HFA Statement on Third-Quarter GDP Growth

In response to new data showing that the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.9 percent in the third quarter of 2016, Hillary for America Senior Policy Advisor Jacob Leibenluft released the following statement:

“Today’s GDP release shows economic growth at its fastest pace in two years. With more than 15 million jobs created since early 2010 and real median incomes growing more than 5 percent last year, it’s clear we’ve made real progress coming back from the crisis. But Hillary Clinton believes there is still more we need to do to build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. Independent experts agree her plan would create good-paying jobs through investments in infrastructure, innovation and education. Donald Trump, on the other hand, would take us backwards, with experts across the political spectrum warning his plans would risk another recession and cost jobs.”

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.

Trump’s Self-Serving Business Agenda

Donald Trump has held 32 events at Trump properties in 16 months of running for President

Today, Hillary Clinton returned to Florida to layout what’s on the ballot this election — an economy that works for everyone not just those at the top. She shared her vision for more good jobs, economic fairness and how to bring Americans together. Meanwhile, Trump spent the morning promoting the opening of his new hotel, making this the 32nd event at Trump properties in 16 months of running for president.

From his using his presidential campaign to promote his business, to a decades-long practice of stiffing small businesses, to outsourcing jobs, to his proposal to cut taxes for billionaires like himself at the expense of everyone else, Trump’s self-serving agenda is clear. America deserves better than Trump – a candidate who would rather line his own pockets than prioritize our economy, businesses, and workers.

Donald Trump’s trickle-down economic tax plan would include cutting taxes for billionaires like himself and his family, at the expense of everyone else.

Trump has doubled down on his promise to repeal the estate tax, which would give his own family as much as a $4 billion windfall. Just think about what we could do instead with that one $4 billion windfall alone, which is just for Donald Trump’s family, if we invested it in America.

Trump’s plan includes a massive loophole that gives many millionaires and billionaires like himself a backdoor tax cut, letting them pay less than half the current tax rate on a substantial portion of their income.

Trump claims his tax cuts would be paid for by economic growth – but they come at the expense of hardworking Americans.  Far from growing the economy, experts on both sides of the aisle predict that Trump’s plans would risk a recession.

Trump’s tax plan is a bait and switch – he claims he’ll protect middle class families, but what he actually does is give huge tax breaks to the rich while raising taxes on at least 8 million middle-class families.

Trump called his tax avoidance “smart.”  Trump’s tax avoidance is not smart – it means $0 for first responders, $0 for education, $0 for veterans and $0 for our military.

New York Times: “Trump declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns, a tax deduction so substantial it could have allowed him to legally avoid paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years.”

New York Times: “Donald J. Trump explicitly acknowledged for the first time during the first presidential debate that he used a $916 million loss that he reported on his 1995 income tax returns to avoid paying personal federal income taxes for years.” Trump’s business failures eventually led to multiple bankruptcies of his companies, which were devastating for his former employees and small contractors. Trump continued to earn millions.

Trump’s business failures eventually led to multiple bankruptcies of his companies, which were devastating for his former employees and small contractors. Trump continued to earn millions.

New York Times: “But even as his companies did poorly, Mr. Trump did well. He put up little of his own money, shifted personal debts to the casinos and collected millions of dollars in salary, bonuses and other payments. The burden of his failures fell on investors and others who had bet on his business acumen.”

Wall Street Journal: “An analysis by Temple University law professor Jonathan Lipson ranked Trump-branded casinos ‘the worst’ among their peers when it came to jobs over a 14-year period. Mr. Lipson, a bankruptcy scholar, found that Trump casinos shed some 7,400 jobs between 1997 and 2010. That works out, on average, to job losses per casino of 900—37% higher than at other Atlantic City gambling venues in the same period.”

No business person or contractor has proven too small for Trump to stiff, no single parent or retiree too in-need to escape the target of Trump University’s scams. The truth is that Donald Trump’s business antics have spelled disaster for countless working people and small businesses.

Trump has repeatedly refused to make good on his obligations to pay small businesses and contractors for work – from Marty Rosenberg, whose family business was paid hundreds of thousands less than it was owed for its work at Trump’s casino, to Andrew Tesoro, the architect of one of Trump’s golf course clubhouse who was told by Trump’s lawyers to accept pennies on the dollar or he’d be tied up in court for years.

Trump doesn’t buy American-made and his own products are outsourced.

The products that are branded with Trump’s name are outsourced from at least 12 countries. That doesn’t include the products used in his hotels and casinos, from bed linens made in Italy to furniture made in China.

Trump has used his campaign to promote and funnel money into his businesses.

Politico: “Trump’s Campaign Paid His Businesses $8.2 Million”

Politico: “Trump has used the campaign itself as a marketing platform to promote everything from the difficult-to-find Trump Steaks to his golf courses and a new Washington hotel. Trump’s tangle of businesses has raised concerns about the potential for conflicts of interest should he win the presidency, while the Trump-branded campaign has drawn mockery and allegations of pocket-padding from Trump’s critics.’”

Huffington Post: “Donald Trump used small donors’ money to buy nearly $300,000 worth of books from the publisher of his Art of the Deal last month, continuing a pattern of plowing campaign money back into his own businesses.”

