Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met Thursday with a group of home-care providers in Los Angeles, praising the work they do and the contributions they make to the nation’s health care system, before heading for a presidential campaign fundraiser.
Clinton took part in a roundtable discussion on home care at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College in her first non-fundraising event in Los Angeles since declaring her candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. The 67-year-old Clinton conducted only campaign fundraisers during her previous two visits to the region as a candidate for her party’s 2016 nomination.
The event was organized by the Service Employees International Union, which includes members in the health care industry and is working to organize more of them.
“The work that you’re doing actually saves Medicaid,” Clinton said. “Because if people don’t go into nursing homes or other kinds of long-term institutional settings, if they can stay in their home, you’re actually doing a service that should be both recognized and respected as well as provide the argument for greater financial benefits for the caregivers.”
Some of the workers who attended the event said they want to ensure that they are paid a living wage.
“The best part of my job is providing services to those in need in the comfort of their home,” home-care worker Regina Sutton said. “We need to ensure that these jobs pay living wages and that the people who need our services can afford them.”
Clinton has pledged to defend President Barack Obama’s health care law, reduce health costs, slow the growth of overall health care costs, deliver better care to patients and ensure that the savings benefit families.
“Hillary Clinton’s actions speak louder than her empty rhetoric on issues that matter to everyday Americans,” said Ninio Fetalvo, a Republican National Committee deputy press secretary.
“Clinton can’t escape the fact that the failed ‘Obamacare’ law she undyingly supports will continue to cause millions of dollars in cuts to home health agencies.”
Clinton also attended a fundraiser at the Brentwood home of music industry talent manager Scooter Braun and his wife Yael. Braun discovered pop star Justin Bieber.
The ticket price for what the campaign is billing as a “Conversation with Hillary” was $2,700, the maximum individual contribution for a candidate seeking his or her party’s nomination under federal law.
As she did in her previous Southland fundraisers, Clinton discussed her commitment to being a champion for everyday Americans and outlined the “four fights” that are the focus of her campaign — building an economy of tomorrow; strengthening America’s families; defending America and its core values; and revitalizing democracy, according to a campaign aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Reality television personality Kim Kardashian West and her third husband, rapper Kanye West were among the approximately 225 people in attendance.
Kim Kardashian West tweeted a photo of herself, her husband and Clinton, declaring, “I got my selfie!!! I really loved hearing her speak & hearing her goals for our country! #HillaryForPresident.
The fundraiser was Clinton’s eighth in the Los Angeles area in her quest to become the nation’s first female president. She conducted three fundraisers on Los Angeles’ Westside on May 7 and four June 18-19, one in Newport Beach and three on the Westside.
Today’s fundraiser is part of a four-day, five-state fundraising trip that began Tuesday with events in Colorado in Aspen and Denver, according to the website PoliticalPartyTime.org, which tracks political fundraisers. Clinton was scheduled to be in Park City, Utah; Portland, Oregon; and Atherton in Northern California on Wednesday and in San Francisco today.
The trip is scheduled to conclude Friday with stops in La Jolla and McAllen, Texas.
Clinton today received the endorsement of Rep. Xavier Becerra, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, the No. 4 spot in the House Democratic leadership.
“There is no stronger leader for hard-working Americans who dream to own their own home, send their kids to college and earn a secure retirement,” Becerra, D-Los Angeles, said of Clinton. “No leader comes better tested in the halls of Congress and in the foreign capitals of today’s international hot spots than Secretary Clinton.
“Secretary Clinton has the right experience and the core convictions to lead all American families through our changing economy. And no one knows more about protecting our national security in an uncertain world than our former Secretary of State.
“As President, Hillary Clinton would make sure that our kids can go to college without facing a lifetime of debt, that every American is rewarded for working hard and growing our economy, and that we fix our broken immigration system.”
