DLC | Speech | July 24, 2006 Remarks of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton at the 2006 DLC National Conversation Denver, Colo. By Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton Editor's Note: Remarks as delivered. Thank you very much. And thanks to my friend, Jennifer Granholm. She is a great governor. Talk about backbone. She has stood against the tide of job losses in large measure caused by the failed policies of the Republicans in Washington and Michigan, and across our country. She is running for reelection and I hope every single one of us will do whatever we can to make sure she is reelected. She deserves it on the merits. Thank you, Jennifer. (Applause.) Well, I'm back, and I'm glad to be back, and to have this opportunity to make this report to you. You know, I knew that the -- Tom Vilsack would do a great job chairing the DLC because he sure isn't shy about handing out assignments. I don't think that Evan Bayh had finished his farewell handshakes before Tom asked me to work with my friend and colleague, Tom Carper, to lead this American Dream Initiative, to collaborate with a broad cross-section of progressive think tanks and progressive thinkers, about how to renew the American dream. We sought 21st-century solutions to 21st-century challenges. And I want to thank everyone who worked hard to make this American Dream Initiative a realty, certainly and foremost the Democratic Leadership Council, the Progressive Policy Institute, the Center for American Progress, the Hope Street Group, NDN, and Third Way. This American Dream Initiative is a series of proposals to renew and strengthen the middle class, and to help pave the way for the poor to work their way out of poverty. It focuses on policies here at home. It reflects our belief that a strong, vibrant middle class is at the core of the American dream. Nothing speaks more to the promise of America than the idea that if you work hard, you and your children can succeed in our great country. So this is a positive agenda for change. It is an agenda that we hope will unite Democrats and help elect Democrats across the country this November. As Americans, we know what is wrong with the other side. They are not taking care of America. They are bankrupting our country and failing to address the problems of Americans from high gas prices to rising healthcare costs, and college tuition bills. Once again, America needs to work for everyone, not just the privileged and the powerful. Democrats can be the change agents our country needs. Incomes have been stagnant for five years. Everywhere I go across my state, I meet people who are under great financial pressure. But the Republicans say that the economy is great for everyone. They have done nothing about these costs that are eating away at the paychecks of hardworking Americans. Democrats will work to get healthcare costs down, to get college tuitions under control, to address the rising costs of gas prices, to cut middle-class taxes and reward companies that create jobs here at home. The Democrats did it before and we can do it again. (Applause.) We all know that the Republicans have made a mess out of the country's finances. With federal spending up, deficits up, debt rising out of control, and this year once again they cut taxes by $70 billion for the wealthiest Americans. But the average middle-class households got just $20. Now, that is not even enough for seven gallons of gas. Democrats know we must stop passing on debts to our children and start doing what is best for our country and our children, by getting deficits under control. The Democrats did it before and we can do it again. (Applause.) You know, to paraphrase the historic 1992 campaign, it's the American dream, stupid. (Laughter, applause.) And if it is the American dream, then it is, as it should be, the American middle class. The simple fact is America's middle class is the core of America's greatness. With all due respect, rich people did not make America great. Every society throughout history has had the rich and the poor. It was America's destiny to create something new, a middle class that provided upward mobility for the poor and opportunity for the many. Our strength, our economy, our values derive from the promise of America, the promise of lifting yourself up through hard work in a society that rewarded results. Now, almost a century ago, American industry began offering millions of workers the chance to earn their way into the middle class, just as Governor Granholm described. And what did American workers do? They responded with the most extraordinary work ethic. They lifted up the American economy. They won two world wars against fascism, the Cold War against communism, and oversaw the largest expansion of human freedom this world has ever seen. Now, our middle class is not only the foundation of America's economic success, American consumers carry the global economy as well. American businesses drive innovation, and American workers set the bar for productivity. The American middle class is America's competitive advantage -- hard work, fair play, the basic bargain that you will have a chance to live out your dreams. Now, when I was growing up, we used to call those middle-class values. So like many Americans, I can look back and know that those values were lived out in my family. My four grandparents didn't finish high school. My father's father started work in the Scranton Lace Company at the age of 11 before the turn of the last century. But he sent his three boys to college, my father on a football scholarship to Penn State. My mother never had the chance to attend college. That motivated her throughout her life, and thankfully she is still with me at 87, to take courses at local colleges. She expected me to go to college and encouraged me to get the best education I could. And like tens of millions of post-war families, when my father finished his service in the Navy during World War II, he came home to start a business, a very small business, but his piece of the American dream. He would put my mother, my brothers and me to work in that small business. It was a drapery fabric business, and he actually printed the drapery fabrics. And if you have ever been in a print plant, you may have images of large machines with bulks of fabric, but in our little print plant, there were long tables, where the fabric was laid out, and where you had squeegees that you put the paint in the screen and by hand pushed it across to make the imprint on the fabric, picked it up, moved it, put it down, and do it all over again. He and my mother moved to the suburbs