@KatyTurNBC: “After this morning’s ribbon cutting, Trump will have held 32 events at Trump properties in 16 months of running for President”

Today, Trump is Washington, DC to open a new luxury hotel where he unsurprisingly used undocumented workers to make his project cheaper.  He even sued the District of Columbia in an attempt to pay lower taxes for the property.

Washington Post: “[A] Trump company may be relying on some undocumented workers to finish the $200 million hotel, which will sit five blocks from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue, according to several who work there.”

Politico: “The city of Washington, D.C., is fighting Donald Trump’s legal drive to cut his tax bills for the luxury hotel he’s set to open in the Old Post Office Building next month … Attorneys for the Republican presidential nominee and real estate mogul contend that the roughly $1.7 million annual tax bills for the development for 2015 and 2016 were too high.”

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.

Hillary Clinton Answers New York Times Readers’ Questions

The editorial board of The New York Times asked readers to select from a list of questions the one that they would most like both presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, to answer. The three questions that received the most votes were about climate change, income inequality, and gun violence. Read Clinton’s answers below, or click HERE to read both candidates’ answers.

1. It is widely accepted scientific fact that climate change is real and potentially catastrophic. What specific action will you take in the next four years?

Hillary Clinton: Climate change is real, and we have a moral obligation to leave our children and grandchildren a better planet. I believe we can fight climate change and create millions of good-paying jobs at the same time.

Some nation is going to be the clean energy superpower of the 21st century. It’s either going to be Germany, China or us, and I want to make sure that it’s us. And we can do it in a way that means no one gets left out or left behind.

I’ve laid out specific plans to modernize our electric grid with enough renewable energy to power every home in America within a decade, including 500 million solar panels by the end of my first term. I want to launch a Clean Energy Challenge to partner with cities, states, and rural communities that are ready to lead on clean energy, clean transportation, and energy efficiency, and help them go further.

We’ll invest in resilient infrastructure that will protect communities like those in North Carolina, Iowa, and Louisiana that have seen terrible floods just this year. We know that low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately affected by pollution and by extreme weather, and climate change is only going to make that worse. So I will make environmental and climate justice a priority, including eliminating lead as a major public health threat within five years.

We’re already less dependent on foreign oil than we have been in decades, but we can go further, reduce oil consumption by a third, and do more to power America with home-grown wind, solar, and advanced biofuels.

And I have a real plan to invest in creating jobs and building stronger economies in coal country. America’s coal communities have kept our lights on and our factories running for generations, and I won’t let them be left in the dark.

Finally, I believe the United States needs to continue to lead the global effort to combat climate change. I will fulfill the pledge President Obama made in the Paris Climate Agreement and seek to go further by cutting emissions up to 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. We need to implement the breakthrough we achieved just last week in the Montreal Protocol to phase down super-polluting HFCs and avoid as much as half a degree of warming.

Not only does America need to lead, we need to do more to work with our neighbors. We trade more energy with Canada and Mexico than with the rest of the world combined. That’s why I want to negotiate a North American Climate Compact to cut emissions and accelerate the clean energy transition across the continent.

I won’t let the climate deniers stand in the way of progress, or let us give in to the climate defeatists who say this challenge is too big to solve. We can and will take on climate change, build a clean energy economy, and leave our kids and grandkids a safe and healthy world—because there is no Planet B.

2. What would you do to reduce the extreme income inequality in this country?

Hillary Clinton: Too many hardworking Americans have the deck stacked against them. No one who works hard should have to raise their kids in poverty, or worry they won’t be able to retire with dignity.

But the majority of the income growth since the Great Recession has gone to people at the top. Working people haven’t gotten a raise in 15 years. Right now, the top one-tenth of one percent of Americans own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent combined. We haven’t seen this level of wealth inequality since right before the Great Depression.

We need an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. For starters, I’ll raise the federal minimum wage and guarantee equal pay for women. And we’ll promote profit-sharing—the workers who help make their companies profitable should be able to share in that success the way executives do.

We need to create more good jobs that pay enough to raise a family. So we’ll make the biggest investment in good jobs since World War II—jobs in infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, and clean energy. We need to make sure that jobs in home health care, child care, and other fields provide good pay and good benefits, and make it easier for workers to organize and bargain collectively in all industries. We need to do more to support small businesses that create so many new jobs. And we need to make it easier for people to be good employees and good parents by guaranteeing 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for every worker.

We also need to go after intergenerational poverty. Every child in America should be able to live up to his or her God-given potential, no matter who your parents are or what ZIP code you grew up in. That’s why I’m going to make pre-school universal for every four-year-old in America.

It’s also why we’re going to embrace approaches like South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn’s 10-20-30 plan, where 10 percent of federal investments are made in communities where 20 percent of the people have been living in poverty for the last 30 years. Let’s address the systemic problems that have kept too many in poverty for far too long.

Lastly, we need more fairness in our tax system. By closing the loopholes and requiring those at the top to pay their fair share in taxes, we can help cover the cost of vital investments that will create jobs and opportunity for middle-class families and help lift millions out of poverty. Around two-thirds of the burden of my tax plan falls on the highest earning 0.1 percent of taxpayers.

