Days before convention, Democrats haven’t updated platform to replace Biden with Harris
Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to unveil more details about her economic agenda during a Friday speech in North Carolina, in which early reports and campaign statements about her policies suggest the Democratic nominee will focus on lowering grocery prices, addressing housing costs and more, with an eye on bolstering the middle class. Key Facts
Stuart Varney: Kamala Harris’ economic plan is about to take another left turn (msn.com)
Grocery Prices: The Harris campaign said Wednesday the candidate would work in her first 100 days to help Congress pass a national ban on “price gouging” for food and groceries, as well as give the Federal Trade Commission and prosecutors authority to go after companies they determine price gouge, support small businesses in the industry, take a closer look at mergers between big grocery companies and “aggressively” investigate price-fixing in meat supply chains specifically.
Housing Costs: Harris will also announce measures Friday addressing housing costs, her campaign said, and The Guardian reports she will support plans to fund more affordable housing and build communities that are more resistant to the impacts of climate change.
This implies concerns about housing affordability under Kamala Harris’ potential presidency. Are you interested in more details about Harris’ housing policies or the broader economic outlook?
Learn more 1apnews.com 2thenevadaindependent.com
3newsweek.com 4politico.com 5apnews.com
Taxes: Harris will continue President Joe Biden’s promise not to raise taxes on American households earning $400,000 or less annually, but does support raising taxes for high earners and corporations, according to The New York Times.
No Tax On Tips: Harris endorsed a plan to get rid of taxes on tips for hospitality and service workers, echoing a proposal by former President Donald Trump—which has been criticized by some experts—though a campaign official told CNN tips would still be subject to payroll taxes, and would include an income limit and guardrails to prevent people like hedge fund managers from taking advantage of the policy.
Child Tax Credit: Harris wants to expand the child tax credit, Politico reports, and reportedly chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in part because of his success implementing that and paid leave in his state.
Paid Leave: Harris has not released a specific paid leave proposal, but she has previously co-sponsored 12-week paid leave legislation, Politico notes, with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., telling the outlet, “I absolutely believe that when they are in office, we will get a paid leave bill done finally.”
Prescription Drug Prices: The Harris campaign said Wednesday that Harris’ Friday speech will include policies regarding prescription drug costs, after the Biden administration announced Thursday it reached a deal to lower Medicare costs for 10 widely used prescription drugs. Trumps Insulin Policy – Search (bing.com) | Biden reverses Trump’s policy on insulin – Search (bing.com)
NOTE: What’s the difference between Trump, Biden actions on insulin prices? (msn.com)
Minimum Wage: Harris called for raising the minimum wage in a Las Vegas speech earlier in August, but her campaign has not specified how high she believes it should be raised.
Fed Independence: Harris has vowed to maintain the Federal Reserve’s independence after Trump said he believed “the president should have at least [a] say” on the Federal Reserve’s decisions, with Harris telling reporters, “The Fed is an independent entity and as president I would never interfere in the decisions that the Fed makes.”
How Do Harris’ Policies Compare With Biden’s?
Harris’ economic policy agenda is expected to be largely in line with Biden’s economic platform, though she’s likely to emphasize different policies than the president did, like paid leave. “Same values, different vision,” a Harris aide told The Guardian. “She’s not moving far away from him on substance, she will highlight the ones that matter most to her.”
The initial plans from Harris’ campaign on “price gouging” suggest the vice president plans to be more aggressive in her policy approaches than Biden, however, as polls have suggested voters hold dim views of how the president has handled the economy. While Biden has also opposed price gouging, Harris’ proposal to enable the FTC and U.S. attorneys to go after companies that hike up prices goes beyond what the president has proposed, Politico notes.
While Harris will give more detail about her economic proposals Friday, her speech is expected to be fairly light on specific details, which The New York Times reports is by design. The Times reports the Harris campaign has adopted a “strategic vagueness” for her economic proposals, believing that being more of a “blank slate” will help ward off attacks and attract more support from business groups.
RELATED: LARRY KUDLOW: Trump is dedicating himself to ending the Biden-Harris affordability crisis (msn.com)
How Do Harris’ Policies Compare With Trump’s?
Trump’s economic agenda is largely focused on raising tariffs on imported goods, which Harris has said she opposes. The ex-president has also called for cutting taxes and regulations in hopes of lowering inflation, including lowering the corporate tax rate, and has encouraged increasing oil production in order to lower energy prices.
