On February 10, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) became the latest candidate to enter the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Klobuchar made her announcement during the height of a snowstorm in Minnesota.
Klobuchar began her career as a corporate lawyer, and then served as Minnesota’s Hennepin County attorney. According to the Daily Beast, as a prosecutor Klobuchar was known for being “tough on crime.” She jailed drug offenders for long stretches, increased the prosecution of repeat offenders, and launched campaigns against vandalism and graffiti—a stance that another democratic hopeful, Senator Kamala Harris (D–Calif.) , has come under fire for.
In 2006, Klobuchar was elected to the Senate, becoming Minnesota’s first-ever female to be elected United States Senator. Throughout her time in the Senate, she’s been known for her Midwestern roots and bipartisan stances. However, she’s also been criticized for the treatment of her staff. From 2011 to 2016, she had the highest staff turnover rate in the Senate, at 36 percent, according to Politico. Former Klobuchar staffers came forward to Buzzfeed News to say that her behavior “regularly left employees in tears.” Yahoo News has also reported that when former employees left Klobuchar’s office, she called their new employers to have their officers rescinded. Of the allegations she’s said, “Yes, I can be tough, and yes, I can push people. I have high expectations for myself. I have high expectations for the people that work for me. But I have high expectations for this country.”
Here we break down seven policies that will be central to Klobuchar’s bid.
Cyber Security
During her campaign launch, Klobuchar declared, “We need to put some digital rules into law when it comes to people’s privacy. For too long the big tech companies have been telling you ‘Don’t worry! We’ve got your back!’ while your identities are being stolen and your data is mined. Our laws need to be as sophisticated as the people who are breaking them.” This is a cause Klobuchar has championed ever since the 2016 election. Together with then-Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), she introduced the Honest Ads Act, which works to prevent foreign interference in elections and improve the transparency of online political advertisements. Because of the bill, Google, Twitter, and Facebook now all mark their political ads with a “paid for by X.” Klobuchar is critical of these companies and wants more public information on their privacy policies and political advertising. It seems Americans are on her side. According to a recent poll, 53 percent of Americans believe big tech companies should be regulated by the federal government, much like the big banks.
Additionally, Klobuchar has pledged to support net neutrality, a rule that says internet providers can’t slow down traffic or block websites for certain users. (For more information on net neutrality, check out this explainer on Vox). Klobuchar also wants to make sure every single American has access to the Internet. “We need to end the digital divide by pledging to connect every household to the internet by 2022, and that means you, rural America,” she said at her campaign launch.
Climate Change
During Senator Klobuchar’s campaign announcement, which she made during a heavy snowstorm in Minnesota, she outlined climate change as one of her top priorities. “In the first 100 days of my administration, I will reinstate the Clean Power rules and gas mileage standards and put forth sweeping legislation to invest in green jobs and infrastructure. And on day one, we will rejoin the international climate agreement,” she said. The Clean Power Plan was an Obama-era designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which Donald Trump replaced upon entering office. Trump has already criticized Klobuchar’s stance on climate change. After she announced her bid for president, Trump tweeted: “Well, it happened again. Amy Klobuchar announced that she is running for President, talking proudly of fighting global warming while standing in a virtual blizzard of snow, ice and freezing temperatures. Bad timing. By the end of her speech she looked like a Snowman(woman)!” Klobuchar would also rejoin the Paris climate accord, the international agreement on fighting global warming that Donald Trump pulled out of in 2017.
Health Care
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