Tag Archives: Klobuchar 2020 campaign

Democratic Candidates for 2020: Senator Amy Klobuchar Releases ‘Housing First’ Plan

Senator Amy Klobuchar has released her “Housing First” plan. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

The vigorous contest of Democrats seeking the 2020 presidential nomination has produced excellent policy proposals to address major issues.  Senator Amy Klobuchar has released her “Housing First” plan. This is from the Klobuchar campaign:

LOS ANGELES, CA  – Ahead of a housing event with Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, State Senator Susan Rubio and National Low Income Housing Coalition President and CEO Diane Yentel, Senator Amy Klobuchar released her Housing First plan.

As President, Senator Klobuchar will invest over $1 trillion in housing and poverty reduction. Right now, millions of Americans struggle to pay their rent, put food on the table for their children, or find a good paying job. Senator Klobuchar believes there is more we can do as a country to combat poverty and ensure economic justice for all Americans, and it begins with making sure every American has access to a safe, affordable place to call home. 

Research shows that a stable home can mean a better education, greater financial stability and a healthier life. Senator Klobuchar will overhaul our country’s housing policy so all Americans can have the opportunity to succeed. As part of her housing and poverty plan, Senator Klobuchar will completely eliminate the Section 8 backlog and provide rental assistance to all Americans who qualify, limit average wait times for Section 8 housing assistance to three months, and provide temporary housing for those at risk of homelessness. And to eliminate unmet housing needs, she will invest significantly in expanding the affordable housing supply and connecting people to affordable housing.

In addition, Senator Klobuchar has bold plans to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), as well as invest in nutrition and child care. These policies are designed to cut child poverty in half in 10 years and eliminate it within a generation and are based on a report from the National Academy of Sciences.

Guarantee Access to Affordable Housing

Provide Section 8 Rental Assistance to All Qualifying Americans. Today too many Americans have trouble accessing rental assistance. An estimated 4.4 million families are currently on waiting lists for Public Housing or Section 8 housing vouchers and many more can’t even get on the waiting lists because they are closed. As President, Senator Klobuchar will completely eliminate the Section 8 backlog and make sure that every American who qualifies for Section 8 rental assistance receives a voucher or unit.

Limit average wait times for Section 8 housing assistance to three months. Today wait times for Section 8 housing assistance are often 2-3 years and can be much longer and it can take up to 2-3 months for the local housing authority to review applications, confirm eligibility, and place Americans on a waiting list. As President, Senator Klobuchar will limit average wait times for Section 8 assistance to no more than three months.

Provide temporary housing for those at risk of homelessness while they are on Section 8 waitlists. To ensure that no one is forced to be homeless while waiting for Section 8 housing, Senator Klobuchar will create a new grant program for states to provide temporary support for those at risk of homelessness while on the Section 8 waitlist.

Make sure that Section 8 vouchers reflect rental prices. Senator Klobuchar will direct the Department of Housing and Urban Development to make sure it accurately collects market data about the cost of rental housing and provides flexibility to local housing agencies to adjust voucher amounts in higher-cost areas.

Guarantee that all qualifying families with children receive Section 8 rental assistance. The policy of eliminating all unmet need for housing assistance in America will more than meet the recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences report to make Housing Choice Vouchers available to all qualifying families with children, as part of putting our country on track to cut child poverty in half in the next decade and end it within a generation.

Invest in Affordable Housing Infrastructure. To eliminate the unmet need for rental assistance, we must increase affordable housing supply. Senator Klobuchar will push to expand current Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) allocations to support the construction of additional units and work with states to strengthen rules to encourage a significant portion of LIHTC construction in high opportunity neighborhoods. Her infrastructure package will also address the estimated $50 billion in capital repairs needed to public housing. 

Invest in the Housing Trust Fund. Senator Klobuchar will expand funding to build, rehabilitate, and operate homes for low-income families, including in rural areas and in Indian country by funding the Housing Trust Fund at a minimum of $40 billion per year. 

Increase the Capital Magnet Fund. The Capital Magnet Fund provides grants to finance affordable housing and related economic development activities and community service facilities. Senator Klobuchar will increase funding for the program, which enables awardees to create financing tools such as loan loss reserves, revolving loan funds, risk-sharing loans, and loan guarantees.  

Lift the bond volume cap for housing. Bonds can be an effective way to finance the construction of affordable single-family and small multifamily housing. As President, Senator Klobuchar will lift the volume cap specifically for housing projects to help provide additional funding to tackle the shortage of affordable housing in our country. 

Promote effective zoning rules. Outdated zoning rules can make it harder to build affordable housing in many areas. As President, Senator Klobuchar will prioritize areas that have updated their zoning rules when awarding federal housing and infrastructure grants.

Connect People to Available Housing Opportunities. Senator Klobuchar will work to create a new federal grant program that helps states increase outreach to low-income renters to make them aware of the resources available to them. The funding will be available for caseworkers, community development centers, and partnerships with nonprofits. 

Reduce fees and red tape for low-income renters. As President, Senator Klobuchar will push to increase operating funding for public housing authorities and in return will require them to lower fees charged to applicants and tenants. She will work to streamline the application process including background checks and credit checks to reduce red tape. 

Connect students to affordable housing. A recent study from the Hope Center for College, Community and Justice found that over 60 percent of student respondents were food or housing insecure, and for many students room and board accounts for more than half their total costs according to HUD. Senator Klobuchar will double the maximum Pell Grant — which can be used for housing and certain other non-tuition expenses — to $12,000 per year and expand eligibility to families making up to $100,000 per year. She will work with states to establish microgrant programs to help students cover rent or other necessary expenses if they face unexpected financial hardship. Senator Klobuchar will also expand resources for student renters, increase student access to existing affordable housing programs and promote the development of affordable housing around college campuses. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s policies to support students here.

Increase auto enrollment in support programs. A lack of clear information about eligibility and cumbersome enrollment procedures prevent many Americans from using support programs for which they are eligible. Senator Klobuchar will work with states and across federal agencies to increase auto enrollment across all eligible support programs, like Medicaid, CHIP, SNAP, LIHEAP, and housing assistance, when a person enrolls in any one program.

Give renters access to emergency funds for rent. The path toward eviction can start with an unexpected emergency expense. As she has previously announced, Senator Klobuchar will work to create innovative, portable personal savings accounts called UP Accounts that can be used for retirement and emergencies — including non-routine expenses like rent payments in situations like a lapse in earnings, a car accident, or family leave. Under her plan, employers will set aside at least 50 cents per hour worked, helping a worker build more than $600,000 in wealth over the course of a career.

Combat Segregation and Discrimination. As President, Senator Klobuchar will ban all landlords from discriminating against people based on the source of their income, including housing vouchers or disability benefits. She will also protect renters by preventing the blacklisting of people who have been to court over eviction and prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or veteran status. She will suspend the Trump Administration’s proposals to weaken fair housing rules including the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule and restore enforcement and oversight powers to the Office of Fair Lending and Opportunity to monitor fair lending practices and coordinate with the Department of Justice to prevent lending discrimination before it happens.

Ban the box. Finding affordable housing can be a major obstacle to people returning to the community after they have been released from incarceration. As President, Senator Klobuchar will prohibit landlords from asking rental applicants about past criminal convictions. Background checks will only be permitted after making a conditional offer of housing.  

Partner with states and localities to strengthen tenant protections. Senator Klobuchar will create an incentive program for states and localities that encourage the adoption of just cause eviction protections and a tenant bill of rights, including prior notification before evictions. States and localities that put these protections in place — including limits on security deposits to one month’s rent — can receive additional federal funds for affordable housing supply. 

Help Seniors and People with Disabilities Who Want to Stay in Their Homes. Senator Klobuchar will update regulations for reverse mortgages to make sure seniors have access to safe products that make it easier to stay in their homes, as well as expand support for affordable senior housing programs that assist people with disabilities. As part of her seniors plan, Senator Klobuchar is proposing a tax credit of up to $6,000 a year to provide financial relief to those caring for an aging relative or a relative with a disability to help offset expenses, including necessary home modifications to allow people to stay in their homes. And in the first 100 days of her Administration, Senator Klobuchar will reverse the Trump Administration’s proposed changes to federal housing subsidies that could triple rent for some households and would be particularly harmful for seniors. Senator Klobuchar is also committed to expanding transportation programs and services for older adults and people with disabilities, particularly in rural and underserved populations. She also supports expanding resources for Meals on Wheels, transit options for seniors and programs like LIHEAP and the Weatherization Assistance Program that helps households in need reduce energy spending. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s plan to support seniors here.

Increase Access to Homeownership. Homeownership is out of reach for too many Americans. As President, Senator Klobuchar will build on programs that allow certain types of rental housing assistance to be used for home ownership expenses and work to pass legislation that expands access to capital for down payments and makes it easier to build a credit history by allowing credit bureaus to use on-time payment data from cell phone bills, utilities, and rent in calculating credit scores. She will strengthen the Community Reinvestment Act, develop policies to encourage financial institutions to make loans and investment in local communities, especially communities in need, and conduct greater outreach to assess the true credit needs of certain areas. She will also strengthen federal homebuyer education programs including targeted programs for communities with low levels of homeownership. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s plans to increase access to homeownership here.

Revitalize Neglected Neighborhoods and Invest in Energy Efficiency. In some neighborhoods, neglected properties make investments to improve living conditions or build property value economically infeasible. Neighboring blighted and abandoned properties further reduce the possibility of investment, leading to a downward spiral. Senator Klobuchar will advocate for a new federal tax credit, similar to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, to encourage investment in family-owned homes in distressed neighborhoods. In addition, Senator Klobuchar will launch a major initiative to retrofit existing homes to reduce their emissions and address environmental hazards through grants and tax credits that support insulation, weatherization improvements, upgrades to heating and cooling systems, and replacement of lead pipes and other health hazards.

Reduce Homelessness. Over half a million Americans experience homelessness every night. Senator Klobuchar will make a major investment in homeless assistance grants that provide emergency and long-term housing and build on her work in the Senate increasing access to case management services like counseling and job training. This also means addressing the unique challenges of specific homeless populations including those living in rural areas, domestic violence victims, and the formerly incarcerated.

Increase Affordable Rental Housing in Rural Communities and Improve Access to Information about Rural Housing Programs. 54 million Americans live in rural areas with a severe need for more affordable rental housing. Senator Klobuchar will strengthen rural rental assistance programs and significantly increase investments in the rural housing supply. She will also improve training for state, local and federal agencies so communities and developers can better access housing opportunities, as well as improve and expand programs that provide technical assistance to rural nonprofits to connect rural communities with resources to develop housing.

Increase Support for Workers 

Strengthen the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The EITC has a strong record of success in encouraging work and alleviating poverty. About 26 million Americans currently benefit from EITC, and it prevents close to 6 million people, including 3 million children, from living in poverty. As President, Senator Klobuchar will work to strengthen the EITC for workers in families with children by increasing the phase-in rate so the lowest-income workers reach the maximum benefit more quickly, increasing the maximum credit by about 30 percent and expanding eligibility for the credit so more workers will receive assistance. These improvements will more than satisfy the recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences report to strengthen the EITC, as part of putting our country on track to cut child poverty in half in the next decade and end it within a generation.

Expand EITC Eligibility. Childless workers under age 25 and over age 64 are not currently eligible for the EITC. As President, Senator Klobuchar will work to expand eligibility by lowering the minimum age to 18, with an exception for full time students and dependents, and increasing the maximum age in line with already scheduled increases in the eligibility age for Social Security.  

Provide EITC Beneficiaries With the Option of Advanced Periodic Payments. Receiving a single payment when EITC beneficiaries file their taxes at the end of the year can make it difficult for EITC beneficiaries to cover expenses that come up over the course of the year. As President, Senator Klobuchar will give beneficiaries the option to receive periodic payments of the EITC in advance to give them more regular income throughout the year. 

Raise the Federal Minimum Wage to $15 an Hour. As President, Senator Klobuchar will push for legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour and eliminate the tipped minimum wage.

Expand Access to Child Care

Invest in Quality, Affordable Child Care. Senator Klobuchar believes that early, quality child care and education is one of the most important public investments we can make as a country. As President, she will work to create a new federal-state partnership to make child care more affordable by capping spending on child care at seven percent of income for families making up to 150 percent of their state’s median income. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s child care policies here.

Improve the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC). Senator Klobuchar will convert the CDCTC to a fully-refundable tax credit and concentrate its benefits on families with the lowest incomes and with children under the age of five. These improvements will meet the recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences report to strengthen the CDCTC, as part of putting our country on track to cut child poverty in half in the next decade and end it within a generation.

Maintain the Increased Child Tax Credit. The 2017 tax bill doubled the Child Tax Credit from $1,000 per child to $2,000. Although Senator Klobuchar will repeal the regressive portions of this tax bill, she will maintain the increased Child Tax Credit. 

Strengthen Affordable Nutrition Programs 

Increase SNAP Benefits and Improve School Nutrition Programs. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a vital resource for meaningful relief for Americans when it is most needed. While the Trump Administration tries to impose draconian cuts on the program, Senator Klobuchar believes we must strengthen it for families in need. Senator Klobuchar will increase the maximum SNAP allocation by 30 percent and provide an additional $30 a month to families for each child between 12 and 17 years old. These improvements will meet the recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences report to strengthen SNAP, as part of putting our country on track to cut child poverty in half in the next decade and end it within a generation. Senator Klobuchar will also streamline the certification process for elderly and disabled recipients who are living on fixed incomes and make it easier for low-income college students to enroll in the program.  As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Senator Klobuchar has been a champion for protecting and strengthening the safety net for Americans in need. She has supported programs like SNAP, the Emergency Food Assistance Program, and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program and pushed for the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, which helps introduce children to a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. She also introduced and passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act to support healthy meals for children, and the HELP Schools Act to strengthen nutrition in school lunches. As President, Senator Klobuchar will expand free breakfast programs, summer meal programs, and the availability of meals and snacks to students outside of normal school hours. She will also make it easier for schools to partner with local agricultural producers to give students access to healthy, local food. 

Strengthen the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Research has consistently shown that participating in WIC improves nutrition and health outcomes for low-income families. As President, Senator Klobuchar supports efforts to promote outreach, especially harder to reach populations like students with children, grandparents caring for children, and foster parents, simplify and streamline WIC enrollment, including through auto enrollment when possible, and expand benefits and eligibility.

Secure Equal Access to Justice 

Provide Access to Counsel. Senator Klobuchar will create a new federal grant program with the goal of eliminating the unmet need when it comes to providing access to counsel in civil cases involving basic human needs, which means providing counsel for people who are dealing with evictions, being denied access to health care, and having wages unfairly taken.

Ensure Federal Investments Are Reaching the Communities Suffering the Most From Decades of Neglect. Unequal patterns of federal investment, often the result of systemic racism and discrimination, have led to decades of neglect in some communities. Senator Klobuchar is committed to adopting Congressman Jim Clyburn’s 10-20-30 plan, in which 10 percent of federal resources are committed to communities where at least 20 percent of the population has been living below the poverty line for 30 years or more. She supported the original 10-20-30 formula in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, and as President, she will work to ensure that at least 10 percent of every agency’s funding for discretionary programs goes to areas dealing with persistent poverty under the 10-20-30 formula. 

To pay for her trillion dollar Housing First proposal, the Senator will use revenue from ending the war in Afghanistan, repealing regressive portions of the 2017 Republican tax bill, strengthening tools to crack down on international tax havens and creating a new minimum tax on large corporations.

