Hillary Clinton, most recently serving as the United States Secretary of State (20092013), and U.S. Senator from New York (20012009), has taken positions on political issues via her public comments, and based on her voting record as a Senator.
As per custom, during her time as Secretary of State she largely avoided taking stances on most domestic or political issues.[1][2] In 2015, she announced her candidacy for President in the 2016 U.S. elections.
At the CNN/YouTube Democratic primary debate in June 2007, in response to the question of whether she would describe herself as a liberal, Clinton said: "I consider myself a modern progressive, someone who believes strongly in individual rights and freedoms, who believes that we are better as a society when we're working together and when we find ways to help those who may not have all the advantages in life get the tools they need to lead a more productive life for themselves and their family. So I consider myself a proud modern American progressive, and I think that's the kind of philosophy and practice that we need to bring back to American politics."[3]
H. A. Goodman of The Huffington Post described Hillary Clinton as "neither a liberal, nor a true conservative. Rather, she's an electable Democratic candidate who leans to the right. Goodman says that she's the Democratic version of Mitt Romney; President Hillary Clinton would be a conservative Barack Obama and a somewhat liberal George Bush."[4]
Elizabeth MacDonald of the Fox Business Network said of Hillary Clinton, that "as Hillary Clinton declares war on the billionaire class, her six-figure speeches, deep pocket donors on Wall Street and corporate America from places like Citigroup (C) and Goldman Sachs (GS), already has the presidential hopeful talked about as a LINOa liberal in name only." She also stated that "Hillary Clintons progressive leanings are there. Clinton now decries President George W. Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy in favor of tax cuts for the middle class. Clinton is also taking a page from her husband who campaigned on a middle class tax cut, but instead delivered a child care tax credit (and cut capital gains taxes). Clinton now wants tax credits for things such as student loans, and repeatedly voted against repealing the estate tax on millionaires, which slams small business. Clinton backed Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warrens Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, fought for a nationalized health insurance system, and comprehensive immigration reform."[5]
Chris Matthews of Hardball with Chris Matthews described Hillary Clinton as "more of a conservative in a sense of more of a traditional politician from the center, center."[6]
However, Elizabeth MacDonald also stated that "Clintons business leanings are also there, with speeches talking of the need for a strong private sector thats necessary to create jobs. Bubbling up, too, is the still serious controversy about her State Dept. email server and the Clinton Foundation, with pay to play charges over cash donations from companies and foreign donors. As secretary of state, Clinton worked on behalf of the private sector, for companies like American Airlines (AAL), General Electric (GE), Microsoft (MSFT), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Corning (GLW), FedEx (FDX), and Boeing (BA). Nearly five dozen companies that donated more than $26 million to the Clinton Foundation had also lobbied the State Department during her tenure, says the Wall Street Journal. Other outlets put the number as at least 181 Clinton Foundation donors that lobbied the U.S. State Department while Hillary Clinton was in charge."[5]
Former Congressman Joe Scarborough described Hillary Clinton as "the neocon's neocon. It's going to be fascinating if she decides to run and she gets the nomination, that she will be more of a sabre-rattler and more of a neocon than the Republican nominee. Is that not the case? There's hardly been a military engagement that Hillary hasn't been for in the past 20 years."[7]
The American Conservative Union's 2014 Annual Ratings of Congress said of her: "Another interesting fact in our analysis is the stark reminder that Sec. Hillary Clinton is no moderate. While many in the media portray her as more centrist than Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) or Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Clintons lifetime rating of 8.13% is within two percentage points from the aforementioned senators. And shockingly, all three of these presidential hopefuls are even more liberal than President Barack Obamas Lifetime Rating of 10% from when he served in the U.S. Senate."[8]
In a 2005 fund-raising speech in San Francisco, she was highly critical of the George W. Bush 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."[9] Clinton has sponsored legislation designed to reduce the deficit by reinstating some taxes that had been cut.[citation needed] She has co-sponsored legislation related to debt and deficit reduction.[citation needed] On the other hand, she has advocated for federal spending that many describe as wasteful, including the expenditure of $1 million of federal funds for a museum commemorating the Woodstock Music Festival."[10]
In January 2008 Clinton called upon Congress to pass an economic stimulus package totaling as much as $110 billion, to deal with the effects of a possible recession. The package would consist of funds to help deal with the effect of the subprime mortgage crisis, to help lower-income families pay for higher home energy costs, to extend unemployment insurance, and to possibly provide some tax refunds.[11]
