So What Are Hillary Clinton’s Achievements?

In the mess of the primary season, it’s easy to lose perspective of what an impressive personal and political career Hillary Clinton has had. So let’s take a look at some of her accomplishments and examples of her working hard for the American people.

Much of this list comes from a post by /u/carefreecartographer on Reddit, reproduced here with permission, and sourced by me.

Foreign Policy:

• Myanmar transition
• Iran nuclear deal framework
• Israel/Hamas peace agreement/ceasefire
• Promoting LGBT rights in Africa as Secretary of State
• HIV/AIDS testing and treatment through Clinton Foundation partnership with ANTIAIDS and the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in Ukraine
• Launched Global Hunger and Food Security program
• Saved the Turkish-Armenian accord
• Co-sponsored Afghan Women and Children Relief Act of 2001
• Co-sponsored Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001
• Co-sponsored Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act of 2006
• Co-sponsored Iraq Reconstruction Accountability Act of 2006
• Co-sponsored Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006

Health:

• Expanded the Family Medical Leave Act to include national guard/reservist
• Co-sponsored Prevention First Act (family planning)
• Changed State Department policy to include same sex couples in Diplomat benefits package
• Lead group investigating 9/11-related illnesses in first responders (her Senate successor ended up passing her bill)
• Co-founded Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families
• Helped increase research funding for prostate cancer and childhood asthma for NIH
• Helped investigate Gulf War Syndrome
• Co-sponsored Traumatic Brain Injury Act of 2008
• Co-sponsored ALS Registry Act
• Co-sponsored Poison Center Support, Enhancement, and Awareness Act of 2008
• Co-sponsored Veterans’ Mental Health and Other Care Improvements Act of 2008

Education:

• Built Arkansas’ Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters
• Reformed Arkansas’ education system as chair of the Arkansas Educational Standards Committee
• Co-sponsored Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006

9/11:

• Instrumental in bringing $21 billion in funding for the World Trade Center site’s redevelopment
• Established family compensation/small business loan programs
• Co-sponsored Procedural Fairness for September 11 Victims Act of 2007

Children/Women:

• Helped create Office on Violence Against Women at the Department of Justice
• Helped pass Adoption and Safe Families Act
• Helped pass Foster Care Independence Act
• Supported and promoted the passage and rollout of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which expanded health insurance for children in lower-income families.
• Co-sponsored Native American Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Technical Amendment Act of 2001
• Co-sponsored Pediatric Research Equity Act of 2003
• Co-sponsored PREEMIE Act
• Co-sponsored Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act of 2007

This is considered by many to be one of the turning points of international women’s rights

• In 1995, during an unprecedented address in Beijing to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, Hillary recounted worldwide abuses and declared “It is time for us to say here in Beijing, and for the world to hear, that it is no longer acceptable to discuss women’s rights as separate from human rights.”

Career:

• Staff attorney for the Children’s Defense Fund in Cambridge
• Board member of the Yale Review of Law and Social Action
• Legal work at the Yale Child Study Center for child abuse
• Volunteer at New Haven Legal Assistance Association
• Director of the Arkansas Legal Aid Clinic
• Chair of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession

Political Career:

• Researcher on migrant worker problems — Subcommittee on Migrant Labor
• Jimmy Carter’s Indiana director of field operations
• Chaired Arkansas’ Rural Health Advisory Committee, working to expand medical facilities for the poor
• Chair of the Arkansas Educational Standards Committee
• Chair of Presidential Task Force on National Health Care Reform
• First Lady of Arkansas
• First Lady of the United States
• United States Senator from New York
• United States Secretary of State

Voting Rights

• Wrote Count Every Vote Act of 2005
• Co-sponsored re-introducing the Equal Rights Amendment

More legislation (that became law)

• Co-sponsored Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009
• Co-sponsored Methamphetamine Production Prevention Act of 2008
• Co-sponsored PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008
• Co-sponsored KIDS Act of 2008
• Co-sponsored Broadband Data Improvement Act
• Co-sponsored Appalachian Regional Development Act Amendments of 2008
• Co-sponsored Healthy Start Reauthorization Act of 2007
• Co-sponsored Hematological Cancer Research Investment and Education Act of 2002
• Co-sponsored Persian Gulf War POW/MIA Accountability Act of 2002
• Co-sponsored FHA Downpayment Simplification Act of 2002
• Co-sponsored Strengthen AmeriCorps Program Act
• Co-sponsored 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act

Legislation Vetoed

• Co-sponsored Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007

Like this post? There are more like it, including I’m Okay With Shaming You Into Voting, Bigger Data: A Case For Voting, and Earned Electoral Allocation. I also tweet.