Clinton Endorsed by Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly

Yesterday, Hillary Clinton received the endorsement of Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly for her plans to increase gun control and gun safety. In an op-ed published on Medium, Giffords and Kelly praised Clinton for her “common sense” plan to reign in gun violence and hold gun manufacturers accountable. Giffords and Kelly founded Americans for Responsible Solutions in an effort to lobby Congress to enact common sense gun regulations. The full text of their op-ed is below:

Why Mark & I Are Supporting Hillary Clinton for President

To Mark and me, our principles are what have always mattered most.
As a Navy fighter pilot, NASA astronaut, and registered Independent, Mark never spent much time caring about the ‘who’s up, who’s down’ of partisan politics.

A registered Republican when I was younger, I was always committed to Southern Arizona values: independence, freedom, and common sense.

When the Republican party began to veer away from its core values, I ran for office as a proud Democrat. When I served my community in the Arizona legislature and later in Congress, I joined other like-minded Democrats and Republicans to work for energy independence, military readiness, a better life for our military families and returning soldiers, a woman’s right to have freedom over her own health choices, and a more secure border.

Today, during our second chance at service, Mark and I continue to fight for what we’ve always fought for: independence, freedom, and common sense. That’s why we’re fighting for a Congress and White House that stand up to the corporate gun lobby’s intimidation and bullying. And that’s why, today, we are endorsing Hillary Clinton for president.

For far too long, the gun lobby has had a stranglehold on Washington. Members of Congress and even some of our presidents have been intimidated into inaction. Bipartisan action has been blocked. Loopholes in our laws that let dangerous people get guns have been fiercely protected. Lies have been spread, fears have been stoked, and a dangerous, unacceptable status quo has been furthered all while gun sales have skyrocketed.”

Throughout all of this, the corporate gun lobby has moved further and further away from the gun owners they claim to represent.
Most of the people running for president talk a lot about how tough they are. But most of them have shown they aren’t tough enough to stand up to the gun lobbyists.

Take it from me: Talk is cheap.

In fact, a lot of the people running for president seem downright terrified to even have a rational conversation about the problem of gun violence in America. We’ve listened closely to all of them, and we’ve looked at all of their records.

Only one candidate for president has the determination and toughness to stand up to the corporate gun lobby — and the record to prove it. That candidate is Hillary Clinton.

Time and time again, Hillary has done and said what is right, not what is politically expedient. That’s why Mark and I are supporting her for President of the United States.

As a United States Senator, Hillary voted for laws that keep guns out of the wrong hands and make our communities safer places to live. She voted against protecting gun manufacturers at all costs and insisted on putting the safety of our communities over manufacturers’ bottom lines. And we believe that as president she will continue working to respect the rights of law-abiding gun owners like us while working to achieve practical solutions like a reliable background check system that prevents dangerous people from getting guns, closing loopholes to protect women and families by keeping guns out of the hands of abusers and stalkers, and cracking down on the illegal gun trade.

Hillary and I share a proud tradition of women leading on issues that impact all Americans and getting things done. We have taken on tough races, relied on other strong women to have our backs — and we have never, ever shied away from a tough fight or a tough vote.

Today, Mark and I are proud to have Hillary’s back, and to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her to, once and for all, break the stranglehold the corporate gun lobby has had on American politics — and American families — for too long.

Speaking is still physically difficult for me. I do hours and hours of speech therapy. And in January, I hope to call my friend Hillary ‘Madam President.’

Today, Clinton responded to the endorsement with the following statement:

“As an admirer of their courage in the face of incredible odds, their service to the country that they love, and their commitment to ending the epidemic of gun violence, I am humbled to receive the endorsement of these American heroes.