Amy Klobuchar Releases Plan for the Future of Work and a Changing Economy

Senator Amy Klobuchar, running for president, has released a comprehensive plan to address the future of work in a changing economy © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

The vigorous contest of Democrats seeking the 2020 presidential nomination has produced excellent policy proposals to address major issues. One of the major issues is how to restructure the economy for sustainability and protect jobs. Senator Amy Klobuchar just released a comprehensive plan to address the future of work in a changing economy  This is from the Klobuchar campaign:

DES MOINES – Today, ahead of a panel discussion at Machinists Lodge 254 in Des Moines, Senator Amy Klobuchar released her plan for the future of work and a changing economy. Senator Klobuchar’s proposal is a comprehensive plan to address digital disruption and renew the social contract in the gig economy, respect the dignity of work, invest in America’s future and focus on economic justice and shared prosperity. 

Senator Klobuchar’s plan includes updating consumer and worker protections, strengthening collective bargaining and labor rights, establishing national paid family leave, creating portable personal retirement accounts, boosting entrepreneurship and investing in cybersecurity. 
 

Senator Klobuchar’s Plan for the Future of Work and a Changing Economy


In America, no matter where you come from, who you know, or where you live, if you work hard, you should be able to make it in this country. But that’s not the case for too many people in today’s economy. Senator Klobuchar is committed to championing economic policies that give all Ameicans an opportunity to succeed. That means connecting our students and affordable education to the jobs of today and tomorrow, increasing wages and respecting the dignity of work, making health care more affordable, ensuring a secure retirement, investing in our infrastructure and creating jobs, focusing on economic justice and shared prosperity, and budgeting responsibly for our future. And it means a Competitive Agenda for America to ensure that America continues to be a country that thinks, that invents, that makes stuff, and that exports to the world. 

Address Digital Disruption 

Senator Klobuchar believes we need to start tackling the challenges presented by digital disruption and a changing economy. The future of work is changing, which is putting stress on the social contract we’ve had in this country when it comes to job training, employment, and retirement. Senator Klobuchar’s plan is a plan for the future: offering stronger worker protections, reasserting protections for consumers in a digital world, investing in cybersecurity across the economy to prevent crippling attacks on infrastructure and commerce, and taking on consolidation which is threatening to take us into a new Gilded Age.  

Renew the Social Contract for the Gig Economy. Senator Klobuchar believes we must update our laws to reflect the evolving nature of work.

Invest in education and job training, including for workers at risk of losing their jobs to automation. Senator Klobuchar is committed to creating new opportunities and ensuring a just transition for workers who have been displaced by the changing economy. She believes the federal government has an important role to play during economic transitions. As President she will take action to ensure that workers can pursue additional education and can do so without a financial burden at any age. She will also create a new tax credit for employers that invest in training for workers at risk of being laid off through on-site training programs or provide paid time off for off-site retraining. 

Make it easier to save for retirement. The retirement system we have today wasn’t designed for today’s economy where workers stay in a job for an average of four years and more than 57 million Americans are working in the gig economy. As President, Senator Klobuchar will work to create innovative, portable personal retirement accounts called UP-Savings Accounts. Under her plan, employers will set aside at least 50 cents per hour worked, helping a worker build more than $600,000 in wealth over the course of a career. 

Invest in quality, affordable child care and create a national paid family and medical leave program. As President, Senator Klobuchar will create a national paid family leave program to provide workers with 12 weeks of paid leave per year to care for a new child, a family member with a serious health condition, or their own serious health condition. She will also create a new federal-state partnership to make child care more affordable by capping spending on child care at seven percent of income for families making up to 150 percent of their state’s median income, invest in expanding the availability of child care, and work to raise wages for caregivers and early childhood teachers. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s child care and paid family leave policies here. 

Give workers access to a non-profit public option for health insurance. As President, Senator Klobuchar will work to pass legislation to create a non-profit public option that expands Medicare or Medicaid. She will also build on the Affordable Care Act to help bring down costs to consumers, including expanding premium subsidies, providing cost-sharing reductions, making it easier for states to put reinsurance in place, and continuing to implement delivery system reform. And she will take on the other health care challenges we face including the price of prescription drugs, mental health care, addiction and long-term care. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s health care policies here. 

Allow gig workers to organize and prevent employees from being misclassified as independent contractors. As President, Senator Klobuchar will work to pass Senator Patty Murray’s Protecting the Right to Organize Act — a bill Senator Klobuchar co-sponsors in the Senate — that protects gig workers by preventing employers from misclassifying their employees as independent contractors.   

Update the tax code to work for gig workers. Gig workers face additional challenges in properly tracking earnings and expenses and calculating and paying taxes. As President, Senator Klobuchar will simplify withholding for self-employed workers. Giving workers the option of having their self-employment taxes withheld directly from their 1099s would reduce the burden of quarterly tax filing and help smooth irregular incomes. She will also lower the 1099-K threshold for gig economy platforms, so workers have more information about their earnings, and consider creating a gig worker standard business deduction to simplify the calculation of business expenses for gig workers. 

Update Consumer Protections for the 21st Century Economy. Advances in technology have opened new opportunities for consumers, entrepreneurs and businesses, but they have also created new threats to privacy. Consumer protection laws have not kept pace with these technological advances. As President, Senator Klobuchar will update consumer protections so they work in the 21st century economy. 

Strengthen consumer privacy protections. As President, Senator Klobuchar will work to pass legislation similar to the Consumer Online Privacy Rights Act, which she leads with Senator Maria Cantwell. The bill would establish strong privacy rights for consumers including the right to access their data and greater transparency, the right to prevent data from being distributed to unknown third parties, the right to delete or correct their data and the right to take their data to a competitor. It would also establish a “duty of loyalty,” which would prohibit companies from engaging in deceptive and harmful data practices. In addition, the legislation would require companies to implement strong data security policies, receive affirmative consent from consumers for collecting sensitive information, and give consumers, states, and the Federal Trade Commission new enforcement authorities. Senator Klobuchar will also work to pass legislation based on her bipartisan Protecting Personal Health Data Act to create protections for new health technologies not covered by existing privacy laws.  

Increase rights for consumers after data breaches. As more personal information is collected and stored online, consumers are increasingly vulnerable to having their data exposed in a data breach. As President, Senator Klobuchar will push for legislation similar to her bipartisan Social Media Privacy and Consumer Rights Act to require companies to notify users within 72 hours when their data has been breached and offer meaningful remedies for people whose data has been compromised. 

Empower consumer protection agencies. Without effective enforcement, fraud and scams — like robocalls, senior fraud, identity theft, and predatory student loans — have become problems for too many Americans. As President, Senator Klobuchar will make sure that the federal agencies charged with protecting consumers have the tools they need to be effective cops on the beat, including personnel, technological expertise, and strong enforcement authorities.

Tackle new forms of discrimination. As President, Senator Klobuchar will update our laws to counter new forms of discrimination, like digital redlining and racial bias built into algorithms that are playing a larger role in everything from hiring decisions to medical care. 

Provide access to a free and open internet. Consumers and businesses deserve a level playing field on the internet. As President, Senator Klobuchar will work to codify strong net neutrality principles and make immediate progress in her first 100 days by using federal contracting requirements to encourage broadband providers to honor net neutrality principles and promote a free and open internet.

Invest in Cybersecurity That Protects Our Economy and Our Democracy. Our economy increasingly relies on internet-connected devices and infrastructure and this trend will only accelerate in the coming years. This creates opportunities for terrorists, foreign governments, and competing firms that could severely damage our economy. And we already know that our election infrastructure is vulnerable to cyber attack and foreign governments are working to interfere in our elections. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s plans to protect our democracy here.

Build the cybersecurity workforce our economy needs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the United States will add over 550,000 new information technology jobs to our economy over the next 10 years, including in big data and information security. As President, Senator Klobuchar will expand STEM programs, including for women and traditionally underrepresented minorities, and invest in apprenticeships so students and workers can get on-the-job training in the technology jobs of the future, and she will expand access to credentials through tution-free one- and two-year degrees, technical certifications, and tuition-free community college.

Protect critical infrastructure against cyberattacks. Cyberattacks on our electric grid, transportation infrastructure, or water management systems could be devastating to our economy. As President, Senator Klobuchar will work to build federal partnerships with the private sector to implement NIST’s cybersecurity framework. She will make sure the federal government is assisting companies in addressing global supply chain risks and increasing the security of emerging technologies. Senator Klobuchar will also improve federal preparedness for responding to cyber incidents.

Increase cybersecurity expertise in the federal government. As President, Senator Klobuchar will make cybersecurity an immediate priority. She will issue an Executive Order launching government-wide cybersecurity initiatives, fast-tracking and streamlining procurement of modern information technology across agencies. She will also work to pass legislation similar to her bipartisan Cyber Security Exchange Act to provide a path for cyber experts at private firms or academia to work for federal agencies for up to two years. Federal workers will also be given the opportunity to work in the private sector to develop their skills in the latest cybersecurity practices. 

Strengthen Antitrust Enforcement. U.S. firms have engaged in $10 trillion worth of acquisitions during the past decade. Senator Klobuchar believes we need to do more when it comes to taking on monopoly power and promoting competition not just for our consumers but for our businesses. Competition does more than just lower prices. It improves quality, spurs innovation, makes it easier for entrepreneurs to start new businesses, and creates better jobs. As the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee, Senator Klobuchar has been a leader in taking on this new Gilded Age. She leads the Consolidation Prevention and Competition Promotion Act to make sure our antitrust laws adequately promote competition and protect consumers, the Merger Enforcement Improvement Act to give antitrust enforcement agencies the tools they need to be effective, and the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act to update merger filing fees. 

Investigate monopolization claims and review mergers that have already taken place. As President, Senator Klobuchar will harness the power of investigations to look at acquisitions that have already occured and investigate monopolization claims, including whether the integration of services insulate tech companies from competition. 

Strengthen merger enforcement. As President, Senator Klobuchar will make sure that our antitrust agencies have the resources they need to be aggressive and effective, updating the outdated merger filing fees so that the merging parties of the largest deals start paying their fair share. She will also give the agencies tools to analyze the effectiveness of merger conditions so they can make better and stronger enforcement decisions.

Give antitrust agencies and courts the legal tools necessary to promote competition. As President, Senator Klobuchar will work to pass legislation creating a more stringent legal standard to protect competition, shifting the burden of proof for mega-mergers from the government to the parties to demonstrate that their mergers do not reduce competition, and clarifying that existing antitrust laws should take into account more than price and that they should also consider vertical integration, harm to innovation, as well as monopsony — a market condition where there is only one buyer.

Create a new competition advocate. As President, Senator Klobuchar will create a new position to oversee the effectiveness of merger enforcement. The Office of the Competition Advocate would help consumers raise complaints about anti-competitive activity, encourage antitrust investigations, and analyze and publish reports on merger activity. 


Respect the Dignity of Work

Senator Klobuchar believes that everyone who works hard should be able earn enough to care for and support their family. Respecting the dignity of work means raising the minimum wage, providing paid family leave and child care and making sure people have a secure retirement. 

Raise the Minimum Wage to $15 an Hour and Enforce It. As President, Senator Klobuchar will push for legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour and eliminate the tipped minimum wage. To make immediate progress toward this goal, she will increase the minimum wage for federal contractors to that threshold. She will also immediately strengthen enforcement and expand investigations to make sure that our wage laws are properly enforced and that workers are able to recover back pay when the government rules in their favor.

Create a National Paid Family and Medical Leave Program. The United States is the only industrialized nation without a national paid leave program, and only 19 percent of American workers have access to paid family leave through their employer. As President, Senator Klobuchar will create a national paid family leave program to provide workers with 12 weeks of paid leave per year to care for a new child, a family member with a serious health condition, or their own serious health condition. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s plan for paid family and medical leave here. 

Invest in Quality, Affordable Child Care. Senator Klobuchar believes that early, quality child care and education is one of the most important public investments we can make as a country. As President, Senator Klobuchar will work to create a new federal-state partnership to make child care more affordable by capping spending on child care at seven percent of income for families making up to 150 percent of their state’s median income and invest in expanding the availability of child care and raising wages for caregivers and early childhood teachers. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s plan for child care here. 

Make It Easier to Retire. As President, Senator Klobuchar will work to create innovative, portable personal retirement accounts called UP-Savings Accounts. Under her plan, employers will set aside at least 50 cents per hour worked, helping a worker build more than $600,000 in wealth over the course of a career. She will continue to push for legislation to protect retiree pensions. Senator Klobuchar will also work to strengthen Social Security, and she believes that this program must remain solvent for generations to come and she will fight against risky schemes to privatize it. As President, Senator Klobuchar will work to lift the Social Security payroll cap. Currently the payroll tax only applies to wages up to $133,000. Senator Klobuchar supports subjecting income above $250,000 to the payroll tax and extending the long-term solvency of Social Security. And Senator Klobuchar will make sure people are treated fairly by the current Social Security system. As President, she will work to strengthen and improve Social Security benefits for widows and people who took significant time out of the paid workforce to care for their children, aging parents, or sick family members. Senator Klobuchar also opposes cuts and risky schemes to privatize Medicare and will take action to strengthen Medicare and find solutions so it remains solvent. She will improve Medicare for current beneficiaries by reforming payment policies through measures like site neutral payments and providing incentives for getting the best quality health care at the best price, including bundled payments and telehealth. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s policies for seniors here. 

Stand up for Our Unions. As the granddaughter of an iron ore miner and the daughter of a union teacher and a union newspaperman, Senator Klobuchar knows firsthand how unions give Americans and their families the opportunities they need to succeed. As President, she will support real labor law reform, ensure free and fair union elections, protect collective bargaining rights, roll back Right to Work laws, and make it easier — and not harder — for workers to join unions. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s labor policies here.


Invest in America’s Future

Right now, our economy is stable thanks to the efforts of our workers and our businesses. Senator Klobuchar believes that real leaders use times of stability to take on the challenges before them and invest for the future. As President, Senator Klobuchar will strengthen our economy by empowering small businesses and entrepreneurs and expanding exports, get our fiscal house in order and tackle the big challenges we face as a country.    

Empower Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs and Expand Exports. Senator Klobuchar knows that small businesses and entrepreneurs help power our economy and create jobs. Supporting small businesses is one of the best ways to maintain a dynamic economy. And in an increasingly global economy, she is committed to giving more businesses the opportunity to export and reach customers across the world.   

Expand access to capital for small businesses. Lack of access to capital is one of the biggest obstacles to starting a small business. As President, Senator Klobuchar will expand Small Business Administration (SBA) lending programs and make it easier for small businesses to get the loans and technical assistance they need to grow. She will also work to increase small dollar lending by the SBA, which can be particularly important for women and people of color seeking to start a small business. 

Promote entrepreneurship and reverse the “startup slump.” New businesses drive economic growth, but fewer startups are launched every year. Startup rates have fallen to near 30-year lows. Senator Klobuchar recently launched the bipartisan Senate Entrepreneurship Caucus with Senator Tim Scott to address the most pressing issues facing entrepreneurs. As President, she will build on her work through the America COMPETES Act to close the gap between innovation and commercialization, help colleges and universities partner with entrepreneurs, accelerate the commercialization of federally funded research and update regional innovation programs at the Economic Development Administration. To reverse the startup slump she will also tackle unprecedented corporate consolidation, make it easier to export, simplify small business rules, expand access to capital, as well as promote incubators, mentoring and training.

Make it easier to export, especially for small businesses. Ninety-five percent of the world’s potential customers live outside of the U.S., but less than one percent of American businesses export. As President, Senator Klobuchar will restart the President’s Export Council, which brings together business, labor, and agricultural leaders with Members of Congress and key Administration officials to help promote a comprehensive export and trade strategy. She will also work to pass legislation based on her bipartisan Promoting Rural Exports Act to establish a Rural Export Center to help rural businesses export their products to new international markets. And since international tourism is one of our top exports, she will work to reauthorize Brand USA so the United States can compete to attract foreign visitors. 

