Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton speaks during the Brown & Black Forum, Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
On Monday night, Hillary Clinton attended the Iowa Brown & Black Presidential Forum on the campus of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Clinton was interviewed third following her Democratic primary rivals, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley. The forum was hosted by Fusion and moderated by Fusion anchors Jorge Ramos and Alicia Menendez, Fusion contributor Akilah Hughes, and New York Magazine Writer-at-Large Robert Browne. The forum focused on issues related to minority issues, specifically issues related to the African-American and Latino communities.
Clinton was asked a wide variety of questions, but one topic that was of focus was immigration. She said that she had no plans to continue President Barack Obama’s deportations, and Clinton spoke out against the move by the Obama administration. She said, “I do not think the raids are an appropriate tool to enforce the immigration laws. They are divisive, they are sowing fear.” She was also asked whether she saw a contradiction in her plans to reform immigration, but toughen borders at the same time. She replied, “I don’t see a contradiction there.”
She was also asked about her plans for fighting domestic terrorism and gun violence. Clinton has unveiled a comprehensive plan to reign in gun violence, and she said that “we have to come together as a country and take a stand against violence.” Another topic covered was a woman’s right to choose. When Clinton was asked if she would support efforts to repeal the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding for abortion, Clinton swiftly replied “Yes.” She continued, “To me, reproductive rights are a fundamental human right.”
The conversation between Clinton and panelists lasted for about 45 minutes and covers a wide variety of important topics. A full video from the event is below. The video picks up with Clinton’s introduction.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during a campaign stop at River Valley Community College Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015, in Claremont, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)
Yesterday, Hillary Rodham Clinton penned an op-ed in the New Hampshire Union Leader where she outlined her plans to combat the growing substance abuse issue in the United States. An estimated 23 million Americans suffer from addiction. The long-term plan calls for reforming prison and sentencing laws, bolstering community based support programs, and expanding mental health coverage so that it covers long term care. The plan is estimated to cost $7.5 billion over ten years. The full op-ed is below:
Another View – Hillary Clinton: How we can win the fight against substance abuse By HILLARY CLINTON
ON MY first trip to New Hampshire this spring, a retired doctor spoke up. I had just announced I was running for President, and I had traveled to Iowa and New Hampshire to hear from voters about their concerns, their hopes and their vision for the future. He said his biggest worry was the rising tide of heroin addiction in the state, following a wave of prescription drug abuse.
To be candid, I didn’t expect what came next. In state after state, this issue came up again and again — from so many people, from all walks of life, in small towns and big cities.
In Iowa, from Davenport to Council Bluffs, people talked about meth and prescription drugs. In South Carolina, a lawyer spoke movingly about the holes in the community left by generations of African American men imprisoned for nonviolent drug offenses, rather than getting the treatment they needed.
These stories shine light on some harrowing statistics. Twenty-three million Americans suffer from addiction, but only 1 in 10 get treatment. Fifty-two million Americans over 12 have misused prescription drugs at some point, including one in four teenagers. In 2013, more Americans died from overdoses than car crashes.
This is not new. We’re not just now “discovering” this problem. But we should be saying enough is enough. It’s time we recognize as a nation that for too long, we have had a quiet epidemic on our hands. Plain and simple, drug and alcohol addiction is a disease, not a moral failing — and we must treat it as such.
It’s time we recognize that there are gaps in our health care system that allow too many to go without care — and invest in treatment. It’s time we recognize that our state and federal prisons, where 65 percent of inmates meet medical criteria for substance use disorders, are no substitute for proper treatment — and reform our criminal justice system.
Today I’m releasing a strategy to confront the drug and alcohol addiction crisis. My plan sets five goals: empower communities to prevent drug use among teenagers; ensure every person suffering from addiction can obtain comprehensive treatment; ensure that all first responders carry naloxone, which can stop overdoses from becoming fatal; require health care providers to receive training in recognizing substance use disorders and to consult a prescription drug monitoring program before prescribing controlled substances; and prioritize treatment over prison for low-level and nonviolent drug offenders, so we can end the era of mass incarceration.
Achieving these goals won’t be easy. It will take commitment from all corners — law enforcement, doctors, insurance companies and government at every level. That’s why my plan starts by partnering with states and communities across America to meet these goals and substantially expand access to treatment. We’ll ask states to design ambitious plans using the programs that make most sense for their communities’ needs. In return for strong proposals to address the substance abuse crisis, the federal government will draw on a new $7.5 billion fund to help states meet their goals.
