Hillary Clinton to Deliver Keynote Address
at C.W. Post Commencement on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 14

Brookville, N.Y. – Senator Hillary Clinton, former first lady of the United States and one of the nation’s most prominent public officials, will deliver the keynote address at the 48th Commencement ceremonies at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 14, 2006. She will be awarded an honorary doctorate of law.

Clinton serves on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee; the Environment and Public Works Committee; the Special Committee on Aging; and she is the first New Yorker ever to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee. She also chairs the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee, responsible for communicating with the public about key issues before Congress.

Elected in 2000, Senator Clinton has been a tireless advocate for the Empire State, fighting to improve homeland security, strengthen the economy and expand opportunities. She has secured hundreds of millions of dollars in appropriations and has drawn attention to issues that are important to her constituents.

In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Senator Clinton worked hard to obtain the funds needed to rebuild. She fought to provide compensation to the families of the victims, grants for hard-hit businesses and health services for front-line workers at Ground Zero. In the years following the tragedy, Senator Clinton has remained vigilant, introducing legislation to supply direct and threat-based homeland security funding for first responders and high-target communities.

She was asked by the Department of Defense to serve as the only Senate member of the Transformation Advisory Group to the Joint Forces Command. Senator Clinton has visited troops in Iraq and Afghanistan; at Fort Drum in New York, home of the 10th Mountain Division; and at Walter Reed Military Hospital to learn first hand the challenges facing American combat forces. She is an original sponsor of legislation that expanded health benefits to members of the National Guard and Reserves.

Senator Clinton continues to reaffirm her commitment to children and families by leading efforts to strengthen the Children’s Health Insurance Program, helping schools address environmental hazards and calling for increased access to health care. She has authored legislation that aims to: improve recruitment and retention of nurses, lower the cost of prescription drugs and protect our food supply from bioterrorist threats.

With an eye toward decreasing administrative costs and reducing medical errors, Senator Clinton is also spearheading the struggle to expand the use of information technology in the health care industry.

To encourage business expansion, she co-sponsored legislation enacted in 2004 to extend tax credits to regions designated as Renewal Communities; led a bipartisan initiative to increase access to broadband technology in rural areas; and currently serves as chair of the advisory board for New Jobs for New York.

Senator Clinton, who graduated from Wellesley College and Yale Law School, is the author of best-selling books, including her autobiography, “Living History”; “It Takes a Village: and Other Lessons Children Teach Us”; “An Invitation to the White House”; and “Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids Letters to the First Pets.” She is married to former President William Jefferson Clinton; the couple has one daughter, Chelsea.