“Gabby and Mark know too well what is at stake in this debate and in this election. Three Americans die every hour we don’t act. 90 die every day. 33,000 die every year. We cannot accept this as normal. Gabby and Mark certainly do not. Since being shot and partially paralyzed five year ago, Gabby has worked tirelessly for progress—founding Americans for Responsible Solutions, traveling across the country to tell her story and promote commonsense gun safety laws, launching a bipartisan coalition in New Hampshire to prevent gun violence, and fighting in support of President Obama’s recent executive actions. Through it all, Mark has been by her side—as her partner, her champion, and her biggest fan. I am honored to join them in their fight for common sense gun reform.

“As President Obama said last week, we must hold our leaders accountable for continuing to put the interests of the gun lobby ahead of the safety of American families. And that starts with electing a president. We need a president who would never vote against common sense background checks. We need a president who will hold gun makers and sellers accountable, not provide them with sweeping immunity from lawsuits. We need a president who will keep guns out of the hands of dangerous felons, not create loopholes that allow shooters like the one in Charleston to buy guns. We owe that to the countless families who have lost loved ones. We owe that to all America’s children. We owe that to Gabby and Mark.”

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

News Source: Medium, The Briefing

Clinton Unveils Plan to Support those Living with Autism

At an event held today in Sioux City, Iowa, Hillary Clinton outlined her plan to to help families who face Autism on a daily basis. The sweeping plan includes increasing screening, improving treatments, creating partnerships for employment opportunities, and committing additional research funding to better understand Autism. During the town hall, Clinton introduced her plan, then took questions from those in attendance. In addition to discussing her plan at the event in Sioux City, Clinton also released additional details on The Briefing. An outline of her plan is below.

• Screening and Awareness
  • Boost early screening rates with a nationwide outreach campaign
  • Promote multi-sector awareness campaign
• Autism Treatment and Insurance Coverage
  • Improve access to autism services in the ACA marketplace and through private health insurance
  • Increase state compliance with Medicaid coverage requirements for children with autism and other developmental disabilities and create an autism-service-access scorecard that makes state Medicaid compliance publicly accessible
  • Work with the Department of Defense to ensure military families have full access to autism services through TRICARE
• Safety and Services for Children and Youth
  • Enact the Keeping All Students Safe Act
  • Protect children with autism from bullying in their classrooms
• Community Supports and Services for Individuals Transitioning into Adulthood
  • Launch a new Autism Works Initiative consisting of a post-graduation transition plan for every student with autism aging out of school-based services and a public-private partnership with employers
  • Combine the Autism Works Initiative with new legislation to fund employment demonstration grants for individuals with autism and other disabilities
  • Increase housing opportunities for autistic youth and adults
• Caregiving
  • Encourage all states to enact ABLE legislation and ensure consumer protection for ABLE account beneficiaries
  • Provide new support to caregivers
• Research
  • Significantly increase funding so that the government can invest more in autism research
  • Call for the first-ever adult autism prevalence and needs study
• Enforcement
  • Ensure states meet their obligations under IDEA’s Child Find Program to identify, screen, and refer children with disabilities for services
  • Ensure access to assistive technologies
  • Enforce mental health parity protections
  • Continue vigorous enforcement of Olmstead
  • Dedicate new funding to autism protection and advocacy

A video from the event is below.

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

News Source: The Briefing, Time

Clinton Unveils Energy Plan

Yesterday, Hillary Rodham Clinton unveiled her energy plan after coming out against the Keystone XL Pipeline earlier this week. In a blog post on Medium, Clinton announced her plan to make the United States “the clean energy superpower of the 21st century”. Her plan calls for a series of infrastructure improvements including repairing and replacing outdated oil and gas lines, increase safety of railroad transpiration, and enhancing the security of the current energy grid. She is also calling for new resources including a National Infrastructure Bank, grants, accelerated federal investment, and innovation. She is also proposing the creation of a North American Climate Compact to encourage the US, Canada, and Mexico to work together to reduce their impact on the environment and combat climate change. Full details of Clinton’s plan can be viewed on The Briefing.

