Hillary Rodham Clinton

1. Why should working people support you for president?
   

   As President I will continue my lifetime work to support and strengthen the middle class, provide opportunities for the poor, and move the country forward with an economic agenda based on shared prosperity. I believe hard working Americans are under tremendous stress as we see rising income inequality in our country. In fact, according to a recent study, “The most important contributor to higher profit margins over the past five years has been a decline in labor’s share of national income…slow growth in labor compensation explains 64% of the increase in profit margins over the past year.” For too long, the federal government has favored corporations, against unions and workers. And as unions have been weakened by a federal assault, they’ve been under attack by employers as well.

   I have a long history of working on issue of concern to working families. As First Lady, I worked to enact the Family and Medical Leave Act and campaigned against the so called “Paycheck Protection” measure in California that would have stifled the ability of working people to voice their concerns in elections. I am proud of fighting along your side for universal health care. I have been proud to stand with organized labor whenever I was called, and I fully support the right to organize and bargain collectively for a better way of life, rising wages, quality healthcare and a secure retirement.

   As Senator, I opposed CAFTA, successfully fought for an unemployment insurance extension in the wake of 9/11 to provide extended benefits to 2.8 million workers and co-sponsored the Employee Free Choice Act and the Family Medical Leave Expansion Act. I aggressively fought President Bush’s proposal to change the overtime rules in order to limit the number of eligible workers, actively opposed the anti-collective bargaining provisions contained in the Department of Defense’s proposed National Security Personnel System, and voted in favor of collective bargaining rights for TSA screeners. I championed the successful effort to raise the minimum wage and proposed legislation tying all future minimum wage increases to Congressional salary increases.

   I have supported unions during organizing drives and strikes in New York since the very beginning of my tenure in the Senate. I have pressured company CEOs to negotiate. In October of 2001, I joined and supported the "Proudly Made in New York" campaign to aid garment shops in New York's Chinatown district suffering from the impact of the September 11th attacks. For two years, I pursued the contractor and federal oversight agencies at Plum Island to bring the striking Operating Engineers back to work. The contractor was eventually fired and the union reinstated. In 2004, I challenged the Department of Energy’s policy that Davis-Bacon did not apply to remediation work performed at DOE labs. As a result, DOE changed their policy nationally so that all remediation work would be covered under Davis-Bacon. I led the fight to support funding for the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring program and treatment for those suffering from World Trade Center related ailments. I am very proud of my record of standing with you. And I’m proud that the New York AFL-CIO considers me their “Favorite Daughter.”

   As President, I will continue to fight for policies that help working families. I will sign the Employee Free Choice Act, eliminate tax breaks for companies that move jobs overseas, invest in a new clean energy industry that will create millions of good jobs, and reduce the special breaks for big corporations, and ensure that the minimum wage continues to keep up. I will work to reinvigorate our domestic manufacturing base and invest in the technologies of the future that will create new jobs. And during my time in office, we will finally achieve universal health care in America. I believe strong unions are vital to a strong, thriving American middle class, and I will strongly support them as president.

2. How will you work to create good jobs and lift living standards in the United States and around the world?
   

   I believe in the principle of shared prosperity and that is why I have proposed a new progressive plan to restore the American dream and give all Americans the chance to compete and prosper. Americans are facing increasing costs from housing to energy to health care; health care premiums have gone up 87 percent in the last six years while wages have been stagnant. In the past, about 75% of net corporate revenues have gone to employee compensation, and only 25% to profits. However, for the past five years, 64% of corporate revenue went to profits. America’s workers are being squeezed as we face rising inequality.

   That is why I have repeatedly championed increasing in the minimum wage throughout my career. I campaigned for raising the minimum wage in 1996 when I was First Lady. I strongly advocated for the successful increase in 2007; and I have championed a proposal to tie increases in the minimum wage to Congressional salary increases. I have been a strong supporter of the Employee Free Choice Act, and personally intervened in numerous labor disputes to help ensure a fair outcome for workers.

