To i think make better policy towards each other. So thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and wisdom with us today and thank you all for coming. Looking ahead to some of our live coverage here on cspan3 the Senate Transportation committee holds another hearing on renewing federal Aviation Administration programs, focusing on the agencys efforts to modernize the air Traffic Control system. Faa administrator Michael Huerta will testify with the heads of Industry Trade groups. Thats at 10 00 a. M. Eastern. And then in the afternoon, at 2 30 a hearing on Law Enforcement using body cameras before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee. Again, live on cspan3. With live coverage of the u. S. House on cspan and the senate on cspan2 here on cspan3 we complement that coverage by showing you the most relevant congressional hearings and Public Affairs events. And then on weekends, cspan3 is the home to American History tv, with programs that tell our nations story including six unique series. The civil wars 150th anniversary, visiting battlefields and key events. American artifacts, touring museums and Historic Sites to discover what artifacts reveal about americas past. History book shelf with the best known American History writers. The presidency, looking at the policies and legacies of our nations commanders in chief. Lectures in history with top College Professors delving into americas past. And our new series real america, featuring archival government and educational films from the 1930s through the 70s. Cspan3, created by the cable tv industry, and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. Watch us in hd, like us on facebook. And follow us on twitter. Democratic president ial candidate Hillary Clinton met with Campaign Organizers and volunteers in mason city iowa, yesterday. This is her second visit to the state since announcing her president ial campaign in april. The event is hosted by gary swenson and dean gent, one of the first same sex couples to marry in iowa. Thank you, thank you, everyone. You can be seated. We are so thrilled to have each and every one of you here but even more excited to have what i consider to be the person that is most ready for leading our nation because she has been tried, shes been tested. Ive been telling people earlier this morning theres no other human being on the planet that has the resume that Hillary Rodham clinton has. [ applause ] before i introduce our Hillary Campaign staffer whos now living with us here in mason city, i want to welcome a few of the very important folks that do the daytoday democratic business here in the greater north iowa area. And we have with us a list of people. As i call your name, would you kind of hold up your hand and step forward . So madam secretary can see you. And then hold your applause to the end of the list, if you would. And well let you acknowledge those folks. So if youre sitting, maybe stand. Id like to introduce john columbo, chair of the Franklin County democrats. Hes below the light over there. [ applause ] hold your applause. State senator amanda reagan, our state senator from mason city district. D. O. Kohning, former state representative from st. Ansgor. And jay erdahl, is he in the house . He had something come up i know and couldnt be here. Phil doherty, our county supervisor. Phils right over here in the blue shirt. Alex kund, councilman at large for the mason city council. Pat wright, our saragota county treasurer. And colleen pierce, our democratic saragota county recorder. We have another representative, Todd Pritchard from the state of iowa. We also have with us two folks that have welcomed sarah to the community. And theyre good friends of mine. And we were going to be gone for ten days when sarah landed and i says joanne, can you help me out, weve got a young lady coming working for Hillary Clinton and we need a place for her to stay and those two people who stepped up were jo ann hardy right here behind me and her husband russ hardy. There in the blue jacket. So thank you very much. So i was just reminded that good about a month ago oh, yes. A round of applause. [ applause ] about a month ago a young lady gave me a call and she goes hi, my names sarah, can i come talk to you . And i said sure, we talk to everybody. Were a welcoming household. Come ahead. We sat on this white sofa that usually sits in a circular fashion here in the living room, and she told me about somebody she really was excited about and that she was coming here to live and start work. So it gives me great pleasure to turn the microphone over to our very own sarah marino. Good afternoon. Thank you all so much for being here today. For those of you i havent yet met, as gene said, im sarah marino. And i am the organizer here in cerro gordo county. I also cover franklin, floyd, wikashee, howard, and mitchell counties. I think i got them all. Ill take a couple more if you want. As many of you know im new to iowa. Im originally from bedford, new york. Just a few miles away from chappaqua where our special guest here today lives. But im living right here in mason city, where everyone has been so welcoming and helpful. So thank you so much to awful all of you who made it very easy to call north iowa my new home. So im involved with this campaign because i know that secretary clinton has been a fighter for American Families and for women like my mom, my friends, my cousins, my aunts, my sister. My little sister maggie is 18. Shes about to graduate from high school in a month, and shes heading off to college to study business and sports marketing. And ive always been so impressed by her dedication and her drive to the subject that she loves. And im really excited to see the Glass Ceiling i know my sister is going to break not too long from now in her field. So im here to fight for her because she deserves, as