Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton listens to a question at town hall meeting at White Mountain Community College, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015, in Berlin, N.H. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
On Saturday, The New York Times editorial board announced their endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president. While they admit that Clinton has her share of faults, her experience and career in public service far overshadow the career of Donald Trump. The editorial board explains that on Monday, they will publish an article explaining why “we believe Mr. Trump to be the worst nominee put forward by a major party in modern American history.” Read the full endorsement here, and a excerpt from the article is below:
“In any normal election year, we’d compare the two presidential candidates side by side on the issues. But this is not a normal election year. A comparison like that would be an empty exercise in a race where one candidate — our choice, Hillary Clinton — has a record of service and a raft of pragmatic ideas, and the other, Donald Trump, discloses nothing concrete about himself or his plans while promising the moon and offering the stars on layaway.”
In an op-ed published in The New York Times on Wednesday, Hillary Clinton outlined her proposals to help America’s poor and ensuring that they have equal access to resources. Recalling her time at the Children’s Defense Fund, Clinton says that she considers ensuring children are not raised in poverty as a top priority should she be elected president. Clinton outlines her plan which includes a series of tax credits, community investments, and a series of reforms. A copy of Clinton’s editorial is below.
The true measure of any society is how we take care of our children. With all of our country’s resources, no child should ever have to grow up in poverty. Yet every single night, all across America, kids go to sleep hungry or without a place to call home.
We have to do better. Advocating for children and families has been the cause of my life, starting with my first job as a young attorney at the Children’s Defense Fund, and if I have the honor of serving as president, it will be the driving mission of my administration.
The good news is that we’re making progress, thanks to the hard work of the American people and President Obama. The global poverty rate has been cut in half in recent decades. In the United States, a new report from the Census Bureau found that there were 3.5 million fewer people living in poverty in 2015 than just a year before.
Median incomes rose by 5.2 percent, the fastest growth on record. Households at all income levels saw gains, with the largest going to those struggling the most. The census report makes clear that when hard-working Americans get a small boost — like food stamps and health insurance thanks to the Affordable Care Act — they can climb out of poverty.
But make no mistake: We still have work to do. Families across the country were devastated by the Great Recession.
Nearly 40 percent of Americans between the ages of 25 and 60 will experience a year in poverty at some point. The best way to help families lift themselves out of poverty is to make it easier to find good-paying jobs. As president, one of my top priorities will be increasing economic growth that’s strong, fair and lasting. I will work with Democrats and Republicans to make a historic investment in good-paying jobs — jobs in infrastructure and manufacturing, technology and innovation, small businesses and clean energy. And we need to make sure that hard work is rewarded by raising the minimum wage and finally guaranteeing equal pay for women.
If we want to get serious about poverty, we also need a national commitment to create more affordable housing. This issue doesn’t get much election-year coverage, but it’s a big deal to the 11.4 million American households that spend more than half their incomes on rent. Too many people are putting off saving for their children or retirement just to keep a roof over their families’ heads.
My plan would expand Low Income Housing Tax Credits in high-cost areas to increase our affordable housing supply, and fuel broader community development. So if you are a family living in an expensive city, you would be able to find an affordable place to call home and have access to the transportation you need to get to good jobs and quality schools.
We also need to ensure that our investments are reaching the communities suffering the most from decades of neglect. We have got to acknowledge that even though poverty overall has fallen, extreme poverty has increased. Tim Kaine and I will model our anti-poverty strategy on Congressman Jim Clyburn’s 10-20-30 plan, directing 10 percent of federal investments to communities where 20 percent of the population has been living below the poverty line for 30 years. And we’ll put special emphasis on minority communities that have been held back for too long by barriers of systemic racism.
As president, I will continue my life’s work focused on creating opportunities for children and fairness for families. We need to expand access to high-quality child care and guarantee paid leave so parents at all income levels can balance their jobs and lives. And we will work to double investments in Early Head Start and make preschool available to every 4-year-old because our children deserve the best possible start in life.
Donald J. Trump has a different approach. He divides America into winners and losers. And he doesn’t seem to spend much time worrying about people in poverty. In fact, his economic plans would overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest Americans, and would include an estimated $4 billion tax cut for his own family just by eliminating the estate tax. He has actually said that wages are too high. One independent economic analysis revealed that with Mr. Trump’s proposals in place, our economy would fall back into recession and inevitably push more families into poverty.
This November, the American people will have to choose between an economy that works for everyone and an economy that benefits the well off at the expense of everyone else. The choice couldn’t be clearer.
