Thursday, November 10, 2016

Hillary for America

A fair tax system

A fair tax system

Making sure the wealthy, Wall Street, and corporations pay their fair share in taxes.
A fair tax system
It’s outrageous that multi-millionaires and billionaires are allowed to play by a different set of rules than hardworking families, especially when it comes to paying their fair share of taxes.
Hillary, January 11, 2016
Hillary Clinton believes that we need an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. But when it comes to taxes, too often the wealthiest and the largest corporations are playing by a different set of rules than hardworking families.
Hillary is committed to restoring basic fairness in our tax code and ensuring that the wealthiest Americans and large corporations pay their fair share, while providing tax relief to working families. That’s not only fair, it’s good for economic growth, because she will use the proceeds to create good-paying jobs here in America—and make bold investments that leave our economy more competitive over the long run.

As president, Hillary will:

  • Restore basic fairness to our tax code. Hillary will implement a “fair share surcharge” on multi-millionaires and billionaires and fight for measures like the Buffett Rule to ensure the wealthiest Americans do not pay a lower tax rate than hardworking middle-class families. She’ll close loopholes that create a private tax system for the most fortunate, and she’ll ensure multi-million-dollar estates are paying their fair share of taxes. Read the fact sheet
  • Close corporate and Wall Street tax loopholes and invest in America. Hillary will close tax loopholes like inversions that reward companies for shifting profits and jobs overseas. She will charge an “exit tax” for companies leaving the U.S. to settle up on their untaxed foreign earnings. She will close tax loopholes that let Wall Street money managers pay lower rates than some middle-class families. And she’ll reward businesses that invest in good-paying jobs here in the United States. Read the fact sheet
  • Simplify and cut taxes for small businesses so they can hire and grow. The smallest businesses, with one to five employees, spend 150 hours and $1,100 per employee on federal tax compliance. That’s more than 20 times higher than the average for far larger firms. We’ve got to fix that.
  • Provide tax relief to working families from the rising costs they face. For too many years, middle-class families have been squeezed by rising costs for everything from child care to health care to affording college. Hillary will offer relief from these rising costs, including tax relief for Americans facing excessive out-of-pocket health care costs and for those caring for an ill or elderly family member.
  • Pay for ambitious investments in a fiscally responsible way. Hillary believes that we can afford to pay for ambitious, progressive investments in good-paying jobs, debt-free college, and other measures to strengthen growth, broaden opportunity, and reduce inequality. Hillary will use the proceeds from ensuring the wealthiest and the largest corporations pay their fair share to pay for these investments without adding to the debt.
Read the fact sheet

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Criminal justice reform

Our criminal justice system is out of balance.
Criminal justice reform
People are crying out for criminal justice reform. Families are being torn apart by excessive incarceration. Young people are being threatened and humiliated by racial profiling. Children are growing up in homes shattered by prison and poverty. They’re trying to tell us. We need to listen.
Hillary Clinton, July 8, 2016
The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population but almost 25 percent of the total prison population. A significant percentage of the more than 2 million Americans incarcerated today are nonviolent offenders. African American men are far more likely to be stopped and searched by police, charged with crimes, and sentenced to longer prison terms than white men found guilty of the same offenses.
To successfully reform our criminal justice system, we must work to strengthen the bonds of trust between our communities and our police, end the era of mass incarceration, and ensure a successful transition of individuals from prison to home. As president, Hillary will focus on a few key areas.