she starts her career, to be paid the same as her male colleagues. [ applause ] and im so proud to be working for a champion for young women like maggie. For that and many, many other reasons i am so thrilled and proud to be here. But to build up this campaign we need the support and the input of each and every one of you in this room. We need your friends, your family, your neighbors, your coworkers to get involved to make this caucus a success. Weve been starting to have Community Events like house parties, coffee chats, book clubs, potlucks all across the state just to start the conversation and to open the dialogue about this campaign. And if you havent already please fill out one of these commit to caucus cards saying youll commit to caucus on february 1st for hillary. And if you have already filled one out please take one home, have a friend fill it out because were working to identify supporters all across iowa and we need your help. And those of you in this room are the most equipped to help us identify support all across the state. You can also join us online. We have our hillary for iowa Facebook Page and we also have local facebook groups. So you can join northeast central iowa for hillary and northwest central iowa for hillary. And you can follow me on twitter. Its smarino92. To stay updated. But of course you all arent here to hear from me. So with that i am so honored to introduce our candidate, former senator, first lady, secretary of state Hillary Clinton. [ applause ] thank you. Wow. Thank you. I am thrilled to be here with all of you. And sarah, that was excellent. I thank you so much. And i hope youll get to know sarah and spend time with her and help her as she works so hard between now and february 1st. And dean and gary, thank you for welcoming us to your beautiful home. What a delight it is to be here with you. Somebody asked me the other day, well, you know, youre going to these events where youre taking time to actually talk and listen to people, is that really what youre going to do . And i said, yes, it is. Because not only do i learn a lot but i also feel like its the best way to make those connections that will not only give me a Firm Foundation in the caucus here in iowa or in a primary in new hampshire, because it really is about people to people connections if were really talking about what we want to do, but it will also give me the kind of information i need to be an even better president. And i just had another example of that. You may know that garys a radiologist, and right before we came in we were talking about his work. Hes an expert in breast cancer. And i asked him about the mammography recommendation thats at least the women in the room im sure have seen over the last several years, and he was giving me some really important insight into the commission that made those recommendations and his Expert Opinion about them. Im so grateful to you about that because its the kind of discussion you cant have unless you have an opportunity to talk and listen with people. I want to thank all of you for coming. Im delighted to have this chance to talk with you. I think what were going to do is ill say a few words about the campaign and what i want to achieve and then well have a chance to talk individually and ill be able to hear from each and every one of you. I have been incredibly impressed over the last several years at how hard the American People have worked to pull ourselves out of the great recession. People have made sacrifices. People have lost jobs. Theyve lost houses. They lost the chance to finish or go on with their education. And they did everything they could think of to do to get back on their feet. And im so relieved that as i travel around the country and talk with people there is a sense that we are on our feet. Were not running yet but we are on our feet. And we can see the changes that are happening in peoples lives and put them in a context as to where we go from here now as a country. Im very grateful to president obama for the hard decisions he made when he inherited the mess he inherited when he became president in 2009. [ applause ] and i know that he and i and everyone who was in his administration realizes that unless the American Family and the American Worker is strong everything we want to see happen for our country is going to be much more difficult. And so i come to this campaign committed to being a champion for americans and American Families. Thats what my work has been throughout my entire adult life. Starting with my first job out of law school when i went to work for the childrens defense fund. All the way through to the work that i did as secretary of state promoting womens rights, promoting the rights of people who would otherwise be marginalized or left on the sidelines. And i know that although we have to its still hard to imagine exactly how were going to get to the point where people are not just getting by but getting ahead and staying ahead. Because look, the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top. We know that. And so we have to be especially focused on how were going to bring about the changes that will ignite opportunity for everybody willing to work hard for it again. So when i look at where we are as a nation and where we need to be, i see four big challenges that we have to take on together. And there are going to be fights. Because if they were easy they would already be done. So i will posit that right now. Number one, we have to build the economy of tomorrow, not yesterday. It needs to be innovative. It needs to be sustainable. It needs to be producing good jobs with rising wages. We need to get back into the habit of actually rewarding workers with increases in their paychecks for the increases in productivity and profitability that they have helped to bring about. [ applause ] Warren Buffett has