Tim Kaine campaigned in Las Vegas, Nevada today. He attended an organizing event at the Local 525 Plumbers & Pipefitters Training Center where he spoke about Hillary Clinton’s plans to boost job growth by investing in the nation’s infrastructure. Kaine then went after Donald Trump for refusing to release his income tax returns. He then attacked Trump’s business record citing a recent study by The New York Times which found that Trump’s businesses were deep in debt. Kaine framed Trump as the “king of debt” with his businesses owning at least $650 million. Kaine argued that with his business record, Trump cannot be trusted with the country’s finances.
Kaine then spoke at Iron Workers 43rd International Convention at The Mirage where he continued with a similar message of job growth and a focus on the economy. During his remarks, he spoke about importance of trade unions and Clinton’s dedication to union labor. He spoke about Trump and how he has fought against unions at his hotels and casinos. “Donald Trump doesn’t get it. Labor unions helped build the great American middle class,” he said. A video from Kaine’s speech at the convention is below.
Over the weekend, Hillary Clinton attending a series of fundraisers on the east coast. She attended an event on the island of Martha’s Vinyard. Then on Sunday, she attended an event Provincetown, Massachusetts which featured an appearance by singer Cher. Meanwhile, a “Give ‘Em Hill” fundraising party was held in Atlanta, Georgia.
On the day after securing the delegates to become the first female presidential candidate nominated by a major political party, Hillary Clinton made the press circuit today talking about her nomination, her plans for the country, the upcoming general election between her and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, and a variety of other other topics. Clinton spoke to a series of television and print reporters for: The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, The Washington Post, The New York Times, ABC News, and CBS News. To read more about each interview, including transcripts, click the links. Videos for the televised interviews are below.
LAS VEGAS, NV – OCTOBER 13: (L-R) Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Hillary Clinton and Martin O’Malley take part in a presidential debate sponsored by CNN and Facebook at Wynn Las Vegas on October 13, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Five Democratic presidential candidates are participating in the party’s first presidential debate. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
In an op-ed published in today’s New York Times, Hillary Clinton defended her Wall Street plan saying that it would be tough on big banks and investment firms, and hold them directly accountable for financial instability. During the two Democratic debates, Clinton was criticized by Senator Bernie Sanders for her close ties to Wall Street. Clinton’ Wall Street Plan, which she outlined in October, calls tougher regulations, but some say her plan is not tough enough on the banking industry. The full text of Clinton’s op-ed is below.
SEVEN years ago, the financial crisis sent our economy into a tailspin. Over five million people lost their homes. Nearly nine million lost their jobs. Nearly $13 trillion in household wealth was wiped out.
Under President Obama, our economy has come a long way back. Our businesses have created more than 13 million jobs. People’s savings are being restored. And we have tough new rules on the books, including the Dodd-Frank Act, that protect consumers and curb recklessness on Wall Street.
But not everyone sees that as a good thing. Republicans, both in Congress and on the campaign trail, are dead-set on rolling back critical financial protections.
Right now, Republicans in Congress are working to attach damaging deregulation riders to the must-pass spending bill. They’re attempting to defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. They want to roll back common-sense efforts to prevent conflicts of interest by financial managers. And they’re trying to undo constraints on risk at some of the largest and most complex financial institutions.
President Obama and congressional Democrats should do everything they can to stop these efforts. But it’s not enough simply to protect the progress we have made. As president, I would not only veto any legislation that would weaken financial reform, but I would also fight for tough new rules, stronger enforcement and more accountability that go well beyond Dodd-Frank.
My comprehensive plan has already won praise from progressives like Sherrod Brown and Barney Frank. Here’s what it would do.
First, we need to further rein in major financial institutions. My plan proposes legislation that would impose a new risk fee on dozens of the biggest banks — those with more than $50 billion in assets — and other systemically important financial institutions to discourage the kind of hazardous behavior that could induce another crisis. I would also ensure that the federal government has — and is prepared to use — the authority and tools necessary to reorganize, downsize and ultimately break up any financial institution that is too large and risky to be managed effectively. No bank or financial firm should be too big to manage.
My plan would strengthen the Volcker Rule by closing the loopholes that still allow banks to make speculative gambles with taxpayer-backed deposits. And I would fight to reinstate the rules governing risky credit swaps and derivatives at taxpayer-backed banks, which were repealed during last year’s budget negotiations after a determined lobbying campaign by the banks.
My plan also goes beyond the biggest banks to include the whole financial sector. Some have urged the return of a Depression-era rule called Glass-Steagall, which separated traditional banking from investment banking. But many of the firms that contributed to the crash in 2008, like A.I.G. and Lehman Brothers, weren’t traditional banks, so Glass-Steagall wouldn’t have limited their reckless behavior. Nor would restoring Glass-Steagall help contain other parts of the “shadow banking” sector, including certain activities of hedge funds, investment banks and other non-bank institutions. My plan would strengthen oversight of these activities, too — increasing leverage and liquidity requirements for broker-dealers and imposing strict margin requirements on the kinds of short-term borrowing that also played a major role in spurring the financial crisis. We need to tackle excessive risk wherever it lurks, not just in the banks.
