A more progressive economic agenda than Joe Biden’s, an open defense of the right to abortion without the moral reservation of the president, an 81-year-old practicing Catholic; continuity in foreign policy and nods to free university education, as well as to minority voters whose right to vote has been harmed by Supreme Court decisions and by the limits imposed by Republican legislators. Kamala Harris’s program, if she is elected as a presidential candidate and reaches the White House in November, will be built on Biden’s legacy and, depending on the balance of power in Congress, with more ambitious policies on economic and social issues, the first of which is sexual and reproductive health, including abortion.
Abortion
It is perhaps the topic she feels most comfortable with. On the same day in the spring of 2023 that the Biden-Harris candidacy became official, she participated in an event in defense of women’s sexual and reproductive freedom in her Alma mater, the historic African-American Howard University in Washington. In his first two speeches since Biden’s withdrawal, he has insisted in two electoral acts in defense of abortion. “Those of us who believe in reproductive freedom will do everything possible to overturn extreme vetoes of [Donald] Trump [candidato republicano]. We trust that women are capable of making decisions about their own bodies and not [creemos en] “Let their government tell them what to do,” he warned Tuesday in Milwaukee.
Since the Supreme Court overturned the precedent of Roe v. Wade(1973)And with it, federal protection of abortion, this has become an issue that wins and loses elections. That is why the Republicans insisted at the convention they held last week to acclaim Trump as the absolute leader in the final argument: they are not seeking a federal ban on abortion, but to be faithful to the spirit of what the Supreme Court ruling dictated and that the matter be regulated by the States. Wherever popular consultations have been held at the polls, voters have decided to protect women’s freedom of choice.
Israel, Gaza and foreign policy
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If elected, she is expected to largely maintain the Gaza policy. As vice president, she has reiterated her support for Israel’s security and right to self-defense, while expressing the need to end the suffering of Palestinian civilians. In December, she said: “As Israel pursues its military objectives in Gaza, we believe that Israel must do more to protect innocent civilians.” That same month, she traveled to Dubai for talks with Arab leaders. On March 4, she called for an immediate truce, adding that Israel should expand the flow of humanitarian aid to the enclave. On Monday, on the eve of her meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one of her advisers summed up her position: “It is time for the war to end in a way that Israel is safe, all hostages are freed, the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can enjoy their right to dignity, freedom and self-determination.” Kamala Harris was in charge of meeting with members of the Arab community in Michigan, who were unhappy with the Democratic administration’s strong support for Israel and who gave Biden a blow in the primaries. In pro-Israel forums such as AIPAC, the main lobby American Jew, has made no secret of his support for Israel.
With regard to other conflicts, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine or tensions with China over Taiwan, there is also a certain continuity to be expected. Harris strongly supports Ukraine’s right to defend itself against Russia and the role of NATO, including the validity of its Article 5 of collective defence. In June, she met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Switzerland. In Asia, she agrees with the US president on the need to counter China’s hegemony in the region. Her position has changed the most with regard to India, her mother’s country of origin. In 2019, Narendra Modi’s revocation of Kashmir’s autonomy provoked harsh criticism from Harris. Then, already in the White House, she reconsidered her position on India, as a pillar to curb China. In 2023, she publicly praised the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Border
This is the candidate’s most exposed flank. At the beginning of the legislature, Biden handed over to her the management of the border with Mexico and the migration crisis. It was then interpreted as a vote of confidence in a crucial matter, but also, to not put the president’s political capital at risk in a thorny issue. In her first trip to the world, Harris traveled to Mexico and Central America and uttered two words that defined the start of her vice presidency: “Don’t come,” she told Guatemalan migrants, garnering harsh criticism for it.
Illegal crossings have been at record levels over the past three and a half years, and Republicans want to send a message that much of the blame for the poor handling of the immigration crisis lies with Harris, whom they have come to call, with Trump at the helm, the “border czarina” (despite the label’s exaggeration of her actual authority in the matter). In a rare call with reporters that may speak to his concern about the initial enthusiasm that the change of candidate has provoked among his own people, former president and now candidate Trump said on Tuesday: “If she becomes president, the invasion [de inmigrantes] will get worse.” And he added: “Just as it did with San Francisco [donde fue fiscal de distrito]and just as he did with the border, he will permanently destroy the country.” The Republican candidate also promised: “I will seal the border, stop the invasion and keep America safe.”
Polls indicate that the immigration crisis is a top concern for registered voters, and that they overwhelmingly blame Biden for it.
Economy
Harris’ economic agenda could be more progressive than the so-called Bidenomics. As a presidential candidate in the Democratic primary in 2020, the then-California senator advocated for raising taxes and increasing investment in housing. She called Trump’s 2017 tax overhaul a “giveaway to the rich,” argued that the stock market boom was leaving the middle class behind, and warned that his reckless trade agenda, punctuated by war with China, was hurting the country’s farmers. “This economy is not working for working people,” she said in 2019. If she becomes president, her agenda can be expected to be couched in similar terms, but in a very different context, marked by inflation, which has sent prices soaring in 2022. As California attorney general, she advocated regulation to protect consumer rights.
Harris has been a staunch defender of Biden’s economic policies, with initiatives such as the 2021 rescue plan to overcome the ravages of the pandemic and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which had a marked green tone. But as attorney general and senator, she was more progressive than the president, pushing for universal healthcare while calling for more generous tax breaks for working-class Americans at the expense of higher corporate tax increases.
Climate
Harris’ position on the climate challenge has traditionally been further to the left than that of Biden, a president whose most enduring legislative achievement has surely been to secure passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the blandly named package of legislation that is the most important in U.S. history in its commitment to combating global warming, and which also brought with it the largest climate investment.
As California’s attorney general, Harris created an environmental justice office and went after polluting companies; as a senator, she pushed for the so-called Green New Deal; and when she ran for president in 2020, she advocated for banning fracking,the technique of hydraulic fracturing to obtain hydrocarbons, a position that he later had to retract in a vice-presidential debate.
On this issue, the contrast with the rival campaign is abysmal. Trump, whose supporters celebrate his flirtations with climate denialism, has revived the old and catchy Republican slogan “Drill, baby, drill” to indicate that if he returns to the White House, he will dismantle all the advances of the Biden administration towards a future of clean energy. At last week’s Republican Convention in Milwaukee, the candidate promised in his acceptance speech that the United States will be energy self-sufficient. “We have more liquid gold under our feet than any other country; we, as a nation, will make a fortune in oil and gas,” he said.
Education and universities
This chapter reveals Harris’s most progressive side. She has championed loan forgiveness and free college tuition, while denouncing the profit motive of some universities. As a senator, she signed legislation to make public universities free (also a Biden proposal) and to help universities cover students’ basic needs, such as food, housing, and transportation. Before that, as California’s attorney general, she uncovered abusive practices at some for-profit universities and pushed for the cancellation of loans taken out by students defrauded by those institutions.
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