Hillary Clinton Campaign Press Release - In 1997, Hillary Took On the Koch Brothers and Won—and It Wasn't Her First Uphill Battle

She's spent decades fighting for families.

Hillary has taken on more than her share of uphill battles on behalf of American families. So it's no surprise that in Iowa, two billionaire hedge fund managers have launched an ad blitz against her because she's fighting to rein in the financial industry.

She's also taking on Big Pharma, who is attacking her plan to cap out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs and to crack down on spending taxpayer dollars on marketing instead of research. And she's taking on big corporations that move abroad on paper simply to avoid paying their fair share of U.S. taxes.

But this isn't the first time Hillary has gone up against corporate lobbying groups. Hillary has been battling powerful special interests for decades—and she has the scars to prove it.

1993: As first lady, Hillary took on one of the toughest fights of her career: working to fix our broken health care system.

She was the driving force behind President Clinton's initiative to rein in health care costs and provide health care and financial security to American families.

Right off the bat, health insurance companies launched a barrage of attack ads, spending $50 million against the bill. And the health care and pharmaceutical industries together spent a total of $100 million against the bill.

Recognizing the threat to the status quo, a group called "Citizens for a Sound Economy"—bankrolled by the Koch brothers—led a smear campaign against the effort. They even sponsored an advertising plane and a tow truck carting around a wrecked bus with a sign that read "This is Clinton Health Care—Beware of the Phony Express."

But Hillary refused to back down.

1997: Big Tobacco and the Koch brothers went after Hillary's plan to expand children's health insurance—and they failed.

After special interests blocked Hillary's health care reform effort, she worked with Republicans and Democrats in Congress to provide health care access to uninsured children.

But it didn't happen without a fight.

Despite the opposition, Hillary worked tirelessly to help create the hugely successful Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The program provides health insurance to 8 million kids and has helped cut the children's uninsured rate in half.

2005: Hillary stood up to the gun lobby and voted against immunity for gun manufacturers.

The NRA has never been a fan of Hillary. In 2002, they called her "one of the most strident advocates" of gun restrictions and later warned their members that they'd need a filibuster-proof Senate majority to get pro-gun legislation past "the likes" of senators like Hillary.

The gun lobby quickly discovered what the health care industry had known for a decade: Hillary isn't easily intimidated.

She supported the Brady Bill, and she voted against legislation that shields gun manufacturers and dealers from legal accountability when they endanger Americans—a bill the NRA called "the most significant piece of pro-gun legislation in 20 years."

And the gun lobby has been attacking her ever since—but it hasn't stopped her fighting for commonsense gun laws. And Wayne LaPierre, CEO and executive vice president of the NRA, has taken notice.

2006: Hillary fought to allow Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices and make prescriptions more affordable.

Despite opposition from the pharmaceutical and health insurance industries—two of the most powerful lobbying forces in Washington—Hillary fought to allow Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices.

And she's still fighting to lower prescription drug costs today.

2007: Hillary called on Wall Street to take responsibility for the housing crisis.

As a senator for New York, Hillary went to the NASDAQ and criticized Wall Street for their part in creating the foreclosure crisis, and she called on them to put a moratorium on foreclosures.

Hillary has always fought for families—even when doing the right thing invited attacks from powerful, well-funded lobbies. And that's what she'll do as president.