Strengthen bonds of trust between communities and police

Effective policing and constitutional policing go hand in hand. We can—and must—do both by:
  • Bringing law enforcement and communities together to develop national guidelines on the use of force by police officers, making it clear when deadly force is warranted and when it isn’t and emphasizing proven methods for de-escalating situations.
  • Acknowledging that implicit bias still exists across society—even in the best police departments—and tackle it together. Hillary will commit $1 billion in her first budget to find and fund the best training programs, support new research, and make this a national policing priority.
  • Making new investments to support state-of-the-art law enforcement training programs at every level on issues like use of force, de-escalation, community policing and problem solving, alternatives to incarceration, crisis intervention, and officer safety and wellness.
  • Supporting legislation to end racial profiling by federal, state, and local law enforcement officials.
  • Strengthening the U.S. Department of Justice’s pattern or practice unit—the unit that monitors civil rights violations—by increasing the department’s resources, working to secure subpoena power, and improving data collection for pattern or practice investigations.
  • Doubling funding for the U.S. Department of Justice “Collaborative Reform” program. Across the country, there are police departments deploying creative and effective strategies that we can learn from and build on. Hillary will provide assistance and training to agencies that apply these best practices
  • Providing federal matching funds to make body cameras available to every police department in America.
  • Promoting oversight and accountability in use of controlled equipment, including by limiting the transfer of military equipment to local law enforcement from the federal government, eliminating the one-year use requirement, and requiring transparency from agencies that purchase equipment using federal funds.
  • Collecting and reporting national data to inform policing strategies and provide greater transparency and accountability when it comes to crime, officer-involved shootings, and deaths in custody.

End the era of mass incarceration

Today in America, more than one out of every 100 adults is behind bars. This mass incarceration epidemic has an explicit racial bias, as one in three black men can expect to go to prison in their lifetime. A significant number of those incarcerated are held for low-level, nonviolent offenses. We must end the era of mass incarceration by:
  • Reforming mandatory minimum sentencing. Excessive federal mandatory minimum sentences keep nonviolent drug offenders in prison for too long—and have increased racial inequality in our criminal justice system. Hillary will reform this system by:
    • Cutting mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses in half.
    • Allowing current nonviolent prisoners to seek fairer sentences.
    • Eliminating the sentencing disparity for crack and powder cocaine so that equal amounts of crack and powder cocaine carry equal sentences, and applying this change retroactively.
    • Reforming the “strike” system, so that nonviolent drug offenses no longer count as a “strike,” reducing the mandatory penalty for second- and third-strike offenses.
  • Focusing federal enforcement resources on violent crime, not simple marijuana possession. Marijuana arrests, including for simple possession, account for a large number of drug arrests. Significant racial disparities exist in marijuana enforcement—black men are significantly more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than their white counterparts, despite the fact that their usage rates are similar. Hillary will allow states that have enacted marijuana laws to act as laboratories of democracy and reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule II substance.
  • Prioritizing treatment and rehabilitation—rather than incarceration—for low-level, nonviolent drug offenders. More than half of prison and jail inmates suffer from a mental health problem. Up to 65 percent of the correctional population meets the medical criteria for a substance use disorder. Hillary will ensure law enforcement is properly trained for crisis intervention and referral to treatment as appropriate, direct the attorney general to urge federal prosecutors to seek treatment over incarceration for low-level, nonviolent drug crimes. Read more about Hillary’s plan to end the substance abuse epidemic here.
  • Dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline. Hillary will work to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline by providing $2 billion in support to schools to reform overly punitive disciplinary policies, calling on states to reform school disturbance laws, and encouraging states to use federal education funding to implement social and emotional support interventions. Read the fact sheet here.
  • Ending the privatization of prisons. Hillary believes we should move away from contracting out this core responsibility of the federal government to private corporations. We must not create private industry incentives that may contribute—or have the appearance of contributing—to over-incarceration. The campaign does not accept contributions from federally registered lobbyists or PACs for private prison companies and will donate any such direct contributions to charity.

Promote successful re-entry by formerly incarcerated individuals

This year, the number of people released from state or federal prison will reach approximately 600,000. For the sake of everyone given a second chance—as well as the health and safety of the communities to which they return—the pathway to re-entry should offer a fair opportunity for success. Hillary will work to remove barriers and create pathways to employment, housing, health care, education, and civic participation, including:
  • Taking executive action to “ban the box” for federal employers and contractors, so that applicants have an opportunity to demonstrate their qualifications before being asked about their criminal records.
  • Investing $5 billion in re-entry job programs for formerly incarcerated individuals so that individuals can have a fair shot at getting back on their feet and becoming productive, contributing members of society.
  • Supporting legislation to restore voting rights to individuals who have served their sentences.

