Since Amy Klobuchar has been largely invisible back here in Minnesota, we have to examine her voting record in Washington to see what she has supported and what we can expect her to continue to support.

Despite what she says, spending has been one of her key activities. She voted for the Bush stimulus, the massive $787 billion Obama stimulus, the TARP bailout and recently she voted to give teachers and first responders $35 billion in stimulus. When it came to the debt ceiling she voted to increase it six times. In July of 2011, the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act came up for a vote. This bill would have actually started to bring spending under control but unfortunately Amy Klobuchar voted against it. In addition to the massive amounts of spending she voted for, she also voted for the Dodd – Frank Bill which has burdened the economy with onerous regulations on the banking industry and restricts the ability of financial institutions to make loans, something that has been a drag on the economy. As a result of her record The Citizens Against Government Waste gave her a ‘lifetime’ rating of “Hostile” and The National Tax Payers Union has given her a grade of ’F’ for each of her years of service.

In the area of healthcare, Amy Klobuchar voted for ObamaCare and was an outspoken supporter of it.  ObamaCare was so unpopular that no Republican voted for it and some Democratic legislators had to be bribed to vote for it with things like the “Louisiana Purchase” and the “Cornhuskers Kickback”.  Unless it is repealed ObamaCare will have a disastrous impact on the economy. According to an editorial in the WSJ the additional regulations and mandates will drive up the cost of healthcare to the point where a large number of employers will simply drop healthcare insurance for their employees, choosing instead to pay a small fine. As a result it is estimated that 80-100 million people will lose their health insurance and move to the government exchange. This would increase the cost of ObamaCare by as much as $2 trillion over the first decade. Amy Klobuchar’s vote for this unaffordable legislation is further evidence of a big spender. While on the topic of healthcare, she also voted for the reauthorization of SCHIP, which is a program to provide healthcare to children of families who make too much to be covered by Medicaid but less than $82,600 per year. This vote was to authorize spending an additional $32.6 billion to expand coverage to an additional 4 million children including coverage for illegal aliens.

Her record on immigration is troubling. In 2007, she voted for the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act which would have given amnesty to illegal aliens. When it failed to pass, she and other members of Congress attempted to achieve the same goal by passing the individual pieces of legislation that comprised the Reform Package. The Dream Act was one such piece of legislation she voted for which would have granted citizenship to those that came to this country prior to the age of 16. In 2008 she voted against an amendment that would have withheld funding for sanctuary cities, in essence her vote was to support sanctuary cities. She also voted to increase and expand “chain immigration” by voting to allow an unlimited number of minor children and spouses of legal permanent residents, to come to the US.

One of her most active areas has been pushing the manmade global warming agenda. She made numerous impassioned speeches on the implications of global warming and pushed measures supporting renewable fuels and carbon reduction. She supported and voted for Cap & Trade which would have limited the amount of carbon a company could produce by giving it carbon credits. If a company produced more, it could purchase carbon offsets from a company that had not used all of their credits or it could purchase credits from companies which perform carbon offsets such as planting trees. Critics believe that if implemented, Cap & Trade would severely impact the US economy by significantly driving up the cost of energy and incenting manufacturing and other energy sensitive industries to move overseas and take their jobs with them. She pushed to set up a “Carbon Registry” where companies would be required to register their carbon emissions. She introduced the Renewable Energy Act that among other things mandated that utilities produce 20% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025. In 2007 she even worked to insert global warming initiatives into the farm.

To understand her position on labor, we only have to look at one issue which says it all…Card Check. She twice co-sponsored and voted for Card Check aka the Employee Free Choice Act. This legislation would have done away with the secret ballot in the unionization process and replaced it with public signing of union cards. Critics claim this is a violation of the First Amendment and would expose workers to corrosion and bulling from union organizers. The Wall Street journal says Card Check is a “job killer”.

On the topic of abortion, Ms Klobuchar’s record is defined by the ratings she has earned from various special interest groups. She received a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood, 100% from The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, and100% from the NAEAL ProChoice America. She received a 0% rating from the National Right to Life Committee. These ratings say it all.

Although Amy Klobuchar isn’t very visible in Minnesota, her record in Washington is that of a big spending liberal, who supports socialized medicine, amnesty, union intimidation, abortion, and manmade global warming.