Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine
Top Answers
It’s not that we can’t find common ground. It’s that our lawmakers need to find the courage to stand up to the gun lobby, respect the will of the American people, and do what it takes to save lives.
The overwhelming majority of Americans support comprehensive background checks and other commonsense reforms to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals. That includes Republicans and Democrats, gun owners and non-gun owners alike. In reality, we’re not divided on this issue. Americans know that we can respect the rights of responsible gun owners and enact commonsense gun reforms to ke...
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The day of the Virginia Tech shooting was the worst day of my life. As Governor of Virginia, I found myself trying to comfort a traumatized community and families of victims who were suffering the worst imaginable tragedy—and I knew I had to do something to make sure a tragedy like that never happened again.
That’s why I worked so hard to close the loophole that let the Virginia Tech shooter purchase his guns, strengthening the background check system to keep guns from dangerously mentally ill individuals.
Guns have a long tradition in American life. I know that from my home state—and als...
If we are fortunate enough to win in November, there are lots of areas where I think I can be helpful. I have a lot of experience getting things done in government: I was a city councilman and mayor, a lieutenant governor and governor, and now a U.S. senator. And I want to do everything I can to help Hillary Clinton win this election and, more importantly, help her put policies in place that will build a 21st-century economy that benefits every American family.
So as Hillary said, our goal in the first 100 days is to put forth a bold jobs plan, comprehensive immigration reform legislation...
I want to just add one thing to Tim Kaine's answer. I wanted a running mate who would be a partner in bringing the country together, someone with the governing and legislative experience to jump in on day one and help us tackle the many challenges we face as a country. And I wanted someone who would provide candid feedback—someone who could look me in the eye and tell me they disagree. Tim is all of those things, and I couldn’t be prouder to have him running alongside me. He’s going to be a great vice president.
That’s a great question. From proposing a comprehensive immigration reform bill with a path to citizenship to introducing a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United I want to hit the ground running in my first 100 days—because there’s so much we have to do.
A critical part of that work is building an economy that everyone can be proud of and be a part of. We’ve come a long way since the Great Recession, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do to ensure everyone who wants to work can find a good-paying job—one that pays enough to support a family. That’s why I’ve pledged that in m...
(more) Manufacturing is at the heart of our economy. Well-paying manufacturing jobs support families, and making goods and products in America is critical to our innovation and prosperity. Throughout my career and in this campaign, I have stood up for American manufacturing and I am committed to doing that as president. In order to bring manufacturing jobs to the U.S., we have to get serious about strengthening our manufacturing communities and protecting them from unfair competition.
My five-point “Make it in America” plan is about harnessing the strength of manufacturing communities nationwide to...
(more) I’ve been in and out of Washington for a long time, in a lot of different roles, and I know how much effort it takes to find common ground to get things done. There’s nothing sexy about it. It’s about getting up every day, building relationships—even with the people you don’t agree with—and finding whatever sliver of common ground you can. From day one, that’s exactly what I will do.
There’s really no shortcut. You just have to keep pushing forward and keep listening and negotiating day after day. And no matter what, you have to keep reaching out. I’ve seen this work. It’s how we were able t...
(more) Hillary is right: There are no shortcuts, but there is compromise. That’s what I believe we need more of in Washington: compromise and compassion—and a willingness to tackle tough issues. That’s what the American people want and deserve from their representatives and from their president and vice president.
Republicans and Democrats certainly have policy disagreements, I can’t deny that. But there is also middle ground, where the opportunity exists to come together and do the work we were sent here to achieve. That’s the attitude my colleagues and I had in Virginia government and the approac...
(more) Technology is rapidly transforming our economy, and with the right public policies, we can harness American innovation to create good-paying jobs, stay globally competitive, and improve quality of life for all Americans. Here’s how I propose we do it:
First, we need to educate and train our workforce for the jobs of the future. As president, I’ll build on President Obama’s Computer Science Education for All initiative to make sure all public school students can take rigorous computer science and STEM classes. I’ve proposed a plan to recruit up to 50,000 new computer science teachers in the n...
(more) I’ve been increasingly concerned about Zika since I first learned of the threat late last year. For months, experts have warned that the virus would reach the continental U.S. this summer—and now it has. Tomorrow, I am headed to the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami, where we’ve seen the first cases of infection by local mosquitos. That’s in addition to the more than 1,800 travel-related cases that have been confirmed across the continental United States, and many more in Puerto Rico.
The spread of Zika poses a serious public health threat, particularly for pregnant women. The Centers for Diseas...
(more) As Hillary said, we can’t afford to sit back on this issue. A partisan fight is not what families in Florida and across America deserve.
We came up with a bipartisan funding proposal in the Senate, and both Republicans and Democrats passed it overwhelmingly. But then Republicans in the House added what’s known as a “poison pill”—they attached anti–Planned Parenthood provisions that would limit access to women’s health care clinics, many of which are leading the effort to stem the epidemic.
We need to take politics out of the conversation around Zika funding. And we ought to reconvene and vote...
(more) Hillary Clinton and I are compañeros del alma. We share a common belief, drawn from our Christian faith: Do all the good you can in all the ways you can. That’s what I’m really all about—and that’s the kind of motto I will follow as vice president.
Vice President Joe Biden is a great example of this motto in action. And he’ll be a role model I look up to if I’m lucky enough to be your vice president. He’s used his years of Senate experience to advance key issues like the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and raising the standard of living for middle-class Americans. Vice Pr...
