Clinton Campaign Releases Details of Proposed Democratic Party Platform

On Saturday, Hillary For America Senior Advisor Maya Harris released a statement following a Democratic Platform Drafting Committee meeting in St. Louis, Missouri. The meeting was one of four held around the country allowing national and local Democrats to gather and discuss the party’s platform. While the official platform will not be adopted until the Democratic National Convention next month, several proposed platform points are discussed in Harris’ statement including a $15 minimum wage, updates to the country’s prison system, a commitment to clean energy and fighting climate change, and ensuring everyone pays their fair share of taxes. Videos from the drafting committee hearings are available on the Democratic National Convention’s YouTube Channel and, the full statement from Harris is below:

“We are proud that the draft 2016 Democratic Platform, which the drafting committee approved yesterday, represents the most ambitious and progressive platform our party has ever seen, and reflects the issues Hillary Clinton has championed throughout this campaign, from raising wages and creating more good-paying jobs to fixing our broken immigration system, reforming our criminal justice system, and protecting women’s reproductive health and rights. As our Chairman, Congressman Elijah Cummings, directed us at the outset, our platform does not merely reflect common ground—it seeks higher ground.

For the first time ever, our platform calls for ending mass incarceration, shutting down the school-to-prison pipeline, and taking on the challenges of systemic racism. This year’s platform contains the most ambitious jobs plan on record, including historic investments in infrastructure, pledges to increase American manufacturing and stop companies from shipping jobs overseas, and a robust, stand-alone plank on youth jobs. It contains ambitious, progressive principles on wages, stating that working people should earn at least $15 an hour, citing New York’s minimum wage law and calling for raising and indexing the federal minimum wage. It also calls for the elimination of the ‘tipped’ wage and for the right of workers to form or join a union.  And for the first time, the Democratic Party platform explicitly calls for repealing the Hyde Amendment, which restricts access to women’s reproductive rights, particularly low-income women and women of color.

Four years ago, the Democratic platform called for an ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy. This platform moves far beyond that framework, with a robust commitment to combating climate change and ambitious goals, like generating 50 percent of our electricity from clean sources within a decade. This vision was further strengthened through an amendment offered by representatives of both campaigns to see America running entirely on clean energy by mid-century.

We are also pleased that there were many issues where committee members worked collaboratively to articulate a bold vision, including making sure Wall Street greed and recklessness never again threatens American families and businesses on Main Street; proposing a surtax on multi-millionaires to ensure the richest among us are paying their fair share to build an economy that works for everyone; and expanding Social Security benefits by raising more revenue above the $250,000 threshold.

Members also worked together on framing Democrats’ shared commitment to comprehensive immigration reform, with an eloquent unity amendment stating, ‘Immigration is not a problem to be solved, it is a defining aspect of the American character and history to be supported and defended against those who would exclude or eliminate legal immigration avenues and denigrate immigrants.’

And we are proud the draft 2016 Democratic platform sets forward progressive principles and high standards on trade, including calling for trade agreements to be more protective of workers’ rights, labor rights, the environment, and public health. The draft reviewed by committee members yesterday included a call to review past trade agreements and update them to reflect these principles. An amendment adopted yesterday further emphasized the fact that many Democrats oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership because ‘the agreement does not meet the standards set out in this platform.’ Hillary Clinton is one of those Democrats, and has been strongly and unequivocally on the record opposing TPP. Just this week, she said, ‘We will defend American jobs and American workers by saying ‘no’ to bad trade deals and unfair trade practices, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership.’

Make no mistake about it: The 2016 Democratic platform represents an ambitious, progressive agenda that all Democrats can and should be proud of.”

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Hillary Clinton Unveils Environmental, Immigration Plan Details

On Wednesday, Hillary Clinton delivered two major speeches during which she outlined her plans for environmental action and her proposal to create a Department of Immigrant Affairs to help immigrants become American citizens. This morning, Clinton was endorsed by the New York State Immigrant Action Fund, and Clinton attended a round table event during which she discussed her plans for immigration reform. She criticized Republican Donald Trump for his anti-immigration rhetoric and vowed to help immigrants become American citizens. During her remarks, she proposed the introduction of a Department of Immigrant Affairs that would work at all levels of government to assist immigrants and refugees as they settle in the United States.

In the afternoon, Clinton spoke at the National Action Network Convention where she was introduced by Rev. Al Sharpton. Clinton introduced her plan for environmental and climate justice which is a small part of her larger Breaking Every Barrier agenda. The plan not only includes fighting climate change, but eliminating lead as a public health threat. The main points of the plan include:

• Eliminating lead as a major public heath threat within five years
• Protesting public heath and safety by modernizing drinking and wastewater systems
• Prosecuting criminal and civil violations that expose communities to environmental harm and work with Congress to strengthen public health protections in our existing laws
• Creating new economic opportunity through brownfield clean-up and redevelopment
• Reducing urban air pollution by investing in clean power and transportation
• Broadening the clean energy economy, build career opportunities, and combat energy poverty by expanding solar and energy efficiency in low-income communities and communities of color
• Protecting communities from the impacts of climate change by investing in resilient infrastructure
• Establishing an Environmental and Climate Justice Task Force to make environmental and climate justice, including cumulative impacts, an integral part of federal decision-making

A video of speech is below and a transcript can be read HERE. Full details of Clinton’s Environmental and Climate Justice plan can be read on The Briefing.

