Hillary Clinton Washington View Election 2008

July 13, 2007 Presidential election 2008: Hillary Clinton Profile Political Party: Birth year: Education: Professional Experience: Democratic 1947 Yale Law School Attorney, Rose Law Firm, 1976-1992 Faculty, University of Arkansas Law School, 1975 Board Member, TCBY Yogurt Company, 1985-1992 Board Member, Wal-Mart, 1985-1992 Board Member, Arkansas Children's Hospital Board Member, Children's Defense Fund Co-Founder, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families Political Experience: Senator, United States Senate, 2001-present First Lady of the United States, 1993-2001 First Lady of Arkansas, 1979-1981, 1983-1993 House Judiciary Committee, 1974 Books: Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids' Letters to the First Pets Living History It Takes a Village Witness to Genocide: The Children of Rwanda: Drawings by Child Survivors of the Rwandan Genocide of 1994 (with Richard A. Salem) Rank : In the polls, Sen. Clinton is the leading Democratic presidential candidate, followed closely by Sen. Barack Obama. 1 U.S. Economic Research Department During the first quarter of 2007, Sen. Clinton had raised enough money to hold more than 30 million dollars in cash. Campaign’s core message: According to supporters, Sen. Clinton is a strong and pragmatic woman with vast political experience. Sen. Clinton would advance a balanced path between Democratic ideals and political pragmatism, being able to push effectively for better conditions for the middle class. Opponents’ explicit or implicit attacks: According to critics, Sen. Clinton is a polarizing figure. She is opportunistic, with her agenda dictated by the polls. Furthermore, she voted in favor of the war in Iraq and, although she now vows for an end to the war, she has not explicitly regretted her initial decision. Position on Key Issues: On health care reform: Since she was First Lady, Sen. Clinton´s top priority has been to reform healthcare in the United States and set up Universal Health. Sen. Clinton serves on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions. Most recently, during her presidential campaign, she proposed a 7 step program to reduce health care cost while increasing affordability. Her voting record highlights additional aspects of her views on healthcare: • Voted NO on limiting medical liability lawsuits to $250,000. (May 2006) • Voted YES on expanding enrollment period for Medicare Part D. (Feb 2006) • Voted YES on increasing Medicaid rebate for producing generics. (Nov 2005) • Voted YES on negotiating bulk purchases for Medicare prescription drug. (Mar 2005) • Voted NO on $40 billion per year for limited Medicare prescription drug benefit. (Jun 2003) • Voted YES on allowing reimportation of Rx drugs from Canada. (Jul 2002) • Voted YES on allowing patients to sue HMOs & collect punitive damages. (Jun 2001) • Voted NO on funding a GOP version of Medicare prescription drug benefit. On national security: Sen. Clinton serves on the Armed Services Committee, the first Senator from New York to do so. In 2006 Sen. Clinton voted YES to reauthorize the Patriot Act, although she previously voted NO on extending the Patriot Act’s wiretap provision. She has supported financing research on missile defense and has sponsored other initiatives to strengthen security within the US. She has not discarded future unilateral attacks from the US to foreign countries, although she has expressed that such a decision would be a measure of last Page 2 of 3 U.S. Economic Research Department resort. For Sen. Clinton an issue integral to national security is reducing energy dependence and diversifying sources of energy. On immigration: Working with Senate colleagues, Sen. Clinton has introduced several acts to ensure immigrants have access to health care and education and “become full participating members” of the United States. She voted in favor of the 2007 immigration reform (that finally did not pass) and has voted in favor of a guest worker program and participation of illegal immigrants in Social Security. On Iraq: Sen. Clinton no longer supports President Bush's policy in Iraq. Although she initially voted in favor of authorizing the use of military force against Iraq, she says the war effort was mishandled. Furthermore, she says that she would had not authorized the use of military force had she had today’s information about the danger that Iraq represented. As part of her work in the Armed Services Committee, Sen. Clinton has introduced legislation to streamline the process by which veterans receive disability benefits and modernize healthcare for troops and veterans. On Free Trade: Sen. Clinton has a mixed track record on Free Trade. On the one hand, in 2003, she voted in favor of free trade agreement with Singapore and with Chile. On the other hand, she voted no in extending the treaty to all Andean nations and also voted no to CAFTA (Central America Free Trade Agreement). Sen. Clinton has argued that any country that seeks free trade agreements with the United States must have strong environmental and labor laws. On taxes: Sen. Clinton has supported doubling the child tax credit and expanding it so that it is available to low-income families. In 2003, Congress passed a bill she introduced to extend unemployment insurance. She also fought against efforts by the Bush Administration to cut overtime pay for working families. In other tax-related matters, she voted the following ways: • Voted NO on permanently repealing the inheritance tax. (Jun 2006) • Voted YES on $47B for military by repealing capital gains tax cut. (Feb 2006) • Voted YES on extending the tax cuts on capital gains and dividends. (Nov 2005) • Voted NO on $350 billion in tax breaks over 11 years. (May 2003) • Voted YES on reducing marriage penalty instead of cutting top tax rates. (May 2001) • Voted YES on increasing tax deductions for college tuition. Page 3 of 3