Amy Klobuchar (DFL): 2024 Election Guide
Welcome to WCCO.com's 2024 Election Guide!
We reached out to Minnesota major party candidates running in U.S. congressional races this fall. Candidates were asked to provide answers to a set of political questions of high importance to voters.
U.S. Senate candidate and incumbent Amy Klobuchar submitted answers to the questionnaire below.
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What do you believe are the most pressing issues facing constituents served by the office you are seeking?
Bringing down prices for consumers, creating economic opportunity across our state, protecting our fundamental freedoms, and keeping people safe.
What are the three big goals or policies you hope to accomplish or pass during your time in office?
My top priority is having Minnesotans' backs and getting things done that improve people's lives. I'm focused on bringing down the costs of health care, child care, and housing and making life more affordable for Minnesotans. I led the bill that was signed into law to lower Medicare prescription drugs prices and also lead bipartisan bills to increase the supply of housing and child care to make them more affordable.
One size doesn't fit all when it comes to our metro and rural economies. We need to keep improving infrastructure and supporting new and existing businesses. We should be taking advantage of our exceptional community and technical schools to prepare our next generation of workers, which is why I'm pushing for more apprenticeships, training, and 1- and 2-year degrees.
Do you think Congress should pass a federal law on abortion rights and what should it look like?
I support codifying Roe v. Wade into law so we don't have a patchwork of state laws. Women should have the freedom to make their own decisions about their health care, not politicians.
According to polls, illegal crossings at the southern border and immigration policy are consistently ranked as a top issue for Americans. What do you propose to address these concerns?
Securing our border, points of entry, and infrastructure must be a top priority. That is why I voted for bipartisan legislation to provide emergency powers to the president to shut the border down. The bill would have invested significant resources for more border patrol agents and technology so law enforcement would have the tools they need to secure our border and stop the flow of fentanyl.
The bill was negotiated by one of the most conservative Republican Senators and Democrats and was endorsed by the border guards. While that bill did not pass, I will push for a vote on it again. I also successfully fought to secure significant funding to improve the detection and seizure of fentanyl at our border as part of this year's budget.
At the same time, we must improve our legal immigration system. In Minnesota, we need more workers, particularly in agriculture, hospitality, manufacturing, and healthcare. Legal immigration strengthens America's workforce and ensures that we can maintain our global competitive edge. That is why the border security bill I support includes 250,000 new work permits and visas over the next five years, which would go a long way toward filling national workforce shortages.
What would you do to address violent crime and drug use?
Keeping Minnesota safe is one of my top priorities. I formerly served as the Hennepin County Attorney and, along with prosecutors and police, I worked to reduce violent crime in our county. I'm endorsed by Minnesota's police officers (MPPOA) and firefighters (MPFF). I have long led the legislation which funds local police and has provided state and local law enforcement with needed support to hire, train, and equip public safety officers, as well as support for drug task forces, anti-gang efforts, prosecutors, and other crime-fighting initiatives.
I'm also leading the effort in the Senate to crack down on the theft of catalytic converters and other car parts. And, I am leading bipartisan legislation to allow local police departments to get experienced law enforcement professionals to work on investigations for carjacking and other crimes.
One of the most effective ways to take on dangerous drugs such as fentanyl and methamphetamine is to stop them from coming into our country in the first place. That's why I have fought for increased funding to get cutting-edge technology to detect and intercept drugs at our border and bolster law enforcement's ability to investigate fentanyl and methamphetamine trafficking. I worked to pass the bipartisan FEND OFF Fentanyl Act into law, which officially declares international fentanyl trafficking a national emergency and provides new authorities to law enforcement to impose tough sanctions on transnational criminal organizations.
I am leading legislation to crack down on online drug dealing and hold social media companies accountable by requiring them to report drug trafficking on their platforms to law enforcement. I'm also working to build on the bipartisan bill I passed to increase access to mental health courts and will continue to advocate for effective drug treatment programs.
Guns are the leading cause of death among children and teens in the United States. What do you believe the federal government should do to reduce gun violence?
