Kamala Harris will publicly unveil her economic agenda on Friday. Two key words: inflation and welfare.
US Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is set to make her first policy speech for her campaign on Friday. Harris will speak in front of a crowd in Raleigh, North Carolina, a crucial battleground state for the upcoming November elections.
Kamala Harris became the leading Democratic candidate after current President Joe Biden dropped out of the race last month. Harris’ candidacy is widely expected to be confirmed at the Chicago Democratic Convention next week.
Her candidacy gave new life to the Democratic campaign, plunging her ahead of the Republican nominee Donald Trump in every national poll. Harris is also faring better in most swing states, including North Carolina.
Harris hasn’t publicly stated her policy decisions despite her good performance in polls. That is set to change on Friday as she will announce her official economic agenda.
Tackling inflation
The stickiest point Harris is likely to touch upon is inflation. Under the Biden administration, US inflation reached its 40-year high, though most economists agree it was caused by external factors such as the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Indeed, also under Biden inflation dropped back to manageable levels, and the Federal Reserve is about to cut interest rates.
Nevertheless, prices increased by over 20% since Biden took office, and Trump uses this as a major talking point.
Harris is expected to announce a policy against price-gauging, the practice of artificially raising prices by large corporations using inflation as a PR shield.
According to her campaign fact sheet, inflation is the number one priority for Harris and she intends to solve price gauging in the first 100 days of her administration.
Housing and welfare
Another major promise of the Harris campaign is the construction of 3 million new homes across the United States in the next four years. While still running for reelection, Biden called for the construction of 2 million additional homes.
To do so, Harris will propose a $40 billion fund to aid local governments with new constructions. She also promised a $25,000 down payment to households that paid their mortgage on time in the past two years.
The final major point of Harris’ economic agenda will be the expansion of welfare measures. Specifically, she will propose a $6,000 tax cut to families with children as part of an expansion of the Child Tax Credit. J. D. Vance, Trump’s choice for vice president, proposed a $5,000 extension.
All of these measures will need Congress’s approval. The approval and implementation of Harris’ proposals will depend on Congress’s composition after the November elections, provided she will win the presidency.