In her blog post, Clinton outlined this and explained why she opposes the building of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Her full post is below:

When I was secretary of state, the department began reviewing an application to build a pipeline that would bring Canadian oil sands crude across the border, run more than a thousand miles through the American heartland, and terminate in Nebraska — Keystone XL.

As the secretary who initiated the review, I refrained from commenting on the pipeline after I left the federal government. I didn’t want to get ahead of President Obama while the process was still underway — because the decision was and is his to make.

Since the application was filed, the effects of climate change have grown more acute. More than 8 million acres have burned in the United States so far this wildfire season. California is in the fourth year of a historic drought scientists say has been made worse by climate change. More severe storms and extreme heat waves have wreaked havoc around the world.

I have come to feel I can’t stay silent on an issue that matters so much to so many. Though I wanted to give the president space to make a decision, the process has taken far longer than I expected. I want the American people to know where I stand. That’s why I am making it clear:

I am opposed to the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

We shouldn’t be building a pipeline dedicated to moving North America’s dirtiest fuel through our communities — we should be focused on what it will take to make America the clean energy superpower of the 21st century. For too long, the Keystone XL pipeline has been a distraction from the real challenges facing our energy sector — and the job-creating investments that we should be making to meet them. Building a clean, secure, and affordable North American energy future is bigger than Keystone XL or any other single project. That’s what I will focus on as president.

That’s why today I am announcing a comprehensive strategy to modernize American energy infrastructure and forge a new partnership with Canada and Mexico to combat climate change across the continent, unleashing billions in investment, delivering reliable and affordable energy, protecting the health of our families and communities, and creating good-paying jobs and careers.

The United States trades as much energy with Canada and Mexico each year as with all other countries combined, through a deeply integrated pipeline network, rail system, and electrical grid. As President, I will immediately launch negotiations with Canada and Mexico to forge a North American Climate Compact that sets strong national targets to cut carbon pollution, so all three countries demonstrate a commitment to climate action; provides accountability measures, so each country has confidence that the others are living up to their end of the bargain; and creates certainty for investors and confidence in the future of our climate, so we can all marshal resources equal to the challenges we face.

In recent years, American communities have endured toxic pipeline spills and rail car explosions. We have yet to harness new technologies that reduce costs and increase consumer choice or to sufficiently protect the grid against the growing threat of cyber-attack. Even as states and the Obama administration have worked to accelerate clean energy deployment, we need to do more. Simply put, our infrastructure has not kept pace with the changing energy sector.

To help unleash the investment we need, I will create a national infrastructure bank that leverages public and private capital, and work with Congress to close corporate tax loopholes and increase transportation funding to cut commute times, oil consumption, and pollution. Along with my Clean Energy Challenge to boost low-carbon electricity, improve building efficiency, and make our cars and trucks cheaper to fuel and cleaner to operate, these steps will create jobs and opportunity across the country.

Our more than 2 million miles of oil and natural gas pipes are in disrepair, resulting in oil spills, chronic methane leaks, and even devastating explosions. I will strengthen national pipeline safety regulations and partner with pipeline operators, local regulators, and technology providers in repairing and replacing thousands of miles of the country’s oldest pipes.

Over the past five years, a 20-fold increase in the amount of oil shipped by rail has led to devastating accidents. My plan speeds up the retirement of the oldest and riskiest train cars, repairs track defects, and guarantees first responders and the public have better information about oil and hazardous materials passing through their communities.

We must also invest in grid security and resilience. My plan creates a new threat assessment team to improve coordination and protect our grid from cyberattack, and strengthens the grid to reliably and affordably meet both base load and peak demand.

American energy policy is about more than a single pipeline to transport Canada’s dirtiest fuel across our country. It’s about building our future — a future where the United States will once again lead the world by constructing state-of-the-art infrastructure, creating new jobs and new markets, accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy, and improving the health, safety, and security of all Americans.

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News Source: The Guardian, Medium