Today’s Action: Meet the candidates, part 9: Amy Klobuchar

The third round of Democratic presidential debate are THIS Thursday. Ten candidates have made the cut, and we’re putting a spotlight on those we’ll see this week. We’ve already met Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Julián Castro, Kamala Harris, Beto O’Rourke, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren, and today we’re introducing…

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar: Minnesota’s senior Senator, Klobuchar has won landslide victories in each of her three terms, including 2018, where she won 43 counties that went for Trump in 2016. She also made the spotlight for her effective questioning of Justice Kavanaugh (including one of his most sickening exchanges). Klobuchar has built her campaign on bipartisanship and pragmatic moderation as the necessary way forward in a presidency that may still have to contend with Mitch McConnell and his filibuster. But uncommitted to certain popular progressive priorities, and with less name recognition than other candidates, she has struggled so far to gain momentum aside from the minimum to get into the third debate.

Infrastructure: A flagship policy and top budget priority, Klobuchar has presented a trillion-dollar plan for American infrastructure, which she has committed to launching within her first year in office. The policy includes upgrading roads and more than 50,000 bridges, updating seaports and airports, investing in public transit and high speed rails, repair and rebuild public schools, ensure clean drinking water for all communities, and connect every household to the internet by 2022.

Jobs: Everything we just listed above? Those projects all create jobs…and so does…

Climate Change: The Green New Deal, of which Klobuchar is a co-sponsor. Her plans include: returning to the Paris Climate Agreement on the first day of her presidency, putting the US on track for 100% net-zero emissions by 2050, ending fossil-fuel subsidies, and creating a technology tax credit to support investment in and creation of green energy.

Healthcare: Klobuchar supports universal healthcare in general, though she has stopped short of accepting Medicare For All as an immediate solution. Instead, she’s pushing for a Medicare or Medicaid public option to be included in a de-Trumped Affordable Care Act. And, she has sponsored a number of bipartisan bills to reduce prescription drug costs.

Education: Like many of her policies, Klobuchar has a more moderate approach than some of her colleagues in the race: student loan forgiveness for certain professions (such as teachers), and refinancing at lower rates for the rest. She also supports increasing teacher pay, tuition-free community college, and boosting Pell grants.

…and finally: Klobuchar is committed to finding a cure and treatment for Alzheimer’s disease by 2025, a heartbreaking disease which affects 5.8 million Americans – and their families – in the United States. She also supports a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United — a vital action for virtually every priority she and every other candidate cares about.

To read up on all of Amy Klobuchar’s policies, visit her website! The next debate is this Thursday, September 12th. Save the date – and stay tuned for the final OD Action candidate profile this Wednesday!