The following is a transcript of remarks by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton made March 20, 2008 in Anderson, Ind. The transcript was provided by Clinton’s campaign office. Her appearance was titled, “Solutions for America Town Hall.”

SEN. CLINTON: Let’s hear it for Evan Bayh. Oh, hello Anderson. It is so great to be here and thank you Mayor for being with me. I know how hard the Mayor is working and I really appreciate his support. It means a lot to me. I’ll try to help him. You know, I’ve been hearing about the Wigwam for days. I am so proud that I can say I was here.

I look out at this great crowd and I know how resilient and energized the people of Anderson are and what you need now is a president who cares about you and will work for you and make a difference for you. It is great being here and I want to just recognize a few other people in addition to your good Mayor. We have the newly elected congressman, Congressman André Carson. We have State Representative Terri Austin. And former Mayor of East Chicago Bob Pastrick. I am so pleased to be here with all of you. We started this morning in Terre Haute which happens to be where Evan was born. I figured one of the best roads to success in Indiana is to follow the road that Evan Bayh tried and he ended up in the United States Senate.

Even though this crowd is so large, I want to be real serious for a few minutes because as Evan said we’ve got some big challenges ahead, don’t we. I don’t think it matters whether you are a Republican or a Democrat or any kind of ideology. We’re first and foremost Americans. We in our country, in our greatness and in our goodness. But we know we’ve got to take a different direction, we cannot continue on the path that has been laid out by George W. Bush – it’s not working.

We know what will work. We know what kind of leadership is required and that’s what this election is about. Because we have a really momentous choice ahead of us. We have to elect a president who, starting on Jan. 20, 2009, will bring our nation together, set some big goals again and call upon Americans to work toward meeting those goals. I know that no one can do it alone. There isn’t anything a president can make happen by waving a magic wand. But there isn't anything America can’t do once we make up our minds to get it done.

I am confident and optimistic that we can turn this economy around. We can get back to creating millions of new good jobs. During the 1990s, as Evan said, more than 22 million new jobs were created in America. Family incomes were rising. More people were lifted out of poverty than at any time in our recent history. Look what has happened since. President Bush inherited a balanced budget and surplus and squandered it, decided it would be disposable, drove our country deeper into debt so every day we have to borrow money – not just from the Chinese. We owe money to everybody; we owe money to Mexico if you can believe it. We have allowed ourselves to become dependent on foreign oil and foreign money. That is a recipe for decline and it is going to be up to the next president to stand up and say loudly and clearly no more. We are going to turn this around; we are not going to be dependent on anybody else. So here’s what I would do.

No. 1, we’re going to get back to fiscal responsibility. We’re going to start living within the means of the Federal government again. Because I don’t believe we should be going deeper and deeper into debt and putting that burden on the backs of our children. They had nothing to do with it. Think about this, every child born in America today comes into the world with $30,000 of debt on his or her tiny shoulders. That’s not a legacy we can be proud of. We need to begin once again to exercise what we preach — to be responsible. That will begin to reverse this tide, this ocean of red ink that we have been submerged under because of George W. Bush’s failures and reckless policies. Then we are going to go through the tax code of the United States and we’re going to remove every single advantage that goes to any business that exports a job out of Indiana to a foreign country.

Here’s something else we're going to do. We’re going to end the tax breaks that enable a Wall Street money manager to pay a lower percentage of his income in taxes than a teacher, a nurse or a truck driver right here in Anderson.

Then we’re going to take all the trade agreements and we’re going to call a time out. We’re going to examine every single one of them and we’re going to change them so that they are pro-American. We are not going to be involved in trade agreements that put our workers and our businesses and our country at a disadvantage any longer.

I am the only candidate running who has said we will renegotiate NAFTA. It is not working the way it should for people in Anderson, Indiana and across America.

And we will also start once again investing in manufacturing. Evan Bayh and I are members of the Manufacturing Caucus in the Senate because I represent New York. Upstate New York has a lot in common with Indiana. We have lost a lot of jobs. We have seen a lot of factories move, even profitable factories. I will never forget getting an emergency call one afternoon in my office in the Capitol about a company that had just pushed its workforce to make all kinds of changes. And they did. They made themselves more productive. They changed work rules and work hours. And they were so proud of themselves because they turned that company around and that company was making money.

And all of a sudden the parent company decided they weren’t making quite enough money. Making a profit wasn’t the answer. They wanted to make even a bigger profit. So they told those thousands of workers, “Well, thanks very much for turning yourselves inside out and doing what we asked you to do. We’re still picking up, and we’re moving to Asia.” I called that CEO, and I asked him. I said, “I want you to explain to me how as an American you can make a decision that undermines the livelihood of thousands of people, turns your back on a community where this company started, because you can make a little more profit somewhere else.” Well, he didn’t have a good answer. Well, we’re going to come up with some answers, and we’re going to say to the people who run American businesses isn’t it time you put America first again and put American workers first again?

And you know we’re going to create more good new jobs. I believe we can create millions of new jobs with clean, renewable energy. Indiana can be right in the forefront. Indiana can have not only more homegrown energy from the agricultural products you produce, but I believe with the industrial base and the skilled workforce you have here in Indiana, you can be part of the next generation of higher gas mileage cars, of wind energy and solar energy, and geothermal, and hydrogen, and so much else.

You see, I believe that we cannot afford to lose our auto companies. There are some people who seem to think “Well, we can’t make autos in America any more.” I don’t know what they’re thinking. One out of every eight jobs is connected to autos.