PUBLIC AFFAIRS Senator Klobuchar: We need to get ahead of this. We know in my state, and in Iowa, that we have problems finding employees for certain jobs…and many of them are good jobs in the medical field and the technology field. We need to get kids interested in science, technology, engineering, and math. Another argument I would make, and make all over the country, is why we can’t have an achievement gap. We have to have all kids learning. One of my arguments is that everyone does not have the same path to success. I certainly had that in my own family…my sister didn’t graduate from high school, then she went down to Iowa and worked in manufacturing for a number of years. She got the confidence to take the GED (General Education Development) test, she got her GED, then she went to a community college in Iowa for two years and finished up with a four-year degree. She is now gainfully employed as an accountant in Florida. A lot of this has to do with making sure that we have apprentice programs, technical certifications, one and two-year degrees.The other piece of it is making sure that kids can afford college. I would do a lot of targeted aid…I would make community college free…and then I would do a lot of targeted expansion of Pell Grants for kids who need help the most, not just cut it off at $50,000 in income and $50,000 in Pell Grants, but really expand that for families that need it the most, as well as doing some things with tax credits and other things. Gary: What are your thoughts on healthcare in America? Senator Klobuchar: Well, we cannot go back to the days before the Affordable Care Act when people were charged more for insurance, or even denied coverage when they got sick, or had preexisting conditions like asthma, diabetes, or cancer. When you think about it, half of all Americans have preexisting conditions. We made that effective argument in the 2018 elections about how these guys were trying to kick people off of their insurance…they were trying to appeal Obamacare (Affordable Care Act). I think some people that voted believed us, that is why we won a lot of those states, Senator Klobuchar: My background is a little different from that of Donald Trump. I am someone that came to where I am because of opportunity. I didn’t start with opportunity…my grandpa worked 1500 feet underground in the mines. He had nine brothers and sisters, and he July 2019 The URBAN EXPERIENCE 37 but I’m not sure everyone did. They saw what the administration did last month, which is actually file a brief in Texas saying we should appeal the Affordable Care Act. So, that is my first focus. The second is to make it easier for people to afford coverage and to expand to universal healthcare. I believe in the approach that President Obama wanted to take, which was including a public option that could be done through Medicaid or Medicare, but was the one thing he wasn’t able to accomplish with the Affordable Care Act. That would move us to universal healthcare so that it would be less expensive and be broader coverage. The last thing that I would do is take on the pharmaceutical companies, something else we were not able to do in the Affordable Care Act, and that is everything from unleashing the power of millions of seniors…43 million seniors…to negotiate prices under Medicare as well as making sure that we get less expensive drugs from other countries. The one thing that I would note with our situation here, where we have health disparities for people of color, is that we have to improve the standard for maternity wards. There is a horrible story about this pregnant woman in New Orleans, who is African-American, and she tells her doctor about swelling in her hands and feet. All of that would make people think that something was wrong, and in her words, when she lost her baby, “It was like my doctor threw me away.” So, that is a piece of this as well. Again, people of color will be inordinately hurt if we turn our backs on the Affordable Care Act…and also inordinately hurt if we do not expand on the Affordable Care Act. Celeste: Are there any final thoughts that you would like to share?
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