As Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump participate in their first and possibly only debate of the 2024 presidential campaign, they’re expected to field questions about some of the most pressing issues for Americans, including the economy, immigration, abortion access, foreign affairs and others.
Harris, a latecomer to the race who earned the nomination after President Biden announced he was dropping out, has not announced many policies during the course of her short campaign, but she has released some proposals and has her record as vice president. Here are some key points from the plans she’s offered, information about her record and what she’s said about some of these subjects.
Tax plan
Trump and Harris have competing tax plans. Both nominees’ plans would have to be passed by Congress, which has the power of the purse. Here’s what Harris has proposed so far:
- Harris says she’d provide bigger tax benefits for families but would offset the costs by raising corporate taxes, while Trump has said he’d extend the tax cuts enacted in 2017.
- Under Harris’ tax plan, according to an analysis by the Penn Wharton Budget Model, 95% of Americans would see lower taxes, and higher earners would pay more taxes. The top 0.1% — whose annual average income exceeds $14 million — would pay about $167,000 more in taxes.
- Harris wants to eliminate federal taxes on tips, which Trump first proposed.
- She also says she wants to provide a financial cushion for small businesses with a tenfold increase in the startup expense deduction — lifting it from $5,000 to $50,000. New businesses wouldn’t need to claim the deduction in their first year, when many take losses and would not be able to use it. Instead, they’d be able to wait until they’re profitable and use the deduction at that time. Businesses would also be able to take part of the deduction in one year and save the rest for future years.
Child tax credit
- After Trump’s running mate JD Vance pitched boosting the child tax credit to $5,000, up from the current top tax break of $2,000, Harris one-upped Vance’s number, suggesting a child tax credit of $6,000, although this would be for the parents of newborns.
- Harris also suggests a return to the pandemic-era expansion of the child tax credit, up to $3,600 for young children. She hasn’t released income eligibility thresholds, but it’s likely that it would phase out for those at higher income levels.
- Earlier this year, Senate Republicans blocked legislation that would have increased the child tax credit.
Housing shortage
Harris says she’d address the nation’s housing shortage with several initiatives. She promises to build 3 million affordable new homes and rentals by the end of her first term, offering tax breaks to builders who construct homes for first-time home buyers. She’s also proposing a $40 billion fund to help local governments find solutions to the low housing stock.
And she wants to provide Americans who have paid their rent on time for two years with up to $25,000 in down-payment assistance, with more support for first-generation homeowners.
Inflation
- Inflation has cooled nearly to pre-pandemic levels — it’s now at 2.9% — but prices have risen nearly 21% since the beginning of the pandemic. A recent survey found two-thirds of middle-income families said they’re falling behind their cost of living
- Harris is trying to address the effects of inflation on lower- and middle-class Americans, an approach used by the Biden administration. She blames price gouging by food suppliers and grocery chains for high prices at the store and pledges to take on corporations with the first federal law against price gouging. Economists have expressed doubts about the efficacy of such a law because they say that the reasons for food inflation are complex.
- She also wants to lower prescription drug costs, which has been a focus for the Biden administration. Last month, the White House announced Medicare reached agreements with drug manufacturers for lower prices for 10 drugs that treat a range of ailments, from heart failure and blood clots to diabetes, resulting in savings for patients of 38% to 79%, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It was Harris who cast the tie-breaking vote for the Inflation Reduction Act, which granted Medicare the drug negotiating authority.
Immigration
- Harris has not yet issued an immigration policy platform. At campaign events, Harris has mostly brought up the bipartisan border security deal that collapsed in Congress earlier this year after Trump urged GOP lawmakers to reject it. Harris has promised to revive the bill and accused Trump of scuttling it for political reasons.
- The legislation would have enacted permanent restrictions on asylum, given the president the power to quickly deport migrants when border crossings soar and boosted the ranks of border agents, deportation officers, immigration judges and asylum adjudicators. It would also have expanded legal immigration, allocating 50,000 new immigrant visas annually for five years.
- While the bipartisan border deal did not include a legalization program for undocumented immigrants — a longtime Democratic priority in immigration negotiations — Harris has expressed support for an “earned” path to citizenship for this population on the campaign trail.
- Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Harris’ campaign manager, signaled to CBS News that Harris would likely continue a June order by Mr. Biden that has severely curtailed access to the U.S. asylum system. It’s a move officials credit for a four-year-low in illegal border crossings.
- Harris’ campaign has tried to distance her from the more liberal immigration positions she espoused when she was a presidential candidate in 2020. Those prior positions included an openness to decriminalizing the act of crossing the border without authorization and overhauling Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Abortion
Harris and Trump have opposing views on abortion access, an issue that could be a crucial motivator for voters in November.
- Both Trump and Harris have highlighted the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, and the role that the three justices appointed by Trump played in that landmark decision, albeit for different reasons: Trump has touted his nomination of three of the five justices who voted to overturn Roe, while Harris has criticized her opponent for specifically selecting justices who would dismantle the constitutional right to abortion. Since the high court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, nearly one-third of states have near-total bans on the procedure in place, while access to abortion is severely restricted in a handful of others.
- Harris has made abortion rights a focal point of her campaign and lambasted “Trump abortion bans” on the trail.
- In her speech at the Democratic National Convention accepting the party’s presidential nominee, the vice president pledged to sign into law legislation that restores the federal right to abortion — if such a bill is passed by Congress.
