Vice President Kamala Harris revealed more important points about her economic calendar in a speech Friday in North Carolina, proposing an “economy of opportunity,” as the Democratic nominee focused on reducing the value of food and prescription drugs and solving the housing crisis in the economy. middle class.
Grocery prices: The candidate would work in her first hundred days to help Congress pass a national ban on “value pricing” in food and groceries, as well as to give the Federal Trade Commission and prosecutors the strength to sue businesses that deserve the raise. . Smaller corporations in the sector are taking a closer look at mergers between large food corporations and “aggressively” investigating prices in meat origin chains in particular.
Housing Costs: Harris needs to provide $25,000 in down payment assistance to first-time homebuyers and calls for creating 3 million new homes over the next 4 years, providing tax credits for developers who build starter homes and making an investment of $40 million. . in an innovation fund to combat the housing crisis.
Rental Costs: Harris would also expand tax credits for developers who build affordable clean housing and calls on Congress to pass a law that saves predatory investors who buy clean developments and collude with others to drive up rental prices.
Child tax credit: Harris proposed providing families with a $6,000 tax credit for newborns in their first year of life and reinstating a $3,600 child tax credit during the pandemic for lower- and middle-class families.
Taxes: Harris also needs to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit for staff in low-income jobs, which would reduce taxes by up to $1,250, and in the past she has said she would keep President Joe Biden’s promise not to raise income taxes. American families who earn $400,000 or less each year and supports raising taxes on top earners and businesses, according to the New York Times.
No tip tax: Harris approved a plan to eliminate tip taxes on hotel and service workers, echoing a proposal by former President Donald Trump that has been criticized by some experts, even though a campaign official told CNN that tipping would continue. to payroll taxes and would come with an income cap and safeguards to prevent other people, such as hedge fund managers, from taking advantage of this policy.
Prescription drug costs: Harris on Friday proposed a $35 cap on insulin and a $2,000-a-year cap on out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs, and also said she would speed up negotiations with Medicare over prescription drug costs, after the Biden administration announced a deal to lower the costs of 10 drugs and crack down on anticompetitive practices in the pharmaceutical industry leading to higher costs.
Health: Harris’ campaign also announced plans to work with states to cancel Americans’ medical debt and proposed extending subsidies to Affordable Care Act plans, which would save fitness insurance consumers an average of $700 in their fitness insurance premiums.
Paid leave: Harris has not released an express paid leave proposal, but she has already co-sponsored 12-week paid leave legislation, Politico notes, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. , told the outlet: “Surely that when they’re on power, despite everything we will have a bill for paid vacations.
Minimum wage: Harris called for a minimum wage increase in a speech in Las Vegas last August, but her campaign did not specify how much she thought it would be raised.
Fed Independence: Harris pledged to maintain the Fed’s independence after Trump said he believed “the president at least has a say” in Fed decisions, and Harris told reporters: “The “The Federal Reserve is an independent entity and, as president, I will never interfere. ” in decisions made through the Federal Reserve.
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Harris said Friday that she would be “focused on creating opportunities for the middle class” if elected president, calling for “an economy where everyone can be competitive and have a genuine chance of success. “”Now is the time to chart a new path forward, to build a United States where everyone’s work is rewarded and skill is valued, where we contribute with unions and businesses to the American economy, and where everyone has the opportunity not only to get ahead, but also to move forward,” the vice president said. .
Harris said in her speech in North Carolina that she plans to unveil more economic proposals in the coming weeks. The vice president has not yet completed a policy timeline or revealed any proposals on policy issues beyond the economy, and this is also expected to happen in the near future.
Harris’ economic policy timeline largely matches Biden’s economic timeline, with some changes to emphasize the reasons that matter most to her, such as the child tax credit. “The same values, another vision,” an aide to Harris told the Guardian. “She doesn’t fundamentally distance herself from him, she will put those who mean the most to her first. “Harris’ initial crusade plans also recommend that the vice president plan to be more competitive in her policy approaches than Biden, as polls have suggested that the electorate has a gloomy view of how the president has treated the economy. While Biden has also opposed the increase in value, Harris’ proposal to allow the FTC and U. S. lawyers to sue value-boosting corporations goes beyond what the president has proposed, Politico notes, and his proposed $40 million investment in the housing crisis is double the proposal. amount. amount spent during the Biden administration.
Harris’ economic platform released Friday does not detail her proposals, which the New York Times says are intentional. The Times reported before Harris’ speech that Harris’ campaign had followed a “strategic vagueness” in its economic proposals, believing that being more of a “blank slate” would help protect against attacks and attract more business groups.
Trump’s economic calendar focuses largely on raising price lists for imported goods, which Harris has said she opposes. The former president also called for cutting taxes and regulations in hopes of reducing inflation, added a reduction in the corporate tax rate and encouraged expanding oil production to lower prices. energy prices. In addition to his “no tip tax” proposal that Harris also supported, Trump has called for ending taxes on Social Security to gain benefits, something Harris has yet to respond to. Experts say the former president’s proposal could increase Social Security and Medicare insolvency, and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget predicts the tax break for benefits would result in a $1. 6 trillion profit loss for the company. Social Security and Medicare between 2026 and 2035. The crusade on Wednesday objected to reports about Harris’ economic proposals, with spokesman Steven Cheung saying in a statement: “Kamala Harris cannot hide from her disastrous record of soaring inflation. . . Americans are suffering under the Biden-Harris economy, and now it needs to recharge. make them believe her blatant lies.
42%. That’s the percentage of voters who believe Harris is more loyal to managing the economy, according to a Financial Times/University of Michigan poll released Sunday, compared with 41% who believe she is more loyal to Trump. Trump had a six-point lead over Biden in July, though the vote also showed that 42% even believed a Trump presidency would improve them financially, while only 33% said the same of Harris.
Harris became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in July after Biden suddenly withdrew from the presidential race, following weeks of tension over growing considerations about his intellectual health. While the vice president has temporarily gained support from Democrats and risen in the polls, Harris has released few concrete policy proposals in the early weeks of her campaign, drawing some complaints, and her speech on Friday is expected to be one of the longest comments. . Until now she has renounced politics. Her focus on the economy comes as polls have continually shown that she is the most important factor for the electorate in this election cycle, and the vice president hopes to gain ground amid low approval ratings for the party’s handling of the economy. of Biden. Harris’ speech also comes days after news that inflation fell in July to its lowest point in more than three years, with federal data released Wednesday showing 2. 9% inflation in July, the first time it has been below 3% since March 2021.
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