Subject: On Breaking Down Barriers Tour Through Appalachia, Hillary Clinton Pledges to Fight for All Americans as President
From: Hillary for America Press <[email-masked]>
To: Hillary for America Press <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 3 May 2016 18:27:16 -0400
List-Id: <nationalpress2016.hillaryclinton.com>

**

*On Breaking Down Barriers Tour Through Appalachia, Hillary Clinton Pledges
to Fight for All Americans as President*

​A​
t the conclusion of her Breaking Down Barriers tour this afternoon, Hillary
Clinton spoke about her plans to raise incomes and expand opportunities for
Appalachian families facing stark challenges: the lowering demand for coal;
outsourcing by American companies, and an opiate epidemic, among others.

During a speech in Athens, Ohio, Clinton renewed her pledge to serve
everyone as president, no matter who they support in this election, saying,
"I’ve said to people, I’m going to try to earn every vote I can, and even
if people don’t vote for me in November, I’m going to be with them and with
you every single day."

Hillary Clinton is committed to focusing on the aspirations and needs of
families in the region that powered America in the 20th Century and has
proposed a $30 billion plan to aid coal communities and a $10 billion plan
to fight drug addiction.  Clinton made stops in Ashland, Kentucky,
Williamson and Charleston, West Virginia, and Athens, Ohio, on her tour,
where she heard directly from coal miners, transportation and power plant
workers, their families and their communities.

*The transcript of Clinton’s remarks, as delivered, is below:*

​"​
Thank you.  Thank you so much.  Wow.  I am so excited to be back in
Athens.  And it is great to be here at the end of a road trip through one
of the most beautiful parts of our country. I thank Sherrod for his
friendship, his leadership, his absolutely tenacious voice in the Senate on
your behalf and on behalf of the values that made America great and will
make us greater.  So thank your superb senator.  I really appreciate you
being here, Sherrod.

I also want to recognize and thank Mayor Steve Patterson from here in
Athens as well. All the other state, county and city elected officials.
And of course, I have to thank Art. Art Oestrike, who invited us to come
here, disrupting his entire brewing schedule.  But did it with good cheer,
having us here in Jackie O’s.  And I have made another campaign promise.  I
know I should stop making campaign promises, but I only make promises that
I intend to keep, not promises I cannot make. And I have told Art that if
I’m so fortunate enough to be back in the White House, some Jackie O’s will
be there too. Now, I will let him choose; it might be Razz Wheat, it might
be something else, but I will let him choose what we will serve.  Okay?  So
that’s one promise I really look forward to keeping.

Over the past two days, I’ve had some extraordinary conversations – tough
and honest.  I’ve met with coal families who want to be thanked, as they
should be, for the work that they and their parents and their grandparents
did to build our country.  I’ve met with steelworker families who don’t
understand how China gets away with undercutting our jobs and businesses.
And I’ve met with railroaders who have watched as the decline of coal and
steel in this region has led to cuts in rail service, which cost jobs now
and will cut the region off from more jobs later.

So to everyone who took the time to tell me about their lives, both the
good and the bad, I am really grateful and thank you.  I will not forget
that generosity.  Thanks to you, I’ve learned a lot – which is what I came
here to do.

We started in Ashland, Kentucky, where I met with dozens of steelworkers
who were laid off when the factory where they worked for decades was
idled.  Then we drove to Williamson, West Virginia, a town deep in the
coalfields, where the community is working hard to build a more diverse
economy after losing hundreds of jobs.  Today, we had a conversation in
Charleston, West Virginia, that was both sorrowful and inspiring, with
people in recovery for addiction and the doctors, the counselors, the
police officers, recovering addicts and others who are helping them get
back on their feet.

I’m ending my trip here, in Athens, because small businesses like Jackie
O’s are what make this such a dynamic, entrepreneurial community – and we
need more of that. It shouldn’t have to be said, but I will say it:
Appalachia is a vital part of the United States and – all of you here today
and people across this region are vital to America’s future.  And I know
that too often, people feel like they’re not treated that way.  But you
should be.