Here’s what we won’t do. We won’t raise taxes on people making less than $250,000. And we won’t spend trillions of dollars giving huge new tax breaks to the wealthy and big corporations. They’ve seen the gains in recent years—they should pay their fair share to make the investments that will grow the economy for everyone.

3. What would your administration do to reduce gun violence and mass shootings?

Hillary Clinton: We lose an average of 90 Americans every day because of guns. Since I launched my campaign for the presidency in April of 2015, that means more than 50,000 people have been killed by gun violence in America.

I’ve met some of their families, and countless others whose lives have been forever changed by gun violence. I’ve traveled the country with mothers like Lucy McBath, whose 17-year-old son Jordan was shot and killed for playing music. I’ve been inspired by advocates like Erica Smegielski, whose mother Dawn died trying to protect her students at Sandy Hook School. And I’ve prayed with residents in cities like Charleston, one of the many communities across our country that have been devastated by this epidemic.

For decades, people have said this issue was too hard to solve and the politics too hot to touch. But as I’ve listened to the stories in every corner of our country, one question has stayed at the front of my mind: How can we just stand by and do nothing?

That simple answer is: We can’t.

So here’s what I think we need to do. First, we need to expand background checks to include more gun sales, like those at gun shows and over the Internet. There’s no reason a domestic abuser should be able to go online and buy a gun with no questions asked. And we need to close other loopholes, like the so-called “Charleston Loophole” that allows dangerous people to buy guns without a background check if that check isn’t completed within three days.

Second, we need to hold the gun industry accountable, and end laws that shield them from liability when they break the law. We saw that just this month, when one of those laws was used to block the families of the Sandy Hook shooting from having their day in court.

Finally, we need to keep military-style weapons off our streets. They are a danger to law enforcement and to our communities.

By taking these common sense steps, we can keep our children safe and respect the Second Amendment. The vast majority of Americans support measures like these. So our challenge isn’t finding common ground. It’s getting politicians to listen to their constituents rather than the gun lobby.

For that to happen we need to say, loudly and clearly, that gun violence is an issue that matters. And we need to vote accordingly.

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 New York Times

HFA Release on Trump’s Policies

Leading up to tonight’s presidential debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, Hillary for America released a series of responses to Trump’s proposals on the economy, taxes, child care, maternity leave, foreign policy, health care, immigration, trade, and the Veterans Administration. A copy of the release is below.

In a prebuttal to the first presidential debate, Hillary for America released a review of Donald Trump’s few policy proposals from experts and journalists, who have judged them variously as incoherent, unrealistic, excessively costly, and devastating for working families – where he has even bothered to address the issues at all. Whether it’s a dangerous immigration plan based on mass-deportation and a “great and beautiful wall,” a half-baked child care plan that would leave millions of middle-class families to fend for themselves, tax and economic proposals to benefit the rich and explode the national debt while leaving middle-class families holding the bag, or a broader economic agenda that would plunge our country into recession and cost us millions of jobs — Trump’s policy proposals have been panned by experts and critics across the political spectrum.

ECONOMIC PLAN

Donald Trump’s economic playbook has only one trick: to get ahead and stiff others. From a decades-long pattern of scamming small businesses and outsourcing jobs, to a proposal to cut taxes for billionaires like himself and his family at the expense of everyone else, Trump’s self-serving strategy is clear. According to a former economic advisor to John McCain, Trump’s policies would destroy nearly 3.5 million jobs. In fact, economists and business leaders across the political spectrum agree that his economic plan would plunge our country back into recession.

Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics: The economy will be significantly weaker if Mr. Trump’s economic proposals are adopted:

“Quantifying Mr. Trump’s economic policies is complicated by their lack of specificity…Mr. Trump’s economic proposals will also result in larger federal government deficits and a heavier debt load…. the economy will be significantly weaker if Mr. Trump’s economic proposals are adopted…four basic conclusions regarding the impact of Mr. Trump’s economic proposals can be reached: 1) they will result in a less global U.S. economy; 2) they will lead to larger government deficits and more debt; 3) they will largely benefit very high-income households; and 4) they will result in a weaker U.S. economy, with fewer jobs and higher unemployment.”

WSJ: Economists Who’ve Advised Presidents Are No Fans of Donald Trump:

“Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump…garners no support from any of the White House economists who have advised U.S. presidents for the past half-century. The Wall Street Journal this month reached out to all 45 surviving former members of the White House Council of Economic Advisers under the past eight presidents, going back to Richard Nixon, to get their views on this year’s presidential election. Among 17 Republican appointees who responded to Journal inquiries, none said they supported Mr. Trump.

National Association of Business Economics: Business Economists Say Hillary Clinton Is Best for the Economy . . . About 14% picked Mr. Trump:

“A majority of business economists in a new survey said Hillary Clinton is the best choice to oversee the U.S. economy as president. Her Republican rival, Donald Trump, didn’t even come in second.”

