Don’t return to trickle-down policies, Clinton tells crowd at Ames rally

AMES - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told a campaign rally Sunday that American voters need to be reminded that GOP 'trickle-down” economic theories have not worked and plunged the nation into perilous calamity in 2008 before President Barack Obama reversed recession into recovery.

'We were standing on the abyss of a great depression, not just a great recession,” the former secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady told several hundred people during a campaign stop on the Iowa State University campus.

'I don't want people to forget that,” she told the gathering, 'because the silent song from the Republicans depends upon collective amnesia and I, for one, am going to try to keep people awake during this election so we don't get misled again.”

Clinton said Obama and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, inherited financial messes from GOP administrations. But now, she said, the 2016 GOP field is embracing policies aimed at cutting taxes and regulations that will benefit corporations and wealthy donors, but do little to help working Americans trying to improve their lots and pursue their dreams.

'Their answer to everything is: Let's go back to trickle-down economics,” Clinton said. 'Now I thought that was a bad idea back in the 1980s. Right up there with new Coke and big hair and shoulder pads, and I don't want to go back to the 1980s and the failed economic policies of that time.

'But that is their answer to everything - cut taxes on the wealthy, get out of the way of corporations - we've been down that road not once but twice in the last 30 years.”

The former Obama administration Cabinet member said the president does not get the credit he deserves for rescuing the U.S. economy, stimulating job growth and nurturing a recovery that Republicans criticize as too slow.

'What gall to be saying it's a slow recovery,” Clinton said. 'They're forgetting the original sin. We ended up in the terrible mess we were in on their watch, and we're not going to let them forget it.”

The Democratic front-runner told prospective supporters in Iowa's first-in-the-nation Feb. 1 precinct caucuses she is focused on raising income for all Americans by boosting the minimum wage and ending lower wages for workers reliant on tips, enforcing existing overtime laws, guaranteeing equal pay for equal work, and helping working parents balance work and family responsibilities by promoting paid family leave, paid sick days and predictable work schedules.

'I've got a growth agenda. I've got a fairness agenda,” she said.

Clinton also said she supported production tax credits for renewable energy and building a 'clean-energy” economy while her GOP rivals sidestep the issue of climate change by insisting they are not scientists.

'I'm not a scientist, either. I'm just a grandmother with two eyes and a brain and I know we're facing a huge problem,” said Clinton, to rousing applause.

Later Sunday, Clinton announced what she called the first pillars of a comprehensive energy and climate agenda to ensure that the United States will generate enough clean renewable energy to power every home in America within 10 years of her taking office as president.

'We're all going to have to do our part, but that's who we are as Americans. We don't hide from change; we harness it,” Clinton said in the video released by her campaign.

'We're on the cusp of a new era,” she said. 'The decisions we make in the next decade can make all of this possible or they can keep us trapped in the past. We cannot wait any longer. It's time we stand for a healthier climate, stand for cleaner air, for science, innovation, for our children, for reality, for the future.”

Achieving the goals will enable the United States to expand the amount of installed solar capacity to 140 gigawatts by the end of 2020, a 700 percent increase from current levels, Clinton said. At least one third of all U.S. electricity would be generated from renewable sources, with more power generation capacity added to the grid than during any decade in American history from a combination of wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and other forms of renewable electricity, she noted.

To achieve the goals, Clinton said she would launch a Clean Energy Challenge that forms a new partnership with states, cities, and rural communities that are ready to lead on clean energy, including competitive grants and other market-based incentives to empower states to exceed federal carbon pollution standards and accelerate clean energy deployment and awards for communities that successfully cut the red tape that slows rooftop solar installation times and increases costs for businesses and consumers.