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An economy that works for everyone

We need to build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top.
An economy that works for everyone
The measure of our success will be how much incomes rise for hardworking families. How many children are lifted out of poverty. How many Americans can find good jobs that support a middle class life—and not only that, jobs that provide a sense of dignity and pride. That’s what it means to have an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. That’s the mission, and I’m asking all of you to join me in it.
Hillary, June 22, 2016
Despite the progress we’ve made in coming back from the Great Recession, we face a set of core challenges to building an economy that works for everyone—including a political system that is doing too little to help working Americans, an economic system that encourages too many corporations to favor short-term profits over long-term investments, and outdated workplace policies that aren’t meeting the needs of modern families.

As president, Hillary has a five-point plan to meet these challenges:

  • A 100-days jobs plan: Break through Washington gridlock to make the boldest investment in good-paying jobs since World War II. Hillary will fight to pass a plan in her first 100 days in office to invest in infrastructure, manufacturing, research and technology, clean energy, and small businesses. She will strengthen trade enforcement, and she’ll say no to trade deals like TPP that don’t meet a high enough bar of creating good-paying jobs. And she will make the U.S. the clean energy superpower of the world—with half a billion solar panels installed by the end of her first term and enough clean, renewable energy to power every home in America within 10 years of her taking office.
  • Make debt free college available to all Americans. Hillary will make college debt-free, and she’ll provide relief for Americans with existing debt by allowing them to refinance their student loans.
  • Rewrite the rules so that more companies share profits with employees—and fewer ship profits and jobs overseas. Hillary will reward companies that share profits and invest in their workers, and she will raise the minimum wage to a living wage. She will crack down on companies that shift profits overseas to avoid paying U.S. taxes, and she’ll make companies that export jobs give back the tax breaks they’ve received in America. She will defend existing Wall Street reform and push for new measures to strengthen it.
  • Make certain that corporations, the wealthy, and Wall Street pay their fair share. Hillary will pay for her economic priorities and avoid adding to the national debt by ensuring the wealthiest Americans and the biggest corporations pay their fair share. For example, she’ll fight for the Buffett Rule, close the carried interest loophole, and impose a new surcharge on multi-millionaires and billionaires.
  • Enact policies that meet the challenges families face in the 21st-century economy. Hillary will make it possible for parents to succeed at work and at home by updating outdated laws so they match how families work today. She will fight for equal pay and guarantee paid leave, two changes that are long overdue. And she will provide relief from the rising costs of necessities like child care and housing, while taking steps to provide Americans with greater retirement and health care security.
Read the fact sheet

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Health care

Universal, quality, affordable health care for everyone in America
Health care
As your president, I want to build on the progress we’ve made. I’ll do more to bring down health care costs for families, ease burdens on small businesses, and make sure consumers have the choices they deserve. And frankly, it is finally time for us to deal with the skyrocketing out-of-pocket health costs, and particularly runaway prescription drug prices.
Hillary, September 21, 2015
Hillary Clinton has led and will continue to lead the fight to expand health care access for every American—even when it means standing up to special interests. When insurance companies spent millions to stop her efforts to reform health care in the ’90s, she refused to give up. Instead, she worked across the aisle to help pass the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Today, it covers 8 million kids. She has never given up on the fight for universal coverage.

As president, Hillary will:

  • Defend and expand the Affordable Care Act, which covers 20 million people. Hillary will stand up to Republican-led attacks on this landmark law—and build on its success to bring the promise of affordable health care to more people and make a “public option” possible. She will also support letting people over 55 years old buy into Medicare.
  • Bring down out-of-pocket costs like copays and deductibles. American families are being squeezed by rising out-of-pocket health care costs. Hillary believes that workers should share in slower growth of national health care spending through lower costs.
  • Reduce the cost of prescription drugs. Prescription drug spending accelerated from 2.5 percent in 2013 to 12.6 percent in 2014. It’s no wonder that almost three-quarters of Americans believe prescription drug costs are unreasonable. Hillary believes we need to demand lower drug costs for hardworking families and seniors. Read more here
  • Protect consumers from unjustified prescription drug price increases from companies that market long-standing, life-saving treatments and face little or no competition. Hillary’s plan includes new enforcement tools that make drug alternatives available and increase competition, broaden emergency access to high-quality treatments from developed countries with strong safety standards, and hold drug companies accountable for unjustified price increases with new penalties. Read more here.
  • Fight for health insurance for the lowest-income Americans in every state by incentivizing states to expand Medicaid—and make enrollment through Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act easier.
  • Expand access to affordable health care to families regardless of immigration status. Hillary will expand access to affordable health care to families regardless of immigration status by allowing families to buy health insurance on the health exchanges regardless of their immigration status.
  • Expand access to rural Americans, who often have difficulty finding quality, affordable health care. Hillary will explore cost-effective ways to make more health care providers eligible for telehealth reimbursement under Medicare and other programs, including federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics.
  • Defend access to reproductive health care. Hillary will work to ensure that all women have access to preventive care, affordable contraception, and safe and legal abortion.
  • Double funding for community health centers, and support the healthcare workforce: As part of her comprehensive health care agenda, Hillary is committed to doubling the funding for primary-care services at community health centers over the next decade. Hillary also supports President Obama’s call for a near tripling of the size of the National Health Service Corps.
Read the fact sheet

