Tag Archives: Harris-Walz 2024

Economic Development, Economic Policies, Election 2024, Jobs, Manufacturing, News & Photo Features

Harris-Walz Campaign: A New Way Forward To Build American Industrial Strength, Powered by American Workers

Vice President Kamala Harris, campaigning for president, released details of additional plans as part of the Harris-Walz pragmatic agenda to invest in and rebuild America’s industrial capacity. This strategy builds on their core priorities of lowering costs for families, restoring families’ basic economic security and ensuring the middle class continues to be a source of growth for our economy, while investing in American innovation and entrepreneurship. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Critics suggest that Vice President Kamala Harris has not detailed her plans as president (while not seeking the same detail from Donald Trump). Here, Harris documents “A New Way Forward” to build American industrial strength, powered by American workers. She intends to use new America Forward Tax Credits to incentivize investment in strategic industries critical to U.S. leadership in the global economy, removing barriers, while creating well-paying union jobs. This fact sheet was provided by the Harris-Walz campaign: – Karen Rubin/[email protected]

Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are committed to building a stronger economy where everyone has an opportunity to chase their dreams and aspirations, and where the United States continues to out-innovate and out-compete the world in the 21st century. Today, they are releasing additional plans as part of their pragmatic agenda to invest in and continue to rebuild America’s industrial capacity. This strategy builds on their core priorities of lowering costs for families, restoring families’ basic economic security and ensuring the middle class continues to be a source of growth for our economy, while investing in American innovation and entrepreneurship.

Vice President Harris and Governor Walz know that building our capabilities requires investments in our workforce, foundational research, incentives to deploy new technologies, and reforms to build factories and facilities across America at scale and speed. Their plan will do that. They will empower American workers—including union workers and those without a college degree—to surge America’s lead in the industries of the future, revitalize manufacturing communities so that they are at the cutting-edge of manufacturing growth, and cut red tape so America can build more and faster. These efforts will enable the United States to maintain its competitive edge in the industries that are strategic to our economic and national security.

In Vice President Harris and Governor Walz’s vision of an Opportunity Economy, America vigorously invests in and competes for the future, through a strategy that insists on creating opportunity for all and leaving no areas or set of workers behind. Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are calling for a New Way Forward for the middle class—where America invests in the most strategic industries of the future, with a plan to ensure workers and communities share in the benefits of those investments.

The American people face a choice in this election between two fundamentally different paths for our economy. Donald Trump and J.D. Vance’s Project 2025 agenda would weaken the economy and hurt the middle class. Vice President Harris and Governor Walz’s plan will build up the middle class and make sure our economy works for everyone. They know the American economy is the most powerful force for innovation and wealth creation in human history. Their pragmatic approach to strengthening the middle class, supporting workers and unions, and driving our economy forward is grounded in the fundamental values of fairness, dignity, and opportunity.

Launching “America Forward”—To Build America’s Industrial Base and Lead in the Industries of the Future. Vice President Harris and Governor Walz will create an America Forward strategy to drive a new era in American industry and help deploy technologies and manufacture them at scale. Across America Forward investments, a Harris-Walz Administration will focus on making products in America and supporting workers, manufacturing communities, and energy communities. Their strategy will build an economy where all Americans have the chance to compete and succeed.

Vice President Harris and Governor Walz’s America Forward strategy will accelerate our progress, building on the historic investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act. Those landmark laws have already spurred billions of dollars of new private investment in emerging technologies and public funding for clean energy technologies, basic research, semiconductor manufacturing, and more.

Creating America Forward Tax Credits. To build America’s industrial base and continue to lead the world, Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are proposing America Forward tax credits targeting investment and job creation in key strategic industries essential to our economic growth and national security. The America Forward tax credits will be linked to the treatment of workers, ensuring the right to organize, and supporting investments in longstanding manufacturing, energy, and agricultural communities.