Clinton has not signed the tax cut pledge from Americans for Tax Reform, which pledges not to create new taxes or raise existing ones while in office.[12] Clinton advocates repealing portions of the Bush tax cuts, effectively increasing some taxes to the higher rates which existed in 2000.[13]
According to Vox, Clinton was more liberal on economic issues than President Obama and former-president Bill Clinton, and had a more liberal voting record than Obama when they both served in the United States Senate.[14]
Clinton supports energy conservation, releasing oil reserves, increasing the number of hydrogen-powered vehicles, and ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. She opposes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge[15] and the Bush administration's energy policy.[15]
Clinton supports cap-and-trade, which allows companies to trade carbon credits, seeks an 80% carbon cut by 2050, seeks a 10% national energy reduction by 2020, advocates a zero emission policy for federal buildings by 2030, calls for raising gas mileage standards to 35m.p.g. within 10 years (having indicated a willingness to use administrative power if Congress fails to act on this), and opposes drilling in the Atlantic.[citation needed]
At a February 18, 2007 campaign rally in Columbia, South Carolina, Clinton stated, "I think nuclear power has to be part of our energy solution... We get about 20% of our energy from nuclear power in our country... other countries like France get much much more, so we do have to look at it because it doesn't put greenhouse gas emissions into the air."[16] Subsequently in a July 2007 Democratic debate, when asked about nuclear power as an alternative energy source, she said, "I'm agnostic about nuclear power. Until we figure out what we're going to do with the waste and the cost, it's very hard to see nuclear as a part of our future. But that's where American technology comes in. Let's figure out what we're going to do about the waste and the cost if we think nuclear should be a part of the solution."[17]
In November 2007 Clinton's energy plan further elucidated:[18]
In July 2008[dated info] she continued to indicate an interest in the possibilities of vegetable oil economy, and said, "I will continue to be [the] biggest booster [of researchers and exhibitors of such technology]. We are living off the investments of previous generations. It is now time for us to step up and make those investments, and I am absolutely positive we will."[19]
In June 2014 she proposed $100 billion per year by 2020 for climate change mitigation.[20]
In 2015, Hillary Clinton has stated that her goal is to have enough clean renewable energy to power every home within ten years in the United States.[21]
In a speech in Des Moines, Iowa, on July 27, 2015, Clinton pledged to make climate change a major focus of her 2016 presidential campaign, saying the U.S. should take the lead on the issue.[22] When asked by reporters, Clinton did not provide details on how she would pay for her clean-energy proposals, but said she would offer more specifics in the future, and that some of her proposed initiatives would "pay for themselves".[22]
As Secretary of State under President Obama, Secretary Clinton promoted fracking to various countries; she does not tout this method of drilling for natural gas during her Presidential bid for 2016 however.[23]
In her Iowa speech, Clinton, although she had supported construction of the Keystone XL pipeline in 2012,[24] declined to take a position on whether the pipeline should now be built, saying that as Secretary of State, she had set in motion a review process a number of years ago to evaluate the pipeline, and would allow her successor John Kerry, and President Obama to make the decision. I will refrain from commenting because I had a leading role in getting that process started, Clinton said, and I think that we have to let it run its course.[22] During a community forum in Des Moines, she officially announced her opposition to the project, as it "interferes with our ability to move forward with all the other issues".[25]
In October 2015, Clinton said in a Democratic primary debate that "When I think about capitalism I think about all the business that were started because we have the opportunity and the freedom to do that and to make a good living for themselves and their families We would be making a grave mistake to turn our backs on what built the greatest middle class in the history."[26] Unlike Senator Bernie Sanders, a rival candidate in the 2016 Democratic primaries, Clinton is not a supporter of the Nordic model, saying in the same debate: "We are not Denmark. I love Denmark. We are the United States of America, and it's our job to rein in the excesses of capitalism so it doesn't run amok."[26][27] and "what we have to do every so often in America is save capitalism from itself."[27]
In a July 2015 speech at the New York University Stern School of Business, Clinton condemned what she called "short-termism" and "quarterly capitalism""the obsession with share prices and quarterly earnings over real value creation, which Clinton views as dangerous to the economy."[28][29] Clinton called for "new, creative, disruptive ideas to save capitalism"[29] and has said that capitalism "needs to be reinvented, it needs to be put back into balance."[28]