Politico: Economists savage Trump’s economic agenda:

“…if Trump’s policies were enacted it would be some form of disaster for the economy. If you force 11 million undocumented immigrants to leave in a year, you would be looking at a depression. It would not help the people he is talking to, they would be the first to go down.”

Washington Post Editorial: Trump’s economic plan goes from worse to bad:

“[Trump’s] prescriptions have progressed from preposterous to merely intellectually dishonest; their foreseeable impact on the U.S. economy, from destabilizing to merely dangerous.”

U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Does a recession sound ‘great’ to you?:

“For those keeping track, under Trump’s trade plans, we would see higher prices, reduced spending power, fewer jobs, and a weaker economy, both here at home and abroad, according to the analysis. Of course, that’s the last thing our country and the global economy need right now.”

TAXES

Donald Trump has put out so many different tax plans during this campaign that we’re losing count. But his latest effort is more of the same: doubling down on tax cuts that benefit billionaires like himself and his family, while maintaining his Trump Loophole — the massive backdoor tax cut that would let the wealthy pay less than half the current tax rate on a significant portion of their income. He has also proposed a tax cut that would save his own family $4 billion (that is, if Trump is worth as much as he says he is) – while doing nothing for 99.8% of Americans. And even as Trump is exploding the debt by more than $5 trillion with tax cuts weighted towards millionaires and billionaires, his plan includes a bait-and-switch that would result in millions of middle-class families, including half of all single parents, paying higher taxes.

Washington Post: A new study says Trump would raise taxes for millions:

“More than half of America’s single parents and one-fifth of its families with children could see their federal income taxes go up under Republican Donald Trump’s revamped tax plan…”

TPM: Trump’s Economic Plan Runs Afoul Of Deficit Hawks By Ballooning The Debt:

“The organization of deficit hawks projected that Trump’s plans would increase the deficit by $5.3 trillion over a decade.”

Vox: Donald Trump’s “new” tax plan: a giveaway to the rich that he pretends helps the middle class:

“ Long story short: This is big money, going from very successful businesses to their wealthy shareholders, that Trump is proposing to tax at a much lower rate.

Fundamentally, Trump is still offering voters the same approach to taxes he’s been offering all campaign: massive cuts for corporations of all kinds, big rate cuts for top earners, and benefits supposedly aimed at the middle class that offer less than they initially appear to.”

NPR: Analysis: Trump Tax Plan Would Cost Trillions, Boost Incomes For The Rich:

“The right-leaning Tax Foundation released an analysis Monday that said Trump’s campaign would shrink federal revenues by as much as $5.9 trillion over 10 years…In that top 1 percent, the income growth is particularly high — 10.2 to 16 percent.”

Trump claims his irresponsible tax cuts for the wealthy would be paid for by economic growth – but, as we just made clear, his agenda plunges the economy back into recession.

CHILD CARE

Under Donald Trump’s child care plan, close to 80% of families might, at most, get only four cents on the dollar for child care costs—and millions of these families could very well get nothing or even face a tax increase under Trump’s overall plan. This, while Trump’s plan would provide around 40 cents on the dollar or more to taxpayers in the top bracket. It’s no surprise this regressive policy came from the man living in the penthouse of Trump Tower, who has relied on government his entire life to help pad his own pockets.

The Guardian: Trump’s child care plan is good for the rich. But what about the rest of us?:

“Trump’s plan completely fails to address the day-to-day realities of America’s working families, because it fails to address the underlying problem: it does nothing to make child care affordable. In the United States, the average cost of center-based child care for the typical working family with an infant and preschooler is about $18,000, a steep price for families to cover. If a family cannot afford child care, a tax deduction is irrelevant – a family can’t deduct something that they can’t pay for to begin with.”

Esquire: Why Donald Trump’s New Child-Care Plan Is a Joke:

“However, as reporter Jeremy Diamond clarified, the plan does not entail six weeks of full paid maternity leave. Instead, it offers six weeks of full unemployment benefits. Trump also announced a plan for parents to deduct child-care expenses from their income taxes, capped at the ‘average cost of care’ per state, and deductibles for stay-at-home parents.

All said, Trump’s plan is a big government idea very obviously meant to cater to female voters—and very obviously Ivanka’s brainchild.”

Salon: Trump’s child-care policy: A combination of the useless and the inadequate:

“As Trump hinted last month, the centerpiece of his plan is a provision letting parents deduct the costs of child care from their taxes. The problem here is that people who need the most help affording child care — poor and low-income families — frequently don’t have any federal income tax burden. If they’re already paying zero dollars in federal income tax, an extra deduction won’t do them any good; they’ll still be paying zero dollars.”

MATERNITY LEAVE

Trump’s “maternity leave” plan is demeaning and damaging–casting women as the sole caretaker for a child and undercutting women in the workplace. By only providing leave to married mothers who give birth, the plan tells us which parents Trump doesn’t believe count: single moms, women who can’t physically have a child, same-sex couples that use a surrogate, parents who adopt, and all fathers. It’s not only demeaning, it’s also harmful. Studies have shown that providing paid leave to new mothers, but not to new fathers, negatively affects women’s return to the workplace, can discourage employers from hiring or promoting female employees, and can increase the gender pay-gap.

