Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is pushing for upstate New York votes before the state’s primary on April 19. During a visit to Syracuse on Friday, Clinton focused on creating jobs and raising incomes, two issues pertinent to central New York and the rest of upstate.
“I’m thrilled to be back in Syracuse!” Clinton said.
It was a high energy rally from the presidential candidate who touts her eight years of experience as a senator from New York bringing together upstate and downstate businesses. Clinton wants more investment in workforce education and training as well as making it more difficult for businesses to leave America and easier for businesses that left to return.
“Upstate New York had one of the most storied histories in manufacturing, we all know that," Clinton said. "We now have a chance to recapture that with a renaissance in manufacturing.”
Clinton said a great way to create jobs that have to be done by Americans is by repairing the nation’s infrastructure.
“These are jobs, good union jobs that provide a good standard of living!” Clinton said.
She said infrastructure is so important that she wants to circumvent Congress and start a national infrastructure bank funded by public and private funds to repair roads.
She commended New York state lawmakers for raising the minimum wage and vowed to ensure women receive equal pay for equal work, bringing loud cheers from supporters. She also called for debt-free college for students from lower and middle income families. She said more jobs can be created in the renewable energy industry.
"Some country is going to be the clean energy superpower of the 21st century," Clinton said. "They're going to capture markets, they're going to export technology. I think it's either going to be China, Germany or us. I want it to be us and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure it is us."
While she positioned herself as the pragmatic candidate, she admitted to setting big goals calling for enough clean energy to power every home in America by the end of her second term. To do so, she will have to try to win the Democratic primary first.
