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440825 |
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Date: September 07, 2024 at 15:31:23
From: old timer, [DNS_Address]
Subject: How Harris dodges scrutiny |
URL: How Harris dodges scrutiny |
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Sep 6, 2024 -
Politics & Policy
How Harris dodges scrutiny
Mike Allen,
Alex Thompson
With 60 days left in the race, and at the very moment she's presenting a
different ideology than four years ago, Vice President Kamala Harris isn't
getting subjected to the media scrutiny typical for a presidential nominee.
Why it matters: Harris is copying President Biden's self-protection media
strategy — duck tough interviews and limit improvisational moments.
Her circumstances are different, for sure. She entered the race just seven
weeks ago, did dozens of interviews this year before Biden's exit, and
plans to do more interviews and gaggles.
But with her debate with former President Trump coming up Tuesday
(9pm ET), Harris has big questions to answer in two areas that go to the
heart of running America:
Why did President Biden's top advisers routinely leak word they found her
performance as vice president disappointing or episodically problematic?
How did her views change in five years, from liberal to centrist on health
care, immigration and energy? Why should voters believe her new views
are the ones she'd stick with inside the White House?
The backstory: Biden advisers often were frustrated with Harris'
performance as vice president. Their concerns fall into three buckets:
They found her public performances uneven and often not reassuring.
This improved over time. But even recently, several on Biden's team
worried she'd struggle under the glare of national pressure.
They found her risk-averse to the point of paralysis. The issue she
embraced most — abortion rights — is one with the least risk, as polls
show Democrats with a huge advantage on the issue.
They worried about the high turnover rate among her staff. Of the 47
Harris staffers publicly disclosed to the Senate in 2021, only five still
worked for her as of this spring. (This tally is incomplete because roughly
half the staff isn't listed on the Senate disclosures.)
Nine areas in which she's shifted views or her current position is
unknown:
Banning plastic straws for environmental concerns. (She's no longer for it,
as Axios reported Thursday.)
A mandate for automakers to only make electric and hydrogen vehicles by
2035. (The Harris campaign won't say whether she's still for it.)
Banning fracking because of concerns over global warming and potential
water contamination. (No longer favors a ban.)
A mandatory buyback program for assault weapons as part of her gun
safety agenda. (She's dropped this idea.)
Decriminalizing crossing the border from a criminal offense to a civil one.
(No longer supports.)
Reparations for slavery, which many progressives argued for during the
2020 primary. (Position unclear.)
Building a wall on the Southwest border, a defining Trump promise that
many Democrats have fought. (Accepted it as part of the bipartisan
border package that Republicans killed.)
A federal jobs guarantee that was part of her Green New Deal proposal.
(No longer for it.)
Medicare for All, which Harris embraced in her first year as senator.
(She's backed off this.)
What they're saying: Harris and her campaign haven't provided many
details explaining her policy shifts.
A Harris campaign aide explained to Axios that she's no longer pushing
Medicare for All because of what she learned during her four years of
experience in the White House, and seeing how the Biden administration
has expanded coverage through the Affordable Care Act.
Harris doesn't think the disruptive process of replacing the private health
care system is necessary to reach her vision of making health care a right
not a privilege, the aide said.
Reality check: One of the features of her melded staff (Harris loyalists and
Obama alumni, grafted onto existing Biden staffers) is that even some of
her own staffers aren't sure where she stands on a range of issues.
The other side: Over the past seven weeks, Trump has largely stuck to
friendly interviewers in the right-wing bubble. This frustrates some Harris
allies, who say Trump isn't getting true scrutiny.
During that same period, he also held two press conferences with
mainstream reporters, with a third scheduled Friday.
His running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), routinely sits for tough
interviews with mainstream reporters. Harris' running mate, Minnesota
Gov. Tim Walz, hasn't done a solo TV interview.
Behind the scenes: As Axios' Sophia Cai has reported, Harris made a
decision not to get too deep into specific policies because there wasn't
time.