Noting that the U.S. economy has performed better under Democratic presidents than Republican ones since World War II, Clinton has said: "The economy does better when you have a Democrat in the White House and that's why we need to have a Democrat in the White House in January 2017."[30]
In a 1996 interview, Clinton commented on the relationship between government and the private sector, saying: "I just believe that there's got to be a healthy tension among all of our institutions in society, and that the market is the driving force behind our prosperity, our freedom in so many respects to make our lives our own but that it cannot be permitted just to run roughshod over people's lives as well."[31]
On December 7, 2015, in the New York Times, Clinton presented her detailed plans for regulating Wall Street financial activities and related.[32]
Clinton has received criticism for her ties with Wall Street and special interests.[33][34]
During the 1993 internal debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement, Clinton made clear her feeling that its passage was getting higher priority within the administration than it should, especially compared to the Clinton health care reform plan.[35][36][37][38] By most accounts, Clinton was also unenthusiastic about the merits of the agreement, believing it would cause a loss of American jobs and would be politically unpopular.[35][36][39][40] Once her husband decided to proceed with NAFTA, Clinton as First Lady participated in at least five meetings at the White House aimed at securing Congressional passage of the agreement,[41] which Gergen and former official Robert J. Shapiro felt showed she had been a "good soldier" in getting behind a settled decision,[39][40] but which other attendees interpreted as showing Clinton was in fact behind the agreement.[37] During later years of the administration and in her memoir, Clinton touted her husband's support for NAFTA.[42]
In 2005, Clinton voted against the Central America Free Trade Agreement,[43] believing that it did not provide adequate environmental or labor standards.[44] Again, she differed with her husband who, as the former president, supported the agreement.[45]
Clinton, together with fellow New York Senator Charles Schumer, welcomed a 2006 decision by the United States Commerce Department that called for a 108.3% duty on imports from Chinese candlemakers, as the imports sought to circumvent an Anti-dumping Duty Order.[46] Clinton stated, "This is a real victory for the Syracuse candle-making industry. Our manufacturers deserve a level playing field and we owe it to them to make sure that others do not unfairly circumvent our fair trade practices. Syracuse has a proud history of candle production but attempts by importers to undercut our producers have put that tradition at risk. I am pleased that the Department of Commerce heeded our call to take action against these unfair practices and recognized the importance of this decision to local producers, especially here in Syracuse. We will continue to make the case on behalf of Syracuse candle-makers as the Commerce Department considers its final determination." Free trade proponents at the libertarian Cato Institute made a connection to Frdric Bastiat's "Candlemakers' Petition", a satire of protectionism.[47]
During her 2008 presidential campaign, Clinton repeatedly criticized the agreement,[41][48] despite it being one of the major achievements of her husband's administration.[42] She said, "NAFTA did not do what many had hoped. NAFTA was a mistake to the extent that it did not deliver on what we had hoped it would."[42] She did say that she believed in the underlying idea behind trade agreements such as NAFTA: "I believe in the general principles it represented. But what we have learned is that we have to drive a tougher bargain. Our market is the market that everybody wants to be in. We should quit giving it away so willy-nilly. I believe we need tougher enforcement of the trade agreements we already have."[40] She promised that if elected, she would work to implement changes to it that would benefit American workers,[41] saying "I want to be a president who focuses on smart, pro-American trade. I will review every trade agreement. I'm going to ask for revisions that I think will actually benefit our country, particularly our workers, our exporters... And NAFTA will be part of that review, to try to reform and improve it."[42]
When Clinton represented New York in the U.S. Senate from 2001 to 2009, she said: "During my tenure as senator, I have voted for every trade agreement that has come before the Senate, and I believe that properly negotiated trade agreements can increase living standards and foster openness and economic development for all parties."[49]
Former top Obama adviser David Axelrod said on MSNBC that when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, she "owned" the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).[49] In November 2012, during her visit in Australia Clinton, referring to the TPP, stated that it was "the gold standard in trade agreements."[49] In February 2013, Clinton left her job with the general framework of TPP in place.[49] In her 2014 memoir Hard Choices, she wrote:
"Because TPP negotiations are still ongoing, it makes sense to reserve judgment until we can evaluate the final proposed agreement. Its safe to say the TPP wont be perfect -- no deal negotiated among a dozen countries ever will be -- but its higher standards, if implemented and enforced, should benefit American businesses and workers."
