Political views of Hillary Rodham Clinton
Encyclopedia
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
, a former U.S. Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and candidate for the nomination
Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2008
New York junior Senator and former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton had expressed interest in the 2008 United States presidential election since at least October 2002, drawing media speculation on whether she would become a candidate. No woman has ever won the nomination of a major party in the...
of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
, has taken positions on many political issues through her public comments and her senatorial voting record.
Economic Policy
Clinton received an 'A' (excellent) on the Drum Major InstituteDrum Major Institute
The Drum Major Institute for Public Policy is a non-profit American progressive public policy institute founded during the Civil Rights Movement...
's 2005 Congressional Scorecard on middle-class issues.
Fiscal policy and taxation
In her address to the 2000 Democratic National Convention2000 Democratic National Convention
The 2000 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention for the Democratic Party. The convention nominated Vice President Al Gore as its candidate for President and Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman as its candidate for Vice President. The convention was held at...
on August 14, 2000, she stressed her support for the social programs such as Social Security
Social Security (United States)
In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...
and Medicare
Medicare (United States)
Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over; to those who are under 65 and are permanently physically disabled or who have a congenital physical disability; or to those who meet other...
that were established during the presidencies of Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. "We'll never accomplish what we need to do for our children if we burden them with a debt they didn't create. Franklin Roosevelt said that Americans of his generation had a rendezvous with destiny. It's time to protect the next generation by using our budget surplus to pay down the national debt, save Social Security, modernize Medicare with a prescription drug benefit, and provide targeted tax cuts to the families who need them most."
In a 2004 fund-raising speech in San Francisco, she was highly critical of George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
's tax cuts, saying that "Many of you are well enough off that ... the tax cuts may have helped you. We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." Clinton has sponsored legislation designed to reduce the deficit by reinstating some taxes that had been cut. She has co-sponsored legislation related to debt and deficit reduction. On the other hand, she has advocated for federal spending that many describe as wasteful, including the expenditure of $1 million of federal funds for a museum commemorating the Woodstock Music Festival.."
In January 2008 Clinton announced an economic "stimulus package" totaling as much as $110 billion, to deal with the effects of a possible recession
Recession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...
. The package would consist of funds to help deal with the effect of the subprime mortgage crisis
Subprime mortgage crisis
The U.S. subprime mortgage crisis was one of the first indicators of the late-2000s financial crisis, characterized by a rise in subprime mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures, and the resulting decline of securities backed by said mortgages....
, to help lower-income families pay for higher home energy costs, to extend unemployment insurance, and to possibly provide some tax refunds.
Clinton has not signed the tax cut pledge from Americans for Tax Reform
Americans for Tax Reform
Americans for Tax Reform is an advocacy group and taxpayer group whose stated goal is "a system in which taxes are simpler, flatter, more visible, and lower than they are today. The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax...
, which pledges not to create new taxes or raise existing ones while in office. Clinton advocates repealing portions of the Bush tax cuts
Bush tax cuts
The Bush tax cuts refers to changes to the United States tax code passed during the presidency of George W. Bush and extended during the presidency of Barack Obama that generally lowered tax rates and revised the code specifying taxation in the United States...
, effectively increasing some taxes to the higher rates which existed in 2000.
Energy policy
Clinton supports energy conservation, releasing oil reservesOil reserves
The total estimated amount of oil in an oil reservoir, including both producible and non-producible oil, is called oil in place. However, because of reservoir characteristics and limitations in petroleum extraction technologies, only a fraction of this oil can be brought to the surface, and it is...
, increasing the number of hydrogen-powered vehicles
Hydrogen vehicle
A hydrogen vehicle is a vehicle that uses hydrogen as its onboard fuel for motive power. Hydrogen vehicles include hydrogen fueled space rockets, as well as automobiles and other transportation vehicles...
, and ratification of the Kyoto Protocol
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...
. She opposes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska, United States. It consists of in the Alaska North Slope region. It is the largest National Wildlife Refuge in the country, slightly larger than the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge...
and the Bush administration's energy policy.
Clinton supports cap-and-trade, which allows companies to trade carbon credits, seeks an 80% carbon cut by 2050, seeks a 10% national energy reduction by 2020, advocates a zero emission policy for federal buildings by 2030, calls for raising gas mileage standards to 35 m.p.g. within 10 years (having indicated a willingness to use administrative power if Congress fails to act on this), and opposes drilling in the Atlantic. She has not taken a strong position on nuclear power, calling herself agnostic on the issue.
At a February 18, 2007 campaign rally in Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia is the state capital and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 129,272 according to the 2010 census. Columbia is the county seat of Richland County, but a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. The city is the center of a metropolitan...
, Clinton stated, "I think nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
has to be part of our energy solution... We get about 20% of our energy from nuclear power in our country... other countries like France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
get much much more, so we do have to look at it because it doesn't put greenhouse gas emissions into the air." Subsequently in a July 2007 Democratic debate, when asked about nuclear power as an alternative energy source, she said, "I'm agnostic about nuclear power. Until we figure out what we're going to do with the waste and the cost, it's very hard to see nuclear as a part of our future. But that's where American technology comes in. Let's figure out what we're going to do about the waste and the cost if we think nuclear should be a part of the solution."
Clinton introduced a plan to Congress to create a Strategic Energy Fund that would inject $50 billion into research, development, and deployment of renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean coal technology, ethanol and other homegrown biofuels.
In November 2007 Clinton's energy plan further elucidated:
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80% from 1990 levels by 2050
- Cut foreign oil imports by two-thirds from projected levels by 2030.
- Transform the American carbon-based economy into an efficient green economy, creating at least 5 million jobs from clean energy over the next decade.
In July 2008 she continued to indicate an interest in the possibilities of vegetable oil economy
Vegetable oil economy
Vegetable oil economy deals with the potential of vegetable oil to replace fossil fuels in the economy and how it compares to other potential replacements, including renewable electricity. Vegetable oils are the basis of biodiesel, which can be used like conventional diesel...
, and said, "I will continue to be [the] biggest booster [of researchers and exhibitors of such technology]. We are living off the investments of previous generations. It is now time for us to step up and make those investments, and I am absolutely positive we will."
Free-market capitalism
When asked if she agreed with the quote from Alan Arenholt that she used in her book, It Takes a VillageIt Takes a Village
It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us is a book published in 1996 by First Lady of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton. In it, Clinton presents her vision for the children of America...
: "The unfettered free market has been the most radically disruptive force in American life in the last generation," Hillary replied
"I believe that. That's why I put it in the book...And I just believe that there's got to be a healthy tension among all of our institutions in society, and that the market is the driving force behind our prosperity, our freedom in so many respects to make our lives our own but that it cannot be permitted just to run roughshod over people's lives as well."
Trade
During the 1993 internal debate over the North American Free Trade AgreementNorth American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
, Clinton made clear her feeling that its passage was getting higher priority within the administration than it should, especially compared to the Clinton health care reform plan. By most accounts, Clinton was also unenthusiastic about the merits of the agreement, believing it would cause of loss of American jobs and would be politically unpopular. Once her husband decided to proceed with NAFTA, Clinton as First Lady participated in at least five meetings at the White House aimed at securing Congressional passage of the agreement, which Gergen and former official Robert J. Shapiro
Robert J. Shapiro
Robert J. Shapiro is co-founder and chairman of , a United States private finance consultancy that has built a reputation on a range of economic policy issues, including climate change, intellectual property, and finance. He is known for warning of the dangers of naked short selling...
felt showed she had been a "good soldier" in getting behind a settled decision, but which other attendees interpreted as showing Clinton was in fact behind the agreement. During later years of the administration and in her memoir, Clinton touted her husband's support for NAFTA.
During her 2008 presidential campaign, Clinton repeatedly criticized the agreement, despite it being one of the major achievements of her husband's administration. She said, "NAFTA did not do what many had hoped. NAFTA was a mistake to the extent that it did not deliver on what we had hoped it would." She did say that she believed in the underlying idea behind trade agreements such as NAFTA: "I believe in the general principles it represented. But what we have learned is that we have to drive a tougher bargain. Our market is the market that everybody wants to be in. We should quit giving it away so willy-nilly. I believe we need tougher enforcement of the trade agreements we already have." She promised that if elected, she would work to implement changes to it that would benefit American workers, saying "I want to be a president who focuses on smart, pro-American trade. I will review every trade agreement. I'm going to ask for revisions that I think will actually benefit our country, particularly our workers, our exporters... And NAFTA will be part of that review, to try to reform and improve it."