said it but so have a lot of other people. Theres something wrong when the average american ceo makes 300 times more than the typical American Worker. Or when Hedge Fund Managers themselves make more and pay less in taxes than nurses and truck drivers. In fact, i heard a statistic the other day that really made a big impact on me, that the top 25 Hedge Fund Managers together made more money than all the kindergarten teachers in america. And when you think about value, what it is thats going to get us moving again, i think kindergarten teachers are really important. [ applause ] and weve got to make a claim on becoming the 21st Century Clean Energy superpower. Iowa has really helped us. The rfs, the renewable fuel standard, and a lot of the investments that have been made here has been one of the reasons why we have made some Real Progress but not near enough. And other countries are going to seize that title unless we do what we have to. Its also imperative that we give people the tools through education and job training and skills not just in rhetoric but in reality. So they can make the most of their own lives. And for me that starts at the very beginning. Ive been a child advocate and a Child Development proponent for my entire adult life because its what i really care about, what i believe in. And i think we have to start before kindergarten. We have to have universal prek but we also have to do more to reach out to families so they know the tools they should use to be their childrens first teachers. Weve got this new granddaughter who is unbelievable. We were with her this weekend. You know, we go and just stare at her. I mean, thats what its wonderful and silly at the same time. But we also read to her. Here she is 7 1 2 months old, were reading and reading and reading. And i imagine among her first words will be enough with the reading because between her mom and her dad and bill and i were constantly doing that. But were doing it not only because we love to do it and we love to see her begin to reach her hands out and grab onto the books, were doing it because we know that it aids her brain development. That has been one of the great discoveries with Brain Research in the last couple of decades. We increasingly can see what happens when you are literally feeding the brain as well as the body of these infants and then the babies and the toddlers. That will help them be better prepared when they actually end up in kindergarten, and it will begin to close the achievement gap. Because you know, were going to do everything we can for our granddaughter. Charlotte will get every opportunity we can possibly imagine. But what kind of country will she grow up in . And what kind of world will she enter . And what will happen to all of the other infants, babies, toddlers and children in our country today . So we have to look at education from the very beginning. Then we have to make sure we are doing all we can to empower our teachers, to make sure that they have the support of parents so that they can do the job they have been trained to do to help prepare our kids. And then weve got to make sure that college is affordable. And that cannot happen at the rate were going unless we change the way we fund College Education for young people who wish to have that experience. Many of us in this room i bet, as i did, borrowed money to go to college. But then we were able to pay it back because it wasnt such an overwhelming burden as it has become now. The average student in iowa graduates with 30,000 in debt, and that then makes it very difficult for them to start a business or buy a new home or even get married, as one young man told me not so long ago. So we have to deal with the indebtedness to try to move toward making college as debtfree as possible. Im 100 behind president obamas proposal for Free Community college. Weve got to try to get that through, and then weve got to try to do everything we can to make college available and affordable to all of our young people. [ applause ] you know, when you think about our economy today, it is absolutely linked to education. It is also linked to Strong Families and strong communities. And thats our second challenge. Because a lot of families and communities have been under tremendous strain. One of the biggest stresses in anybodys life is health care. I will fight to protect the Affordable Care act, and i will work to make the changes that are required. [ applause ] we are really now in a different world. 16 Million People who didnt have Health Insurance who now do. We have to do everything we can to make sure that medicare is as available and protected and affordable as possible. And we have to be sure that where there are changes that can be made we try to find ways to work across the aisle to make them. I dont hear my friends on the other side of the aisle talking as much as they used to about getting rid of the Affordable Care act. I think the reason is because there are a lot of people that they may actually be encountering from time to time who have been helped. And we need to make sure to make the argument over and over again that, what will you do if you say to people were going to take away the health care we finally have been able to provide for you . That is just unacceptable. But there are some problems. One of the problems, and i heard about this in iowa, is what happens when a 26yearold becomes a 27yearold and is no longer eligible to be on his or her parents policy . That was one of the best changes in the Affordable Care act. And the fact is that a lot of young people arent making the income they need yet to be able to afford their own health care. So we have to look out to see what well be able to do to help them. There are two issues that fall into this category that are huge strains on families. And i heard about them first. I heard first in