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What America would look like: Amy Klobuchar

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Amy Klobuchar
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To help local voters decide which candidate to support, Las Vegas Weekly and its sister publication the Las Vegas Sun invited the top candidates for interviews in recent weeks to explore their stances on key issues. We chose those candidates based on the same qualifications used to determine their eligibility to participate in the February 7 Democratic debate. Here’s our look at those candidates.

Amy Klobuchar

Age: 59

Bio: Third-term senator from Minnesota (elected in 2006, re-elected in 2012 and 2018), former county prosecutor and corporate lawyer

It’s telling that Amy Klobuchar has labeled progressive initiatives like Medicare for All as “pipe dreams.” The Minnesota senator brands herself to voters as a pragmatic, get-things-done leader who will focus on passing politically feasible policies.

Her policies largely reflect that image, positioning her as a moderate alternative to more left-leaning candidates like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. That’s not to say she doesn’t have bold initiatives—her platform includes comprehensive immigration reform and a $1 trillion infrastructure plan, for example.

But Klobuchar wants Americans to see her as a down-to-earth Midwesterner whose combination of experience as a county prosecutor followed by 14 years in the Senate gives her an understanding of both kitchentable issues and the workings of Washington. She lists her top three priorities as building a strong ladder for the working and middle classes, addressing climate change and reforming immigration both to restore American values toward newcomers and to strengthen the workforce.

Immigration

In a detailed plan for her first 100 days, Klobuchar promises to undo Trump’s attempts to deport “Dreamers” and immigrants who have received Temporary Protected Status. She further says she would “jump-start” a discussion on comprehensive immigration reform toward approving a plan in her first year in office—regardless of whether Republicans remain in control of the Senate. Klobuchar said she worked with GOP colleagues in passing an immigration reform bill in 2013, which dead-ended in the House, and can do so again. She said Republicans were ready to move on “Dreamers” and temporary workers before getting “completely gut-punched by Trump.” Among the elements of the comprehensive reform she favors: providing due process protections for immigrants, increasing availability of non-immigrant workers to supplement the workforce, relaxing limitations on family and employment-based visas and providing legal status to 11 million long-term undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.

Gun Safety

Like her opponents, Klobuchar calls for such measures as an assault weapons ban, universal background checks, a ban on high-capacity magazines and a red flag law that would allow weapons to be seized from individuals who are legally deemed a danger to themselves or others. Unlike some, she does not call for any type of gun registration or a licensing requirement for gun ownership.

“Do you look at those things in the future? Yeah, but I’m looking at the fact that we have not yet passed one bill federally—not even a red flag law,” she said. Her point: Registration and licensing aren’t politically feasible for now, but may become so as public opinion shifts on gun violence.

Education

Klobuchar calls for free community college and trade schools—not just for young people but for individuals of all ages. It’s an intriguing idea that ties into her economy and jobs plans, designed to help retrain the workforce for 21st-century jobs.

• She wouldn’t make four-year schools free, but rather would expand Pell grants for lower- and middle-income families.

Economy

In addition to free community college and vocational education, Klobuchar’s plan includes investment in green energy infrastructure, tax credits for retraining workers displaced by automation, and similar support for out-of-work Americans from the fossil fuels industry.

• She also would offer tax incentives to spark rural manufacturing, as well as indexed income caps on commodity payments to benefit small farmers.

Health Care

Klobuchar would retain private insurance while allowing individuals to buy into a public option to participate in Medicare or Medicaid. She offers detailed plans on addressing shortages of health care providers in low-income urban areas and rural areas, including support of congressional legislation that would establish employment protections and a streamlined path to a green card for foreign students who obtain their medical degrees in the U.S.

Infrastructure

Klobuchar proposes spending $1 trillion in a combination of federal funds, tax subsidies and loan guarantees for state and local governments on a variety of needs—roads and bridges, water systems, internet access, public transit, schools and more. She touts her experience in getting bipartisan support to obtain $250 million in emergency funding to rebuild the Interstate 35 bridge in Minneapolis after it collapsed in 2007. She brags that it took just 13 months to get the bridge rebuilt. The spending package would be largely funded by an increase in corporate taxes.

In Conclusion

Under a Klobuchar administration, the nation would be served by a president determined to forge breakthroughs on issues that have polarized Americans, such as immigration and gun safety, by pushing for solutions that she believes have bipartisan support but have been scuttled amid Trump extremism. She is a capable, experienced legislator who knows Washington and has worked across the aisle.

Longer versions of these essays will run on lasvegassun.com in the coming week.

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