During her presidential campaign, in April 2015, Clinton said in New Hampshire that: "Any trade deal has to produce jobs and raise wages and increase prosperity and protect our security".[49] On the date of its final drafting, 5 October 2015, Clinton stated her opposition to the agreement citing her previous objections that it did not meet the high standards she had set for such agreements.[50]
In her book Hard Choices, Clinton stated that there were regulatory hurdles for businesses to create jobs in America and India, saying, "There were still too many barriers and restrictions, but American companies were slowly gaining access to Indian markets, creating jobs and opportunities for people in both countries."[51]
In a speech at a campaign event for Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley on October 24, 2014, Clinton addressed the minimum wage and its effects on job creation by saying,"[d]on't let anyone tell you that raising the minimum wage will kill jobs they always say that. I've been through this. My husband gave workers a raise in the 1990s. I voted to raise the minimum wage and guess what, millions of jobs were created or paid better and more families were secure". She followed that statement by saying "[a]nd don't let anybody tell you that it's corporations and businesses that create jobs. You know that old theory, trickle-down economics. That has been tried, that has failed. It has failed rather spectacularly."[52][53][54][55]
On December 5, 2007, Clinton unveiled her plan to ameliorate the effects of the 2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis on homeowners. She called for a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures, in order that lenders and mortgage servicers have sufficient time to get through paperwork complications and an expected high volume of troubled borrowers without having to shut out the lights, and a five-year freeze on the interest rates of adjustable rate mortgages, so that borrowers would not get slammed by expected 30, 40 or more percent increases in monthly payments due to the effects of the crisis and of unwise initial borrowing decisions.[56]
In a speech to Harvard Medical School on June 4, 1998, Clinton outlined general support for federal universal affordable health care for Americans. "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."[57]
Diane Blair, a political science professor who died in 2000, left notes of a dinner conversation with Clinton in 1993. Blair wrote that Clinton "thinks managed competition a crock; single-payer necessary; maybe add to Medicare." Clinton has said that she has never supported single-payer health care.[58]
Clinton later said that health care coverage improvements need to be made incrementally, in contrast to the more ambitious, wide-ranging plan that failed in 1993 to 1994.[59]
Clinton supported a 2007 proposal to increase funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program by $35 billion over five years.[60]
In September 2007, as part of her presidential campaign, Clinton proposed her own health system reform plan (dubbed the "American Health Choices Plan"), which would require that individuals have health care coverage from some source. Clinton explained that the coverage options available would be enrollment in private insurance plans via an "individual mandate" and an "employer mandate" requiring employers to provide health care benefits, or enrollment in a public program via an expanded version of Medicare or federal employee health plans.[61][62]
The projected cost of the plan is $110 billion annually and will require all employers to cover their employees' health insurance or contribute to the costs of their employees' health insurance coverage; tax credits will be provided to companies with fewer than 25 employees to help cover costs.[61][63] In order to pay for the program's estimated $110 billion per year cost, Clinton favors repealing portions of the Bush tax cuts, effectively increasing some taxes to the higher rates which existed in 2000.[13]
In 2002, Clinton voted in favor of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold Act), which imposed restrictions on soft money and political campaign advertising.[64]
In 2007, Clinton spoke in favor of public financing of some campaigns: "I believe we have to move, eventually in our country, toward a system of public financing that really works for candidates running for federal office. I will support that as president."[65] Ironically, she said this at the same time that her own prodigious fundraising allowed her to opt out of the public financing scheme for presidential elections, the first campaign in 30 years to completely do so.[65] Clinton later reiterated her support for public financing of elections in the wake of the Norman Hsu affair.[63]
In 2006, Clinton praised a Maryland law that required Wal-Mart to contribute to certain levels of health insurance for its employees.[66] When asked what she had done to help Wal-Mart employees obtain better benefits when she served on its board while First Lady of Arkansas, she answered, "Well, you know, I, that was a long time ago have to remember..." and added, "obviously I believe every company should [contribute to benefit plans]."[66]
The Clintons were stockholders in Wal-Mart at the time she was a board member,[66] and Rose Law Firm, where Clinton was a partner, had Wal-Mart as a client.[67] While a board member, Clinton had been silent about the company's infamously anti-labor union practices,[68][69] although she pushed successfully for the chain to adopt more environmentally-friendly practices[68] and had pushed largely unsuccessfully for more women to be added to the company's management.[68]
A January 31, 2008 article from ABC News states, "An ABC News analysis of the videotapes of at least four stockholder meetings where Clinton appeared shows she never once rose to defend the role of American labor unions."[70]
