Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday reminded the nation of why she is by far the best choice for president for working families.
During a televised debate with Donald Trump, Harris laid out a vision that is all about the future of our country, about moving forward, because we won’t go back. She criticized Trump for having no plan for working and middle class families and said she will build “an opportunity economy” that would help these families thrive.
“I was raised as a middle-class kid,” were Harris’ first words on the stage in response to the moderators’ first question. “And I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America. I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people. And that is why I imagine and have actually a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy.”
The debate was also a reminder of why our union has endorsed Harris, and why we are 100% behind Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Among other things, Harris said she would extend a $6,000 tax cut to families who need support in raising their children during the first year of life, “the largest child tax credit that we have given in a long time.” AFSCME has long called for a care economy that invests in care workers and makes child care affordable for working families.
Harris also criticized Trump’s Project 2025, a radical plan put together by former Trump advisers and blessed by Trump himself that would allow the executive branch to take away many of the freedoms we enjoy today. For one, it would eliminate public service unions like AFSCME.
Project 2025 would also cut overtime protections for workers; kill Head Start, which helps lift children out of poverty; and allow corporations to get rid of labor unions even when the workers are protected by a signed union contract.
Project 2025 — which is meant to serve as a roadmap for a second Trump term — would also give the federal government unprecedented control over women’s reproductive rights.
At AFSCME’s 46th International Convention, held in Los Angeles last month, delegates approved a resolution declaring that we “will fight efforts at the federal level to restrict and even criminalize abortion care and contraception, such as the radical and dangerous Project 2025 agenda.”
This is a fundamental freedom that is directly linked to women’s economic security. Reproductive rights are also workers’ rights.
Harris celebrated the accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration, including the Inflation Reduction Act, which is making historic investments in the fight against climate change and has helped bring down the cost of prescription drugs for seniors, including a $35 cap on insulin. She said she has a plan to lower drug prices for everyone and strengthen the Affordable Care Act.
The vice president emphasized the need to “turn the page” on Trump’s divisiveness and attacks on our democracy, promising to offer “a new generation of leadership.”
“You’ve heard tonight two very different visions for our country,” Harris said in her closing remarks. “One that is focused on the future and the other that is focused on the past. … But we’re not going back. And I do believe that the American people know we all have so much more in common than what separates us, and we can chart a new way forward.”