As Kamala Harris prepares to run for president against Donald Trump, she will be forced to present to voters her own ideas about how to run the economy and respond to Americans’ urgent 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 for the past four years, she has previously championed 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 established more moderate ground – and as a senator may provide some insights into her potential platform for 2024.
Expanding health insurance coverage
Harris advocated moving the US 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 that put forward by Biden, who wanted to build on the Affordable Care Act, but not as progressive as Senator Bernie Sanders’ Medicare-for-All plan, which she co-sponsored while in the Senate. Both of her rivals have criticized her idea, with Biden’s campaign calling it a “do-it-anything approach.”
Harris’ proposal called for transitioning 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 increased taxes on the middle class to pay for expanded coverage, in another contrast to Sanders’ plan. Instead, it would raise 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, expanded access to health insurance by temporarily strengthening federal cost subsidies for Affordable Care Act policies. This helped drive the amount 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 Budget Office. Congress.
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. Wade, which defined abortion as a woman’s right throughout the United States, was annulled in June 2022.
In January, she began a multi-state “reproductive freedoms tour,” including a stop in Minnesota considered 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 previous support for the Hyde Amendment, which prevents 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 White House’s roles in abortion policy is the power to push for 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 the right to abortion. “So having someone who feels comfortable and really aligned with the values and 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 Harris’ conversations with abortion patients and providers, as well as state lawmakers and others, during her travel this year give her “a deeper well to draw from when it comes to what’s needed in abortion policy.” abortion in the world now.” And, she concluded, Harris can put the issue at the top of her priority list.
Providing Tax Benefits for the Middle Class
As a senator, Harris proposed providing middle-class and working families a refundable tax credit of up to $6,000 per year (per couple) to help meet everyday expenses. The measure would have cost around US$3 trillion over 10 years.
Unlike a typical tax credit, the law would allow taxpayers to receive the benefit – up to US$500 – monthly, so that families would not have to resort to payday loans with very high interest rates.
Harris also campaigned on the measure — titled LIFT UP 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 sent prices soaring, which remains high.
Generally, these households give the Biden administration low marks for how the Democrat manages the economy, something campaign officials have had difficulty changing despite repeated efforts to show how the president has tried to cut costs and help ordinary people.
One popular measure – creating an expanded child tax credit that provided certain families with up to $3,600 per child, partially 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 effect until the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, when Trump and congressional Republicans approved a cut to a corporate income tax rate. 21%. Biden suggested increasing the tax to 28%.
While Harris will likely pursue similar policies of raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations to provide relief to middle-class and working Americans, she may change them a bit.
“I would expect Harris to put her own stamp on these ideas, just as she proposed in her ‘LIFT UP the Middle Class Act’ of 2019,” John Gimigliano, director of KPMG’s national tax practice in Washington, said in a statement, adding that an important The deciding factor will be who Harris chooses as Treasury secretary if she wins the election.
Reduction in drug prices
Harris has had many ideas about how to reduce 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 Profit, Harris’ plan had similar provisions to legislation launched 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 who increase 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 engaging in price gouging, the government could import their drugs from abroad or, in egregious cases, use its existing but never used “first mover” authority to license a pharmaceutical company’s patent to a rival that would produce the medicine at a lower cost.
As California’s attorney general, Harris joined other states in calling out several drug manufacturers for their prices or practices, winning multimillion-dollar settlements.
Boost affordable housing
As a senator, Harris tried to pass the Tenant Relief Act, which would establish a refundable tax credit for renters who annually spend more than 30% of their gross income on rent and utilities. The credit amount would vary from 25% to 100% of the excess rent, depending on income.
Harris 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 released a series of proposals that included stripping tax credits from landlords who raise rents by more than 5% annually 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.
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