   As President, I will make investments to create the millions of good jobs necessary to lift up all of our families and preserve and expand the middle class in an open, global economy. That means investing in a source of good new jobs. I have proposed a $50 billion Strategic Energy Fund, funded by closing tax loopholes for oil companies and requiring them invest in alternative energy or pay into the fund. The Strategic Energy Fund will stimulate job growth in all alternative energy fields – biofuels, wind, solar, and more – in order to create jobs all across America. I have also proposed an innovation agenda that will lead to new technology and create high paying jobs. In addition, I will invest in our infrastructure because I believe the necessary investments aren't being made and it’s costing our economy billions every year in delays and lost productivity. We can improve our standard of living, help our economic performance, and create good jobs in the process by modernizing our roads, bridges, tunnels, waterways, public transit systems and more. I have been a long proponent of school construction and have proposed creating revolving loan funds in each state to fund school construction and renovation efforts. I will make the necessary investments in our highways and urban areas, which will stimulate job growth.

   I'm also going to work to level the playing field and reduce the special breaks for big corporations, get rid of incentives for American companies to ship jobs and profits overseas and instead reward decisions to create jobs here at home. Today, American companies that ship jobs overseas don't have to pay taxes on the profits they make abroad unless they bring those profits back to the United States. I think that is wrong, and I will end that practice as President. I will also ensure that we tax hedge fund managers fairly so that they don’t pay lower rates than they should. Finally, I will put an end to trade agreements that create a race to the bottom when it comes to workers and our environment. I voted against CAFTA because the labor and environmental provisions were not strong enough. I opposed the Korean Free Trade agreement because the auto provision does not have an enforcement mechanism strong enough to ensure that the Koreans won't continue using nontariff barriers to restrict American access to their car market. I have long supported higher labor and environmental standards so that we can raise living standards around the world. The Clinton Administration brought more enforcement actions in one year than the Bush Administration has in six. The concerns of workers will be paramount, not an afterthought, when I am considering trade policy and practice.

3. What are your ideas for solving the US health care crisis and guaranteeing affordable, quality health care to all?

   As President, I will ensure that the 45 million Americans, including nine million children, who currently don’t have health care coverage are able to obtain it. Affordable health coverage for all is a moral issue, not just an economic one. And I believe it is an urgent national priority. Since day one of my campaign I’ve spoken about guaranteeing every American affordable health care. I’ve offered three principles that will guide my work: cost, quality, and coverage.

   I know from the numerous times I have reached out to help reopen stalled contract negotiations that health care coverage is often one of the main barriers to resolution. By ensuring that every American is covered and able to access high quality care, we will better ensure that the cost of health care coverage is equitably shared between workers and employers and that the cost of insuring the highest risk individuals is shared throughout society.

   We currently spend $2 trillion annually on health care, more than any other country in the world, without seeing the results we need. I have proposed a seven point plan that would reduce health care costs by $120 billion a year. My plan would: create a groundbreaking national prevention initiative to reduce the incidence of such diseases as diabetes and cancer; institute a “paperless” health information technology system; transform care of today’s chronically ill population to improve outcomes; constrain excess prescription drug and managed care expenditures; and put in place common-sense medical malpractice reforms. The plan would also focus on using more computer technology; coordinating and streamlining the care of chronically ill patients; offering individuals and small businesses market access to larger insurance pools; improving the quality of care through a best practices institute; getting prescription drugs costs under control; and reforming medical malpractice.

   I know from experience that we have to build consensus to get universal coverage. I’m proud to have fought for universal coverage over a decade ago – along with my friends in organized labor – and I will get it passed as President. I’m going to reach out, talk to the American people, and work with Congress to get the job done. As President, I’ll fight for universal coverage so that all Americans are secure in knowing that they won’t lose coverage because they lose a job.

