Clinton Statement on Endorsement of the Working Families Party

On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton receive the endorsement of the Working Families Party, a group that backed Senator Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary. Clinton released a statement reaffirming her commitment to working families and building the middle class. A copy of her statement is below.

“I am honored to have earned the endorsement of the Working Families Party.

Working families are the engine behind our economy, the heart of our democracy, and the core of what makes America great.  But today, it’s too hard for working people to get ahead and stay ahead.

That’s why the Working Families Party is so important.  For almost two decades, they have fought to make our economy fairer and our country stronger. They’ve fought to raise the minimum wage in states and cities across the country; combat climate change and create new, good-paying jobs in clean energy and energy efficiency; and train and elect trailblazing progressive leaders.

As President, I’ll stand with working families like I have my entire career.  We’ll build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top, and finally make the minimum wage a living wage.  We’ll overturn Citizens United and protect every American’s right to vote, not every corporation’s right to buy elections. We’ll end the era of mass incarceration and replace the school-to-prison pipeline with a cradle-to-college and career pipeline.  We’ll make sure every American can afford a college education and tackle our country’s student debt crisis.  And we’ll finally enact policies that support how families actually live and work today—with paid family leave, affordable childcare, and equal pay for women.

Together, we’ll fight every day for working families—because we know when families are strong, America is strong.”

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News Source: The Washington Post

Tim Kaine Addresses the National Urban League

Tim Kaine spoke at the National Urban League Conference in Baltimore, Maryland on Thursday. During his speech, he said that a Hillary Clinton administration would combat social and economic issues in the country’s cities. He spoke about the need to “end the era of mass incarceration” and vowed that as president, Clinton would work toward passing criminal justice reform. As a part of the reform, Kaine called for additional police training and increasing the collection of data on crime. He said, “A profound distance has grown up between law enforcement and communities in too many places in America, and that distance is dangerous. Let’s support independent data collection, investigation, and, if necessary, prosecution of police involved in deaths.” While in Baltimore, Kaine met with Representative Elijah Cummings, and they discussed voter ID laws, the economy, and their work as civil rights attorneys. A video from his speech is available on C-SPAN.

Fundraisers were held on behalf of Hillary for America in two states today. The first was in McLean, Virginia and included a conversation with Deputy Foreign Policy Advisor Bishop Garrison, Former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Matt Olsen, and Foreign Policy Advisor Laura Rosenberger. The event was held at the home of Andrew Borene. The second event was held in New York City and included a conversation with Assemblyman Michael Blake and Director of State Campaigns and Political Engagement Marlon Marshall.

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News Source: The Baltimore Sun, CBS Baltimore

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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Bill Clinton Campaigns in Bay Area

On the day before California’s Democratic primary, Bill Clinton campaigned on behalf of Hillary Clinton in the San Francisco area. Bill has been focusing his efforts on smaller events and has spoken to supporters by standing in the back of a truck. His first two events today were a Get Out the Vote rallies in Oakland and Hayward. At each event, Bill spoke about Hillary’s experience and a number of platform points including growing the economy, focusing on clean energy, and expanding health care. In his speeches, he also criticized Republican nominee Donald Trump for a number of his positions and rhetoric saying that Hillary is a better candidate to continue the progress of the last eight years. A video from today’s event in Oakland is below.

Bill then spoke at a Get Out the Vote event in Antioch. Speaking to a crowd of supporters at Marsh Elementary School, Bill spoke about Hillary’s experience and her plans to keep moving America forward. He explained how important the 2016 election is to continue to the progress of the last eight years, and that electing Trump is a certain way to undo most of that progress. A video of the speech is below.

In Richmond, he spoke spoke about similar topics, but he was confronted by a group of protestors who interrupted his speech. Instead of having the protesters escorted out, Bill answered their questions. He was asked about Hillary’s ties to Wall Street and the crime bill that passed during his administration. He has admitted that that parts of that bill were not perfect saying, “When the crime bill in 1994 came over from the House, it had stronger incarceration procedures than I originally asked for. They cover about 8 percent of total people in prison. When we got to the Senate, the Senate included an assault weapons ban with an ammunition clip limit.” A partial video from the event, including Bill’s exchange with the protester, is below.

His final event of the day was in San Francisco where he spoke about the city’s important position in the country saying, “San Francisco is uniquely positioned to understand that every American should care about the implications of our elections and our choices and the rest of the world.” He then went on to speak about a number of Hillary’s platform points and making an argument why she is a better candidate for president than Democratic rival Bernie Sanders or Trump. He asked for voters’ support in the primary saying that California would be a big win for Hillary. A video from the event is below.