In 2008, Clinton supporting retaining the cap on the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax, the payroll tax which funds Social Security and Medicare. Under the cap at that time, the FICA tax applied to income up to $102,000, with income in excess of this amount (earned by the top 6% of income-earners) not taxable. Clinton said that a repeal of the FICA tax cap would amount to a "tax increase on the middle class."[71]
Regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict, Clinton has stated that she is "an emphatic, unwavering supporter of Israel's safety and security."[72]
On July 18, 2006, Clinton spoke at a pro-Israel rally in New York in front of the United Nations. She supported Israel's efforts in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict: "We are here to show solidarity and support for Israel. We will stand with Israel, because Israel is standing for American values as well as Israeli ones."[73]
On November 13, 2005, Clinton said that she supports the creation of the West Bank barrier, stating: "This is not against the Palestinian people. This is against the terrorists. The Palestinian people have to help to prevent terrorism. They have to change the attitudes about terrorism."[74] She has also requested that Palestinian leaders "change all textbooks in all grades" from the current ones, which are "hate-filled, violent and radical."[75][76][77][78]
As a senator and throughout her career, Clinton had supported a law that requires identifying Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.[79] In September 2011, as Secretary of State, she filed a brief with the US Supreme Court opposing "any American action, even symbolically, toward recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel" because of the influence it might have on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.[80]
During an interview while the 2014 IsraelGaza conflict was ongoing, Clinton said that Hamas had intentionally provoked Israel by firing rockets into that country. In regard to whether Israel's response against Hamas had been proportionate, she said, "I'm not a military planner, but Hamas puts its missiles its rockets in civilian areas. Part of it is that Gaza's pretty small and it's very densely populated. They put their command and control of Hamas military leaders in those civilian areas. Israel, I know, has sent warnings and tried to get people to move, but in any kind of conflict there are going to be civilian casualties, and we need to try to get to a cease-fire as soon as possible."[81]
On April 5, 2006 speaking to the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Clinton said her work for her New York constituents could fall afoul of the Border Protection, Anti-terrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, since some of her constituents are illegal immigrants. "I realize I would be a criminal, too. My staff would be criminal. We help people with all kinds of problems."[82]
On March 8, 2006, she strongly criticized H.R. 4437, a bill passed by the House of Representatives in December 2005 and sent to the Senate, Clinton called the measure "a rebuke to what America stands for" and said it would be "an unworkable scheme to try to deport 11 million people, which you have to have a police state to try to do." She believed the solution to the illegal immigration problem was to make "a path to earned citizenship for those who are here, working hard, paying taxes, respecting the law, and willing to meet a high bar for becoming a citizen."[83][84]
In September 2006, Clinton voted for the Secure Fence Act, authorizing the construction of 700 miles (1,100km) of fencing along the United StatesMexico border.[85]
In May and June 2007, Clinton cast preliminary votes (in terms of amendments and cloture) in support of the high-profile, compromise-based but very controversial, comprehensive immigration reform bill known as the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007.[86] When the bill was again brought forward, she continued to vote in favor of cloture motions to consider it.[87] In October 2007, Clinton voted in favor of a small subset of the previous bill, the DREAM Act.[88]
In 2007, in a speech to the Indian Institute of Technology Clinton repeated her call for an increase in the number of H-1B visas.[89]
At a debate at Drexel University in Philadelphia on October 30, 2007, Clinton committed to support of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's plan to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Two minutes later, she recanted the position and blamed the Bush administration for not passing immigration reform.[90] The following day, she clarified her position in a prepared statement by coming out in support of Spitzer's bill.[91] Two weeks later, after Spitzer abandoned the plan due to widespread opposition, Clinton reversed her position on the issue once again, stating: "I support Governor Spitzer's decision today to withdraw his proposal. As president, I will not support driver's licenses for undocumented people and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of the issues around illegal immigration, including border security and fixing our broken system."[92] At a University of Nevada, Las Vegas debate on November 16, when asked again if she supported granting driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants, she gave a one-word answer: "No."[93]
On March 27, 2008 Clinton again vowed to block the bill. Speaking to a New York group of open-border advocates, she said: "[The bill] is certainly not in keeping with my understanding of the Scriptures because this bill would literally criminalize the Good Samaritan and probably even Jesus himself."[94] Clinton earned a 2008 rating of "D-" from Americans for Better Immigration, an immigration reduction organization.[95]
