From the White House: Remarks by Vice President Harris at a Campaign Event in Raleigh, NC

Vice President Kamala Harris laid out her economic proposals in a speech on August 16 given at a community college in North Carolina.

Let's walk through it and see what she says: 

- Click here for the transcript.

Here are some parts that we can analyze in class: 

- As attorney general in California, I went after companies that illegally increased prices, including wholesalers that inflated the price of prescription medication and companies that conspired with competitors to keep prices of electronics high. I won more than $1 billion for consumers. So, believe me, as president, I will go after the bad actors. And I will work to pass the first-ever federal ban on prou- — price gauging [gouging] on food. My plan will include new penalties for opportunistic companies that exploit crises and break the rules, and we will support smaller food businesses that are trying to play by the rules and get ahead.

- As president, I’ll attack and take on the issue of the cost of health care. As attorney general, I took on insurance companies and Big Pharma and got them to lower their prices. And together with President Biden, we’ve gone even further. We capped the price of insulin at $35 a month and the total cost — (applause) — and the total cost of prescription drugs at $2,000 a year for seniors. We let Medicare negotiate lower drug prices for seniors. And just yesterday — and just yesterday, we announced that we are lowering the price by up to 80 percent for 10 more lifesaving drugs. And I pledge to continue this progress. I’ll lower the cost of insulin and prescription drugs for everyone with your support, not only our seniors — (applause) — and demand transparency from the middlemen who operate between Big Pharma and the insurance companies, who use opaque practices to raise your drug prices and profit off your need for medicine. Two months ago, I announced that medical debt will no longer be used against your credit score. (Applause.) And I will work, as president, with states like here in North Carolina — Roy Cooper, thank you again — to cancel medical debt for more and more — millions more Americans.

- So, now, the housing market can be complicated, but, look, I’m not new to this issue. As state attorney general, I drafted and helped pass a homeowner bill of rights, one of the first in America. And during the foreclosure crisis, I took on the big banks for predatory lending with many of my colleagues, including Roy Cooper, and won $20 billion for California families when I was attorney general.

. . . As president, I will work in partnership with industry to build the housing we need, both to rent and to buy. We will take down barriers and cut red tape, including at the state and local levels. And by the end of my first term, we will end America’s housing shortage by building 3 million new homes and rentals that are affordable for the middle class, and we will do that together. We will do that together. And — and we will make sure those homes actually go to working- and middle-class Americans not just investors.

. . . Some corporate landlords collude with each other to set artificially high rental prices, often using algorithms and price-fixing software to do it. It’s anticompetitive, and it drives up costs. I will fight for a law that cracks down on these practices. We also know that as the price of housing has gone up, the size of down payments have gone up as well. Even if aspiring homeowners save for years, it often still is not enough. So, in addition, while we work on the housing shortage, my administration will provide first-time homebuyers with $25,000 to help with the down payment on a new home.

- Under my plan, more than 100 million Americans will get a tax cut, and we will do this by restoring two tax cuts designed to help middle-class and working Americans: the Earned Income Tax Credit — (applause) — and the Child Tax Credit — (applause) — through which millions of Americans with children got to keep more of their hard-earned income. We know this works and has a direct impact on so many issues, including child poverty. We know it works. So, as president, I’ll not only restore that tax cut but expand it. We will provide $6,000 in tax relief to families during the first year of a child’s life.

Here are the basics:

- Food Price Gouging
- Health Care Costs
- Housing Costs
- Tax Cuts