Great crowd in North Bergen, NJ! Thanks to all who joined & don’t forget to vote tomorrow! hrc.io/Locate https://t.co/ELQw1f7MU0—
Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) June 06, 2016

Chelsea Clinton and Senator Cory Booker also campaigned for Hillary in New Jersey. They appeared at several events and spoke about a number Hillary’s platform points and the importance of the 2016 election. They both urged voters to vote in tomorrow’s New Jersey primary.

Meanwhile, Tokyo, Japan, a fundraiser was held for American citizens living in the region. The event featured a conversation with former Under Secretary of State Bob Hormats. The topic of the conversation was economic growth, energy, and the environment.

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

News Source: ABC 7 (Antioch), ABC 7 (San Francisco), CBS News,  ABC 7 (Oakland)

Hillary Clinton Interviewed by BET

On Sunday evening, Hillary Clinton was interviewed for a BET special called “Black Votes Matter.” For the special, each of the Democratic candidates, Clinton and Bernie Sanders, were interviewed separately. Clinton spoke about her plans to end mass incarceration in the African-American community, improve small business opportunities,  and how she would build upon the progress of President Barack Obama. The full special is available on BET.

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

News Source: International Business Times, CNN

Clinton Meets with Black Lives Matter

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.

News Source: CNN

Clinton Hold Town Hall in Las Vegas

On Tuesday, Hillary Rodham Clinton held a town hall at the Pearson Community Center in North Las Vegas. The event was attended by about 300 people, and Clinton spoke about college affordability. She also criticized Republicans for not talking about college affordability, equal pay for women, incarceration rates, and other issues that are on the minds of Americans. Clinton then answered a number of questions from the audience.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton shakes hands while touring the Carpenters International Training Center Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015, in Las Vegas. The training center was one of several places Clinton visited in the Las Vegas area on Tuesday. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Following the event, Clinton toured the Carpenters International Training Center in Las Vegas and is scheduled to give a speech at the Nevada State AFL-CIO annual convention this evening.

UPDATE (8/19): A video from the town hall has been added to the post.

News Source: Las Vegas Review – Journal

Clinton Introduces “Four Fights” of Campaign

6/13 UPDATE: A full transcript of the speech is available from Time by CLICKING HERE.

In her first official campaign rally held at Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island in New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton outlined what she called the “four fights” of her campaign. Throughout the 45 minute speech, Clinton made references to her experience as a lawyer, Senator, Secretary of State, and as a mother and grandmother. The theme of the speech was the prosperity of Americans, and she shared stories from people she has met and her mother to make her points. In her speech, Clinton also criticized Republicans for not looking forward and believing too much in “yesterday.” She vowed to fight for everyday Americans and prepare the United States for the future.

The key to her speech was the “four fights.” She outlined what those will be, but said that said will outline specific policy changes in the coming weeks. Nevertheless, her vision is clearly outlined by the four fights:

Economy: Clinton outlined a number of changes that would serve to strengthen the economy including strengthening the middle class, increasing the minimum wage, providing equal pay for women, making it illegal to discriminate against LBGT workers, rewriting the tax code, and focusing on lifelong learning that will allow works to adapt to a changing workplace. She also called for more affordable college for everyone and improving the infrastructure by creating an infrastructure bank that would sell bonds to help fund improvements roads, bridges, power grids, and broadband Internet. She called for protecting the environment by investing in clean energy and ending the denial of climate change. All these changes, which she will continue to outline in the coming weeks, will create jobs and improve the lives of American workers.

Family: Families have struggled since the recession and Clinton believes that more attention needs to be paid to helping families by guaranteeing paid sick days, paid family leave, pre-school and child care. She also wants to focus on the uneven incarceration polices and provide help to those suffering with mental health issues and addiction.

America’s Leadership: America has long been the leader in the world, but for America to maintain its leadership and influence, Clinton argues that we have not only show strength in our military, but we have to create economic and diplomatic partnerships across the globe. At the same time, we have to stand up to our adversaries and stand by our allies. We need to be better prepared against cyber attacks and provide better services to our veterans after they have served our country.

Governmental Reform: Clinton argued that now is the time to take government out of corporate hands and back into the hands of Americans. She called for stopping the flow of unaccountable campaign funds, undoing Citizens United, and improving government technology so it is more open to the pubic. She also called for improvements to voting including universal registration, longer early voting periods, and ensuring that voting rights are protected despite the Supreme Court’s recent decision.

Clinton’s speech is only the beginning of the next phase of her campaign. Over the coming weeks, Clinton will travel across the country to spread her message and continue to flesh out her campaign platform. We will follow along and continue to cover her campaign events as she continues to build a strong platform for America’s future.

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Image Source: Politico