   I am proud to have helped create the State Children’s Health Insurance Plan as First Lady. This was the single largest expansion of health insurance in a generation and today SCHIP covers six million children. As a Senator, I lead the charge to modernize our healthcare technology in order to reduce medical errors and lower the cost of care. I’ve spent a long time on the problem of coverage, and no one has more scars than me from this fight. I understand the challenges facing our health care system and am ready to lead our country to ensure every American has quality, affordable coverage.

4. Do you believe corporate interests have too much power today and, if so, how will you work to restore workers’ rights, re-balance power between corporations and working families and ensure that our nation’s prosperity is shared?

   I believe in balance, responsibility, and shared prosperity. I have fought throughout my career to create policies that reward work, such as expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, raise wages for working people, and make it easier for workers to organize and bargain collectively. If we demand responsibility from our workers we can demand it of our corporate leaders. That is why I campaigned for an increase in the minimum wage back in 1996 and why now, a decade later, I am pushing to tie future increases to Congressional salary increases. That is why I campaigned against the “paycheck protection act,” which would require public employee unions to get annual written permission from members before dues could be used for political purposes, in 1998 and again in 2005, when Proposition 75 was under consideration.

   Today, I believe the balance has shifted too heavily in favor of corporations. Corporate profits have grown an average of 13% a year since 2001, adjusted for inflation. CEOs have seen their pay go from 24 times the typical worker's in 1965, to 262 times the typical worker in 2005. In 2005, all income gains went to the top 10% of households, while the bottom 90% saw their incomes decline, in spite of the fact that worker productivity has increased for six years. Last year, the share of America’s national income going to corporate profits is higher than at any point since 1929 while the share going to the salaries of American workers is the lowest. Corporations are pushing down wages in order to increase the share of net revenue going to profits. Sluggish growth in wages explains 64% of the increase in profits over the past year.

   I believe it's time reject President Bush’s philosophy of an "on your own" society and to replace it with shared responsibility for shared prosperity. I will work to level the playing field and reduce the special breaks for big corporations; get rid of the incentives for American companies to ship jobs and profits overseas; reform the governance of our corporations and our financial sector; recommit ourselves to the idea that every young person in America who wants to should have the opportunity to attend college, and invest in a 21st-century education system that starts early in life and continues well into adulthood. I have proposed eliminating tax preference for carried interest compensation, which is taxed at the low 15% capital gains rate, rather than at income tax rates as high as 35%. This policy allows some extremely well-paid Wall Street investment managers to pay dramatically lower tax rates on their income than those paid by average working Americans.

   I have proposed tying the minimum wage to Congressional salary increases. If it’s time for Members of Congress to get a raise, it’s time for low-wage working people to get one too. I will work to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit so no one working full time lives in poverty.

   One of the reasons I am running for President is that I strongly believe that our tax policies should not be so skewed towards business and that we should shift our policies so that once again we reward work instead of just wealth. As President, I will be as fierce an advocate for the middle class as George Bush has been for well off.

5. What role to you believe unions play in our economy and society, and what will you do to restore the freedom of all working people to join together in unions to bargain for a better life? Do you support the Employee Free Choice Act that passed the House of Representatives on March 1 and is being considered in the US Senate and will you make it law?

   The right to organize is a fundamental right. I believe that unions are critical to a strong American middle class. A decline in unions means a decline in middle class jobs. That’s why I am an original co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which will level the playing field between workers and employers and ensure that employees will not be unfairly punished by their employers for attempting to unionize. EFCA would create an atmosphere where workers would be able to choose a union free from employer coercion by strengthening penalties for employer coercion when employees are attempting to organize; encouraging mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes and allowing employees to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation. I am committed to ensuring that workers are able to organize a union without coercion or intimidation, and also that federal contractors that benefit from taxpayer dollars demonstrate fairness towards their employees. The card check process, which requires majority sign-up, is the most effective way to protect employees’ freedom to choose to form a union. As Senator I will fight on the senate floor and pledge to sign this measure into law as President.