Huffington Post: Trump’s Maternity Leave Plan Is His Biggest Insult To Women Yet:

“Let’s repeat that: Trump’s solution for struggling American families leaves out men. More than any other problem with the plan ― and there are lots ― omitting half the population is its profoundest and most revelatory flaw, confirming once again Trump’s antiquated, sexist and harmful worldview: Men work. Women do the child-raising. The end.”

Vox: Donald Trump’s plan to fund a paid family leave program is totally absurd:

“Since everything we know so far about Trump’s plan fits into two tweets, it’s hard to say for sure what he’s envisioning. But 88 percent of workers right now aren’t covered by family leave, so requiring businesses to pay for it on their own would be a very big burden. And if leave is really “guaranteed,” it’s going to require something more than a tax credit to make that happen.”

VICE: Donald Trump’s Maternity Leave Plan Is a Big Deal, Too Bad It Sucks:

“Another way Trump’s plan falls short of Clinton’s in scope is that it doesn’t do much for the poor. Most of the childcare benefits would come in the form of income tax breaks, which won’t benefit the poorest Americans, who don’t pay income taxes and would have to pony up for childcare up front.”

Washington Post: Why Trump’s maternity leave plan is unconstitutional:

“In sum, if Trump’s maternity leave plan were ever enacted into law, it would likely be struck down by the courts as unconstitutional. Trump has demonstrated utter contempt for constitutional rights and limitations on government power on a shockingly wide range of issues. His discriminatory maternity leave plan is another addition to a troubling list.”

Washington Post: Donald Trump’s new paid maternity leave plan might exclude single mothers: “The plan is discriminating against fathers, fathers and mothers who adopt, LGBT parents and apparently some set of unmarried parents,” said Carmel Martin, executive vice president for policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.”

FOREIGN POLICY

Donald Trump hasn’t said much in terms of real plans to keep our country safe. But foreign policy experts agree, the ideas Trump has mentioned are dangerous, reckless, and wrongheaded. Yet Trump continues to spew fact-free rhetoric about global issues that would make us less secure, including consistent claims that he has a “secret” plan to defeat ISIS, threats to break up NATO along with accusations that NATO countries are “ripping off the United States”, and reckless comments on nuclear weapon.

Washington Post: It’s almost like Donald Trump’s secret plan to defeat ISIS never actually existed: “But on the list of things on which Trump have over-promised and under-delivered, this surely ranks toward the top. He promised he had a “foolproof” way of ending a foreign policy challenge of massive consequence, and now he’s punting to the generals.”

Time: Why ISIS Supports Donald Trump:

“The bottom line is this: Trump’s erratic and belligerent slogans are no substitute for policies based on facts and sound judgment.”

PoliticsUSA: The Reviews Are In: Trump ISIS Speech Was Full Of Lies And Gibberish That Made No Sense:

“The consensus among non-partisan observers is that the speech that Donald Trump gave about ISIS was so full of lies, inconsistencies, and gibberish that it made no sense.”

New York Times: Donald Trump Says NATO is ‘Obsolete,’ UN is ‘Political Game’

“President Obama on Friday rebuked Mr. Trump for his comments, saying he worried the real estate billionaire “doesn’t know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world generally.”

CNN: The danger of Trump’s NATO comments

“The bottom line is this: Trump’s erratic and belligerent slogans are no substitute for policies based on facts and sound judgment.”

CNN: Japan and South Korea hit back at Trump’s nuclear comments

“Howls of inaccuracy came from the South Korean Foreign Ministry, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, and even the White House.  Ambassador Mark Lippert said Seoul pays for 55% of all non-personnel costs. And former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill was more succinct. He told CNN, “I don’t know what he’s talking about but clearly neither does he.”

Business Insider: ‘Total catastrophe’: Experts say Donald Trump’s position on nuclear proliferation would be a disaster

“ But experts from two nonpartisan organizations opposed to the spread of nuclear weapons told Business Insider his position would be dangerous. Jeffrey Lewis, the director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said Japan building nuclear weapons would be a “total catastrophe for Japan and US nuclear power programs.”

The Atlantic: With His Finger on the Trigger: The insane risks of Donald Trump’s stance on nuclear weapons:

“Stephen Walt, a prominent realist scholar, has written, “realists prefer to ‘speak softly and carry a big stick;’ Trump’s modus operandi consists of waving the big stick while running a big mouth.” His loose talk during the campaign has already damaged America’s alliances. And on the central question of nuclear weapons, he has clearly exposed himself to be weak-kneed in his acceptance of international proliferation.”

HEALTHCARE

Donald Trump has promised that he would immediately work to repeal Obamacare, taking health insurance away from 20 million people – and letting the insurance companies write the rules all over again. Trump’s suggested healthcare plan would cost hundreds of billions more, would nearly double the uninsured rate and does not address people with pre-existing conditions. Americans cannot afford that.

Newsmax‎: Trump’s Healthcare Plan Could Cost 25 Million Americans Their Coverage:

“Commonwealth Fund, a nonpartisan foundation that studies healthcare, released a study on Friday analyzing the two candidate’s plans. If Trump becomes president, up to 25 million people could lose their coverage, most of them low-income and already in poor health. Under Clinton, 9.6 million more people could gain access to healthcare.”

