Subject: ICYMI: Secretary Clinton Addresses DNC Women's Leadership Forum
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 17:47:49 -0400
List-Id: <CTRFriendsFamily.americanbridge.org>

In case you missed it, we wanted to make sure you saw the video and
transcript from Secretary Clinton's speech today to the DNC Women's
Leadership Forum. It was one for the books! Have a great weekend!

Transcript: Hillary Rodham Clinton

DNC Women’s Leadership Forum

September 19, 2014

*Remarks as Delivered*

http://www.c-span.org/video/?321576-2/hillary-clinton-remarks-dnc-womens-leadership-forum

*Excerpts*:

“We’ve brought the concerns and hopes and dreams of women from the margins
to the mainstream of American public life. You’ve done that. You’ve moved
those political mountains, and I thank each and every one of you.”

“The Democratic Party is at its best, just like America is at its best,
when we rally behind a very simple yet powerful idea: family. Family is the
building block of any society. It’s the building block of our party and our
country.”

“We’re here - proud Democratic women and proud Democratic men - to stand up
not just for ourselves, not just for women, but for all our people, for our
families, our communities, and our country.”

“This is a movement that is not waiting for Washington with its gridlock
and grandstanding. This movement won’t wait and neither can we, and that’s
why we’re here today.”

“In just 46 days, American voters have a choice and a chance. It’s a chance
to put America’s families first at a time when corporations have all the
rights of people but none of the responsibilities. We have a choice to
make.”

“When women participate in politics, the effects ripple out far and wide.”

“There was one morning when I was doing court at 9:30 for a trial. It was
already 7:30, and Chelsea, just two years old, was running a fever and
throwing up. My husband was out of town. The normal babysitter called in
sick with the same symptoms. I had no relatives living nearby. My neighbors
were not home. And so, frantic, I called a trusted friend who came to my
rescue. Still, I felt terrible that I had to leave my sick child at all,
and I called back at every break in the trial, and I rushed home as soon as
court adjourned. When I opened the door and saw my friend reading to
Chelsea who was clearly feeling better, my head and stomach stopped aching
for the first time that day, but for so many moms -- and dads as well --
that ache is with them every single day. The most vulnerable families in
our country have the least support.”

“For too many women, for too many families, they don’t just face ceilings
on their dreams. It feels to them as if the floor has collapsed beneath
their feet. That’s not how it’s supposed to be in America. This is the
country where if you work hard, you can make it, and each generation is
supposed to have it a little bit better than the one before.”

​*TRANSCRIPT*:

I want to thank everyone with the women's leadership forum who made this
conference possible, and a special personal shout out to my longtime
friend, Lottie Shackelford, the new chair of the DNC Democratic Women's
Caucus. I was thinking when Debbie was introducing me, it has been more
than 20 years since Tipper Gore and I began gathering Democratic women
together and formed this organization. Now, a lot has changed since then.
We’ve elected dozens of women senators and congresswomen. We’ve seen our
first woman Speaker of the House in Nancy Pelosi. And most important, we’ve
brought the concerns, and hopes, and dreams of women from the margins to
the mainstream of American public life. You've done that. You’ve moved
those political mountains, and I thank each and every one of you. But as
much as things have changed, here is what has stayed as true as ever: the
Democratic Party is at its best, just like America is at its best, when we
rally behind a simple yet powerful idea – family.

Family is the building block of any society. It’s the building block of our
party and our country. When Democrats fought for labor rights so that more
families could make it into the middle class, when Democrats fought for
social security so that our parents wouldn't live in poverty, when
Democrats fought for health care and education and civil rights so all of
our children could grow up with opportunity and equality - we have fought
for families, for moms and dads and kids, and the values that hold us all
together. So don't let anyone dismiss what you are doing here today as
women's work. Don't let anyone send you back to the sidelines. We are here
- proud Democratic women and proud Democratic men - to stand up not just
for ourselves, not just for women, but for all of our people, for our
families, our communities, and our country.

Now, I know you have already heard from our fabulous First Lady yesterday
and from our absolutely committed Vice President this morning, and you will
hear from President Obama later today. And I want to say from his very
first week in office, and the first law that Pres. Obama signed, the Lilly
Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, this president has been a tireless advocate for
women and families. Yesterday, I was with Nancy Pelosi and a group of
senators and a congresswoman and others at the Center for American
Progress, and Leader Pelosi put it well: when women vote, America wins, and
that is why we're all here today. We are here because there is a movement
stirring in America.  You can see it in the parents in California who
demanded paid sick leave so they did not have to choose between their jobs
and their kids. You can see it in the moms demanding equal pay for equal
work and the dads demanding access to quality, affordable childcare. You
can see it in the fast food and domestic workers all across our country who
ask for nothing more than a living wage and a fair shot. This is a movement
that is not waiting for Washington with its gridlock and grandstanding.
This movement won't wait, and neither can we. And that is why we are here
today. We are also here because the midterms really matter. Now, I know
they may not be as glamorous as presidential elections, but these upcoming
midterm elections really are crucial for our country’s future, for our
jobs, our schools, our health care, our families. So they deserve our
undivided attention. In just 46 days, American voters have a choice and a
chance. It’s a chance to put America’s families first at a time when
corporations have all the rights of people, but none of the
responsibilities.

