WaPo article
Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign posted a list of her policy positions on her website Sunday, as the latest polls show her locked in a tight race with former president Donald Trump.
Titled “A New Way Forward,” the page outlines her agenda on the economy as well as immigration and foreign policy. On each issue, the campaign contrasts her positions with the agenda of Project 2025, the far-right policy proposal that Democrats have warned could form the blueprint for a second Trump presidency, even as the Republican nominee has distanced himself from it. Harris and Trump will face off in their first debate Tuesday.
The page says Harris’s economic policies are aimed at “lowering the costs of everyday needs” for working- and middle-class families. They include the expansion of two tax credits, which the campaign said would benefit 100 million families: the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, for which Harris aims to include a $6,000 cut for families with newborns.
Harris, who has sought to build on President Joe Biden’s economic agenda, says she will extend to all Americans the cap on prices of lifesaving prescription drugs brought in by their administration — including capping the out-of-pocket cost of insulin at $35 per month and limiting annual out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs to $2,000. Those two provisions are currently in effect for Medicare beneficiaries, but extending them to all Americans could face resistance from the pharmaceutical industry and Republicans, The Washington Post has reported.
Another campaign promise for the middle class is the provision of a $25,000 credit for first-time home buyers. She has also promised the “first-ever federal ban on corporate price gouging on food and groceries.”
Harris’s economic agenda also includes the expansion of the existing $5,000 tax deduction for start-up firms to $50,000. This, The Post has reported, is an attempt to draw a contrast with Trump, who has called for reducing the tax rate paid by corporations and maintaining lower tax rates for high-income people, along with policies aimed at helping people in other tax brackets.
On health care, the Harris campaign does not mention support for Medicare-for-all. She has said she no longer supports it, reflecting a shift away from some of the progressive stances that marked her 2019 presidential campaign.
The campaign also promised to revive a bipartisan border security bill and make it law to tackle the thorny issue of immigration. Trump — whose criticism and mischaracterization of the bill helped torpedo it — has repeatedly attacked Harris on border security and disparaged her as a failed “border czar.” Although she wasn’t placed in charge of the border as vice president, she was assigned to address the root causes of migration, such as poverty and violence, in Central America.
On her foreign policy outlook, the Harris campaign said she will “stand with” the United States’ allies and “stand up to dictators” while ensuring that “America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century.” On Israel’s war in Gaza, an emotional and divisive issue for many Democratic voters, the campaign repeated her pledge to stand up for Israel’s right and ability to defend itself as well as making sure Palestinians have a right to self-determination and security.
The Trump campaign attacked Harris in August for not having a policy page on its campaign site. On his own campaign site, Trump has a brief list of 20 policy items, including “seal the border” and “end inflation.”
As someone near poverty wages, it’s wild there’s no promise of making things better for people like me, who could actually would benefit greatly from some breaks. The promise to ban price gouging on groceries likely isn’t going to do anything about prices that have now been set, further I’ll believe it when I see it. It’s all just promises for the already well-off. Not even a bone for the poors. Great country.
I do love Trump’s direct but equally vague “seal the border” and “end inflation.”
It’s a really cool election we have here
I’m on SSI. The “SSI Restoration Act” was one of the first things jettisoned from “Build Back Better,” and although the bill is reintroduced with every Congressional session, it never goes anywhere. I haven’t seen Harris say anything about it at all. Eight million people are on SSI and are not allowed to save money or own assets. If we earn more than $20 a month, half of our earnings go toward reducing our astoundingly meager benefits.
What the fuck? That sounds like it’s basically house arrest, what are you supposed to do?
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that if a friend buys you dinner you are legally obligated to report it so that your benefits can be reduced. And you’re not allowed to take volunteer positions because that would indicate that you’re able to work.
We’re not supposed to do anything. We’re supposed to be miserable all the time and think about how even though we’re disabled, we really ought to be working. I’m lucky enough that I enjoy reading and other free things, and I have friends who can help me with major purchases like shoes or oil changes. Those who were under 26 when they became permanently disabled can have a particular kind of savings account, but are only allowed to spend the money on “qualified disability expenses,” and their friendly local Social Security caseworker will not have heard of this account and will not assist them in establishing it.