AMES, Iowa — Democrats have tried hard to use a line Jeb Bush, the Republican presidential candidate and former governor of Florida, said about Americans needing to work “longer hours.”
Bush has said what he meant was there are too many people working part-time hours, who would rather work full-time. But Democrats, including Hillary Clinton — the former U.S. Secretary of State and presidential candidate — have claimed that Bush meant Americans just weren’t working hard enough.
Clinton said during a speech in New York Monday, “Now you may have heard Governor Bush say, last week, that Americans just need to work longer hours . . . Well he must not have met many American workers.”
She continued, “Let him tell that to the nurse who stands on her feet all day, or the teacher who is in that classroom, or the trucker who drives all night. Let him tell that to the fast food workers marching in the streets for better pay. They don’t need a lecture, they need a raise.”
Bush pushed back at her claims Monday night in a campaign event before more than 200 Story County Republicans at Prairie Moon Winery in Ames. “Hillary Clinton has attacked me in the last few days which I take…for the record…bring it on!” Bush said, “She’s upset when I say 6.5 million people are working part-time in this country when they want to work full-time.”
