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Hillary Clinton's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)

Key

Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
Inferred Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, but Vote Smart inferred this issue based on the candidate's public record, including statements, voting record, and special interest group endorsements.
Unknown Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, or we could not infer an answer for this candidate despite exhaustive research of their public record.
Additional Information: Click on this icon to reveal more information about this candidate's position, from their answers or Vote Smart's research.
Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.

Hillary Clinton has refused to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2016 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you.

What is the Political Courage Test?

Issue Positions

For Presidential and Congressional candidates who refuse to provide voters with their positions, Vote Smart has researched their public records to determine their likely responses. These issue positions are from 2016.

  • "As president, she will continue defending Planned Parenthood, which provides critical health services including breast exams and cancer screenings to 2.7 million women a year." (www.hillaryclinton.com)
  • "Protect women’s access to reproductive health care, including contraception and safe, legal abortion." (www.hillaryclinton.com)
  • "We also need to fight back against the erosion of reproductive rights at the federal, state, and local levels, and ensure that patients and staff can safely walk into health centers without harassment or violence." (votesmart.org)
  • "And let's ask the wealthiest Americans to pay more--including a new tax on multimillionaires. That's not only the right thing to do, it's smart for our economy." (votesmart.org)
  • "Now, here's the thing, we're not only going to make all these investments, we're going to pay for every single one of them. And here's how: Wall Street, corporations, and the super-rich are going to start paying their fair share of taxes." (votesmart.org)
  • "What I have proposed would be paid for by raising taxes on the wealthy, because they have made all the gains in the economy. And I think it's time that the wealthy and corporations paid their fair share to support this country." (votesmart.org)
  • "Her plan will prioritize rehabilitation and treatment over prison for low-level and nonviolent drug offenses, and work to end the era of mass incarceration." (www.hillaryclinton.com)
  • "Hillary will reform mandatory minimum sentences, including: Reducing mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses by cutting them in half." (votesmart.org)
  • "Prioritize treatment and rehabilitation--rather than incarceration--for low-level, nonviolent drug offenders." (votesmart.org)
  • "Hillary believes that strengthening our infrastructure is critical to boosting wages and making our economy productive and competitive. That’s why she has announced a $275 billion, 5-year plan to revitalize our nation’s bridges, roads, public transit systems, and other public works." (www.hillaryclinton.com)
  • "If we invest in infrastructure now, we'll not only create jobs today, but lay the foundation for the jobs of the future. And we will transform the way we prepare our young people for those jobs." (votesmart.org)
  • "Invest in clean energy infrastructure, innovation, manufacturing and workforce development to make the U.S. economy more competitive and create good paying jobs and careers." (www.hillaryclinton.com)
  • "I particularly want young people to feel that they are going to get good jobs that will give them that ladder of opportunity that they deserve to have in America. That's why I want to expand incentives like the New Markets Tax Credit, Empowerment Zones, and other ideas that bring business, government, and communities together to create good jobs in poor or remote areas." (votesmart.org)
  • "Provide targeted tax relief for small businesses and simplify tax filing." (www.hillaryclinton.com)
  • "We are going to give tax relief to working families to help with the rising costs of raising kids." (votesmart.org)
  • "When I think about the really unfortunate argument that’s been going on around Common Core, it’s very painful, because the Common Core started off as a bi-partisan effort — it was actually nonpartisan. It wasn’t politicized, it was to try to come up with a core of learning that we might expect students to achieve across our country, no matter what kind of school district they were in, no matter how poor their family was, that there wouldn’t be two tiers of education." (www.washingtonpost.com)
  • New York Times "Mrs. Clinton said that the rollout and implementation of Common Core was problematic, but that common benchmarks were important." (www.nytimes.com)
  • "I think it is imperative that we look at the Keystone pipeline as what I believe it is -- a distraction from the important work we have to do to combat climate change. […] The debate over Keystone 'interferes with our ability to move forward,' Clinton said. 'Therefore I oppose it.' " (votesmart.org)
  • "generate enough renewable energy to power every home in America; cut energy waste in homes, schools, and hospitals by a third; and reduce American oil consumption by a third." (www.hillaryclinton.com)