eventually so that their children could have the best schools and best recreational opportunities. And, you know, my father had a class middle-class attitude summed up by this refrain, when you work, work hard; when you play, play hard, but don't confuse the two. He and my mother achieved a comfortable life. But they not only had high expectations for their family, they had high expectations for their community and their country. My story of hard work that lifts self, family, and community is the American story. We ended the last century with America's economic might at its peak, with Americans at their most optimistic, and with opportunities for almost everyone who wanted to work hard to make the most of their God-given abilities. We got there in large part because of the Democratic Party's philosophy of governing. We asked individuals to take responsibilities for themselves, and also chip in and help in their communities. And in return, we expected, and we asked people to expect that their government would take responsibility for spending those hard-earned tax dollars and ensuring the underpinnings of fairness and opportunity for all. Now, I don't need to tell you that over the past five years, we have gone in a very different direction. A policy of fiscal discipline and budget surpluses was abandoned for one that racked up debt and proclaimed that deficits don't matter, and a policy that focused on helping the middle class get bigger and stronger was replaced by one that helped the strong get stronger and the rich get richer in the mistaken belief that the rest of the country would eventually get their share. For the time ever, we have had four straight years of rising productivity and falling incomes. Americans are earning less while the costs of a middle-class life have soared: college costs up 50 percent in five years; healthcare, 73 percent; gasoline, more than 100 percent, rising home costs have pushed people farther and farther from their work. A lot of Americans can't work any harder, borrow any more or save any less. And those same costs of healthcare, retirement, transportation, energy are impacting our businesses as well. It's time for a new direction. For five years we have lived with deficits. This agenda will help bring back fiscal responsibility. For five years we have lived with stagnating wages. This plan will make the basics of life in the middle class, healthcare, education, and retirement affordable for those who take responsibility. For five years we have allowed the rest of the world to overtake our higher education system. This plan puts us on the road to universal college and lifelong training. For five years, the doors of opportunity and ownership have been closing for too many Americans. This agenda will open those doors to everyone who is ready to work and walk through. For five years, we have seen poverty increase for millions of Americas. These ideas will make sure every American will get a fair wage, access to college and home ownership, and a path out of poverty and into the middle class. We have seen what it is like to have a Republican leadership that puts middle-class Americans last, and ignores the real challenges we are facing: globalization, stagnation wages, higher energy costs. There is a better way. It is time for Democrats to show how an agenda for change can turn this country around and bring the American dream back within reach. This American dream initiative points the way forward to an agenda that eases the fears of middle-class families and sustains the hopes of families struggling to make it into the middle class. Now, this is a broad, inclusive agenda that is missing one key ingredient, a Democratic Congress to enact it. (Applause.) And I believe we can do something about that, too. This new opportunity agenda can help Democrats as they campaign around the country. This can be the basis for a discussion about the challenges that middle-class Americans and our country face here at home. We can tell voters that we are for renewing and securing the American dream, of a college degree, a home, healthcare, a secure retirement, and the chance to get ahead in a growing economy where rising bottom lines mean rising incomes for all workers. We can replace trickle-down economies with rise-up economics, and we can make sure that everyone has a chance to rise up and fulfill their dreams for the future. (Applause.) Now, in order to expand opportunity for all -- we need a new ethic of responsibility from both the public and the private sectors. So we call for cutting the deficit through specific actions, making long-term investments to grow the economy, and reining in corporate abuses through shining a light on CEO pay and increasing accountability and oversight over pensions and mutual funds. It's time for a new direction on the economy, a policy that focuses on Main Street as well as Wall Street. In fact, that is what I have tried to do in New York, try to bring people together from Main Street and literally Wall Street in a program called New Jobs for New York, where we have connected up New York City capital with upstate businesses and farms, and we have come together with our universities looking for new ways to incentivize economic growth and new job creation. I believe it's possible. We have done that without much of a policy or plan from the federal government, and there is an eagerness out there to invest again in America, to do what we can to grow good jobs here. And I am so sympathetic when I hear Governor Gramholm talk about the challenges Michigan faces because much of Upstate New York faces the same. Before I came out to speak, I met with the New Yorkers who are here, many of them elected officials, serving from Long Island to Buffalo, and they know very well that we have to pull together in our state that we provide the best climate for job creation and business growth while we take care of those who are vulnerable among us. The starting point for the American dream is a growing economy that benefits workers as well as CEOs. America lives out its best values when wealth is growing for everyone. And a clear distinction between Democrats and Republicans in this election is our focus on the government's responsibility to help the private sector and the middle-class grow, and to make sure that economic growth is broadly shared. When our companies are highly profitable, as many are right now, it is in everyone' interests that workers share in that success. So incomes rise and middle class grows, and the whole economy is lifted. But that isn't happening and it's time to start asking why. The national government needs a