Hillary Clinton Announces Plan to Boost Small Businesses

On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton announced a plan she would introduce as president to boost small businesses. She introduced her plan in an article for LinkedIn followed by a teleconference with members of the press and several small business owners. Clinton warned of Donald Trump’s past business practices with small businesses arguing that a Trump presidency would not be good for small business owners. The comprehensive plan builds on her overall economic plan which would create millions of jobs by investing in infrastructure upgrades and clean energy. Small businesses play into her overall plan as they will provide American workers and products. An outline of the plan is below and the full plan is available on The Briefing.

1. Make it easier to start a business and become profitable
   • Push states to make it faster and cheaper to start a business
   • Working with states to standardize licensing requirements
   • Making technical assistance and resources available to states
   • Provide incubators, mentoring, and training to 50,000 entrepreneurs and small business owners in underserved communities
2. Make it easier to get financing and find investors
   • Streamline regulation and cut red tape for community banks and credit unions
   • Harness the potential of online lending platforms
   • Reduce the burden of student debt by allowing entrepreneurs to defer student loan payment
   • Promote the 100% tax exclusion on capital gains for long-term small business investments
   • Expand and streamline the SBA’s Small Business Investment Company program
   • Support new innovative ways to assess creditworthiness for small business owners
   • Expand access to credit in underserved communities
   • Give the SBA administrator the authority to continue providing 7(a) loan guarantees to small businesses
   • Expand access to working capital by expanding the SBA’s working capital guarantee programs
3. Make it cheaper and faster to file taxes and pay for tax relief
   • Work to create a new standard deduction for small businesses
   • Allow 4 million small businesses with gross receipts under $1 million to take advantage of “checkbook accounting”
   • Allow small businesses to immediately expense up to $1 million in new investments
   • Quadruple the start-up tax deduction to significantly lower the cost of starting a business
4. Make it easier to offer health care and other benefits to employees
   • Simplify and expand the healthcare tax credit
   • Allow more small businesses pool together to offer retirement plans
5. Make it easier to work with the federal government
   • Work to completely revamp the digital experience for small businesses
   • Use the leverage of more than $400 billion in federal government contracting to encourage businesses to pay their suppliers in full and on time
   • Guarantee a 24-hour response time to small businesses with questions about federal regulations and access to capital programs
   • Ensure that Small Business Development Centers are placed in the highest-need communities with staff that speaks the language of local residents
   • Work to ensure that federal regulations aren’t unnecessarily holding small businesses and our economy back
   • Increase federal contracting opportunities for women-owned, minority-owned, and veteran-owned small businesses
   • Defend and strengthen the Export-Import Bank
   • Encourage small business exports by expanding SBA funding for export development
6. Make it easier to fight back when you’re getting stiffed

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: LinkedIn, The Briefing, Bloomberg, Forbes

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

Bill, Chelsea Among Those Campaigning for Hillary Today

On Monday, a number of campaign events and fundraisers were held in support of Hillary Clinton. In North Carolina, Bill Clinton attended three organizing events in preparation for the state’s primary on March 15. Hosting events in Raleigh, Greensboro, and Charlotte, Bill spoke about his wife’s experience and her career as a change maker. At each of the events, he spoke about a variety of topics including higher education, student debt, heath care, and the economy. He took shots at both the Republican presidential candidates and Hillary’s Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, though he did not mention any of them by name. He asked supports to vote for Hillary in the upcoming primary because “this is a big election.” Videos from the events in Raleigh and Charlotte are below.

Chelsea was in Michigan campaigning for her mother before tomorrow’s primary. Appearing at events in Detroit, East Lansing, and Grand Rapids, Chelsea spoke about her mother’s experience and plans to move the country forward. In Detroit, Chelsea attended a college affordability round table at Wayne State University. She spoke about Hillary’s plan to make college more affordable for those who cannot pay for tuition. She drew a distinction between Hillary’s plan and that of Sanders saying, “Families who have done well in our country should still continue to pay tuition for their students to go to college. For those who haven’t yet done well yet, for lower-class families, even middle-class families, their children should be able to go to public universities tuition-free. Everyone should be able to graduate debt-free.” Sanders’ plan calls for everyone to get free tuition, regardless of income level.

A number of other events took place across the world today in support of Hillary and Hillary for America. In London, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright attended two fundraisers which were attended by American citizens living abroad. Meanwhile, back in Michigan, Senior Policy Advisor Jake Sullivan attended a fundraiser in Birmingham. The final event of the day was a virtual fundraiser hosted by Former Under Secretary of State Bob Hormats. The topic of conversation for the virtual gathering was Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment.

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

News Source: The News & Observer, Greensboro News & Record, The Charlotte Observer, Lansing State Journal, The Detroit News,