Chicago Tribune: Study finds 20M would lose health coverage under Trump plan:

“A new study that examines some major health care proposals from the presidential candidates finds that Donald Trump would cause about 20 million to lose coverage while Hillary Clinton would provide coverage for an additional 9 million people.”

CNBC: Obamacare repeal would lead to 24 million more people without health insurance:

“If the next president and Congress repeal Obamacare — as many Republican elected officials want to do — there could end up being more people without health insurance than before the law went into effect, a new study says. A total of 24 million more people would lose health coverage by 2021 if the Affordable Care Act was repealed, according to the study issued Monday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute.”

IMMIGRATION

Donald Trump’s immigration plan remains the same as it’s always been: Send a deportation force into American communities to tear apart families and deport 16 million people from the United States—including every undocumented immigrant and American citizens born here to undocumented parents. Experts say Trump’s immigration policies would be detrimental to the economy. Oh, and he wants to ban all Muslims from entering the United States and falsely claims Mexico will pay for his giant concrete wall.

David Leopold: Deconstructing Donald Trump’s horrifying 10-step assault on immigration, due process and other cherished American values: “Rhetorical gymnastics aside, what’s crystal clear after Wednesday’s immigration speech is that Donald Trump’s ugly vision of America would rip American families apart, devastate communities, wreak havoc on our economy, and threaten our security at home and abroad.”

The Daily Pennsylvanian: Trump’s immigration plan would cost 4 million jobs, according to Wharton model:

“If Trump were to deport 10 percent of undocumented workers per year during two terms in office, based on the limitations of the model, the U.S. would have about 156 million jobs in 2030, compared to the 160 million jobs that the country would have with the its current immigration policies.”

Washington Post: Donald Trump’s “Humane” 1950s Model for Deportation, ‘Operation Wetback,’ Was Anything But:   “

Like usual, [Trump] doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Rodolfo Acuña, professor emeritus of Chicano Studies at California State University, Northridge, told The Huffington Post … Brownell said, ‘Just give them some live ammo, let them shoot a few people. Then everyone will be scared and they won’t come across the border,” he said. “Really humane.”

CityLab: The Price of Mass Deportation; Trump wants to deport 11 million immigrants. Here are the likely economic consequences of that:

California could lose $100 billion of its GDP, annually. Texas could lose $60 billion. New Jersey, $25 billion. All but 5 U.S. states would see at least 1 percent of their GDP disappear each year. The resulting nationwide losses would build up to about $4.7 trillion in ten years.

TRADE

Donald Trump may talk tough on trade, but his own record of outsourcing contradicts his message: Trump clothing in Mexico, Trump ties in China, Trump shirts in Bangladesh, Trump furniture in Turkey and Germany, Trump mirrors in India, Trump barware in Slovenia. Trump even used to defend outsourcing, saying it created jobs in the long run. Meanwhile, Trump’s statements on trade have been either erratic and irresponsible, full of lies, or (occasionally) taken straight from Hillary’s fact sheets and onto his teleprompter.

Throughout this campaign, Trump’s statements on trade have been erratic and irresponsible — full of bluster, empty promises, and recklessness that would put American jobs at risk. Trump repeatedly rejects the idea that Americans can compete and win in the global economy and does not offer a concrete plan to actually create good-paying jobs here in America.

New York Times: Why a President Trump Could Start a Trade War With Surprising Ease :

“Mr. Trump is proposing a reordering of the global economic system that would fundamentally reshape the structure of American industry. He could start a trade war that would threaten not only American exporters who need access to foreign markets, but also any business that relies on commodities or products made overseas.”

Vox: Study: Donald Trump’s trade policies could cost 4 million jobs:

“The study, from the Peterson Institute for International Economics, attempted to quantify the impact of Trump’s proposed trade policies. Its conclusion: If a President Trump did what Candidate Trump promised, the US economy would lose more than 4 million jobs and fall into a recession.”

The Daily Beast: Donald Trump’s Trade Talk Is Garbage—Literally:

“Two powerful groups, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Chamber of Commerce, moved swiftly to condemn Trump’s [trade policy] speech. Both groups often align themselves with pro-business GOP policy makers, and it is especially unusual for them to take on the Republican presidential nominee so directly.”

CNBC: Trump’s trade policies would send US into recession, study says:

“The study released on Monday by researchers at the non-partisan Peterson Institute for International Economics illustrates how, even as the New York businessman pledges to boost growth and create millions of jobs, most mainstream economists view his economic policies as dangerous quackery.”

VETERANS ADMINISTRATION

The policy reforms Donald Trump has proposed would put us on a path toward the wholesale privatization of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Moving towards privatization as Trump’s plan does would gut the VA of the resources needed to provide high-quality, coordinated care. Fully privatizing the VA – the likely result of Trump’s proposals – is not a fix at all; it’s an ideological crusade that will only compound the problem. It would deprive our veterans of access to the specialized care they require and deserve and leave them at the mercy of a private healthcare market that’s ill-suited to handle their needs. And on top of it, Trump has proposed slashing funding for veterans’ health care by 29% within 10 years.