strategy to create an economic climate in which the private sector can generate jobs, raise incomes and increase wealth. To unleash the power of innovation and enterprise, we need to restore fiscal responsibility, open new markets, enforce trade laws, and make smart economic investments such as in broadband, scientific research including stem cell research -- (applause, cheers) -- alternative fuels and an advanced research project agency for energy that will spur the creation of new highways, and jobs, and exports from America to the rest of the world. With a smart energy policy we can create millions of new good jobs, ease the burden on middle-class pocket books, and lead the way against climate change all at the same time, to say nothing of enhancing our security in an increasingly dangerous world. To put the United States at the cutting edge of new energy efficient technologies, we should create a strategic energy fund that will sponsor research into the potential of cellulosic ethanol and bio-diesel and other flexible fuels, support the development of plug-in hybrids, clean burning diesel and other high mileage vehicles, and launch an advanced research project agency like we did after Sputnik went up in the Defense Department. And the research there did lead to the Internet, the microprocessor, and so much else. For five years the Bush administration has given special tax breaks to the privileged few and increased the middle-class's share of the burden. We need a new economic formula of Democratic capitalism. The way to ensure prosperity is to build an expanding middle class, not a shrinking one, and to give the members of the middle class a stake in that prosperity. The American Dream Initiative proposes letting employees and investors draw their own conclusions about inflated CEO salaries by asking the Securities and Exchange Commission to require that corporations disclose full CEO compensation, and how that relates to profitability and average worker pay. (Applause.) It is also long past time for a raise for hard-working Americans. In the last seven years, Congress has voted to raise its own salary by over $30,000 while refusing to raise the minimum wage. Now, economic arguments and appeals to conscience haven't worked. So I introduced legislation to prohibit Congress from giving itself another raise until it raises the minimum wage. (Applause, cheers.) Now, I would like to go even further: No pay raise for Congress or the executive branch until the incomes of average Americans start to rise again. (Applause.) The most important asset most Americans will ever own is their home, but a home as we know is not just a financial asset; it's a symbol of security, of family and of community, of a stable middle-class life. The American Dream Initiative suggests several ways to expand the chance to own a home. One is to make the home mortgage deduction available for everyone, not just the half of American homeowners who itemize deductions on their taxes. Homeowners' subsidies aren't even reaching the people who need them the most, families with incomes below $50,000. I think that is backwards, and we ought to fix it by giving an additional 10 million Americans a tax incentive to invest in their own home. (Applause.) We need to give every child a shot at getting into the middle class and building his or her own stake in America. Today the chance to get ahead depends more and more on the family to which you are born. That wasn't the way in America in the past. It really depends upon whether your family has the assets to take advantage of opportunities. That is why the American dream initiative proposes that our country follow Britain's lead by providing a baby bond to each of the 4 million children born in America every year, a $500 savings bond at birth and again at age 10. It signals louder than words and rhetoric that America is investing in its children, and it provides an incentive to encourage parents, even low-income parents to invest more in their own child's future. But eventually that child is going to have to decide whether he or she can afford to go to college. It is past time to make college affordable for every American. (Applause.) If homeownership is the most visible symbol of the American dream, the most important doorway into the middle class is education beyond high school. Today a college graduate earns twice as much as a high school graduate. That is a million-dollar bonus over the working lifetimes of today's college seniors. We used to rank first in the world in our percentage of young people with a post-secondary degree; now we have fallen to seventh, not because our young people don't try but because too many don't finish. Think of that. The most overwhelming obstacle to finishing college is the expense. College costs have increased faster than inflation for 25 years in a row. The result is that college graduation rates have stayed flat for years. About 70 percent of Americans own their own home. About 85 percent have healthcare. About 42 percent own retirement accounts, but only 30 percent have a college degree. Just because many of us from this room think everybody we know has a college degree, that is not the case. The percentage is higher for Americans under 35, but it is still less than half. And the Washington Republicans are making it even harder, cutting student assistance, raising interest rates on student loans. Now, America's success in the global economy depends on the skills and education of our people, so we need a bold strategy to provide 1 million more college and community college graduates a year by 2015. Within a decade, more than half of our young people could finish college with a degree, and any student willing to work part time or perform community service to go to a four-year public college practically free, because we propose a new performance-based American dream grant that will award states money each year based on the number of students that attend and graduate from their colleagues and universities. And we propose combining all of the confusing existing tax breaks for college into a single refundable $3,000 tuition and training tax credit. With these additional new funds, colleges should be held more accountable for their student's success. We should start by asking colleges to publish complete data on their graduation rates, and to practice truth in tuition that will set multiyear tuition and fee levels so incoming freshmen will know how much four years of college will cost them. We need a new direction also toward a secure retirement for every American who is willing to save. No one's dream ought to end in