   I successfully fought for an unemployment insurance extension in the wake of 9/11 to provide extended benefits to 2.8 million workers; aggressively opposed President Bush’s proposal to change the overtime rules in order to limit the number of eligible workers; and championed increasing the minimum wage. I have long made it a priority to be supportive of unions during organizing drives and strikes. Here are just a few examples of the many times I have intervened in contract disputes on behalf of unions: in 2004, I met with and called United Technologies officials to prevent the Carrier plant in Syracuse from being shut down; I hounded the contractor at Plum Island to bring the striking Operating Engineers back to work; I intervened with the President of National Grid in to get them back to the table and avoid a strike, and was able to help negotiate a new contract; I worked with LaFarge Construction company in Westchester County to urge them to hire local, union workers from the building and construction trades for a $75 million Westchester County IDA-funded renovation project they were awarded.

   As First Lady, I worked to enact the Family and Medical Leave Act and campaigned against the so called a so-called “Paycheck Protection” measure in California that would have stifled the ability of working people to voice their concerns in elections.

   I believe we need a basic bargain in our country – that if you work hard, you can have a chance at the American dream, and unions are critical to that. As president, my agenda will be to make collective bargaining fair and free workers to organize without undue corporate interference. Unions built our great middle class and as President I will not forget that unions sustain it. I will partner with you in this endeavor.

6. How will you approach helping low-income individuals and families secure living wage jobs, health care, housing and other basic needs to escape the trap of poverty?

   My entire career has been focused on expanding economic opportunity for all. Central to the American dream is the idea that if you work hard and develop skills, you’ll be rewarded for your efforts, and that people who are born to poor families can rise above. Unfortunately, America now has less economic mobility than many other industrialized nations and less than we did a decade ago. By implementing policies that reward the wealthy at the expense of those who earn less, President Bush has eroded the American dream. As President, I want to reignite it and restore a strong, thriving American middle class.

   I will accomplish this goal by expanding and simplifying the Earned Income Tax Credit, cutting taxes on the middle class, ensuring that families have access to affordable, high quality child care and pre-kindergarten, strengthening our K-12 education system, making college affordable and accessible again, and investing in our infrastructure and other areas that will stimulate the creation of good jobs. I will also act aggressively to protect families from predatory lenders to help them avoid foreclosures. I have proposed to stop to pre-payment penalties designed to trap borrowers when payments skyrocket and provide independent counseling so when families buy a home, they understand the terms. I will also continue to fight for regular increases in the minimum. I have legislation in the Senate to tie Congressional salary increases to increases in minimum wage because I believe that if America’s working people don’t deserve a raise, neither does Congress. For more than 35 years I have worked to create opportunity for low income families, and you can be sure that I that will continue that work as President.

7. What solutions do you propose to help workers handle their work and family responsibilities?

   Just protecting the wages and job conditions of working people is not enough. We also have to recognize the challenges facing families as more women have entered the workforce and people are living longer. That is why I have long supported early childhood education and parent support programs. After law school, I spent a year studying at the Yale Child Study Center to better understand the importance of early childhood development and advocate for programs that help children and families. When I lived in Arkansas, I helped bring the HIPPY program, a parent support and education program, to the state in order to support low income families.

   As First Lady, I worked to enact the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which provides time off from work to care for children or elderly relatives, and I was very proud that this was the first bill my husband signed into law when he was President. The FMLA has been an unqualified success, and I believe now is the time to build upon it. I support expanding the protections of FMLA to employees of companies of 25 employees or more, instead of 50, to provide paid leave on a pilot basis, and to ensure that every parent can take 24 hours off throughout the year to attend parent-teacher conferences or take their children to the doctor’s office.

   Also, as First Lady, I led the effort to double funding for child care and Head Start and create Early Head Start to serve younger children. I also fought to improve the quality of child care so that families could rest assured that their children were in safe, nurturing settings while they worked. I also worked with the AFL-CIO to hold forums around the country on the challenges facing working families, such as child care and parental care.