We have a choice to make. It’s a chance to elect leaders who know that
women should be able to make our own health care decisions and [applause]
it’s a chance to elect Democrats who will fight every day to make sure our
economy and our democracy work for every American. You know, at a time when
the deck does seem stacked against middle-class families in so many ways,
we have a choice to make. On Sunday, I was in Iowa with a candidate for
Congress named Staci Appel. She is a great mom who worked her way up from
minimum wage to management, and with enough support, she could be the first
woman ever elected from Iowa to the U.S. House of Representatives. Staci is
one of more than one hundred Democratic women running for the House this
year, and I can’t think of a better way to make Congress start working for
American families again than electing every last one of our women
candidates come November. And ten Democratic women are running for the
Senate. Six Democratic women are running for governor. If I could vote for
all of them, I would. And I know Mary Burke from Wisconsin spoke here
yesterday. She is offering a choice between more angry gridlock and
progress that will actually make a difference for Wisconsin families.
Better jobs, better wages, better schools. And we can compare, just to
understand what’s at stake, what has happened in Wisconsin and in
neighboring Minnesota under very different governing philosophies over the
last few years. Because I come from the school that says results matter,
evidence matters, and the evidence is in. Smart, progressive policies in
Minnesota led to more job creation and more economic growth. Wisconsin
deserves better, and with Mary Burke it will get better for the people and
families of Wisconsin.

Now here’s what we know. When women participate in politics, the effects
ripple out far and wide. Weren’t you proud when a coalition of women
senators broke the logjam during last year’s government shutdown? And then,
when Senator Patty Murray stepped up to get a budget passed? I saw her
yesterday and we were talking about it, and she said, you know, it just
comes down to building relationships. Listening to each other, spending
time, understanding that nobody gets everything you want in Congress, or,
may I add, in life. But, you work together and you get the best outcome you
can. Now that we’re hearing Republicans talking about another potential
shutdown if they gain control of the Senate, it is yet one more reason to
elect more Democratic women who will prioritize people over politics, and
here’s why it matters. Yesterday at the CAP event, I met a single mom from
Chicago named Rhiannon, who talked about being caught between the needs of
her family and the demands of her job. Every mother’s worst nightmare.
There was a day this past winter that was so cold, she said it was way
below zero, that the city schools had to shut down. So she scrambled to
find childcare for her son, who has autism, but she couldn’t find any at
such short notice. So she called in sick to the national supermarket where
she worked, and the next day, she was fired. As I sat there listening to
her story, I remembered how I felt as a young mother so many years ago. I
had many more advantages, much more support, and yet I too felt that
squeeze. There was one morning when I was due in court at 9:30 for a trial.
It was already 7:30, and Chelsea, just two years old, was running a fever
and throwing up. My husband was out of town. The normal babysitter called
in sick with the same symptoms. I had no relatives living nearby. My
neighbors were not home. And so, frantic, I called a trusted friend who
came to my rescue. Still, I felt terrible that I had to leave my sick child
at all. And I called back at every break in the trial, and I rushed home as
soon as court adjourned. When I opened the door and saw my friend reading
to Chelsea, who was clearly feeling better, my head and stomach stopped
aching for the first time that day. But for so many moms -- and dads as
well -- that ache is with them every single day. The most vulnerable
families in our country have the least support. Today, women hold the
majority of jobs as waiters where they are paid even lower than minimum
wage and many of these workers are more at risk for exploitation, like wage
theft and harassment.

So think about a mom trying to succeed at work and give her kids the
support they need with a job like that. Without flexibility or
predictability. Without access to quality, affordable childcare. Without
paid family leave. Because as we know, the United States is one of only a
handful of countries in the world without it. No wonder there were 5.1
million more women in poverty than men last year. No wonder so many
American families are hurting today. For too many women, for too many
families, they don’t just face ceilings on their dreams. It feels to them
as though the floor has collapsed beneath their feet. That’s not how it’s
supposed to be in America. This is the country where if you work hard, you
can make it, and each generation is supposed to have it a little bit better
than the one before.

Now, while these challenges are most acute for women fighting to lift
themselves and their families out of poverty, women up and down the income
ladder face double standards and barriers to advancement. We see it with
the middle-class moms who take home less money than their male coworkers.
We see it in the still-too-small percentage of women in the corporate
boardrooms. And we see it in the motherhood penalty, with many women forced
to take a pay cut when they have children, while men who become fathers
often get a pay bump.