In addition to his “no tax on tips” proposal that Harris has also endorsed, Trump has called for ending taxes on Social Security benefits, which Harris has not yet responded to. Experts believe the ex-president’s proposal could speed up Social Security and Medicare becoming insolvent, with the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget projecting exempting taxes on benefits would result in Social Security and Medicare receiving $1.6 trillion less in revenue between 2026 and 2035.
The Trump campaign opposed reports of Harris’ economic proposals Wednesday, with spokesperson Steven Cheung saying in a statement, “Kamala Harris can’t hide from her disastrous record of skyrocketing inflation … Americans are struggling under the Biden-Harris economy, and now she wants to gaslight them into believing her bald-faced lies.”
BONUS Inflation Cooled Off Again in July – Business Insider
What happens to restaurant business if Harris become President.
Big Number
42%. That’s the share of voters who trust Harris more to handle the economy, according to a Financial Times/University of Michigan poll released Sunday, versus 41% who trust Trump more. That’s down from Trump holding a six-point lead over Biden in July, though the poll also showed 42% believe a Trump presidency would leave them better off financially, while only 33% said the same for Harris.
Key Background
Harris became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in July after Biden stepped down suddenly from the presidential race, following weeks of pressure over mounting concerns about his mental fitness. While the vice president has quickly garnered Democrats’ support and risen in the polls, Harris has released few concrete policy proposals in the first few weeks of her campaign—drawing some criticism as a result—with her speech Friday expected to be the most substantive remarks she’s given on policy so far. Her focus on the economy comes as polling has repeatedly shown it’s the most important issue to voters in this election cycle, with the vice president hoping to attract support amid low approval ratings for Biden’s handling of the economy. 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 inflation at 2.9% in July, the first time it’s been below 3% since March 2021.
Further Reading
(Bloomberg) — US Vice President Kamala Harris will call for a federal ban on food and grocery price gouging as part of a broader set of proposals intended to reduce consumer costs, her campaign said in a preview of the first policy speech of her nascent presidential bid.
The Democratic nominee is promising to target price gouging and price-fixing within her first 100 days in office, along with other measures to ease the burden of high prices that have weighed on American households and contributed to many voters’ low marks for President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy.
Harris plans to direct the Federal Trade Commission and other agencies to investigate and penalize “big corporations” that violate the rules, and to find other ways of tackling price fixing and other anti-competitive practices in the food and grocery industries, her campaign said late Wednesday night.
While price controls have a checkered history in the US, Harris’ team is working to quickly add some proposals to the Biden administration’s achievements and goals, which are at the core of her campaign agenda. She will also detail plans to cut prescription drug and housing costs in an economic address during a visit to Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday.
Former President Donald Trump has made inflation, which spiked early in the Biden administration as the Covid-19 crisis wore on, a centerpiece of his argument that he should be returned to the White House. The Republican candidate and his allies cite Democratic spending programs as a source of the surge in prices for food, gasoline and many other items. Related video: Harris makes fighting high prices a campaign issue (MSNBC).
The policy announcement comes as Ms Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, campaigns for the White House, at a time when the high cost of living and inflation is top of mind for Americans. Healthcare makes up around 8% of Americans’ spending, according to the Pew Research Center.
A study released February by the RAND Corporation, a California think tank, found that drug prices in the US are on average three to four times higher than in 33 other countries, including the United Kingdom and neighboring Canada.
On Thursday, the Biden-Harris administration announced new, lower prices for the first 10 drugs selected for Medicare price negotiation. The cuts on widely used drugs to treat heart disease, cancer, and diabetes would save Americans $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs in the first year of the program, according to the administration.
The Trump campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
While Harris understands that “price fluctuations are normal in free markets,” her campaign said there is “a big difference between fair pricing in competitive markets, and excessive prices unrelated to the costs of doing business.”
Americans, the campaign added, “can see that difference in their grocery bills” as prices have stayed high even as corporations’ costs have leveled off and their profits have stayed high.
Harris, in her speech, will specifically single out the highly consolidated meat industry, deeming its processing middlemen “particularly egregious” price fixers with a history of being found to have illegally controlled prices.
She also plans to direct her administration to carefully scrutinize proposed mergers between large food companies with an emphasis on considering whether they will result in higher grocery prices for consumers. That work would include continuing to examine the proposed merger between Kroger Co. and Albertsons Cos., which faces challenges from the FTC and several states.
The Harris campaign argues that her proposals “stand in stark contrast” to Trump’s economic agenda, which it said “would increase inflation and costs for middle-class families” by levying tariffs on imports of household goods including groceries.
Posted on July 31, 2020 |
President Donald Trump recently signed executive orders that he says will reduce drug prices by 50% “and even greater, in certain instances.” That could happen for some individuals, but it remains to be seen how the orders will be implemented and whether they will result in such large reductions.
