Prior to joining Joe Biden's presidential campaign as a vice presidential candidate, Senator Kamala Harris offered big ideas on how to stimulate the economy. As a presidential candidate, her proposals offer a particular vision for the economy that protects low- and middle-income groups, lower social status groups, and the environment. As she and Biden continue to move forward as running mates, some of her policies may come to the forefront of their consolidation plan, or she and Biden may disagree and move toward some sort of compromise. So what do we know about Harris's economic policies at this point and how they might evolve in her new role?" (Ref: Health Care (opens in new tab), Climate Change, (opens in new tab) Guns (opens in new tab), Abortion (opens in new tab) (Reference: We have also compiled a guide to Harris's positions on health care (opens new tab), climate change, (opens new tab) guns (opens new tab), abortion (opens new tab))

Both Biden and Harris have criticized the current administration's misguided response to the pandemic. In Biden and Harris' first joint appearance, Harris said, "This virus has affected almost every country, but there is a reason why the United States has been hit worse than any other developed country. That's because President Trump didn't take it seriously from the start."

Harris said, "The U.S. has been hit harder than any other industrialized country.

Harris has put her money where her mouth is, so to speak: she has proposed or supported a variety of financial assistance for individuals and small businesses, especially those affected by COVID-19. Examples include financial relief for struggling families (opens in new tab), eviction and foreclosure bans (opens in new tab), small business grants (opens in new tab), and the COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic Disparities Task Force Act.

Biden and Harris also held a briefing on coronaviruses in August to get expert input and suggest measures. The Biden-Harris website has a laundry list of potential solutions to help the 20 million unemployed Americans, including a "restart package" for small businesses, but it has not yet gone as far as Harris' proposal.

Both Biden and Harris support raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15, rising in line with inflation (open in new tab). Harris has also criticized the administration's pre-pandemic response to the economy for its lack of support for working men and women; in 2019, Harris explained exactly why she would join Democrats who support raising the minimum wage:

On paid leave, Harris said that, in her words, caring She has proposed a "children's agenda (open in new tab)" that would put children at the forefront of decisions regarding their care, and would provide six months of paid leave to all workers, including part-time and self-employed workers. She also proposed a new Paid Family and Medical Leave Authority to administer and implement the program in a major attempt to promote economic justice.

Her 21st Century SKILLS Act (open in new tab) would allow workers to receive free training in their field of expertise, as well as transportation and childcare benefits.

Harris also supports debt-free college and universal pre-K (open in new tab), student loan debt relief programs, increased tax incentives for low- and moderate-income (open in new tab) families to address inequality, and increased taxes on financial institutions.

One cannot talk about climate change without bringing in the economy, especially the fossil fuel industry and its continued harm to the planet. Harris is in favor of rejoining the Paris Agreement and is a supporter of the Green New Deal (open with new tab), a bill to tackle climate change and boost the economy at the same time. In 2019, she also proposed a "Clean Economy" plan (opens in new tab) that would leverage $12 trillion in public and private funding to create jobs, develop climate resilience, and achieve net zero carbon emissions (2045) and carbon neutrality (2030). Harris is working with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to establish an Office of Climate and Environmental Justice Accountability (opens in new tab).

Harris also encourages Americans to eat less meat to combat climate change. This is likely to come up during the vice presidential debate with Mike Pence, but he has misused it in the past and it was likely used out of context (opens in new tab).

The concept of reparations (also referred to as a type of compensation for injustice, in this case against slavery, racism, and discrimination against black Americans) has reappeared in public discourse. One of the ideas endorsed by the Black Lives Matter movement, at least as a forum for discussion and debate, has become popular among Democrats.In March 2019, Harris found that racism and discrimination have material adverse effects on the physical and mental health (also known as "weathering" (open with a new tab)) of black people and highlighted the idea that mental health care funding could be a form of reparations (open in new tab) in response to research-based evidence that.

Although Biden's July economic plan made no mention of reparations (opens in new tab), he has said in the past that he is in favor of research (opens in new tab) on the subject to determine its effectiveness and to see what form it could take. The racial equality section of the Biden-Harris website (opens in new tab) does not appear to have this concept at this time, including the House-proposed reparations study bill (H.R. 40). However, the section does have a long, long list of proposals, including major investments in areas such as education, infrastructure, small business, and homeownership. Biden suggests that racial equality will be a big part of his overall economic campaign (and Harris has long been a supporter of racial justice):

and the topic of reparations is undecided, as it may come up in debates and interviews.