The campaign needed to fundraise, reintroduce herself to America,
introduce Walz — and help the Democratic ticket recover in states where
Dems should win, but needed an electable alternative to Trump.
The result is lots of down-the-middle vagueness. That's the case on the
issue of whether Harris would require automakers to build only electric or
hydrogen vehicles by 2035 — a position she took during her 2020
campaign for president.
For a story this week, Axios asked her campaign about the issue for six
days before getting a "no comment."
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Responses:
[440830] [440829] [440842] [440845] [440827] |
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440830 |
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Date: September 07, 2024 at 16:32:45
From: ao, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Trump’s plans if he returns to the White House include deportation.. |
URL: Are these the policies you want OT? |
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Full headline: Trump’s plans if he returns to the White House include
deportation raids, tariffs and mass firings
A mass deportation operation. A new Muslim ban. Tariffs on all imported
goods and “freedom cities” built on federal land.
Much of the 2024 presidential campaign has been dominated by the
myriad investigations into former President Donald Trump and the
subsequent charges against him. But with less than a year until Election
Day, Trump is dominating the race for the Republican nomination and has
already laid out a sweeping set of policy goals should he win a second
term.
His ideas, and even the issues he focuses on most, are wildly different
from President Joe Biden’s proposals. If implemented, Trump’s plans
would represent a dramatic government overhaul arguably more
consequential than that of his first term. His presidency, especially the
early days, was marked by chaos, infighting and a wave of hastily written
executive orders that were quickly overturned by the courts.
A look at his agenda:
DISMANTLING THE ‘DEEP STATE’
Trump would try to strip tens of thousands of career employees of their
civil service protections. That way, they could be fired as he seeks to
“totally obliterate the deep state.”
He would try to accomplish that by reissuing a 2020 executive order
known as “Schedule F.” That would allow him to reclassify masses of
employees, with a particular focus, he has said, on “corrupt bureaucrats
who have weaponized our justice system” and “corrupt actors in our
national security and intelligence apparatus.” Given his anger at the FBI
and federal prosecutors pursuing criminal cases against him, Trump
probably would target people linked to those prosecutions for retribution.
Beyond the firings, he wants to crack down on government officials who
leak to reporters. He also wants to require that federal employees pass a
new civil service test.
THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER
Trump has pledged to “immediately stop the invasion of our southern
border” and end illegal immigration.
As part of that plan, he says he would immediately direct U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement to undertake the largest domestic
deportation operation in American history. He would target people who
are legally living in the United States but harbor “jihadist sympathies”
and revoke the student visas of those who espouse anti-American and
antisemitic views.
In a bid to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump says he will move
thousands of troops currently stationed overseas and shift federal
agents, including those at the Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI,
to immigration enforcement. He also wants to build more of the border
wall.
Trump wants to reimpose his travel ban that originally targeted seven
Muslim-majority countries and expand it to “keep radical Islamic
terrorists out of the country.” In the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel,
he has pledged to put in place “ideological screening” for immigrants.
His aim: bar “dangerous lunatics, haters, bigots, and maniacs,” as well as
those who “empathize with radical Islamic terrorists and extremists.”
To deter migrants, he has said he would end birthright citizenship, using
an an executive order that would introduce a legally untested
interpretation of the 14th Amendment. The order would prevent federal
agencies from granting automatic citizenship to the children of people
who are in the U.S. illegally. It would require that at least one parent be a
U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident for their children to be eligible
for passports, Social Security numbers and other benefits.
TRADE
What to know about the 2024 Election
Trump says he will institute a system of tariffs of perhaps 10% on most
foreign goods. Penalties would increase if trade partners manipulate their
currencies or engage in other unfair trading practices.
He will urge that Congress pass a “Trump Reciprocal Trade Act,” giving
the president authority to impose a reciprocal tariff on any country that
imposes one on the U.S.