So let’s be clear: these aren’t just women’s issues, they are family
issues, they are American issues, and they hold back our entire economy.
But the good news is, it doesn’t have to be this way. We know we can do
better. We have done better. And I have seen it all over the world. Strong
women and strong families can grow economies. We create change. We drive
progress. We make peace. If we close the gap in workforce participation in
the United States between men and women, our national economy, our gross
domestic product, would grow by nearly 10% by 2030. Think about it. Can we
afford to leave that kind of growth on the table?

And that’s also why the midterms matter. Just go issue by issue and what
they mean for women and families. Take equal pay. We have been fighting for
paycheck fairness for more than 15 years, because if women work hard all
day, they’ve earned equal pay. For more than 15 years we’ve been waiting,
and this week, the Senate Republicans blocked the bill, again. That’s why
midterms matter.

Or look at health care. The Affordable Care Act was a step forward for
women and families covering important prevention procedures like
mammograms, family planning, prenatal services, preventing insurance
companies from charging women more solely because of their gender, which
actually happened in more than 90% of individual insurance plans before the
new law went into effect.

I think it’s fair to say that just as the Affordable Care Act was going
into effect, the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision pulled the rug out
from beneath America’s women. It’s a slippery slope when we start turning
over a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions to her employer.
And my question is -- [applause] will Congress do anything about it? That’s
why midterms matter.

Look at violence against women. 20 years ago this week, my husband signed
the Violence Against Women Act. It was a great victory, thanks to years of
hard work from leaders like Vice President Biden. But celebration of this
anniversary was tempered by troubling news on many fronts, from the
outrages of the NFL to more assaults against women in uniform and at
college. One student at Columbia University in New York, a survivor of
sexual assault, began carrying her mattress around campus. She was tired of
being overlooked, tired of waiting for change, and that was the best way
she could think of to draw attention to the dangers facing female students.
That image should haunt all of us, and I am very pleased that President
Obama is supporting a new effort to address sexual assault on campuses
across the country.

Just think about it - we ask so much of our young women. We ask them to
delve into fields like science, technology, engineering and mathematics
where they haven’t been well represented. We asked them to go to college or
technical school even though it’s often really expensive and they end up
with hefty student debt. We asked them to study hard and work hard. We ask
them to lead, we ask them to take responsibility for caring for children
and aging relatives. And to do any of these, let alone more than one, they
face so many obstacles still. So voters have a choice in November. A choice
between those who blocked Paycheck Fairness, who applauded Hobby Lobby, who
tried to stop the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, or leaders who
will fight for women and girls to have the same opportunities and rights
that they deserve. Leaders who will fight for families and for all of us.
We have so many reasons to be hopeful. Mary Burke gives me hope, Maggie
Hassan gives me hope, Martha Coakley and Wendy Davis give me hope, Alison
Lundergan Grimes, Kay Hagan, Mary Landrieu, Michelle Nunn, Jeanne Shaheen,
Natalie Tennant – they all give me hope. But you know, we’re in the home
stretch. And it all comes down to who makes the effort to show up and vote.
Now I’ve been thinking a lot about family, because you know I’m on
grandbaby watch, and I think a lot about this new member of our family and
what he or she can look forward to, and I am well aware that we will
certainly do everything possible to prepare this child, to protect this
child…but I want that for everybody’s child and everybody’s grandchild. I
want every one of our children to feel that they are inheriting the best of
America. That they have the chance to do what I believed was possible for
me and what my husband believed was possible for him, and what we instilled
in our daughter, that really, this country is on your side. This country
will give you the fighting chance, the fair shot you deserve to have. This
country will maintain a level playing field. So whether you’re the
grandchild of a president or the grandchild of a janitor, whether you’re
born in a city or in a small rural village, no matter who you are, you have
a right to inherit the American Dream. And based on everything I’ve done
over my long career of fighting for women and children and fairness and
equality and justice, I believe with all my heart that this midterm
election is a crucial one. There is so much at stake. So as you gather here
today to support WLF and the DNC, I hope, when you return home, each and
every one of you will get on the phone, get on the internet, get any way
you can to encourage your friends, your family, your neighbors, people
you’ve never even met to turn out and vote. Tell them that Democrats are
fighting for them and their families. Tell them when we fight for equal pay
for equal work, we’re fighting for them. Tell them when we fight for the
freedom for women to make our own health care decisions, we’re fighting for
them. Tell them when we fight for better jobs and better wages, for an
economy that works for everyone, no special deals, we’re fighting for them.
Because when women succeed, families succeed. And when families succeed,
our country succeeds. This is the great unfinished business of the 21st
century. Let’s make sure we do everything we can to keep America on the
path toward that better future that so many of you have worked so long to
support leaders like President Obama, like Bill Clinton, like others who
have kept pushing those boulders up the hill, taking on the special
interests, taking on those who claim that they climbed the ladder and
there’s no reason to leave it behind for anybody else, and get out the vote
for these midterm elections. Thank you all very, very much.