In keeping with her promise to give Bernie supporters a seat at the table, Hillary will announce today, via a video at Netroots Nation, that during her first 30 days in office, she will introduce a Constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.
In her video, she spoke directly to Bernie supporters:
"I know that many of the people in this room supported Sen. Sanders in the primary," Clinton will tell Netroots activists in the video, as footage of the senator and his wife, Jane, a popular campaign surrogate, plays behind her. "I'm looking forward to hearing from you, learning from you, and working with you."
The announcement is yet another overture to the wing of the party that is loyal to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the liberal senator who pushed Clinton during the months-long Democratic primary. Sanders endorsed Clinton earlier this month.
Hillary has long supported overturning Citizens United but it was Bernie’s campaign that put campaign finance reform front and center during the Democratic primary. Bernie proposed overturning Citizens United through a Constitutional amendment, pledged to appoint only SCOTUS Justices who would overturn Citizens United and funded his campaign solely through small donations averaging $27 each. Ending the oligarchic trend our nation is heading in and restoring our democracy was a cornerstone of Bernie’s campaign and remains a pertinent issue for progressives.
The Clinton announcement is not so much a new position — she indicated last year that she saw an amendment as one option for dialing down the influence of big money in politics. But it is a new indication of the seriousness with which she plans to approach the issue — a signal, as the Progressive Change Campaign Committee’s Marissa Barrow noted, that Clinton will “elevate the fight against big money influence in politics during her first month in office.”
In addition to overturning Citizens United, Hillary also announced today that she will create more transparency and accountability in political spending:
ST. LOUIS — Hillary Clinton will call for a constitutional amendment to "overturn Citizens United" in her first 30 days as president and plans to make that announcement today to progressive activists at the annual Netroots Nation conference.
"I will also appoint Supreme Court justices who understand that this decision was a disaster for our democracy," Clinton will say in a video message, scheduled to run near the end of today's final keynote session. "I will fight for other progressive reforms, including small-dollar matching and disclosure requirements. I hope some of the brilliant minds in this room will seek out cases to challenge Citizens United in the courts."
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In a statement accompanying the announcement, Clinton pledges to "promote SEC rulemaking requiring publicly traded companies to disclose all political spending to their shareholders" and to sign an "executive order requiring federal government contractors to fully disclose all political spending." She has discussed versions of those ideas on the campaign trail, but the forum of Netroots Nation — a conference in its 11th year that she visited in person only once — was a striking place to make the statement. www.washingtonpost.com/...
Hillary’s announcement today sends a clear message to progressives that she does intend to “give them a seat at the table when she is in the White House.”
Taking a clear, strong position in favor of an amendment is politically smart for the presumptive Democratic nominee as she continues to appeal to progressive Democrats and independents who supported Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the race for the nomination. Clinton knows this; as part of the Netroots video, she says: “I know that many of the people in this room supported Senator Sanders in the primary. I’m looking forward to hearing from you, learning from you, and working with you.”www.thenation.com/...
Earlier this month, Hillary expanded her college plan to include free tuition, a key piece of Bernie’s college plan and included in her health care plan, expanded Medicare and increased community health center funding, an issue Bernie has long worked on.
Clinton announced ahead of that endorsement that she was changing her college affordability and health care plans to be more in line with the Vermont senator's views, something aides from both campaigns said helped pave the way for Sanders' backing.
These unity efforts first took root when Hillary and Bernie’s campaign worked together to create the most progressive Democratic platform in the party’s history.
Before this primary season, the Democratic Party’s national platform had not been contested since 1988, when Jesse Jackson offered amendments on military policy, health care, and education, and introduced rules to diversify the party.
But this year, Bernie Sanders broke that consensus by reviving the New Deal of FDR Democrats. Hillary Clinton, of course, went on to win the majority of delegates. But heading into Philadelphia, she still needs to win over a significant portion of Sanders’s base supporters. Sanders was clear early on that his campaign aimed to fortify a grassroots movement, not himself as a candidate. He identified the platform as a way to register the Democratic Party’s commitment to a progressive agenda—a kind of peace treaty between the DNC and the political revolution, but also an historical marker of dissent from the party’s neoliberal agenda.
There’s not enough to space here to further highlight the achievements of the committee: from a surprise Sanders win on the $15 minimum wage and a pathway to marijuana legalization, to improvements in Social Security and reference to full employment, to financial reforms that would revive Glass-Steagall and institute a financial-transactions tax. A series of unity deals on climate change inched the party closer to renewable energy, and the platform registered the first-ever call to abolish capital punishment.
Hillary is not simply reaching out and listening to Bernie supporters, her actions to include items that are high on the list for progressives, has laid the groundwork to move a progressive agenda forward under a Hillary Clinton Presidency.
Keynote; Sat, 07/16/2016 - 04:30pm, General Session - Hall 2
Join us for our closing keynote and a final few words to inspire you as you get ready to head back home and work for change. You’ll hear from speakers including Rep. Keith Ellison and NYT bestselling author Steve Phillips about the importance of fighting together for equality and progress (and against Donald Trump), plus Secretary Clinton will make a special policy announcement via video just for Netroots attendees. You’ll also hear from Equality Florida’s Carlos Guillermo Smith, who will share stories and experiences from his hometown of Orlando. We’ll also be joined by Joseph Geevarghese and Brittany Butler with Good Jobs Nation who will tell us how we can end the U.S. Government’s role as America’s #1 low-wage creator.