Much of the agenda focuses on China. Trump has proposed a four-year
plan to phase out Chinese imports of essential goods, including
electronics, steel and pharmaceuticals. He wants to ban Chinese
companies from owning vital U.S. infrastructure in sectors such as
energy, technology and agriculture, and says he will force Chinese
owners to sell any holdings “that jeopardize America’s national security.”
FOREIGN POLICY
Trump claims that even before he is inaugurated, he will have settled the
war between Russia and Ukraine. That includes, he says, ending the
“endless flow of American treasure to Ukraine” and asking European
allies to reimburse the U.S. for the cost of rebuilding stockpiles.
It is unclear whether he would insist that Russia withdraw from territory
in Ukraine it seized in the war that it launched in February 2022.
Trump has said he will stand with Israel in its war with Hamas and
support Israel’s efforts to “destroy” the militant group. He says he will
continue to “fundamentally reevaluate” NATO’s purpose and mission.
TRANSGENDER RIGHTS
Trump says he will ask Congress to pass a bill establishing that “only two
genders,” as determined at birth, are recognized by the United States.
As part of his crackdown on gender-affirming care, he will declare that
hospitals and health care providers that offer transitional hormones or
surgery no longer meet federal health and safety standards and will be
blocked from receiving federal funds, including Medicaid and Medicare
dollars.
He would push Congress to prohibit hormonal or surgical intervention for
transgender minors in all 50 states.
Doctors typically guide kids toward therapy before medical intervention.
At that point, hormone treatments such as puberty blockers are far more
common than surgery. They have been available in the U.S. for more than
a decade and are standard treatments backed by major doctors’
organizations, including the American Medical Association.
ENERGY
Trump’s goal, he says, is for the U.S. to have the lowest-cost energy and
electricity of any nation in the world, including China.
Under the mantra “DRILL, BABY, DRILL,” he says he would ramp up oil
drilling on public lands and offer tax breaks to oil, gas, and coal
producers. He would roll back Biden administration efforts to encourage
the adoption of electric cars and reverse proposed new pollution limits
that would require at least 54% of new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be
electric by 2030.
And again, he says, he will exit the Paris Climate Accords, end wind
subsidies and eliminate regulations imposed and proposed by the Biden
admiration targeting incandescent lightbulbs, gas stoves, dishwashers
and shower heads.
EDUCATION
Trump has pledged to terminate the Department of Education, but he
also wants to exert enormous influence over local school districts and
colleges.
He would push the federal government to give funding preference to
states and school districts that abolish teacher tenure, adopt merit pay
to reward good teachers and allow the direct election of school principals
by parents.
He has said he would cut funding for any school that has a vaccine or
mask mandate and will promote prayer in public schools.
Trump also wants a say in school curricula, vowing to fight for “patriotic
education.” He says that under his administration, schools will “teach
students to love their country, not to hate their country like they’re
taught right now” and will promote “the nuclear family” including “the
roles of mothers and fathers” and the “things that make men and women
different and unique.”
To protect students, he says he will support school districts that allow
trained teachers to carry concealed weapons. He would provide federal
funding so schools can hire veterans, retired police officers, and other
trained gun owners as armed school guards.
HOMELESSNESS
Trump wants to force the homeless off city streets by building tent cities
on large open parcels of inexpensive land. At the same time, he says he
will work with states to ban urban camping, giving violators the choice
between being arrested or receiving treatment.
He also wants to bring back large mental institutions to reinstitutionalize
those who are “severely mentally ill” or “dangerously deranged.”
PUBLIC SAFETY
Trump would again push to send the National Guard to cities such as
Chicago that are struggling with violence. He would use the federal
government’s funding and prosecution authorities to strong-arm local
governments.
He says he will require local law enforcement agencies that receive
Justice Department grants to use controversial policing measures such
as stop-and-frisk. As a deterrent, he says local police should be
empowered to shoot suspected shoplifters in the act. “Very simply, if you
rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot as you are leaving that store,”
he said in one recent speech.
Trump has called for the death penalty for drug smugglers and those
who traffic women and children. He has also pledged a federal takeover
of the nation’s capital, calling Washington a “dirty, crime-ridden death
trap” unbefitting of the country.
