January 12, 2016

Brady Campaign Endorses Hillary Clinton in Ames, Iowa

Today at an event in Ames, Iowa, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in the 2016 election citing her experience, record and commitment to gun violence prevention.  The mission of the Brady Campaign is to create a safer America by keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals.
 
Please see the full transcript of the remarks below:
 
DAN GROSS: Delphine, I just want to thank you on behalf of everybody here. First of all, for that warm introduction but also for your tremendous courage and activism and for taking a tragedy that is unthinkable for most of the people here in this room, and turning it into such real change. I hope you are proud of the opportunity to be here today.
 
“It's been almost twenty years since my brother was shot in the head on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Since that day, I have dedicated my life, alongside so many others like Delphine and like many others here in the room today, to prevent other families from going through what ours have.
 
“This morning I am here to introduce and wholeheartedly support someone else who has been fighting that same fight even longer than I have. Someone who has been a true national leader and advocate for the safer nation we all want and deserve. Hillary Clinton.
 
“Doing what I do for a living, have chosen to do since my brother was shot, I have had the chance to meet a lot of politicians and elected officials, some people may even think too many, including a number of those who are currently running for president. And I can say with certainty that when it comes to real national leadership on this issue, there is so clearly only one candidate who rises above all the others and that candidate is Hillary.
 
“There's only one candidate who was fighting alongside this organization when we passed the historic, lifesaving, Brady Bill. This is important. Bernie Sanders actually voted against it. But there's only one candidate who fought for it. And that candidate -- say it with me -- is Hillary.
 
“Then there's a bill called PLCCA, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, passed by the gun lobby, and its lapdogs in Congress. Literally one of the most evil pieces of special interest legislation passed in this nation in decades. Bernie Sanders actually cast his vote to help pass it. There is only one candidate running for president, who voted against it. And that candidate is Hillary.
 
“As far as we are concerned, if you want a president that will stand up to the corporate gun lobby and continue our march toward historic change, there is clearly one candidate that deserves your vote. And that candidate is Hillary.
 
“As the President of the Brady Campaign -- And I was just talking to Secretary Clinton about this backstage -- I have the tremendous honor of carrying forward the unrivaled legacy of Jim and Sarah Brady, two true American heroes. As I stand here right now, I can't help but think that they are smiling down on us, Sarah beaming a big smile, Jim giving us that patented thumbs up, that's right here on the pin that I am wearing, and thinking about how pleased they must be to see what is happening.
 
“I think of how many lives have been saved as a result of the Brady law and Brady background checks, which have blocked more than 2.4 million sales to the people that we all agree shouldn't have guns, convicted violent criminals, domestic abusers, the dangerously mentally ill.
 
“I think of how many people have not suffered the same fate as Delphine's children. I think of how many people are alive today because of the work Jim and Sarah Brady and this organization did. And I think about how they did that work hand in hand with Hillary Clinton.
 
“Sarah Brady used to say, "If you can't change the laws, then change the lawmakers." She and this organization have always been committed to that simple idea, to that mission. Holding our elected leaders accountable to do right by the American people and to call out the gun lobby and the craven politicians who do its bidding. Hillary Clinton shares that mission. Hillary Clinton embodies that mission. She is taking on the corporate gun lobby and she's taking it to them like no presidential candidate ever has. And you know what folks? Together, we are winning.
 
“I have been going around saying that we truly are at a tipping point for the issue of gun violence prevention in our nation. And I am certain that Hillary Clinton is a big part of the reason why we are here. She has made our safety the centerpiece of her campaign, because like the rest of us, Hillary Clinton has had enough. She's had enough of the constant mass shootings in schools and churches and malls and movie theaters. Enough of the daily terror in our country, in homes and on streets that continues to claim the lives of ninety Americans every single day. And enough of a small group of craven politicians, including most of the other presidential candidates, putting the interests of the corporate gun lobby ahead of the safety of the American people. Enough. The American people have had enough and so has Hillary Clinton.
 