Appalachia is home to some of the most resilient, hardworking people
anywhere on this planet.  And you deserve every chance to get ahead and
stay ahead in America.  Our country succeeds only when working people
everywhere can succeed – not just in big cities, but in the hills of
eastern Kentucky, right here in southern Ohio, deep in the coalfields of
West Virginia, the small towns that dot this part of America.  We need to
break down all the barriers holding people back, not just here in
Appalachia but across America, so everyone can share in the promise of our
country.

Families here, like families everywhere, want the same things: good jobs
that pay enough to provide a middle-class life.  Good schools for kids and
opportunities when they graduate.  Safe and welcoming communities to grow
up in and grow old in.  And something less tangible, but just as essential:
faith in the future, and confidence that your kids and grandkids will have
all the choices and opportunities they deserve.

That shouldn’t be too much to ask – especially for a place that has done so
much for America.  For generations, Appalachian coal put the lights on in
people’s homes and schools, kept assembly lines rolling in factories.
Steel plants helped build our skyscrapers and win World War II.
Appalachian chemical plants made the products that have shaped modern life.

These were tough jobs, but they provided a ticket to the middle class, but
it wasn’t an easy ride.  More than a hundred thousand – let me repeat that:
more than a hundred thousand miners died on the job in the 20th century in
America.  More than twice that many succumbed to black lung disease.  The
United Mine Workers put their lives on the line in places like Harlan
County and Blair Mountain to secure the right to organize, bargain
collectively and protect the wellbeing of miners on the job and in
retirement.  Their hard-won victories helped strengthen the labor movement
nationwide, and countless workers – not just those in unions, but countless
workers – have benefited in all kinds of industries.

So there’s no question that the workers of Appalachia made America more
prosperous and more secure.  And that legacy should be honored – not only
as a rich chapter in our history, but as a debt we always must strive to
repay.

Now, I know that for a lot of people in this region, these words may sound
nice, but it’s not so easy to believe them.  You’ve had a lot of
politicians make a lot of promises to you over the years that they couldn’t
keep.  I’m not going to do that.  What I can promise you is this:  If I
have the honor of serving as your president, I will fight for you and your
families every day – whether you vote for me or not.  I will be your
partner. I will be your partner and I will not for one minute give up on
Appalachia – not on your workers, your children, your retirees or your
communities.

Now, some of you may be wondering how I can say all this.  Because here in
Ohio a few weeks ago during the Ohio primary, it sounded like I said
something differently about coalminer jobs.  To put it plainly, I
misspoke.  It’s one reason why I took this trip, to say that directly to
the people who are affected, to make sure you know where I stand because I
would never disrespect the people here.  And I know that some may well say
I’m talking about coal country, I’m talking about steelworkers, I’m talking
about the region because of the election.  But let’s be honest:  In the
broader region, this isn’t one where a lot of Democrats running for
president tend to win a lot of votes these days.  And I know that there are
people in this region – I met with some of them yesterday – who find it
hard thinking about voting for any Democrat or voting for me particularly.
But I am going to keep trying to convince people otherwise, but that’s not
what this trip is about.

I’m here because I do want to be your president because I believe that our
best years can still be ahead of us.  I am absolutely sure of that.  But
it’s going to require not just what the president does but what all of us
do.  It’s going to require people once again being inspired by that spirit
that has animated American history, that we don’t just diagnose our
problems and complain about them, we roll up our sleeves and we solve them.

And so for me, learning more about the lives of the people here and about
what you want for your futures is critical to what kind of president I
would like to be.  There’s nothing I take more seriously than that.

So I’ve said to people, I’m going to try to earn every vote I can, and even
if people don’t vote for me in November, I’m going to be with them and with
you every single day.

So let me be clear: at a time when our energy sector is changing rapidly,
we need to invest in coal communities.  We need to figure out how to bring
new jobs and industries to them, and we need to stand up to the coal
company executives trying to shirk their responsibilities to their workers
and retirees.