CBPP: Trump’s plans would cut veterans medical care by 29%:

“To help pay for his tax cut plan, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is proposing to cut total funding for non-defense programs funded through the annual appropriations process by 1 percent below the previous year’s total each year. While this may sound modest, the cumulative cut would be very substantial.  By the tenth year (2026), non-defense appropriations would be about 29 percent below current levels, after accounting for inflation.”

MSNBC: Donald Trump Is Serious About Privatizing Veterans’ Care:

“And what about the rest of Trump’s “10-point plan”? The entire list is online, but it’s woefully thin. It’s really just a series of shallow slogans that mean very little, including the first point: Trump intends to appoint a VA Secretary “whose sole purpose will be to serve veterans.”

NPR: Is Donald Trump Proposing Privatizing The VA?:

“The other issue with Trump’s broad proposal is the price tag. According to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Trump’s plan to reimburse vets for visits to any doctor they like would cost half a trillion dollars over 10 years.”

POLL: 64% of veterans oppose privatization — with 54% of them strongly opposing it — while only 29% support it.

NO POLICY

Donald Trump has run a campaign devoid of detailed plans – instead it’s been full of bluster, empty words, demagogic rhetoric. He has no real plans to improve the lives of the American people or make this country any better or safer.

National Journal: Trump Policy Shop Still Filling in Blanks:

“As debate looms, GOP nominee’s campaign can’t give clear answers to many basic policy questions.”

AP FACT CHECK: Trump says Clinton lacks policies. Seriously?

“THE FACTS: By any measure, Clinton has released far more specific plans on far more topics than her GOP rival. Trump’s website currently lays out eight policy positions, including spelling out his “economic vision,” his plans for child care and immigration reform and his plan to “pay for the wall.” Clinton’s offers position on 38 issues for potential voters to read.”

LA Times: Clinton has enough policy to fill a book, while Trump has said little about how he’d govern

“To only has Trump offered no plan to tackle mental healthcare, he’s presented the barest of outlines for most of his governing agenda, even as he now accuses Clinton of “running a policy-free campaign,” as he claimed at recent rally in Iowa. Trump’s vague tax, healthcare and national security proposals have baffled experts on both sides of the political aisle who have struggled to make sense of what Trump is offering. Even Trump’s immigration policy, perhaps the signature issue of his campaign, has proved difficult to decipher.”

Politico: Trump’s One Unbreakable Policy: Skip The Details

“He has boasted that his main policy adviser is himself and the advisers he does have say he doesn’t read briefing papers. He has mocked Hillary Clinton for surrounding herself with “eggheads” and churning out reams of wonky government reform proposals. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who will be speaking on Trump’s behalf at this week’s Republican convention in Cleveland, recently said “it’s pretty obvious he doesn’t know a lot about the issues.”

TIME: In an interview Trump admits he isn’t worried about creating policy as they are “a waste of paper”

“He [Trump] even mocks her focus on putting out so many policy proposals, a longtime tradition for major party nominees. “She’s got people that sit in cubicles writing policy all day. Nothing’s ever going to happen. It’s just a waste of paper.” (The Clinton campaign counts that paper as a point of pride: 73,645 words of policy and counting.)”

NPR: Donald Trump’s Policy Positions Lack Specifics … So Far

“Asked Tuesday morning by Savannah Guthrie on NBC’s Today show about his lack of specific proposals, Trump didn’t answer the question and simply pointed to the record ratings he drew for Fox News.”

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.

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

Vice President Biden Campaigns for Clinton/Kaine in Ohio

On Thursday, Vice President spoke at two campaign events in Ohio in support of Hillary Clinton. At the first event in Warren, Biden spoke to a crowd of supporters at the United Auto Workers Local 1714 hall. Biden, like Clinton, included local references in his speech. He spoke about the importance of the automakers in Ohio and their successful turnaround following the recession in 2008 and 2009. He then spoke about a number of topics including Clinton’s record as a public servant and her dedication to the country, her plans for the economy and building jobs, and his ties to Ohio. Biden then went after Donald Trump for being ignorant of foreign affairs saying, “He is totally, thoroughly, completely uninformed.” A video from the event is below.

Biden then spoke at a rally outside of Cleveland in Parma. During his speech, the Vice President continued to go after Trump, but he focused more of his time on Clinton’s experience and his middle class roots. He told stories about his father’s job and his family’s money problems saying that his father couldn’t qualify for a loan to help him pay for college. When it comes to the struggles of the middle class, Biden said, “Hillary gets it, man. Trump has no idea. He has no idea.” A video from the event is below.

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: Cleveland.com, The Columbus Dispatch

Tim Kaine Hits Campaign Trail in Richmond

In his home state of Virginia, Tim Kaine kicked off on his first solo campaign event since being announced as Hillary Clinton’s running mate. He spent the day in Richmond where he started the day by visiting Hillary for America volunteers. Then, he held a rally in the city this afternoon. During his speech, he spoke about a number of Clinton’s plans including her proposals for education, infrastructure, and her jobs plan. Kaine contrasted the economic plans proposed by Clinton and Donald Trump saying that, according to study by Moody’s, Trump’s plan would lead to recession while Clinton’s would stimulate and grow the economy. Kaine called Clinton a leader and spoke about her experience and knowledge on a number of domestic and foreign policy issues. Watch a video of Kaine’s speech below.