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Manufacturing

Hillary Clinton’s plan to strengthen manufacturing so we always “Make it in America.”
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is coming back. … My job as your president will be to do everything I can to create more good-paying jobs, to get wages rising again for American workers and families.
Hillary, November 29, 2015
Manufacturing is a vital source of good-paying jobs in our economy, and making things in America is critical to innovation and our prosperity. We have to support manufacturers and workers so we can compete and win in the global economy.

As president, Hillary will:

  • Strengthen American manufacturing through a $10 billion investment in “Make it in America” partnerships that bring together workers and labor, business, universities, community colleges, and government at every level to harness the strength of manufacturing communities across America. Businesses that take part will pledge not to shift jobs or profits from these partnerships overseas. And we will support strong “Buy American” standards so we make things here.
  • Prevent countries like China from abusing global trade rules and reject trade agreements that don’t meet high standards. Hillary will strengthen American trade enforcement so we stand up to foreign countries that aren’t playing by the rules–like China is doing right now with steel—and fight for American workers. She will say no to trade deals, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, that do not meet her high standard of raising wages, creating good-paying jobs, and enhancing our national security.
  • Revitalize the hardest-hit manufacturing communities by creating tax incentives to encourage investment in communities that have faced or are about to face significant manufacturing job losses.
  • Crack down on companies that ship jobs and earnings overseas and create incentives for companies to bring back jobs to the U.S.
  • Invest in America’s manufacturing workforce to ensure that it will always be the best in the world. Hillary will expand apprenticeships and training so our manufacturing workforce is always the best in the world.
As a U.S. senator, Hillary co-founded the bipartisan Senate Manufacturing Caucus, fought Bush administration efforts to cut support for manufacturing, and called for a “New Manhattan Project” to rebuild American manufacturing.
Her plan builds on her career-long commitment to manufacturing, as well as on her previous proposals to invest in renewable energy and rebuild America’s infrastructure—two major investments that will drive demand for manufacturing across the country and strengthen our long-run competitiveness.
Read the fact sheet

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Making college debt-free and taking on student debt

Hillary will make debt-free college available to everyone and take on student loan debt.
College
Let’s … make debt-free college available to everyone. ... And let’s liberate the millions of Americans who already have student debt.
Hillary, June 22, 2016
Hillary has a comprehensive plan to put higher education within reach for all Americans, and take on the crisis of student debt.

Here’s what every student and family should expect under Hillary’s plan:

Costs won’t be a barrier
  • Every student should have the option to graduate from a public college or university in their state without taking on any student debt. By 2021, families with income up to $125,000 will pay no tuition at in-state four-year public colleges and universities. And from the beginning, every student from a family making $85,000 a year or less will be able to go to an in-state four-year public college or university without paying tuition.
  • All community colleges will offer free tuition.
  • Everyone will do their part. States will have to step up and invest in higher education, and colleges and universities will be held accountable for the success of their students and for controlling tuition costs.
  • A $25 billion fund will support historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and other minority-serving institutions in building new ladders of opportunity for students. Read Hillary’s agenda to support HBCUs and minority-focused institutions here.
  • The one-quarter of all college students who are also parents will get the support they need and the resources they deserve. Read more about Hillary’s plan to support student parents here.
Read the fact sheet
Debt won’t hold you back
  • Borrowers will be able to refinance loans at current rates, providing debt relief to an estimated 25 million people. They’ll never have to pay back more than 10 percent of their income, and all remaining college debt will be forgiven after 20 years.
  • Delinquent borrowers and those in default will get help to protect their credit and get back on their feet.
  • To reduce the burden for future borrowers, Hillary will significantly cut interest rates so the government never profits from college student loans.
  • Hillary’s plan will crack down on predatory schools, lenders, and bill collectors.
  • A new payroll deduction portal for employers and employees will simplify the repayment process—and Hillary will explore more options to encourage employers to help pay down student debt.
  • Aspiring entrepreneurs will be able to defer their loans with no payments or interest for up to three years. Social entrepreneurs and those starting new enterprises in distressed communities will be eligible for up to $17,500 in loan forgiveness.
  • Hillary will take immediate executive action to offer a three-month moratorium on student loan payments to all federal loan borrowers. That will give every borrower a chance to consolidate their loans, sign up for income-based repayment plans, and take advantage of opportunities to reduce their monthly interest payments and fees.
Read the fact sheet
Fully paid for: This plan will be fully paid for by limiting certain tax expenditures for high-income taxpayers.

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Protecting animals and wildlife

The way our society treats animals is a reflection of our humanity.
Protecting animals and wildlife
Hillary Clinton is committed to promoting animal welfare and protecting animals from cruelty and abuse.

As president, Hillary will:

  • Protect wildlife in the United States by keeping public lands public—not auctioning them off to the highest bidder—and making more resources available to farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who are taking steps to conserve our wildlife, lands, and waters.
  • Combat international wildlife trafficking by shutting down the U.S. market for illegal wildlife products and combating international animal trafficking and poaching, which harms the environment and fuels terrorist activity.
  • Protect pets and domesticated animals by making sure facilities like animal breeders, zoos, and research institutions create plans to protect the animals in their care during disasters; strengthening regulations of “puppy mills” and other harmful commercial breeding facilities; and supporting the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act.
  • Protect farm animals from inhumane treatment by encouraging farms to raise animals humanely and working to eliminate the use of antibiotics in farm animals for non-therapeutic reasons.
  • Protect horses by ending the slaughter of horses for human consumption and cracking down on the practice of horse soring, in which chemicals or other inhumane methods are applied to horses’ limbs to exaggerate their gait.

Hillary has a strong record of standing up for animal rights:

  • As U.S. senator from New York, Hillary spearheaded efforts to prohibit the U.S. Department of Agriculture from buying chickens for the federal school lunch program that have been injected with therapeutic antibiotics. She pushed for stricter FDA review of animal drugs, co-sponsored legislation to protect animal rights and prohibit animal fighting, and earned a perfect score from The Humane Society Legislative Fund.
  • As secretary of state, Hillary elevated U.S. efforts to combat poaching and wildlife trafficking and promote conservation.

Climate change

Taking on the threat of climate change and making America the world’s clean energy superpower.
Climate change
I won’t let anyone take us backward, deny our economy the benefits of harnessing a clean energy future, or force our children to endure the catastrophe that would result from unchecked climate change.
Hillary, November 29, 2015
Climate change is an urgent threat and a defining challenge of our time. It threatens our economy, our national security, and our children’s health and futures. We can tackle it by making America the world’s clean energy superpower and creating millions of good-paying jobs, taking bold steps to slash carbon pollution at home and around the world, and ensuring no Americans are left out or left behind as we rapidly build a clean energy economy.

On day one, Hillary Clinton will set bold, national goals that will be achieved within 10 years of taking office:

  • Generate enough renewable energy to power every home in America, with half a billion solar panels installed by the end of Hillary’s first term.
  • Cut energy waste in American homes, schools, hospitals and offices by a third and make American manufacturing the cleanest and most efficient in the world.
  • Reduce American oil consumption by a third through cleaner fuels and more efficient cars, boilers, ships, and trucks.
Hillary’s plan will deliver on the pledge President Obama made at the Paris climate conference—without relying on climate deniers in Congress to pass new legislation. She will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 30 percent in 2025 relative to 2005 levels and put the country on a path to cut emissions more than 80 percent by 2050.