Support small manufacturers. As President, Senator Klobuchar will support and expand the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program, which the Trump Administration has tried to eliminate. The program helps small manufacturers innovate, upgrade their technology and improve production. She will work to create a manufacturing tax incentive to encourage investment in rural communities or communities that have faced or are about to face manufacturing job losses. She will also support our small manufacturers by expanding guaranteed loan programs that make it easier for rural manufacturers to access capital, pushing for a new tax credit for manufacturers to hire registered apprentices, providing financing and grants for equipment and technology upgrades, and working with states, localities, research universities and community colleges to promote workforce development, apprenticeships, and innovation in manufacturing.

Govern with Fiscal Responsibility. In less than three years, President Trump has added $4 trillion to the national debt. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that by 2029, the national debt will be higher than it has been at any time since 1946, right after World War II. And each year over the next decade the federal government will spend an average of about $1.2 trillion more than it collects in revenue. As President, Senator Klobuchar will reverse this trend with the goal of lowering the debt to GDP ratio by the end of her first term and putting our country on a sustainable fiscal path. 

Move to a biennial budget process. Senator Klobuchar will push to overhaul the way Congress budgets federal dollars to strengthen oversight of government spending and move the country forward when it comes to tackling the nation’s debt. She is a co-sponsor of Senators Johnny Isakson and Jeanne Shaheen’s Biennial Budgeting and Appropriations Act, which would create a two-year budget and appropriations cycle with the first year dedicated to appropriating federal dollars and the next year dedicated to conducting oversight of how those federal dollars are being used. Senator Klobuchar also supports moving from a 10-year forecasting window to a 25-year forecasting window for Congressional Budget Office and Joint Tax Committee scores, as the expanded window will better capture the long-term fiscal impact of federal policies.  

Establish a dedicated fund to tackle the U.S. debt and support our economy. Senator Klobuchar will establish a dedicated fund to make a down payment to tackle the U.S. debt and protect our economy. She will initially seed the fund with $300 billion by raising the corporate tax rate and dedicating savings from the government-wide budget review. When the economy is doing well, the fund will finance deficit reduction. When specific economic indicators show our economy is in a recession, the funding will automatically be diverted to increase spending on programs that are effective at stimulating the economy like infrastructure spending, increased unemployment and nutrition assistance, and an increased federal share of Medicaid and CHIP spending. As tax changes are implemented and as departments complete Senator Klobuchar’s government-wide review, she will invest additional government-wide savings towards expanding the fund to decrease the deficit and support our economy.

Eliminate duplicative government spending. Senator Klobuchar will immediately order all cabinet secretaries to undertake a comprehensive review of their department’s budget and identify a list of duplicative and unnecessary programs as well as potential gaps in spending. When it comes to our nation’s defense, Senator Klobuchar is committed to maintaining and extending our military superiority over any adversary that would challenge us. She will ensure that our troops are the best-trained and best-equipped in the world, while also providing for their families at home. Yet virtually every analysis of the Pentagon’s budget has found duplicative and unnecessary programs – so she will ask her Secretary of Defense and other cabinet secretaries to take a close look at how money is being spent with an eye towards eliminating duplicative and unnecessary spending.

Tackle Today’s Challenges for a Stronger Future. Senator Klobuchar believes we need to govern from opportunity, not chaos. And governing from opportunity means meeting the challenges we face head on. 

Build a 21st century workforce. Senator Klobuchar believes we should align our education system with the needs of our economy. As President, she will champion tuition-free one- and two-year community college degrees and technical certifications, expand apprenticeships, and make it easier for Americans who need help to afford four-year degrees. She will work to reduce the burden of student loans, support our Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and expand Pell Grants. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s post-secondary education policies here. 

Pass comprehensive immigration reform. Senator Klobuchar believes that comprehensive immigration reform is crucial to moving our economy and our country forward. As President, she will push for a comprehensive immigration reform bill that includes the DREAM Act, targeted border security and an accountable pathway to earned citizenship.

Invest in our infrastructure. Senator Klobuchar has proposed a bold plan to rebuild America’s infrastructure, invest in our future, and create millions of good-paying American jobs. Her plan includes repairing and replacing our roads, highways and bridges as well as building smart climate infrastructure, ensuring clean water, modernizing our airports, seaports and inland waterways, expanding reliable public transit options, rebuilding our schools, overhauling our country’s housing policy, and connecting every household to the internet by 2022. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s policies to build America’s infrastructure here. 

Make housing more affordable. Senator Klobuchar believes everyone deserves a safe and affordable home. As President, Senator Klobuchar will expand the Housing Choice Voucher program to make vouchers available to all qualifying households with children, increase access to homeownership while investing in neglected neighborhoods, tackle homelessness, and increase affordable rental housing in rural communities. She will also fight housing discrimination and invest in providing access to counsel in civil cases involving basic human needs. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s housing policies here.

Focus on Economic Justice and Shared Prosperity

Senator Klobuchar believes that right now the Trump economy works for President Trump and his wealthy friends, not for everyone else. As President, she will take on structural racism and remove barriers to success and support communities at risk from being left behind in the new economy.

Address Structural Racism and Barriers to Success. Senator Klobuchar is committed to addressing the structural racism in our society and making sure that everyone has the opportunity to succeed. She believes that no matter where you live, who you know, where you come from, or what you look like, you should be able to make it in this country.

Work to end child poverty. As President, within her first 100 days, Senator Klobuchar will put forward a plan to cut childhood poverty in half in ten years and end child poverty in a generation. The plan will be based on a National Academies of Science report and include expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Care Tax Credit, SNAP benefits and overhauling our country’s housing policy.

Eliminate the wage gap. Today, women working full-time earn 80 cents for every dollar paid to a man, and the gaps are even larger for women of color. As President, Senator Klobuchar will work to pass Senator Patty Murray’s Paycheck Fairness Act to ensure that employers pay employees equally for equal work — including by prohibiting employers from asking about the salary history of prospective employees. 

Eliminate the wealth gap. Today, Black and Latino households have only about a tenth of the median net worth of white households. Senator Klobuchar’s proposal to establish portable, employer-funded UP-Savings Accounts for retirement savings will help address this disparity. She is also co-chair of the Diversifying Technology Caucus and the Entrepreneurship Caucus with Senator Tim Scott. As President she will work to get more women and people of color in STEM jobs and she will fully empower agencies to aggressively fight modern-day redlining that prevents businesses owned by people of color from getting loans and take on predatory lending that results in higher interest rates in low-income communities of color. 

Make education the great equalizer. Senator Klobuchar believes a good education is one of the very best investments we can make in our country’s future. As President, Senator Klobuchar will help make education the great equalizer by increasing teacher salaries, investing in math and science to prepare our students for the jobs of tomorrow, and rebuilding our school infrastructure. She has proposed “Progress Partnerships” to help states take bold action to fund our public schools — including making sure infrastructure funding goes to high need areas and reviewing state funding formulas to improve equity. She will also put back in place guidance from President Obama directing schools to reduce racial disparities in how they discipline students. 

Support Communities at Risk From Being Left Behind in the Changing Economy. As President, Senator Klobuchar is committed to providing additional support to at-risk communities so that no one is left behind. 

Expand loans for and investments in local communities in need. For the past 40 years, the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) has encouraged financial institutions to make loans and investment in local communities, especially low-income and minority communities. Senator Klobuchar will protect the CRA and instruct financial regulators to conduct greater outreach to assess the true credit needs of their communities.

Support and strengthen the Economic Development Administration. The Economic Development Administration (EDA) works directly with communities and regions to promote competitiveness and innovation. It has a proven track record of success and on average every $1 of EDA infrastructure funding generates $15 in private investment. Still, the Trump Administration has repeatedly proposed eliminating the agency. Senator Klobuchar will ensure the agency has the resources to carry out its mission.

Bridge the rural-urban divide. Senator Klobuchar has proposed a plan for America’s Heartland that will strengthen our agricultural and rural communities, bridge the rural-urban divide, and make sure that kids who grow up in rural America can stay in rural America. This includes connecting every household to high speed internet by 2022. She knows that America’s prosperity depends on the success of our farmers and rural businesses and as a senior member of the Agriculture Committee, she’s been a champion for farmers and rural communities in the Senate. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s agriculture and rural policies here. 

Fulfill our responsibility to our communities and workers who have helped power this country. As the granddaughter of a miner who worked 1,500 feet underground, Senator Klobuchar understands the hard work and sacrifice of those who built and powered our country. She is committed to supporting and creating new opportunities for workers and communities that have depended on the fossil fuel industry as our country transitions away from fossil fuels. Senator Klobuchar will work with the public and private sectors to attract new employers and maintain public services, while investing in infrastructure and educational opportunities in areas that experience job loss. As part of any carbon pricing system, she will create a significant manufacturing tax incentive to encourage investment in communities that have faced or are about to face job losses. To make it easier for workers to find new jobs, Senator Klobuchar will also create a new tax credit for companies that hire workers who have previously depended on the fossil fuel industry for employment. 

Senator Klobuchar describes how she will pay for these plans and more hereherehereherehere and here. To pay for her deficit reduction fund, Senator Klobuchar will increase the corporate rate by two additional points to 27 percent and initiate a government-wide budget review.  To pay for her child poverty plan, Senator Klobuchar will repeal the regressive portions of the 2017 Republican tax bill.

Democratic Candidates for 2020: Klobuchar’s Plan to Strengthen Agricultural, Rural Communities

Senator Amy Klobuchar’s “Plan from the Heartland” seeks to strengthen agricultural and rural communities. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

The vigorous contest of Democrats seeking the 2020 presidential nomination has produced excellent policy proposals to address major issues. Senator Amy Klobuchar’s “Plan from the Heartland” seeks to strengthen agricultural and rural communities. This is a summary from the Klobuchar campaign:

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Senator Amy Klobuchar is proposing a plan for America’s Heartland that will strengthen our agricultural and rural communities, bridge the rural-urban divide, and make sure that kids who grow up in rural America can stay in rural America. Senator Klobuchar knows that America’s prosperity depends on the success of our farmers and as a senior member of the Agriculture Committee, she’s been a champion for farmers and rural communities in the Senate. Her plan builds on her record of getting things done for rural America and as President, she will:  

1. HEARTLAND ECONOMICS

Support our farmers. Our farmers are facing significant uncertainty as a result of recent floods and other natural disasters, unprecedented market consolidation, low commodity prices, and uncertainty surrounding market access in some of our biggest export markets. As President, Senator Klobuchar would invest in growth opportunities like renewables to raise farm incomes and create good paying jobs, and maintain and expand critical safety nets.  

  • Expand commodity support, disaster programs, and federal crop insurance for our small and family-owned farms. As a senior member of the Agriculture Committee, Senator Klobuchar worked to write and pass three farm bills with strong farm safety nets for our farmers. As President, Senator Klobuchar would push to index farm safety net support levels to reflect changes in our country’s cost of production, low commodity prices, and loss of global market access. She would also work to improve and fully fund permanent disaster programs and improve support levels, loan rates and program delivery. Senator Klobuchar also supports improving and expanding commodity support and federal crop insurance programs and increasing the average premium subsidy for crop insurance. And as dairy farms continue to close, Senator Klobuchar would convene a commission to immediately address the dairy crisis. 
  • Strengthen the Animal Disease Vaccine Bank and prioritize crop and livestock health. Strengthening our agricultural disease prevention, surveillance, and response capabilities is critical to our farmers and livestock producers, as new emerging diseases like African Swine Fever could cause billions in damages should they reach the U.S. Senator Klobuchar understands that we need to be doing everything we can to prevent catastrophic disease outbreaks before they start, and if we do have an outbreak, we need to be prepared. She authored and passed provisions to create a disaster response program and a foot and mouth disease (FMD) vaccine bank to protect farmers against the next disease outbreak. As President, she will fully fund disease eradication programs, support new research, and push for additional emergency support for farmers, producers and ranchers impacted by agricultural diseases. 
  • Ensure safety net programs are targeted to help family-owned and small farms and beginning farmers and make sure farmers know about all the available support programs. Senator Klobuchar has repeatedly led efforts to reform the farm support payment system, including an income cap on eligibility for commodity payments. As President, she will work to ensure payments are directed toward those who need them most, including small and family-owned farms. She would enforce the prohibition against artificial subdivision of farms to avoid limits and work to protect family farms from cuts scheduled under the terms of any budget act. Senator Klobuchar will support regional food systems and also create and expand programs that educate farmers on available programs and opportunities including by supporting existing outreach and extension programs through our land grant universities.        

Promote exports and drive job growth. With 95 percent of the world’s customers living outside our borders, opening up new markets and lowering trade barriers is critical to our agricultural and rural economy. Our farmers produce food, fuel, feed, and fiber, and they need export markets where they can sell their products. Senator Klobuchar will direct her administration to create a national rural export strategy to coordinate efforts across agencies and review all international tariffs in place as of 2021 and she will build on her work in the Senate to continue to increase access for U.S. agriculture producers. In her first 100 days as President, she will restart the President’s Export Council, which brings together business, labor, and agricultural leaders with Members of Congress and key Administration officials to help promote a comprehensive export and trade strategy. 

Invest in rural infrastructure and transportation. Rural areas are a major focus of Senator Klobuchar’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan, and she will require a new Infrastructure Financing Authority to make investments in rural areas. As President, Senator Klobuchar will invest in the repair and improvement of rural bridges that are not part of the federal-aid highway network and invest in the Harbor Maintenance Trust fund to improve inland waterways and ports, including funding for the Navigation and Ecosystem Restoration Program to modernize and expand outdated locks and restore ecosystems along the Mississippi. She will direct additional resources to help close the backlog in USDA’s Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant Program. To keep rural and general aviation airports strong, she will continue support for the Essential Air Service and Airport Improvement Program.

  • Bring high-speed broadband to every household and business in America. Broadband creates jobs, opens new economic opportunities, and allows America to compete and succeed in an increasingly digital world, but roughly one in four rural Americans say access to high-speed internet is a major problem. In an effort to close the rural-urban divide, Senator Klobuchar has previously announced a commitment to connect every household in America to the internet by 2022. She will focus on creating accurate broadband maps to identify areas that lack adequate access, bringing high-speed internet infrastructure to areas most in need, including by expanding Rural Utility Service grants, and providing greater incentives for existing providers to upgrade their networks to cover unserved and underserved areas. She will also work to quickly implement the recommendations of the Precision Ag Connectivity Task Force to help farmers fully realize the potential of broadband in their operations. 
  • Revitalizing freight and passenger rail. Railroads provide a vital link between rural communities and a cost-effective way for producers to bring their goods to market. As President, Senator Klobuchar will encourage investment in short-line and freight rail networks. She will also address safety concerns including two-man crews, better braking systems, and ensuring communities are prepared to respond to derailments involving hazardous cargo. She will also build on her work pushing for greater competition in freight markets by providing fair treatment for captive shippers, appointing well qualified members to the Surface Transportation Board, and reviewing and addressing consolidation in the freight rail industry. She is also committed to expanding Amtrak service in rural America.  

Expand opportunities for rural small businesses, entrepreneurs and beginning farmers. Rural America is home to many innovators and entrepreneurs, but we need to do more to help give them the tools they need to succeed and expand job opportunities in rural areas. Senator Klobuchar will strengthen USDA programs that support entrepreneurs like the Value-Added Producer Grants, Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program, Intermediary Relending Program, and Agricultural Innovation Centers. She will promote regional cooperation to facilitate economies of scale among businesses, development organizations, government programs, and community area anchor institutions. She will also fully implement and support the Farm Bill provision restoring the USDA’s Under Secretary of Rural Development so that rural development remains a top priority for the department. 

