Hillary Announces Hispanic Agenda: Una Vida Mejor Para Todos

Clinton says she plans to cut the drop-out rate among Latino students in half, expand GEAR UP to provide mentoring to Latino kids, make college more affordable for Latino families, and enact the DREAM Act.

Salem-News.com

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Hillary Clinton has unveiled "Una Vida Mejor Para Todos," a report that documents the impact that her proposals will have on the Latino community.

Clinton says she has a strong record of fighting for issues that are important to Hispanics.

As President, Clinton said she will continue working to expand opportunity so that everyone can achieve the American dream.

During her participation in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s Presidential Forum, Hillary detailed some of the initiatives contained in the Agenda.

It includes ideas to improve the quality of education we provide to Latino children, to provide more pathways to economic success, to offer quality health care that is affordable, to increase the supply of affordable housing, to support our veterans, to ensure environmental justice, and to craft comprehensive immigration reform.

In America, we’ve always believed that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can succeed and enter the middle class.

That is why Hillary Clinton has an agenda to provide more opportunities for Latinos.

Hillary’s Hispanic Agenda "Una Vida Mejor para Todos" will address:

Educational opportunity:

Hillary believes that it is crucial that we support our children from their earliest years in pre-kindergarten to their graduation from college, ensuring that at every step of the way they have the resources to realize their full potential.

That is why she plans to invest $10 billion in quality pre-kindergarten for all four-year-olds, expand Head Start and Early Head Start, as well as parent-support programs.

She also plans to cut the drop-out rate among Latino students in half, expand GEAR UP to provide mentoring to Latino kids, make college more affordable for Latino families, and enact the DREAM Act.

In addition, Hillary has outlined a Youth Opportunity Agenda designed to help at-risk youth go to college and find well-paying jobs, and encourage responsible fatherhood.

Economic opportunity:

Hillary is committed to providing good jobs for all Latinos. As President, she plans to reduce special breaks for big corporations, eliminate incentives for American companies that ship jobs and profits overseas, help working people save for the future, and make it easier to form unions and increase the minimum wage.

All of these initiatives will greatly increase the number of economic opportunities Latinos have.

Quality, affordable health care:

Hillary’s American Health Choices Plan will guarantee that all Americans, including the 15.3 million Hispanics who do not have health care coverage today, will be insured.

She will make health care affordable, which is important to the Latino community since health care premiums have skyrocketed in recent years while incomes have remained stagnant.

Under her plan, families will receive an income-contingent tax so that they don’t have to pay more than a reasonable share of their income on health care.

Also, small businesses will receive a tax credit for providing health care to employees.

Affordable housing:

Hillary will work to ensure that all Latinos have the chance to realize the American dream of homeownership.

Right now, we could be facing a real crisis in the mortgage market and Latinos are carrying a large share of the burden.

To address that problem and help Latino homeowners avoid foreclosure, she plans to expand Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s foreclosure prevention program, end prepayment penalties, put a stop to mortgage fraud and predatory lending, make government-backed mortgages through the Federal Housing Administration more available, and expand affordable housing.

Support for our veterans:

In 2004, according to the Department of Defense, Latinos made up 13 percent of new recruits - an all-time high, nearly twice the percentage of 10 years earlier.

And while Latinos are still underrepresented in the military, the absolute number of Latinos entering the armed forces continues to grow, which means that the Latino veteran population will grow. Hillary Clinton’s agenda for veterans will include a new G.I. Bill of Rights; guaranteed, mandatory funding for our veteran’s health care system; a pay raise for wartime troops; and a monthly stipend for Gold Star Parents.

Environmental justice:

Low-income and minority communities are most vulnerable to environmental threats because of where they live and a lack of access to information.

According to one report, 80 percent of Latinos live in counties that do not meet at least one federal air quality standard as mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

When Hillary is President, she will enact legislation to reduce global warming by 80 percent by 2050.

She will also create a Strategic Energy Fund that will fund research, development and deployment of energy technologies to reduce America’s oil dependence and greenhouse gas emissions.

And Hillary will also create a Green Building Fund that will increase our energy efficiency and create new "green-collar" jobs.

Comprehensive immigration reform:

There are more than 12 million undocumented people currently living in the United States - that’s nearly 1 in 20 workers - but we have no way to identify them or ensure that they are treated fairly in the workplace.

She will provide a path to citizenship for those who have paid taxes and appropriate fines, learn English, have not committed crimes, and have been contributing members of our society.

Hillary will also expand border security, maintain family reunification, create an agricultural guest worker program, eliminate the backlog of immigration applications, and capitalize on technological advances to streamline and expedite the system of entering the United States.
Source: Hillary Clinton For President Press Office