In 2005, Clinton voted against the Central America Free Trade Agreement, believing that it did not provide adequate environmental or labor standards. Again, she differed with her husband who, as the former president, supported the agreement.
Clinton, together with fellow New York Senator Charles Schumer
Charles Schumer
Charles Ellis "Chuck" Schumer is the senior United States Senator from New York and a member of the Democratic Party. First elected in 1998, he defeated three-term Republican incumbent Al D'Amato by a margin of 55%–44%. He was easily re-elected in 2004 by a margin of 71%–24% and in 2010 by a...
, welcomed a 2006 decision by the United States Commerce Department that called for a 108.3% duty on imports from Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
candle
Candle
A candle is a solid block or cylinder of wax with an embedded wick, which is lit to provide light, and sometimes heat.Today, most candles are made from paraffin. Candles can also be made from beeswax, soy, other plant waxes, and tallow...
makers, as the imports sought to circumvent an Anti-dumping Duty Order. Clinton stated, "This is a real victory for the Syracuse
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
candle-making industry. Our manufacturers deserve a level playing field and we owe it to them to make sure that others do not unfairly circumvent our fair trade practices. Syracuse has a proud history of candle production but attempts by importers to undercut our producers have put that tradition at risk. I am pleased that the Department of Commerce heeded our call to take action against these unfair practices and recognized the importance of this decision to local producers, especially here in Syracuse. We will continue to make the case on behalf of Syracuse candle-makers as the Commerce Department considers its final determination." Free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
proponents at the libertarian Cato Institute
Cato Institute
The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane, who remains president and CEO, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the conglomerate Koch Industries, Inc., the largest privately held...
made a connection to Frédéric Bastiat
Frédéric Bastiat
Claude Frédéric Bastiat was a French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly. He was notable for developing the important economic concept of opportunity cost.-Biography:...
's Candlemakers' petition
Candlemakers' petition
The Candlemakers' petition is a well known satire of protectionism written and published in 1845 by the French economist Frédéric Bastiat as part of his Economic Sophisms...
, a satire of protectionism
Protectionism
Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.This...
.
Subprime mortgage crisis relief
On December 5, 2007, Clinton unveiled her plan to ameliorate the effects of the 2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis on homeowners. She called for a 90-day moratorium on foreclosureForeclosure
Foreclosure is the legal process by which a mortgage lender , or other lien holder, obtains a termination of a mortgage borrower 's equitable right of redemption, either by court order or by operation of law...
s, in order that lenders and mortgage servicers have sufficient time to get through paperwork complications and an expected high volume of troubled borrowers without having to shut out the lights, and a five-year freeze on the interest rates of adjustable rate mortgage
Adjustable rate mortgage
A variable-rate mortgage, adjustable-rate mortgage , or tracker mortgage is a mortgage loan with the interest rate on the note periodically adjusted based on an index which reflects the cost to the lender of borrowing on the credit markets. The loan may be offered at the lender's standard variable...
s, so that borrowers would not get slammed by expected 30, 40 or more percent increases in monthly payments due to the effects of the crisis and of unwise initial borrowing decisions.
Health Care
Clinton supports incremental reforms that would provide federally accessed universal health careUniversal health care
Universal health care is a term referring to organized health care systems built around the principle of universal coverage for all members of society, combining mechanisms for health financing and service provision.-History:...
by subsidizing insurance premiums for those unable to pay, but not single-payer health care
Single-payer health care
Single-payer health care is medical care funded from a single insurance pool, run by the state. Under a single-payer system, universal health care for an entire population can be financed from a pool to which many parties employees, employers, and the state have contributed...
.
In a speech to Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
on June 4, 1998, Clinton outlined general support for federal universal affordable health care for Americans. "There are 41 million people without health insurance. Who will take care of these people in the future? How will we pay for their care? How will we pay for the extra costs that come when someone is not treated for a chronic disease or turned away from the emergency room? The job of health care reform cannot be done when access to care depends on skin color or the neighborhood they live in or the amount of money in their wallet. Let's continue to work toward universal affordable, quality health care."
Clinton later said that health care coverage improvements need to be made incrementally, in contrast to the more ambitious, wide-ranging plan that failed in 1993 to 1994. Clinton has collaborated with former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich
Newt Gingrich
Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as the House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995 and as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999....
on joint proposals for federal incremental health care improvements that would involve both private insurers and government. Clinton has long regarded a Canadian-style single-payer plan as politically unrealistic.
Clinton supports proposals currently in Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
to expand SCHIP
State Children's Health Insurance Program
The State Children's Health Insurance Program – later known more simply as the Children's Health Insurance Program – is a program administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides matching funds to states for health insurance to families with children...
to include taxpayer-funded coverage to the children of middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
families, some making over $100,000, cover three out of four US children, and quadruple SCHIP spending with an allocation of $75 billion over five years.
In September 2007, as part of her presidential campaign, Clinton announced her new health system reform proposal American Health Choices Plan, which would require that individuals have health care coverage from some source. Clinton explained that the coverage options available would be enrollment in private insurance plans via an "individual mandate
Individual mandate
An individual mandate is a requirement by a government that certain individual citizens purchase or otherwise obtain a good or service.In the United States, the United States Congress has enacted two individual mandates, the first was never federally enforced, while the second is not scheduled to...
" and an "employer mandate" requiring employers to provide health care benefits, or enrollment in a public program via an expanded version of Medicare or federal employee health plans. Clinton's "mandate" coverage system is similar to the mandate system instituted in Massachusetts in 2007.
The projected cost of the plan is $110 billion annually and will require all employers to cover their employees' health insurance or contribute to the costs of their employees' health insurance coverage; tax credits will be provided to companies with fewer than 25 employees to help cover costs. In order to pay for the program's estimated $110 billion per year cost, Clinton favors repealing portions of the Bush tax cuts, effectively increasing some taxes to the higher rates which existed in 2000.
However legal scholars have questioned the constitutionality of individual mandates, citing due process
Due process
Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...
conflicts.
Campaign finance
Regarding campaign finance reformCampaign finance reform
Campaign finance reform is the common term for the political effort in the United States to change the involvement of money in politics, primarily in political campaigns....
, in 2002 Clinton voted in favor of the McCain-Feingold Act
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act
The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 is a United States federal law that amended the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which regulates the financing of political campaigns. Its chief sponsors were Senators Russell Feingold and John McCain...
that imposed restrictions on soft money and political campaign advertising.
In 2007 Clinton spoke in favor of public financing of some campaigns: "I believe we have to move, eventually in our country, toward a system of public financing that really works for candidates running for federal office. I will support that as president." Ironically, she said this at the same time that her own prodigious fundraising allowed her to opt out of the public financing scheme for presidential elections, the first campaign in 30 years to completely do so. Clinton later reiterated her support for public financing of elections in the wake of the Norman Hsu
Norman Hsu
Norman Yung Yuen Hsu , born October 1951, is a convicted pyramid investment promoter who associated himself with the apparel industry. His business activities were intertwined with his role as a major fundraiser for the Democratic Party, and he gained notoriety after suspicious patterns of bundled...
affair.
Workers' rights, labor unions, and Wal-Mart
In 2006, Clinton praised a MarylandMaryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
law that required Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
to contribute to certain levels of health insurance for its employees. When asked what she had done to help Wal-Mart employees obtain better benefits when she served on its board while First Lady of Arkansas, she answered, "Well, you know, I, that was a long time ago ... have to remember..." and added, "obviously I believe every company should [contribute to benefit plans]."
The Clintons were stockholders in Wal-Mart at the time she was a board member, and Rose Law Firm
Rose Law Firm
Rose Law Firm is headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is the oldest law firm in the United States west of the Mississippi River and the third oldest in the United States....
, where Clinton was a partner had Wal-Mart as a client. While a board member, Clinton had been silent about the company's famously anti-labor union practices, although she pushed successfully for the chain to adopt more environmentally-friendly practices and had pushed largely unsuccessfully for more women to be added to the company's management.
A January 31, 2008 article from ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
states, "An ABC News analysis of the videotapes of at least four stockholder meetings where Clinton appeared shows she never once rose to defend the role of American labor unions."
