Harris Indicates She’ll Push For Thwarted ‘Care Economy’ Expansions
The Washington Post covers language in two speeches by Vice President Kamala Harris that indicate she'll push for legislation to expand paid family leave, housing assistance, child care and eldercare — Biden "care economy" initiatives that failed to pass because of political resistance.
The Washington Post:
Kamala Harris Vows To Revive Biden’s Defeated ‘Care Economy’ Plans
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris vowed twice this week to revive Democratic plans to expand the welfare state, previewing a campaign message against Donald Trump and potentially signaling one of her top priorities should she be elected. In remarks to campaign staff in Delaware on Monday and a campaign speech in Wisconsin on Tuesday, the vice president focused on key parts of President Biden’s domestic agenda that failed to pass because of resistance from Republicans and centrist Democrats. In both speeches, Harris highlighted the need for legislation to expand paid family leave, housing assistance, child care and eldercare — parts of the “care economy” that advisers say have been one of her top priorities in the administration. (Stein, 7/24)
PoliticoPro:
What Kamala Harris’ Time As California’s Top Attorney Signals For Health Care
Vice President Kamala Harris is leaning into her background as a prosecutor to campaign against former president Donald Trump. That experience could also spell a warning for major health players. As California’s attorney general from 2011 to 2016, she expanded the powers of the office to referee hospital consolidation, helped block a mega merger between insurers Cigna and Anthem, and launched lawsuits to bring down inflated drug prices. (King and Bluth, 7/24)
The 19th:
The ‘Moms’ Candidate: Harris Champions Paid Leave, Child Care And Disability Rights
When she speaks about the economy, Kamala Harris often talks about the mothers in her life. Her own mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was a single parent who worked as a breast cancer researcher. She’d pack lunches before Harris and her sister, Maya, woke up in the morning, and pay the bills at night after the girls went to bed. (Carrazana and Luterman, 7/24)
The Atlantic:
Kamala Harris Could Make 2024 The Abortion Election
Of all the reasons Kamala Harris is better equipped than Joe Biden to defeat Donald Trump in November—her relative youth, the fact that she’s a former prosecutor challenging a convicted felon—her biggest advantage may be her record on abortion. Harris served as the Biden administration’s de facto advocate for reproductive rights; it is her voice, not Biden’s, that’s been loudest in objecting to abortion bans and conservative efforts to curtail IVF and contraception. (Filipovic, 7/24)
On the Republican Party —
The New York Times:
Nephew Says Trump Suggested Some Disabled People ‘Should Just Die’
Fred Trump’s son was born with a rare medical condition that led to developmental and intellectual disabilities. His care had been paid for in part with help from the family. After Mr. Trump was elected, Fred Trump wanted to use his connection to the White House for good. With the help of Ivanka Trump, his cousin, and Ben Carson, at the time the housing and urban development secretary, he was able to convene a group of advocates for a meeting with his uncle. After the meeting, Fred Trump claims, his uncle pulled him aside and said, “maybe those kinds of people should just die,” given “the shape they’re in, all the expenses.” (McCreesh, 7/24)
The Washington Post:
J.D. Vance Said Kamala Harris Has No Kids. Stepparents Would Like A Word
When Ella Emhoff graduated from college in 2021, Vice President Harris posed smiling beside her stepdaughter. At Cole Emhoff’s wedding in October, Harris officiated her stepson’s ceremony. The Emhoff siblings have affectionately dubbed Harris “Momala,” a name she has said she wears proudly. But Harris’s parental role was altogether erased in recent and resurfaced attacks from her political opponents. In a video drawn from a 2021 interview on Fox News’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” J.D. Vance, now the GOP vice-presidential nominee, said that Harris and other prominent Democrats (including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) “don’t really have a direct stake” in the country’s future because they are “people without children.” (Gibson, 7/24)