My plan would also increase access to treatment by boosting funding for the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant by 25 percent, so communities have more resources to work with immediately. I will ensure that existing federal insurance parity laws are enforced. I will direct the government to reevaluate Medicare and Medicaid payment practices, to remove obstacles to reimbursement and help integrate care for addiction into standard practice. And for those who commit low-level, nonviolent drug offenses, I will reorient our federal criminal justice resources away from more incarceration and toward treatment and rehabilitation. Many states are already charting this course — I will challenge the rest to do the same.
Every town and city I’ve visited so far in this campaign has stories of families upended by drug addiction. But I’ve also heard about second chances. The young mother who overcame her addiction to alcohol and heroin so her son would never see her with a drink or a drug. The man who served 11 years in prison who is now serving others through a prison ministry.
They all say the same thing: No matter how much time has passed, they’re all still in recovery. It’s a process — one that began when a family member, a friend, a doctor, or a police officer extended a hand to help. As one New Hampshire woman said, “We’re not bad people trying to get good, we’re sick people that deserve to get well.”
There are 23 million Americans suffering from addiction. But no one is untouched. We all have family and friends who are affected. We can’t afford to stay on the sidelines any longer — because when families are strong, America is strong. Through improved treatment, prevention, and training, we can end this quiet epidemic once and for all.
Last Tuesday, Hillary Rodham Clinton met with three members of Black Lives Matter following an event in New Hampshire. The conversation has been described as tense, but it was a frank conversation about race in America and the struggles to understand what can be done about it. While the event was held behind closed doors, a two-part video of the conversation was posted online, and the videos are available below.
Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared on Reverend Al Sharpton’s radio show “Keepin’ it Real”. She was interviewed by Sharpton and the conversation primarily focused on race and the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which the Supreme Court gutted in 2014. Clinton expressed her concern over those who have attacked the Voting Right Act saying that Congress needed to renew the act to protect voting rights for everyone.
Clinton and Sharpton went on to discuss race and justice pointing to recent police brutality against African-American suspects. But she also addressed prison population saying, “I know that this is a serious problem, but it falls disproportionately on the African American community.” Sharpton asked if Clinton was planning to watch this evening Republican debate on Fox News. She responded, “I don’t think I need to watch it to know that nearly everybody standing on that stage, in the first or the second debate, has either actively sought to limit the right to vote in their states or supported the efforts to limit the right to vote if the were not governors but were in the Congress.”
Audio or video from the event is currently unavailable; however, a number of clips from Clinton’s interview were aired during Sharpton’s MSNBC show “Politics Nation.” A video from last night’s episode is below.
Tomorrow, Clinton continues the private fundraiser streak by attended events in California and Texas. Follow along with Clinton on the campaign trail on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke at the National Urban League Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Clinton spoke to a group of African-American leaders right before Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, and she took full advantage of it. While she did not mention him by name, she called out his record on race relations by calling out his campaign slogan and PAC, “Right to Rise.” Clinton said, “People can’t rise if they can’t afford health care. They can’t rise if the minimum wage is too low to live on. They can’t rise if their governor makes it harder for them to get a college education.”
She also spoke about the excessive use of force by law enforcement when confronting African-American suspects, and the continued issue of race discrimination saying, “We can’t go on like this. We are better than this. Things must change.” The full video of Clinton’s speech is below.
Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke about race relations in the United States at an event held at the Christ the King United Church of Christ in Florissant, Missouri. She praised the actions of South Carolina leaders to remove the Confederate flag from the state capitol building, but admitted that there is more work to be done, and removing the flag is only a small step in addressing racial inequality.
Clinton’s comments come just days after white supremacist Dylann Roof killed nine men and women at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. Her remarks were made a few miles from Ferguson, a city that has seen racial tensions since the 2014 shooting of an African American teen by local police. Similar events have taken place around the country sparking outrage and riots. Clinton admitted that work needs to be done saying, “We can’t hide from hard truths about race and justice, we have to name them, and own them, and change them.”
A full video from today’s event is available on C-SPAN.
Clinton is scheduled to be in Virginia and Philadelphia on Friday. Until then, follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Hillary Clinton Speeches 