ANALYSIS — Vice President Kamala Harris expressed confidence in an interview that aired Monday night that she could get her agenda through Congress, though she signaled a fight with lawmakers over how to pay for it.
Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, was interviewed by “60 Minutes” on CBS as some polls showed a close race getting even tighter with less than a month until Election Day. That included the seven key battleground states expected to decide the contest.
Harris was questioned by correspondent Bill Whitaker for the first half of the show. The second half initially was intended for Scott Pelley to interview former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, but Trump backed out. Asked about her opponent no-showing the program, the vice president encouraged viewers to tune in to his campaign events.
“Watch his rallies. You’re going to hear conversations about himself and all of his personal grievances,” Harris said. “And what you will not hear is anything about you, the listener. You will not hear about how he’s going to try and bring the country together, find common ground. That’s why I believe … the American people are ready to turn the page.”
In Pennsylvania, an Emerson College poll had Harris and Trump tied. A RealClearPolitics average of several recent surveys showed the same. The same Emerson poll gave Trump a 1 percentage point advantage in North Carolina, a state he carried in 2016 and 2020.
Whitaker pressed the vice president on a range of issues. Here are four takeaways.
Pay-fors?
Harris was pushed on how she, if elected, would pay for what would be a pricey agenda.
She has proposed tax breaks and other federal aid for first-time homebuyers, would-be small-business owners and parents, accompanied by revenue from a proposal to raise corporate tax rates.
“My plan is about saying that when you invest in small businesses you invest in the middle class, and you strengthen America’s economy,” she said before Whitaker interjected: “Pardon me, Madam Vice President, the question was, ‘How are you going to pay for it?’”
“Well, one of the things I’m going to make sure that the richest among us — who can afford it — pay their fair share in taxes,” Harris said. “It is not right that teachers and nurses and firefighters are paying a higher tax rate than billionaires and the biggest corporations. And I plan on making that fair.”
Harris almost certainly would face an uphill fight on Capitol Hill to pass any tax hikes, though myriad Trump-era tax reductions are scheduled to expire at the end of 2025.
‘A capitalist’
Harris suggested she is banking on pressure from voters to help her get that economic plan through what analysts expect will be a narrowly divided Congress, no matter which party wins control of the House and Senate.
“When we talk quietly with a lot of people in Congress, they know exactly what I’m talking about because their constituents know what I’m talking about. Their constituents are those firefighters and teachers and nurses … middle-class, hard-working folks,” she told Whitaker.
“I disagree with you,” Harris replied when the correspondent noted there is scant evidence that many lawmakers want to pass her plans. “There are plenty of leaders in Congress who understand and know that the Trump tax cuts blew up our federal deficit. … I’m also a capitalist. … I know the limitations of government.”
Harris’ best bet to get some of her proposals through Congress likely would be Democratic majorities in both chambers, allowing the party to use the reconciliation process. A number of Democratic congressional candidates are polling ahead of Harris.
‘Netanyahu is not listening’
Perhaps Whitaker’s most pointed questions came about Israel’s conduct of its war against Hamas in Gaza and military strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Whitaker noted that the U.S. sends Israel hundreds of billions of dollars in military aid, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not heeded the Biden administration’s warnings about how it has executed the conflict. “Does the U.S. have no sway over Prime Minister Netanyahu?” he asked.
“Now, the work that we do diplomatically, with the leadership of Israel, is an ongoing pursuit around making clear our principles, which include the need for humanitarian aid, the need for this war to end, the need for a deal to be done, which would release the hostages and create a cease-fire,” Harris replied. “And we’re not going to stop in terms of putting that pressure on Israel and in the region, including Arab leaders.”
The Biden administration has little to show for its diplomatic outreach to other Arab countries, and no Arab peacekeeping force has emerged to patrol Gaza, should the conflict end or be paused.
Whitaker shot back that “it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening.”
“Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of, many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region,” Harris replied.
But some pro-Palestinian groups have said the Biden administration has not done enough and been too ineffective at restraining Netanyahu. As Harris spoke at an Oct. 7 remembrance event in Washington on Monday, protesters could be heard outside her residence at the Naval Observatory chanting and banging drums.
Notably, she declined to answer in the affirmative when asked if Netanyahu is a true “close ally.”
‘It’s about surrender’
Harris also took several jabs at Trump, saying she believes she will win next month because her campaign is about helping voters, “not trying to divide us.”
She is betting that voters will side with her vision of leadership, which she described as being “not based on who you beat down, it’s based on who you lift up.”
Harris also criticized Trump’s foreign policy proposals, including his statements about ending the Ukraine-Russia war as quickly as possible, if he is elected again.
“Donald Trump, if he were president, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now,” she said. “He talks about, oh, he can end it on day one. You know what that is? It’s about surrender.”
Earlier Monday, Trump told a conservative radio host that undocumented immigrants have brought “bad genes” into the United States, prompting a rebuke from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
“That type of language is hateful, it’s disgusting, it’s inappropriate,” she told reporters during a briefing. “It has no place in our country.”
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