WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris said Tuesday that she wouldn’t have executed something in a different way than Joe Biden has executed as president over the past 4 years, promptly drawing assaults from Republicans desperate to forged her as a clone of Biden, who stays unpopular.
“There is not a thing that comes to mind,” Harris mentioned throughout an interview on ABC’s “The View.” “And I’ve been part of most of the decisions that have had impact.”
The Democratic presidential nominee then listed their administration’s main legislative accomplishments, together with capping the price of insulin for Medicare recipients at $35 and passing a bipartisan infrastructure funding bundle.
Requested how a Harris presidency would differ from Biden’s, she mentioned they’re “obviously two different people” however didn’t give many specifics.
“We have a lot of shared life experiences — for example, the way we feel about our family and our parents and so on. But we’re also different people, and I will bring those sensibilities to how I lead,” Harris mentioned.
“One of the issues that I’m very focused on is what we do around home health care,” she added.
The vice chairman used her look on “The View” to announce a significant new initiative geared toward increasing Medicare to cowl the price of long-term in-home take care of seniors and other people with disabilities.
Polling knowledge suggests voters wish to see some daylight between Harris and Biden, who dropped out of the presidential race earlier this yr after intraparty questions on his age and skill to win in November. In keeping with September polling from Democratic analysis agency Blueprint, a listing of hypothetical statements Harris may make evaluating herself to the sitting president carried out finest after they “displayed a clear break between her and Biden,” and worse after they didn’t.
Harris aides are grappling with how a lot to distance her marketing campaign from the president with lower than 4 weeks to go till Election Day, together with rolling out new plans on what she would do in workplace, in keeping with CNN. A senior adviser to the vice chairman who spoke to the outlet summed up the problem: “When you’re trying to reach undecided low-intensity voters, how do you actually communicate difference with Biden?”
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Biden has actually struggled on some points politically. Immigration grew to become one in all his largest vulnerabilities, even because it was Republicans in Congress who killed a bipartisan Senate deal that might have tightened border safety. The GOP has additionally routinely blamed Biden for top inflation, at the same time as economists have mentioned it wasn’t largely his (or Donald Trump’s) fault.
Maybe most manifestly, the president has failed to make use of his affect to realize a ceasefire deal in Gaza, the place Israel has been waging a navy assault within the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023 terror assaults. Biden has overseen billions in navy help to Israel because it bombards the area, spurring a humanitarian disaster that’s left tens of 1000’s of Palestinian civilians useless. Harris has spoken concerning the plight of Palestinians, however has not publicly pushed again towards his insurance policies.
Harris’ largest breaks with Biden up to now embody encouraging assist for cryptocurrencies and proposing a 28% tax on long-term capital good points. (The president referred to as for elevating it to 39.6%.)
Later within the ABC interview, Harris introduced up one different factor that she mentioned she’d do in a different way from Biden as president.
“I plan on having a Republican in my cabinet,” she mentioned. “What’s the difference between Joe Biden and me? Well, that will be one of the differences.”
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Republican officers wasted no time in seizing on Harris’ feedback, saying they disproved her marketing campaign’s narrative that she represents “change” in America.
“We told you. And now Kamala Harris has told you. She openly admits she would NOT have done anything differently than Joe Biden,” Home Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) wrote in a publish on X, previously Twitter. “A Harris Administration is just 4 more years of the same failed policies.”
“A vote for Kamala Harris is a vote for four more years of Biden’s policies on inflation, the border, and national security―only with even less competent leadership,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) added in one other publish.
The Trump marketing campaign piled on, too, sharing a clip from Harris’ interview on social media and mocking some repeated phrasing in her feedback, alongside a thinking-face emoji.
