Clinton Unveils Agricultural Agenda in Iowa

Today, Hillary Rodham Clinton returned to Ankeny, Iowa to discuss her plan to support rural, agricultural America. After being introduced by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at the Des Moines Area Community College, Clinton unveiled her plan that includes investments in rural areas including focusing on rural transportation, streamlining the process for community banks, investment in water and broadband infrastructure, and improving Agriculture Department grant programs. Other facets of the plan includes raising the production of agricultural products and making the product more profitable for farmers, promoting a use of clean energy and renewable energy sources, and expanding opportunities for those in rural communities by expanding Head Start, affordable education, and affordable healthcare.

A full video from today’s speech is available on C-SPAN.

Following the event, Clinton answered questions from reporters where she discussed her use of a private email server during her tenure as Secretary of State. She expressed regret and said that she believes in transparency. She said, “I know people have raised questions about my email use as secretary of state, and I understand why. I get it. So here’s what I want the American people to know: My use of personal email was allowed by the State Department. It clearly wasn’t the best choice. I should’ve used two emails: one personal, one for work. I take responsibility for that decision, and I want to be as transparent as possible, which is why I turned over 55,000 pages, why I’ve turned over my server, why I’ve agreed to — in fact, been asking to — and have finally gotten a date to testify before a congressional committee in October. I’m confident that this process will prove that I never sent, nor received, any email that was marked classified.

A video from Clinton’s press conference is available on C-SPAN and is available below.

Tomorrow, Clinton will be in the Cleveland, Ohio area. In the meantime, follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

UPDATE (9/22): Added video from press conference.

News Source: Des Moines Register, Time, The New York Times (2)

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