“I have no doubt that as president, Hillary Clinton will continue to take it to the corporate gun lobby. She will help us finish the job and expand those effective lifesaving Brady background checks to keep guns out of the hands of the people that we all agree shouldn't have them like convicted violent criminals, domestic abusers, and terrorists. She'll help us crack down on bad apple gun dealers, the small number of gun dealers in our country that sell almost all crime guns. Five percent of gun dealers sell Ninety percent of the guns that are devastating our cities and communities and streets across the country. And she will do it with a fundamental respect for the Second Amendment and without compromising the right of law abiding citizens to responsibly buy and sell guns.
 
“Hillary quite simply will put the safety of American Citizens first and make this the safer nation that we all want and we all deserve. That is why I am so proud to stand here today on behalf of the Brady Campaign to prevent gun violence, our millions of supporters and activists across the country, to endorse and now introduce the next president of the United States, Hillary Clinton.”
 
 
HILLARY CLINTON: “Oh my, thank you.  Wow.  I am so deeply touched and incredibly honored to have the Brady Campaign endorsement in this presidential election.  I really thank Dan, I thank Delphine, the many people who work with them and support them.  This is, as you heard from both of them, incredibly personal.  Delphine losing two of her children; Dan losing (inaudible) brother, and they have taken (inaudible).
 
“I’ve had the humbling experience over now more than 20 years of meeting so many people who have lost loved ones, sitting in their company, doing my best to comfort them, trying to help them know that there is something that they can do to help others.  And I remember Jim and Sarah so well.  When the Brady bill was signed after a really hard fight at the Congress, and it was the inspiration, the determination of Jim and Sarah Brady that really pushed it through, there was a signing ceremony and my husband signed it.  And I remember so well seeing their faces, as you’re right, Dan:  Sarah’s smile, Jim still in a wheelchair from the assassin’s bullet when he was with President Reagan, and his thumbs up.  And now we can look back and we can say that it’s hard to prove a negative, but I think it’s fair to say over 2 million – as many as 2.4 million purchases have been stopped from people who should not have guns, for all the reasons Dan said: convicted violent criminals, domestic abusers, the dangerously mentally ill.  And we have – we know because of that legislation we saved other families from the same grief and despair that too many of our families, like Delphine’s and Dan’s, have experienced.
 
“So I am not just honored, but I am really motivated to keep this issue at the center of this presidential campaign.  Because the vast majority of Americans, and even a very big majority of gun owners, support these commonsense gun safety measures.
 
“I’ve been standing up against powerful interests for a really long time.  I took on the drug companies, the insurance companies back in ’93 and ’94, to try to get health care for everybody.  We fought a hard battle.  We laid some groundwork, and I was thrilled when the Affordable Care Act was signed into law by President Obama.  I’ve taken on big financial interests.  They know that I’d take them on because I have.  I don’t just talk about it.  In fact, right now in Iowa, two hedge fund billionaires are running ads against me.  They’re not running them against my opponents, because they know that I have talked about what needs to be done to rein in the financial interests that have had too big an influence in our country.
 
“But there probably isn’t any corporate lobby stronger or more influential in picking politicians to be elected and intimidating them once they are than the gun lobby.  Anybody who cares about real reform in our political system, who cares about making a difference that will literally, in this case, save lives, has to stand with us against the gun lobby.  That is an absolute must.   
 
“And I am so proud of President Obama for the measures that he is now advocating.  If you watched him in that press conference where he announced the executive actions he would take, the increased enforcement that he would direct the ATF and the FBI to make, you could see the emotion.  Because, like me, he has met too many people who have lost their children, their spouses, their parents.  I can’t even imagine what it must have been like for him and Michelle to meet with the parents of the first-graders murdered at Sandy Hook.  Because I’ve met with some of them since.  Looking in their faces, unable to really think of the words that one can say in the face of such horror.
 
“And there was a great effort – a bipartisan effort – to do more on background checks, more to try to have better information and understanding of who among the mentally ill, like the killer in Sandy Hook, needed to be prevented from having guns.  It was bipartisan.  The Democratic senator from West Virginia, the Republican senator from Pennsylvania joined hands and they were under enormous pressure.  And now we’ve got one of the leading candidates running for the Republican nomination, Ted Cruz, bragging that he stopped the bipartisan legislation.  Shame on you, Ted Cruz, for trying to politicize this horrible mass murder, instead of working to find solutions.
 