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Responses:
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440829 |
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Date: September 07, 2024 at 16:01:21
From: ao, [DNS_Address]
Subject: What to know about Kamala Harris' policy proposals |
URL: What has your boy proposed OT? |
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Vice President Kamala Harris has pitched policy positions on the economy,
immigration and abortion in the weeks since she became the Democrats'
presidential nominee, even as her flip-flops have attracted press coverage.
Why it matters: Harris has benefited from a surge of voter enthusiasm since
she entered the race — and one of her greatest challenges in the final stretch
of the campaign will be sustaining that momentum while giving voters a clear
understanding of what she'd do as commander in chief.
She's taken the lead in polling over her opponent former President Trump in
several swing states where President Biden largely trailed when he was the
presumptive Democratic nominee. Her campaign reported raising more than
$300 million in August — nearly triple Trump's haul.
Trump has scaled back campaigning in New Hampshire, Minnesota and
Virginia and poured more resources into Pennsylvania, Michigan and
Wisconsin as his team navigates the new competition, Axios' Sophia Cai and
Tory Van Oot reported.
Some of the major proposals Harris has announced or backed, across policy
areas:
Economy
First-time homebuyers could receive a $25,000 tax credit as a shortage of
available homes keeps prices high under an economic plan Harris outlined in
August.
Harris also pitched tax breaks for homebuyers who build starter homes and
those who rehabilitate older housing stock.
Capital gains tax of 28% could affect wealthy Americans, a pitch more than 10
points lower than what Biden has proposed.
This marked a move to the center, Axios' Hans Nichols reported.
A small business tax credit could expand tenfold from $5,000 to $50,000.
She proposed reducing barriers to getting occupational licenses across state
lines with a goal of 25 million new small business applications in her first
term.
A ban on grocery price gouging could mirror existing state laws, although
Harris hasn't provided details on this policy.
38 states prohibit companies from increasing prices during emergencies.
On child tax credits, new parents could receive $6,000 during the first year of
their child's life.
The earned income tax credit would expand for lower-income adults who
aren't raising kids.
Taxes on tips could be eliminated, in a rare policy position where Harris
copied what Trump has promised service and hospitality workers.
Such a policy could incentivize workers to push harder for more tips, Axios'
Emily Peck reported.
Health
Abortion and reproductive care have been central to Harris' campaign.
She said she would sign a law to restore Roe v. Wade, which protected federal
abortion access, though incompletely as women across the U.S. faced
barriers to accessing abortion and states could still enact strict bans.
The campaign kicked off a 50-stop bus tour focused on reproductive rights,
zeroed in on battleground states. It started in Florida on Tuesday.
Programming at the Democratic National Convention in August reflected a
frank approach to discussion abortion rights by platforming women who
shared how bans impacted them, Axios' Ivana Saric reported.
Out-of-pocket drug costs would cap at $2,000 per year for everyone and
insulin copays at $35 per month.
Immigration
New security measures at the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico would
be funded under a bipartisan border proposal that Harris said she'd support.
Trump, earlier this year, successfully urged congressional allies to oppose the
bill.
Her stance on the border and immigration has flip-flopped from previously
held, more liberal policy positions, Axios' Alex Thompson and Hans Nichols
reported.
Migrants would largely be barred from seeking asylum under the bipartisan
proposal, CNN reported.
Energy
Fracking could survive under a Harris presidency.
She said last month in her first formal interview with CNN as the nominee that
she wouldn't ban fracking, a reversal from a position she held during her first
presidential run.
Reality check: A fracking bill would take an act of Congress that is unlikely
anytime soon, Axios' Ben Geman reported.
Foreign policy
Harris called for a hostage and ceasefire deal during a meeting with Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in July. While her tone has been
perceived as more critical of Israel than Biden, she's been playing a similar
balancing act.