The facts are clear: the energy market is changing here in America and
around the world.  But coal is still part of our energy supply although it
produces far less of our electricity than it once did.  Even China is
starting to burn less coal.  That’s good for the planet, but it has hurt
American coal exports from this region.  And no matter what some
politicians tell you, these trends are here to stay.  You’ve got solar
panels, don’t you, Art, on top of this brewery?

We’re not going to go back to an energy system that looks like it did in
the 20th century.  We know we need to protect our children’s health and
futures by combating climate change and accelerating the transition to a
clean energy economy. But that is still a transition.  Anyone who pretends
we can flip a switch and be in the clean energy future tomorrow isn’t being
honest with you either.

So we need to try everything we can to cut carbon pollution.  That includes
supporting cutting-edge work being done right here in Appalachia in
institutions working on carbon capture and sequestration technology.  This
is too important to take any possible solution off the table.  I believe if
we’re going to go around the country talking about the benefits of a clean
energy economy, which I have done for more than a year, then we have a
responsibility to come to this region of our country and look people in the
eye and talk about what that really means for your lives and livelihoods.

The impact on Appalachia is compounded by other economic challenges.  The
Chinese are dumping cheap steel in our markets, trying to fix their
domestic economic problems on the backs of American workers.  And a lot of
families still haven’t recovered from the Great Recession, which wiped out
jobs, homes, and savings.

Yesterday, I met a man named Bo in West Virginia.  He was a maintenance
planner in a mining operation in Mingo County.  He lost his job last fall.
He showed me a picture of his three beautiful little children, a son and
two daughters, and said he was trying to keep on a brave face for them, so
they wouldn’t know how worried he and his wife are.

​'​
West Virginians are proud people,
​'​
Bo said.
​'​
We take pride in our faith in God.  We take pride in our family.  We take
pride in our jobs.  We take pride in the fact that we’re hard workers.
​'
​
 So why, he asked, aren’t there more programs in place already to help
people like him?  Why isn’t there more help to turn to?  How are we going
to get new jobs there – not years from now, but right now?

I’ll bet everybody in here knows somebody in the same boat.  And Bo was
really clear.  He’s a Republican; he is not voting for me.  But I really
don’t care about that.  We need to do better for Bo and his family and
families like his across Appalachia and America, and that means – that
means coming together, making a real plan to invest in the foundations of a
strong middle class, namely good jobs and quality education for our kids
and a level playing field for American workers.

That’s what my plan for revitalizing communities here will do.

First, we’ve got to honor our obligations to miners past and present and
stand with the steelworkers who are fighting for their livelihoods right
now. For months, I’ve been speaking out against the coal companies like
Patriot and Peabody and Arch Coal that have tried to shirk their
responsibilities to workers and retirees.  Miners, power plant workers and
railroad employees deserve the benefits they’ve earned and the respect of
all Americans. And among the 100,000 miners who died in the last century,
we’ve lost miners in this century too who are joined with them in
sacrifice: the 29 brave men who perished at the Upper Big Branch Mine.  The
owner of that mine, Don Blankenship, had neglected workers’ safety for
years.  And because of weak laws, when he was finally caught, finally
charged and finally convicted, he only received a one-year prison
sentence.  One year, for 29 deaths.  That is totally unacceptable.  We need
to strengthen those laws and hold executives who neglect workers’ health
and safety to account.  That is why I support two bills in front of
Congress right now that Sherrod referenced: the Miners Protection Act and
the Mine Safety Protection Act.  They are critical.

They are critical to keeping faith with coal communities and protecting
workers’ health and safety on the job.  I hope the Congress will pass them
and the President will sign them as quickly as possible.  And by the way, I
heard Mr. Blankenship was outside my event yesterday protesting me. Well,
if Donald Trump wants the support of someone like that, he can have it.

And at a time when Chinese cheating is killing American steel jobs, I am
not going to leave our steelworkers to fend for themselves.  As president,
I’ll make sure we step up and initiate cases against China before jobs are
lost, not after.  And I intend to appoint a special trade prosecutor and
push for stronger rule-of-origin standards so Chinese steel doesn’t have
back door to American markets, for example, as part of foreign cars.