“Now, there is a lot at stake in this election.  I think you’re here because you know that.  And I’m very grateful to all of you who have already decided to support me in the caucus, in now less than three weeks, on February 1st.     
 
“I want to thank Claire Baumgartner, my organizer; Sarah Sterner, my organizer; and Robert Scott, my regional organizing director –   – who are all doing a great job.  But I also want all of you who have already agreed to be precinct captains to please raise your hands so that I can see you and thank you so much, and everybody else involved in the precinct teams, the caucus teams.     I know that this is a very important time in the decision-making process here in Iowa.  A lot of people are committed, they’re working, but a lot of other people are still trying to make up your minds.  And I want to make the case to you that as high as the stakes are, given what the Republicans stand for, given what they are advocating they will do should they be the winners, we have to take this election more seriously than any other in recent history.
 
“I really do believe this is a turning point election, and I think there are many reasons for that.  One of them is because the economy took such a terrible blow back in ’08, and we are recovering, but we still haven’t seen wages come back to where they were.  We haven’t seen enough people able to make what they used to make with one job instead of two.  We don’t have enough good-paying jobs yet, although we have (inaudible).
 
“But the economy does better when we have a Democrat in the White House, and we know that.   We know that because we saw it under my husband, where we had 23 million new jobs; incomes went up for everybody.  If you want to fight inequality, make sure you’ve got a Democrat in the White House.    And (inaudible) not only that, more people lifted out of poverty than at any time in recent history.  And we ended up with a balanced budget and a surplus.  So if you have any doubt about what awaits our country if we should, unfortunately, have a Republican going into the White House in January of 2017, go back and look at what preceded my husband and succeed him and preceded President Obama.  We got back to trickle-down.  I fought against it.  I fought against their tax cuts.  I voted against their tax cuts.  I spoke out against their tax cuts.  I spoke out against President Bush refusing to pay for the two wars that he waged.  I spoke out against the lack of accountability and oversight and the special deals that went to (inaudible) special interests.  Yes, I did (inaudible).  I find it interesting how they always – whenever I say, “You know, you voted against the Brady bill five times, you voted for what the NRA said was the biggest NRA priority: giving them immunity,” he says, “Well, I’m from Vermont.”  And Leahy, the other senator from Vermont, voted against immunity for the gun lobby.
 
“So no, that’s not an explanation.  And similarly, I went after carried interest, the hedge fund billionaire special loophole.  I went after derivatives and swaps.  I went after corporate executive compensation.  Some of my ideas got into Dodd-Frank, even though I was no longer in the Senate.  And I also made it clear that we could not abide any more of the kind of Republican economic policies, including Bush’s effort in his second term, to privatize Social Security, which would have been the biggest giveaway Wall Street ever would have enjoyed.  I was one of the leaders of the efforts to prevent that from happening.
 
“So don’t talk to me about standing up to corporate interests and big powers.  I’ve got the scars to show for it and I am proud of every single one of them.   
 
“We’re getting into that period before the caucus that I kind of call the “let’s get real” period.  Everybody’s been out there and lots of good energy.  I love it.  And I love the spirited debate on our side.  It is so much better than the personal attacks and the nonsense being spouted by the Republicans, isn’t it?     But we do have differences, and I think it’s time and very important for people to understand what those differences are. 
 
“We have a big difference over guns.  You know that.  And I think it’s a telling difference, because if you’re going to go around saying you stand up to special interests, well, stand up to the most powerful special interest.  Stand up to that gun lobby.  Bring people together and let’s have commonsense gun safety measures.     
 
“And we have a difference on health care.  I have the deepest respect for both of my opponents.  Both Senator Sanders and Governor O’Malley have served with distinction and dedication, and I’m proud to stand on that debate stage every time we’re together.  And as I say, it’s – the differences between us pale in comparison to the differences we have with the Republicans.  But on health care, we have a significant difference.  You see, I want to defend the Affordable Care Act because I think it was a signal, historic accomplishment that our country finally reached.     I personally know how hard that was.  I was flying somewhere as Secretary of State when the Congress finally passed it, and I called from the airplane to the President to congratulate him.  I mean, I know – we’ve been trying to do this since Harry Truman.  This is hard work, my friends.  I wish that we could elect a Democratic president who could wave a magic wand and say, “We shall do this and we shall do that.”  That ain’t the real world we’re living in, and it is hard work to get what President Obama accomplished with the Affordable Care Act.  Is it perfect?  No, I don’t think it’s perfect, but it’s a great foundation to build on.  And we’re going to build on it. 
 
