Hillary Clinton’s Vision for An Economy Where Our Businesses, Our Workers, and Our Consumers Grow and Prosper Together

On Monday, Hillary Clinton and Hillary for America announced a plan that will ensure that businesses, workers, and consumers can all grow and prosper together. This would be a stark contrast from today’s economy in which one typically suffers at the expense of the others. HFA released details of her plan which are outlined below. The full plan can be read on The Briefing.

Hillary Clinton believes we need to build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. But today, there are still powerful interests fighting to protect their own profits and privileges at the expense of everyone else. Too many of the rules and incentives in our economy encourage those at the top to abuse their power and take advantage of consumers, workers, small businesses, and taxpayers. That makes it tougher for even well-meaning CEOs to take the high road.

In recent months, we’ve seen three egregious examples of these problems. We saw a drug company, Mylan, excessively raise the price of lifesaving EpiPens without justification. We saw one of our country’s biggest banks, Wells Fargo, bully thousands of employees into committing fraud on unsuspecting customers. And now we’ve learned the latest on Donald Trump: In one year, he lost nearly a billion dollars; he stiffed small businesses, laid off workers, and walked away from hardworking communities; and he apparently got to avoid paying taxes for nearly two decades—while tens of millions of working families paid theirs. That’s what he calls “smart” business.

Today, Clinton is offering her vision for an economy where our businesses, our workers, and our consumers grow and prosper together. She’s outlining a set of proposals to rewrite the rules so that more companies that do right by workers, small businesses, customers, and taxpayers.

Clinton will:

1. Eliminate Tax Breaks that Allow Corporations and the Wealthy to Avoid Paying Their Fair Share

• Shut down the “private tax system” for the most fortunate, starting by immediately closing egregious loopholes and restoring basic fairness to our tax code.
• Reform our tax code to reward investments in America – and stop companies from shifting jobs and profits overseas

2. Protect Consumers from Unfair and Deceptive Practices

• Strengthen consumer financial protection, including by restricting practices that businesses like Wells Fargo have used to lock the consumers they’ve harmed out of court
• Respond to unjustified price increases in long-standing, lifesaving drugs like EpiPens

3. Promoting Free and Fair Competition and Stopping Big Businesses from Hurting Small Business

• Crack down on big companies that repeatedly exploit their power to stiff small businesses – and give small businesses the power to respond
• A new commitment to promote competition, address excessive concentration and the abuse of economic power, and strengthen antitrust laws and enforcement

4. Rewrite the Rules So Workers Share in the Profits They Create

• Reward companies that share profits with their employees, not just their executives
• Fight for unions that built the American middle class and strengthen collective bargaining
• Encourage businesses to provide worker training and apprenticeships
• Make the minimum wage a living wage and fight for equal pay and overtime
• Guarantee paid leave and make affordable, high-quality childcare available to all

Full fact sheet available here.

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

News Source: The Briefing

Hillary Clinton Writes Open Letter to Wells Fargo Customers

On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton published an open letter to Wells Fargo customers following the discovery that the majority of bank branches across the country were involved in illegal activity. The Justice Department has responded, and the bank has fired thousands of its employees. In her letter, Clinton condemns Wells Fargo for their actions and outlines her plans to ensure that banks cannot gamble with customers’ money. A copy of Clinton’s letter is below.

Dear Wells Fargo Customers,

In America, we have faith that when we open up a checking account, we aren’t opening ourselves up to being scammed. Whether you use a local credit union or community bank or one of the big national chains, we take it for granted that those institutions are fulfilling this basic responsibility to their consumers.

That’s why I was deeply disturbed when, last week, we found out that Wells Fargo had engaged in widespread illegal practices over many years.  The bank secretly opened up millions of accounts for customers without their consent – betraying their customers, misusing their personal information and leading many to be slapped with unjust fees and other charges. Today, Wells Fargo’s CEO will appear before Congress. He owes all of you a clear explanation as to how this happened under his watch.

There is simply no place for this kind of outrageous behavior in America.

Our economy depends on a strong and safe banking system to help keep it moving. But even after Americans spent years working hard to recover from the Great Recession, the culture of misconduct and recklessness that preceded that crisis too often persists.

I have a plan to address it.

First, we need to defend the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  The unfair and abusive practices at Wells Fargo remind us that we need tough watchdogs looking out for customers.  The CFPB worked with local authorities and enforced the law – assessing its highest penalty ever, and bringing the bank’s illegal activity into the national spotlight.

