Chelsea Clinton returned to Michigan on Saturday where she spoke for about half an hour about the importance of voting in Muskegon. Chelsea spoke about a number of Hillary Clinton’s platform points including her plans to create new jobs, invest in manufacturing, and make college more affordable. She then took questions from the audience and was asked about a variety of topics including her reaction to the Black Lives Matter movement. Chelsea said that her mother has plans to reform the criminal justice system including updating the three strikes rule and minimum sentencing. “If we only focus on criminal justice reform, we’re not doing enough,” she said. A video from the event will be added when/if available.
In Battle Creek, Chelsea spoke about Hillary’s dedication to ensuring equality in the United States. She said that her mother has plans to protect the rights of women, workers, minorities, and the LGBTQ community. At both events, Chelsea urged everyone to vote on November 8th saying that the stakes of this election are very high for everyone in America interested in seeing the progress of the last eight years continued. She asked voters to head to the polls on election day or to take advantage of early voting. A partial video of the event is below.
Yesterday, Hillary Rodham Clinton launched African Americans for Hillary at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition, Clinton spoke at Clark Atlanta University where she was introduced by Rev. Jesse Jackson. Clinton spoke briefly at the event, but she hinted at her plans for criminal justice reform, something that she is going to be rolling out in the coming days. Clinton voiced her support for legislation that would ban racial profiling and would push to eliminate the distinction between crack and power cocaine in drug sentencing. She also voiced her support for “banning the box” on job applications indicating that someone has been convicted of a crime. She believes that criminal history is something that should be discussed further in the application and background check process. Clinton said, “We have to take on the continuing abuses where oppression is more prevalent than opportunity. We have to create those channels of opportunity so that we go from childhood to adulthood pursuing your dreams, instead of cradle to prison and seeing them die.” A video from the event at Clark Atlanta University is below.
Clinton then traveled to Charleston, South Carolina where she was the keynote speaker at the NAACP’s 98th Annual Freedom Fund Banquet. Clinton began her speech by thanking Mayor Joe Riley for his service as Charleston’s Mayor and his leadership following the shooting at Mother Emanuel Church. Clinton vowed to work with the NAACP to prevent racial profiling in South Carolina and across the United States. She pledged to work with Democrats and Republicans to pass meaningful criminal justice reform. She said, “Charleston has been through a lot. This state has been through a lot…The murder of the nine innocents at bible study; it renewed the call to do something about the senseless gun violence that stalks this county… Every American should be safe at school, or at the movies, or at church.” A video of Clinton’s full speech is below.
Today, Clinton is scheduled to will remain in South Carolina. For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during a campaign stop at River Valley Community College Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015, in Claremont, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)
Yesterday, Hillary Rodham Clinton penned an op-ed in the New Hampshire Union Leader where she outlined her plans to combat the growing substance abuse issue in the United States. An estimated 23 million Americans suffer from addiction. The long-term plan calls for reforming prison and sentencing laws, bolstering community based support programs, and expanding mental health coverage so that it covers long term care. The plan is estimated to cost $7.5 billion over ten years. The full op-ed is below:
Another View – Hillary Clinton: How we can win the fight against substance abuse By HILLARY CLINTON
ON MY first trip to New Hampshire this spring, a retired doctor spoke up. I had just announced I was running for President, and I had traveled to Iowa and New Hampshire to hear from voters about their concerns, their hopes and their vision for the future. He said his biggest worry was the rising tide of heroin addiction in the state, following a wave of prescription drug abuse.
To be candid, I didn’t expect what came next. In state after state, this issue came up again and again — from so many people, from all walks of life, in small towns and big cities.
In Iowa, from Davenport to Council Bluffs, people talked about meth and prescription drugs. In South Carolina, a lawyer spoke movingly about the holes in the community left by generations of African American men imprisoned for nonviolent drug offenses, rather than getting the treatment they needed.
These stories shine light on some harrowing statistics. Twenty-three million Americans suffer from addiction, but only 1 in 10 get treatment. Fifty-two million Americans over 12 have misused prescription drugs at some point, including one in four teenagers. In 2013, more Americans died from overdoses than car crashes.
This is not new. We’re not just now “discovering” this problem. But we should be saying enough is enough. It’s time we recognize as a nation that for too long, we have had a quiet epidemic on our hands. Plain and simple, drug and alcohol addiction is a disease, not a moral failing — and we must treat it as such.
It’s time we recognize that there are gaps in our health care system that allow too many to go without care — and invest in treatment. It’s time we recognize that our state and federal prisons, where 65 percent of inmates meet medical criteria for substance use disorders, are no substitute for proper treatment — and reform our criminal justice system.
Today I’m releasing a strategy to confront the drug and alcohol addiction crisis. My plan sets five goals: empower communities to prevent drug use among teenagers; ensure every person suffering from addiction can obtain comprehensive treatment; ensure that all first responders carry naloxone, which can stop overdoses from becoming fatal; require health care providers to receive training in recognizing substance use disorders and to consult a prescription drug monitoring program before prescribing controlled substances; and prioritize treatment over prison for low-level and nonviolent drug offenders, so we can end the era of mass incarceration.
Achieving these goals won’t be easy. It will take commitment from all corners — law enforcement, doctors, insurance companies and government at every level. That’s why my plan starts by partnering with states and communities across America to meet these goals and substantially expand access to treatment. We’ll ask states to design ambitious plans using the programs that make most sense for their communities’ needs. In return for strong proposals to address the substance abuse crisis, the federal government will draw on a new $7.5 billion fund to help states meet their goals.
My plan would also increase access to treatment by boosting funding for the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant by 25 percent, so communities have more resources to work with immediately. I will ensure that existing federal insurance parity laws are enforced. I will direct the government to reevaluate Medicare and Medicaid payment practices, to remove obstacles to reimbursement and help integrate care for addiction into standard practice. And for those who commit low-level, nonviolent drug offenses, I will reorient our federal criminal justice resources away from more incarceration and toward treatment and rehabilitation. Many states are already charting this course — I will challenge the rest to do the same.
Every town and city I’ve visited so far in this campaign has stories of families upended by drug addiction. But I’ve also heard about second chances. The young mother who overcame her addiction to alcohol and heroin so her son would never see her with a drink or a drug. The man who served 11 years in prison who is now serving others through a prison ministry.
They all say the same thing: No matter how much time has passed, they’re all still in recovery. It’s a process — one that began when a family member, a friend, a doctor, or a police officer extended a hand to help. As one New Hampshire woman said, “We’re not bad people trying to get good, we’re sick people that deserve to get well.”
There are 23 million Americans suffering from addiction. But no one is untouched. We all have family and friends who are affected. We can’t afford to stay on the sidelines any longer — because when families are strong, America is strong. Through improved treatment, prevention, and training, we can end this quiet epidemic once and for all.
Hillary Clinton Speeches 