Social Security Tax Cap
Hillary Clinton supports retaining the Social Security tax cap. The tax cap makes income in excess of $102,000 untaxable. The result is that the top 6% of income earners don't pay the social security tax on income above $102,000. Hillary Clinton called repealing the Social Security tax cap a "tax increase on the middle class."Arab-Israeli conflict
Regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict, Clinton has stated that she is "an emphatic, unwavering supporter of IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
's safety and security."
On July 18, 2006, Clinton spoke at a pro-Israel rally in New York in front of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. She supported Israel's efforts in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
The 2006 Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War and known in Lebanon as the July War #Other uses|Tammūz]]) and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War , was a 34-day military conflict in Lebanon, northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. The principal parties were Hezbollah...
: "We are here to show solidarity and support for Israel. We will stand with Israel, because Israel is standing for American values as well as Israeli ones."
On November 13, 2005, Clinton said that she supports the creation of the West Bank barrier, stating: "This is not against the Palestinian people. This is against the terrorists. The Palestinian people have to help to prevent terrorism. They have to change the attitudes about terrorism." She has also requested that Palestinian leaders "change all textbooks
Palestinian textbooks
Various research institutions have carried out studies into the representation of Israeli Jews and the State of Israel within school textbooks published in the Palestinian territories, by the Palestinian Authority....
in all grades" from the current ones, which are "hate-filled, violent and radical."
As a senator and throughout her career, Clinton had supported a law that requires identifying Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, however, in September 2011, as Secretary of State, she filed a brief with the US Supreme Court
Supreme court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...
opposing "any American action, even symbolically, toward recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel" because of the influence it might have on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Immigration
Clinton's voting record also reveals exceptionally strong support for the expanded use of H-1b guest worker visas.On March 8, 2006, she strongly criticized H.R. 4437
H.R. 4437
The Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 was a bill in the 109th United States Congress. It was passed by the United States House of Representatives on December 16, 2005 by a vote of 239 to 182 , but did not pass the Senate...
, a bill passed by the House of Representatives in December 2005 and sent to the Senate, which would impose harsher penalties for Illegal Immigrants. Clinton called the measure "a rebuke to what America stands for" and said it would be "an unworkable scheme to try to deport 11 million people, which you have to have a police state to try to do." She believed the solution to the illegal immigration problem was to make "a path to earned citizenship for those who are here, working hard, paying taxes, respecting the law, and willing to meet a high bar for becoming a citizen."
On March 27, Clinton again vowed to block the bill. Speaking to a New York group of open-border advocates, she said: "[The bill] is certainly not in keeping with my understanding of the Scriptures because this bill would literally criminalize the Good Samaritan and probably even Jesus himself."
On April 5, speaking to the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Clinton said her work for her New York constituents could fall afoul of the bill since some of her constituents are undocumented immigrants. "I realize I would be a criminal, too. My staff would be criminal. We help people with all kinds of problems."
In September 2006, Clinton voted for the Secure Fence Act
Secure Fence Act of 2006
On October 26, 2006 President George W. Bush signed The Secure Fence Act of 2006 into law stating, “This bill will help protect the American people. This bill will make our borders more secure. It is an important step toward immigration reform."...
, authorizing the construction of 700 miles (1,126.5 km) of fencing along the United States–Mexico border
United States–Mexico border
The United States–Mexico border is the international border between the United States and Mexico. It runs from Imperial Beach, California, and Tijuana, Baja California, in the west to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and Brownsville, Texas, in the east, and traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from major...
.
In May and June 2007, Clinton cast preliminary votes (in terms of amendments and cloture
Cloture
In parliamentary procedure, cloture is a motion or process aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. It is also called closure or, informally, a guillotine. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken. Clôture is French for "ending" or "conclusion"...
) in support of the high-profile, compromise-based but very controversial, comprehensive immigration reform bill known as the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007.
When the bill was again brought forward, she continued to vote in favor of cloture motions to consider it.
In October 2007, Clinton voted in favor of a small subset of the previous bill, the DREAM Act
DREAM Act
The DREAM Act is an American legislative proposal first introduced in the Senate on August 1, 2001 and most recently reintroduced there on May 11, 2011....
.
At a debate at Drexel University
Drexel University
Drexel University is a private research university with the main campus located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a noted financier and philanthropist. Drexel offers 70 full-time undergraduate programs and accelerated degrees...
in Philadelphia on October 30, 2007, Clinton committed to support of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American lawyer, former Democratic Party politician, and political commentator. He was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN until CNN cancelled his show in July of 2011...
's plan to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Two minutes later, she recanted the position and blamed the Bush administration for not passing immigration reform. The following day, she clarified her position in a prepared statement by coming out in support of Spitzer's bill.
Two weeks later, after Spitzer abandoned the plan due to widespread opposition, Clinton reversed her position on the issue once again, stating: "I support Governor Spitzer's decision today to withdraw his proposal. As president, I will not support driver's licenses for undocumented people and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of the issues around illegal immigration including border security and fixing our broken system." At a University of Nevada, Las Vegas
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
University of Nevada-Las Vegas is a public, coeducational university located in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada, USA. The campus is located approximately east of the Las Vegas Strip. The institution includes a Shadow Lane Campus, located just east of the University Medical Center of...
debate on November 16, when asked again if she supported granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, she gave a one-word answer: "No."
Clinton earned a 2008 rating of "D-" from Americans for Better Immigration, an immigration skeptic organization.
Iran
Hillary Clinton describes Iran as a long-term strategic challenge to the United States, its NATO allies, and Israel. She accuses Iran of state-sponsored terrorism and using its surrogates to supply explosives that kill U.S. troops in Iraq. She criticized the Bush administration for refusing to talk to Iran about its nuclear program; meanwhile, Iran has enhanced its nuclear-enrichment capabilities.Clinton says she will attempt to ease tensions with countries like Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
through direct engagement and Clinton has said that if elected, she would "immediately open a diplomatic track" with Iran. She has accused Iran in several cases such as its nuclear weapons program and sponsorship of terrorism. She has also asked for supporting Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
peace and playing a constructive role in stabilizing Iraq, and declared the United States should be prepared to offer Iran a carefully calibrated package of incentives. She believes this will let the Iranian people know that our quarrel is not with them but with the government and show the world that the United States is prepared to pursue every diplomatic option.
On the other hand she has the toughest stance among Democrate candidates against Iran. she supports UN sanctions on Iran, and has said that Iran should not be allowed possession of a nuclear weapon. She has clarified at a February 2007 dinner of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee
American Israel Public Affairs Committee
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the Congress and Executive Branch of the United States...
(AIPAC) that "no option can be taken off the table", including diplomatic and economic in addition to the threat and use of military force, when dealing with the country. She has said in a speech at Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
that a nuclear Iran would be a threat to Israel. In the Princeton speech, Clinton said the US "cannot take any option off the table in sending a clear message to the current leadership of Iran – that they will not be permitted to acquire nuclear weapons."
On September 26, 2007, Clinton voted for a symbolic non-binding amendment to label the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution as a "foreign terrorist organization," and to use diplomatic economic, intelligence economic, and U.S. military "instruments" to enforce U.S. policy against Iran and "its proxies" within Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. Thus Clinton came under fire from some of her Democratic counterparts for her vote. Clinton insisted that she continues to support vigorous diplomacy with Iran and defended her vote against the Revolutionary Guard, saying Iranian arms shipments to Iraq have slowed down since the Senate resolution passed. But her Democratic opponents criticized her for contributing to what they said was Bush administration saber rattling on Iran.
In October 2007, Clinton cosponsored a bill prohibiting the use of funds for military action in Iran without "explicit Congressional authorization." That bill has not yet been voted on.
Criticism of her Iran stance intensified after the December 3, 2007 release of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate
National Intelligence Estimate
National Intelligence Estimates are United States federal government documents that are the authoritative assessment of the Director of National Intelligence on intelligence related to a particular national security issue...
, which said Iran appeared to have halted its nuclear weapons program in the fall of 2003.
On April 22, 2008, Clinton threatened Iran with nuclear annihilation if they attacked Israel with nuclear weapons. On ABC News Good Morning America, she said "If Iran were to launch a nuclear attack on Israel what would our response be? I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran. That's what we will do. There is no safe haven." She continued, "Whatever stage of development they might be in their nuclear weapons program in the next 10 years during which they may foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them." Iran complained to the UN about her comments.