In 2014, Clinton stated that children from Central America who entered the United States illegally "should be sent back." She added, "We have to send a clear message, just because your child gets across the border, that doesn't mean the child gets to stay." However, by May 5, 2015, Clinton stated that allowing illegal immigrants to have a path to citizenship "is at its heart a family issue."[97]
Hillary Clinton describes Iran as a long-term strategic challenge to the United States, its NATO allies, and Israel. She accuses Iran of state-sponsored terrorism and using its surrogates to supply explosives that kill U.S. troops in Iraq. She criticized the Bush administration for refusing to talk to Iran about its nuclear program; meanwhile, Iran has allegedly enhanced its nuclear-enrichment capabilities.[98]
Clinton says she will attempt to ease tensions with countries like Iran and Syria through direct engagement[99] and Clinton has said that if elected, she would "immediately open a diplomatic track" with Iran.[100] She has accused Iran in several cases such as its nuclear weapons program and sponsorship of terrorism. She has also asked for supporting Middle East peace and playing a constructive role in stabilizing Iraq, and declared the United States should be prepared to offer Iran a carefully calibrated package of incentives. She believes this will signal to the Iranian people that the U.S. government's quarrel is not with them but with the Iranian government and show the world that the United States is prepared to pursue every diplomatic option.[98]
Nonetheless, Clinton supports UN sanctions on Iran, and has said that Iran should not be allowed possession of a nuclear weapon.[101] She has clarified at a February 2007 dinner of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) that "no option can be taken off the table", including diplomatic and economic in addition to the threat and use of military force, when dealing with the country.[100] She has said in a speech at Princeton that a nuclear Iran would be a threat to Israel.[101] In the Princeton speech, Clinton said the US "cannot take any option off the table in sending a clear message to the current leadership of Iran that they will not be permitted to acquire nuclear weapons."[102]
On September 26, 2007, Clinton voted for a symbolic non-binding amendment to label the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution as a "foreign terrorist organization," and to use diplomatic economic, intelligence economic, and U.S. military "instruments" to enforce U.S. policy against Iran and "its proxies" within Iraq.[103] Thus Clinton came under fire from some of her Democratic counterparts for her vote. Clinton insisted that she continues to support vigorous diplomacy with Iran and defended her vote against the Revolutionary Guard, saying Iranian arms shipments to Iraq have slowed down since the Senate resolution passed. But her Democratic opponents criticized her for contributing to what they said was Bush administration saber rattling on Iran.[100]
In October 2007, Clinton cosponsored a bill prohibiting the use of funds for military action in Iran without "explicit Congressional authorization." That bill has not yet been voted on.[100]
Criticism of her Iran stance intensified after the December 3, 2007 release of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, which said Iran appeared to have halted its nuclear weapons program in the fall of 2003.[100]
On April 22, 2008, Clinton threatened Iran with nuclear annihilation if they attacked Israel with nuclear weapons. On ABC News Good Morning America, she said, "If Iran were to launch a nuclear attack on Israel what would our response be? I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran. That's what we will do. There is no safe haven." She continued, "Whatever stage of development they might be in their nuclear weapons program in the next 10 years during which they may foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them."[104] Iran complained to the UN about her comments.[105]
Despite her criticism of Obama's support for negations with Iran regarding its nuclear program during her 2008 election campaign, Clinton helped arrange secret talks with the nation in 2012 and in 2013, after resigning as Secretary of State, stated that negotiations were the most likely way for the US to influence the country's nuclear development.[106]
On April 2, 2015, Clinton confirmed her support for an agreement limiting Iran's nuclear program, calling it "an important step" in controlling the nation's security.[107]
On October 11, 2002, Clinton voted in favor of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq, commonly known as the Iraq War Resolution, to give President Bush authority for the Iraq War.[108]
By February 2007, Clinton made a point of refusing to admit that her October 2002 Iraq War Resolution vote was a mistake, or to apologize for it, as anti-war Democrats demanded. "If the most important thing to any of you is choosing someone who did not cast that vote or has said his vote was a mistake, then there are others to choose from," Clinton told an audience in Dover, New Hampshire.[109]
In the second Democratic debate of the 2008 presidential race, Clinton said that she voted for the resolution under the impression that Bush would allow more time for UN inspectors to find proof of weapons of mass destruction before proceeding. Reporter Carl Bernstein and others have questioned why Clinton would have voted against the Levin Amendment, which would have required President Bush to allow more time to UN weapons inspectors and also would have required a separate Congressional authorization to allow a unilateral invasion of Iraq, if her vote was simply a vote for strong diplomacy.[110][111][112]
During an April 20, 2004 interview on Larry King Live, Clinton was asked about her October 2002 vote in favor of the Iraq war resolution.
