Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (born October 26, 1947 in Chicago, Illinois as Hillary Diane Rodham) is the junior United States Senator from New York, serving her freshman term since January 3, 2001. She was First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001, as the wife of President Bill Clinton.

Political views

Senator Clinton is largely regarded to be a proponent of American Liberalism, though a sizeable portion of Americans see her in a more centrist light. In a Gallup poll conducted during May, 2005, fifty-four percent of respondents considered Senator Clinton a liberal, thirty percent considered her a moderate, and nine percent considered her a conservative http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/05/26/hillary.clinton/index.html. In 2004, the National Journals study of roll-call votes assigned Clinton a rating of 30 in the political spectrum, relative to the current Senate, with a rating of 1 being most liberal and a rating of 100 being most conservative http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8573139/http://www.apsanet.org/imgtest/TheMostLiberalSenator-Clinton.pdf. Senator Clinton's votes and remarks on many issues provide an outline of her political views.

Related Topics:
American Liberalism - Centrist - Liberal - Moderate - Conservative - National Journal

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Fighting terrorism

In a speech on December 8, 2004, regarding the passage of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, Senator Clinton delivered remarks on her approach to homeland security. " 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 http://clinton.senate.gov/~clinton/news/2004/2004C08C23.html."

Related Topics:
2004 - Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act - Homeland security

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Later in the speech, Senator Clinton described her satisfaction with the way in which the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 tackles what she views as the root causes of terrorism by improving education around the world and establishing schools in Muslim 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 http://clinton.senate.gov/~clinton/news/2004/2004C08C23.html."

Related Topics:
Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act - 2004 - Terrorism - Education - Schools - Muslim - Madrassas

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Clinton has sponsored and co-sponsored several bills relating to the prevention of terrorism.

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Humanitarian intervention abroad

In February 2005 Clinton advocated direct NATO intervention to stop large-scale killing in Darfur, Sudan http://lawofnations.blogspot.com/2005/02/hillary-clinton-calls-for-nato-force.html. Such an intervention to stop continuing genocide would presumably be similar to President Clinton's policy against genocide in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Related Topics:
2005 - NATO - Darfur - Sudan - Genocide - Bosnia - Kosovo

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Free markets, independent press, and independent branches of government

On April 9, 2005, Senator Clinton addressed the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party?s Hubert Humphrey Dinner in Minneapolis. During her speech, Senator Clinton outlined her support for free markets and a government that balances power between its various independent branches. "One of the great geniuses of our founders was also how keenly they understood human nature. They knew if one person, one group acquired too much power it would be dangerous for democracy. You have to keep competing power centers to keep an eye on each other. When you have independent branches of government, a free market economy and a free press then you do have protection against abuse of power."

Related Topics:
2005 - Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party - Hubert Humphrey - Minneapolis - Free markets

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Support for working families

During her speech to the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party?s Hubert Humphrey Dinner in Minneapolis on April 9, 2005, Senator Clinton pledged her support for working families. "We have our work cut out for us and so we fight on. We fight for the parents who get up everyday meeting their responsibilities to their children and to their own parents who are getting older and sometimes need care too. We fight for the mother who worries what she?ll do if her child runs a fever some night and she knows she can?t afford to call a doctor. We fight for the dad who works two jobs to earn the income he used to bring home with one, who never gets to sit down for a family meal anymore, who misses all those softball games, those little league and soccer games. And we fight for the high school senior who has worked so hard and now sees the cost of college slipping out of sight."

Related Topics:
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party - Hubert Humphrey - Minneapolis - 2005

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Universal health care

In a speech to Harvard Medical School on June 4, 1998, Clinton outlined general support for universal health care. "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 http://www.issues2000.org/Senate/Hillary_Clinton_Health_Care.htm."

Related Topics:
Harvard Medical School - 1998

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Clinton has subsequently said that health care coverage improvements need to be made incrementally over time, in contrast to the more ambitious, wide-ranging plan that failed in 1993-1994. Clinton has recently collaborated with former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich on joint proposals for incremental health care improvements that would involve both private insurers and government. http://www.issues2000.org/Senate/Hillary_Clinton_Health_Care.htm http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/21/AR2005072102272.html

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Fiscal responsibility

In her address to the 2000 Democratic National Convention on August 14, 2000, Clinton asserted that it is fiscally responsible for the United States government to stay out of debt. She stressed her support for the social programs, Social Security and Medicare, that were established during the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt. "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, & provide targeted tax cuts to the families who need them most."

Related Topics:
2000 Democratic National Convention - 2000 - Social Security - Medicare - Franklin Roosevelt

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In a 2004 fund-raising speech in San Francisco, she was highly critical of George W. Bush'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."

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/06/28/politics2039EDT0165.DTL

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Clinton has sponsored legislation designed to reduce the deficit by rebalancing recent tax cuts. She has co-sponsored legislation related to debt and deficit reduction.

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Strong 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 U.N., by reforming it, by cleaning up its obvious bureaucratic and managerial shortcomings, and by improving its responsiveness to crises, from humanitarian to political." Senator Clinton continued, "At its founding in San Francisco sixty years ago, fifty members signed the Charter. Today, the U.N. has 191 members, and, quite frankly, many of them sometimes act against the interests of a stronger U.N., whether consciously or not, with alarming regularity. Since the U.N. 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 U.N. becomes progressively weakened by such action. Ironically, "the U.N." - 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.http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=236353&&"

Related Topics:
2005 - Munich Conference on Security Policy - United Nations

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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."

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Eliminating without criminalizing abortion

Clinton has been a staunch supporter of the legality of abortion guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution as determined in the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision of 1973. Clinton is an anti-abortionist who thinks that the criminalization of abortion will not end the practice of abortion. Clinton claims that the acceptance and availability of birth control and sex education will eliminate unwanted pregnancies and bring an end to abortion. Clinton is opposed to the economic and social pressures that lead to abortion.

Related Topics:
U.S. Constitution - Roe v. Wade - Supreme Court - 1973 - Anti-abortionist - Birth control - Sex education - Pregnancies - Abortion

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In a speech on January 24, 2005, to the New York State Family Planning 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." Senator Clinton 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." http://clinton.senate.gov/~clinton/speeches/2005125A05.html

Related Topics:
2005 - Family Planning - Abortion

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A recent New York Times article titled "The Evolution of Hillary Clinton" takes note of Clinton's ability to find middle ground between voters with various views on the criminalization of abortion. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/13/nyregion/13hillary.ready.html?pagewanted=3

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Clinton has a National Abortion Rights Action League score of "100%", voting in favor of maintaining legal abortion with every vote on the subject http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/publications/cong_04_ny.cfm.

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Civil unions for gay couples short of gay marriage

On December 7, 2003, in an interview with John Roberts of CBS News, Senator Clinton expressed her opposition to gay marriage while affirming her support for some form of civil unions for gay couples. "I think that the vast majority of Americans find 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 http://www.friendsofhillary.com/news/20031207b.php." In the same interview, Senator Clinton expressed opposition to the Federal Marriage Amendment, a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay 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 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." Clinton supports the Defense of Marriage Act that allows states to decide same-sex marriage rights independently of other states. http://www.davidclemens.com/gaymilitary/hillary.htm

Related Topics:
2003 - John Roberts - CBS News - Gay marriage - Civil unions - Federal Marriage Amendment - Defense of Marriage Act

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Abraham Lincoln

Clinton thinks that Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican President, would be a modern-day Democrat, saying Lincoln had "attitudes and values very much in line with what the Democratic Party believes." http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/lifestyle/bal-to.democrats23jul23,1,6713748.story?page=2&coll=bal-pe-today

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