Hillary Clinton Slams Republicans For Attacking The Bargain That Is The Backbone of America

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Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took aim at Republicans for destroying economic opportunity for workers by undermining the basic American bargain that hard work is rewarded with success.

Video of Hillary Clinton’s Labor Day speech in Chicago:

While speaking in Chicago, Clinton said, “I joined the Senate in 2001, and I saw from the get-go that what the new president wanted to do along with his Republican allies was not just turn the clock back on an economy that was working better for hard working Americans. But turn the clock back on what built the middle class. Going back as far as they could, and I saw it. I spoke out against it. I gave speeches on the Senate floor and every other place I could get. Basically, making the argument don’t let them go back to trickle down economics. Don’t let them impose their failed economic policies on us again. Don’t let them turn their backs on what works in America.”

In a separate statement former Sec. of State Clinton added:

America’s workers are the backbone of our economy. Working men and women forged the basic bargain that made this country great – that if you work hard and do your part, you can get ahead and stay ahead. This Labor Day, we celebrate all the workers who built America from the ground up.

But as we celebrate, we also rededicate ourselves to making sure that basic bargain lasts. It’s under attack from Republicans who want to cut taxes for the wealthy and let corporations write their own rules. They don’t want to strengthen workers’ rights; they want to undermine them. We can’t let that happen.

I have fought for working families my entire career. In the Senate, I was an original co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act. As President, I will fight to increase the minimum wage and get wages rising again for all American workers. Right now, CEO pay and corporate profits are through the roof but middle-class incomes have barely budged. That’s not the way it’s supposed to work in America.

I’ll also fight for investments in infrastructure and high-tech manufacturing, to create more good-paying jobs. I’ll invest in America’s future workforce, by making sure every child can go to a high-quality preschool, costs won’t be a barrier to college, and student debt won’t hold anyone back. And I’ll expand apprenticeship programs, so more companies invest in hiring and training new workers.

None of this will come easily. But we Americans aren’t afraid of hard work. This Labor Day, we celebrate advances that took a lot of patient, persistent effort – like the 40-hour workweek, overtime protections, workplace safety rules, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act. They all took sacrifice and courage on the part of American workers, from the factory floor to the emergency room to the construction crane. And thanks to them, our country became a better, fairer place.

I will always stand with workers. I’ll always champion their right to organize. And I’ll always fight efforts to roll back union collective bargaining rights. Because when workers are strong, and working families are strong, America is strong.

The basic bargain in this country has always been that hard work creates opportunities for success, but American workers are working harder than ever before and are being cheated out of their share of the rewards that come from success.

As Clinton pointed out, Republicans have gone from opposing anything that they view as expanding workers’ rights to actively trying to undermine the rights of American workers. The Democratic nominee must vow to fight against the interests that are bankrolling the Republican agenda against workers.

Former Sec. Clinton hit the nail on the head. The next battle will be centered on increasing wages for the nation’s workers. Democrats must lead this unified fight because Republicans have the billionaire’s money. It will take a united Democratic front to move this nation forward.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association