   Family and Medical Leave is a vital safety net and millions of workers have benefited from it, but millions more can’t take advantage of it because they can’t afford to go without pay. That is why I support paid family and medical leave. I have also been disappointed that President Bush has not raised child care funding enough to even keep pace with inflation. As President, I would prioritize child care and family leave in order to reduce the strain on working families while providing higher quality, more loving care for children and the elderly.

   I am also a proud co-sponsor of the Healthy Families Act, which provides 7 paid sick days to all full-time workers and a pro-rated number to part-time workers. A mother should not have to make a choice between taking care of her child and keeping her job. A son or daughter should not have to decide between taking care of an aging parent and keeping his or her job. A sick worker should be able to take time off to recover and come back to work healthy without having to worry about whether the bills are going to get paid. As President, I will support legislation that will help keep families together without having to suffer financially.

8. What will you do to revitalize our manufacturing sector, stop the export of our best jobs and reform our trade policy so it supports good jobs at home and contributes to a healthy environment and equitable development here and abroad?

   As co-chair of the Senate Manufacturing Caucus, I’ve worked to develop a manufacturing strategy that meets our new needs in this new century. I believe we need to invest in a 21st century manufacturing base. I know there are many who believe that we don’t need – or can’t keep – a vibrant manufacturing sector here, but I don’t agree. Manufacturing provides an immediate laboratory for innovation; a challenging feedback loop for engineers, designers, and dreamers; invaluable training for a new generation of entrepreneurs and leaders and is critical to our economic and national security.

   The first step we must take to prevent losing jobs overseas is to reform the corporate tax system. We must make it worthwhile for companies to create jobs in the United States, and end the tax breaks they are currently getting for outsourcing jobs. Also, when we sign new trade agreements, we must have the fiscal authority to back it up. The current administration has racked up an unprecedented deficit with foreign countries like China. In order for us to have leveraging power against them in trade negotiations, first we must reduce our debt from them. During the administration of the nineties, we had a balanced budget, and it’s time we return to that type of government fiscal responsibility. When I am President, I will lower our national debt so that we can have the authority to negotiate aggressively to protect American jobs.

   We also need a new trade policy – a smart trade policy – that creates a race to the top instead of a race to the bottom. I support stronger environmental and labor standards so that American workers can compete on a level playing field. That is why I introduced legislation to assess trade agreements every five years to see if they are meeting their goals or if they need adjustments. And that’s why I voted against CAFTA, opposed the Korean Free Trade Agreement and have been vigilant on NAFTA. I recently released a study of Canadian trade barriers and demanded that the U.S. Trade Representative take action. I want to make sure that our trade deals expand, not reduce, the number of good-paying middle class jobs and raise, not lower, American wages.

   We also need to make the right investments to ensure our manufacturing sector's competitiveness. I've proposed creating a manufacturing research agency, based on the DARPA, that could make the investments in high risk/high reward manufacturing processes and products that could lower costs, improve efficiencies, and create more jobs in our manufacturing base and keep America competitive. I also support expanding the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which for a $100 million investment yields $910 million in new investments and trains or retrains 50,000 workers. I think we should help companies retool plants. Right now states and localities seek out companies from other states and even other countries and give them all kinds of economic incentives to build new plants. We need comparable support to retool old plants and to give companies that are already here trying to be competitive a chance to do so.

9. What are your ideas to develop a reasonable immigration system that protects the rights of all workers and provides a path toward citizenship for hard-working, tax-paying immigrants who come to our nation seeking a better life?

   Our immigration system is in crisis, and we need smart, comprehensive reform that not only respects the rule of law, but also deals both strictly and fairly with those who violate our laws. The laws we currently have on the books are inadequate and no longer serve our best interests.

   I want a bill that honors our nation’s values and proud immigrant heritage while also respecting the rule of law. The issue of immigration strikes deeply at our values and our concept of America. As a nation, we place a premium on compassion, respect, and policies that help families, but our immigration laws don't reflect that. In fact, our current laws tear families apart.

