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.
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 here, here, here, here, here 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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%.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