As president, Hillary will:

  • Defend, implement, and extend smart pollution and efficiency standards, including the Clean Power Plan and standards for cars, trucks, and appliances that are already helping clean our air, save families money, and fight climate change.
  • Launch a $60 billion Clean Energy Challenge to partner with states, cities, and rural communities to cut carbon pollution and expand clean energy, including for low-income families. Read the fact sheet here.
  • Invest in clean energy infrastructure, innovation, manufacturing and workforce development to make the U.S. economy more competitive and create good-paying jobs and careers. Read the fact sheet here.
  • Ensure safe and responsible energy production. As we transition to a clean energy economy, we must ensure that the fossil fuel production taking place today is safe and responsible and that areas too sensitive for energy production are taken off the table. Read the fact sheet here.
  • Reform leasing and expand clean energy production on public lands and waters tenfold within a decade.
  • Cut the billions of wasteful tax subsidies oil and gas companies have enjoyed for too long and invest in clean energy.
  • Cut methane emissions across the economy and put in place strong standards for reducing leaks from both new and existing sources.
  • Revitalize coal communities by supporting locally driven priorities and make them an engine of U.S. economic growth in the 21st century, as they have been for generations. Read the fact sheet here.
  • Make environmental justice and climate justice central priorities by setting bold national goals to eliminate lead poisoning within five years, clean up the more than 450,000 toxic brownfield sites across the country, expand solar and energy efficiency solutions in low-income communities, and create an Environmental and Climate Justice Task Force. Read the fact sheet here.
  • Promote conservation and collaborative stewardship. Hillary will keep public lands public, strengthen protections for our natural and cultural resources, increase access to parks and public lands for all Americans, as well as harness the immense economic potential they offer through expanded renewable energy production, a high quality of life, and a thriving outdoor economy. Read the fact sheet here.

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Military and defense

We should maintain the best-trained, best-equipped, and strongest military the world has ever known.
Military and defense
I believe in strong alliances; clarity in dealing with our rivals; and a rock-solid commitment to the values that have always made America great. And I believe with all my heart that America is an exceptional country — that we’re still, in Lincoln’s words, the last, best hope of earth. We are not a country that cowers behind walls. We lead with purpose, and we prevail.
Hillary, June 2, 2016
We need a smart and sustainable defense budget driven by strategy—not by bluster and loose talk.
Hillary Clinton will be a president who doesn’t just support our military rhetorically. As a former member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, she understands the issues facing our military and veterans and has a long record working to deliver real results for them.

As president, Hillary will:

  • Provide budgetary certainty to facilitate reforms and enable long-term planning. The recent budget deal reached between the Congress and the White House is a promising first step in providing government agencies with much needed fiscal stability. But we must go further by ending the sequester for both defense and non-defense spending in a balanced way.
  • Invest in innovation and capabilities that will allow us to prepare for and fight 21st-century threats. That includes leveraging our information advantage through what’s called “net-centric warfare” capabilities and preparing for asymmetric threats.
  • Create a defense budget that reflects good stewardship of taxpayer dollars. As president, Hillary will prioritize defense reform initiatives, curbing runaway cost growth in areas like health care and acquisition and stretching every dollar.
  • Take care of our veterans and their families—it’s part of our solemn duty. Hillary has proposed a comprehensive plan to ensure timely access to quality care; eliminate the claims and appeals backlog; make sure our vets continue to have access to education and economic opportunity; fight substance abuse, mental health disorders, and homelessness; and support our military families. Learn more here.

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Gun violence prevention

We can—and must—end the epidemic of gun violence.
Gun violence prevention
I believe weapons of war have no place on our streets. We may have our disagreements on gun safety regulations, but we should all be able to agree on a few things. If the FBI is watching you for suspected terrorist links, you shouldn’t be able to just go buy a gun with no questions asked. You shouldn’t be able to exploit loopholes and evade criminal background checks by buying online or at a gun show. And yes, if you’re too dangerous to get on a plane, you are too dangerous to buy a gun in America.
Hillary, June 13, 2016
Too many families in America have suffered—and continue to suffer—from gun violence. It’s the leading cause of death among young African American men—more than the following nine causes combined. America cannot go on like this.