Iraq War
On October 11, 2002, Clinton voted in favor of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq, commonly known as the Iraq War Resolution, to give President Bush authority for the Iraq War.By February 2007, Clinton made a point of refusing to admit that her October 2002 Iraq War Resolution vote was a mistake, or to apologize for it, as anti-war Democrats demanded. "If the most important thing to any of you is choosing someone who did not cast that vote or has said his vote was a mistake, then there are others to choose from," Clinton told an audience in Dover, New Hampshire
Dover, New Hampshire
Dover is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, in the United States of America. The population was 29,987 at the 2010 census, the largest in the New Hampshire Seacoast region...
.
In the second Democratic debate of the 2008 presidential race, Clinton said that she voted for the resolution under the impression that Bush would allow more time for UN inspectors to find proof of weapons of mass destruction before proceeding. However, reporter Carl Bernstein and others have questioned why Clinton would have voted against the Levin Amendment, which would have required President Bush to allow more time to UN weapons inspectors and also would have required a separate Congressional authorization to allow a unilateral invasion of Iraq, if her vote was simply a vote for strong diplomacy.
During an April 20, 2004 interview on Larry King Live
Larry King Live
Larry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was CNN's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly....
, Clinton was asked about her October 2002 vote in favor of the Iraq war resolution.
Obviously, I've thought about that a lot in the months since. No, I don't regret giving the president authority because at the time it was in the context of weapons of mass destruction, grave threats to the United States, and clearly, Saddam Hussein had been a real problem for the international community for more than a decade.... The consensus was the same, from the Clinton administration to the Bush administration. It was the same intelligence belief that our allies and friends around the world shared.
But, she said, the Bush Administration "really believed it. They really thought they were right, but they didn't let enough sunlight into their thinking process to really have the kind of debate that needs to take place when a serious decision occurs like that."
In a November 29, 2005 letter to her constituents, Senator Clinton said, "There are no quick and easy solutions to the long and drawn out conflict [the Bush] Administration triggered ... I do not believe that we should allow this to be an open-ended commitment without limits or end. Nor do I believe that we can or should pull out of Iraq immediately."
On June 8, 2006, Clinton said of the US airstrike that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ; October 30, 1966 – June 7, 2006), born Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh was a Jordanian militant Islamist who ran a paramilitary training camp in Afghanistan...
: "I saw firsthand the terrible consequences of Zarqawi's terrorist network when Bill, Chelsea and I visited the hotel ballroom in Amman, Jordan last November where Zarqawi's followers had detonated a bomb at a wedding, killing and wounding innocent people. We owe our thanks to our men and women in uniform and others in Iraq who have been fighting Zarqawi and other insurgents and who are responsible for today's success."
On June 15, 2006, Clinton charged that President Bush "rushed to war" and "refused to let the UN inspectors conduct and complete their mission ... We need to be building alliances instead of isolation around the world ... There must be a plan that will begin to bring our troops home." But she also said, "I do not think it is a smart strategy either for the president to continue with his open-ended commitment which I think does not put enough pressure on the Iraqi government, nor do I think it is a smart policy to set a date certain."
Clinton opposed the Iraq War troop surge of 2007
Iraq War troop surge of 2007
In the context of the Iraq War, the surge refers to United States President George W. Bush's 2007 increase in the number of American troops in order to provide security to Baghdad and Al Anbar Province....
and supported a February 2007 non-binding Senate resolution against it, which failed to gain cloture.
On February 5, 2007, Clinton said: "Believe me, I understand the frustration and the outrage ... You have to have 60 votes to cap troops, to limit funding to do anything. If we in Congress don't end this war before January 2009, as president, I will."
On February 17, 2007, Hillary Clinton announced the Iraq Troop Protection and Reduction Act of 2007. This act would compel President Bush to begin relegating troops from Iraq within 90 days of remote passage, or, according to Clinton, Congress would have to dismantle their authorization for the war. The Act would also end the blank check to the Iraqi government and submit them to harsh consequences if boundaries are violated. Lastly, the Act would require the Secretary of Defense to verify the condition, in terms of supplies and in terms of their training, of all Iraqi troops before they are sent.
In March 2007 she voted in favor of a war spending bill that required President Bush to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq within a certain deadline; it passed almost completely along party lines but was subsequently vetoed by President Bush.
In May 2007, Clinton was one of only 14 senators to vote against a compromise war funding bill that removed previously vetoed withdrawal deadlines but tied funding to progress benchmarks for the Iraqi government
Iraq withdrawal benchmarks
The Iraq withdrawal benchmarks are a series of benchmarks the U.S. Government under the Bush administration have asked the Iraqi government to meet before the withdrawal of U.S...
. She said, "I fully support our troops [but this measure] fails to compel the president to give our troops a new strategy in Iraq."
While calling for ending the war in Iraq, Clinton's indicated in July 2007 that she advocates keeping a reduced number of U.S. troops in Iraq for the foreseeable future, stating "we cannot lose sight of our very real strategic national interests in this region." In the speech, she posited redeploying U.S. forces to protect the Kurdish region in the north, to engage in targeted operations against al-Qaeda in Iraq
Al-Qaeda in Iraq
Al-Qaeda in Iraq is a popular name for the Iraqi division of the international Salafi jihadi militant organization al-Qaeda. It is recognized as a part of the greater Iraqi insurgency....
, and to train and equip Iraqi forces. Clinton's position is similar to that of the Iraq Study Group
Iraq Study Group
The Iraq Study group , was a ten-person bipartisan panel appointed on March 15, 2006, by the United States Congress, that was charged with assessing the situation in Iraq and the US-led Iraq War and making policy recommendations...
in that she highlights the need for political reconciliation in Iraq, supports the withdrawal of U.S. combat brigades, and favors keeping a reduced number of troops to serve in training and support roles such as protection of the U.S. Embassy
Embassy of the United States in Baghdad
The Embassy of the United States in Baghdad is the diplomatic mission of the United States in Iraq. It is located in Baghdad and is home to the Ambassador to Iraq. Ambassador James F. Jeffrey is currently the Chief of Mission....
.
On August 22, 2007, Clinton credited the troop surge and related new tactics with helping to produce the Anbar Awakening in Al Anbar Governorate, but said that overall the increase in troops had not met stated goals: "The surge was designed to give the Iraqi government time to take steps to ensure a political solution. It has failed." Furthermore, Clinton, following the lead of Senate Armed Services Committee chair Carl Levin
Carl Levin
Carl Milton Levin is a Jewish-American United States Senator from Michigan, serving since 1979. He is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services. He is a member of the Democratic Party....
, called on the Iraqi Parliament to replace Nouri al-Maliki
Nouri al-Maliki
Nouri Kamil Mohammed Hasan al-Maliki , also known as Jawad al-Maliki or Abu Esraa, is the Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party. Al-Maliki and his government succeeded the Iraqi Transitional Government. He is currently in his second term as Prime Minister...
as Prime Minister of Iraq
Prime Minister of Iraq
The Prime Minister of Iraq is Iraq's head of government. Prime Minister was originally an appointed office, subsidiary to the head of state, and the nominal leader of the Iraqi parliament. Under the newly adopted constitution the Prime Minister is to be the country's active executive authority...
with "a less divisive and more unifying figure," saying that Maliki had failed to make progress in bridging differences between the hostile factions within Iraq: "Iraqi leaders have not met their own political benchmarks to share power, modify the de-Baathification laws, pass an oil law, schedule provincial elections, and amend their constitution." (Four days later, Maliki responded angrily to the suggestion, saying, "There are American officials who consider Iraq as if it were one of their villages, for example Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin. This is severe interference in our domestic affairs. Carl Levin and Hillary Clinton are from the Democratic Party and they must demonstrate democracy. I ask them to come to their senses and to talk in a respectful way about Iraq.")
In an open letter to President Bush dated November 17, 2007, Clinton stated "The President must make it crystal clear that the United States will not maintain permanent bases in Iraq..." "They would damage U.S. interests in Iraq and the broader region, and I will continue to strongly oppose them."
By late November 2007, with still more evidence that the surge and other tactics and developments had led to a significant lessening of the civil violence in Iraq, Clinton acknowledged the successes but said that the underlying equation had not changed: "Our troops are the best in the world; if you increase their numbers they are going to make a difference. The fundamental point here is that the purpose of the surge was to create space for political reconciliation and that has not happened, and there is no indication that it is going to happen, or that the Iraqis will meet the political benchmarks. We need to stop refereeing their civil war and start getting out of it."