Donald Trump, the Republican Party, and Wall Street lobbyists are desperate to dismantle this effective agency, which is dedicated solely to protecting consumers from unfair and deceptive practices.  I won’t let them put the CFPB under their thumb.  I’ll protect the CFPB and make sure it can continue its essential work on behalf of the American people.

Second, we need real consequences when firms on Wall Street break the law. This past week, we learned that one of the Wells Fargo executives that oversaw the division that ripped off its customers left the bank – not with a pink slip, but with a $125 million payout.  It’s hard to imagine that top executives were unaware of a problem that involved thousands of the firm’s employees.  After all, they imposed sales targets and compensation incentives in ways that led to this behavior.  And it’s frustrating that a bank can simply pay a fine and keep doing business as usual – with massive compensation for the executives responsible.  That compensation should be clawed back.

I’ve put forward an agenda to enhance accountability on Wall Street. Executives should be held individually accountable when rampant illegal activity happens on their watch.  Their compensation should take a hit if their companies pay major fines.  And they must face appropriate legal consequences if they break the law.

Third, we need to make sure that no financial institution is too big to manage.  I’ll put additional safeguards in place to address the risks that the big banks continue to pose to our system.  And if any bank can’t be managed effectively, it should be broken up.

I’ll appoint regulators who will stand with taxpayers and consumers, not with big banks and their friends in Congress.  I’ll fight hard to make sure that Wall Street is working for Main Street – not the other way around.

We need to keep pushing to make the financial system safer and fairer. Let’s do it together.

Sincerely,

Hillary Clinton

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

News Source: The Briefing

Hillary Clinton Announces Plan to Combat High Prescription Drug Prices

On Friday, Hillary Clinton announced a plan to combat the rising cost of prescription drugs, particularly the excessive rise in costs of live saving prescriptions like the EpiPen. Clinton’s plan would create a federal team to monitor drug prices and track increases. Her plan also provides several actions the government could take when drug prices have been raised excessively such as fines and increased access to treatment programs. An outline of Clinton’s proposal is below, and the full plan can be read on The Briefing.

• Making alternatives available and increasing competition
• Emergency importation of safe treatments
• Penalties for unjustified price increases to hold drug companies accountable and fund expanded access
• Dedicated oversight to protect consumers
• Strong new enforcement measures to respond when there are unjustified, outlier price increases that threaten public health
  • Directly intervening to make treatments available, and supporting generic and alternative manufacturers that enter the market and increase competition to bring down prices
  • Broadening access to safe, high-quality generic and alternative competitors through emergency importation
  • Holding drug makers accountable for unjustified price increases with new penalties – and using the funds to expand access and competition
• Cap monthly and annual out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs to save patients with chronic or serious health conditions hundreds or thousands of dollars
• Clear out the FDA generic backlog
• Prohibit “pay for delay” arrangements that keep generic competition off the market
• Ensure American consumers are getting value for their drugs
• Stop direct-to-consumer drug company advertising subsidies, and reinvest funds in research
• Require drug companies that benefit from taxpayers’ support to invest in research, not marketing or profits
• Allow Medicare to negotiate drug and biologic prices and demand higher rebates for prescription drugs in Medicare

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

News Source: The Briefing, The New York Times

Hillary Clinton Statement on EpiPen Pricing

Hillary Clinton called out drug maker Mylan for the increase in the price of its EpiPen product. An EpiPen is used to prevent anaphylactic shock by those with serious allergy attacks. The active drug in the product, the hormone epinephrine, costs less than $1 for the amount in a single dose. Yet, researchers note that the price of the EpiPen has increased 400% over the past few years with one EpiPen costing $57 in 2007 and a two pack of EpiPens costing $600 today. Clinton is not alone in asking Mylan for explanation. Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Claire McCaskill of Missouri have also sent letters to the manufacture. Late last year, Clinton proposed updates to prescription drug regulations that will prevent drug makers from overcharging for medications. A copy of Clinton’s statement is below.

“Millions of Americans with severe allergies rely on their EpiPens.  When an allergic reaction leads to anaphylactic shock, a shot of epinephrine can literally be the difference between life and death.  But now, just as parents are about to send kids with severe food and insect allergies back to school, the EpiPen’s manufacturer is hiking its price to an all-time high.

Over the last several years, Mylan Pharmaceuticals has increased the price of EpiPens by more than 400%.  They’re now charging up to $600 for a two-EpiPen set that must be replaced every 12-18 months. This both increases out-of-pocket costs for families and first responders, and contributes to higher premiums for all Americans and their employers.

That’s outrageous — and it’s just the latest troubling example of a company taking advantage of its consumers. I believe that our pharmaceutical and biotech industries can be an incredible source of American innovation, giving us revolutionary treatments for debilitating diseases.  But it’s wrong when drug companies put profits ahead of patients, raising prices without justifying the value behind them. 