   Securing our borders must be a top priority and a major component of any comprehensive immigration reform proposal. That is why I supported enhanced border security as part of a comprehensive bill. We also need to deploy new technology that can help our Border Patrol agents be more effective in stopping the flow of undocumented immigrants into the country.

   We need comprehensive immigration reform that secures our borders, respects the rule of law, and honors both our history as a nation of immigrants and our basic values of respect and compassion. We have to provide a path to legal status and earned citizenship to those who have been in this country who are working hard, paying taxes, respecting the law, and willing to meet a high bar for becoming citizens. We have to bring them out of the shadows. I am committed to comprehensive immigration reform and I think we can do it in a fair and just way.

10. What will you do to make America a leader again in respecting human rights and civil rights at home and around the world?

    Restoring America’s standing in the world will be one of my top priorities when I am President. President Bush has seriously damaged alliances and a reputation our country has taken generations to build.

    I was proud to represent the United States on visits to 82 countries when I was First Lady. As a result, I have relationships with world leaders that I will be draw upon from day one. I will restore the centrality of diplomacy to our foreign policy and return our nation to its prior role as a symbol of progress and respect for human rights in the world.

    I will honor the rights that define our nation, the right to due process of law. I will ban torture and close Guantanamo. I will make it a priority to reform our election system by modernizing our voting machines, ensuring a paper trail of every vote cast, and making Election Day a national holiday. I believe voting is a right, not a privilege. I’ve worked to introduce what has been called the gold standard of election bills – the Count Every Vote Act. I’ve fought to stop Congress from imposing unfair voter ID requirements. And as President, I would commit to an Attorney General who believes in civil rights and the protection of our basic liberties. If I’m President, the Department of Justice will actually commit itself to promoting justice, not cronyism, corruption and crass partisanship.

    President Bush has significantly eroded the confidence of people here in the U.S. and around the world in this great nation, and I have the strength and experience to repair that damage.

11. What is your position on the US involvement in Iraq?

    I have outlined the three step plan I would pursue as President to end the war while preserving our security. First, I will take our troops out of combat and start bringing them home now. Second, I would put an end to the blank check to the Iraqi government and give them real benchmarks with real consequences if they fail to meet them. Third, I will begin intensive regional and international diplomacy. Since 2005, I have called for the strategic redeployment of U.S. forces out of Iraq.

    We need to force this Administration to confront its failed policies in Iraq. I’ve been trying to force the Administration to plan for a phased redeployment, and they have responded by attacking my patriotism. I’m currently working with my fellow Democrats to pass provisions in the Department of Defense authorization bill that would force the President to change course. Senator Robert Byrd and I are working to de-authorize the war by October 11, 2007, which would be the five year anniversary of the original use of force resolution.

    This war has already damaged our image abroad and I will put an end to it and restore our image around the world.

12. Will you change our nation’s tax and budget priorities? If so, how?

    Yes. Over the last six years, the Bush Administration has focused on cutting taxes for the rich and corporations at the expense of working people. Overall, the tax cuts have increased the after-tax income of the top 20% of earners by twice as much as the income of middle-income earners, and increased the income of millionaires by more than three times as much. As a result of the Bush tax cuts, the top one percent of taxpayers received a tax cut of nearly $40,000 while the bottom sixty percent of taxpayers got a tax cut of less than $400. I believe that is wrong and when I am President, the concerns of the middle class will once again be front and center. We need to get back to investing in people again. I support tax relief for middle-class families; tax incentives to encourage job creation; and universal healthcare, which will benefit workers as well as businesses that compete in the global marketplace. I believe we need to let the tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans expire and redirect those funds to strengthening our middle class. I will invest in providing universal health care, improving our education system, protecting Social Security, and Medicare. Further, I will end the tax loopholes and incentives that encourage the movement of production and jobs overseas.

