In front of a national audience Monday evening, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar laid out her arguments for why she should be the next president of the United States. Klobuchar billed herself as a centrist Democrat from the heartland who would “govern from opportunity” instead of chaos during a CNN town hall meeting aired live from New Hampshire. The state holds the first primary of the 2020 presidential election season. “I think what we need right now in this country is less of this grandstanding and gridlock, less of the shutdowns … and the put-downs, and much more of pushing our country forward,” said Klobuchar, who joined Sen. Kamala Harris and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz as the first presidential candidates, or potential candidates, to headline a CNN town hall. Schultz has not officially declared his candidacy. New Hampshire voters pressed the third-term senator on several key issues, such as health care, student loans and climate change. They also asked her about allegations that she mistreats her staff. Here is what Klobuchar had to say. HER TREATMENT OF STAFF When asked how she treats her staff, Klobuchar admitted that she is a tough boss who sometimes pushes people too hard. “I have kept expectations for myself that are very high. I’ve asked my staff to meet those same expectations,” she said. “And the big point for me is I want the country to meet high expectations, because we don’t have that going now.” MEDICARE-FOR-ALL The senator expressed support for allowing the public to buy into Medicare or Medicaid, which she said could bring insurance rates down. Universal health care could be an option in the future, Klobuchar said, but now is not the time for that approach. “We have to start somewhere and I think we can do that much more immediately,” Klobuchar said. She added that officials must also address the rising costs of prescription drugs. ONE QUESTION SHE WOULD ASK PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP IN A DEBATE “Does he pledge to obey the law?” Klobuchar said, adding that she is concerned with the way Trump has handled special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. “I think this fundamental question and pushing him on his view of the law is important, because what I see I don’t like,” she said. CLIMATE CHANGE AND A GREEN NEW DEAL If elected president, Klobuchar said she would have the U.S. re-enter the Paris climate agreement on her first day in office. She also said she would reinstate former President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan and introduce legislation to update existing infrastructure. One member of the audience asked Klobuchar if she supports the Green New Deal, a set of proposals championed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., aimed at addressing climate change and income inequality. “I believe they are aspirations,” Klobuchar said. “We need to get this debate going, and this is put out there as an aspiration and something that we can move towards.” FREE COLLEGE? Tuition should be free at community colleges, Klobuchar said, but not at four-year public colleges and universities. The senator also said she supports extending Pell Grants and making it easier for students to refinance their loans. “To paraphrase Martin Luther King, you can do all you can to integrate a lunch counter but if you can’t afford a hamburger what good did you do. So for me the economics is key right now.” – Sen. Amy Klobuchar says economics is key to tackling racial inequality. #KlobucharTownHall pic.twitter.com/CudJsHj5PB — CNN (@CNN) February 19, 2019 "We should join the majority of Americans and actually many gun owners in having the courage to pass common sense gun safety legislation.” – Sen. Amy Klobuchar addresses the issue of gun violence in America. #KlobucharTownHall https://t.co/h4vjNvIlDh pic.twitter.com/v7mvmgh1vB — CNN (@CNN) February 19, 2019 Sen. Amy Klobuchar says the United States’ relationship with allies has been damaged during the Trump administration: ”I believe that we must stand tall as a beacon of democracy but I also believe that we must stand with our allies." #KlobucharTownHall https://t.co/h4vjNvIlDh pic.twitter.com/K8unfaWYTG — CNN (@CNN) February 19, 2019 “I believe that immigrants don’t diminish America, that they are America." Sen. Amy Klobuchar calls for comprehensive immigration reform while denouncing "hate-filled rhetoric." #KlobucharTownHall https://t.co/h4vjNvIlDh pic.twitter.com/IYhbZ2jkkH — CNN (@CNN) February 19, 2019 “I am not for free four-year college for all, no," says Sen. Amy Klobuchar. But the Democratic presidential candidate says she wants to make college more affordable by creating easier ways to refinance loans and make community college free. #KlobucharTownHall pic.twitter.com/Qr1ae5QiE9 — CNN (@CNN) February 19, 2019 Sen. Amy Klobuchar emotionally describes how her relationship with her father, a prominent journalist who dealt with alcoholism for much of his life, shaped her views on fighting addiction and helping people find redemption. #KlobucharTownHall https://t.co/h4vjNvIlDh pic.twitter.com/VW62dg52wH — CNN (@CNN) February 19, 2019 Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar responds to President Trump declaring a national emergency to secure funding for his long-promised border wall: “I believe this