“I am going to work to improve it.  I want to get out-of-pocket costs down.  I want to cap prescription drug costs.     But I will never let the Republicans repeal it, and I was so glad that President Obama was sitting in the White House when the Congress voted to repeal it last week, and he could veto it.  A Republican president would sign it, wouldn’t he?  There we’d be, back starting all over again.  And you know who’d be really happy about that?  Insurance companies and drug companies.  Insurance companies because they could go back to doing what they did before: making it really expensive if you have a preexisting condition; charging women more for our health care than they did for men; taking your young adults up to the age of 26 off your policies.  That was one of the best things that happened.  I bet there are a lot of students here at the university who get health care because of the Affordable Care Act.   
 
“Just turning our backs on working folks whose employers don’t provide it and who can’t afford it without the subsidies that come from the Affordable Care Act?  Ending the expansion of Medicaid, which has helped so many people who are desperate to get health care, now finally get it under the expansion, although I am really worried about what Governor Branstad is trying to do here in Iowa, privatizing Medicaid – the way he’s going about it.     In fact, two of the companies he wants to turn over your Medicaid program to are doing the same thing over in Kansas and they’ve just been held to account for trying to get people off of Medicaid so they don’t have to pay to take care of them.  But I digress.
 
“So I’m going to work to improve the Affordable Care Act.  Now, Bernie – give him credit – has a different idea, and he’s introduced legislation I think nine times in the Congress, in the Senate, about what he thinks should be done.  He wants to roll Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Affordable Care Act program, and private health insurance into a national system, and then turn it over to the states to administer.  Now, if that’s the kind of revolution he’s talking about, I am worried, folks.  I think that would be a big problem that would run the risk of actually hurting families, not helping. 
 
“I think to turn our health care over to the governors, with the record we’ve seen of Republican governors refusing even to expand Medicaid – and oh, the legislation he’s introduced requires that states chip in.  I think it’s 14 percent.  We have a disagreement about the best path forward, the one most likely to get cost down, cover everybody, and be affordable.  Because Senator Sanders has put forth his plans; the most expensive by far would be this very fundamental change in the way we deliver health care.  And most independent, nonpartisan analysts have said, look, he’s proposing plans that would cost somewhere between 18 and 20 trillion dollars.  It’d be a 40 percent increase in the federal budget.  There’s no way that can be paid for without raising taxes on the middle class.  The arithmetic just doesn’t add up.  I don’t think it’s the right way to go.  In fact, I have said – and I’m the only candidate on either side saying that my goal is to raise incomes on the middle class, not taxes on the middle class.  That’s where I think our greatest need is right now.   
 
“But Senator Sanders and his campaign have said they're going to roll out how he would pay for all of this before the caucus in Iowa, and I for one will be eager to see it because I have been laying out how I will pay for everything.  And my plan is not as simple.  We go after the wealthy to pay for what the middle class working people and poor people need.  We impose a new system of taxation that will finally get them to pay their fair share.
 
“Some of the elements of that, well, one is called the Buffett rule, named after your neighbor from Nebraska, Warren, the oracle of Omaha.  And he has been just determined to make the case, and I buy it, that you should as a millionaire be required to pay a minimum tax – he suggests 30 percent – so that you can't get out of it by sending money to the Bahamas or money to the Caymans, or taking ordinary income and protecting it as capital gains, and all the other tricks that they pull.  I buy that.  I think that is a smart way to help fund some of our priorities.
 
“I also this week have rolled out what I'm calling the fair share surcharge on incomes $5 million or more, a 4 percent surcharge, again so that we don't let people play the games, use the gimmicks, that gets their taxes and their rates lower than their secretary’s, or a teacher's, or a nurse's.  Of course, we're going to close loopholes like carried interest, which I've been called for repeatedly.  We're going to go after a lot of the corporate loopholes that enable companies to actually do better when they transport jobs overseas and keep money overseas instead of bringing it back to the United States, investing it right here in Iowa and throughout our country.     
 