Obviously, I've thought about that a lot in the months since. No, I don't regret giving the president authority because at the time it was in the context of weapons of mass destruction, grave threats to the United States, and clearly, Saddam Hussein had been a real problem for the international community for more than a decade.... The consensus was the same, from the Clinton administration to the Bush administration. It was the same intelligence belief that our allies and friends around the world shared.
But, she said, the Bush Administration "really believed it. They really thought they were right, but they didn't let enough sunlight into their thinking process to really have the kind of debate that needs to take place when a serious decision occurs like that."[113]
In a November 29, 2005 letter to her constituents, Senator Clinton said, "There are no quick and easy solutions to the long and drawn out conflict [the Bush] Administration triggered I do not believe that we should allow this to be an open-ended commitment without limits or end. Nor do I believe that we can or should pull out of Iraq immediately."[114]
On June 8, 2006, Clinton said of the US airstrike that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi: "I saw firsthand the terrible consequences of Zarqawi's terrorist network when Bill, Chelsea and I visited the hotel ballroom in Amman, Jordan last November where Zarqawi's followers had detonated a bomb at a wedding, killing and wounding innocent people. We owe our thanks to our men and women in uniform and others in Iraq who have been fighting Zarqawi and other insurgents and who are responsible for today's success."[115]
On June 15, 2006, Clinton charged that President Bush "rushed to war" and "refused to let the UN inspectors conduct and complete their mission We need to be building alliances instead of isolation around the world There must be a plan that will begin to bring our troops home." But she also said, "I do not think it is a smart strategy either for the president to continue with his open-ended commitment which I think does not put enough pressure on the Iraqi government, nor do I think it is a smart policy to set a date certain."[116][117]
Clinton opposed the Iraq War troop surge of 2007 and supported a February 2007 non-binding Senate resolution against it, which failed to gain cloture.[118] On February 5, 2007, Clinton said: "Believe me, I understand the frustration and the outrage You have to have 60 votes to cap troops, to limit funding to do anything. If we in Congress don't end this war before January 2009, as president, I will."[119] On February 17, 2007, Hillary Clinton announced the Iraq Troop Protection and Reduction Act of 2007.[120] This act would compel President Bush to begin relegating troops from Iraq within 90 days of remote passage, or, according to Clinton, Congress would have to dismantle their authorization for the war. The Act would also end the blank check to the Iraqi government and submit them to harsh consequences if boundaries are violated. Lastly, the Act would require the Secretary of Defense to verify the condition, in terms of supplies and in terms of their training, of all Iraqi troops before they are sent.[121]
In March 2007 she voted in favor of a war spending bill that required President Bush to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq within a certain deadline; it passed almost completely along party lines[122] but was subsequently vetoed by President Bush.
