Tag: Amy Klobuchar
This is what a good political ad looks like
Not since Paul Wellstone have we seen an ad that does so much to humanize a candidate as the one Minnesota DFL U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar issued Thursday with DFL congressional candidate Dean Phillips.
It’s not entirely clear whether the video is intended to support Phillips or Klobuchar, one in a tough race, the other in about as safe a race as Minnesota currently features. More than likely, the intent is to use Klobuchar’s coat tails.
But it’s a unique style we don’t see much of anymore.
Have a look.
View the original November 1 post by bob Collins on the MPR News website here.
Dean Phillips Constituents in Trucks Getting Coffee: Sen. Amy Klobuchar
Sen. Klobuchar: Infrastructure: the bipartisan job creator rural America needs
The following commentary by Sen. Amy Klobuchar was posted on the Brainerd Dispatch website January 29, 2018:
Infrastructure is one of the smartest investments we can make in our country. It allows businesses to grow and compete. It keep us safe. It creates millions of jobs—good paying jobs that cannot be outsourced overseas. And, it’s bipartisan. It’s one of the first things President Trump said he wanted to get done after he was elected.
The time has come to work together to get this done, and get it done right. We cannot let another year go by without action.
The good news is, there are bipartisan solutions already on the table. As a member of the Commerce and Agriculture committees, I have long supported leveraging direct funding and public-private partnerships to rebuild and reinvest in our infrastructure. One bipartisan idea I’ve been working on is to create an infrastructure bank that would help increase private sector infrastructure spending. It would also direct funding to projects in rural areas so that smaller communities can make much-needed infrastructure improvements. This type of innovative financing tool could jumpstart critical projects in Minnesota and across the country. Continue reading “Sen. Klobuchar: Infrastructure: the bipartisan job creator rural America needs”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar pushes for transparency in Google, Facebook, Twitter political ads
The following article by Maya Rao was posted on the Star Tribune website October 19, 2017:
The stronger proposed disclosure rules from Minnesota’s Klobuchar and colleagues are aimed at diluting Russian interference in elections.
WASHINGTON – Sen. Amy Klobuchar and a group of fellow U.S. senators are proposing stronger disclosure rules for paid political ads on sites like Facebook, Google and Twitter, in an effort to prevent covert foreign influence of American elections.
The legislation they unveiled Thursday follows revelations that Russian interests bought online ads during the 2016 presidential campaign, which are not subject to the same disclosure requirements of radio and TV ads. It’s a loophole that’s grown wider as more voters primarily get information online, and the senators said they would push to enact a law before the 2018 midterm elections.
“This exposes a national security vulnerability when it comes to online ads, a space where our laws have failed to keep up with technology,” Klobuchar said at a news conference. She is sponsoring the measure along with Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee; and Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who chairs the Armed Services Committee. Continue reading “Sen. Amy Klobuchar pushes for transparency in Google, Facebook, Twitter political ads”
Sen. Klobuchar steers national health care debate to middle ground
The following article by Jennifer Brooks was posted on the StarTribune website September 26, 2017:
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar had 90 minutes on the national stage Monday to make her best case for protecting the Affordable Care Act.
She started with her own first serious encounter with a health crisis, as the new mother of a desperately ill baby. Continue reading “Sen. Klobuchar steers national health care debate to middle ground”
Sanders and Klobuchar book CNN debate with Cassidy and Graham
The following article by David Weigel was posted on the Washington Post website September 21, 2017:
The chief sponsors of the GOP’s 11th-hour effort to curtail the Affordable Care Act will debate two of their Senate opponents, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), on Monday night — an arrangement that surprised some of Sanders’s Democratic colleagues, who learned about the debate when host network CNN blasted out a news release.
According to Sanders spokesman Josh Miller-Lewis, CNN came to the senator with the idea earlier in the week, and Sanders signed on without hesitation. Continue reading “Sanders and Klobuchar book CNN debate with Cassidy and Graham”
Bipartisan Push for Electoral Security Gets Priority Status
The following article by Niels Lesniewski was posted on the Roll Call website September 12, 2017:
Amendment has support of Schumer, GOP national security leaders
Updated 9:24 p.m. | A bipartisan effort to enhance election security is among the priorities for Senate Democrats as part of the debate on the annual defense authorization measure.