is unconstitutional, what he is doing. OK? It is wrong.” #KlobucharTownHall https://t.co/h4vjNvIlDh pic.twitter.com/c1NJJTymHc — CNN (@CNN) February 19, 2019 Sen. Amy Klobuchar says that she would, on day one, re-enter the US into the Paris climate agreement https://t.co/RhLtXOxW1l #KlobucharTownHall pic.twitter.com/JoCQum1ei6 — CNN (@CNN) February 19, 2019 “Am I a tough boss sometimes? Yes. Have I pushed people too hard? Yes,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar says about her leadership style. “But I have kept expectations for myself that are very high. I’ve asked my staff to meet those same expectations." #KlobucharTownHall pic.twitter.com/zBQ0rbvcq7 — CNN (@CNN) February 19, 2019 Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar on whether the Green New Deal is achievable: "I think we can get close … This is put out there as an aspiration in that something that we need to move towards." #KlobucharTownHall https://t.co/h4vjNvIlDh pic.twitter.com/5hm24lz1Ja — CNN (@CNN) February 19, 2019 Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar on if the US can have "Medicare-for-all": "It could be a possibility in the future. I'm just looking at something that will work now." #KlobucharTownHall https://t.co/wMhsO2I0j3 pic.twitter.com/9sA9lD82zO — CNN (@CNN) February 19, 2019<doc-sep>Sen. Amy Klobuchar looked to set herself apart from other Democrats running for office on Monday by telling voters here in New Hampshire that she judges gun control bills by whether they would “hurt my Uncle Dick in the deer stand.” Klobuchar, in an answer that found her touting her ties to rural Minnesota, grew emotional as she reflected on the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and the fact that the Senate couldn’t pass a gun control bill after the massacre. “Like New Hampshire, Minnesota is a state that values the outdoors. We value hunting and fishing. And so I come at it from a little different place than some of my colleagues running for this office,” she said, adding that she doesn’t believe “banning assault weapons” and “common sense background checks” hurt her uncle in the deer stand. Klobuchar choked up when she remembered working with the parents of children killed in Sandy Hook, especially when she had to tell them that a bill proposed by West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin and Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey would not pass the Senate in the wake of the shooting. “I remember one of the moms telling me, ’You know what? We know this wouldn’t have saved our babies, but it would have reduced domestic homicides, it would have reduced suicides and that’s why we are here,” Klobuchar said. She added: “Those parents had the courage to come to Washington to advocate for something that wouldn’t save their babies. We should join the majority of Americans and actually many gun owners in having the courage to pass common sense gun safety legislation.”<doc-sep>This image was removed due to legal reasons. Presidential hopeful Amy Klobuchar took some time out of her busy aide-berating schedule on Monday night to hold a CNN t own h all in Manchester, NH. T here, an attendee asked her to clarify her views on Medicare for All. Advertisement “I’ve heard all the excuses about why we can’t have it in our country, while all the industrialized countries have it and it seems to work, ” the voter said. “What makes us the exception?” The question gave Klobuchar some time to advocate for the importance of “universal” healthcare, Medicaid expansion, and the public option, even sharing a story about a little kid with a pre-existing condition who can now get coverage through the Affordable Care Act. (All p residential t own h alls must have a bare minimum of at least three of these stories. I don’t make the rules.) She also called for demanding pharmaceutical companies lower prescription drug prices—certainly a necessity in free market drug pricing. But what about Medicare for All? “I think it’s something that we can look to for the future, but I want to get action now,” Klobuchar said. “So no Medicare for All?” moderator Don Lemon asked. “It could be a possibility in the future, I’m just looking at something that will work now,” she said. Advertisement Klobuchar’s big push is for the public option, which Tim Faust has helpfully described as “what happens when politicians understand the need for a massive change but lack the moral imagination to do anything but genuflect to existing structures.” The public option was vaguely radical back when Barack Obama was first trying to push through the Affordable Care Act, but it is now 2019, and vaguely radical is not enough. Even with minor advancements, the ACA will permit private insurance companies to rob Americans of their life savings and/or health. Advertisement We could waste time building on something that is feeble and imperfect, OR we could put our efforts toward constructing a federal single-payer health system that has worked in industrialized countries all over the world, just as the t own h all attendee who kicked off this whole thing so helpfully pointed out. So what, then, makes us the exception? We are overrun with politicians like Amy Klobuchar who won’t fight for it.