At the January 16, 2008 Democratic debate in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
, Clinton, along with Senators Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
and John Edwards
John Edwards
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...
, maintained that they cannot guarantee the removal of all U.S. troops by the end of their first presidential term due to continuing support roles. However, all three pledged to begin the withdrawal of combat brigades within 60 days of taking office. Additionally, Clinton used the opportunity to ask Senator Obama to co-sponsor legislation to prevent President Bush from signing long-term agreements with the government of Iraq without the express consent of congress, stating: "So I've introduced legislation that clearly requires President Bush to come to the United States Congress. It is not enough, as he claims, to go to the Iraqi parliament, but to come to the United States Congress to get anything that he's trying to do, including permanent bases, numbers of troops, all the other commitments he's talking about as he's traveling in that region."
Homeland security
On December 8, 2004, in a speech regarding the passage of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention ActIntelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act
The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 , , is a 236-page Act of Congress, signed by President George W. Bush, that broadly affects US federal terrorism laws. In juxtaposition with the single-subject rule, the act is composed of several separate titles with varying subject...
(IRTPA) of 2004, Senator Clinton delivered remarks on her approach to homeland security
Homeland security
Homeland security is an umbrella term for security efforts to protect states against terrorist activity. Specifically, is a concerted national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the U.S., reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do...
. "[This] legislation calls for dramatic improvements in the security of our nation's transportation infrastructure, including aviation security, air cargo security, and port security. Through this legislation, the security of the Northern Border will also be improved, a goal I have worked toward since 2001. Among many key provisions, the legislation calls for an increase of at least 10,000 border patrol agents from Fiscal Years 2006 through 2010, many of whom will be dedicated specifically to our Northern Border. There will also be an increase of at least 4,000 full-time immigration and customs enforcement officers in the next 5 years.
Later in the speech, Clinton described her satisfaction with the way in which IRTPA tackles what she views as the root causes of terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
by improving education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
around the world and establishing schools in Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
countries that will replace the current madrassas.
I am also pleased that the legislation addresses the root causes of terrorism in a proactive manner. This is an issue that I have spent a good deal of time on in the past year because I believe so strongly that we are all more secure when children and adults around the world are taught math and science instead of hate. The bill we are voting on today includes authorization for an International Youth Opportunity Fund, which will provide resources to build schools in Muslim countries. The legislation also acknowledges that the U.S. has a vested interest in committing to a long-term, sustainable investment in education around the globe. Some of this language is modeled on legislation that I introduced in September, The Education for All Act of 2004, and I believe it takes us a small step towards eliminating madrassas and replacing them with schools that provide a real education to all children.
Clinton has sponsored and co-sponsored several bills relating to protecting Americans from acts of terrorism, as well as providing assistance to the victims of such acts.
Humanitarian intervention abroad
As first lady, Clinton said, "I am very pleased that this president and administration have made democracy one of the centerpieces of our foreign policy." Hillary Clinton favored intervention in Haiti (1994), the Bosnian WarBosnian War
The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
(1995), as well as in the Kosovo War
Kosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
(1999). Before the Kosovo war, she phoned Bill Clinton from Africa. As she recalled later, "I urged him to bomb."
In a February 2005 speech at the annual Munich Conference on Security Policy
Munich Conference on Security Policy
The Munich Conference on Security Policy is an annual conference on international security policy that is held in the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich, Germany.The 47th Munich Security Conference will be held from February 4th through February 6th 2011....
, Clinton expressed regret that the international community had failed to effectively intervene in the 1990s during the Rwandan Genocide
Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...
and early in the Bosnian War. However, she praised the United Nations and NATO interventions that did occur later in the Bosnian War (leading to the Dayton Agreement
Dayton Agreement
The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement, Dayton Accords, Paris Protocol or Dayton-Paris Agreement, is the peace agreement reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio in November 1995, and formally signed in Paris on...
), Kosovo War, and East Timor. Regarding the ongoing large-scale killing in the Darfur conflict
Darfur conflict
The Darfur Conflict was a guerrilla conflict or civil war centered on the Darfur region of Sudan. It began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and Justice and Equality Movement groups in Darfur took up arms, accusing the Sudanese government of oppressing non-Arab Sudanese in...
, she then advocated "at least a limited NATO role in logistics, communication and transportation in Darfur in support of the African Union."
During the July 2007 CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
/YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
Democratic debate in South Carolina, Clinton was characterized by The Chicago Tribune as against U.S. military intervention. Asked again whether U.S. troops should be sent to Darfur, Clinton focused on "...sanctions, divestment and UN peacekeepers." When pressed with the question, "How about American troops on the ground?" she said, "American ground troops I don't think belong in Darfur at this time."
Security vs. human rights
On November 15, 2007, when asked "[is] national security more important than human rights?" Clinton responded, "I agree with that completely. The first obligation of the president of the United States is to protect and defend the United States of America. That doesn't mean that it is to the exclusion of other interests. And there's absolutely a connection between a democratic regime [in Pakistan] and heightened security for the United States."The United Nations
On February 13, 2005, at the Munich Conference on Security Policy, Senator Clinton outlined her support for a strong United Nations:My first observation is simple but it must govern all that we do: The United Nations is an indispensable organization to all of us — despite its flaws and inefficiencies. This means quite simply, that everyone here today, and governments everywhere, must decide that our global interests are best served by strengthening the UN, by reforming it, by cleaning up its obvious bureaucratic and managerial shortcomings, and by improving its responsiveness to crises, from humanitarian to political. [...] At its founding in San Francisco sixty years ago, fifty members signed the Charter. Today, the UN has 191 members, and, quite frankly, many of them sometimes act against the interests of a stronger UN, whether consciously or not, with alarming regularity. Since the UN is not, in the final analysis, an independent hierarchical organization, like for example a sports team or a corporation, but no more — or less — than a collection of its members, the UN becomes progressively weakened by such action. Ironically, 'the UN' — an abstraction that everyone from journalists to those of us in this room use in common discussions — is often blamed for the actions (or inactions) of its members.
Clinton has co-sponsored a Senate resolution "expressing the sense of the Senate on the importance of membership of the United States on the United Nations Human Rights Commission."
Armenian Genocide
Clinton has been a co-sponsor of the Armenian Genocide ResolutionUnited States resolution on Armenian genocide
The proposed Armenian Genocide resolution is a measure currently under consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives that would recognize the 1915 Genocide. It is officially called H. Res 106 or the Affirmation of the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide Resolution...
since 2002, and has twice written to President Bush calling on him to refer to the Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
in his annual commemorative statement. "Our common morality and our nation's credibility as a voice for human rights challenge us to ensure that the Armenian Genocide be recognized and remembered by the Congress and the President of the United States", she announced on January 24, 2008.
Civil liberties and democracy
The American Civil Liberties UnionAmerican Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
has given her a 75 percent lifetime rating through September 2007.
Anti-terrorism and domestic surveillance
Clinton voted for the USA PATRIOT ActUSA PATRIOT Act
The USA PATRIOT Act is an Act of the U.S. Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001...
in October 2001 when it was first enacted. In December 2005, when a political battle ensued over its renewal, Clinton supported a general filibuster
Filibuster
A filibuster is a type of parliamentary procedure. Specifically, it is the right of an individual to extend debate, allowing a lone member to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a given proposal...
against it, on the grounds that the renewal legislation did not appropriate enough money to New York for anti-terrorism efforts. During the renewal debate she also worked to address some of the civil liberties concerns with it. She then voted in favor of a compromise renewed act in March 2006 that passed by an 89-10 margin.
Regarding the December 2005 NSA warrantless surveillance controversy
NSA warrantless surveillance controversy
The NSA warrantless surveillance controversy concerns surveillance of persons within the United States during the collection of foreign intelligence by the U.S. National Security Agency as part of the war on terror...
, Clinton stated that she was "troubled" by President Bush's 2002 actions. In a statement, she said: "The balance between the urgent goal of combating terrorism and the safeguarding of our most fundamental constitutional freedoms is not always an easy one to draw. However, they are not incompatible, and unbridled and unchecked executive power is not the answer."
Clinton has not signed the American Freedom Agenda
American Freedom Agenda
The American Freedom Agenda is a United States organization established in March 2007 by disaffected libertarian-oriented conservatives demanding that the Republican Party return to its traditional mistrust of concentrated government power...
