In CNN Interview, VP Harris Lays Out Her Priorites for “Day One,” Makes the Case to “Turn the Page” on Trump, etc.

VP Harris to CNN: “One of My Highest Priorities Is To Do What We Can To Support and Strengthen the Middle Class”

In her interview with CNN today, Vice President Kamala Harris laid out her vision for creating an “opportunity economy” and how her work to build the middle class will begin on day one of her presidency. The Vice President has a plan to expand the Child Tax Credit, bring down grocery prices, cap drug costs, invest in small businesses, and lower the expense of owning and renting a home – and as she told CNN, she will get to work on this agenda on day one.

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Dana Bash: “If you are elected, what would you do on day one in the White House?”

Vice President Harris: “Well, there are a number of things. I will tell you, first and foremost, one of my highest priorities is to do what we can to support and strengthen the middle class. When I look at the aspirations, the goals, the ambitions of the American people, I think that people are ready for a new way forward in a way that generations of Americans have been fueled by – by hope and by optimism.

“I think, sadly, in the last decade, we have had in the former president, someone who has really been pushing an agenda and an environment that is about diminishing the character and the strength of who we are as Americans, really dividing our nation, and I think people are ready to turn the page on that.”

Dana Bash: “So, what would you do day one?”

Vice President Harris: “Day one, it’s going to be about, one, implementing my plan for what I call an ‘opportunity economy.’ I’ve already laid out a number of proposals in that regard, which include what we’re going to do to bring down the cost of everyday goods, what we’re going to do to invest in America’s small businesses, what we’re going to do to invest in families – for example, extending the Child Tax Credit to $6,000 for families for the first year of their child’s life to help them buy a car seat, to help them buy baby clothes, a crib.

There’s the work that we’re going to do that is about investing in the American family around affordable housing — a big issue in our country right now. ”

Vice President Harris has made clear that building up the middle class will be a defining goal of her presidency. She will deliver for Americans who are demanding a new way forward, toward a future that lifts up all Americans so that they can not just get by, but get ahead. Her plans stand in stark contrast to Trump, who would increase costs for families by $3,900 with his Trump Tax on everyday goods American families rely on, like gas, food, clothing, and medicine. Sixteen Nobel laureates agree that Trump’s economic agenda would ignite inflation, and other experts predict that his plans would plunge the United States into a recession.

In her first sit-down interview as the Democratic nominee for President, Vice President Harris laid out the case against Donald Trump’s disastrous economic record that only helped the ultra-wealthy and his corporate buddies, while leaving working Americans behind.

President Biden and Vice President Harris came into office and immediately got to work to clean up the mess Trump left behind, leading America out of the COVID crisis.

WATCH HERE

Dana Bash: “But I wonder what you say to voters who do want to go back when it comes to the economy specifically, because their groceries were less expensive, housing was more affordable when Donald Trump was president?”

Vice President Harris: “When Joe Biden and I came in office during the height of a pandemic, we saw over 10 million jobs were lost.  People — I — I mean, literally — we were all tracking the numbers — hundreds of people a day were dying because of COVID.  The economy had crashed.  In large part, all of that because of mismanagement by Donald Trump of that crisis.”

Compare that with Trump’s record and agenda:

• Trump was the worst jobs president in modern American history.
• Trump’s national sales tax plan would increase costs on middle class Americans by nearly $4,000 a year
• Non-partisan analysis of Trump’s agenda found it would kill more than 3 million jobs, increase inflation, and send our economy into a recession
• Trump has been rooting against our economy – the Dow hit another record high and the clean energy jobs he wants to destroy are booming
• Voters’ trust in Trump on the economy: It’s gone.

In her CNN interview today, Vice President Harris laid out her vision and responded to Donald Trump’s and Republicans’ attacks on her policy positions.

Vice President Harris explained how her work in the Biden-Harris administration has shaped her views on how best to achieve policy outcomes – on issues from energy and environment to the border.

Vice President Harris set the record straight on a number of issues where Republicans have been attacking her:

On why she doesn’t support the Green New Deal:

• “You mentioned the Green New Deal. I have always believed — and I have worked on it — that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time. We did that with the Inflation Reduction Act. We have set goals for the United States of America and, by extension, the globe around when we should meet certain standards for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as an example.  That value has not changed.”
• “I believe it is important to build consensus, and it is important to — to find a common place of understanding of where we can actually solve problems.”

On why she doesn’t support banning fracking:

• “I made that clear on the debate stage in 2020 that I would not ban fracking.  As vice president, I did not ban fracking.  As president, I will not ban fracking.”
• “Let’s be clear. My values have not changed. I believe it is very important that we take seriously what we must do to guard against what is a clear crisis in terms of the climate. And to do that, we can do what we have accomplished thus far. The Inflation Reduction Act — what we have done to invest, by my calculation, over… a trillion dollars over the next 10 years, investing in a clean energy economy. What we’ve already done: creating over 300,000 new clean energy jobs.”
• “That tells me, from my experience as vice president, we can do it without banning fracking. In fact… I cast the tie-breaking vote that actually increased leases for fracking as vice president. So I’m very clear about where I stand.”

On why she doesn’t support decriminalizing illegal border crossings and in fact wants to strengthen border security:

• “We have laws that have to be followed and enforced that address and deal with people who cross our border illegally, and there should be consequence.”
• “And let’s be clear. In this race, I’m the only person who has prosecuted transnational criminal organizations who traffic in guns, drugs, and human beings.  I’m the only person in this race who actually served a border state as attorney general to enforce our laws. And I would enforce our laws as president going forward.  I recognize the problem.”
• “My value around what we need to do to secure our border, that value has not changed.  I spent two terms as the attorney general of California prosecuting transnational criminal organizations — violations of American laws regarding the passage — illegal passage of guns, drugs, and human beings across our border.  My values have not changed.”
• “The root causes work that I did as vice president, that I was asked to do by the president, has actually resulted in a number of benefits, including historic investments by American businesses in that region. The number of immigrants coming from that region has actually reduced since we began that work.”
• “But I will say this — that Joe Biden and I and our administration worked with members of the United States Congress on an immigration issue that is very significant to the American people and to our security, which is the border.  And through bipartisan work, including some of the most conservative members of the United States Congress, a bill was crafted, which we supported, which I support. And Donald Trump got word of this bill that would have contributed to securing our border, and because he believes that it would not have helped him politically, he told his folks in Congress, “Don’t put it forward.”  He killed the bill — a border security bill that would have put 1,500 more agents on the border. And let me tell you something. The Border Patrol endorsed the bill, and I’m sure… in large part, because they knew they were working around the clock and 1,500 more agents would help them. That bill would have allowed us to increase seizures of fentanyl.  Ask any community in America that has been devastated by fentanyl what passing that bill would have done to address their concern and a pain that they’ve experienced.”