  • "I have a plan to install a half a billion more solar panels by the end of my first term--and enough clean renewable energy to power every home by the end of my second term." (votesmart.org)
  • "Hillary would cut emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, by 40-45 percent and put in place strong standards for reducing leaks from both new and existing sources." (www.hillaryclinton.com)
  • "Lead the world in the fight against climate change by bringing greenhouse gas emissions to 30 percent below what they were in 2005 within the next decade—and keep going." (www.hillaryclinton.com)
  • "Starting in 2009 as your Secretary of State, I worked with President Obama to bring China and India to the table for the very first time, to get a commitment out of them that they would begin to address their own greenhouse gas emissions. I continued to work on that throughout the four years as Secretary of State, and I was very proud that President Obama and America led the way to the agreement that was finally reached in Paris with 195 nations committing to take steps to actually make a difference in climate change." (votesmart.org)
  • "As senator, she co-sponsored and voted for legislation to close the gun show loophole by requiring criminal background checks on all transactions taking place at events that sell firearms." (www.hillaryclinton.com)
  • "But Hillary is not giving up—she will continue to fight for legislation to build on the Brady Bill’s success." (www.hillaryclinton.com)
  • "People who should care about protecting of police officers should be committed to getting assault weapons off the streets to start with. And they should join us in instituting comprehensive background checks because law enforcement officers are nearly 50 percent, nearly 50 percent, less likely to be killed in states where there are checks on the purchase of handguns." (votesmart.org)
  • "Defend the Affordable Care Act and build on it to slow the growth of out-of-pocket costs." (www.hillaryclinton.com)
  • "Hillary will continue to defend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) against Republican efforts to repeal it. She'll build on it to expand affordable coverage, slow the growth of overall health care costs (including prescription drugs), and make it possible for providers to deliver the very best care to patients." (www.hillaryclinton.com)
  • "I did stand up to the special interests and the powerful forces, the health insurance companies and the drug companies. And perhaps that's why I am so much in favor of supporting President Obama's signature accomplishment with the Affordable Care Act, because I know how hard it was to get that passed, even with a Democratic Congress. So rather than letting the Republicans repeal it or rather starting all over again, trying to throw the country into another really contentious debate, let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody." (votesmart.org)
  • "Enact comprehensive immigration reform to create a pathway to citizenship, keep families together, and enable millions of workers to come out of the shadows." (www.hillaryclinton.com)
  • "I believe that when we have millions of hardworking immigrants contributing to our economy, it would be self-defeating and inhumane to try to kick them out. Comprehensive immigration reform will grow our economy and keep families together - and it's the right thing to do." (votesmart.org)
  • "She co-sponsored the DREAM Act in the Senate in 2003, 2005, and 2007 to give undocumented students who grew up in the U.S. a chance to contribute to our nation’s growth." (www.hillaryclinton.com)
  • "Ensure full federal equality for all LGBT Americans." (www.hillaryclinton.com)
  • "Thanks to the hard work of generations of LGBT advocates and activists who fought to make it possible, our country won a landmark victory this past June when the Supreme Court recognized that in America, LGBT couples—like everyone else—have the right to marry the person they love." (www.hillaryclinton.com)
  • " […] we also have to intensify our air strikes against ISIS and eventually support our Arab and Kurdish partners to be able to actually take out ISIS in Raqqa, end their claim of being a Caliphate." (votesmart.org)
  • "I've laid out my strategy for defeating ISIS. We will strike their sanctuaries from the air, and support local forces taking them out on the ground. We will surge our intelligence so that we detect and prevent attacks before they happen. We will disrupt their efforts online to reach and radicalize young people in our country. It won't be easy or quick, but make no mistake -- we will prevail. " (votesmart.org)
  • "Keeping our homeland secure. As secretary of state, Hillary expanded global anti-terrorism cooperation and helped step up our efforts to go after terrorist recruitment, propaganda, and safe havens. As president, she'll keep America safe and strong, while upholding our core values and principles." (votesmart.org)
  • "Fight any effort to privatize or weaken Medicare and Social Security, and expand Social Security for today’s beneficiaries and generations to come by asking the wealthiest to contribute more." (www.hillaryclinton.com)
  • "Hillary believes that Social Security must remain what it has always been: a rock-solid benefit that seniors can always count on—not subject to the budget whims of Congress or to the fluctuations of the stock market." (www.hillaryclinton.com)
  • "Let's expand Social Security to match today's realities, not cut or privatize it." (votesmart.org)

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