<doc-sep>US Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) announces her candidacy for president during a snow fall on February 10, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. - Klobuchar joined the ever-growing field of contenders hoping to unseat President Donald Trump in the 2020 White House race. (Photo by Kerem Yucel / AFP) (Photo credit should read KEREM YUCEL/AFP/Getty Images) (CNN) — Sen. Amy Klobuchar will head to New Hampshire next Monday to answer questions at a town hall moderated by CNN’s Don Lemon. The Democratic senator and presidential hopeful will take questions from likely New Hampshire primary voters at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. The town hall will air at 10 p.m. ET. The three-term senator from Minnesota announced her candidacy for the presidency on Sunday at a freezing, snowy event in Minneapolis. Klobuchar joins a growing field of Democrats hoping to take on President Donald Trump in 2020. In her speech Sunday, Klobuchar pledged to take on issues like money in politics, climate change and election reform. As heavy snow piled on her and the crowd gathered to support her, Klobuchar spoke of her working-class roots and pitched herself as someone who can win bipartisan support and Midwestern states that went for Trump in 2016. “I’m asking you to join us on this campaign. It’s a homegrown one,” Klobuchar said. “I don’t have a political machine. I don’t come from money. But what I do have is this: I have grit.” CNN’s Dan Merica contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
Sen. Amy Klobuchar offered suggestions for cutting college costs that stopped short of free tuition. | Cheryl Senter/AP Photo null Klobuchar opts for pragmatic approach in town hall Sen. Amy Klobuchar placed herself firmly in the center lane of the Democratic primary on Monday, calling popular progressive policy platforms “aspirational,” and declining to fully commit to them. The Minnesota Democrat called the Green New Deal “aspirational” and said that Medicare-for-all is “something we can look to in the future,” during a CNN town hall hosted in Manchester, N.H., on Monday night. On free four-year college, Klobuchar said: “No, I am not for four-year college for all.” Klobuchar, who launched her presidential bid earlier this month, is pitching herself as pragmatic Midwesterner who won’t over-promise liberal policies to primary voters. The three-term senator carefully calibrated her answers on several progressive platforms — expressing support without fully committing to them. But her tell-it-like-it-is centrism could prove problematic for a Democratic primary electorate that has drawn further to the left. “If I was a magic genie, and could give that for everyone, and we could afford it, I would,” Klobuchar said, in response to a student’s question on free four-year college. “I’ve got to tell the truth.” Instead, Klobuchar said that she would support easing restrictions on refinancing student loans, as well as expanding Pell Grants program. Klobuchar’s centrist positions place her largely in a category alone, as many of her Democratic opponents have opted to fully embrace Medicare-for-all and the Green New Deal. But she may soon be joined in that group by other candidates, such as Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who have not thrown their support behind the progressive proposals. This weekend, Klobuchar kicked off a three-state swing for her first presidential events, all with an eye to her connection to the heartland. She started in Wisconsin on Saturday, a nod to the loss Hillary Clinton suffered in the state in 2016, after not returning to campaign there during the general election. Klobuchar also made several stops in Iowa before heading to New Hampshire. Klobuchar, who won landslide victories in a state that’s trending redder, maintained her middle-of-the-road approach throughout the town hall Monday. On climate change, Klobuchar said she believes that “we can get close” to the Green New Deal, but that she doesn’t “think we’re going to get rid of entire industries in the U.S.” “We need to get this debate going, and this is put out there as an aspiration in that something we need to move toward,” she said. “Do I think we can cross every ‘T’ and dot every ‘I’ in 10 years? Actually, I think that would be very difficult to do.” She also looked ahead to the potential legislation, acknowledging that “there are going to be compromises” and “it’s not going to look exactly like that,” she said. On health care, Klobuchar said she wanted to “build on” the Affordable Care Act, highlighting her support for a public option, rather than calling for an immediate transition to Medicare-for-all. “It could be a possibility in the future,” she said, “but I’m looking for what’s working now.” Klobuchar again emphasized that she comes from a “different place” than many of her Democratic primary counterparts when explaining that she always thinks of her “Uncle Dick in the deer stand” when she considers gun control legislation. Klobuchar also addressed a question about her mistreatment of staff, prompted by a series of news reports of former aides unloading criticisms on the senators in the days leading up to her presidential launch. “Am I a tough boss, sometimes? Yes. Have I pushed people too hard? Yes. But I have kept expectations for myself very high,” she said. “Undertaking a presidential campaign, that’s a pretty good way to judge people in how they manage something.”