  • Expand access to capital and loans for small and family-owned farms. Senator Klobuchar has worked successfully in the Senate to increase the caps on Farm Service Agency loans to ensure farmers and ranchers have access to the land and capital they need. As President, she will push to further increase the maximum loan amount that an individual farmer or rancher can receive under the direct farm ownership and operating loans, where some loans are reserved for beginning farmers. At the same time, Senator Klobuchar will work to increase the size of Farm Service Agency’s loan portfolio to ensure more farmers are able to access this critical lending source. She would also make sure that equipment updates — that allow farmers to take advantage of technology and innovation — are readily available and that loans and credit are targeted to small and family-owned farms. 
  • Strengthen rural small business lending. Small businesses in rural areas face additional obstacles in accessing credit because many traditional lenders do not have the infrastructure and experience to effectively serve rural America. As President, Senator Klobuchar will expand and strengthen USDA’s Business and Industry Loan Guarantee Program and the Rural Business Investment Program, which supports start-up of venture capital firms, and she will continue support for the Farm Credit System. She will continue to support sensible regulation of community banks and credit unions, which are important sources of credit for rural businesses. She will push to reauthorize the New Market Tax Credit and make sure it effectively serves rural America. She will also improve controls to ensure government programs designed for small businesses actually serve small businesses.
  • Support agricultural research. The Trump Administration has repeatedly proposed budgets for USDA that cut billions for rural development, conservation, and research. These include the forced closure of agricultural research laboratories and stations. In her first 100 days as President, Senator Klobuchar will re-open these laboratories and give these important programs the support they deserve. She will also publish all government-funded studies on climate change conducted by in-house scientists and in collaboration with land-grant universities. And she will halt the arbitrary relocation of USDA scientific agencies which has resulted in staff attrition and decreased capacity.
  • Support our new and beginning farmers. Senator Klobuchar believes if we want to continue to maintain our country’s agricultural strength and keep our rural communities vibrant, we need to do more to support our new and beginning farmers and ranchers. As a Senator she has authored several provisions that would expand loans and land transitions to beginning farmers. As President, she would push for a new tax credit for farmers who sell land or equipment to beginning farmers and expand assistance to beginning farmers and ranchers so that they have better access to land, capital, and risk management tools. Senator Klobuchar has also been a champion in the Senate for permanent mandatory funding for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, and as President she would continue to promote efforts with non-profit and university partners to provide farm business education and on-site trainings for beginning farmers. 

Promote rural workforce development to connect people to jobs and address workforce shortages. Senator Klobuchar will address rural workforce shortages and close the skills gap by promoting apprenticeships so students and workers can get on-the-job training. She will direct her Secretary of Labor to analyze the use of apprenticeships and expand apprenticeship opportunities and benefits in rural areas. Senator Klobuchar is also committed to passing comprehensive immigration reform in the first year of her presidency. Immigrants accounted for more than a third of rural population growth from 2000 to 2018 and comprehensive immigration should include providing a pathway to citizenship and updated policies that will help rural communities get the workers they need when they need them. 

  • Expand student loan forgiveness to help our farmers. Senator Klobuchar has proposed a loan forgiveness program — modeled after the public service loan forgiveness program — that would forgive federal student loan debt for in-demand occupations that will include farmers and people who choose careers in agriculture. 

Agricultural Competition and Concentration. The concentration across agricultural markets and steep decline in family farms have resulted in an increasingly anti-competitive industry. Senator Klobuchar is committed to reducing barriers for family farmers and promoting fair, transparent practices that increase competition. 

  • Taking on consolidation. Senator Klobuchar will look at large acquisitions and mergers in the agriculture industry that have already happened and assess whether the integration of services insulate agricultural corporations from competition. She will also make sure that our antitrust agencies have the resources they need to aggressively enforce our antitrust laws. And she will give antitrust agencies and courts the legal tools necessary to promote competition by updating legal standards, shifting the burden of proof for mega-mergers to the merging parties to show that their transactions do not reduce competition, clarifying that existing antitrust laws should take into account more than price and should consider vertical integration, harms to innovation, and monopsony, where a buyer has the power to reduce wages or the prices it pays for agricultural products. As President, Senator Klobuchar would also require the USDA to collect and publish concentration information in agricultural markets and allow the USDA to participate in the review of proposed mergers in the agricultural sector. As President, her Administration would thoroughly review our agriculture laws and assess their application in an environment with increased market concentration.
  • Support strong enforcement by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The CFTC budget has stagnated in recent years making it difficult for the commission to do its job. Senator Klobuchar will provide the CFTC with the resources to make sure our commodity markets work, encourage the commission to put the needs of farmers first in all of its decisions, and move aggressively to stop price manipulation in energy and other markets.
  • Restore staffing levels at the Department of Agriculture. Under the first two years of the Trump Administration, between December 2016 and March 2018, USDA had more staff departures than any other federal agency. This has severely impacted USDA’s ability to carry out its mission on behalf of rural communities and farmers. During her first 100 days as President, Senator Klobuchar will restore staffing levels to the appropriate levels. She will also stop politically-motivated relocations that result in the loss of critical agency expertise.

2. LIVING IN RURAL AMERICA

Expanding rural health care and saving our rural hospitals. As President, Senator Klobuchar would revise our Medicare rules to help rural hospitals stay open, provide expanded support to our critical access hospital and community health centers, over half of which are located in rural areas, and dramatically expand telehealth services. To address rural workforce shortages, she will build on the Conrad 30 program that allows international doctors trained in the United States to extend their stay in the country if they agree to practice in underserved communities. To further bolster the health care workforce Senator Klobuchar will expand student loan forgiveness programs for health care and long term care workers practicing in underserved areas. She will also reform Medicare telehealth rules that unfairly limit coverage and reimbursement. 

  • Preserve and strengthen rural hospitals. Over 100 rural hospitals have closed since 2010 and more than more than a third of rural hospitals, providing care to almost 12 million Americans, are at risk of closing. As President, Senator Klobuchar will help hospitals in rural areas stay open by creating a new Rural Emergency Hospital classification under Medicare to give hospitals more support if they maintain an emergency room and provide outpatient services.  
  • Provide sustainable reimbursements for rural health care providers. Today, inadequate reimbursement from federal health programs that do not take into account the additional costs of rural health providers puts significant pressure on the rural health care system.  Senator Klobuchar will adjust Medicare’s geographic practice cost index to reflect the actual costs of providing health care in rural areas. She will also provide ongoing financial relief by ending the two percent Medicare automatic reimbursement cut for rural hospitals. 
  • Tackle rural mental health and addiction. Mental health and addiction services are often lacking in rural areas where accessibility, availability, affordability and acceptability may be limited. For example, 65 percent of non-metropolitan counties do not have a psychiatrist and almost half of non-metropolitan counties do not have a psychologist. As President, Senator Klobuchar will strengthen mental health and addiction programs in rural America by investing in and expanding the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network, tackling the opioid epidemic and increasing access to mental health and substance use care, including support for clinics and community-based services, as well as technical support and telehealth services. She will address the challenge of farmer suicide, while also focusing on recruitment, retention, training and workplace protections for the mental health and substance use health care workforce in rural areas and our hardest hit communities.

Support rural education and public schools. On average, rural districts receive just under 20 percent of state education funding and have smaller student populations, so they’re often disadvantaged by funding formulas. And higher transportation costs for students who live in rural areas can often mean even less money for instruction. As part of her previously announced “Progress Partnerships” Senator Klobuchar will help improve rural schools by encouraging states to create funding formula commissions to improve equity and establish equitable school infrastructure funding mechanism. 

  • Empower community colleges to be community hubs for economic development and workforce training. In many rural areas, local community colleges provide key economic development and workforce training resources for the community. Senator Klobuchar will work to better integrate federal business and workforce development programs with local community colleges building on the Small Business Administration’s successful Small Business Development Centers. 
  • Invest in land-grant universities agricultural research. Recognizing the long standing contributions of our land-grant universities to innovation and development in agriculture, as well as their central role in their communities, Senator Klobuchar will also expand resources available to these schools for capital projects, research and extension programs. 

Address child care and energy costs and expand access to affordable housing. Many Americans want to live and work in rural communities but cannot find an affordable place to live. More than 50 million Americans live in rural areas with a severe need for more affordable rental housing. Senator Klobuchar will strengthen rural rental assistance programs, increase investments in the rural housing supply. We also need to cut red tape and improve communication among local, state, and federal officials so renters, communities, and developers have access to information about the programs available in rural America. Senator Klobuchar will also strengthen protections for mobile home owners. 

  • Directly address the challenge of rural child care: Rural communities experience unique challenges when it comes to child care, as nearly two-thirds of rural families live in a child care desert, or an area where there are at least three young children for every licensed child care slot — or no licensed child care providers at all.  As President, Senator Klobuchar would expand assistance for child care, with a focus on rural areas by increasing funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant and increasing the subsidy rate so that rural child care providers can more easily meet their operating expenses and increase the quality of their programs. She would also work to pass a landmark childcare proposal limiting child care payments to 7 percent of a family’s income and making targeted investments to build the supply of licensed child care in rural child care deserts. 
  • Make energy costs affordable. Recognizing that rural households pay a significantly higher share of their income on energy costs than the national rate, Senator Klobuchar will also will preserve and expand resources for LIHEAP and the Weatherization Assistance Program, which helps households in need reduce energy spending. Senator Klobuchar is a strong supporter of the Rural Energy for America program and Rural Energy Savings program so that farmers and rural communities can access renewable energy solutions that lower their costs.  

3. PROTECTING OUR FUTURE

Expand conservation practices. Senator Klobuchar has been a champion of supporting farmer conservation efforts and promoting farming practices that reduce soil erosion and improve air and water quality, including by helping pass the 2018 Farm Bill, which included several of her priorities. As President, she will support significant new investments in conservation of working and retired lands. Senator Klobuchar will support the continued expansion of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and increase resources for the Conservation Stewardship Program to help provide farmers the tools they need to protect and enhance natural resources on working agricultural lands. And after successfully increasing the acreage cap of the Conservation Reserve Program, Senator Klobuchar will work to attract more enrollees and ensure payment rates are fair.

  • Protect native sod and improve soil health. Senator Klobuchar pushed for provision in the 2018 Farm Bill that closed a loophole allowing some non-insured crops to be planted four consecutive years without a reduction in crop insurance assistance for succeeding insured crops. As President, she will expand nationwide the sodsaver’s prohibition to substitute crop insurance yields on native sod that is converted to cropland. She will also expand the Soil Health and Income Protection Pilot Program to help provide farmers an alternative to cropping less productive cropland.
  • Invest in conservation innovation. Senator Klobuchar will target research into soil carbon sequestration, which could improve soil health as well as reduce carbon levels in the atmosphere. She will also expand Conservation Innovation Grants to test emerging conservation approaches, including practices that increase carbon sequestration levels. And building on provisions she included in the 2018 farm bill, Senator Klobuchar will further improve agriculture data research of conservation practices to help farmers reduce risk and increase profitability.

Investing in and providing incentives for homegrown energy. Senator Klobuchar believes that homegrown biofuels are key to our rural economies, our nation’s energy security, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In the Senate, she has been a leader when it comes to standing up to the Administration’s misuse of small refinery renewable fuel standard (RFS) waivers. She has also worked successfully in the Senate to provide financing and grant support to biobased manufacturers. She authored an amendment that was included in the Farm Bill that provides mandatory funding to support biobased marketing, manufacturing.

  • Strengthen the RFS. As President, Senator Klobuchar will work with the EPA to continue and strengthen the RFS. Continuing to increase the required blend levels will add value to farm products, reduce the use of fossil fuels, and contribute to better air quality.
  • End the overuse of secret RFS small refinery waivers. In the first 100 days of her presidency, Senator Klobuchar has pledged to end the misguided overuse of secret RFS small refinery waivers that have been granted to big oil companies at the expense of farmers. As President, she will take action to increase transparency in the waiver application process and to make sure that the market for Renewable Identification Numbers accurately accounts for the overuse of small refinery waivers. 
  • Promote the use of blender pumps. In addition, Senator Klobuchar will promote and invest in blender pump infrastructure by restarting and building upon USDA’s Biofuel Infrastructure Partnership, providing consumers more refueling choice and supporting the transition away from fossil fuels. 
  • Pass a statute to ensure year-round E15 sales. After successfully pushing for the administration to allow for the year-round sale of E15, Senator Klobuchar will also advance legislation that would allow for year-round E15 sales to remove regulatory uncertainty and help reduce the consumption of fossil fuels. 
  • Extend biodiesel and second generation biofuels tax credits. Senator Klobuchar has long championed tax credits for renewable energy and as President she will push to extend biodiesel and second generation biofuels tax credits. 

Invest in wind and solar and support rural energy development. Clean energy, including wind and solar, is a major driver of job growth in rural areas. In fact, 99 percent of operating wind capacity is located in rural areas. A part of Senator Klobuchar’s plan to tackle climate change, she will prioritize rural energy development, including expanding storage capacity and strengthening our energy grid is critical for continuing to scale up renewable energy. Senator Klobuchar will invest in interregional transmission lines and grid improvements to support the development of renewable energy and establish a Clean Energy bond program to expand clean energy tax incentives. And as President, Senator Klobuchar will launch a grant program to help rural cooperatives develop energy storage and microgrid projects for renewable energy for generation, transmission and storage. She will also support increased investment in small, distributed wind, solar and biogas projects.

Expand energy efficiency programs. Energy costs can be a significant burden on farms, small businesses and households in rural communities. Senator Klobuchar has long worked to see that the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) has the resources needed to provide grants to farms and rural businesses to install energy efficient technologies, and she will continue to push for additional resources.

Safeguard federal lands. Federal lands are integral to many rural economies. Senator Klobuchar is committed to preserving these lands for future generations including by restoring environmental protections repealed by the Trump Administration. She will also make sure that rural counties that host tax-exempt federal lands will receive their payments in-lieu of taxes in a predictable and uninterrupted manner.

4. LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND

Reducing child poverty in rural areas. According to the Department of Agriculture, poverty rates in rural America are still higher than in urban areas, and one in five rural households with children face food insecurity. As part of her plan to cut childhood poverty in half within ten years, Senator Klobuchar will expand the earned income tax credit, the child care tax credit, and SNAP benefits and make housing choice vouchers available to every qualifying household with a child. 

  • Meeting the nutrition needs of our most vulnerable citizens. As a member of the Agriculture Committee, Senator Klobuchar has always pushed for a strong nutrition title in the Farm Bill. As President, she will make sure that nutrition programs are there for families when they need them, while also strengthening employment and training programs that help get people back into the workforce. She will oppose efforts to institute draconian and ineffective work requirements and reverse the harmful rulemakings that the Trump Administration has proposed that would force millions of families, elderly, and veterans out of nutrition programs.
  • Overcoming persistent poverty. Senator Klobuchar supports Congressman Jim Clyburn’s 10-20-30 proposal, which would require that a minimum of 10% of federal funds of a particular program go to persistent poverty communities, where the poverty level has been 20% or higher over the past 30 years. 

Rural Veterans. Roughly one in four U.S. veterans live in rural areas, and many face challenges accessing health care and affordable housing. Building on her strong track record of supporting veterans, including our veterans in rural areas, Senator Klobuchar will focus on ensuring our veterans receive the support they deserve. As President, she will work to attract medical professionals to VA health care facilities in rural areas, invest in VA telehealth services and expand transportation options for our veterans. In addition, she will expand programs to connect veterans in rural areas to affordable housing and invest in programs that tackle veterans homelessness.

Helping farmers in bankruptcy. In many regions, farm bankruptcy rates are reaching their highest point in a decade due to persistently low commodity prices, economic uncertainty and tight farm lending regulations. As President, Senator Klobuchar will work to allow more family farmers to seek relief under Chapter 12 bankruptcy, which would allow family farmers to reorganize and keep the farm after falling on hard times. This builds off of Senator Klobuchar’s bipartisan legislation that recently passed the Senate and House. She will also promote support programs and education for farmers so they are familiar with sound farm management principles in an effort to reduce foreclosure rates.