As president, Hillary will:

  • Expand background checks to more gun sales—including by closing the gun show and internet sales loopholes—and strengthen the background check system by getting rid of the so-called “Charleston Loophole.”
  • Take on the gun lobby by removing the industry’s sweeping legal protection for illegal and irresponsible actions (which makes it almost impossible for people to hold them accountable), and revoking licenses from dealers who break the law.
  • Keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, other violent criminals, and the severely mentally ill by supporting laws that stop domestic abusers from buying and owning guns, making it a federal crime for someone to intentionally buy a gun for a person prohibited from owning one, and closing the loopholes that allow people suffering from severe mental illness to purchase and own guns. She will also support work to keep military-style weapons off our streets.

Hillary has a record of advocating for commonsense approaches to reduce gun violence:

  • As first lady, she co-convened a White House Summit on School Violence after the Columbine tragedy, and strongly defended the Brady Bill, which instituted federal background checks on some gun sales.
  • As senator, she co-sponsored and voted for legislation that would close the gun show loophole, voted against the dangerous immunity protections for gun dealers and manufacturers, and co-sponsored legislation to extend and reinstate the assault weapons ban.
  • As a candidate, she is honored to have the endorsement of many groups working to take on the epidemic of violence, including the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and its Million Mom March chapters, the Newtown Action Alliance, and Everytown for Gun Safety—including Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
Read the fact sheet

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Labor and workers’ rights

When unions are strong, America is strong.
Labor and workers' rights
I’ve always believed that when unions are strong, families are strong and America is strong. That is not a slogan for me. That is a statement of fact. You created the strongest middle class in the history of the world. You led the fight for affordable health care more than half a century ago. And today, you’re leading the fight to raise the minimum wage, which will lift 35 million working Americans out of poverty.
Hillary, March 2, 2016
Labor unions helped build America’s middle class, and organized labor remains critical to fulfilling America’s basic bargain: If you work hard and do your part, you should be able to get ahead and stay ahead. We need to strengthen and protect America’s workforce.

As president, Hillary will:

  • Invest in good-paying jobs. In her first 100 days as president, Hillary will work with both parties to make bold investments in infrastructure, manufacturing, research and technology, clean energy, and small businesses. This will create millions of good-paying jobs, including for labor and other hard-working Americans across the country.
  • Restore collective bargaining rights for unions and defend against partisan attacks on workers’ rights. Hillary was an original co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act. Hillary will fight to strengthen the labor movement and to protect worker bargaining power. She will continue to stand up against attacks on collective bargaining and work to strengthen workers’ voices.
  • Prevent countries like China from abusing global trade rules, and reject trade agreements, like the TPP, that don’t meet high standards. Hillary will strengthen American trade enforcement so we stand up to foreign countries that aren’t playing by the rules—like China is doing right now with steel, and fight for American workers. She will say no to trade deals, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, that do not meet her high standard of raising wages, creating good-paying jobs, and enhancing our national security.
  • Raise the minimum wage and strengthen overtime rules. No one working full time should be forced to raise their child in poverty. Hillary believes the minimum wage should be a living wage, and she will work to get to a $15 minimum wage over time, with appropriate variations for regions with a higher cost of living. She’s been a strong supporter of the “Fight for $15,” and she also supports the Obama administration’s expansion of overtime rules to millions more workers.
  • Invest in high-quality training, apprenticeships, and skill-building for workers. Read the fact sheet here.
  • Encourage companies to invest in workers. Hillary will reward companies that share profits and invest in their workers. She will crack down on companies that move profits overseas to avoid paying U.S. taxes and she will make companies that export jobs give back the tax breaks they’ve received in America.
  • Protect workers from exploitation, including employer misclassification, wage theft, and other forms of exploitation.
  • Ensure policies meet the challenges families face in the 21st century economy. Hillary will fight for equal pay for women and guarantee paid leave, two changes that are long overdue. And she will provide relief from the rising costs of necessities like child care and housing.
  • Protect retirement security. After working hard for decades, Americans deserve a secure and comfortable retirement. Hillary will fight to protect retirement security, enhance—not privatize—Social Security, and push back against any efforts to undermine retirement benefits.

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