Kamala Harris unveiled a new set of policy proposals aimed at reducing the cost of living for middle-class Americans during her first major policy speech at a Friday rally in North Carolina.
The vice president and 2024 Democratic candidate took a jab at her opponent, Donald Trump, who was in North Carolina — a key battleground state — on Wednesday. Trump hosted a press conference on the economy on Thursday at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, while standing next to a table of common grocery items.
“He offered no serious plans to reduce costs for middle-class families,” Harris told her audience. “No plan to expand access to housing or health care, and that, actually, for most of us, was not surprising.”
Throughout the speech, Harris offered her own proposals to curb high prices in health care, groceries, housing, and child care.
The vice president promised legislation to control price gouging by food companies and support small independent grocers while decrying that “many of the big food companies are seeing their highest profits in two decades” as consumers continue to struggle.
Harris contrasted her plan with Trump’s proposal to implement widespread tariffs on imported goods — which would impact large swaths of fruits and vegetables in the United States — as a plan that would “devastate Americans.”
“It will mean higher prices, on just about every one of your daily needs,” she said of the former president’s push for tariffs. “A Trump tax on gas, a Trump tax on food.”
Harris also touted sweeping policies to improve the cost of housing, including the construction of 3 million affordable new homes and apartments during her first term as president, expanded protections against corporate landlords, and a $25,000 credit for first-time homebuyers.
In addition, Harris vowed to restore and expand the child tax credit to $6,000 during the first year of a newborn’s life, as well as an expansion of the earned income tax credit for low-income workers. According to the vice president, the plan would benefit over 100 million Americans.
Harris contrasted her mission with the tax benefits granted to the ultra-wealthy and corporations under Trump’s first administration and warned that it would happen again if he retook the White House.
“I think that if you wanna know who someone cares about, look at who they fight for,” she said. “Donald Trump fights for billionaires and large corporations. I will fight to give money back to working and middle-class Americans.”
The economy and the financial struggles plaguing everyday Americans have and continue to be a defining issue in the 2024 election cycle. As Trump and Harris fight for dominance on the issue, early polling suggests that voters may have more confidence in Harris’ ability to handle the economy. This week, a survey conducted by the Financial Times and the University of Michigan found that 42 percent of voters trust the vice president’s ability to manage the nation’s financial health, a sharp increase from their outlook on President Joe Biden.
Harris will continue to pitch her vision for the nation’s economic future next week at the Democratic National Convention, where she is expected to be officially crowned as the party’s nominee to take on Trump this November.