As the former Hennepin County Attorney, I worked to enforce the gun laws already on the books and have long supported efforts to promote gun safety,including by improving coordination between federal law enforcement and their state and local partners. I am proud of our state's tradition of hunting and sporting traditions, and I continue to push for gun safety measures that will help to prevent tragedies without infringing on the constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners, such as stronger background checks, banning "bump-stock" devices, and cracking down on the trafficking of machine-gun conversion devices that can turn ordinary hand guns into automatic weapons. Machine-gun conversion devices can easily be 3-D printed or cheaply purchased online, and they have had devastating consequences for public safety.
I also championed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was the first bipartisan gun safety legislation to pass in nearly 30 years. The law included provisions based on a bill I have led for years to prevent abusive dating partners convicted of domestic violence from purchasing a firearm. It also strengthens background checks, cracks down on illegal straw purchases, expands investments in mental health services, and provides support to states to implement red flag laws. I also led a bill to provide additional funding for school safety measures, which was passed into law in 2018. This law has provided resources for training, violence prevention programs and school security enhancements to schools across Minnesota.
Do you believe there should be term limits for members of Congress?
I trust the people of Minnesota to decide who should represent them. That's why we have elections.
What economic policies do you propose to address high prices and cost of living?
I'm working to both increase the supply of housing and make it more affordable. I also have worked to crack down on corporate landlords who are using algorithms that limit competition to unfairly raise rental and housing prices. And I'm pushing for bipartisan legislation that would expand our child care workforce, as well as build new child care facilities to increase capacity.
When it comes to health care costs, I passed a law to allow Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for ten of the big blockbuster drugs with more to come, and I'm now leading legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate the prices of more drugs more quickly. I'm also committed to protecting Medicare and Social Security benefits so our seniors can have a stable and secure retirement.
I'm also a leading voice on competition policy and taking on monopolies. When corporations like Ticketmaster and big tech have monopoly power, it can mean higher prices for consumers, lower quality, and less innovation. I lead bipartisan legislation to restore competition online by establishing common sense rules of the road for dominant digital platforms to prevent them from abusing their market power to hurt competition, small businesses, and consumers.
What is the government's responsibility when it comes to climate change? How would you address it?
I support a comprehensive approach to our energy policy that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and promotes the development of energy efficient technologies and homegrown energy resources. That's why I strongly supported the Inflation Reduction Act, which will reduce emissions by over 40% compared to 2005 levels.
The law includes critical investments in programs and tax credits for climate resilience, conservation, and clean energy, including wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, and farm-based biofuels. Minnesota is already leading the way with a sustainable aviation fuel hub that will expand access to biofuels at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.
As government, health care, and financial institutions face increasing threats to cybersecurity, what measures should policymakers and Americans alike take to protect people from these ongoing threats?
I've long worked to provide the Department of Defense and our law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to strengthen our cybersecurity defenses. I introduced bipartisan legislation to address the shortage of cybersecurity expertise in the federal government by establishing a public-private cybersecurity professionals exchange program. In addition, we know our elections have also been targeted by foreign adversaries, which is why I led the effort to secure funding for states to make needed election security improvements and implement cybersecurity guidelines.
When consumers are victims of cyber attacks or data breaches because of the failure of companies, whether in air travel or health care, they must be made whole. And people should have control over their personal data. I'm working to pass bipartisan legislation to ensure that companies use plain language to explain to consumers how their data is being used, allow consumers to opt out of certain data tracking and collection, and require companies to notify consumers of privacy violations within 72 hours of a breach. This bipartisan comprehensive federal online privacy legislation would establish privacy rights, outlaw harmful and
deceptive practices, and improve data security safeguards.
I'm also leading legislation to put commonsense guardrails on the highest risk uses of artificial intelligence, which is increasingly being used for cyber scams. And I am leading bipartisan efforts to ban AI deepfakes and label other AI content in our elections and to protect people from having their voice and likeness replicated through AI without permission.
Who won the 2020 Presidential election? How confident are you in the integrity of our elections?
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 presidential election and top Republican and Democratic security officials have confirmed the security and results of that election.