davenport, and i heard about it all across the state until i got to council bluffs. One is the drug epidemic. Meth, pills in iowa. And then i got to new hampshire. And at my very first coffee shop meeting i heard about the heroin epidemic in new hampshire. In the past year ive been told reliably weve had more people die of drug overdoses in america than automobile accidents for the first time in our history. This is tearing families apart but it is below the surface. People arent talking about it because its something that is hard to deal with. I also heard a lot about untreated Mental Health problems. And so many communities, so many states turning their backs on people with Mental Health problems. Facilities are being closed. Even though we now require there to be treatment in the Affordable Care act, theres not enough available treatment. Not enough resources. The other day i was in california at an event, and i just said what i said. I said, you know, Mental Health is not being treated. We claim were now going to be able to help people with their Health Care Problems but if we dont help with Mental Health were leaving out a huge number of people. And a young woman came up to me and asked me a question. She said did you know were having all these suicides in my high school . I said no, i didnt know. She said weve had four young people kill themselves in the last month. Then i was in new york at an event this past week. Said the same thing i said to you. I was visiting with people. And a woman came up to me and she goes, thank you for mentioning Mental Health. We have gone in the last six months to four funerals of friends of my children who have killed themselves. I have to tell you when i start running, when i started thinking about this campaign, i did not believe i would be standing in your living room talking about the drug abuse problem, the Mental Health problem, and the suicide problem. But im now convinced i have to talk about it. I have to do everything i can in this campaign to raise it, to end the stigma of talking about it. [ applause ] and we also have a challenge that affects everything we do, and that is to fix our dysfunctional political system. That underlies everything that we can possibly hope to get done. Im very committed to meeting with anybody, going to have any conversation, to try to find common ground. But we also have to stand our ground and we have to try to figure out how were going to get people to work with us for the betterment of our country, the betterment of people who need a good positive support system, whether it be health care or aid for college or anything else. We also have to address the unaccountable dark money in politics. I think the Supreme Court made a grave error with its Citizens United decision. And i will do everything i can do to appoint Supreme Court justices who will protect the right to vote and not the right of billionaires to buy elections. Right to vote and not the right of billionaires to buy elections. [ applause ] and ive been consulting with a lot of legal experts, and some of them think there may be a way to get legislation through that will enable us to regulate this kind of use of money in our political system, which is so corruptive and corrosive. But others agree with former Justice John Paul stevens who recently wrote a book in which he said its going to take a constitutional amendment. I will work for that if thats the only way to fix this problem. Because we cannot continue with the kind of assault on our democracy, on voting rights, and on the opportunity for us to know where the money is coming from that influences our political system. Now, fourth, we have challenges around the world. As i was coming through the garage theres a tv that dean and gary have, and it was talking about isis in iraq. We have threats that we know of that we can begin to try to figure out how best to address. Its not just dictators. Also disease, climate change, which i think Global Warming is a threat to us. But we have to be confident and strong in understanding that there are many ways to approach the problems that america will be confronting in the world, and we must do so in cooperation with our friends, our allies, our fellow democracies around the world. I am convinced that the 21st century can once again be a century in which the United States leads and helps to set the values and the standards. But we have to have an agreement, first of all, foremost with our own country and our own congress about how to do that. I was outraged and said at the time that when a group of republican senators sent a letter to the ayatollah of iran essentially criticizing the actions of the president of the United States, i dont care what party you are, we have one president and we should stand behind that president when hes trying to work out very difficult problems. [ applause ] i know there are a lot of hard choices ahead of us. I wrote a book called hard choices. There it is. There it is. Ill sign that for you. But i think were more than up to it. I am a confident optimist about where americas future lies. That doesnt mean im not aware of how difficult it is with my eyes wide open about how hard it is to be the president of the United States. I have a little experience about that. And i have to tell you i find it very reassuring because i do have that experience to know whats possible and how best to proceed. But i also know that we are living in an incredibly complicated time in American History. It is not a time for easy answers or glib answers or oneliners or applause lines. Those are all great. Thats part of campaigning. But at the end of the day we need a president who has both the experience and the understanding to deal with the complexity of the problems that we face. And i appreciate what both dean and sarah said about the experiences that ive been