As Kamala Harris prepares to run for president against Donald Trump, she will be forced to present to voters her own ideas on how to steer the economy and address Americans’ pressing concerns about the sharp rise in prices in recent years.
While the vice president has been a loyal messenger of President Joe Biden’s platform over the past four years, she has advocated more progressive positions on health care, taxes and other issues and will have to decide whether to return to those roots.
A look at the proposals she put forward during her bid for the 2020 presidential nomination — in which Biden staked out more moderate ground — and as a senator can provide some insight into her potential platform for 2024.
Expanding health insurance coverage
Harris advocated for the U.S. to move to a government-backed health insurance system, as is the case in Brazil, but stopped short of advocating the complete elimination of private insurance during her 2020 campaign.
The proposal was to the left of what Biden had put forward, which he wanted to build on the Affordable Care Act, but not as progressive as Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Medicare-for-All plan, which she co-sponsored while in the Senate. Both of her rivals criticized her idea, with Biden’s campaign calling it a “do-it-anyway approach.”
Harris’s proposal called for a transition to a unified health care system over 10 years, but continued to allow private insurance companies to offer government-backed private plans.
Furthermore, the proposal would not have raised taxes on the middle class to pay for the coverage expansion, in another contrast to Sanders’s plan. Instead, it would have raised the necessary funds by taxing Wall Street trades and transactions and changing the taxation of offshore corporate income.
The Biden administration, along with congressional Democrats, has expanded access to health insurance by temporarily boosting federal cost subsidies for Affordable Care Act policies. That has helped drive the amount of coverage covered by the government to record levels during his tenure.
But the increased subsidies will expire at the end of 2025, so the next president and Congress will have to decide how to handle an extension, which could cost about $335 billion over a decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Defense of the right to abortion
Harris took a leading role in defending abortion rights in the federal administration after the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, which defined abortion as a right for women throughout the United States, was overturned in June 2022.
In January, she began a “reproductive freedoms tour” across several states, including a stop in Minnesota that was said to be the first by a sitting U.S. president or vice president at an abortion clinic.
Also on abortion access, Harris embraced more progressive policies than Biden in the 2020 campaign, when she criticized Biden’s past support for the Hyde Amendment, which bars federal funds from being used for most abortions.
Policy experts have suggested that while Harris’ current policies on abortion and reproductive rights may not differ significantly from Biden’s, as a result of her national tour and her own focus on maternal health, she may be a stronger messenger.
“One of the roles of the White House in abortion policy is the power to push an agenda,” said Kelly Baden, vice president of public policy at the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on sexual and reproductive health that supports abortion rights. “So having someone who is comfortable and really aligned with the values and has a strong message about abortion justice, that is potentially a shift in what we would see with a Harris administration versus a Biden administration.”
Baden also said that Harris’ conversations with abortion patients and providers, as well as state lawmakers and others, during her travels this year give her “a deeper well to draw from when it comes to what’s needed in abortion policy in the world right now.” And, she concluded, Harris can put the issue at the top of her list of priorities.
Providing tax relief for the middle class
As a senator, Harris proposed providing middle-class and working-class families with a refundable tax credit of up to $6,000 per year (per couple) to help cover living expenses. The measure would have cost an estimated $3 trillion over 10 years.
Unlike a typical tax credit, the law would allow taxpayers to receive the benefit — up to $500 — monthly, so families wouldn’t have to resort to high-interest loans.
Harris also campaigned on the measure — titled LIFT the Middle Class, or Livable Income for Families Today — during her previous presidential run.
Many American families are now struggling to afford even higher living costs after a period of sharp inflation earlier this decade pushed up prices, which remain high.
These households generally give the Biden administration low marks for the Democrat’s handling of the economy, something campaign officials have struggled to change despite repeated efforts to show how the president has tried to cut costs and help ordinary people.
One popular measure — the creation of an expanded child tax credit that gave certain families up to $3,600 per child, partly available in monthly payments — only took effect in 2021.
As a presidential candidate, Harris also proposed raising the corporate income tax rate to 35%, the rate that was in place until the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, when Trump and congressional Republicans approved a cut to a rate of 21%. Biden has suggested raising the tax rate to 28%.
While Harris will likely pursue similar policies of raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations to provide relief to the middle class and working Americans, she could alter them slightly.
“I would expect Harris to put her own stamp on these ideas, just as she proposed in her 2019 ‘LIFT UP the Middle Class Act,’” John Gimigliano, head of KPMG’s national tax practice in Washington, said in a statement, adding that a key deciding factor will be who Harris chooses as Treasury secretary if she wins the election.
Reduction in drug prices
Harris had plenty of ideas on how to lower drug costs, one of Americans’ top health care headaches and a popular talking point for many presidential candidates, including Biden and Trump.
Titled People Over Profits, Harris’ plan had provisions similar to legislation introduced by Bernie Sanders, and some of the concepts were included in the Inflation Reduction Act that Democrats passed in Congress in 2022, such as penalizing drug manufacturers that raise their prices faster than inflation.
Like Trump, Harris has proposed allowing the federal government to set “a fair price” for any drug sold at a cheaper price in any economically comparable country, including Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Japan or Australia.
If manufacturers were found to be price-gouging, the government could import their drugs from abroad or, in egregious cases, use its existing but never-used “starter” authority to license a drug company’s patent to a rival that would produce the drug at a lower cost.
As California’s attorney general, Harris joined other states in suing drugmakers over their pricing or practices, winning multimillion-dollar settlements.
Boosting affordable housing
As a senator, Harris tried to pass the Rent Relief Act, which would establish a refundable tax credit for renters who spend more than 30 percent of their gross income on rent and utilities annually. The credit amount would range from 25 percent to 100 percent of the excess rent amount, depending on income.
Harris has called housing a human right and said in a 2019 press release about the bill that every American deserves to have basic safety and dignity in their own home.
The Biden administration has increasingly focused on helping people with high housing costs.
Earlier this month, Biden unveiled a series of proposals that included taking away tax credits for landlords who raise rents by more than 5% a year and having federal agencies evaluate whether to use surplus federally owned land to build affordable housing. Earlier this year, he proposed a mortgage relief credit that would provide $5,000 a year for two years to first-time homebuyers.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
