RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is promoting a broad set of economic proposals that would offer new tax breaks and lower the cost of living for Americans, aiming to address the financial concerns that are at the top of the mind for voters and that Republican Donald Trump is trying to lay at her doorstep.
Harris traveled to the battleground state of North Carolina to lay out her plans on Friday, including a proposal for a federal ban on price gouging on groceries. She also is proposing $25,000 in down payment help for certain first-time homebuyers and tax incentives for builders of starter homes, among other things.
Harris is calling for tax breaks aimed at families, as well as middle- and lower-income people. She would expand the child tax credit to up to $3,600 — and $6,000 for children in their first year of life. Harris would expand the earned income tax credit to cover people in lower-income jobs without children, which the campaign estimates would cut their effective tax rate by $1,500. Harris also wants to lower health insurance premiums through the Affordable Care Act.
Overall, the plan represents a continuation of many Biden administration priorities but with a pronounced shift in emphasis from job creation and infrastructure and to matters more closely tied to easing the cost of living -– food prices, housing and tax breaks for families. Many initiatives would require congressional approval, which is far from assured in the current political environment, and there were scant details on how to pay for the ideas.
Some of Trump's economic advisers offered rebuttals, with Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the former president's campaign, calling the vice president's plans representative of "the most socialist and authoritarian model." Kevin Hassett, a former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors during the Trump administration, called it "completely preposterous" for the government to play a role in setting food prices, a reference to Harris' proposed federal ban on "corporate price-gouging" in food and groceries.
Stephen Moore, who has advised Trump on economic issues, argued that inflation increases under the Biden administration have been "catastrophic," and charged that the Biden administration and Harris "try to blame a lot of the problems that they've created on Trump."
But the vice president is actually seeking to blunt Trump's attacks on her as "a radical California liberal who broke the economy," as he put in during a speech Thursday at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he displayed popular grocery store items meant to represent the high cost of food.
Year-over-year inflation has reached its lowest level in more than three years, but food prices are still 21% above where they were three years ago. A Labor Department report this week showed that nearly all of July's inflation reflected higher rental prices and other housing costs, a trend that, according to real-time data, is easing. As a result, housing costs should rise more slowly in the coming months, contributing to lower inflation.
Harris' grocery pricing proposal would instruct the Federal Trade Commission to penalize "big corporations" that engage in price spikes and singles out a lack of competition in the meat-packing industry for driving up meat prices.
Polls show that Americans are more likely to trust Trump over Harris when it comes to handling the economy: Some 45% say Trump is better positioned to handle the economy, while 38% say that about Harris. About 1 in 10 trust neither Harris nor Trump to better handle the economy, according to the latest Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll.
Riding a resurgence of enthusiasm since the Democrats' campaign reboot, Harris has embarked on a battleground state blitz in recent weeks that has broadened the number of races viewed as competitive by strategists. In North Carolina, Democrats are navigating renewed energy with caution in an economically dynamic state that hasn't been won by a Democratic presidential candidate since Barack Obama in 2008.
North Carolina has been a hot spot for visits from Biden and Harris this year. After Biden's disastrous debate performance against Trump in June, Raleigh was the first city where he held a rally in an attempt to reenergize Democratic voters. Harris also made two North Carolina stops — in Greensboro and Fayetteville — in the weeks leading up to Biden's decision to drop out of the race.
Gov. Roy Cooper told Friday's crowd, "I have that 2008 feeling."
"We in North Carolina know what that means, because that's the last time we voted for a Democratic nominee for president, Barack Obama," Cooper said. "It is time North Carolina makes history again."
North Carolina State University political science professor Steven Greene said that the state "went from a situation where Joe Biden was almost surely going down in defeat here, whereas Kamala Harris has a very real chance of winning,"
Deborah Holder, a 68-year-old Raleigh resident who runs six McDonalds, said of the vice president, "Her culture is something that is going to be a huge strength for her, because she'll be able to look at the rest of us not just as her constituents, but as people that she has dealt with in all walks of life,"
As a business owner, Holder said she'd like for the vice president to outline ways she plans to aid small businesses across the country.
"We are the backbone of this country, we are the people that hire people," she said.
Dan Kanninen, battleground states director for the Harris campaign, said North Carolina "is as likely as any of those states to be the tipping point state, so we've invested in it heavily since the beginning."
Harris is trying to strike a balance in defining her own image and economic agenda while still giving credit for the Biden administration's track record.
Biden was asked Thursday whether he thought Harris would distance herself from his economic record. "She's not going to," he said.
In their first joint speaking event since Biden dropped out, he and Harris were in Maryland on Thursday where they showcased successful negotiations to lower prices for Medicare recipients on 10 prescription drugs. The shift was enabled by a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act, a sprawling law largely focused on climate and health care policy.
During the event, Harris praised Biden and said "few leaders in our nation have done more" to make health care affordable. The president critiqued large pharmaceutical companies and argued that Trump is "fighting to get rid of what we just passed."
Biden echoed some of the policies being proposed by Harris as he made the case for his economic legacy.
"I have no problem with companies making money, but not with price gouging," Biden said. "I thank God that in the last three months that I am president of the United States I was able to finally get done what I tried to get done when I was a young senator."
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Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard contributed to this report from Chapin, South Carolina.