PITTSBURGH -- Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton returned to Pittsburgh on Wednesday and proposed $7 billion a year in tax incentives to encourage U.S. companies not to outsource.

Check out Hillary In Pittsburgh

Video Blog: Aaron Saykin On Clinton Visit

At the IBEW facility on the city's South Side, Clinton announced to a few hundred supporters the details of her so-called "insourcing" plan to eliminate tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, and use the savings to encourage job creation.

"We are in a race, and we've got to win that race, and we need to understand what's at stake," she said.

Clinton pointed to Pittsburgh as an example of how an old industrial city can gradually transform itself into a hotbed of research.

"I believe our government should get out of the business of rewarding companies for moving jobs off our shores and get back to rewarding companies that create high-wage jobs with good benefits right here in Pennsylvania and in America," she said.

But it was a working-class economic message and broad union support that helped Clinton carry the Democratic primary in neighboring Ohio last month.

And on Wednesday, she promised that organized labor could also help the Pittsburgh region see a rise in high-end manufacturing jobs.

"Even if they are not here as full as they were before, they are truly coming back, I believe," said AFCSME member Karen Momburger.

Clinton spoke with members of two panels with about 10 experts each from the Pittsburgh business community, unions, universities, the Green Building Alliance group, and the bio-tech and high-tech industries.

She also took questions from invited guests.

The senator's plan would offer new tax benefits for research and job development. It would also create "innovation and research clusters" across the country and provide $500 million annually in investments to encourage the creation of high-wage jobs in clean energy.

Clinton has focused on job creation and economic challenges during her campaign appearances in Pennsylvania, where she's locked in a tight race with Sen. Barack Obama leading up to the April 22 primary.

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