13. What do you propose to do to strengthen Social Security and private pensions to ensure that America’s workers can retire with a secure income?

    Social Security is a solemn promise to our seniors, and I was proud to fight Bush’s plan to put it at risk through privatization. I opposed the President’s scheme because it would have diverted trillions of dollars from the Social Security system, and put seniors’ retirement security at risk by subjecting Social Security funds to the whim of the market.

    Social Security is a challenge we must solve over time, not a crisis that calls for drastic measures now. Social Security will be able to pay full benefits until 2041.The first step is to get our fiscal house in order. In 1998, the Clinton Administration balanced the budget. By 2000, the country had record surpluses and a plan to store billions of dollars for Social Security. Under the Clinton plan, Social Security would have been solvent until 2055 or later. We’ve lost fourteen years off the life of the Fund. First, we have to take steps to undo what this President has done and re-stock the Fund.

    We owe it to our seniors and our aging workers to ensure that they can live and retire in dignity. That's why I have fought in the Senate to safeguard the retirement plans of hard-working Americans.

    I believe it is critical that we continue to protect the defined benefit plans that provide secure retirement benefits for tens of millions of workers. I have supported legislation to require that companies fund 100% of their defined benefit pension obligations. This legislation which is now law is called the Pension Protection Act. It established new minimum funding standards for employers with defined benefit pension plans. Before the bill, companies were only required to fund 90% of their anticipated future pension obligations, and in practice, companies funded far less because of a number of loopholes. Now companies with defined benefit plans are required to fund 100% of their future obligations.

    We should also take a close look at the growing practice of companies entering into bankruptcy as a tactical maneuver simply so that they can shed their pension and other obligations to workers. I led an effort in the Senate to help save the pensions of the 60,000 auto workers and retirees affected by the Delphi Corporation's bankruptcy last year. I also pushed the Labor Department to investigate the Dresser-Rand employees who lost their pensions when Halliburton sold their stake in the company.

    Moving forward, I think we need to take a new, more expansive approach to retirement savings in America. I believe we should require every employer to open a retirement account for every worker and allow for full portability, so workers can take their pensions with them when they change jobs. I also think employees deserve advice and guidance to allow them to invest wisely.

14. What do you believe are the opportunities and challenges facing public education, and how would your administration deal with each? What policies would you support to help close the achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students, including making college more accessible and affordable?

    I have been working to improve our schools for almost thirty years. When I was First Lady of Arkansas, I chaired the Arkansas Educational Standards Commission where I worked to raise standards for Arkansas’ schools. I believe every child should have access to a high quality public education that prepares them to compete in the 21st century. Excellent public schools are essential to our democracy and our competitiveness. Every child - not just children whose parents can afford it - should have the same chance to succeed and to fulfill his or her Godgiven potential.

    As President, I will establish universal pre-kindergarten education through a federal-state partnership, based on state flexibility that ensures every four-year-old child in America access to a high-quality pre-kindergarten program. Studies show children aged 2-4 who participate in high quality, intensive preschool interventions are less likely to repeat a grade, graduate from high school at higher rates, and are employed at higher rates and earn higher wages breaking away from the achievement gap. We need to support children and families at this critical stage of children’s development to give them the best chance to succeed.

    As President I will fully fund No Child Left Behind in order to provide schools and teachers with the resources necessary to improve their school. I support accountability, but I think we need to make some adjustments to No Child Left Behind so that it rewards schools that are succeeding rather than just punishing schools that are struggling. I support changing the way we measure progress to ensure that we capture each student’s progress over time. I also believe we should change the one size fits all approach to reforming struggling schools. I would like teachers and parents to have a say in how to address the challenges facing each school. In addition, I think we can do more to recruit, retain, and support teachers, especially in schools with the greatest need. I will also expand opportunities for children with special needs and fully fund the IDEA/Special Education Act.

