Presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar pitches major infrastructure plan

[DonViejo]

By — Sara Burnett, Associated Press

Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar is pitching an infrastructure plan she says will provide $1 trillion to fix roads and bridges, protect against flooding and rebuild schools, airports and other projects.

The plan announced Thursday is the first policy proposal from the Minnesota senator since she joined the 2020 race with a snowy rally not far from where the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River in 2007.

Klobuchar speaks often on the campaign trail about the collapse, which killed 13 people, telling voters “a bridge just shouldn’t fall down in the middle of America.”

The plan calls for leveraging $650 billion in federal funding through public-private partnerships, bond programs and clean-energy tax incentives. It would restart the Build America Bonds program President Barack Obama’s administration created to help stimulate the economy during the recession.

About $400 billion of the $650 billion federal spending would come from raising the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 25 percent. The rate was cut from 35 percent to 21 percent in President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax bill. Klobuchar also calls for closing tax loopholes and imposing a “financial risk fee” on large banks.

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https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/presidential-candidate-amy-klobuchar-pitches-major-infrastructure-plan

[Iliyah]

1. Thanks!

More please on Democrats . . .

[Perrenial Voter]

2. There's a lot of good ideas coming from the various candidates that

ought to be hammered together into a solid platform on which the party stands together, as was done with the Republican's contract with American in the 1990s. This will serve whoever wins the primary--indeed, if the platform is to some extent independent of the candidate, we may safely unite around whoever is most likely to win the general election. At the same time, it would increase the odds of taking the Senate and beginning to address the numerous crises that have been ignored for too long.

[Andy823]

3. More good ideas

I really like Klobuchar, and look forward to hearing more from her. The debates are going to go a long way in getting the message out that Democrats want to fix things, mostly what trump has screwed up, and will help with that message.

[MineralMan]

4. Amy Klobuchar would make an excellent President.

So would several of the other candidates. It's a field full of talented smart people who understand what this country needs. That's wonderful. I don't know who will get the nomination, but I'm betting that whoever does will do a great job, with the help of a Democratic Congress.

I'm excited about 2020! Let's get others excited, too!

[BlueWI]

5. Definitely a great idea!

I hope all of the candidates pledge their support for such an initiative.