Investments that would benefit from the America Forward tax credits include, for example:

  • Investments That Make Sure America—Not China—Leads in the Critical Industries of the Future. ​​Vice President Harris and Governor Walz’s strategy is designed to maintain and extend America’s edge in industries of the future. This includes modernizing and reducing emissions in steel and iron production, developing biotechnology that can help produce critical medicines and new sustainable materials, investing in Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovation and building new data centers for AI, expanding clean energy manufacturing and innovation, revitalizing America’s semiconductor industry, investing in aerospace, autos, and other forms of transportation, and producing industrial tools and machines critical to our national and economic security. America cannot sit on the sidelines and cede leadership to nations like China, jeopardizing our national security. From her work on the development and implementation of the White House executive order on AI to her global leadership on AI safety and the convenings she has hosted with labor and civil rights leaders, Vice President Harris has always prioritized innovation that not only keeps America in the lead but that strengthens America’s workforce, protects consumers, and keeps Americans safe.
    • Rewarding Investment That Brings All Areas and Workers Along. Vice President Harris and Governor Walz believe that no one who grows up in one of America’s great industrial or agricultural centers should be abandoned. The America Forward tax credits will provide significant additional benefits to investments made in longstanding manufacturing, energy, and agricultural communities, or longstanding steel and iron communities such as Pennsylvania’s Mon Valley. These new tax credits will also reward companies that work with unions and communities to support workers and to protect jobs.

Creating Opportunity for All Workers, Including Those Without a College Degree. Vice President Harris and Governor Walz believe that anyone with the skills to do a job should be able to get the job, whether or not they have a formal degree. There are tens of millions of good-paying jobs that do not require a college degree—and their plan to invest in America’s industrial capacity will create even more. They will address barriers holding workers without a degree back from working in jobs that they can succeed in and earning a good salary where they live.

Vice President Harris and Governor Walz pledge to eliminate unnecessary degree requirements and promote meaningful pathways for those without college degrees for 500,000 federal jobs—and challenge the business community to do the same. They will also support partnerships with businesses, unions, school districts, community colleges, and faith-based groups to expand access to high-quality, evidence-based programs and create millions of new training opportunities such as registered apprenticeships, pre-apprenticeships, joint-labor management partnerships, and other training opportunities that lead to a good job. In particular, they will set a goal to double the number of registered apprenticeships in America by the end of their first term—in industries ranging from advanced manufacturing to the trades to teaching to health care to cybersecurity and more, as well as a focus on opportunities for youth. Vice President Harris and Governor Walz will also continue to invest in America’s public schools and strengthen STEM education as we prepare the next generation of workers and researchers to compete globally. And they remain committed to cutting red tape by reducing barriers to occupational licensing across state lines, as well as ensuring that workers continue to have good-paying jobs and opportunities amid technological advances.

In addition, Vice President Harris and Governor Walz will reform our tax laws to make it easier for businesses to let workers share in their company’s success, including through broad-based employee stock ownership, profit-sharing plans, and comparable arrangements, with appropriate guardrails to ensure these plans benefit and protect workers.

Invest To Develop and Secure America’s Research Base. Vice President Harris and Governor Walz know that America’s edge in the development of new technologies arises from our ability to lead in basic research while also commercializing at scale. They are proposing a significant investment to shore up our national and economic security by making sure the United States—not China—leads in AI, quantum computing, blockchain, clean technology, biomanufacturing, semiconductors, and other key technology research areas. They will do this by scaling up and making permanent the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource, a shared public research infrastructure to give startups, researchers, and students access to the most advanced computing power, data, and analytical tools, to surge responsible discovery and innovation in AI and allow them to compete with large, privately funded AI companies. They will also ramp up investments in the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy’s national labs, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and other public research and development agencies to keep America at the forefront of technological development.