    Finally, as President, I will work to make college affordable and accessible for all who want attend. The costs of college have risen by more than one third at public schools and 50% at private schools since 2000. Yet, the Pell Grant and other federal financial assistance programs have failed to keep pace with the rises in cost. I will ensure that when our students participate in higher education, they will be able to focus on their schoolwork instead of worrying about funding.

15. How do you propose to move our nation toward energy sufficiency, stop global warming and protect our environment?

    Global warming threatens cataclysmic changes to our environment. As the country that both split the atom and put a man on the moon, I believe we can utilize the power of technology to find smart solutions to our energy future, reduce the threat of global warming, all while also creating millions of good jobs throughout the United States. As a Senator, I was proud to have secured funds to retrofit school buses with clean diesel technology, which provides cost-effective emissions reductions without compromising performance or fuel efficiency.. As a candidate, I have proposed a Strategic Energy Fund, which would provide $50 billion to fund energy technologies that will reduce America's oil dependence and greenhouse gas emissions while promoting new jobs and a cleaner environment. This Fund will create a green energy industry in America and stimulate the creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs all across the country, especially in rural areas. Among other things, this Fund will put money into research, development, and deployment of renewable energy, energy efficiency, ethanol, other homegrown biofuels, and clean coal technology. I will reform our energy taxes and present a choice to the gas and oil corporations: either you pay a portion of your profits into the Fund, or you invest an equal amount of money into biofuels or other renewable sources of energy. We cannot move away from our current dependence on foreign oil without making serious investments in the technology needed to move us forward.

16. What would you do to curb outsourcing of public service jobs to the private sector, which can result in reducing the pay and benefits of workers who perform such services?

    During the first major policy address of my campaign, I proposed a 10-point reform plan to restore Americans’ confidence in their government. Under that plan, I proposed to cut the number of federal contractors by 500,000 over the next 10 years, saving between $10 and $18 billion annually. From 2002 to 2005, more than 2.4 million additional contractors were placed on the federal payroll – as a result, there are approximately two times more contractors working for the federal government than the total number of military personnel and civil servants combined. In too many cases, these contracts were awarded without a competition and without analyzing whether federal employees could do the job as, or more, cost effectively. In addition, I am an original cosponsor of the Honest Leadership and Accountability in Contracting Act, which would prohibit the contracting of inherent government functions and increase competition in contracting. It would also tighten ethics laws and regulations related to contracting, prevent fraud, prevent companies with a pattern of overcharging or legal violations from receiving future contracts, and eliminate war profiteering. I recently co-sponsored a bill that would prohibit the Internal Revenue Service from using private debt collection companies. Using IRS employees to collect tax debts is more cost efficient than using private debt collectors and there is evidence to suggest that the IRS cannot secure Americans’ confidential tax information if it is passing that information to private companies.

17. What would you do to improve job safety and health protections for workers? What is your view on the appropriate balance between mandatory standards/enforcement vs. voluntary approaches? How would you address the issue of ergonomic hazards, which are responsible for one-third of all workplace injuries?

    I believe it is important that American employees are safe and protected where they work. As President, I will work to expand the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA). In the four decades since OSHA has been enacted, we’ve made great strides in strengthening the safety of work environments for our workers. But there are improvements that need to be made. Too many workers are injured on the job and too few workers are protected by OSHA. Data shows that more than 8.4 million federal, state and local public employees are not covered; I have co-sponsored legislation that would extend OSHA to all federal, state, and local public employees. Also, I think it’s important to consider the effects of ergonomic hazards – injuries from repetitive motion and exertion is more of a silent epidemic that will cause a slow but steady erosion of people’s health and productivity. I support ergonomics regulations, which my husband proposed, and I co-sponsored legislation to enact this regulation into law after President Bush withdrew it. That is why I am an original cosponsor of the Protecting America's Workers Act, which would expand OSHA protection, clarify the safety protections that employers must provide, expand civil and criminal penalties for OSHA violators, increase transparency in the OSHA citation process, and strengthen protections for OSHA whistleblowers.