“So these are important differences that caucus-goers should have a chance to compare and contrast because it really matters what we stand for as we go into a general election against the Republicans.  Because I will give them this – nobody in America does better at tearing people down than the Republicans.  They are experts at it.  They started the negative campaigning that we have known over the last decade.  So you got to know what you stand for.  You got to be able to defend it.  And you have to withstand the barrage of attacks that will come against our Democratic nominee.  I am still standing.     And part of it – part of it is because I've been down this road.  I know what they're capable of, and I am prepared to stand up for you, stand up for our country, stand up for our vision, our values, what we want to accomplish together. 
 
“So I've laid out my economic plans.  I want strong growth, fair growth, and long-term growth.  That's why I want more investments in infrastructure, jobs that have to be done here that can't be exported.  It's why I want to take the tax system to incentivize advanced manufacturing in America, not exporting it across the ocean.  It's why I want to combat climate change by making it possible to grow our economy through clean, renewable energy investments, which will help us grow as we get off of fossil fuels.     It's why I want to take the $6 billion of subsidies the oil and gas industry gets every year and transfer those into faster, accelerated work on clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency.  I've set some big goals.  I want us to install a half a billion solar panels by the end of my first term.  I want enough clean, renewable energy to power every home by the end of my second term.  And this is doable.     
 
“Now, I know the Republicans are still in their climate denial phase.  Honestly, I don't think they're all that ignorant.  I just think, again, they do what their puppeteers, the Koch brothers and others, tell them to do.  But the fact is, they still deny it.  And I've said this before – I think I said it right here at Iowa State – you ask them, "Well, do you believe in climate change?"  And they say, "I don't know.  I'm not a scientist."  The answer should be, "Well, go talk to a scientist.  There are a bunch of them here who could actually explain it to you and tell you why we have to deal with it."     
 
“And the other thing I love saying, because when I talk about fighting climate change and how important it is we do that and what I want to do about it, have a North American compact where we have a grid that works and is more efficient and is not subject to cyber-attacks and possibly other exciting ideas about what we can accomplish, people sometimes are a little skeptical.  They say, "Can we really do this?"  And I said, "Look at Iowa.  You already get a third of your electricity from renewables, mostly from wind."      You're doing research here and at your other great academic institutions looking into biofuels and enhanced biofuels, even to be used for the military, in jets and boats and vehicles.  So yes, we can do this.  We just have to have the big national commitment.  And I think President Obama really laid the groundwork for us – his clean power plan, the agreement in Paris – and we can all build this together.
 
“I also have been very clear that I want to do more to help small business.  We are now ranked 42nd in the world in the ease of starting and growing a small business.  We used to be at the very top.  We've got to figure out why.  One of the big reasons is not enough credit given to small businesses.  And we need more access to reliable credit.  And I particularly care about women- and minority-owned businesses, because those are the fastest route to the middle class and beyond for people.  And while we're at it, let's raise the minimum wage, and let's guarantee equal pay for women's work across the economy.     
 
“In addition to defending the Affordable Care Act, I want to do more to help that balance between work and family.  That's why I'm for paid family leave.  I want seven days of paid sick days and 12 weeks of paid family leave because there are so many families who are stretched almost to the breaking point trying to take care of a newborn child, an adopted child, an ill spouse, a parent with Alzheimer's.  We've got to do more to support the caregivers.  So I have plans to actually help them.  And it includes more research into Alzheimer's, the sixth leading cause of death, and we don't have an effective treatment.  We have no idea about a cure.     
 
“And I also want to pledge to the teachers and educators here in this audience, active and retired, I want to be a really good partner, to work with you to do what works for kids.  We need to get back to basics.  And by basics, what I mean is not drilling and testing.  It's treating every child uniquely, individually, providing support, having a varied curriculum, giving the child the help they need to be successful in school.     
 
“And then I want to build on President Obama's proposal to make community college free, and to make four-year college and university tuition debt-free.  You should not have to borrow money to be able to afford to go to this great university or any other that is public.  And we have to refinance student debt.  And the way we'll do that is what we do with home mortgages and car payments – bundle, refinance, reduce, save thousands of dollars for students and families. 
 