Meanwhile, in Boulder, Colorado, a dinner and conversation was held with Governor John Hickenlooper and Kimbal Musk. The dinner featured foot prepared by Chef Biju Thomas, and the topic of conversation included farming and food sourcing.

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

News Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch, WUSA9

Hillary Clinton Delivers Economic Speech in Ohio

On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton delivered a speech on the economy in Columbus, Ohio during which she spoke about her economic policies saying that the economy “isn’t yet where we want it to be, but we are stronger and better positioned than anyone in the world.” She spoke about her plans to create new jobs and go after dangerous Wall Street practices. The main focus of her speech, however, was Republican Donald Trump and the danger of a Trump presidency for the economy. She attacked Trump for his divisive rhetoric, and she focused on his economic policies and business background. She pointed to several poor business decisions and failures as evidence that Trump’s poor judgement. She also spoke about how economists predict a recession if Trumps economic proposals are enacted. She wrapped up by saying that we are stronger together saying that Trump “believes in the worst of us.” A full video of Clinton speech is below.

The Clinton campaign also released a new website targeting Trump and his business history. The site is laid out like a magazine and is called “Art of the Steal.” The site, artofthesteal.biz, is available now and features a number of articles outlining how Trump’s policies would destroy the economy. A number of Trumps failed business ventures are outlined to illustrate his questionable judgement and his self-professed business skills. Feel free to visit the site at the link above, and Sign Up for updates.

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

News Source: The New York Times, The Columbus Dispatch, Vox

Clinton Unveils Wall Street Plan

MANCHESTER, NH – SEPTEMBER 19: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton raises her arms stands on stage during the New Hampshire Democratic Party Convention at the Verizon Wireless Center on September 19, 2015 in Manchester, New Hampshire. (Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

On Thursday, Hillary Rodham Clinton unveiled her plan to regulate Wall Street and protect Americans. In an op-ed on Bloomberg she explained her plan and her reasoning for a number of its points. She then released details of the plan on The Briefing. The plan is very detailed and it would be impossible to insert the entire plan into this post. We have summarized the main points below:

• Defend and preserve Dodd-Frank
  • Veto any legislation that attempts to weaken the law
  • Fight Republican attempts to repeal it
• Reduce dangerous risks in the financial system
  • Impose a “risk fee” on the liabilities with of banks with more than $50 billion in assets
  • Reorganize, downsize, or break apart firms that are too large and too risky
  • Increase oversight of the “shadow banking” system to reduce risk
  • Introduce high-frequency trading tax for the stock markets
  • Impose compensation rules on senior management of banking institutions that suffer losses that threaten its financial health
  • Strengthen the Vlocker Rule (which prohibits banks from making risky or speculative trading bets with taxpayer-backed money)
  • Increase transparency in the banking system
  • Introduce international cooperation to curb excessive risk-taking
  • Increase the financial system’s security against cyber attacks
• Hold individuals and corporations responsible when they break the law or put the system at risk
  • Ensure individual accountability when prosecuting wrongdoing
  • Ensure that fines affect the bonuses of executives, supervisors, and employees with misconduct takes place on their watch
  • Prohibit individuals in financial services from working in the industry after being convicted of egregious crimes
  • Extend the statute of limitations for financial fraud
  • Strongly prosecute insider traders
  • Create guidelines for that ensure transparency and accountability
  • Require that corporations admit to wrongdoing as a condition of settlement agreements
  • Increase transparency of corporate settlements
  • Restrict SEC waivers for repeat offenders
  • Give prosecutors the resources to punish law-breakers
  • Strengthen the SEC and CFTC
  • Increase maximum penalties for SEC and CFTC actions
  • Reward whistleblowers for bringing illegal activities to attention of authorities
• Ensure that the financial systems serves investors and consumers, not just itself
  • Make sure that Wall Street helps Main Street grow and prosper
  • Protect all Americans from unfair and deceptive practices that put their earned income at risk

Clinton’s plan protects hard working Americans while ensuring that those who threaten the economy and financial system as a whole are held accountable. You can read the plan in full on The Briefing and read her op-ed on Bloomberg. She summed up her plan saying, “The bottom line is that we can never allow what happened in 2008 to happen again. Just as important, we have to encourage Wall Street to live up to its proper role in our economy — helping Main Street grow and prosper. With strong rules of the road and smart incentives, the financial industry can help more young families buy that first home, make it possible for entrepreneurs to create new small businesses and support hardworking Americans saving for retirement. My plan will help us unlock that potential. We’ll create good-paying jobs, raise incomes and help families afford a middle-class life, with less speculation and more growth — growth that’s strong, fair and long-term. That’s what I’m fighting for in my campaign, and that’s what I’ll do as president.”

Tonight, Clinton will present an award during the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Gala, and she will attend a private fundraiser in Washington, DC. For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

News Source: Bloomberg, The Briefing, The New York Times, Business Insider