CWA: Working People Know Why Hillary Clinton Must Be the Next President

Following is a statement by Chris Shelton, President of the Communications Workers of America, on the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump:

The first debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump provided even more evidence that Hillary Clinton is the candidate most qualified to become President of the United States and to implement policies and programs that will improve the lives of millions of working families.

Hillary Clinton spelled out exactly what her administration would mean to working people. "We have to build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. That means we need new jobs, good jobs, with rising incomes…We also have to make the economy fairer. That starts with raising the national minimum wage and also guarantee, finally, equal pay for women's work," Clinton said.

"I want us to do more to support people who are struggling to balance family and work…Let's have paid family leave, earned sick days. Let's be sure we have affordable child care and debt-free college," she said.

Donald Trump proposed to help working families by "reducing taxes tremendously, from 35 percent to 15 percent for companies, small and big businesses," something workers know is just another version of discredited "trickle-down economics."

Trump said not paying any federal income taxes "makes me smart." He said, "I take advantage of the laws of the nation because I’m running a company," when Clinton challenged him about stiffing workers who worked on Trump projects. He said, "That's called business," when Clinton noted that Trump "rooted for the housing crisis," because it provided him the opportunity to "go in and buy some and make some money."

It's clear: working families need Hillary Clinton as our next president.

CWA has a large number of members and retirees in all the battleground states, energized and engaging their co-workers every day as part of our effort to elect Hillary Clinton the next President of the United States.