And I oppose any effort to grant so-called market economy status to China
because it would weaken our ability to stop China from dumping cheap steel
on the global market.  It’s illegal and it’s hurting American workers, and
we’ve got to make it stop.  I am so proud to be standing up here with your
senator because he has been on the front lines of this, and together,
Sherrod, we’re going to make it happen.

Second, we need to invest in creating more good-paying jobs here in
Appalachia.  We know this region is rich in assets far beyond coal.

We also know that economic development plans designed in Washington without
local input will not deliver results for you and your families.

That’s why I want to support locally-driven priorities, not supplanting
them. My plan will create a new Coal Communities Challenge Fund to support
investments by Appalachians, for Appalachians.

I was in Mingo County yesterday, in Williamson, I heard from members of the
community who were talking about how they are trying to generate more small
business to create more jobs. They started an incubator to help local
entrepreneurs get new ventures off the ground.

They knew that they needed better housing infrastructure, so they put
people to work refurbishing homes and businesses.

They realized that many of their neighbors were struggling with opiate
addiction and other chronic health issues like diabetes, so they opened a
nonprofit health clinic.

Meanwhile, the county is stepping up by repurposing abandoned mine lands
for new industrial park land that is bringing in and has the potential to
bring in more big employers.

This is the kind of locally-driven development that I think can really
work. The federal government should do more to support it.

Across the river from Williamson, in Kentucky, I learned about a company
called BitSource.  It trains former miners to be computer programmers and
matches them to jobs in Eastern Kentucky.  Silicon Valley tech companies
are learning about these miners’ technical chops and hiring them. Now this
is not a silver bullet by any means, but it is helping.  And we need to
grow that kind of creative, entrepreneurial approach. Mix hardworking
people skills that are needed. Created those jobs, attract investments.

And I'll tell you what, with more access to fast, affordable and reliable
broadband, we could do even more in this region.

I'll tell you, eight years ago I spent a lot of time driving the roads of
West Virginia. I spent a lot of time yesterday and today riding the roads
of West Virginia. And you are disconnected. You are disconnected, though. I
mean West Virginia deserves just as much broadband access of any place else
in America and so does southern Ohio and eastern Kentucky and all the rest
of the region.

That is one of my goals - just like we had to finish electrifying the
country, because you know what happens. You get utilities, they'll go where
the business is. They don't want to be climbing mountains and crossing
rivers to get to 10 people. They want to go to cities and suburbs where
it's easy. They want to come to a great university like this one where
you've got a lot of users. We've got to finish the job of connecting up
America.

And I'm convinced when we do we're going to see a whole bunch of new small
businesses and creative ideas be put into action. And I do want to support
what I learned about yesterday. Let’s repurpose abandoned minelands and
power plants to support new jobs, like the industrial park in Holden, West
Virginia, which makes wood products on the site of a former coal mine.

And let’s expand the New Markets Tax Credit, something my husband started
back in the 1990's, to steer investment and private enterprise more to
Appalachia.

Having a good job is about so much more than getting a paycheck.  It’s
about dignity and a sense of purpose.  I don’t want young people to have to
leave home to find those things – I want them to be able to stay right here
in this region, be near their family and friends, and earn a good living.
Be able to give their kids a great life.  You just shouldn’t have to leave
home when we're in such a connected world now. Let's connect ourselves up,
let's get creative. And I know we can create a really bright future.

And the third part of our plan for revitalizing Appalachian communities is
investing in education and training.

More than ever, some form of advanced education, doesn't have to be college
or university. It can be technical education, apprenticeships, community
colleges - but it makes a real difference. Now, we are going to make
community college free and give all young people-

The chance to graduate debt free from any public college or university,
like the University of Ohio.  We will make it easier to pay off existing
student debt – and if you’re an entrepreneur, we’ll let you defer your
student loan payments and pay no interest for up to three years while you
get your business off the ground, because I want young people to take
advantage of those opportunities.

I want to see young people be able to take advantage of incubators like
ACENet here in Southeast Ohio.