privileged to have during the last decades. I really believe that i can go into that office on the very first day and begin to do what is required. So i look forward to visiting with each and every one of you. I look forward to working with you not only as we move toward the caucuses. I would be honored to have your support on february 1st, and then i will need your help as we move toward the john election because i dont want this election to be about me. I want it to be about us and the agenda we want to set for our country. You know, when i campaigned so hard against then senator obama i was working as hard as i could, he was working as hard as he could. And at the end of the day he won. And then i went to work to make sure he got elected, our president. And i was so relieved and happy when that finally happened. The sunday after the election bill and i went for a walk in an area that sarah would know. A big kind of Nature Preserve near where we both live. And we just wanted to let down because wed been working so hard to elect then president elect obama. So were wandering through the woods, and bills phone rings. Which is sort of a miracle since we have terrible cell coverage there. And he pulled it out of his pocket, and it was the president elect. And he said id like to talk to you and hillary. And bill said, well, were kind of in the middle of a forest. Can we get home and call you back . And so we did. And when he called back, when bill called back he talked to the president elect and then i talked to him and he said to me i want you to come see me in chicago. I said sure, when . He said soon as you can get here. So i said okay. The following thursday i went to chicago, and he asked me if i would serve as secretary of state. And i said, you know, mr. President elect, i really want to go back to the senate, im very flattered, but there are a lot of other people who can do it. He said no, i know what i want and i want you to do this. I said, well, mr. President elect, i really want to go back to the senate. And thats where i think i can best work with you and best serve you. He goes, look, i dont want to hear from you again until you say yes. So i told him no, you know, again. Later. And he just said dont call me till you say yes. And i did tell my husband, hes so persistent, ive told him no twice and he keeps saying, you know, im waiting for you to say yes. And bill said, yeah, well, i asked you to marry me twice before you said yes. So i guess theres a connection there. So then i stayed up that night. And i thought, suppose id been honored to win and i had wanted this incredibly talented american to be in my cabinet and id asked him, id want him to say yes. And i thought, you know, thats what i have to do. So i called him and said president elect, i would be honored to serve in your cabinet. And we immediately got started to work. A few months later on my very first trip as secretary of state i went to asia. And i went in park because everybody i called, all of the leaders in the countries that i spoke with were saying, you know, we just dont know whether the United States cares about us anymore. Nobodys been paying any attention to us. We feel like were not important anymore. I said we are and the president feels that way. So i went out and one of the countries i went to was indonesia. In part because its a very important country but also president obama had had a personal connection with it. And my idea was not only to talk to the leaders but to talk to the people, whats called public diplomacy. So that as i was out there talking to president s and prime ministers and others i would also find ways of trying to connect to tell people, look, the United States really does care about the world were trying to create together, and thats part of my message from my new president. So i went on i agreed to go on a show in jakarta, which was their morning show. And it was like a combination of mtv and a reality show and all of that. I had no idea what i was getting myself into. So i go onto the set and people are jumping and theyre singing and theyre dancing. And its called the awesome show. So im on the awesome show. And im talking a little bit with the interviewer. And then they asked people if they have any questions. And somebody in the audience says, i want to ask you, we saw you campaigned very hard against president obama, he campaigned very hard against you. He won. You lost. And then he asked you to be his secretary of state. Why . And i realized, you know, in a lot of these new democracies and other places of course, you run against somebody and you lose, you could get exiled or imprisoned, even killed, not asked to be secretary of state. So this was a very legitimate question. And i thought i have to answer this in a very, you know, serious way that maybe they can understand. If n. Our democracy we do try to close ranks after we have hard elections. At least thats what we should be doing. So i said, well, youre right. We campaigned hard. He won. I lost. I then campaigned to get him elected. He asked me to be secretary of state. And i said yes. For the same reason. We both love our country. And at the end of the day to me thats what elections are supposed to be about. We can disagree. And we will. Well have all kinds of arguments even about the best way to do things. But we should be coming from a place of love, of loving our country and of respecting one another. And we have to rebuild this feeling in our country again. We have too much work to be done. We have too many people who deserve a better shot at a future for themselves and their families. I want to be their champion. And with your help i will get up every single day doing the best i can to make sure that the country we love is the country we deserve to have. Thank you all. [ applause ]
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