Safeguarding Access to Critical Minerals for American Manufacturing. Vice President Harris and Governor Walz’s strategy will build a U.S. stockpile and create incentives to build out domestic processing capacity of critical minerals necessary for our economic and national security, including by launching a national reserve for these resources and leveraging the Defense Production Act, Department of Energy resources, and other tools. Increased domestic production will be paired with innovative and sustainable steps to build stronger critical mineral supply chains alongside our allies and partners, including by incentivizing investments that expand U.S. and allied production of these resources. These efforts will reduce our dependence on China, which leads production on many critical minerals.

Building More—and Faster—by Cutting Red Tape. Vice President Harris and Governor Walz know that it takes too long and costs too much to build in America. They support reforms to build projects in the industries of the future more quickly and efficiently and that these projects reflect community input and protect our environment and public health.

Thanks to Vice President Harris’s leadership, we have already made tremendous progress in accelerating new manufacturing projects with strong community buy-in, including through Project Labor Agreements and Community Benefit Agreements. Vice President Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to secure $1 billion under the Inflation Reduction Act to speed permitting review, and she helped finalize a rule to modernize environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act that creates new ways for projects to qualify for the simplest form of environmental review, promotes early public engagement, and accelerates project reviews while setting clear deadlines.

Vice President Haris and Governor Walz will be laser-focused on accelerating projects and unleashing the full potential of American industry by cutting red tape that slows projects down, including through permitting reform that ensures projects are built quickly and efficiently, reflect public input and public priorities, and protect our environment and public health.

Leveling the Playing Field. Vice President Harris won’t let other countries such as China undermine these investments in our workers and U.S. manufacturing. The Biden-Harris Administration has stood up to China when it breaks the rules—including when China threatens American workers and businesses by engaging in unfair trade practices such as flooding the global marketplace with artificially low-priced goods, undermining American shipbuilding, or engaging in forced technology transfer or intellectual property theft. As President, she will never hesitate to take swift and strong measures when China undermines the rules of the road at the expense of our workers, our communities, and our companies. She will also crack down on counterfeit and unsafe goods from China to protect American entrepreneurs, innovators, small businesses, and consumers. She believes in upholding and strengthening international economic rules and norms that protect fair trade and create predictability and stability.

Supporting American-Made Products. Vice President Harris and Governor Walz will enforce Buy America requirements and strengthen the work of the Made in America Office that launched three years ago. They will also focus on contracting with firms that produce in America. In contrast, under Donald Trump’s presidency, he awarded $425 billion—one in four dollars of all federal contracts—to companies engaged in offshoring.

Ensuring These Investments in American Innovation Are Paid For. Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are committed to fiscal responsibility—making investments that will support our economy, while paying for them and reducing the deficit at the same time. This plan will cost approximately $100 billion and will be paid for by a portion of the proceeds of international tax reform, which seeks to prevent a global race to the bottom and to discourage inversions, outsourcing, or international tax strategies designed by corporations to avoid paying their fair share to the United States.

* * *

Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are charting a New Way Forward—to a future where everyone has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead. They will invest in the competitive advantages that make America the strongest nation on Earth—our workers, innovation, and industry—so that America remains a leader in the industries of the future.

Donald Trump, by contrast, failed to deliver for American manufacturing. His presidency was a tale of broken promises. His signature legislative achievement was a $2 trillion tax law that overwhelmingly favored the wealthiest Americans and the largest corporations, making the rich richer.

As a result of Trump’s trade war and his disastrous mismanagement of the pandemic response, by the end of his presidency he wiped out more than half of the manufacturing jobs gained from nearly a decade before. He let China seize the advantage in the production of key technologies, stood by while factories closed and jobs were lost, and tried to cut funding for the loan and research programs that have been advancing American technology. He failed to pass serious legislation that could have boosted our infrastructure or advanced American manufacturing—but the Biden-Harris Administration got it done.

A second Trump presidency would be even worse. His Project 2025 agenda would repeal the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, threatening hundreds of thousands of new manufacturing jobs. And he would establish what is effectively a national sales tax on everything from groceries to prescription drugs, costing middle-class families nearly $4,000 a year.