's pledge to end the use of military commissions to prosecute war crimes, restore habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
, end torture of captives, end domestic wiretapping without a warrant, and end presidential signing statements.
Habeas Corpus
Clinton spoke against and voted no on the Military Commissions ActMilitary Commissions Act of 2006
The United States Military Commissions Act of 2006, also known as HR-6166, was an Act of Congress signed by President George W. Bush on October 17, 2006. Drafted in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision on Hamdan v...
, which changed pre-existing law to explicitly forbid the invocation of the Geneva Conventions
Geneva Conventions
The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment of the victims of war...
when executing the writ of habeas corpus or in other civil actions. As of June 23, 2007, Clinton has not said whether she supports the Senate bill 576, which would repeal portions of the Military Commissions Act. She has signed on as a co-sponsor of the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act
Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007
A bill, provisionally called the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007, , passed the United States Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, June 7, 2007.The bill was sponsored by Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy and Republican Senator Arlen Specter....
in 2007.
Flag burning
Clinton supports making flag burning illegal, but without adopting the constitutional Flag Desecration AmendmentFlag Desecration Amendment
The Flag Desecration Amendment, often referred to as the flag burning amendment, is a controversial proposed constitutional amendment to the United States Constitution that would allow the United States Congress to statutorily prohibit expression of political views through the physical desecration...
to do so.
Clinton introduced the Flag Protection Act of 2005
Flag Protection Act of 2005
The Flag Protection Act of 2005 was a proposed United States federal law introduced by Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Robert Bennett. The law would have outlawed flag burning, and called for a punishment of one year in jail and a fine of $100,000....
. The proposed law called for a punishment of one year in jail, and a fine of $100,000.
Gun control
In 1992 Hillary Clinton supported a federal ban on semi-automatic firearmsFederal assault weapons ban
The Federal Assault Weapons Ban was a subtitle of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a federal law in the United States that included a prohibition on the manufacture for civilian use of certain semi-automatic firearms, so called "assault weapons"...
before the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act
Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act
The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act is an Act of the United States Congress that, for the first time, instituted federal background checks on firearm purchasers in the United States....
was passed in 1993 and signed by President Clinton.
During a 1999 press conference at the White House, First Lady Hillary Clinton stated, "And since the crime bill was enacted, 19 of the deadliest assault weapons are harder to find on our streets. We will never know how many tragedies we've avoided because of these efforts." During the time period referenced by Clinton, handguns accounted for over 2/3 of firearm mortalities in the US.
In the 1999 Proposition B in Missouri
1999 Proposition B in Missouri
Proposition B in Missouri was a failed 1999 ballot measure that would have required local police authorities to issue concealed weapons permits to eligible citizens...
campaign, Robin Carnahan
Robin Carnahan
Robin Carnahan is an American politician, daughter of Missouri politicians Mel and Jean Carnahan and the current Missouri Secretary of State. She is a member of the Democratic Party and was the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2010, to replace retiring Republican Sen...
's Safe Schools and Workplaces Committee, on the weekend prior to voting day, coordinated a taped phone message from Hillary Clinton that automatically dialed 75,000 homes statewide with the message, "Just too dangerous for Missouri families."
Hillary Clinton favors "sensible gun control legislation" and not limiting gun control lawsuits. She made gun licensing and registration a part of her 2000 Senate campaign.
Hillary Clinton was one of 16 Senators who voted against the 2006 Vitter Amendment, which prohibits the funding of the confiscation of lawfully-held firearms during a disaster.
Hillary Clinton was taught to shoot and hunt by her father. Clarifying her position on gun rights, she said "It's part of culture. It's part of a way of life. People enjoy hunting and shooting because it's an important part of who they are." She made gun rights a part of her 2008 Presidential campaign, despite her previous attempts to introduce strict gun-control laws at a federal level.
The National Rifle Association
National Rifle Association
The National Rifle Association of America is an American non-profit 501 civil rights organization which advocates for the protection of the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights and the promotion of firearm ownership rights as well as marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection...
gave Clinton an 'F' (failing) rating in 2006 for her stance on Second Amendment
Second Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights.In 2008 and 2010, the Supreme Court issued two Second...
issues.
Executive authority
Clinton's advisors have said that she believes that the "president usually deserves the benefit of the doubt from Congress on matters of executive authority". In 2003, Clinton stated that she was "a strong believer in executive authority," wishing that when her husband was president, Congress had been more willing to recognize presidential authority.Government secrecy
Speaking to the Newspaper Association of AmericaNewspaper Association of America
The Newspaper Association of America is a trade association representing approximately 2000 newspapers in the United States and Canada. Member newspapers represented by the NAA include large daily papers, non-daily and small-market publications, as well as digital and multiplatform...
on April 15, 2008, Senator Clinton said:
"When I am president, the era of Bush/Cheney secrecy will be over. ...the Bush administration has dramatically widened the definition of classified informationClassified information in the United StatesThe United States government classification system is currently established under Executive Order 13526, the latest in a long series of executive orders on the topic. Issued by President Barack Obama in 2009, Executive Order 13526 replaced earlier executive orders on the topic and modified the...
to shield more and more materials from public scrutiny, has widened the scope of the state secrets privilegeState Secrets PrivilegeThe state secrets privilege is an evidentiary rule created by United States legal precedent. Application of the privilege results in exclusion of evidence from a legal case based solely on affidavits submitted by the government stating that court proceedings might disclose sensitive information...
to shield this program from judicial review, and has widened the reach of executive privilegeExecutive privilegeIn the United States government, executive privilege is the power claimed by the President of the United States and other members of the executive branch to resist certain subpoenas and other interventions by the legislative and judicial branches of government...
to shield its activaties from Congress. From warrantless wiretaps at home to secret prisons overseas, the Bush administration has conducted illegal activities and stonewalled efforts of the people and the Congress to discover them and to hold the administration accountable.
When I am president I will empower the federal government to operate from a presumption of openness, not secrecy. That's why I am a co-sponsor of the Free Flow of Information ActFree Flow of Information ActThe Free Flow of Information Act is a bill intended to provide a news reporter with the right to refuse to testify as to information or sources of information obtained during the newsgathering and dissemination process....
, allowing reporters to protect sources, help insure that whistle blowers can blow the whistle, and you can keep the public informed and keep office holders accountable.
I will direct my administration to prevent needless classification of information that ought to be shared with the public. We will adopt a presumption of openness and Freedom of Information Act requests and urge agencies to release information quickly if disclosure will do no harm. It was Attorney General Janet RenoJanet RenoJanet Wood Reno is a former Attorney General of the United States . She was nominated by President Bill Clinton on February 11, 1993, and confirmed on March 11...
's approach, and it will be my Attorney General's approach, as well."
Reacting to whistleblower
Whistleblower
A whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department, a public or private organization, or a company...
site WikiLeaks
Wikileaks
WikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...
and the 2010 U.S. diplomatic cables release, Hillary Clinton expressed her condemnation of any disclosure that puts lives at risk and threatens national security.
Abortion
Clinton has expressed that even if she is personally opposed to abortion, she does not believe it should be illegal.Clinton has been a staunch supporter of the legal right of women to end their pregnancies
Pregnancy
Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
by abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
as determined in the Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...
Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
decision of 1973. Clinton believes that the acceptance and availability of birth control
Birth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
and sex education
Sex education
Sex education refers to formal programs of instruction on a wide range of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, reproductive health, emotional relations, reproductive rights and responsibilities, abstinence, contraception, and...
will reduce unwanted pregnancies and the number of abortions.
In a speech on January 24, 2005, to the New York State Family Planning
Birth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
Providers, Senator Clinton outlined her stance on abortion. "When I spoke to the conference on women in Beijing in 1995 — ten years ago this year — I spoke out against any government interfering with the reproductive rights and decisions of women and families. So we have a lot of experience from around the world that is a cautionary tale about what happens when a government substitutes its opinion for an individual's. There is no reason why government cannot do more to educate and inform and provide assistance so that the choice guaranteed under our constitution either does not ever have to be exercised or only in very rare circumstances." She emphasized that, "I believe we can all recognize that abortion in many ways represents a sad, even tragic choice to many, many women." She praised the role of moral values in preventing unwanted pregnancies while supporting continued research into the most effective means of preventing these pregnancies. "Research shows that the primary reason that teenage girls abstain is because of their religious and moral values. We should embrace this — and support programs that reinforce the idea that abstinence at a young age is not just the smart thing to do, it is the right thing to do. But we should also recognize what works and what doesn't work, and to be fair, the jury is still out on the effectiveness of abstinence-only programs. I don't think this debate should be about ideology, it should be about facts and evidence."
