Yesterday, the USGLC kicked off its annual Washington Conference to a packed house of over 600, with nearly 1,000 viewers joining online. This year’s conference featured extraordinary speeches from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, General James Cartwright, former Governor Tom Ridge, former Senator Tom Daschle, a panel of surrogates representing four Republican Presidential campaigns, agency heads running development and diplomacy programs every day and more. In addition, USGLC released a brand-new video and economic policy brief. Seen for the first time at yesterday’s conference, the video illustrates the direct connection between our investments in U.S. global leadership and job creation here at home . . . from a kid’s point of view. The new economic policy brief, prepared by members of USGLC’s Economic Working Group, calls on policymakers to embrace the principles of America’s global leadership as a key strategic investment for growing American jobs.

Must Reads

USGLC In the News

Hillary Clinton tells U.S. businesses ‘we need to up our game’ abroad (Jill Dougherty, CNN)

Claiming U.S. foreign policy can create American jobs at home, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Tuesday urged U.S. companies to “roll up their sleeves, get out there and engage with the economic opportunities that are emerging across the world.” Speaking in Washington to the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition — which brings together business leaders from around the country — Clinton said American businesses “need to up our game.” U.S. foreign policy, she argued, “must be a force for economic renewal here in America” and can create jobs — an overriding concern for the Obama administration, which just released a jobs report that shows unemployment rose to 9.2% in June and that the economy generated just 18,000 new jobs.

Clinton Strengthens Foreign Policy, U.S. Economy Link as Companies Applaud (Nicole Gaouette, Bloomberg)

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is strengthening the link between foreign policy and U.S. prosperity, stressing the role of trade and diplomacy in generating economic growth.“Our foreign policy must be a force for economic renewal here in America,” Clinton said yesterday in an address to the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, a group of businesses that support federal spending for international affairs.  As lawmakers and the administration seek to pare federal spending, the top U.S. diplomat is making the case that State Department resources must be protected so the agency can continue to open markets for U.S. companies and create U.S. jobs. She is getting the backing of major U.S. companies as she does. “The 1 percent of our budget we spend on diplomacy and development is not what is driving our deficit,” Clinton told the business group.

Clinton: Diplomacy key to job creation in US (Matthew Lee, AP)

American diplomacy abroad is critical to creating jobs and improving economic conditions at home, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday, urging Congress not to slash the Obama administration’s foreign policy budget. In a speech to the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, Clinton said the administration’s foreign affairs spending represents just a tiny fraction — 1 percent — of the federal budget and is not what is driving the government’s massive debt. She said threatened cuts to foreign assistance and State Department operations will undermine efforts to develop markets for American businesses overseas and hurt diplomats’ promotion of U.S. companies.

Clinton defends State’s budget (Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post)

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is making the case against deep cuts in the international affairs budget, arguing that diplomats provide critical support to American businesses overseas.“The 1 percent of our budget we spend on all diplomacy and development is not what is driving our deficit. Not only can we afford to maintain a strong civilian presence [overseas] — we cannot afford not to,” Clinton said Tuesday at a meeting of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, which includes business leaders, ex-officials and others advocating for the U.S. international affairs budget.

Clinton tells Congress to pass trade deals soon (Ben Birnbaum, Washington Times)

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday urged Congress to pass three stalled trade deals before its summer recess, calling the agreements vital to U.S. economic and strategic interests. “I know two things about trade: It is a polarizing political issue, but done right, it creates American jobs,” Mrs. Clinton said at a conference of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition.

Clinton Says US Diplomacy Abroad Creates Jobs at Home, Warns Against Cuts (Kirit Radia, ABC News)

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has a message for those on Capitol Hill who would like to cut the State Department’s budget: do so at the risk of American jobs and American leadership. In a speech in Washington this morning Clinton argued that American investments and diplomacy abroad pay back dividends by creating jobs in the United States. She also warned that nothing short of America’s global primacy is at risk if those efforts are not properly resourced.

Clinton urges passage of FTA with S. Korea (Lee Chi-dong, Yonhap)

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Tuesday for an end to partisan strife over free trade agreements (FTAs) with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.   “I know two things about trade. It is a polarizing political issue, but done right, it creates American jobs,” she said in a speech at the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition Conference in Washington.

State Department connects diplomacy abroad with domestic job creation (AHN News)

The top U.S. diplomat on Tuesday urged American companies to get involved in the umpteen opportunities emerging across the world to boost jobs at home while cautioning the lawmakers that trimming budget of diplomacy would risk cutting domestic jobs. Addressing a select audience of business leaders from around the nation at the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition in Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged American companies to “roll up their sleeves, get out there and engage with the economic opportunities that are emerging across the world.”

Clinton Urges Congress To Approve FTA With South Korea, Panama, Colombia (RTT News)

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has urged Congress to approve the United States’ Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with South Korea, Panama and Colombia, and a trade adjustment assistance program before the summer recess. Addressing the 2011 U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) Conference in Washington on Tuesday, Clinton said it was time to put these trade deals to work on behalf of the American people. She spoke to the USGLC about the role diplomacy and development played in creating “a lot of jobs in the United States by enabling us to sell more in third country markets.”

Foreign Aid Supports U.S. Economic Growth, Clinton Says (Charlene Porter, All Africa)

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is advocating that U.S. development assistance should receive equal stature in U.S. foreign policy with defense and diplomacy, and she asked the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) to support her in nudging policymakers in that direction. Speaking at a USGLC conference in Washington on July 12, Clinton said development supports foreign policy in two recognized ways: Helping poor nations rise from poverty to achieve their potential is a moral imperative, and prospering nations are less likely to slip into chaos or lawlessness and endanger security. Besides these two reasons, Clinton sees a clear economic reason for wealthy nations to help poor ones. “The growth of the developing world presents a major economic opportunity for American business today and a thousand opportunities tomorrow,” Clinton said.

What Happens Over There Matters Here (John Murphy, Chamber of Commerce Blog)

Today, the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition released a new report underscoring the importance of the U.S. International Affairs budget to helping American businesses grow and create jobs here at home. This new report, entitled “U.S. Global Leadership: A Strategic Investment in U.S. Jobs”, was crafted by the USGLC’s Economic Working Group, co-chaired by Caterpillar’s Bill Lane and me. Representatives of some of the top companies in the world, including Boeing, GE, Wal-Mart, Procter & Gamble and many more were a part of the discussions. It shows how the United States must invest in diplomacy and development to open new markets to U.S. businesses and create jobs here at home. The Coalition also released a great new video that sums up our message nicely.

Clinton to visit Indonesia, Hong Kong (AFP)

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits Indonesia and Hong Kong later this month to take part in several key regional forums and host a slew of bilateral talks, a US official said Tuesday. “In Hong Kong later this month, I’ll be speaking about the rules and values that support our global economic order,” the top US diplomat told the annual conference of the Washington-based US Global Leadership Coalition. Clinton’s tour begins on Friday when she will first travel to Turkey, Greece and India.

State Department Flexing Its Job-Creation Muscles (Sara Sorcher, National Journal)

Land O’ Lakes President and CEO Chris Policinski said the concept for his favorite development project is simple: It starts with a cow. The $12 billion company’s international-development branch buys cows for Malawian dairy farmers, and connects them to a system it built to collect, cool, and distribute the milk. The dairy farmers are then able to earn a wage, and Land O’Lakes, whose funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development and Agriculture Department helps it break even financially, has a new market supply. The “Cows for Malawi” program is just one example of U.S. companies using foreign investment to create jobs at home, an effort the State Department is enthusiastically backing.