That’s why I’ve put forward a plan to address exorbitant drug price hikes like these.  As part of my plan, I’ve made clear that pharmaceutical manufacturers should be required to explain significant price increases, and prove that any additional costs are linked to additional patient benefits and better value.  Since there is no apparent justification in this case, I am calling on Mylan to immediately reduce the price of EpiPens.

In addition, when it comes to treatments like delivering epinephrine that have been available for decades, my plan encourages the production of alternative products.  That’s how we can harness the power of competition to keep drug prices at a level that all Americans can afford.”

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

News Source: The Verge

Clinton Opposed to Health Insurer Merger

Clinton during CNN’s Democratic Debate on October 13, 2015

On Wednesday, Hillary Rodham Clinton released a statement opposing the proposed mergers of proposed mergers between Anthem and Cigna and of Aetna and Humana. Clinton has been supportive of the Affordable Care Act because it gives consumers more choice, but mergers ensure less choice and less competition. The full statement from Clinton is below:

As we see more consolidation in health care, among both providers and insurers, I’m worried that the balance of power is moving too far away from consumers.  

I have serious concerns about the proposed mergers between Anthem and Cigna, and between Aetna and Humana. One could raise market concentration in New Hampshire to excessive levels, and both have concerning effects on competition in other markets. These mergers should be scrutinized very closely with an eye to preventing the undue concentration that they appear to create. I am very skeptical of the claim that consumers will benefit from them because the evidence from careful studies shows that too often the companies end up pocketing profits rather than passing savings to consumers. These companies should commit to passing on savings and efficiencies to consumers as lower premiums and out-of-pocket costs.

I strongly support delivery system reforms and care coordination that drive innovation, value and quality at an affordable cost for Americans and that improve transparency about prices – but companies proposing to merge bear the heavy burden of demonstrating that consumers will benefit. As president, I would strengthen the antitrust enforcement arms of the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission and appoint aggressive regulators to take on troubling concentration wherever it occurs in the health care industry, among other sectors. That’s a pro-competition approach that is good for businesses large and small who want to compete on a level playing field and for consumers who should gain more choices.

Tomorrow, Clinton will testify before the House Select Committee on Benghazi on Thursday. For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

News Source: The Briefing

Clinton Comes Out Against the TPP

On Wednesday, Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that she is against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Clinton was asked about the agreement at an event today in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, but she also discussed the TPP on PBS’s NewsHour during an interview with Judy Woodruff. Her opposition of the deal is in direct conflict with President Barack Obama and his administration, but the deal does face a tough battle in Congress. In addition to speaking about the TPP during the interview, Clinton also released a statement explaining in more detail why she is opposed to the deal. A copy of the statement is below. A video from Clinton’s full interview on PBS NewsHour is above.

Hillary Clinton Statement on Trans-Pacific Partnership

I’m continuing to learn about the details of the new Trans-Pacific Partnership, including looking hard at what’s in there to crack down on currency manipulation, which kills American jobs, and to make sure we’re not putting the interests of drug companies ahead of patients and consumers.  But based on what I know so far, I can’t support this agreement.

As I have said many times, we need to be sure that new trade deals meet clear tests:  They have to create good American jobs, raise wages, and advance our national security.  The bar has to be set very high for two reasons.

First, too often over the years we haven’t gotten the balance right on trade.  We’ve seen that even a strong deal can fall short on delivering the promised benefits.  So I don’t believe we can afford to keep giving new agreements the benefit of the doubt.  The risks are too high that, despite our best efforts, they will end up doing more harm than good for hard-working American families whose paychecks have barely budged in years.

Second, we can’t look at this in a vacuum.  Years of Republican obstruction at home have weakened U.S. competitiveness and made it harder for Americans who lose jobs and pay because of trade to get back on their feet.  Republicans have blocked the investments that we need and that President Obama has proposed in infrastructure, education, clean energy, and innovation.  They’ve refused to raise the minimum wage or defend workers’ rights or adequately fund job training.

As a result, America is less competitive than we should be.  Workers have fewer protections, the potential positive effects of trade are diminished, and the negative effects are exacerbated. We’re going into this with one arm tied behind our backs.

I still believe in the goal of a strong and fair trade agreement in the Pacific as part of a broader strategy both at home and abroad, just as I did when I was Secretary of State.  I appreciate the hard work that President Obama and his team put into this process and recognize the strides they made.  But the bar here is very high and, based on what I have seen, I don’t believe this agreement has met it.

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

News Source: PBS NewsHour, The Briefing