Fight discrimination and empower communities of color. People of color make up one in five Americans living in rural areas, but too often systemic racism limits their contributions to rural economies. Senator Klobuchar will instruct all federal agencies to aggressively enforce anti-discrimination rules when it comes to housing, education, employment and wages. She will strengthen USDA’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, increase diversity in senior leadership positions at USDA, and develop better metrics to accurately reflect the impact of USDA programs of people of color. She will also increase rural outreach by the Minority Business Development Administration to help minority businesses overcome social and economic disadvantages. 

Partner with Native American tribes. Senator Klobuchar is committed to partnering with Native American tribes in rural areas. As President, she will end the Trump Administration’s attacks on tribal sovereignty and increase meaningful tribal consultation. She will fully support the Indian Health Service and build on her work to provide resources for tribal schools. She will work to expand broadband deployment on tribal lands including working to restore the Tribal Lifeline program, which the Trump Administration has tried to eliminate. She will also direct the USDA to increase support for tribal agricultural needs. 

Supporting rural seniors. Older Americans who live in rural areas can be isolated, with fewer transportation options and limited access to other important services like transportation, health care, and affordable housing. As President, Senator Klobuchar will make sure her USDA and other federal agencies are investing in housing, health care, transportation and nutrition programs for our country’s rural seniors. She will support generous tax-credits and programs that allow seniors to remain and age in their homes as long as possible, with a focus on promoting affordable housing and long-term care options. 

Democratic Candidates for 2020: Klobuchar Plan for Affordable Housing, Revitalizing Neglected Neighborhoods

Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, in the race for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president, is proposing a plan to bridge the rural-urban divide, expand affordable housing opportunities and revitalize neglected neighborhoods © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

The vigorous contest of Democrats seeking the 2020 presidential nomination has produced excellent policy proposals to address major issues. Senator Amy Klobuchar’s plan to address the need for affordable housing seeks to bridge the rural-urban divide, expand housing opportunities and revitalize neglected neighborhoods. This is a summary from the Klobuchar campaign:

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Senator Klobuchar is proposing a plan to bridge the rural-urban divide, expand affordable housing opportunities and revitalize neglected neighborhoods.

Stable and affordable housing is out of reach for too many American families. Both rural and urban areas struggle with a shortage of affordable rental housing, homelessness and neglected neighborhoods. Racial disparities and discrimination persist in housing and many families face significant obstacles to buying a home. As President, Senator Klobuchar will tackle these challenges to make a safe and affordable home a reality for more Americans.

Highlights of Senator Klobuchar’s Plan:

Expanding Access to Justice and Fighting Discrimination

  • Provide access to counsel. ​Senator Klobuchar will create a new federal grant program with the goal of eliminating the unmet need when it comes to​ ​providing access to counsel in civil cases involving basic human needs, which means providing counsel for people who are dealing with evictions, being denied access to health care and having wages unfairly taken.
  • Prohibit landlords from unfairly discriminating against renters. ​Senator Klobuchar will ban all landlords from discriminating against people based on their income, including housing vouchers or disability benefits. She will also protect renters by preventing the blacklisting of people who have been to court over eviction or discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or veterans status.
  • Combat segregation in housing.​ Senator Klobuchar will suspend the Trump Administration’s proposals to weaken fair housing rules. As previously announced, in her first 100 days as President Senator Klobuchar will suspend the Trump Administration’s attempts to weaken efforts to combat segregation in housing by modifying the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule.
  • Reinstate the Office of Fair Lending and Opportunity’s enforcement and oversight powers.​ ​The Trump Administration has significantly weakened the Office of Fair Lending and Opportunity,​ ​stripping the office of its ability to ensure fair and equitable access to credit. As President, Senator Klobuchar will restore all enforcement and oversight powers to the Office of Fair Lending and Opportunity to monitor fair lending practices and coordinate with the Department of Justice to prevent lending discrimination before it happens.

Addressing the Rural Housing Crisis

  • Increase affordable rental housing in rural communities. ​54 million​ Americans live in rural areas with a severe need for more affordable rental housing. Senator Klobuchar will strengthen rural rental assistance programs and significantly increase investments in the rural housing supply, which includes expanding affordable housing programs serving Native Americans.
  • Improve access to information about rural housing programs. ​To take advantage of federal support for new rural housing, developers must first know about the programs available to them. Senator Klobuchar will improve training for state, local and federal agencies so communities and developers can better access housing opportunities. Senator Klobuchar will also improve and expand programs that provide technical assistance to rural nonprofits to connect rural communities with resources to develop housing.
  • Encourage innovative strategies to attract private investment. ​Senator Klobuchar will use the loan purchasing power of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ask lenders to create new ways to meet the mortgage credit needs for rural markets based on evidence from their existing portfolio data. Senator Klobuchar will also provide incentives for community financial development institutions to provide access to credit in rural communities using the expertise of local financial institutions. 

Increasing Access to Affordable Housing

  • Invest in Housing Choice Vouchers.​ The Housing Choice Voucher program helps provide the stable homes families need to succeed, but demand far exceeds the number of vouchers available. Senator Klobuchar will make a major investment to make vouchers available to all qualifying households with children.
  • Promote effective zoning rules. ​Outdated zoning rules can make it harder to build affordable housing in many areas. Some cities are beginning to update their zoning policies through initiatives like Minneapolis 2040 to increase affordable housing opportunities. Senator Klobuchar will prioritize areas that have updated their zoning rules when awarding federal housing and infrastructure grants.
  • Give renters access to emergency funds for rent. ​The path toward eviction can start with an unexpected emergency expense. As she has previously announced, Senator Klobuchar will work to create innovative, portable personal savings accounts called UP Accounts that can be used for retirement and emergencies — including non-routine expenses like rent payments in situations like a lapse in earnings, a car accident, or family leave. [This proposal is modeled after the ​Saving for the Future Act​, which was introduced by Senators Coons and Klobuchar.] Under her plan, employers will set aside at least 50 cents per hour worked, helping a worker build more than $600,000 in wealth over the course of a career.
  • Support housing for people with disabilities.​ Senator Klobuchar will strengthen housing programs that assist people with disabilities. She will also invest in the successful Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS program.
  • Promote climate change mitigation and resilience.​ Residential buildings are a significant source of carbon emissions. Senator Klobuchar will ensure that all federal housing programs implement strong standards to reduce carbon emissions and she will invest in retrofitting so existing housing is more energy efficient. 

Providing Access to Opportunity

  • Encourage mobility for renters. ​An ​effective​ way to break the cycle of poverty is to move to a neighborhood that provides greater opportunity.​ ​Senator Klobuchar will expand the pilot for mobility housing vouchers that allows families to use their vouchers in higher opportunity neighborhoods. She will expand incentives to encourage relocation and work with regional and federal housing agencies to reduce obstacles that can make these relocations difficult.
  • Increase the supply of affordable housing in high opportunity neighborhoods. ​The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit is a critical tool for developing affordable rental housing.​ ​Senator Klobuchar will push to expand the current allocations to support the construction of additional units. She will also work to encourage construction in high opportunity neighborhoods.
  • Reduce homelessness. ​Over half a million Americans experience homelessness every night. Senator Klobuchar will make a major investment in homeless assistance grants that provide emergency and long-term housing and build on her work in the Senate increasing access to case management services like counseling and job training. This also means addressing the unique challenges of specific homeless populations including those living in rural areas, domestic violence victims, and the formerly incarcerated.
  • Help seniors age in place.​ By 2040, one in five Americans will be over 65, but the current supply of rental housing is not equipped for this Silver Surge. In the first 100 days of her Administration, Senator Klobuchar will reverse the Trump Administration’s proposed changes to federal housing subsidies that could triple rent for some households and would be particularly harmful for seniors. In addition, she will update regulations for reverse mortgages to make sure seniors have access to safe products that make it easier to stay in their homes, as well as expand support for affordable senior housing. She will direct affordable housing programs to allow retrofitting of rental housing and encourage a share of new rental housing to be built in a senior friendly way.

Increasing Access to Homeownership

  • Revitalize and build value in neglected neighborhoods.​ In some neighborhoods, neglected properties make investments to improve living conditions or build property value economically infeasible. Neighboring blighted and abandoned properties further reduce the possibility of investment, leading to downward spiral. Senator Klobuchar will advocate for a new federal tax credit, similar to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, to encourage investment in family-owned homes in distressed neighborhoods.
  • Promote homeownership through down payment assistance and credit development. Saving for a downpayment and building a credit history are two of the largest obstacles new homebuyers face. Senator Klobuchar will build on programs that allow certain types of rental housing assistance to be used for home ownership expenses. She will also work to pass legislation that expands access to capital for down payments and makes it easier to build a credit history by allowing credit bureaus to use on-time payment data from cell phone bills, utilities, and rent in calculating credit scores.
  • Protect the Community Reinvestment Act. ​During the first 100 days of her presidency, Senator Klobuchar will direct financial regulators to strengthen C​ommunity Reinvestment Act​ protections, develop policies to encourage financial institutions to make loans and investment in local communities, especially communities in need, and conduct greater outreach to assess the true credit needs of certain areas.
  • Improve education for homebuyers. Buying a home can be confusing, especially for first-time homebuyers. Senator Klobuchar will strengthen federal homebuyer education programs including targeted programs for communities with low levels of homeownership.

To pay for these policies, Senator Klobuchar will raise the capital gains rate to the income tax rate for households making over $400,000, and as announced in her infrastructure plan, which included plans for housing, raising the corporate tax rate to 25%.

Democratic Candidates for 2020: Klobuchar Policy Plan for Seniors Tackles Alzheimers, Healthcare, Drug Costs, Retirement Security

Senator Amy Klobuchar’s plan for Seniors tackles Alzheimer’s, enhances health care and retirement security and reduces prescription drug costs. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

The vigorous contest of Democrats seeking the 2020 presidential nomination has produced excellent policy proposals to address major issues. Senator Amy Klobuchar’s plan for Seniors tackles Alzheimer’s, enhances health care and retirement security and reduces prescription drug costs. This is a summary from the Klobuchar campaign:


MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Senator Amy Klobuchar released her policy priorities for seniors. Building on her leadership in the Senate when it comes to lowering the cost of prescription drugs and addressing the challenges our seniors face, Senator Klobuchar is proposing a bold plan to tackle Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, enhance health care and retirement security, reduce skyrocketing prescription drug costs and combat senior fraud and abuse. As President, Senator Klobuchar will continue to stand up for our seniors and the 10,000 Americans who turn 65 each day.

“Everywhere I go, I meet seniors who tell me about their struggles to afford everyday costs like prescription drugs or health care,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar. “I meet family members who face challenges caring for loved ones with Alzheimer’s and urgent action is needed to take on these problems. I believe we owe it to our seniors to make sure they have the care and support they need as they get older, and as President I will prioritize tackling Alzheimer’s, strengthening health care and retirement security, and reducing prescription drug costs.”

Highlights of Senator Klobuchar’s Plan:

Tackling Alzheimer’s and Other Chronic Conditions

Support caregivers for those living with Alzheimer’s and other chronic conditions. Senator Klobuchar has been a leader when it comes to supporting people affected by Alzheimer’s and their families. As President, she will support expanding resources for health care providers to expand training and support services for families and caregivers of people living with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia as well as other chronic conditions, improving caregiver well-being and health, as well as allowing patients to stay in their homes longer.

Make it easier for people with Alzheimer’s and their families to get the medical care they need. Medicare is an essential resource for people affected by Alzheimer’s, but many patients and their families are unaware of the resources and coverage available when it comes to Alzheimer’s. Senator Klobuchar will take action to expand Medicare covered services for Alzheimer’s and she will expand efforts to make patients and their families aware of the care-planning and services that are covered. She will also support an ongoing investment in public health infrastructure for Alzheimer’s that reduces risk, improves early detection and diagnosis, and focuses on tribal, rural, minority, and other underserved populations.  

Strengthen the National Institutes of Health and invest in research for chronic conditions. While the current administration has proposed draconian cuts to lifesaving research, Senator Klobuchar will bolster research at the National Institutes of Health and increase investments in research into cancer, including breast cancer, which the Senator has long supported, and other chronic conditions. And Senator Klobuchar will also invest in research into health disparities. Significant and persistent disparities exist in health outcomes for minority populations in the United States. When it comes to healthy aging, research has shown divides based on race, wealth, and education. Senator Klobuchar will invest in research across the federal government into the causes of these disparities and how they can be reduced. 

  • Invest in Alzheimer’s research. Senator Klobuchar will commit to preventing, treating and facilitating a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, with the goal of putting us on a path toward developing a cure and treatment by 2025. To support researchers, she will make sure that funding is reliable and consistent. Since African Americans and the Latino community will represent nearly 40 percent of the 8.4 million American families affected by Alzheimer’s disease by 2030, Senator Klobuchar will increase federal research into disparities in the incidents and outcomes of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

Improve mental health care for seniors. Senator Klobuchar is committed to making mental health a priority, including for our seniors. As part of her recently released mental health plan, she will expand access to mental health treatment for seniors and expand depression treatment and suicide prevention efforts that focus on seniors.

Implement and extend Kevin and Avonte’s law and expand dementia training. Senator Klobuchar introduced bipartisan legislation signed into law last year that helps families locate missing people with forms of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s, or developmental disabilities, such as autism. As President, Senator Klobuchar will make sure the program is fully implemented and she will also establish federal partnerships with state and local governments to provide dementia training for public sector workers who interact with seniors.

Ensure a Secure Retirement

Protect Social Security and make sure it is fair. Social Security has served as a stable and secure retirement guarantee for generations of Americans. Senator Klobuchar believes that this program must remain solvent for generations to come and she will fight against risky schemes to privatize it. As President, Senator Klobuchar will work to lift the Social Security payroll cap. Currently the payroll tax only applies to wages up to $133,000. Senator Klobuchar supports subjecting income above $250,000 to the payroll tax and extending the solvency of Social Security.  And Senator Klobuchar will make sure people are treated fairly by the current Social Security system. As President, she will work to strengthen and improve Social Security benefits for widows and people who took significant time out of the paid workforce to care for their children, aging parents, or sick family members.

Expand retirement savings. Senator Klobuchar believes all Americans deserve a secure retirement. As she has previously announced, Senator Klobuchar will work to create innovative, portable personal savings accounts called Up Accounts that can be used for retirement and emergencies by establishing a minimum employer contribution to a savings plan. [ This proposal is modeled after the Saving for the Future Act, which was introduced by Senators Coons and Klobuchar.] Under her plan, employers will set aside at least 50 cents per hour worked, helping a worker build more than $600,000 in wealth over the course of a career. And Senator Klobuchar will work to reduce disparities when it comes to retirement savings. According to a recent study, the median wealth for white families was more than $134,000, but for African American families it was just $11,000.

Defend pensions. Senator Klobuchar has been a leader in the Senate when it comes to keeping our pension promises. As President, she will support legislation to ensure retirees can keep the pensions they have earned and, in her first 100 days, she will recommend that Treasury heighten the scrutiny of any applications to reduce retiree benefits under the Kline-Miller Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014.

Improve Health Care for Seniors and Lower Prescription Drug Costs

Unleash the power of 43 million seniors in Medicare Part D to negotiate better drug prices. Seniors should have access to their medicines at the lowest possible prices. As President, Senator Klobuchar will push to allow the government to directly negotiate lower drug prices for Medicare Part D, building on legislation she has led in the Senate.