A July 13, 2005 New York Times article titled "The Evolution of Hillary Clinton" characterizes Clinton as seeking to find middle ground between voters with various views on the criminalization of abortion. In April 2007 Clinton expressed dismay at the Supreme Court's Gonzales v. Carhart
Gonzales v. Carhart
Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. 124 , is a United States Supreme Court case that upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. The case reached the high court after U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appealed a ruling of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in favor of...
ruling that upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act
Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act
The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 is a United States law prohibiting a form of late-term abortion that the Act calls "partial-birth abortion", often referred to in medical literature as intact dilation and extraction...
.
NARAL Pro-Choice America
NARAL Pro-Choice America
NARAL Pro-Choice America , formerly the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, then National Abortion Rights Action League, and later National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, is an organization in the United States that engages in political action to oppose...
consistently gave Clinton a 100 percent pro-choice
Pro-choice
Support for the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-choice movement, a sociopolitical movement supporting the ethical view that a woman should have the legal right to elective abortion, meaning the right to terminate her pregnancy....
rating from 2002 to 2006. She votes in favor of maintaining the legality of abortion with every vote on the subject.
Senator Clinton has also praised the controversial legacy of birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Higgins Sanger was an American sex educator, nurse, and birth control activist. Sanger coined the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established Planned Parenthood...
. "The 20th century reproductive rights movement, really embodied in the life and leadership of Margaret Sanger, was one of the most transformational in the entire history of the human race," Clinton had said. She also said that Sanger's work "is not done."
From Childhood to retirement
In September 2007 Clinton worked on a concept of starting a workable savings plan for everyone. Although some of her casual brainstorming about providing every 18 year-old with a small savings grant was misconstrued, a formal policy emerged. The following is a brief summary of a October 9, 2007 press release:Hillary's American Retirements Account plan will:
- Offer matching tax cuts of up to $500 and $1000 to help middle class and working families save
- Establish new "American Retirement Accounts" that allow families to save for retirement in a way that is easy, secure and portable
- Encourage all employers to allow no-hassle, direct deposit enrollment into American Retirement Accounts
- Reduce disincentives to saving by removing asset-tests for moderate income families to contribute to American Retirement Accounts
- Freeze the estate tax at 2009 levels to pay for matching tax cuts for middle-class savings
Crime
In 2000, during a Senate debate in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, Clinton voiced her support for drug court
Drug court
Drug Courts are judicially supervised court dockets that handle the cases of nonviolent substance abusing offenders under the adult, juvenile, family and tribal justice systems...
s to address drug abuse problems when she stated, "We need more treatment [for drug addicts]. It is unfair to urge people to get rid of their addiction and not have the treatment facilities when people finally make up their minds to get treatment."
In 1994, during a National Center For Women and Policing conference, Clinton voiced her support for three strikes law
Three strikes law
Three strikes laws)"are statutes enacted by state governments in the United States which require the state courts to hand down a mandatory and extended period of incarceration to persons who have been convicted of a serious criminal offense on three or more separate occasions. These statutes became...
s when she stated "We need more police, we need more and tougher prison sentences for repeat offenders. The three strikes and you're out for violent offenders has to be part of the plan."
Death penalty
Clinton supports the death penalty, and made note of this support for it during her 2000 senate campaign.Senator Clinton sponsored the Innocence Protection Act
Innocence Protection Act
The Innocence Protection Act is the first federal death penalty reform to be enacted. The Act seeks to ensure the fair administration of the death penalty and minimize the risk of executing innocent people. The Innocence Protection Act of 2001, introduced in the Senate as S. 486 and the House of...
, which requires DNA testing before administering federal executions.
Education
Senator Clinton voted for President Bush's No Child Left Behind ActNo Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is a United States Act of Congress concerning the education of children in public schools.NCLB was originally proposed by the administration of George W. Bush immediately after he took office...
in 2001 and still supports it today according to her Senate page on education, while believing that President Bush has not provided enough funding, cutting the program's budget by $12 billion. However, in June 2007, with the Act up for renewal by Congress, she criticized the program, saying that its emphasis on testing has caused American children to narrow their studies and lose their creative edge.
Moreover, Clinton has proposed a $10 billion program for pre-K education
that will address the 80% of children who are not enrolled in such programs. During the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary season (Dec 2007), a series of campaign ads were run as Holiday wishes to the public to promote this position.
Clinton is against education voucher
Education voucher
A school voucher, also called an education voucher, is a certificate issued by the government, which parents can apply toward tuition at a private school , rather than at the state school to which their child is assigned...
s for use at private school
Private school
Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...
s. On September 13, 2000, she said, " I do not support vouchers. And the reason I don't is because I don't think we can afford to siphon dollars away from our underfunded public schools." Outlining a different objection, on February 21, 2006, she said: "First family that comes and says 'I want to send my daughter to St. Peter's Roman Catholic School' and you say 'Great, wonderful school, here's your voucher.' Next parent that comes and says, 'I want to send my child to the school of the Church of the White Supremacist ...' The parent says, 'The way that I read Genesis, Cain was marked, therefore I believe in white supremacy. ... You gave it to a Catholic parent, you gave it to a Jewish parent, under the Constitution, you can't discriminate against me.' So what if the next parent comes and says, 'I want to send my child to the School of the Jihad'? ... I won't stand for it."
Clinton sent her own daughter, Chelsea, to public school from kindergarten through eighth grade when they lived in Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
, and then to private school in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
while they lived in the White House in the interests of keeping the first daughter's education lower profile.
Electoral College
In November 2000, Clinton called for a Constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College, replacing it with a national popular vote, saying "we are a very different country than we were 200 years ago.... I believe strongly that in a democracy, we should respect the will of the people."Environment
Clinton believes the scientific consensus on global warmingGlobal warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
is increasingly clear, and that global warming is caused by the release of greenhouse gases in to the atmosphere. In a speech to the AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
, she stated that she supports a green building fund and green-collar job training.
She supports the protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and would not allow drilling there. She co-sponsored the Roadless Area Conservation Act.
The League of Conservation Voters
League of Conservation Voters
The League of Conservation Voters is a political advocacy organization founded in 1969 by American environmentalist David Brower in the early years of the environmental movement. LCV's mission is to "advocate for sound environmental policies and to elect pro-environmental candidates who will adopt...
has given Clinton a lifetime 90 percent pro-environment action rating through 2006.
LGBT issues
On December 7, 2003, in an interview with John Roberts of CBS NewsCBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
, Senator Clinton expressed her opposition to same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
while affirming her support for some form of civil unions for same-sex couples: "I think that the vast majority of Americans find [same-sex marriage] to be something they can't agree with. But I think most Americans are fair. And if they believe that people in committed relationships want to share their lives and, not only that, have the same rights that I do in my marriage, to decide who I want to inherit my property or visit me in a hospital, I think that most Americans would think that that's fair and that should be done."
In the same interview with Roberts, Clinton expressed opposition to the Federal Marriage Amendment
Federal Marriage Amendment
The Federal Marriage Amendment H.J. Res. 56 was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution which would have limited marriage in the United States to unions of one man and one woman...
, a proposed constitutional amendment that would have defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman, implicitly banning same-sex marriage. "I think that would be a terrible step backwards. It would be the first time we've ever amended the Constitution to deny rights to people. And I think that should be left to the states. You know, I find it hard to believe in one program [health care] I'm agreeing with Newt Gingrich, now I'm about to agree with Dick Cheney. But I think Vice President Cheney's position on gay marriage is the right one."
Following a 2006 New York State Appeals Court ruling that denied any state constitutional right to same-sex marriage, Clinton reiterated her support for "full equality" under the civil unions mechanism.
In a March 2007 interview with ABC News correspondent Jake Tapper
Jake Tapper
Jacob Paul "Jake" Tapper is an American print and television journalist, currently the senior White House correspondent for ABC News in Washington, D.C...
