence whatsoever” that doing this would slow growth, Clinton said, adding the opposite would be the case.

{mosads}The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) concluded in a paper in September that Clinton’s plan would largely pay for her spending proposals but still raise the debt compared to current law.

The CRFB said that the proposals would increase the national debt by $200 billion over 10 years. However, if revenue from Clinton’s unspecified business tax reform is factored in, she would slightly lower deficits, the group found.

Clinton would add significantly less to the debt than Trump’s plan would, according to the CRFB. The organization found that Trump would increase the debt by $5.3 trillion over 10 years.

Neither candidate has put forth plans to reduce the debt, which is projected to increase by $9 trillion over 10 years under current law, the CRFB said.

Debt would increase from 77 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to 86 percent of GDP over 10 years under Clinton’s plan, and it would increase to 105 percent of GDP under Trump’s plan, according to the group’s analyses.