The orders, which largely revive past administration proposals, require the Health and Human Services secretary to take various actions, such as moving through the federal rule-making process.
Two of the orders pertain to Medicare beneficiaries — one of those, which is still subject to negotiation with pharmaceutical companies, pertains to only a certain class of drugs. Another order concerns insulin and epinephrine for low-income individuals, and the fourth involves allowing the importation of some drugs.
Trump signed the four orders on July 24, and tweeted the following day: “Yesterday I signed four measures that will massively reduce the prices of prescription drugs, in many cases by more than 50%.” READ MORE Trump’s Executive Orders on Prescription Drugs – FactCheck.org
Trump did lower prescription drugs Biden reverse the action – Search (bing.com)
Biden Hits Trump With Scathing New Nickname | HuffPost Latest News
Biden says Harris ‘not going to’ distance herself from his economic policies (msn.com)
Laura: Kamala wants these crippling shortages | Watch (msn.com)
Cackling Kamala Will Lay Out Her Economic Plan. – Search Videos (bing.com)
Here Are 3 Big Points:
- Cracking Down on Price Gouging: Harris plans to introduce a federal ban on corporate price gouging, particularly targeting food and groceries. This initiative aims to bring down grocery costs and keep inflation in check 1.
- Support for First-Time Homeowners: She will propose providing up to $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers, with additional support for first-generation homeowners 2.
- Raising the Minimum Wage and Eliminating Taxes on Tips: Harris intends to raise the minimum wage and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers 3.
These measures are part of her broader strategy to lower costs for middle-class families and tackle inflation. What do you think about these proposals?
Learn more: 1Harris to unveil economic agenda 2 abcnews.go.com3cbsnews.com
In the four weeks since becoming a presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris has been brimming with enthusiasm but short on specifics on her economic policies.
That’s set to change Friday, the exact time of Harris’ Friday speech hasn’t been announced. My Guess is when Obama gets the speech prepared will outline the three economic proposals at a speech in North Carolina aimed squarely at middle-class consumers.
Harris plans to propose a federal ban on food and grocery price gouging. It would give the Federal Trade Commission and State Attorneys General the authority to investigate and impose “stiff penalties” in the food industry, according to an announcement from the Harris campaign.
Lack of competition in the meat processing industry in particular has led to higher prices for consumers, the release notes. Over the past year, beef and veal prices have risen 4.5%, according to the latest Consumer Price Index report.
As part of the ban, Harris plans to crack down on “unfair mergers and acquisitions that give big food corporations the power to jack up food and grocery prices,” the release added.
The economic message picks up on an inflation-fighting theme from the Biden administration, which has called on oil companies to lower gasoline prices, waged war on hidden fees charged by the hospitality industry, and called on corporate landlords to limit rent increases.
Harris is campaigning ahead of the Democratic National Convention, which starts Monday in Chicago. Her speech in North Carolina comes after her opponent, former President Donald Trump, held a press conference at his New Jersey golf club where he talked about the rising cost of food while displaying various food items such as coffee, pastries, and fruit.
At a campaign stop in North Carolina this week,
Trump hammered Harris and the administration on the cost of food, telling an audience of supporters he doesn’t even order bacon anymore. Harris’ speech will also outline more support for new small businesses to help them better compete with large conglomerates. Two other economic proposals concern prescription drugs and housing prices.
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1968: The Year That Changed America Forever (usnews.com)
Several U.S. presidents are often considered turning points in American history due to their significant impact on the country’s direction.
Here are a few notable ones:
- George Washington: As the first president, he set many precedents for the office, including the two-term limit and the establishment of a cabinet.
- Abraham Lincoln: His leadership during the Civil War and his role in the abolition of slavery were pivotal in shaping the nation’s future.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt: His New Deal policies helped the country recover from the Great Depression and his leadership during World War II solidified the U.S. as a global power.
- Lyndon B. Johnson: His Great Society programs and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 were significant in advancing civil rights and social welfare1.
- Richard Nixon: His presidency marked a shift in U.S. politics with the Watergate scandal leading to his resignation, which had a lasting impact on public trust in government2.
- Ronald Reagan: His economic policies, known as “Reaganomics,” and his role in ending the Cold War were significant turning points in the late 20th century2.
These presidents, among others, played crucial roles in shaping the course of American history. Is there a specific president or era you’re particularly interested in?
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US historians on what Donald Trump’s legacy will be (bbc.com)
My Take: TRUMP is Fighting to Make America Great Again!!!