In May 2007, Clinton was one of only 14 senators to vote against a compromise war funding bill that removed previously vetoed withdrawal deadlines but tied funding to progress benchmarks for the Iraqi government. She said, "I fully support our troops [but this measure] fails to compel the president to give our troops a new strategy in Iraq."[123]
While calling for ending the war in Iraq, Clinton's indicated in July 2007 that she advocates keeping a reduced number of U.S. troops in Iraq for the foreseeable future, stating "we cannot lose sight of our very real strategic national interests in this region."[124] In the speech, she posited redeploying U.S. forces to protect the Kurdish region in the north, to engage in targeted operations against al-Qaeda in Iraq, and to train and equip Iraqi forces.[124] Clinton's position is similar to that of the Iraq Study Group in that she highlights the need for political reconciliation in Iraq, supports the withdrawal of U.S. combat brigades, and favors keeping a reduced number of troops to serve in training and support roles such as protection of the U.S. Embassy.[124]
On August 22, 2007, Clinton credited the troop surge and related new tactics with helping to produce the Anbar Awakening in Al Anbar Governorate,[125] but said that overall the increase in troops had not met stated goals: "The surge was designed to give the Iraqi government time to take steps to ensure a political solution. It has failed."[125] Furthermore, Clinton, following the lead of Senate Armed Services Committee chair Carl Levin, called on the Iraqi Parliament to replace Nouri al-Maliki as Prime Minister of Iraq with "a less divisive and more unifying figure," saying that Maliki had failed to make progress in bridging differences between the hostile factions within Iraq: "Iraqi leaders have not met their own political benchmarks to share power, modify the de-Baathification laws, pass an oil law, schedule provincial elections, and amend their constitution."[126] (Four days later, Maliki responded angrily to the suggestion, saying, "There are American officials who consider Iraq as if it were one of their villages, for example Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin. This is severe interference in our domestic affairs. Carl Levin and Hillary Clinton are from the Democratic Party and they must demonstrate democracy. I ask them to come to their senses and to talk in a respectful way about Iraq."[127])
In an open letter to President Bush dated November 17, 2007, Clinton stated "The President must make it crystal clear that the United States will not maintain permanent bases in Iraq..." "They would damage U.S. interests in Iraq and the broader region, and I will continue to strongly oppose them."[128]
By late November 2007, with still more evidence that the surge and other tactics and developments had led to a significant lessening of the civil violence in Iraq,[129] Clinton acknowledged the successes but said that the underlying equation had not changed: "Our troops are the best in the world; if you increase their numbers they are going to make a difference. The fundamental point here is that the purpose of the surge was to create space for political reconciliation and that has not happened, and there is no indication that it is going to happen, or that the Iraqis will meet the political benchmarks. We need to stop refereeing their civil war and start getting out of it."[130]
At the January 16, 2008 Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Clinton, along with Senators Barack Obama and John Edwards, maintained that they cannot guarantee the removal of all U.S. troops by the end of their first presidential term due to continuing support roles. All three pledged to begin the withdrawal of combat brigades within 60 days of taking office. Additionally, Clinton used the opportunity to ask Senator Obama to co-sponsor legislation to prevent President Bush from signing long-term agreements with the government of Iraq without the express consent of congress, stating: "So I've introduced legislation that clearly requires President Bush to come to the United States Congress. It is not enough, as he claims, to go to the Iraqi parliament, but to come to the United States Congress to get anything that he's trying to do, including permanent bases, numbers of troops, all the other commitments he's talking about as he's traveling in that region."[131]
In 2000, Clinton said she favored continuing the U.S. embargo against Cuba.[132]
In 2014, Clinton expressed her support for lifting the embargo on Cuba, describing it as "Castro's best friend."[133]
On December 8, 2004, in a speech regarding the passage of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) of 2004, Senator Clinton delivered remarks on her approach to homeland security. "[This] 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.[134]
Later in the speech, Clinton described her satisfaction with the way in which IRTPA 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.[134]
Clinton has sponsored and co-sponsored several bills relating to protecting Americans from acts of terrorism,[135][136] as well as providing assistance to the victims of such acts.[137]
As first lady, Clinton said, "I am very pleased that this president and administration have made democracy one of the centerpieces of our foreign policy." Hillary Clinton favored intervention in Haiti (1994), the Bosnian War (1995), as well as in the Kosovo War (1999). Before the Kosovo war, she phoned Bill Clinton from Africa. As she recalled later, "I urged him to bomb."[138]
In a February 2005 speech at the annual Munich Conference on Security Policy, Clinton expressed regret that the international community had failed to effectively intervene in the 1990s during the Rwandan Genocide and early in the Bosnian War. She praised the United Nations and NATO interventions that did occur later in the Bosnian War (leading to the Dayton Agreement), Kosovo War, and East Timor. Regarding the ongoing large-scale killing in the Darfur conflict, she then advocated "at least a limited NATO role in logistics, communication and transportation in Darfur in support of the African Union."[139]
During the July 2007 CNN/YouTube Democratic debate in South Carolina, Clinton was characterized by The Chicago Tribune as against U.S. military intervention. Asked again whether U.S. troops should be sent to Darfur, Clinton focused on "...sanctions, divestment and UN peacekeepers." When pressed with the question, "How about American troops on the ground?" she said, "American ground troops I don't think belong in Darfur at this time."[138]
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