Take immediate and aggressive action to lower prescription drug prices, including allowing personal importation from countries like Canada and crack down on “Pay-for-Delay” agreements. Senator Klobuchar has been a leading advocate for reducing the price of prescription drugs for seniors, including by helping close the Medicare Part D donut hole and introducing legislation to increase competition and require Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices. As President, during her first 100 days she will allow for the personal importation of prescription drugs from safe countries like Canada and crack down on “Pay-for-Delay” agreements that increase the cost of prescription drugs.

Strengthen Medicare and provide incentives for getting the best quality health care at the best price. Senator Klobuchar opposes cuts and risky schemes to privatize Medicare and will take action to strengthen Medicare and find solutions so it remains solvent. She will improve Medicare for current beneficiaries by reforming payment policies through measures like site neutral payments and providing incentives for getting the best quality health care at the best price, including bundled payments and telehealth.

Expand coverage for dental, vision and hearing under Medicare. Dental, vision, and hearing care should be covered as part of Medicare. Senator Klobuchar will support new Medicare coverage for these services that makes them affordable for all seniors.

Expand telehealth and rural health services and maintain rural hospitals. In the Senate, Senator Klobuchar has championed policies that ensure seniors who want to stay in their homes and communities can do so. As President, she will promote remote monitoring technology and telehealth services in Medicare and other programs that improve the quality of life and expand access to quality home care and emergency hospital services in rural areas. As President, she would work to create a new Rural Emergency Hospital classification under Medicare to help rural hospitals stay open and provide expanded support to our critical access hospitals.

Invest in Long-Term Care

Create a refundable tax credit to offset long-term care costs. Senator Klobuchar will work with Congress to establish a new refundable tax credit to help offset the costs of long-term care. The credit will be available for qualifying long-term care costs including both nursing facility care and home- and community-based services, and additional expenses like assistive technologies, respite care, and necessary home modifications. The credit will be targeted towards those who are most in need of support. Senator Klobuchar will also stand up to efforts to cap Medicaid spending, which would put services like mental health care, transportation costs, and long-term care at risk for millions of Americans.

Reduce the costs of long-term care insurance and increase access. Senator Klobuchar believes seniors and their adult children must have the resources they need to prepare for long-term care, including education about the types of services available. To reduce the costs of long-term care, Senator Klobuchar will propose a new targeted tax credit equal to 20 percent of the premium costs of qualified long-term care insurance. Senator Klobuchar will also establish incentives and make it easier for employers to offer their employees long-term care insurance on an opt-out basis. In addition, she will explore updating federal policies to combine long-term care policies with life insurance.

Provide financial relief to caregivers and ensure paid family leave for all Americans, including those who care for elderly or disabled relatives. Senator Klobuchar is proposing a tax credit of up to $6,000 a year to provide financial relief to those caring for an aging relative or a relative with a disability to help offset expenses, including the cost of medical care, counseling and training, lodging away from home, adult day care, assistive technologies, and necessary home modifications. As President, Senator Klobuchar will also support legislation to provide paid family leave to all Americans so no one has to sacrifice a paycheck to care for someone they love, including an elderly parent.

Support a world class long-term care workforce, increase long-term care options, and tackle disparities in long-term care. Senator Klobuchar believes we must invest in and address shortages in our long-term care workforce. She is committed to increasing wages, improving job conditions and promoting other recruitment and retention policies, especially in rural communities facing workforce challenges. She will also support training for long-term care workers and new loan forgiveness programs for in-demand occupations that includes our long-term care workers. In addition, she will expand long-term care facilities and beds as well as home care and telehealth services. Research also suggests that there are significant racial and ethnic disparities in the quality of long-term care as well as disparities in coverage for long-term care. Senator Klobuchar is committed to tackling disparities in care through expanding access to long-term care with a focus on reducing inequities as well as addressing the costs of long-term care services for people in the greatest need of assistance.

Reduce Costs and Prevent Fraud

Fight senior fraud and elder abuse. As a prosecutor, Senator Klobuchar created a senior protection unit at the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. And she has always believed that we need strong safeguards to prevent and address fraud, abuse and exploitation of our seniors, and has led and passed multiple bills in the Senate that would strengthen these safeguards. Within her first 100 days as President, she will establish a new senior fraud prevention office to educate consumers, expedite the handling of complaints, and coordinate prevention efforts across the federal government. Senator Klobuchar will stregthen enforcement of age discrimination laws, and she will also take action to tackle elder abuse, strengthen oversight and accountability for court-appointed guardians, support training for employees at long-term care facilities, and increase tracking of incidents and investigations to help prevent and better respond to elder abuse.

Improve access to affordable housing, transit, and nutrition for seniors and expand workforce opportunities. In the first 100 days of her Administration, Senator Klobuchar will reverse the Trump Administration’s proposed changes to federal housing subsidies that could triple rent for some households and would be particularly harmful for seniors. In addition, she will update regulations for reverse mortgages to make sure seniors have access to safe products that make it easier to stay in their homes, as well as expand support for affordable senior housing. Senator Klobuchar is also committed to expanding transportation programs and services for older adults, particularly in rural and underserved populations. She also supports expanding resources for Meals on Wheels, helping the food bank system serve seniors in need, and launching a national effort to increase enrollment among seniors in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Senator Klobuchar will also work to expand workforce and training opportunities for older Americans who are looking to remain in and return to the workforce.

Help seniors afford their energy costs: Senator Klobuchar strongly opposes efforts by the Trump Administration to eliminate funding for programs like the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps seniors afford heating and cooling. As President, Senator Klobuchar’s budget will preserve and expand resources for LIHEAP and the Weatherization Assistance Program, which helps households in need reduce energy spending, and she will support new efforts to help seniors with their energy costs.

To pay for these policies, Senator Klobuchar will close the trust fund loopholes that allow the wealthy to avoid paying taxes on inherited wealth.

Senator Klobuchar Proposes ‘Progress Partnerships’ To Boost Education

US Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota during the first Democratic Debate for the Presidential nomination © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Senator Klobuchar’s mom taught second grade until she was 70 years and she was also a proud teachers’ union member who walked the picket line in the 1951 teachers’ strike. As the daughter of a teacher and union member, Senator Klobuchar understands that a good education is a basic right of every child and that all Americans should have the educational opportunities they need to succeed in today’s economy. 

During the presidential campaign, Senator Klobuchar has announced plans to fully fund education and our schools, make a historic investment in increasing teacher pay, close the opportunity gap, fully fund the IDEA, boost STEM education and apprenticeship opportunities, and rebuild our crumbling school infrastructure. 

In addition to her already announced plans, Senator Klobuchar is announcing at the 2019 National Education Association Presidential Forum an additional proposal —  new federal-state school “Progress Partnerships” that will allow states to take aggressive action to support our students. These partnerships are designed to elevate the voices of our educators and they will provide additional resources to help states take bold action to fund our public schools, support our teachers, and prioritize learning. 

To participate in the “Progress Partnership,” states should take (or have already taken) the following actions (which draws on a list of state-level executive actions proposed by the Center for American Progress):

Increase teacher pay: States will agree to a state-federal partnership with a generous federal match to increase salaries for all teachers, as well as recommendations that address unique state needs when it comes to the teacher pipeline, such as recruitment, retention, diversity of the workforce, and quality of teacher preparation. State educators should be included in the development of these plans.

Adapt high school curricula to improve workforce readiness and post-secondary success: State education departments, working with educators, will evaluate student career and college readiness, including coursework, curriculum and other policies that prepare students for today’s workforce and post-secondary success.

Establish an equitable school infrastructure funding mechanism: In addition to receiving generous direct federal funding for school infrastructure improvements, states will create a mechanism for distributing federal school infrastructure funding that addresses disparities in conditions and resources and ensures equity in funding for construction and repairs of school buildings across the state.

Submit recommendations to align school services and schedules with the needs of working families: States will work with educators to develop and submit recommendations on how schools can meet the needs of working families, which could include low-cost after-school programs, alternative programs for students on days when schools are closed, and a community school model that wraps other community services in the school building to make schools into community hubs.

Convene a commission to review the state’s existing funding formula to improve equity: States will review the existing funding formula to ensure that all students, particularly those with the greatest need, have access to adequate educational resources. The commission must include professional educators and develop recommendations for improving state education funding equity, which will be published biennially along with an assessment of state progress.

As part of her plan for her first 100 days as President, Senator Klobuchar will also:

Reduce racial disparities in disciplining students. Senator Klobuchar will re-issue guidance directing schools to reduce racial disparities in how they discipline students, which prompted more than 50 of America’s largest school districts to institute discipline reform.

Fully fund the IDEA and reinstate the guidance protecting the rights of students with disabilities. Senator Klobuchar’s budget will fully fund IDEA to support students with disabilities. In addition, Senator Klobuchar will reinstate documents protecting the rights of students with disabilities after Secretary DeVos rescinded 72 guidance documents outlining those rights.

Prevent the expansion of private school vouchers. Senator Klobuchar will stand firmly with our public schools and end discussions of Secretary Betsy DeVos’s $50 billion proposal to fund private school vouchers.

Restore protections for the LGBTQ community. Senator Klobuchar will reverse the harmful anti-LGBTQ administrative actions taken by the Trump Administration when it comes to education, health care and civil rights, and she will work to pass the Equality Act in year one of her presidency.

____________

Senator Amy Klobuchar Releases Plan for 100 Actions for Her First 100 Days as President

US Senator Amy Klobuchar, at the official launch of her 2020 Presidential Campaign, has released a list of 100 concrete actions she would take in her first 100 days as President of the United States © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

US Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for President, released a plan outlining the more than 100 concrete steps she would take in her first 100 days as President of the United States to take on the biggest challenges we face at home and abroad.

“The problems Americans are facing every single day require urgent action. That’s why Senator Klobuchar has a plan to get to work and deliver results on Day One,” the campaign stated.

Through executive action, Senator Klobuchar will begin to immediately deliver on her ambitious, optimistic agenda that will build a safer world, a stronger democracy, and a fairer economy while taking much-needed action on health care, climate change, and immigration. 

“After four years of Donald Trump, a new President can’t wait for a bunch of congressional hearings to act,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar. “The urgent problems our country is facing require immediate action. That’s why in my first 100 days as President I will enact an ambitious, optimistic agenda to improve our health care, combat climate change, pursue economic justice and shared prosperity, and build a stronger democracy and safer world. With these concrete steps, we will put our country back on a path of progress where people have an opportunity to get ahead.”

During the first 100 days of Senator Klobuchar’s presidency, she will:

Get the United States back in the International Climate Agreement on day one. On day one of Senator Klobuchar’s presidency she will get us back into the International Climate Change Agreement, working so that the United States maintains global leadership to address the climate crisis.

Immediately suspend the Trump Administration’s efforts to eliminate the Affordable Care Act’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Senator Klobuchar will immediately suspend all Trump Administration efforts — both in federal court and at the Department of Health and Human Services — that would allow insurance companies to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

Rebuild our relationship with our allies and restore America’s standing in the world. To rebuild the relationship with our allies that President Trump has undermined, Senator Klobuchar’s first international trips as President will be to Canada and Europe to begin restoring trust with our most important allies.

Immediately allow for the safe importation of prescription drugs from countries like Canada. Americans pay double what Canadians do for some prescription drugs, which is why Senator Klobuchar will use existing Food and Drug Administration authority to grant a waiver that allows people to import safe prescription drugs for personal use from countries like Canada to decrease drug costs for seniors and all Americans.

Fill judicial vacancies by nominating well-qualified judges on day one. Senator Klobuchar will waste no time in working with the Senate and the American Bar Association to nominate a full slate of well-qualified judges who will follow the law to fill judicial vacancies on federal courts on day one of her presidency.

Revive the aggressive protection of voting rights. Senator Klobuchar will restore the federal government’s longstanding position of challenging intentionally racially discriminatory voting laws. And while Congress works to restore the Voting Rights Act (VRA), Senator Klobuchar will direct the Department of Justice to use Section 3 of the VRA to “bail-in” jurisdictions to its preclearance requirements, allowing federal courts to place jurisdictions under the oversight requirement of the VRA.  

Prioritize cybersecurity and protect our elections and other American infrastructure from cyber attack. As President, Senator Klobuchar will make cybersecurity an immediate priority. She will issue an Executive Order launching government-wide cybersecurity initiatives, fast-tracking and streamlining procurement of modern information technology across agencies. She will also launch a cabinet-level taskforce on election cybersecurity to coordinate across agencies, including the intelligence community, on how the federal government can work with state and local governments to address cyber threats to our democracy and infrastructure. She will also introduce legislation that provides election security funding, requires backup paper ballots, and requires campaigns to report contacts from foreign nationals seeking to interfere in an election to federal authorities.

Update the standards for reviewing both horizontal and vertical mergers to ensure vigorous antitrust enforcement. To tackle unprecedented consolidation and monopoly power, Senator Klobuchar will direct the Department of Justice to update its guidelines to ensure vigorous and aggressive enforcement of our antitrust laws.

Undertake aggressive retrospective review of mergers. To tackle corporate consolidation in what she has called “the new gilded age,” Senator Klobuchar will direct her Attorney General to have DOJ’s Antitrust Division undertake aggressive retrospective reviews of mergers. She will introduce legislation to increase funding for antitrust enforcement efforts by adjusting merger filing fees and she will change the legal standards to promote competition and prevent consolidation.

Raise the minimum wage for federal contractors to $15. In line with her goal of increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, Senator Klobuchar will increase the minimum wage for federal contractors to that threshold.

Expand VA health benefits for women veterans and their babies. The Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act of 2008 gave the VA the authority to provide care for newborn babies born to women veterans, but a narrow interpretation of the law is preventing access to care. Senator Klobuchar will direct the VA to expand covering the costs of medically-necessary emergency services for newborn babies of veterans.

Jump-start legislative negotiations for comprehensive immigration reform with the stated goal of passing it in the first year. Senator Klobuchar will jump-start negotiations for comprehensive immigration reform — which includes a pathway to citizenship, the DREAM Act and border security — with the stated goal of passing it in the first year of her presidency. Comprehensive immigration could reduce the deficit by $158 billion.

Protect DACA and TPS and Deferred Enforcement Departure designations. While she jump-starts negotiations for comprehensive immigration reform with the stated goal of passing it within the first year, Senator Klobuchar will undo attempts by the Trump Administration – many of which have been blocked by courts – to deport DREAMers and immigrants who are living, working and succeeding here under Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforcement Departure.

Shine a light on the corporate dark money spending. Senator Klobuchar will shine a light on the dark money by requiring publicly traded companies to disclose all political spending over $10,000 to their shareholders.

Bring transparency to dark money issue advocacy. Senator Klobuchar will direct the IRS to institute the requirement that tax-exempt organizations that engage in issue advocacy disclose to the IRS the names of individual donors who contribute more than $5,000 per year.

Propose landmark legislation that drives our changing economy forward and provides opportunity to all Americans. Our laws and our policies have not kept pace with our changing economy and the digital revolution. That’s why Senator Klobuchar will propose landmark legislation to take on monopoly power, empower our workers, and protect consumers’ privacy and health data privacy. She will also invest in quality child care, raise the minimum wage, provide paid family leave, support small business owners and entrepreneurs, as well as establish portable, worker-owned UP Accounts for retirement savings. She will also allow students to refinance their loans at lower interest rates, provide tuition-free community college and technical certifications, and expand Pell Grant eligibility and award amounts. To pay for these policies and reduce the debt, Senator Klobuchar will repeal the regressive portions of 2017 Republican tax reform, equalize tax rates for capital gains and ordinary income, put the Buffet rule in place, and close the carried interest and big oil loopholes.

Immediately close the “boyfriend loophole.” Senator Klobuchar leads legislation in the Senate to close the ‘boyfriend loophole’ by preventing people who have abused dating partners from buying or owning firearms, and she will take executive action to get it done immediately.

