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Posted on 9/16/2019 at 21:37:50 by Will Croom
What are Amy Klobuchar's policy positions?
On healthcare
At a March CNN town hall, Klobuchar said that while she wants to see universal healthcare coverage become a reality in the US, she does not support Medicare for All, calling it an "aspiration."
At the Democratic primary debate in August, Klobuchar expressed her oppositionto eliminating private health insurance under Medicare for All. "Bernie wrote the bill, but I read the bill. And on page 8, it says that we will no longer have private insurance as we know it. That means 149 million Americans will no longer be able to have their current insurance. And I don't think that's a bold idea, I think it's a bad idea."
She added: "what I support is something Barack Obama wanted to do from the beginning, which creates a public option: a nonprofit choice that will bring down the costs of insurance, cover 12 million more people, and bring down costs for 13 million more people."
She supports lowering the Medicare eligibility age to 55, and co-sponsored a bill introduced by Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii that would create an expanded public option to allow people to buy into Medicaid or Medicare at a reasonable price.
Klobuchar has also sponsored bipartisan legislation that would lower the cost of prescription drugs, and allow Medicaid to directly negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies.
On immigration:
Klobuchar voted for 2013 immigration legislation to provide a path to citizenship to most undocumented immigrants without criminal records and increase the availability of skills-based visas while allocating more funding for border security.
"Our state's economy is so strong and we rely on legal immigrant employees to work at the turkey farms, out in the farm fields and other places like health care assistance," Klobuchar said in 2018.
She does not support abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but believes the agency should be reformed.
On climate change:
Klobuchar does not currently support the Green New Deal, but says she would have the US re-join the Paris Accords if she became president. The international agreement — which the Trump administration pulled the US out of — aims to decrease greenhouse gas emissions 45% by the year 2030 and expand renewable energy output.
At a September CNN climate town hall, Klobuchar argued in favor of carbon pricing and a plan to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 while embracing natural gas a "transition" fuel to help the US move away from foreign oil.
Klobuchar also expressed interest in working with the meat and dairy industries to lower their carbon footprint and water usage, saying, "I am hopeful that we can do this in a way, when I'm president, where we can continue to have hamburgers and cheese."
On campaign finance/election reform:
Klobuchar supports automatic voter registration for Americans, and introduced legislation in 2017 that would have automatically registered people who interacted with government agencies.
As a member of the Senate Rules Committee, Klobuchar also introduced bipartisan election security legislation last year.
She opposes the Citizens United decision and has sought to decrease the influence of money in politics. Her own campaign is refusing donations from corporate political action committees.
At July's Democratic debate in Detroit, Klobuchar promised to confront corporate interests. "What is broken is a political system that allows the NRA and other large, big money to come in and make things not happen when the majority of people are for [it]," she said. "As president, I will take them on."
On abortion:
Klobuchar has consistently supported abortion rights in her voting record, earning a 100% alignment rating from Planned Parenthood.
On LGBTQ rights
Klobuchar supports same-sex marriage, and has pushed for measures to combat LGBTQ discrimination, writing in a 2013 report that discrimination is "not only morally wrong" but "bad for business and hurts our economy.
On education:
While she doesn't support free, four-year college for all, Klobuchar supports reducing student debt burdens and increasing options for Americans to refinance their student loans.
Klobuchar also supports expanding access to technical and vocational training, including introducing legislation to allow 529 education savings accounts to be used to fund vocational education.
She's praised a plan introduced by 2020 rival Sen. Kamala Harris that would give US public school teachers an average $13,500 pay raise.
On guns:
Klobuchar is from a rural state with a strong hunting culture, joking that she doesn't want to hurt her "Uncle Dick in the deer stand" at a CNN town hall.
She supports instituting universal background checks, banning assault rifles, and Extreme Risk Orders— also known as "red flag" laws — which allow law enforcement to remove guns from people they determine to be a threat.
At the third Democratic debate in September, Klobuchar also backed a voluntary government buyback of semi-automatic weapons for people who want to surrender their guns.
On criminal justice reform:
Klobuchar, a former prosecutor, recently came out in support of marijuana legalization, saying she believes that "states should have the right to determine the best approach to marijuana within their borders."
Klobuchar previously supported the STATES Act, which would have prohibited the Department of Justice from cracking down on marijuana in states that have legalized the drug.
On trade:
Klobuchar has previously supported US tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum imports, according to CNBC.
She's criticized the Trump administration, however, for the damage retaliatory tariffs imposed by China have caused to the Midwest's rural farmers.
At the third Democratic debate in September, Klobuchar said, "[Trump] has assessed these tariffs on our allies, he's putting us in the middle of this trade war, and he's using our farmers like poker chips in one of his bankrupt casinos. And if we are not careful, he will bankrupt this country."
On foreign policy:
Klobuchar opposed Trump withdrawing troops from Syria earlier this year, voting for a Senate legislation which rebuffed his decision, PBS reported.
She's criticized Trump for becoming friendlier with US adversaries like Russia's Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong Un while distancing himself from traditional American allies, telling MSNBC's Rachel Maddow she believes America must "stand as a beacon of democracy."
She took a dig at Trump's foreign policy at her campaign launch, saying "we must respect our frontline troops, diplomats, and intelligence officers … they deserve better than foreign policy by tweet."
On taxes:
Klobuchar's Senate website says she supports legislation that would "simplify the tax code, close wasteful loopholes, bring back money U.S. companies are holding overseas to fund infrastructure projects here at home, and provide incentives to keep jobs in America."
She criticized the 2018 Republican tax reform bill, saying it "created a terrible incentive to move jobs and operations abroad to take advantage of tax havens."
On jobs and the economy:
Klobuchar supports raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Klobuchar supports expanding export markets for US goods, especially those made by small businesses, as well as decreasing red tape and burdensome regulations that hinder small business growth.
Klobuchar also recently rolled out an ambitious $1 trillion plan to upgrade and invest in America's infrastructure, which she says will create thousands of good-paying jobs.
On technology:
Klobuchar represents many rural communities in Minnesota, and has secured federal funding to expand broadband internet in rural areas, as well as improving the quality of infrastructure in rural areas.
As a former corporate lawyer specializing in telecommunications, Klobuchar has also introduced legislation implementing stronger privacy regulations on tech companies and supports preventing the proliferation of tech monopolies by limiting big firms from acquiring or merging with other ones.
Replies:
- Re(3): Unity - By Bill Crawford, (14) 9/16/2019 at 22:31:11
- Re(4): Unity - By Will Croom 9/17/2019 at 09:49:32
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