Today's edition of Hillary News & Views kicks off with some of the news she made during her Facebook Q&A yesterday afternoon.
There has already been widespread coverage of her Black Lives Matter statement, but she also addressed gender issues and gave more details about Wall Street reform.
We'll start off with the former issue, which found Clinton responding to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's observation that "the gender card alone isn't enough" to earn Clinton a presidential victory in 2016.
Here's her Facebook response:
Wow. If that’s what he said, Mitch McConnell really doesn’t get it. There is a gender card being played in this campaign. It’s played every time Republicans vote against giving women equal pay, deny families access to affordable child care or family leave, refuse to let women make decisions about their health or have access to free contraception. These aren’t just women’s issues, they are economic issues that drive growth and affect all Americans. Anyone who doesn’t get that doesn’t understand what our lives are like. -H
Clinton followed up on Twitter by calling out Scott Walker's latest anti-choice legislation...
...and then by actually playing the gender card!
More News & Views after the jump!
Vox has an excellent summary of some of the financial reforms Clinton proposed in the Facebook chat:
"Too often it seems like the people responsible get off with limited consequences (or none at all). Even when they’ve already pocketed the gains," Clinton said. "That's wrong and it has to change."
She laid out a three-part plan to do that.
1) Appoint and empower tough, independent-minded regulators and give them the resources they need to do their jobs.
2) Make sure that good people have real incentives to come forward and report illegal activity by raising the whistleblower caps so they're actually effective.
3) Make sure that when corporations pay fines to the government for wrongdoing, those fines cut into the bonuses of the executives who should have been accountable or should have caught the problem.
Reuters expanded on the thought process behind raising the cap on whistleblower rewards:
Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, said she would increase the maximum amount of money a whistleblower can be rewarded so such incentives "are actually effective."
Whistleblowers who expose wrongdoing under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act cannot be rewarded more than $1.6 million, an amount Clinton should be "sharply increased," her campaign staff said soon after in an email to reporters.
"While this represents a large sum in real dollars, it pales in comparison to pay levels within the financial sector," the campaign's statement said, and so the cap was not a big enough incentive for finance workers to risk lucrative careers by reporting wrongdoing.
Whistleblowers in sectors governed by other laws can potentially receive much larger rewards, measured as a percentage of a settlement or an amount recovered, and Clinton said this disparity needs to be resolved.
Clinton also
reaffirmed her commitment to both upholding Dodd-Frank and expanding upon it, and made clear that individuals must be held responsible for wrongdoing, because nobody is
"too big to jail":
Tomorrow is the 5th anniversary of Dodd-Frank - the law passed to deal with the problems on Wall Street that led to the financial crisis. It's been under constant attack from Republicans in Congress ever since.
As president, I'll defend Dodd-Frank - and I'll go beyond. You're right - we have work to do to enhance accountability. We've all heard the shocking stories of misconduct by individuals and institutions in the financial industry.
And even though some institutions have paid fines and even admitted guilt, too often it seems like the people responsible get off with limited consequences (or none at all). Even when they’ve already pocketed the gains. That's wrong and it has to change.
Last week, I pledged to prosecute individuals as well as firms when they commit fraud or other criminal wrongdoing - because no one is "too big to jail."
I’ll be laying out my Wall Street agenda in more detail soon.
The latest
ABC News-Washington Post poll continues its trend of coming in on the higher end of Clinton's polling numbers:
In the contest for the Democratic nomination, former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton maintains a wide lead, with 68 percent of registered Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents saying they would vote for her today in a caucus or primary...
Clinton, who has highlighted the possibility of becoming the first female president in U.S. history, is far more popular among Democratic women than men, by almost 20 points. About 9 in 10 of her supporters say they are enthusiastic about her candidacy.
Part of Clinton’s strength is that she is considered ideologically acceptable to a broad swath of the Democratic Party. Nearly 7 in 10 say she is “about right” ideologically.
Though not mentioned in the article, Clinton's
overall numbers are just as strong with voters of color (71%) than they are with women (71%).
Speaking of women, Clinton has a fan in feminist comic Amy Schumer, who recalled a conversation the women had recently in an interview with GQ:
You met Hillary Clinton recently, right?
A couple of months ago, Glamour Women of the Year, but I've always been a fan. It was very cool. She was a good audience member—she commented on a couple of the jokes I told. I said that in L.A. my arms register as legs, and she really liked that. She was, "I can relate."
And one of the acts that had gone up before me did some stuff that was very disrespectful to her, and I definitely didn't think it was funny, and I said to her, like, "What the f--- was that?" She just goes, "Par for the course.... I'm so used to it."
For more on Hillary Clinton's campaign for the presidency, check out…
The Hillary 2016 Platform Series
Part 1: Criminal Justice Reform
Part 2: Immigration Reform
Part 3: Voting Rights
Unfiltered Hillary: The Transcripts
July 20, 2015: Facebook Q&A
July 17, 2015: Iowa State Democratic Party Hall of Fame Dinner
April 23, 2015: Women in the World Summit
Crossposted at Hillary HQ.com, an independent, progressive blog committed to electing Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States.