Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) on Monday told attendees at the We the People Summit in Washington, D.C. that she would take on the pharmaceutical industry, despite the fact that she has taken hundreds of thousands from the industry during her career in politics.
"What I have said is on day one there's some stuff you can do without even passing it, right. So on day one I'd sign us back into that climate change agreement. I can just do that, right," Klobuchar said, referring to the Paris Climate Accord. "In the first a hundred days, we have to put comprehensive immigration reform on the table. We've gotta get it done. We've gotta get it introduced. And the bill we have a great model from 2013 of a bill that had broad support of everything from the AFL-CIO to the migrant workers groups to the farm groups, and we have to bring back a strong immigration bill, and get that done."
Klobuchar then turned to the pharmaceutical industry.
"We have to take on big pharma. We just can't wait, you gotta get it done now. People are literally dying from rationing their insulin," Klobuchar said.
Klobuchar has accepted over $400,000 from the pharmaceutical industry over the course of her career, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Earlier this month, the Washington Examiner reported that Klobuchar has taken money from Medtronic, which is the sole manufacturer of an expensive insulin delivery product:
Medtronic, the world’s largest medical device company, which runs most of its operations out of Fridley, Minn., became the biggest maker of insulin pumps after its 2011 purchase of MiniMed.
Currently, the MiniMed 670G Insulin Pump System contains the only FDA-approved sensor to control insulin dosing. Online medical stores priced the device at over $7,200.
Medtronic was Klobuchar's third-largest contributor to her reelection bid from 2011 to 2016, donating nearly $45,000. Between 2005 and 2010, before its acquisition of MiniMed, Medtronic donated $46,300.
Klobuchar is currently in 8th place in the RealClearPolitics polling average, behind South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg, but narrowly ahead of entrepreneur Andrew Yang.