Election 2024, Immigration-Migration-Refugees, News & Photo Features

VP Kamala Harris at the Border: ‘I Will Protect Our Nation’s Sovereignty, Secure Our Border, and Work To Fix Our Broken System Of Immigration’

 “We cannot accept Donald Trump’s failure to lead. We should not permit scapegoating instead of solutions.”

“We can have an earned pathway to citizenship and secure borders.”

New Yorkers in 2018 protest Donald Trump’s inhumane family separation policy. Vice President Kamala Harris called out Trump’s failure to lead – even obstruct real immigration reform in order to scapegoat immigrants during the campaign – while offering commonsense, humane solutions that secure the border and finally fix the dysfunctional immigration system © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

In an address at the U.S.-Mexico border in Douglas, Arizona, Vice President Kamala Harris called for tougher security measures at the border and directly called out Donald Trump’s failures as President to secure the border and his deliberate actions to block bipartisan legislation to do so.

She slammed Donald Trump for wanting to run on a problem instead of fix a problem, saying, “The American people deserve a President who cares more about border security than playing political games.” She reminded that cruelty was not a “bug” but a deliberate feature of Trump’s handling of asylum-seekers and migrants, cruelty.

As a former border state Attorney General, Kamala Harris understands what security and enforcing the law at the border means, prosecuting transnational criminal organizations for the trafficking of guns, drugs, and human beings. She unveiled her approach to “target the entire global fentanyl supply chain” to “significantly reduce the flow of precursor chemicals from China” and protect Americans from the “unimaginable destruction” it is causing.

“On behalf of all communities across our nation that want to see these problems solved I say: We cannot accept Donald Trump’s failure to lead. We should not permit scapegoating instead of solutions. Or rhetoric instead of results, said Vice President Harris. “As your President, I will: Protect our nation’s sovereignty. Secure our border. And work to fix our broken system of immigration…I reject the false choice that suggests we must choose between securing our border or creating a system of immigration that is safe, orderly, and humane. We can and must do both…

“As President, I will put politics aside to fix our immigration system, and find solutions to problems which have persisted for far too long.”

Below is a highlighted, slightly edited transcript of Harris’ remarks:

Arizona: There are highly consequential issues at stake in this election.

And one is the security of our border.

The United States is a sovereign nation.

And I believe we have a duty to set rules at our border, and to enforce them.

I take that responsibility very seriously.

We are also a nation of immigrants.

The United States has been enriched by generations of people who have come from every corner of the world to contribute to our country and become part of the American story.

And we must reform our immigration system, to ensure that:

It works in an orderly way.

It is humane.

And it makes our country stronger.

I have just come from visiting the border and the port of entry in Douglas.

I spoke with dedicated agents from border patrol, and customs officers who, every day, oversee the flow of commercial traffic through the port.

The men and women who work there, and at other places along our southern border, help keep our nation secure.

And they need more resources to do their jobs.

Which is why we are investing half a billion dollars to modernize and expand the port of entry here in Douglas.

And why, last December, I helped raise the rate of overtime pay for border agents.

It is also why I strongly supported the comprehensive border security bill, written last year by a bipartisan group of Senators, including one of the most conservative members of the United States Senate.

That bill would have:

Hired 1,500 more border agents and officers.

Paid for 100 inspection machines to detect the fentanyl that is killing tens of thousands of Americans every year.

It would have allowed us to more quickly and effectively remove those who come here illegally.

And it would have increased the number of immigration judges and asylum officers.

It was the strongest border security bill we have seen in decades.

It was endorsed by the Border Patrol Union.

And it should be in effect today, producing results for our country.

But Donald Trump tanked it.

He picked up the phone, called some friends in Congress, and said, stop the bill.

Because he prefers to run on the problem, instead of fixing the problem.

The American people deserve a President who cares more about border security than playing political games.