Introduce gun violence legislation. Senator Klobuchar will introduce gun violence legislation including putting universal background checks in place, closing the gun show loophole, and banning bump stocks, assault weapons and high capacity magazines.

Consider gun violence as a public health issue in CDC studies. Senator Klobuchar will direct the CDC to study gun violence as a public health issue and help identify approaches to reduce gun violence and save lives.

Propose a historic investment in public education. Senator Klobuchar will propose a historic investment in America’s education system that will fully fund education, increase teacher pay, and rebuild our crumbling school infrastructure.

End the misguided overuse of secret RFS small refinery waivers that have been granted to big oil companies at the expense of farmers. Senator Klobuchar will completely overhaul the EPA’s small refinery waivers and greatly increase transparency, ensuring that RFS waivers meant for small refiners do not go to big oil companies like Chevron and ExxonMobil and that these secret waivers do not line the pockets of big oil companies at the expense of farmers.

Protect federal employee labor rights. Senator Klobuchar will immediately rescind Executive Orders signed by President Trump that severely restrict federal workers’ rights, including the right to collectively bargain.

Prioritize mental health and addiction. Senator Klobuchar will take immediate action to combat substance use disorders and prioritize mental health, including launching new prevention and early intervention initiatives, expanding access to treatment, and giving Americans a path to sustainable recovery. This includes addressing workforce shortages for nurses, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals in many areas of the country and it means addressing the lack of hospital services and treatment beds.

End attacks on tribal sovereignty. Senator Klobuchar will respect tribal sovereignty including by stopping the Department of Justice from taking anti-sovereignty positions in litigation, directing the Department of Health and Human Services from deferring to states on Medicaid rules for tribal members, and increasing meaningful tribal consultation.

Make a plan to connect every household to the internet by 2022. Senator Klobuchar will work to close the rural-urban divide by connecting every household to the internet by 2022. This means directing federal support to close the last mile gap, overhauling broadband coverage mapping by establishing processes to verify carrier-reported data, and encouraging public-private partnerships in the areas of greatest need.

Restore the Clean Power Plan. To address the climate crisis, Senator Klobuchar will bring back the goals established by the Clean Power Plan, which set emissions standards for states with respect to reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.

Bring back the fuel-economy standards. Senator Klobuchar will restore and strengthen our fuel economy standards, which are key to fighting climate change. The Trump Administration has weakened the fuel-economy standards for cars and light trucks and has challenged the right of California and other states to follow more stringent standards.

Introduce sweeping legislation to address the climate crisis. Senator Klobuchar will introduce sweeping legislation to combat the climate crisis that builds on the framework of the Green New Deal, including a massive investment in green jobs and infrastructure, promoting rural energy development, supporting tougher building codes, buy clean, better greener transportation, appliance standards and climate resilience.

End “pay for delay” agreements that increase the cost of prescription drugs. Senator Klobuchar will take aggressive action to crack down on drug companies that are — in effect — paying the makers of generic drugs to delay cheaper versions of drugs from getting into the market.

Outline a plan to cut childhood poverty in half in ten years and end it within a generation. Senator Klobuchar will put forward a plan to cut childhood poverty in half in ten years, including expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Care Tax Credit, SNAP benefits and overhauling our country’s housing policy.

Restore and strengthen overtime rules. Too many American workers have been working overtime without getting paid for the extra hours. Senator Klobuchar will restore and strengthen the Obama Administration’s overtime rules to expand overtime pay to millions of workers, increasing the maximum salary for a worker to qualify for the overtime pay they’ve earned.

Propose legislation to get us to universal health care. Senator Klobuchar will propose legislation that gets us to universal health care, which includes creating a public health care option by expanding either Medicare or Medicaid, as well as improving the Affordable Care Act to help bring down costs to consumers through reinsurance, providing cost-sharing reductions, expanding premium subsidies, and continuing delivery system reform. Her legislation will also provide additional consumer protections and lower the costs of prescription drugs through aggressive reforms including lifting the ban that prohibits Medicare from negotiating the best possible price. These programs significantly reduce cost to consumers and help promote choice.

Develop best models of care to address disparities in maternal and infant mortality and address the shortage of maternity care health professional in underserved rural and urban areas. Senator Klobuchar will immediately implement a new law that tackles the shortage of maternity care health professionals —including nurses, midwives, and obstetricians — in underserved areas, and she will develop best models of care to address racial disparities in maternal and infant mortality.

Stop Trump sabotage of the ACA by ending workarounds that allow states to raise premiums for sicker people and shift ACA premium subsidies away from lower-income enrollees. Senator Klobuchar will eliminate the Trump Administration guidance that provides states more flexibility to increase insurance costs for sicker people and shift premium subsidies away from low-income enrollees.

Remove the citizenship question from the Census. Senator Klobuchar will direct the Department of Commerce to remove the Trump Administration’s citizenship question that was added to the 2020 Census from the short form during preparations for the 2030 Census.

Prevent outsourcing of jobs overseas by closing tax loopholes on corporations’ overseas earnings. The 2017 tax law instituted a new minimum tax on corporations’ overseas earnings but applied the tax on a global or “blended” rate, encouraging companies to move physical operations and jobs overseas. Senator Klobuchar will direct the IRS to mitigate the worst effects of this law and crack down on attempts to minimize tax liability through outsourcing.

Provide incentives for employers to adopt paid family leave and child care benefits. Senator Klobuchar will reward federal contractors by providing additional points during the contract bidding process if contractors offer paid family leave to their employees or child care benefits.

Restore freedom to travel to and trade with Cuba. Fifty years of an embargo have not achieved America’s policy objectives in Cuba. Senator Klobuchar believes that a better path forward would allow Americans the freedom to travel and conduct business there and that lifting the trade embargo will open a huge export market, create American jobs, and support both the Cuban and American economies. She will revive policies to expand the ability of Americans to travel to Cuba and facilitate U.S. exports to the island using credit to the maximum extent allowed by current law while respecting human rights and property claims against the Cuban government.

Create a clemency advisory board and position in the White House that advise the President from a criminal justice reform perspective. Senator Klobuchar will create a clemency advisory board as well as a position in the White House — outside of the Department of Justice — that advise the President from a criminal justice reform perspective. The clemency advisory board will investigate and review requests for clemency for federal offenses and ultimately prepare a recommendation for the President.

Aggressively combat illegal Chinese steel dumping. Senator Klobuchar will ensure the federal government is aggressively combating illegal Chinese steel dumping including through expanded personnel to enforce our trade laws and increased inspections of steel imports at ports of entry. She will also direct the U.S. Department of Labor to expedite approval of Trade Adjustment Assistance petitions for workers from the affected mining operations.

Restart the President’s Export Council. Senator Klobuchar will restart the President’s Export Council, which brings together business, labor, and agricultural leaders with Members of Congress and key Administration officials to help promote a comprehensive export and trade strategy.

Reverse dramatic proposed funding cuts to diplomacy and foreign assistance. Senator Klobuchar will reverse this Administration’s shortsighted approach to diplomacy and US foreign assistance. The FY2020 budget request would cut diplomacy and development funding by 23 percent, including a 30 percent cut to humanitarian assistance and a 22 percent cut to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

End the sale of junk insurance policies that eliminate existing protections for consumers. Senator Klobuchar will end efforts to provide short-term junk insurance that eliminates existing protections for consumers like protections for people with pre-existing conditions and Affordable Care Act requirements to cover essential health benefits.

Restore protections for journalists and protect the First Amendment. Senator Klobuchar will restore former Attorney General Eric Holder’s guidance on protections for journalists so that they are not jailed for doing their jobs.

End the family separation policy. Senator Klobuchar will issue an Executive Order putting an immediate end to the cruel and inhumane policy where the government is taking kids away from their parents and ensuring children are reunited with their parents without delay. She will also reverse this administration’s attempt to overrule the Flores Settlement Agreement, which prevents prolonged detention of children and prevents children from being detained in inhumane conditions by requiring basic levels of food, water and health care.

Restore staffing levels at the Department of Agriculture. Under the first two years of the Trump Administration, between December 2016 and March 2018, USDA had more staff departures than any other federal agency. This has severely impacted USDA’s ability to carry out its mission on behalf of rural communities and farmers. Senator Klobuchar will restore staffing levels to the appropriate levels.

Protect student borrowers. Senator Klobuchar will restore and strengthen rules that allow students who believe they were defrauded by their colleges to apply for loan forgiveness, providing relief to thousands of additional students.

Crack down on gun manufacturers and dealers that break the law. Senator Klobuchar will increase inspections and strengthen enforcement to crack down on gun manufacturers and sellers that violate the law.

Commit to strong financial regulation. Senator Klobuchar will rescind Executive Order 13772, which has allowed the Treasury Department and other financial regulators to weaken critical safeguards put in place after the financial crisis. She will commit to strong financial regulation that levels the playing field and promotes economic stability and growth.

Stop the use of noncompete agreements to stifle competition and hurt workers. Senator Klobuchar will instruct the FTC to initiate a rulemaking addressing anti-competitive noncompete agreements that prevent low-wage workers from pursuing new employment opportunities.

Strengthen minimum wage enforcement efforts. Senator Klobuchar will strengthen enforcement and expand investigations to make sure that are wage laws are properly enforced and that workers are able to recover back pay when the government rules in their favor.

Lift the ban preventing qualified transgender people from serving in the military and restore protections for the LGBTQ community. Senator Klobuchar will direct the Department of Defense to lift the ban on military service by transgender people. She will reverse the harmful anti-LGBTQ administrative actions taken by the Trump Administration when it comes to education, health care and civil rights, and she will work to pass the Equality Act in year one of her presidency.

Protect LGBTQ people from government-sanctioned discrimination. Senator Klobuchar will stop efforts to give federal protections to those discriminating against LGBTQ people. She will end all efforts by the Department of Justice that argue that transgender people do not have protections under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

Prioritize LGBTQ antidiscrimination policies across the federal government to address homelessness, suicide and access to life-saving drugs. Senator Klobuchar will expand efforts to reduce LGBTQ homelessness, address LGBTQ suicide rates, and increase access to PrEP. She will create an office of LGBTQ Antidiscrimination within the White House Domestic Policy Council to coordinate these efforts across federal agencies.  

Propose a bold infrastructure plan to rebuild America and re-establish the Presidential Advisory Council on Infrastructure. The Presidential Advisory Council on Infrastructure was intended to provide the federal government with expertise from key sectors on infrastructure policy, but President Trump disbanded the council. Senator Klobuchar will reinstate the council to execute her first budget proposal: a bold, comprehensive infrastructure plan. This trillion-dollar investment includes repairing and replacing our roads, highways and bridges, building smart climate infrastructure, ensuring clean water, modernizing our airports, seaports and inland waterways, expanding reliable public transit options, rebuilding our schools, and overhauling our country’s housing policy. The plan will be paid for by changes to the tax code including adjustments to the corporate tax rate.

Restore asylum for the victims of gender-based violence. Senator Klobuchar will overturn former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s opinion in Matter of A-B and restore protections for immigrant victims of domestic violence seeking asylum in the United States.

End anticompetitive practices that increase the price of prescription drugs.  Many pharmaceutical companies have found loopholes in regulations that allow them to block or delay cost-saving competition like refusing to provide samples or share important information about how to distribute a drug safely.  As President, Senator Klobuchar will instruct HHS to issue regulations to stop anti-competitive practices and help reduce the cost of prescription drugs.

Reduce racial disparities in disciplining students. Senator Klobuchar will re-issue guidance directing schools to reduce racial disparities in how they discipline students, which prompted more than 50 of America’s largest school districts to institute discipline reform.

Bring cyber-security expertise into the Defense Department immediately. Senator Klobuchar will direct the Department of Defense to immediately provide adequate staffing for cyber security programs, as Congress has already provided the Pentagon with special authority to recruit civilian cybersecurity experts.

Strengthen prosecution of white-collar criminals. Senator Klobuchar will direct the Attorney General to issue a memorandum to federal prosecutors to strengthen prosecution efforts for individuals who are personally responsible for white-collar, corporate crime and tax fraud.

Expand Medicaid reimbursement for people receiving mental health or substance use treatment.  While she works to pass a permanent legislative solution, Senator Klobuchar will make it easier for states to qualify for waivers that allow for Medicaid reimbursements for people receiving mental health or substance use care in facilities with more than 16 beds.

Fully fund the IDEA and reinstate the guidance protecting the rights of students with disabilities. Senator Klobuchar’s budget will fully fund IDEA to support students with disabilities. In addition, Senator Klobuchar will reinstate documents protecting the rights of students with disabilities after Secretary DeVos rescinded 72 guidance documents outlining those rights.

Restore oversight to eliminate discriminatory lending practices. Senator Klobuchar will direct financial regulators to restore Community Reinvestment Act protections, develop policies to encourage financial institutions to make loans and investment in local communities, especially communities in need, and conduct greater outreach to assess the true credit needs of certain areas.

Provide Americans a strong taxpayer advocate. The IRS Taxpayer Advocate exists to help taxpayers navigate tax laws and serve as an ally when Americans need to engage with IRS representatives. But the Trump Administration refused to designate the Taxpayer Advocate Service an “essential service,” forcing it to close shop during the government shutdown and leaving taxpayers without a crucial ally. Senator Klobuchar will designate the IRS an essential service so taxpayers have continued access to this support and advocacy.

Encourage reinsurance programs. Rather than penalizing states who put reinsurance programs in place, which happened under the Trump Administration, Senator Klobuchar will encourage states to adopt reinsurance programs that stabilize the state’s insurance marketplace, lower premiums, and allow more people to access to affordable, quality health care.

Provide incentives for states and localities to adopt sentencing and prison reforms. Congress passed the First Step Act, which changed the overly harsh sentencing laws on nonviolent drug offenders and reformed our federal prisons. But the reform only applies to those held in the federal system. The new law doesn’t help the nearly 90% of people incarcerated in state and local facilities. Senator Klobuchar will create federal incentives so that states can restore some discretion from mandatory sentencing for nonviolent offenders and reform the unconscionable conditions in state prisons and local jails.

Restore staffing levels at the EPA. The Environmental Protection Agency now has fewer staff members than President Reagan’s EPA had in his final year in office. Senator Klobuchar will restore appropriate staffing levels to allow the agency to effectively protect the environment.

Strengthen the Minority Business Development Agency. The Minority Business Development Agency provides technical and managerial expertise to help minority business overcome social and economic disadvantages. President Trump has proposed eliminating the agency, but as President, Senator Klobuchar will ensure it has the resources it needs.

End Illegal Robocalls. Senator Klobuchar will coordinate efforts to end illegal robocalls across the Federal Trade Commission, Federal Communications Commission, and Department of Justice and direct the Department of Justice to aggressively pursue robocall scammers while working with Congress to increase penalties for aggravated violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

Ensure funding for Planned Parenthood, end the gag rule, and restore the Title X program.  Senator Klobuchar will reverse the Trump Administration’s decision to change the Title X program to ban health providers like Planned Parenthood from receiving funding under Title X. And she will fight for legislation that codifies Roe v. Wade and protects women’s reproductive rights.

Remove barriers to education for homeless and foster youth. Senator Klobuchar will direct her Secretary of Education to remove barriers to higher education for homeless and foster youth, including by ensuring grant programs identify, recruit and prepare homeless and foster students for college.

Restore staffing levels at the Office of Civil Rights and the Office of Federal Student Aid. The Trump Administration has dramatically cut staffing levels at the Department of Education. Senator Klobuchar will restore staffing levels at the Department of Education, including at the Office of Civil Rights and the Office of Federal Student Aid, which has created obstacles for processing more than 87,000 borrower defense claims as well as impeded investigations into Title IX violations.