It supports up to 30 startups every year. And if we multiply that, think of
what we will create together.

But we have to make sure that people who don’t go to college get the
education and training they need to get a good job. There are a lot of ways
of doing that, but there are a lot of jobs out there. Last number I saw was
1.2 million jobs for people with skills in the trades - welders, tool and
dye, machinists and the like.

Now those jobs are not all in the same place, obviously, they're spread
across the country. But when you think about that, the more people who have
those skills, they can start their own businesses too. So we've got to
really look hard at how we give every young person the chance to chart his
or her own future.

Now that begins earlier with good school and good teachers no matter what
zip code your child lives in. And that is-

That is a particular challenge for a lot of communities in the region,
because when mines close, power plants shut down, steel mills go idle,
school districts lose tax revenue.  Look at what’s happening in Waterford,
Ohio.  After a nearby power plant shut down, the school district lost more
than a million dollars – out of a $7 million annual budget.  They’ve had to
lay off dozens of teachers.  And that is just no way to give our kids the
education that they need.

So I've been looking for ways that we can help and back in the 90s, when
the timber industry was in decline in the Pacific Northwest, we started a
federal program to keep local schools open as they faced declining tax
revenues.  Let’s make a similar commitment to Appalachian communities by
making sure that as coal and steel and other factories have problems, it's
not taken out on students and teachers.

And we'll take a hard look at retraining programs, the last thing that
anybody needs are more retraining programs for jobs that don't exist. We
have a whole bunch of those, let's learn from programs that really work.
Yesterday in Williamson I met a young man named Brandon. His dad was a
miner, he always thought he would be too. But then his dad lost his job and
that got Brandon thinking about his future. So while he was still in high
school he learned about the training program offered by the Coalfield
Development Corporation.  Workers there spend 33 hours a week on the job,
getting paid, six hours in the classroom working toward an associate’s
degree, three hours learning life skills, like financial management.

So that’s the path Brandon is taking and when he’s done, he’ll have
concrete skills that employers want, a two-year degree, some money in the
bank and he’ll be able to build the kind of life that he’s wanted right in
his hometown.

Fourth and finally, we got to invest in families. Raising a family is hard
work anywhere and I think it's harder today than it was not so long ago. I
talk to a lot of young parents. I'm really zeroing in on this now as a new
grandmother. I pay attention to the struggles that young parents are
facing. No matter what level of income and education, there are different
challenges. And I think we've got to be more helpful, we make it just about
as hard to balance family and work as we can in this country. That's why we
need paid family leave that supports families taking care of their loved
ones.

And why we've got to continue the work under the Affordable Care Act to
provide quality, affordable health insurance, get the cost down, get more
competition in the system. And we need to look at specific problems like
for example; too many miners with black lung disease have been are denied
the health care they need because coal company-funded lawyers and doctors
withheld evidence or willfully misdiagnose them.

I know a little bit about this because way back in Arkansas when Bill and I
were there teaching at the law school. He took on a bunch of black lung
disease cases, about a hundred of them as I recall. He and I would travel
to meet with the miners and their families to see what could be done to
help them. Unfortunately the problems never stopped.

We also know that this region loses too many young people. They go to
college, they go for work and they don't come back. They don't see a way to
make a living. Others stay and it's a real struggle. For many people, these
problems are too big to bear. So we have drug abuse, alcohol abuse and
suicide all on the rise across Appalachia.  And shockingly for some,
especially middle-aged white women, life expectancy is actually on the
decline.

Apart from times of war that's never happened in the United States. My
husband and I have been talking about this for months when we saw the
statistics. People are dying from opioid abuse, from heroin. They're dying
from suicide but I though Bill really put his finger on it. He said,
​'​
You know what they're really dying of? They're dying of a broken heart.
​'​
This is a problem that should concern every American, we need to make a
national effort. We can’t go on like this. We've got to commit to treating
substance disorders and mental health issues.

We should bring the same urgency and resources to bear as we do for heart
disease or cancer.  Addiction isn’t a moral failing – it’s a disease.

And mental health is just as important as physical health.