“Put an end on when your obligation, if you are faithful in paying, ends.  Have more income-contingent repayment plans so that you're paying as a percent of your income.  When I got out of law school, I went to work for the Children's Defense Fund.  I didn't go to some big law firm.  I was making no more than $14,000 a year, as I recall.  I had loans from law school.  But I could afford that and my rent and other necessities because I paid it back as a percentage of my income.  So I wasn't forced to take a job I wasn't passionate about. 
I want to do more to help people take public service jobs, who will do national service, both military and civilian, so they get more help when they go to get their education.  We can transform how young people are getting an education and open the doors to more if we really focus on making it affordable, and I do not believe the federal government should be making a profit off of lending money to students in order to get their education.     
 
“Now, let me also say that when it comes to national security and foreign policy, I hear the Republicans.  They seem to have one of two approaches.  One, bomb.  Carpet bomb.  Bomb some more.  Send American ground troops.  That's their national security policy, best I can understand.  There are a few who say no, we shouldn't get involved anywhere in anything, nothing is going to be important enough to do anything to help, which is equally unrealistic.  Let me tell you where I stand and what I tried to do as Secretary of State during President Obama's first term.
 
“The United States must lead.  It's not that we don't have someone else to step up and lead consistent with our values, consistent with embracing peace and prosperity.  We have a vacuum, and it's filled by aggressive states, and it's filled by aggressive networks of criminals, terrorists and others.  So we have to lead.  It's just a question of, where are we leading?  What are we trying to accomplish?
 
“Now, when I hear the Republicans, they string our names together – they’ll say, “Oh, the (inaudible).”  I listen (inaudible).  I’m waiting for them to blame me for the fall of the Roman Empire.  They haven’t gotten quite that far yet.  They’re on their way.  And then I thought to myself, okay, maybe they don’t know what I did.  So I sent them all a copy of my book, “Hard Choices,” about the hard choices I made and I was part of in my time as Secretary of State.  I figured there were so many of them, they could have a book club.  They could sit around and read it and talk about it.  And I thought if they want to know how you use diplomacy to try to bring Iran to the negotiating table by imposing crippling sanctions, including getting Russia and China, they can read about it.  So I started right as soon as I was appointed.  It took about 18 months, then we had to enforce them, and then we could get them to the negotiating table because it was really hurting them.  That’s one of the reasons they decided to negotiate.  Because they had already mastered the nuclear fuel cycle (inaudible).  They had already built covert facilities (inaudible).  So when President Obama and I came in, they were on their way to (inaudible).  We were inheriting that, just like (inaudible). 
 
“And there were neighbors in the region who (inaudible) whatever it took (inaudible).  And we (inaudible) exploring what was possible when I was there, and then they had the formal discussions shortly after I left.  And I support the Iran agreement.  (Inaudible) weapons program and it gives us the best chance to (inaudible) not only from obtaining it (inaudible) arms race (inaudible) necessary diplomacy.
 
“Or I thought they could read (inaudible) negotiated a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to stop the rockets from raining down on Israel.  I flew from Cambodia, where I was (inaudible) to try to negotiate a ceasefire and got them (inaudible).  The Israelis were rightly saying, “We’ve got to defend ourselves.  We can’t just take the rockets” (inaudible) we didn’t want to see that happen (inaudible).  I went to Jerusalem and met with the Israeli cabinet.  I went to Ramallah and met with President Abbas and the Palestinian Authority.  I went back to Jerusalem.  I flew to Cairo and tried to negotiate the ceasefire with the Muslim Brotherhood president of Egypt, Morsi, who was (inaudible).  And it took hours and hours.  I had very little sleep.  But eventually we got a ceasefire; the rockets stopped.  Now, that didn’t end the conflict.  It didn’t stop other outbreaks that (inaudible).  But it couldn’t have happened without American intervention and leadership.
 