Harris said during her DNC keynote speech weeks later that said she would
"always stand up for Israel's right to defend itself." She said she and Biden
were working to secure a deal and protect Palestinians' "right to dignity,
security, freedom, and self-determination."
The pro-Palestinian activists, including the Uncommitted National Movement,
have protested at the DNC and at her campaign rallies.
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Responses:
[440842] [440845] |
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440842 |
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Date: September 07, 2024 at 20:15:35
From: Redhart, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: What to know about Kamala Harris' policy proposals |
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He wants to keep the focus on attacking Harris. OT does
NOT want focus on Trump, his horrible plans for America
and what a total turd he is.
Trump has nothing but destruction for this country if
reelected, and violence and filling his pockets and his
friends...and, of course, to keep himself out of jail
which is where he's likely going if he doesn't win.
Great platform, maga.
Trump has nothing. The GOP was insane to go with him as
their nominee. They have become the party of the insane
and violent and morally damaged Americans, as far as I
can see.
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Responses:
[440845] |
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440845 |
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Date: September 07, 2024 at 20:49:10
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: What to know about Kamala Harris' policy proposals |
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Responses:
None |
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440827 |
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Date: September 07, 2024 at 15:56:52
From: ao, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Harris has proposed a slew of economic policies. Here’s a look.. |
URL: What has your boy proposed OT? |
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Full Headline: Harris has proposed a slew of economic policies. Here’s a
look at what’s in them
Vice President Kamala Harris is out with a string of new economic proposals
focused on food prices, taxes, housing and medical costs that she says will
empower the middle class.
The plans constitute the first major policy proposals that Harris has
released in the nearly four weeks since President Joe Biden bowed out of
the race and endorsed his vice president.
A look at what Harris is proposing:
Food prices
After years of polling showing that Americans are worried about inflation,
Harris is aiming to contain prices where they have often been most
conspicuously felt — at the grocery store. She’s promising to, during her
first 100 days in office, send Congress proposed federal limits on price
increases for food producers and grocers. Harris also is seeking new
authority for the Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general in states
across the country to enact steeper punishments for violators. She also
wants to use government regulators to crack down on mergers and
acquisitions among large food industry businesses that the vice president
argues have contributed to higher prices.
Housing
Harris is calling for the construction of 3 million new housing units over four
years, which she says will ease a “serious housing shortage in America.”
She also plans to promote legislation creating a new series of tax incentives
for builders who construct “starter” homes sold to first-time homebuyers.
She also wants a $40 billion innovation fund — doubling a similar pot of
money created by the Biden administration — for businesses building
affordable rental housing units. Harris also wants to speed up permitting
and review processes to get housing stock to the market more quickly.
Harris further says she can lower rental costs by limiting investors who buy
up homes in bulk, as well as curbing the use of price-setting tools that she
argues encourage collusion to increase profits among landlords. She also
wants to expand a Biden administration plan providing $25,000 in potential
down payment assistance to help some renters buy a home, so that it will
include a much larger swath of first-time home buyers across the country.
The vice president also has endorsed repurposing some federal land to
make room for new affordable housing, an idea that Biden endorsed while
still running for president and that Trump has also spoken about favorably.
Taxes and medical costs
Harris wants to speed up a Biden administration effort that has allowed
Medicare and other federal programs to negotiate with drugmakers to lower
the cost of prescription medications, aiming to cut the price tags of some of
the most expensive and most commonly used drugs by roughly 40 percent
to 80 percent starting in 2026. She’s also promised to promote competition
with steps to increase transparency within pharmaceutical company pricing
practices.
Harris also pledged to work with state entities to cancel $7 billion of medical
debt for up to 3 million qualifying Americans.
The vice president also proposed to make permanent a $3,600 per child tax
credit approved through 2025 for eligible families, while offering a new
$6,000 tax credit for those with newborn children. She says a Harris
administration would work to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit to cut
taxes for some frontline workers by up to $1,500 and reduce taxes on
healthcare plans offered on the marketplace created by the Affordable Care
Act.
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Responses:
None |
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