Second, I would appoint tough, independent regulators and ensure that both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are independently funded — as other critical regulators are now — so that they can do their jobs without political interference. I would seek to impose a tax on harmful high-frequency trading, which makes markets less stable and less fair. And we need to reform stock market rules to ensure equal access to information, increase transparency and minimize conflicts of interest.
Finally, executives need to be held more accountable. No one should be too big to jail. I would seek to extend the statute of limitations for major financial crimes to 10 years from five and enhance rewards for whistle-blowers. I would work to ensure that financial firms admit wrongdoing as part of settlements in instances of egregious misconduct, and increase transparency about the terms of settlement and the fines actually paid to the government. Fines should be more than just the cost of doing business to these companies — they should be an effective disincentive for illegal behavior.
And it shouldn’t just be shareholders and taxpayers who feel the pain when banks make bad decisions; executives should have skin in the game. When a firm pays a fine, I would make sure that the penalty cuts into executives’ bonuses, too. And I would fight to close the carried interest loophole that gives some fund managers billions of dollars in tax breaks: They should be taxed like every other citizen.
Republicans may have decided to forget about the financial crisis that caused so much devastation — but I haven’t. The proper role of Wall Street is to help Main Street grow and prosper. When our financial sector works the right way, it helps families buy their first homes, entrepreneurs start and grow small businesses and hardworking Americans save for retirement. Rather than pursuing the kind of high-stakes speculation that devastated our economy before, Wall Street should focus on building an economy that creates good-paying jobs, rising incomes and sound investments so that more families can achieve the security of a middle-class life.
Today, Clinton was scheduled to attend private fundraisers in the Washington, DC area. For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Hillary for America communications director Jennifer Palmieri.
After releasing a false story about a criminal investigation into the use of a personal email server by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Clinton campaign has released an open letter criticizing the inaccurate reporting by The New York Times. The letter, penned by communications director Jennifer Palmieri, was directed to Dean Baquet, the executive editor. The story originally said that the Department of Justice had been urged to open a criminal investigation. The story was later corrected to indicate the investigation was not criminal in nature but was a “security referral.”
In the letter, Palmieri wrote about the lack of response time given to the campaign by the news organization and she questioned the sources used for the article. She concluded by saying, “In closing, I wish to emphasize our genuine wish to have a constructive relationship with The New York Times. But we also are extremely troubled by the events that went into this erroneous report, and will be looking forward to discussing our concerns related to this incident so we can have confidence that it is not repeated in the future.”
In her last scheduled appearance of 2015, and leading up to her probable presidential run, Hillary Rodham Clinton presented the Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting to Washington Post reporter Dan Balz. In her brief remarks, Clinton praised Balz and praised the namesake of the award, Robin Toner. Toner was the first female national political reporter for the New York Times. Clinton joked about her pas relationship with press, but she knows that she will need them on her side when she announces her campaign. She described her relationship with the media as “complicated” at times, but she said, “Those of us on the other side are not always going to be happy about whatever it is you do, but we do understand in our more rational moments that is your job. And we and our democracy depend on you.”
A video from the event will be posted when/if available.
Happy New Year and welcome to the updated Hillary Clinton Speeches!
It appears that 2015 is going to be an important year for Hillary Rodham Clinton and her supporters. With a 2016 presidential run announcement expected early in the year, everyone will be watching Clinton’s scheduled speeches in early 2015.
While everyone seems to be looking forward to 2015, 2014 was a very important year for Clinton. She returned to the political spectrum during the 2014 mid-term elections. While the Democrats had a rough year, Clinton was out in the field supporting Democratic candidates and making speeches that sounded more political in nature.
Another major story from 2014 was the release of Clinton’s memoir, Hard Choices. Released in June, the book quickly made the New York Times Bestsellers list. The book picked up where her first memoir, Living History, left off and primarily focused on her years as Secretary of State. Along with the release of Hard Choices, Clinton completed a book tour which included 47 appearances on television and in local bookstores.
The final story of the year was Clinton’s speech blitz. Over the course of 2014, Clinton delivered speeches for church groups, business organizations, colleges, and more from coast to coast, plus in the United States and Canada. This year, she made a total of102 speeches and appearances (that were open to the public and not counting appearances for Hard Choices), and you can see an outline of the speeches on our 2014 page.
Finally, I want to thank everyone for reading the site and following along as Clinton, possibly, embarks on the next chapter of her political career. This year, Hillary Clinton Speeches recorded over 20,000 views, and the stats continue to grow. Thank you for following the site in 2014, and we will keep reporting into 2015 and beyond!
Hillary Clinton Speeches 