Walz-Vance debate updates: VP candidates tangle on abortion, immigration and Jan. 6

Both candidates were asked how their economic plans would avoid ballooning the deficit by trillions of dollars, citing projections by the Wharton School.

Walz said their plan is "simple."

"Kamala Harris has said to do the things she wants to do, we'll just ask the wealthiest to pay their fair share. When you do that, our system works best, more people are participating in it, and folks have the things that they need," he said.

Vance pushed back against the analysis.

"A lot of those same economists attack Donald Trump's plans, and they have PhDs, but they don't have common sense and they don't have wisdom," Vance said, citing Trump's record on tax cuts.

The Penn Wharton Budget Model has estimated that Trump's tax and spending proposal will cause tax revenue to fall by $5.8 trillion and produce a similar amount of primary deficit over the course of a decade.

Vance lashed out at the experts, saying not to trust them but to trust "common sense."

"A lot of the same economists attacked Donald Trump's plans and they have PhDs but they don't have common sense and they don't have wisdom," he said.

Walz immediately pushed back on Vance.

"Economists can't be trusted. Science can't be trusted. National security folks can't be trusted. If you're going to be president, you don't have all the answers. Donald Trump believes he does. Pro-tip of the day is this, if you need heart surgery, listen to the people at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, not Donald Trump," Walz said.

Walz has never invoked his Christian faith on the campaign trail, but during the debate, he quoted a Bible verse while reiterating his support for the border bill that failed to pass through Congress this year.

“This bill gets it done in 90 days. Then you start to make a difference in this and you start to adhere to what we know, American principles. Look, I don't talk about my faith a lot, but Matthew 25:40 talks about -- to the least amongst us. You do unto me," he said.

"I think that's true of most Americans. They simply want order to it. This bill does it. It's funded. It's supported by the people who do it. And it lets us keep our dignity about how we treat other people,” he said.

-ABC News' Isabella Murray

Fact-check: False.

Under President Barack Obama, Iran did take possession of $100 billion in unfrozen assets after the signing of the Iran nuclear deal, which Trump later overturned. But Harris was not involved in the Obama administration.

In August 2023, the U.S. announced an agreement with Iran to secure freedom for five U.S. citizens who’d been detained in the country in exchange for allowing Iran to access $6 billion of its own funds that had been frozen in South Korean banks.

The money consisted of Iranian oil revenue frozen since 2019, when Trump imposed a ban on Iranian oil exports and sanctions on its banking sector. The agreement also included the release of five Iranians held in U.S. prisons.

In April 2024, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said that those funds had been once-again frozen after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel and had not reached Iran.

— PolitiFact’s Louis Jacobson