That's what we've got to commit ourselves to doing. Now these are all
complicated problems, they all intersect and here are no easy solutions.
But we can't just ignore them and we can't deny them. We need a full-court
press – government, business, universities, community groups, advocates,
people pulling together, learning from each other and that's exactly what I
want to do.

You know the ideas that I'm putting out today are just a start. I’m going
to take everything I’ve heard these last two days, add it to everything
else I've heard over a lifetime and work with leaders like [...] and others
to come up with plans. It is truly not worth running for and serving as
President if you do not help struggling and striving Americans get ahead
and stay ahead.

And of course it's fair to ask - what is the other side offering?
Unfortunately it's the same old trickle-down economics that has failed us
before. Donald Trump doesn’t talk about it much on the campaign trail, but
his tax plan would give $3.2 trillion to millionaires and billionaires. The
people in our society who need it the least. You know what we could do with
that kind of money. We could make Social Security and Medicare solvent for
the next 75 years for example.

We could repair, replace, and expand our entire national infrastructure. I
just don't get it. The other side wants to give that money to the rich,
what a waste! And they don't even bother to come up with solutions to most
of the problems people talk to me about. They say things like,
​'​
Let's get out of the EPA. Let's get rid of the Department of Education.
​'​
You know closing the EPA is not the answer to rebuilding a region as we
transition to clean renewable energy. And closing the Department of
Education is not going to stop the Chinese from dumping steel or reverse
the decline in jobs.

It won’t fix the roads or keep schools open. So we've got to stay focused
on what we can do together and we know how do this, my friends. I am
absolutely committed to working with everybody. I think part of the job of
being President is being the convener and chief. Bring people to the White
House, sit around a table, talk and listen to each other, maybe have a can
of Jackie O’s beer to get things going.

Because we don't have time to waste. People are discouraged, people are
disheartened. People feel like our government, our politics and our economy
have failed them. So let's make the wealthy pay their fair share, instead
of giving them more tax breaks, let's invest in Appalachia, give the
families here the opportunities you deserve.

Now I want to close with a letter I recently received from another young
man in West Virginia, also by the name of Brandon. There was a period of
time that was a very popular name. His Dad is also a retired miner. And
here's what he wrote:
​'​
The coal industry has always been up and down.

​'​
We always made it through the tough times because of the people around us.
We know what it is to be a community here in West Virginia. We come
together when someone needs help.
​'​
That's not just his story, that's not just a West Virginia or Appalachian
story. That's an American story.

At our best, we pull together. We lift each other up. I think it really
does take a village to raise a child, to heal a community, to restore
people's faith in themselves and in our country and our future.

So we cannot allow ourselves to be divided against one another, to be set
against one another, to have scapegoating and shaming and blaming and
insulting instead of an honest candid, conversation about what we're going
to do together.

And so let's commit ourselves to make sure all of our families can live
lives of dignity, security and opportunity and we treat each other with
respect even when we disagree. Because we're not always going to agree.

And build that future that I see, a future of confidence and optimism, to
break down all the barriers that are holding people back. I'm very excited
about this. People ask me all the time,
​'​
Well, how are you going to respond to all these attacks, all these names
that you're called?
​'​

I said,
​'​
Really?
​'​
It's not like I haven't been dealing with that for 25 years. Really?

Because it's not about me, it's about us. I'm going to stand up and fight
for you. I'm going to be on the front lines for this country that I love,
that has given me and my husband so much, that I want to make sure I can
look in the eyes of my absolutely adorable, 19 month old grandchild and I
can say,
​'​
Honestly, you're going to be given every opportunity, but you know what's
great about this country, Charlotte?

​'​
Every kid is going to be given every opportunity and we're going to build a
future that will take advantage of the talent and the hard work of every
single one of our children.
​' ​
Help me in this mission, Athens. Thank you! God bless you!
​"​

###

For Immediate Release, May 3, 2016
Contact: [email-masked]

PAID FOR BY HILLARY FOR AMERICA
Contributions or gifts to Hillary for America are not tax deductible.
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