Clinton then spoke at an organizing event in the Bronx. During the event, she spoke about a variety of topics including working for New York as senator, improving education, building upon the progress made in heath care, and ensuring that all Americans have an opportunity to prosper. She took the time to point out the differences between her and her Republican rivals, especially front-runner Donald Trump. She said, “He wants to build walls; I want to build bridges.” Clinton went on to ask for everyone’s support during next week’s primary. A video from the event is below.

For all the latest, follow our revamped Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

News Source: Norwood News, MSNBC, International Business Times, Think Progress, The Briefing

Clinton Steps-Up in Iowa

Hillary Clinton returned to Iowa, where the polls between her and Democratic rival Bernie Sanders have tightened considerably. Last night, Clinton hosted an organizing event in Burlington where she spoke about the specifics of her platform. She said that her agenda may be ambitious, but she also stressed the importance of working together and listening to good ideas from anyone, not just people she agrees with politically. She said, “We may not always agree, but we will always have a conversation where I’m hearing you and we’re talking about the path forward.”

Clinton attended two organizing events today. The first was in Indianola where she changed her tone and went directly after Sanders. She broke from her usual pattern and mentioned Sanders by name several times. She spoke about her experience with health care and foreign policy and his lack of experience. Most importantly, she spoke about her record of getting things done. She criticized Sanders’ plans and his readiness for the presidency saying, “Theory isn’t enough. A President has to deliver in reality.”

At an the event in Vinton, Clinton continued the theme of the speech she gave in Indianola calling attention to the progress that has been made with health care and criticizing Sanders for wanting to scrap it and start over. She said that Sanders has been working to pass the single-payer heath care proposal for over 25 years, but has failed to gain much support. “He never got even a single vote in the House or a single Senate co-sponsor. Not one. You hear a promise to build a whole new system, but that’s not what you get. … You’ll get gridlock and an endless wait for advances that never come.”

Clinton wrapped up the day with an appearance at an event at the University of Iowa in Iowa City with singer-songwriter Demi Lovato. While the crowd of 1,600 were there to see Lovato perform, Clinton spoke to the crowd briefly about her plans as president and criticized Republicans and Bernie Sanders for their positions on a number of topics. This is not the first time Lovato has appeared at an event with Clinton, but it is the first public event. A video will be added when/if available.

Tomorrow, Clinton returns to New Hampshire for three separate events. For all the latest, follow our revamped Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

News Source: The New York Times, KWQC, CNN, The Hill, KWWL

Clinton Outlines Economic Agenda

In a speech today in New York City, Hillary Rodham Clinton gave the first economic  speech of her presidential campaign. She spoke about a number of topics including: raising wages for the middle class, reigning in Wall Street bankers, and creating a stronger economy for everyone. Clinton’s can best be outlined in three categories:

1. Strong Growth. Growing the economy by expanding employment opportunities, tax relief for small businesses and middle class Americans, comprehensive immigration reform, investing in clean energy, increase funding for scientific and medial research, establish an infrastructure bank, and make college more affordable. She also called for equal pay for women, affordable health care, paid sick and family leave, and affordable child care.
2. Fair Growth. Clinton’s strongest argument was that if you work hard, you have a right to expect something in return. She called for raising the minimum wage, reduce health care costs, supporting labor unions, tax reform, expanding early childhood learning, and encouraging businesses to share their profits with employees.
3. Long-Term Growth. In the long term, she called for reforming the capital gains tax, increasing benefits and training for workers, focusing on long term investments, imposing stricter accountability for Wall Street, and planning for the future.

In addition to outlining her her economic plan, Clinton criticized her Republican rivals for the failed trickle down economics strategy saying, “For 35 years, Republicans have argued that if we give more wealth to those at the top by cutting their taxes and letting big corporations write their own rules, it will trickle down — it will trickle down to everyone else.”

Today’s speech, held at The New School, was the result of several hundred meetings between Clinton’s team and economic advisers, including Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. Clinton’s speech was applauded by many Democrats and liberals as many of her policies appear to have been inspired by Senator Elizabeth Warren, someone who has been pushed to run for president by many. Senator Warren and Clinton have met and discussed economic policy.

A video of the full video of the speech is above. You may also read the full transcript by CLICKING HERE.

Video Source: YouTube

News Source: CNN, The Wall Street Journal