“A lot of the issues that you see in the headlines remain at the heart of what we have to do every single day in the Situation Room, in meetings here in our country and around the world.  But then there are the longer-term trends.  We’ve got to get serious about how we use diplomacy and development to change circumstances to that we try to prevent and avoid the outbreak of terrorism, the outbreak of disease, the kind of challenges that will end up affecting us directly or indirectly.  I look at all the candidates in this campaign and I’m very grateful that I’ve had this experience.  I’ve been in that Situation Room, making really tough decisions.  They don’t get there if they’re not tough decisions – somebody else decides them, or we sign off on them, but you get there – it’s like the bin Laden decision.  There was nothing at all preordained about what the outcome would be.  We had intelligence.  Was it good intelligence?  We had to test it.  Was it what they called actionable intelligence?  In other words, could we act on it?  We thought we had a real trail to bin Laden in that military garrison town, in Abbottabad, Pakistan, but could we do anything about it?  So I was asked to be among the very small group of advisors to weigh the intelligence, weigh our options, and advise the President.
 
“It was hard.  I couldn’t talk to anybody.  It was totally off the books.  But after listening to the intelligence, listening to the military options, I was one of those who recommended to the President that he go ahead and launch what was a very risky raid into Pakistan.  Because if all we had done is launch a missile, dropped a bomb, we would never have known.  And we still would have had all the blowback that comes from doing that.  It was one of the most intense days in my life, sitting there.  We saw some of it on the video, and then once they were inside there was no more video, but we had audio connection.  And some of you who may have followed this know that one of the helicopters hit the tail going into the courtyard, got disabled, but because of the incredibly careful planning, we didn’t leave anybody behind, we didn’t cause any conflict with the Pakistanis – we were able to get in and get out and bring to justice one of the worst mass murderers in recent times.
 
“Nothing about (inaudible) a checkbook, a formula they’d use to get a computer and let the algorithms decide it for you.  It takes human effort.  It takes planning.  It takes the ability to bring people together around a common goal. 
 
“Foreign policy and national security always confront a president, sometimes (inaudible) imagine, other times (inaudible).  I’ve met so many Bosnian refugees here in Iowa.  They come up to me and they thank me (inaudible).  They’re now contributing members of communities across this state.  So we have to always act in accordance with our values, which is why I find offensive the kind of demagoguery (inaudible) comments about Mexicans and Muslims and others that you hear (inaudible).  In the world in which we are in today, we need to be uniting people, not dividing them.  We need to be standing against the common threats and dangers that we face.     
 
“And let me just end on this litany of concerns that I have coming from the Republicans and knowing, as you listen to them, it’s hard to find any personal right that they support other than the Second Amendment.  Human rights, civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, voting rights, worker rights – the list is long.  I want you to know where I stand.
I will defend a woman’s right to make the most personal health care decisions that any person has to face.     And that’s one of the reasons I am absolutely standing firm against any defunding of Planned Parenthood.     I am very honored to have the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and I want to thank Heather Jorgensen (ph) and all the NARAL members for NARAL’s endorsement as well.  Thank you.     This is another issue I am not new to.  I have been standing up for women’s rights all my life.  And I was proud to represent our country in Beijing in 1995 to speak out in favor of women’s rights as human rights everywhere in the world.     And we’ve seen changes, but not enough.  Right now, the Republican governors and members of Congress are doing everything they can to turn the clock back on women’s rights, and we have to understand this is a fundamental threat to freedom and to autonomy and to dignity, and we must not let it happen.
 
“I will also defend marriage equality and work against discrimination against the LGBT community.  It is wrong that it still persists. 
 
“I have been fighting against the suppression of voting rights that is now going on in many states in our country.  We must stand up for voting rights.     And we must reverse Citizens United.  It is a corrupting, pernicious influence on our political system.     That’s why it’s also important the next president may get as many as three Supreme Court appointments.  No matter what you care about – women’s rights, gay rights, voting rights, workers’ rights – I know I’ve got friends from AFSCME here.  I am proud to have their endorsement.     Because fundamental labor rights is one of the Declaration of Human Rights listed by the United Nations.  Eleanor Roosevelt, one of my favorite Americans, was part of that drafting.  And I know what it’s like because I’ve traveled to so many countries where workers are treated like disposable commodities, where they are worked to death literally.  And that’s in alleged private employment – and where still people are being trafficked for their labor. 
 
