Clinton to Bush: Workers need raise, not lecture

Hillary Clinton rebuked Republican presidential rival Jeb Bush on Monday for his assertion that Americans need to work longer hours.

“Let him tell that to the nurse that stands on her feet all day or the teacher who is in the classroom or the trucker that drives all night,” she said Monday during an economic speech in New York City.

{mosads}“They don’t need a lecture, they need a raise.”

Bush received widespread criticism from Democrats after comments last week that Americans “need to work longer hours,” a comment his campaign later clarified, saying he meant to highlight the lack of full-time job opportunities in the current economic landscape.

Clinton zeroed in on the line as symptomatic of the nation’s deep wealth inequality. She panned inequality as a main “drag” on the economy and chided the GOP for relying on “trickle-down economics.”

She also targeted two other GOP candidates: Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Gov. Scott Walker (Wis.), who officially announced his campaign on Monday.  

Clinton called Rubio’s tax plan, which she argues would cut taxes for households making $3 million a year by almost $240,000, as a “budget-busting giveaway.”

And while linking the dwindling power of labor unions to an increase in income inequality, she bashed Walker for making his name by “stomping on workers’ rights” and promised to push back against the “mean-spirited, misguided attacks.”

Bush spokeswoman Allie Brandenburger pushed back against Clinton’s criticism in a statement to The Hill. She panned Clinton’s speech as a retread of “failed” Obama administration policies and lauded Bush’s plan to help raise economic growth to 4 percent.

“Hillary Clinton is proposing the same failed policies we have seen in the Obama economy, where the typical American household’s income has declined and it’s harder for businesses to hire and the middle class to achieve rising incomes,” she said.

“Americans want to work and want the opportunity to achieve earned success for their families, but Secretary Clinton’s antiquated proposals protect the special interests that want to stifle American ingenuity and 21st Century companies like Uber that are creating jobs.”

Bush’s supporters have raked in more than $100 million for his super-PAC in the hopes of countering Clinton’s vast fundraising networks. And conservatives are bullish on Walker’s and Rubio’s chances against her as well.

Clinton’s broad economic speech included a widespread list of proposals such as banking reform, profit-sharing for businesses and domestic policy reform that she framed as essential to jump-starting the economy.

Updated at 11:41 a.m.