Harris’s shifting centrist stance leaves gaps and uncertainties in her policy agenda

Harris's shifting centrist stance leaves gaps and uncertainties in her policy agenda
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In the final weeks of the 2024 presidential campaign, Kamala Harris is shifting her focus to the center and presenting a realistic plan that gently abandons some of her previous leftist stances while raising a number of unresolved issues.

Vice President Harris unveiled a policy page on her campaign website two days prior to her first debate with Donald Trump on Tuesday, indicating the most extensive program of her presidential bid. It highlighted her most current, cost-focused plans—the most comprehensive to date—to increase the child tax credit, decrease housing and grocery costs, and slash housing costs.

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However, there are inconsistencies and holes in the agenda regarding important topics like paid leave, childcare funding, and the minimum wage, which may lead people to question what kinds of policies she will support if elected. Certain sections critique Trump’s program while looking backward and emphasizing the accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration. Following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal in July, Harris unexpectedly withdrew her nomination, and her website changed from the page created for his campaign.

It is unclear how Harris’s lack of information will affect him politically in his race against a Republican opponent who takes a disorganized approach to governance and has shown difficulty when pressed for details on matters like abortion and child care. Three out of ten respondents to a recent New York Times poll stated they “need to learn more about Kamala Harris,” compared to one out of ten who felt the same way about Trump.

A few voters are understanding of Harris’ shifting opinions.

Sydney Smith, a graduate student at Wake Forest University in North Carolina’s swing state, where Harris conducted two rallies on Thursday, said, “It’s a shift that I understand.” “I want to be more of a pragmatic progressive, but I am a progressive, or at least I try to be. I can therefore comprehend that move to the center.

Republicans mock Harris’s shift to the center, claiming that her more leftist stances in 2019 are a reflection of her actual views.

“I don’t believe she is sincere about it. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a contender for the next Senate GOP leadership, said, “I mean, she wants to be all things to all people.” He claimed Harris hasn’t provided a compelling argument for her shift on now-rejected positions like the prohibition on fracking. “I don’t think so.”

Gaps in child care paid time off, and minimum pay

A portion of the Harris policy website highlights her contribution to the administration’s accomplishments in the legislative arena, including the infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Harris did not specifically bring up the CHIPS and Science Act, a historic achievement, throughout the debate. According to Harris’ assistants, she wants to steer clear of acronyms and works hard to ensure that her staff is communicating in a way that is concrete and understandable for everyday people.

In contrast to future goals, the healthcare component of Harris’ agenda concentrates more on the accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration. It asks for maintaining the current Medicare out-of-pocket insulin cost ceiling of $35 per month for all Americans, as well as prolonging the Affordable Care Act’s subsidies. Harris does not advocate for bringing a public option to the ACA marketplaces, in contrast to Biden in 2020. (When questioned if she supports a public option, her campaign remained silent.)

While the Harris agenda promises to “fight to raise the minimum wage,” it is unclear how much higher she would want to see it go. She promises to “establish paid family and medical leave,” but she doesn’t specify how many weeks or what other guarantees she would like to see in place. “Ensuring hardworking families can afford high-quality child care” is the agenda item that lacks specifics.

In response to NBC News’s inquiries, the Harris campaign declined to elaborate on those matters. Her team refused to state if she agrees with Biden’s proposals to increase Social Security benefits and extend Medicare’s coverage of vision, dental, and hearing care. (Her platform states that she would increase tax revenues to “strengthen Social Security and Medicare.”)

The Senate filibuster would need to be broken in order to implement many of Harris’s proposals, which include capping insulin at $35 for all Americans, not just those on Medicare, preserving voting rights, and legalizing abortion on a national level. The Harris team will not say if she is in favor of eliminating the requirement for 60 votes to approve those laws.

The majority of Harris’ program would need to be approved by Congress, and its passage would probably be highly dependent on Democrats holding both the House and the Senate. While leaving some details to Congress is not unheard of, campaign platforms frequently serve as the first indication of a new president’s intentions on Capitol Hill.

Harris’s stance on immigration leans right.

Regarding immigration, Harris has emphasized her track record as a prosecutor on multiple occasions and maintains that she would mostly back the bipartisan border security package that the Senate negotiated, which House Republicans opposed at Trump’s insistence. However, she has not yet stated in the open whether or not she agrees with certain of the legislation’s specific aspects. For instance, $650 million in previously allotted but unused funds for border wall construction are included in the measure. Trump’s border wall was earlier referred to by her as a “stupid use of money.”

Even some Democrats are increasingly admitting that barriers should be deployed in addition to drones and other technologies to assist secure the border. She keeps praising other parts of the law, including the financing for more Border Patrol agents, but she hasn’t explained how she feels about it.

Regarding a large portion of his plan, Trump is likewise vague. He called for the replacement of the Affordable Care Act only this week, but when asked about his alternative, he merely stated that he had “concepts of a plan.”

Additionally, Trump has suggested that all Americans be required to have IVF coverage, a move that has angered or skepticism from many within his own party. The former president has not provided specifics on how the bold plan would be funded. According to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, 389,993 IVF cycles were carried out by its member facilities in 2022. If each one was purchased for about $20,000, it would equal $7.8 billion in just a single year.

In response to inquiries concerning the president’s vagueness on a few issues, Karoline Leavitt, his national press secretary, issued the following statement: “To address the issues that Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have caused, President Trump has unveiled a wide range of comprehensive Agenda 47 policy ideas. These plans include a comprehensive economic strategy aimed at putting a stop to inflation, lowering energy and housing expenses, and reducing waste from the federal government.”

In contrast to Trump, though, Harris appears to be structuring her moves to fit the mainstream of Congressmen from her party.

Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, stated in an interview that “they’ve consulted with us.”

He declared, “We’re going to be guiding people through these issues.” In regards to price gouging, we trust in markets. In addition, we think that if customers are being taken advantage of, there should be some safeguards.

Two times, during her CNN interview and the ABC News debate, Harris was questioned regarding the evolution of her policies. She stated, “My values haven’t changed,” on both occasions. She mentioned that she had declared she wouldn’t try to outlaw fracking four years prior, during the 2020 vice presidential campaign.

North Carolina recent graduate Hasan Pyarali stated that Harris is attempting to reach out to a wider audience than she did in 2019 when she ran for the Democratic nomination.

He remarked, “I believe that she is trying to represent everyone in America, which is what politicians do.” “We are aware that this is a general election. She must win over a broad range of votes because it’s not like a primary.

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