a nightmare in your older years. Just 50 years ago, more than half of senior citizens lived below the poverty line, but Social Security, pension plans, and rising incomes combined to change that. And all of us who have watched our parents get older and worried about them getting the care they need are profoundly grateful. But as incomes have stagnated, families are having to put off saving for retirement so they can pay the bills today. Only one-half of American workers are offered a savings plan, and a quarter of them turn it down because they don't think they can afford it. Fewer and fewer employers offer traditional pension plans, and more and more are trying to get out of their obligation to fully fund the ones that are left. Our tax code is upside down giving the most benefit to wealthy families who don't need an incentive to save and too little benefit to families where the money will make a new difference. We need a new bargain that provides retirement security in this mobile workplace. The Republicans have a plan; yes, they still have a plan to privatize Social Security if they get the chance again. The Democrats will protect Social Security and people's retirement. (Applause.) That is why the American Dream Initiative proposes American Dream accounts, which require every employer to open retirement accounts for its workers, and make those pensions portable when workers change jobs. Tax credits would minimize the cost and administrative burden to employers. And a permanent refundable savers credit could give middle class and working families a 50-percent matching contribution for their retirement savings. And of course we need a new direction in healthcare. Coming from me, that is no surprise. I still believe in universal coverage. And we know that no single factor does more to ruin the dreams of Americans and hold back the growth of our economy than the soaring costs of healthcare. Our businesses must compete against countries that offer national health insurance, such as the example Governor Granholm gave about Canada, and countries that offer no insurance. That is a terrible place for American business to find itself. And our citizens are seeing healthcare expenses eat up their disposable income, or they are simply doing without. We need action from Washington to stop the spiral of healthcare costs and offer every family the chance to give their children a healthy start on their dreams. It is time to pass a small-employers health benefit plan, like the federal employers health benefit plan, that would put small businesses across America into one purchasing pool, giving their employees access to the same quality of affordable care that members of Congress enjoy. (Applause.) And the Institute of Medicine reports that patients can expect one prescription error for every day they stay in the hospital. That is bad for patients and that is bad for our costs. It's time to use 21st-century information technology to cut down on those life-threatening errors while we save money. And it's time to extend health insurance to every child, give Americans the tools they need to make healthy choices, and make a national commitment to finding cures for diseases that are sapping individuals and our economy. We need a new ethic of responsibility from our leaders. Our families can't get away with runaway spending, creative accounting, and wasteful subsidies to their friends. Americans have the right to expect responsibility, discipline, and honesty from their leaders, and we have some suggestions for how to do that. Restore the pay-as-you-go rule so Congress can't enact new spending programs or tax cuts without showing how they will pay for them. (Applause.) Eliminate $200 billion of unnecessary and wasteful corporate subsidies over 10 years and cut 100,000 unnecessary federal consultants. These actions will help pay the costs of the proposals we are making. And we need a Congress that will use its investigative powers to look at the no-bid contracts for Halliburton, how $9 billion in U.S. government cash went missing in Iraq, what role our oil companies are playing in Iraq, and why our troops struggled to get bandages and body armor. The American Dream Initiative Agenda focuses on policies here at home, but we will not let the president and the Republicans off the hook for the mistakes they have made and the disastrous policies they have followed abroad. We will hold them accountable every bit as much for national security and homeland security as for their failure to provide Americans with economic security. (Applause.) So this agenda is all about restoring the American dream, but there is nothing dreamlike about it. Every single item is something a Democratic Congress could begin putting in place in January 2007. This is a Democratic agenda for the 21st century. But as we were working on it, I found myself thinking often of a 19th century president, Abraham Lincoln, who I secretly believe would be a Democrat were he here right now. (Laughter.) President Lincoln led America into the industrial age, and gave birth to the possibility of a new American dream for millions of our citizens. His administration gave the land grants that set up our system of public higher education, still the world's finest. It also supported an audacious plan to build a railroad all the way across our great continental nation, a huge step for economic growth. And all of this while the country was embroiled in painful civil war. Lincoln understood that who we are in the world begins with how we live at home. And during the darkest days of that war he said, my dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth. That is still a dream we all share. It is a dream that begins with making America work for its people, and making its people proud to work for America. Democrats stand ready to lead again. We believe in evidenced-based decisionmaking, not ideology; performance-based governing, not photo-ops; hope and fairness, not fear and favoritism. We have the ideas and we have the will. That is what this new opportunity agenda stands for. Now, all we have to do is win elections, starting in November by uniting the Democratic Party in the name of victory on behalf of our country, and by convincing a majority of Americans we are on their side, that we get it; we too want a new direction at home and abroad, and that if Americans give us their trust and their votes, we will work our hearts out to reclaim the future and renew the American dream for generations to come. Thank you all very much. (Applause.) Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is Chair of the American Dream Initiative.