, Clinton said that the U.S. military's "Don't ask, don't tell
Don't ask, don't tell
"Don't ask, don't tell" was the official United States policy on homosexuals serving in the military from December 21, 1993 to September 20, 2011. The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while...
" policy was not working and that openly homosexual people should be allowed to serve: "We are being deprived of thousands of patriotic men and women who want to serve their country who are bringing skills into the armed services that we desperately need, like translation skills."
In the same interview, when asked if homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
is immoral, she declined to respond: "Well I'm going to leave that to others to conclude." However, later that day, Clinton released a statement regarding US General Peter Pace
Peter Pace
Peter Pace is a retired United States Marine Corps general who served as the 16th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the first Marine appointed to the United States' highest-ranking military office. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Pace succeeded U.S. Air Force General Richard Myers on...
's comment that homosexual acts are immoral. She stated: "I disagree with what he said and do not share his view, plain and simple." She went further the following day, stating that "what I believe" is that "homosexuality is not immoral."
In August 2007, Clinton participated in a forum hosted by the Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights Campaign
The Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...
and Logo
Logo (TV channel)
Logo is an American digital cable television channel owned by Viacom's MTV Networks division. Launched in June 2005, the channel's programs are geared towards the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community...
. When responding to questions regarding same-sex marriage, Clinton said she would move to repeal the third section of the Defense of Marriage Act
Defense of Marriage Act
The Defense of Marriage Act is a United States federal law whereby the federal government defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman. Under the law, no U.S. state may be required to recognize as a marriage a same-sex relationship considered a marriage in another state...
, which federally defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. She says she seeks to repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Don't ask, don't tell
"Don't ask, don't tell" was the official United States policy on homosexuals serving in the military from December 21, 1993 to September 20, 2011. The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while...
" policy.
Although she has not endorsed same-sex marriage, The Advocate
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
says that "everyone suspects she privately supports it..."
Islam
At a February 20, 1996 address to members of the American Muslim CouncilAmerican Muslim Council
The American Muslim Council is an Islamic organization and registered charity in the United States. Its headquarters is located in Chicago, Illinois....
, the first White House celebration of the Muslim holiday Eid al fitr
Eid ul-Fitr
Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Fitr, Id-ul-Fitr, or Id al-Fitr , often abbreviated to Eid, is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting . Eid is an Arabic word meaning "festivity," while Fiṭr means "breaking the fast"...
, First Lady Clinton accepted two gifts of Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
, and said: "I am honored to have these gifts… one for my husband, and one for me, as Chelsea already has her copy. [...] I have to admit that a good deal of what my husband and I have learned about Islam has come from my daughter." Later that year, she remarked to the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
that "Islam is the fastest-growing religion in America, a guide and pillar of stability for many of our people..."
Prayer in public schools
Clinton supports students' individual right to pray at public schools, but on their own time and not during class. She does not, however, wish to inhibit students from free expression of their religious beliefs in school assignments. Clinton also affirms schools' right to teach moral values and about religion, but only for appropriate educational purposes.Stem cell research
Clinton supports federal funding of embryonic stem cell research and voted in favor of the 2005 Stem Cell Research Enhancement ActStem Cell Research Enhancement Act
Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act was the name of two similar bills that both passed through the United States House of Representatives and Senate, but were both vetoed by President George W. Bush and were not enacted into law...
that passed Congress but was vetoed by President Bush. She also voted for the 2007 bill with the same name that passed in Congress.
Medical marijuana and marijuana decriminalization
Hillary Clinton has pledged to end medical marijuana raids against users in states in which the use is legal. Clinton opposes decriminalization of marijuanaDecriminalization of non-medical marijuana in the United States
Attempts to decriminalize cannabis in the United States began in the 1970s. Several jurisdictions have subsequently decriminalized cannabis for non-medical purposes, as views on cannabis have liberalized, peaking in 1978...
.
Video game regulation
On March 29, 2005, Clinton called the popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San AndreasGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a 2004 open world action video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the third 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, the fifth original console release and eighth game overall...
a "major threat" to morality. She said, "Children are playing a game that encourages them to have sex with prostitutes and then murder them. This is a silent epidemic of media desensitization that teaches kids it's OK to diss people because they are a woman, they're a different color or they're from a different place."
Clinton's main concern was over the sexual content in the Hot Coffee mod
Hot Coffee mod
The Hot Coffee mod is a normally inaccessible minigame in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, developed by Rockstar North. Public awareness of the existence of the minigame arrived with the release of the Hot Coffee mod, created for the version released in 2005 for Microsoft Windows...
portion of the game. She said that if the game's manufacturer did not change the game's ESRB rating from M (Mature 17+) to AO (Adults Only 18+), she would introduce federal legislation to regulate video games. On July 20, 2005, the ESRB changed the rating and as a result, the game was removed from the shelves of Wal-Mart, Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
, Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
, and other stores.
Five months later, Clinton introduced the legislation anyway. On December 16, 2005, Clinton introduced the Family Entertainment Protection Act
Family Entertainment Protection Act
The United States Family Entertainment Protection Act was a bill introduced by Senator Hillary Clinton , and co-sponsored by Senators Joe Lieberman , Tim Johnson and Evan Bayh on November 29, 2005...
, S.2126, a bill that would prohibit the sale of sexual or violent video games to anybody under the age of 18.
Internet Neutrality
Senator Clinton on May 18, 2006 released a statement outlining her intentions to be an original cosponsor of the Internet Freedom Preservation Act, also known as the Dorgan and Snowe bill, as an amendment to the Telecommunications Act of 1996Telecommunications Act of 1996
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first major overhaul of United States telecommunications law in nearly 62 years, amending the Communications Act of 1934. This Act, signed by President Bill Clinton, was a major stepping stone towards the future of telecommunications, since this was the...
, that protects network neutrality in the United States
Network neutrality in the United States
Network neutrality in the United States is a hotly debated issue subject to regulatory and judicial contention among network users and access providers...
. The bill aims to protect internet consumers and small businesses from Internet service providers charging large companies different amounts for Internet access than smaller customers. She says that the Internet must continue to use an "open and non-discriminatory framework" so that it may be used as a forum where "views are discussed and debated in an open forum without fear of censorship or reprisal".
"I support net neutrality... [The Internet] does not decide who can enter its marketplace and it does not pick which views can be heard and which ones silenced. It is the embodiment of the fundamental democratic principles upon which our nation has thrived for hundreds of years."
Clinton reiterated her support for net neutrality on January 9, 2007, when the Internet Freedom Preservation Act was reintroduced: "As evidenced by the diverse coalition of the consumer, business and citizen groups that span the political and ideological spectrum, and who all strongly support the concept of network neutrality, it is critical that Congress take steps to preserve the principles enshrined therein."
In a major speech on January 21, 2010, Clinton, speaking on behalf of the U.S., declared that "We stand for a single Internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas."
External links
- Hillary2012.org - Hillary News
- HillaryClinton.com - Issues
- On the Issues issue positions
- Project Vote Smart candidate information including issue positions
- Select2008 - Compare and choose candidates to the 2008 presidential election
- Security and Opportunity for the Twenty-first Century by Hillary Rodham ClintonHillary Rodham ClintonHillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
, Foreign AffairsForeign AffairsForeign Affairs is an American magazine and website on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published since 1922 by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually... - Hillary Rodham Clinton positions on other top foreign policy issues by Council on Foreign RelationsCouncil on Foreign RelationsThe Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
- Clinton & environmental issues: Comprehensive review from the League of Conservation VotersLeague of Conservation VotersThe League of Conservation Voters is a political advocacy organization founded in 1969 by American environmentalist David Brower in the early years of the environmental movement. LCV's mission is to "advocate for sound environmental policies and to elect pro-environmental candidates who will adopt...
. - They've Got You Covered? - Obama and Clinton ads both claim all Americans would be covered by their health plans. Clinton's would come close. Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania.
- 2008 Presidential Candidate Health Plan Report Card issued by the National Physicians AllianceNational Physicians AllianceThe National Physicians Alliance is a national, multi-specialty medical organization founded in 2005 by former leaders of the American Medical Student Association...
- "Wahoo-wonk: Clinton talks policy with UVA class"
- Envisioning the Future: The 2008 Presidential Candidates' Health Reform Proposals from The Commonwealth FundCommonwealth FundThe Commonwealth Fund is a private U.S. foundation whose stated purpose is to promote a high-performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, especially for society's most vulnerable.-History:...