Bicycling and the Presidency: Amy Klobuchar

 

According to the League of American Wheelmen (2104), Senator Klobuchar co-sponsored several significant pieces of legislation aimed at bicyclist and pedestrian safety - the 2011 Complete Streets bill (S.1056), the 2014 Safe Streets Act (S.2004), and the Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Act (S.1708). For all that those three bills would seem to suggest a certain level of importance you might expect of a Senate bill, there are others that seem to come from the file labeled "strange and mysterious." Such a case is S.2652 of May 2012 which was a bill to suspend temporarily the duty on bicycle speedometer parts. How seemingly insignificant and specific is that? Not bicycle speedometers, mind you (I am only a little surprised bicycle speedometers were still being made as late as 2012), but more specifically bicycle speedometer parts. We're not going to get all into a discussion about bureaucracy here, but I am sure we could. Interestingly enough, a second bill was introduced on the same day, S.2649, a bill to extend and modify the temporary reduction of duty on bicycle speedometers. There we are, two separate bills - one for speedometers and another for speedometer parts.

Incidentally, this is not some kind of knock against Senator Klobuchar, who may very well have collected my vote in the last presidential primary election. Anyway, I wouldn't even have thought of this post, but a couple or few weeks ago I saw those photos above of Senator Klobuchar and her father - Jim Klobuchar - who, by the way, was quite the rider and bicycling advocate, and who clearly contributed to the Senators' lifelong appreciation for two-wheeled mobility, which has included everything from long-distance tours, bikes for kids, safety, even campaign stops held in bike shops. Ride On!