“I don’t think a lot of Americans who think, “Well, that’s not my issue.  What happens to unions, that’s not my issue,” understand it’s a balance-of-power issue.  You talk about taking on vested interests?  A lot of employers are making it as hard as possible for employees to make a living to support their families in a middle-class lifestyle, while they cart away billions of dollars in profits and bonuses.  So I care about workers’ rights, and I’m going to stand up and fight for bargaining, for safe working conditions, for decent pay.   
 
“And I will prevent the privatization of Social Security and the voucherization of Medicare, both of which are on the Republican wish list.  I’ll do everything I can to repair what is broken in the VA system, but I will not let the Republicans privatize the VA and take away the guaranteed benefits that veterans have earned because of their service.     I will continue to fight for comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship.  I will stand up and work toward making reforms in our criminal justice system and ending the era of mass incarceration, both of which have caused unintended and very difficult circumstances for so many communities.
 
“So there’s a big agenda.  It’s not one thing the next president has to do.  You have to operate on so many different levels, in so many different arenas, simultaneously.  I’m prepared to do all parts of the job – make the economy work for everybody, not just those at the top; raising incomes; giving people more of a chance to make it in life; keeping our country safe and leading the world with strength; working on those problems that keep families up at night, like Alzheimer’s and addiction, mental health, so many difficulties that people have shared with me.  A lot of folks said, “Why did you start talking to such small groups of people (inaudible)?”  And I’ll tell you, because I really want to listen.  I figured there’d be plenty of time for me to talk at you, but I wanted to hear from you (inaudible).  And I couldn’t believe from my very first meeting in Davenport, that very first day and a few days later in Council Bluffs, people wanted to talk to me about mental health and substance abuse.  That wasn’t on my (inaudible) and if you tried to make the longest list you could imagine of what might pop up the very next day, to be ready, be prepared, be experienced, be focused.  It’s what we have to have in our next president to stand up for our values, to make it clear we are better united than divided (inaudible).
 
“So I am hoping that you will be the first line of defense – we need you to be – against any possible opportunity for the Republicans to take back the White House.  This is a very consequential caucus because it will set the tone for whether or not we’re going to be able to hold onto the White House, build on the progress we’ve made, or watch it get ripped away.  I hope you will talk to some of our staff and volunteer these last few weeks.  Go to our website, hillaryclinton.com/Iowa.  Text “Join,” J-o-i-n, to 47246 to see how you can get involved. 
 
“People ask me, “Well, how do you do this every day?”  And I do it because I really love our country and I really believe that we’ve got to make sure that the next generation, some of whom are here today, have the same promise and potential that any of us inherited.  And I think especially about my 15-month-old granddaughter, who is just the joy of our life.  We’re thrilled she’ll have a little brother or sister come the summer (inaudible) double the thrill for us.   
 
“But I’m the granddaughter of a factory worker.  My grandfather came to this country as a young immigrant child and went to work in the Scranton lace mills in Scranton, Pennsylvania.  He worked really hard to give his three sons a better life, and he did.  All three of them ended up going to college.  And my dad, when he graduated in the middle of the Depression, couldn’t find a job and hopped a freight train, got to Chicago, got a job selling around the Midwest, and then went into the Navy and came out and started a small business.  So I’m very fortunate because I had great parents.  My mother’s experience was very different (inaudible) much more difficult life – abandoned by her parents, sent to live with grandparents who didn’t want her, and she started working as a maid when she was 14.  I often asked her, “How did you survive?  How could you keep going?”  And she would say, “Because people were kind to me.  Because there was opportunities that I could have to try to get a job, do better.”  She never got to graduate from college, which she would have loved. 
 
“So I feel fortunate, and here I am, three generations later, asking you to elect me to be the first woman president in the history of the United States.     
And I want you to know I will do everything in my power as your president not just to make sure my granddaughter has (inaudible) in our country, but that every child and grandchild does as well, that every single child – whether they’re the granddaughter of a factory worker or a farmer or the grandson of a trucker or a teacher – (inaudible) have the opportunity to go as far as your hard work, your talent can take you.  That’s what I want to see our country be for everybody.  I’m confident and optimistic we can do it, and I need your help to get there.
 
“Thank you all very much.”
 
 
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For Immediate Release, January 12, 2016