“The consensus of 17 U.S. Intelligence agencies was that Russia, a foreign adversary, interfered in our elections. Make no mistake: Their success in 2016 will encourage them to try again,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer said Tuesday. “We have state elections in a couple of months and the 2018 election is a little more than a year away. We must improve our defenses now to ensure we’re prepared.”
The New York Democrat was speaking on the floor about a bipartisan effort led by Sens. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, and Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican.
The amendment has the backing of a number of national security experts with Republican backgrounds. On Monday, former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, former CIA Director James Woolsey, former House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogersand retired Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer of the London Center for Policy Research wrote to Senate leaders and the Armed Services Committee leadership to push the effort.
“Although election administration is the province of state and local governments, the federal government has a responsibility to support the states and ‘provide for the common defense,’” the former officials wrote. “We do not expect the states to defend themselves against kinetic attacks by hostile foreign powers, nor should we leave them to defend against foreign cyberattacks on their own.”
Among the possible uses of grant funds to states authorized under the amendment would be cyberdefenses for voting systems and postelection audit systems, as well as paper trail technology.
“On other matters of national security, the federal government provides states and municipalities with grants to fund security personnel and first responders on the front lines of addressing threats. Given the longstanding role of the federal government in elections and the seriousness of emerging risks, the issue of voting security should be no different,” the officials wrote in their letter.
Klobuchar’s involvement comes, in part, from her role as the ranking Democrat on the Rules and Administration Committee, which has significant jurisdiction over election matters.
It was not clear as the Senate adjourned Tuesday how many amendments would ultimately be considered to the fiscal 2018 defense bill, despite the efforts of leaders on both sides of the aisle.
But an agreement with Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul for a Wednesday morning procedural vote should increase the chances that the election security amendment gets in the queue for a vote.
Klobuchar and Graham will have Schumer’s backing when it comes time to compile a manager’s package of amendments or to get a standalone vote.
Paul had pledged to object to any procedural efforts to truncate debate on the defense policy bill unless he got a vote on an amendment that would roll back the authorizations for use of military force against Iraq and Afghanistan, which date to the early period of the George W. Bush presidency.
“The Graham-Klobuchar amendment would greatly strengthen our defenses, helping prepare states for the inevitable cyberattacks that threaten the integrity of our elections,” Schumer said Tuesday. “We should pass it as part of the NDAA.”
View the post here.
Continue reading “Bipartisan Push for Electoral Security Gets Priority Status”
Senators right to take time with Stras appointment
The following commentary by Myron Orfield was posted on the Star Tribune website August 29, 2017:
The justice’s record must be evaluated. Specifically, there’s reason for concern over his views on civil-rights precedents.
In his Aug. 25 commentary “Partisan game-playing blocks an outstanding judge,” U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen criticized U.S. Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar for halting Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Stras’ appointment to the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
In my view, Klobuchar and Fran-ken are exhibiting appropriate diligence. My own work focuses on civil rights and school integration, and Stras’ previous statements have left me deeply concerned about the impact of his appointment within these areas. Indeed, there is reason to believe that Stras might frustrate ongoing voluntary school integration in Minnesota. Continue reading “Senators right to take time with Stras appointment”
Support a free press locally and nationally
The following commentary by Sen. Amy Klobuchar was printed in the Eden Prairie News August 24, 2017:
In Minnesota, we understand the importance of a free press. It’s hard to forget in our state — Minnesotans are among the most engaged citizens in the country. Last year we again ranked first in the nation in voter turnout, Minnesotans volunteer at the second highest rate in the country. And we usually look to our local newspapers as the first stop for the information we need.
In my house growing up, it was impossible to forget the importance of a free press. My dad was a journalist.
As a reporter and a columnist, my dad, Jim Klobuchar, covered it all. On the night of the presidential election in 1960, as a young stringer for the Associated Press, he was among the first in the country — if not the first — to call the race for President John F. Kennedy. He was fearless, whether it was reporting from Moscow with a Soviet Intourism guide assigned to him at all times or taking tear gas covering protests outside of a political convention. Digging for the truth was his job. Finding the truth made it all worth it. Continue reading “Support a free press locally and nationally”