IVF
Access to in vitro fertilization services became a campaign issue after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that frozen embryos created during the IVF process could be considered children. The decision threatened the availability of IVF services in Alabama and thrust access to fertility treatments into the national conversation, including among the presidential candidates.
- Harris has repeatedly said she supports the right of women to make their own decisions about their bodies and family-planning, and told the crowd at the DNC that since Roe’s reversal, she has heard stories of couples who have had their IVF treatments cut off.
- The vice president said in a video shared to social media that Trump “is literally the architect of this entire crisis,” and said the Alabama ruling is a “direct result” of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe.
Climate
Harris has not outlined her climate policy yet, but she is expected to continue to pursue the goals of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which funded energy and climate projects aimed at reducing carbon emissions by 40% by 2030.
- As vice president, Harris advocates moving the country toward a “clean energy economy” while not completely backing away from oil and gas, which is a major industry in battleground states like Pennsylvania. The Keystone State is one of the top natural gas producers in the country.
- In an interview with CNN, Harris said that as president, she wouldn’t ban fracking — a technique for extracting natural gas from shale — a departure from a statement she made in 2019 that she’d support a fracking ban. Citing the creation of 300,000 clean energy jobs during the Biden administration, she told CNN that her experience as vice president shows “we can increase a thriving clean energy economy without banning fracking.”
- A Harris campaign spokesperson said 300,000 clean energy jobs were created under the Biden-Harris administration in both 2021 and 2022.
- The Democratic Party platform says it will increase protections against drilling and mining in the Arctic, although U.S. oil production has hit record highs during Mr. Biden’s presidency. Mr. Biden approved almost 50% more gas and oil leases during his time in office than Trump did during his first three years in office.
- Trump has vowed to undo what he calls Biden’s “electric vehicle mandate” on Day One in office. A spokesperson for Harris’ campaign told Axios Harris doesn’t support an electric vehicle mandate. The Biden administration has not issued a mandate, but it has introduced incentives to encourage Americans to buy EVs and set a target that half of all new vehicle sales be zero emissions by 2030.
Guns
- President Biden in 2022 signed the most significant update to gun safety law in almost three decades in the wake of mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and New York. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act augmented background checks for gun buyers under 21, provided billions for mental health services and closed the so-called “boyfriend loophole” to prevent convicted domestic abusers from purchasing a firearm for five years. It also clarified the definition of gun dealers — 26 GOP-led states are suing to block this provision. The measure also creates penalties for straw purchases and gun trafficking. In 2023, Mr. Biden announced the creation of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, to be overseen by Harris.
- Before she became the nominee, Harris visited Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the site of the 2018 mass shooting that left 17 dead, where she called on states to pass “red flag” laws, which allow courts to seize guns from those deemed to be a threat to themselves or others. Twenty-one states have enacted red flag laws, but many do not enforce them. She also announced federal funding and resources aimed at providing training and technical assistance to help states with their red flag programs. In 2024, the Justice Department announced the creation of the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center, dedicated to training and technical assistance to support states and localities in implementing their red flag programs.
- At her speech at the Democratic National Convention, Harris only made passing reference to gun violence. “In this election, many other fundamental freedoms are at stake,” she said. “The freedom to live safe from gun violence in our schools, communities and places of worship.”
Education
- As a senator, Harris backed a bill that would have provided tuition-free college for most families.
- The Democratic Party’s platform also calls for free college tuition for all. This is not an idea Harris has been discussing on the campaign trail.
Israel and Gaza
Both Harris and Trump have, at times, been critical of Israel’s handling of its war against Hamas in Gaza. But neither has threatened to pull support for the ally.
- Harris has called the bloodshed in Gaza “devastating,” but vowed there would be no change in policy toward Israel.
- She has pushed for a cease-fire deal that would release the remaining hostages held by Hamas.
- She backs a two-state solution.
Ukraine and Russia
- Harris pledged in her DNC address that she “will stand strong with Ukraine and our NATO allies.”
- Harris accused Russia of committing “crimes against humanity” in Ukraine a year after the war began.
- The Biden administration has spearheaded a number of aid packages for Ukraine, including weapons, and worked with allies to sanction Russia for its invasion. Still, the administration’s response — especially early on in the war — has been criticized as slow-moving, and more recently, Republican opposition in Congress further slowed aid to Ukraine.
China
Harris has offered few details about how her China policy would differ from Mr. Biden’s. In her Democratic National Convention speech, Harris said “America — not China — wins the competition for the 21st century.”
- She told “Face the Nation” in September 2023 that the U.S.-China economic relationship is “not about decoupling, it is about de-risking.”
- Harris briefly met Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2022 in Bangkok amid friction between the two countries. The vice president said she stressed the need to “maintain open lines of communication to responsibly manage the competition between our countries.”
- She has condemned China’s aggression in the South China Sea, accusing it of “undermining key elements of the international rules-based order” and coercing and intimidating its neighbors.
- Harris has also reaffirmed U.S. support for Taiwan.
- In the Senate, Harris cosponsored the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act and the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act. Trump signed both into law.
Iran nuclear deal
It’s unclear whether Harris would seek to renegotiate a new nuclear deal with Iran if she wins the election. During the 2020 campaign, Harris, who was running in a crowded Democratic presidential primary, told the Council on Foreign Relations that she would seek to rejoin the Iran nuclear agreement, “so long as Iran also returned to verifiable compliance.”