Prevent misclassification of workers. Senator Klobuchar will rescind the Department of Labor guidance under the Trump Administration that makes it easier for businesses to misclassify workers, which can result in reduced benefits, lower wages, discrimination, diluted worker protections, and abdications of legal responsibilities.

Expand investments in veterans telehealth services. Senator Klobuchar will further expand investments in VA telehealth to ensure rural veterans have access to medical professionals, especially for mental health services.

Ensure funding to prevent and respond to violent hate crimes and address racial discrimination. Senator Klobuchar will fully staff and fund the Justice Department’s Community Relations Service, a non-investigative office of “peacemakers” founded by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which provides communities facing racial and other conflict with confidential services to ease tensions.

Reinstate the National Climate Assessment Advisory Committee to immediately start addressing the climate crisis. The National Climate Assessment Advisory Committee was charged with translating the findings of the National Climate Assessment into concrete goals. Senator Klobuchar will reinstate this committee that President Trump let expire.

Improve free tax filing. Senator Klobuchar will direct the IRS to prevent tax preparation vendors from steering low-income taxpayers toward paid products, which has reduced the use of free filing products. She will also direct the IRS to devote greater resources to the enforcement of vendors’ obligations under the Free File program.

Reverse the Attorney General’s memo directing federal prosecutors to seek the most severe penalties in all cases. Senator Klobuchar would reverse former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s memo limiting federal prosecutors discretion and requiring them to seek the most severe penalties possible in all cases. She will also restore the Smart on Crime initiative, which had been hailed as a positive step forward in rehabilitating drug users by focusing on more serious drug cases and fewer indictments carrying mandatory minimums. Senator Klobuchar will start the evaluation process to reschedule marijuana, collecting the required scientific and medical evaluations and recommendations.

End attempts to reduce federal housing subsidies. Senator Klobuchar will reverse the Trump Administration’s proposed changes to federal housing subsidies that could triple rent for some households and be particularly harmful for seniors, families with children and people with disabilities.

Promote net neutrality. Senator Klobuchar will use federal contracting requirements to encourage broadband providers to honor net neutrality principles and promote a free and open internet.

Support agricultural research. The Trump Administration has repeatedly proposed budgets for USDA that cut billions for rural development, conservation, and research. These include the forced closure of agricultural research laboratories and stations. Senator Klobuchar will give these important programs the support they deserve.

Put rules in place to prevent pay discrimination. The Trump Administration has tried to block rules that require large companies to disclose what they pay employees by sex, race, and ethnicity in an effort to prevent pay discrimination. Senator Klobuchar will end the Trump Administration’s legal efforts to prevent the rule from taking effect.

Prevent the expansion of private school vouchers. Senator Klobuchar will stand firmly with our public schools and end discussions of Secretary Betsy DeVos’s $50 billion proposal to fund private school vouchers.

End the travel ban. Senator Klobuchar will put an end to the administration’s travel ban, recognizing that immigrants don’t diminish America, they are America. While security and vetting should stay in place, the Trump Administration’s ban was wrong.

Support the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. The Manufacturing Extension Partnership program helps small manufacturers innovate, upgrade their technology and improve production. Senator Klobuchar will support and expand this program, which the Trump Administration has tried to eliminate.

Hold for-profit colleges accountable if they put profits above students. The Trump Administration has repeatedly delayed rules requiring vocational programs at for-profit higher education institutions to show that they provide gainful employment for their students. Senator Klobuchar will hold for-profit colleges accountable if they put profits above students by ensuring that these protections are in place.

Establish a new senior fraud prevention office. Senator Klobuchar will establish a new senior fraud prevention office to educate consumers, expedite the handling of complaints, and coordinate prevention efforts across the federal government.

Collect data to address LGBTQ disparities. Senator Klobuchar will ensure all federal data collection efforts accurately reflect the needs of LGBTQ communities including reinstating LGBTQ data in the foster care system and Older American Act that the Trump Administration has tried to stop collecting.

Reopen and expand the Office for Access to Justice. Senator Klobuchar will reopen and expand the Office for Access to Justice, which makes access to legal aid more accessible to people and has the stated goal of making sure the justice system delivers outcomes that are fair and accessible to all, irrespective of wealth or status.

Raise the refugee admissions cap. Under President Trump, the State Department has dramatically lowered the annual cap on the number of refugees that can be resettled in the United States. Senator Klobuchar will direct the State Department to restore the cap to at least its pre-Trump Administration level.

Invest in the Veterans Health Administration. Expanding access to private care cannot come at the expense of fully funding and even expanding the current Veterans Health Administration (VHA) infrastructure. Senator Klobuchar will direct the VHA to use data on private care usage only as a means to help guide investments in its own growth, not as a way to further privatize its core functions.

Strengthen the National Science Foundation. Senator Klobuchar will fully support the National Science Foundation and ensure that research decisions are being made by researchers and scientists, not politicians.

Expand apprenticeships. Senator Klobuchar will direct her Secretary of Labor to analyze the use of apprenticeships for in-demand occupations and to launch a nationwide campaign to expand apprenticeship opportunities and their benefits.

Reinstate joint employer rules that protect workers’ rights. While the Trump Administration attempted to rewrite the “joint employment” standard, Senator Klobuchar will restore guidance recognizing the responsibilities of joint employers to their employees.

End the Trump Administration’s censoring of climate science. Senator Klobuchar will end Trump Administration efforts to censor climate science through actions like deleting climate-focused websites, removing the phrase “climate change” from reports, and preventing government scientists from attending conferences on climate change.

Set ambitious goals to reduce the carbon footprint of the federal government. The federal government has a significant carbon footprint. As President, Senator Klobuchar will set ambitious goals to increase the efficiency of federal buildings, data centers, and vehicles, reduce water consumption, and increase the use of renewable energy.

Reassess the granting of Medicaid waivers, including states that have privatized Medicaid. Senator Klobuchar will conduct a reassessment of the granting of Medicaid waivers for states that wish to privatize the program and impose discriminatory work requirements.

Restore disclosure rules that counter workers’ organizing efforts. Senator Klobuchar will restore a rule rescinded by President Trump mandating public disclosure when employers hire consultants to counter workers’ union organizing efforts.

Prevent federal funding from being used to arm teachers. The Trump Administration has indicated that it would consider providing federal funding to arm teachers. Senator Klobuchar will prevent any federal funding from being used for arming teachers.

Impose full sanctions on Russia for hostile act against the United States and its allies. In 2017, Congress passed legislation providing additional authorities for the President to impose sanctions on Russia in response to its election interference and other aggressive actions. The Trump Administration has resisted full implementation of these sanctions. Senator Klobuchar will use these authorities to the fullest extent possible to impose serious costs on the Putin regime and its enablers for hostile acts against the United States and our allies.

Improve train safety. The Trump Administration blocked a proposal to require two-person train crews for safety. Senator Klobuchar will direct the Department of Transportation to restart this rulemaking and she will also restore a number of rules to improve train safety.

Protect students from discrimination and violence. Senator Klobuchar will repeal Title IX regulations proposed under the Trump Administration and restore guidance reminding universities of their obligation to protect students from sexual violence.

Direct the Department of Defense and VA to track servicemembers and veterans exposed to toxic chemicals. Currently, servicemembers’ exposure to toxic chemicals such as mold, caustic fumes, open air burn pits, and airborne chemicals during military operations are not being properly documented and tracked by the Defense Department or VA. Senator Klobuchar would direct these agencies to record any environmental health hazard exposure in a servicemember’s records during deployment, and the record would then follow the servicemember through his or her career and into veteran status.

Expand loans for and investments in local communities in need. For the past 40 years, the Community Reinvestment Act has encouraged financial institutions to make loans and investment in local communities, especially low-income and minority communities. Senator Klobuchar will protect the CRA and instruct financial regulators to conduct greater outreach to assess the true credit needs of their communities.

Overhaul ethics rules for White House employees and other senior officials. Senator Klobuchar will make clear that the President and Vice President must follow our conflict of interest laws, do more to investigate foreign agents who lobby in the United States, give the Office of Government Ethics more enforcement power, and provide additional protections for all Special Counsels.

Support and strengthen the Economic Development Administration. The Economic Development Administration works directly with communities and regions to promote competitiveness and innovation. It has a proven track record of success and on average every $1 of EDA infrastructure funding generates $15 in private investment. Still, the Trump Administration repeatedly proposed eliminating the agency. Senator Klobuchar will ensure the agency has the resources to carry out its mission.

Restore reporting requirements of civilian casualties. Senator Klobuchar will issue an Executive Order restoring requirements for the release an annual report on the strikes undertaken by the U.S. military and Central Intelligence Agency outside of war zones and assessments of military and civilian deaths resulting from those strikes.

Work to re-enter the Iran nuclear agreement. The 2015 nuclear agreement imposed verifiable limits on Iran’s nuclear program that would prevent it from building a nuclear weapon. Senator Klobuchar will negotiate to bring the United States back into the nuclear agreement with the goal of avoiding war and a nuclear-armed Iran.

Connect more families to housing in higher opportunity neighborhoods. Senator Klobuchar would expand the pilot for mobility housing vouchers that allow families with children to use their vouchers in higher opportunity neighborhoods.

Prosecute unscrupulous payday lenders. Senator Klobuchar will direct the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Justice Department and other agencies to prosecute unscrupulous payday lenders that engage in predatory practices and charge customers exorbitant interest rates.

Undertake a comprehensive review and restore environmental protections repealed by the Trump Administration. The Trump Administration has revoked dozens of guidance documents and rules that protect people’s safety, health and the environment when it comes to our power plants, oil refineries, national parks and wildlife refuges, offshore drilling, pipelines, and oil and gas development. Senator Klobuchar will undertake a thorough review of all the repealed guidance and rules, and work to restore our environmental and safety protections.

Ensure fair labor practices and safe workplaces for federal contractors. Senator Klobuchar will restore policies ensuring fair pay and safe workplaces for federal contractors.

Protect health care workers’ right to organize. Senator Klobuchar will rescind an anti-union regulatory change enacted by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services that prevents union dues from being deducted from Medicaid-funded paychecks of home health care workers.

Direct the Department of Health and Human Services to consider VHA facilities when designating Health Professional Shortage Areas. Senator Klobuchar has long pressed for HHS to consider adding VHA facilities as Health Professional Shortage areas. Once designated, these facilities have access to health professional students with scholarships and loan forgiveness who pledge to practice in the program for at least two years. As President, Senator Klobuchar would direct HHS to revise its current regulations for defining Health Professional Shortage areas to include VHA facilities.

Stop the diversion of funds needed to modernize our military bases from being used for the border wall. President Trump is diverting funding meant for modernizing our military bases in order to build his border wall. Senator Klobuchar will rescind his national emergency declaration and return funding for its intended purpose.

Visit our troops stationed in combat zones. Visiting our military servicemembers serving in harm’s way is a long-standing Presidential tradition. Senator Klobuchar will visit U.S. troops in combat zones within her first 100 days in office.

Reopen international U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices. The Trump Administration is shutting down international USCIS offices – which deal primarily with international adoptions, family visa applications, petitions for citizenship for military members stationed in foreign countries, and citizenship applications, along with help on refugee processing and investigations of fraud. Senator Klobuchar will direct USCIS to reopen its international offices.

Reduce State Department vacancies. Senator Klobuchar will immediately direct her Secretary of State to accelerate hiring for key positions.

Prevent people with severe mental illness from acquiring guns. Senator Klobuchar will restore a rule requiring the Social Security Administration to submit records of people with severe mental illness to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

Curtail arms transfers and other support for the war in Yemen. Saudi and UAE military operations in Yemen have killed thousands of civilians and contributed to a humanitarian crisis that has left millions displaced and starving. The conflict shows no signs of ending, but the Trump Administration continues to go to extraordinary lengths to provide weapons and other support to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, including circumventing the standard Congressional approval processes. Senator Klobuchar will order a stop to arms transfers and support to the Saudi and Emirati forces until a negotiated settlement to the conflict is achieved.

Reinstate visas for same-sex partners of foreign diplomats. Senator Klobuchar will reverse the Trump Administration policy change of no longer issue family visas to same-sex partners of foreign diplomats or employees of international organizations who work in the United States.

Renew efforts to prevent another financial crisis. The Office of Financial Research, an independent bureau within the Treasury Department, was created by the Dodd-Frank Act to collect information on financial system risks, perform long-term research, and develop risk measurement and monitoring tools to help prevent future financial crises. Senator Klobuchar will restore the mission and stature of the office.

Protect funding for the Northern Triangle. Senator Klobuchar will end all Administration discussions to cut off direct assistance funding for Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, recognizing that the cuts present a serious risk to our national security and undermine efforts to address the underlying conditions driving migration to the United States.

Crack down on money laundering and tax evasion. Senator Klobuchar will crack down on money laundering and tax evasion by empowering Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to aggressively implement new rules for identifying the “true” owner of financial accounts, especially large accounts used in financial transactions where the incidence of fraud and tax evasion is high. And she will call on Congress to enact legislation imposing greater disclosure requirements.

Protect retiree pensions. The Kline-Miller Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA) allows underfunded multiemployer pension plans to request permission from the Treasury Department to reduce retiree benefits in order to improve their financial condition. Senator Klobuchar believes retirees are entitled to the benefits they’ve earned during their working lives and will recommend that Treasury heighten the scrutiny of any applications to reduce retiree benefits under MPRA.

Combat segregation in housing. Senator Klobuchar will suspend Housing and Urban Development Secretary Carson’s proposed changes to the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, which would weaken efforts to combat segregation in housing policy.

Invest in adult basic education. Senator Klobuchar will reverse President’s Trump proposal to cut basic education programs for adults, and launch an initiative focused on increasing opportunities for adults to master literacy and basic math skills.

Restore consumer protections. Senator Klobuchar will direct the Department of Commerce, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Federal Communications Commission, Department of Transportation and other consumer protection agencies to re-evaluate any Trump Administration actions that have weakened protections for consumers.

Maintain protest rights on public property in Washington, DC. Senator Klobuchar will end the Trump Administration attempts to limit protest rights in Washington, DC, like closing 80 percent of the White House sidewalk and putting new limits on spontaneous demonstrations.

Prevent abuses by IRS private debt collectors. Reports suggest that the IRS private debt collectors have abused and harassed low-income taxpayers whose tax debts are relatively small. Senator Klobuchar will overhaul the program and limit these abuses.

Invest in Alzheimer’s research. Senator Klobuchar will commit to preventing, treating and facilitating a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. She will also immediately expand initiatives that provide support for family caregivers.

End the Justice Department’s reliance on private prisons. As President, Senator Klobuchar will phase out the use of private prisons by directing the Department of Justice to decline to renew or reduce the scope of contracts when the contract reaches its end.

Restore national monuments. Senator Klobuchar will restore the boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to protect their ecological and the tribal cultural significance and undertake a review of other boundary adjustment and management changes initiated by the Trump Administration.

Prioritize health care delivery system reform to reduce health care costs. Senator Klobuchar will immediately identify value-based delivery system reforms, including in Medicare and Medicaid, and she will create incentives for employers and insurers to expand new payment models.

Expand the open enrollment period for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act so more people can get insurance coverage. Rather than shortening the open enrollment period on the exchanges from November 1st to December 15th, which happened under the Trump Administration, Senator Klobuchar will expand the open enrollment period for exchange enrollment so more people can access health insurance.

Investigate deceptive online travel practices that hurt consumers. Senator Klobuchar will direct the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Transportation to investigate deceptive and fraudulent practices by online travel booking websites.

“Senator Klobuchar is committed to governing from opportunity and taking administrative actions when it comes to our foreign policy and security, veterans, health care, education, income inequality, worker protections, economic justice, immigration reform, unions, civil rights, climate change, the environment, criminal justice reform and gun violence prevention. She will be updating these goals with your ideas,” the campaign stated.