And so, even though Donald Trump tried to sabotage the border security bill, it is my pledge that, as President, I will bring it back up and proudly sign into law.

Now, border security is not a new issue to me.

I was Attorney General of a border state.

I saw the violence and chaos that transnational gangs caused.

And the heartbreak and loss from the spread of their illicit drugs.

I walked through the tunnels that traffickers used to smuggle contraband into the United States.

I’ve seen tunnels with walls as smooth as the walls of your living room, complete with lighting and air conditioning.

Making clear that the transnational criminal organizations are profiting from those tunnels.

And my knowledge of how they work comes from the fact that I have prosecuted transnational gangs, who traffic in guns, drugs, and human beings.

My team and I broke up a heroin trafficking ring in the Bay Area, with ties to Mexican cartels.

Took down a gang working with the Sinaloa Cartel to traffic methamphetamine into the United States.

Seized millions of dollars’ worth of cocaine from the Guadalajara Cartel.

And broke up a drug trafficking operation, including pill mills and so-called recovery centers, that were pushing opioids, with deadly results.

And as Attorney General of California, 10 years ago, I led a bipartisan delegation of American State Attorneys General to Mexico.

Where we worked closely with the Attorney General of Mexico.

To increase intelligence sharing on gang activity.

All of which allowed us to prosecute more human traffickers.

And I started the first comprehensive report in the state of California analyzing transnational criminal organizations, and the threats they posed to public safety and the economy.

So stopping transnational crime and strengthening our border has been a long-standing priority of mine.

I have done that work.

And I will continue to treat it as a priority, when I am elected President.

I will reach across the aisle, and embrace commonsense approaches and new technologies to get the job done.

Because I know, transnational gangs are always innovating.

And to disrupt and defeat them, we must do the same.

As President, I won’t just bring back the border security bill that Donald Trump tanked.

I will do more to secure our border.

To reduce illegal border crossings, I will take further action to keep the border closed between ports of entry.

Those who cross our borders unlawfully will be apprehended and removed.

And barred from re-entering for five years.

We will pursue more severe criminal charges against repeat violators.

And if someone does not make an asylum request at a legal port of entry, and instead crosses our border unlawfully, they will be barred from receiving asylum.

While we understand that many people are desperate to migrate to the United States, our system must be orderly and secure.

Securing our border also means addressing the flow of fentanyl into our communities.

Fentanyl is a scourge on our country.

It is highly addictive.

And it is highly lethal.

So much so that using it one time can be fatal.

I have met too many families who have lost loved ones to fentanyl.

Their grief is heartbreaking.

And the devastation caused by fentanyl is being felt from rural communities to big cities.

So as President, I will make it a top priority to disrupt the flow of fentanyl into the United States.

Most of the fentanyl in America comes from two cartels based in Mexico.

Most often, they are smuggling it through passenger and commercial vehicles at legal ports of entry, like the one I visited today.

The fact is, border officers don’t have enough resources, and are only able to search a small fraction of the vehicles that pass through their checkpoints.

This is unacceptable.

They need the resources to do their jobs.

As we could have done with the border security bill, I will surge support to law enforcement agencies on the front lines.

More personnel. More training. And more technology.

Including 100 new inspection systems that can detect fentanyl hidden in vehicles.

And we will make sure all our ports of entry, including airports and seaports, have additional state-of-the-art technology to detect fentanyl, and the chemicals and tools used to make it.

I will also double the resources for the Department of Justice to extradite and prosecute transnational cartels.

I will ensure we target the entire global fentanyl supply chain, because we must materially and sustainably disrupt the flow of illicit fentanyl into our country.

My approach takes into account that the precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl are, by and large, made in China.

And then, shipped to Mexican cartels, and trafficked to the United States.

Our Administration demanded that China crack down on the companies that make those chemicals.

And it has started to happen.

But they need to do more.

And as President, I will hold them to their commitment to significantly reduce the flow of precursor chemicals from China.

All to say:

I will tackle this issue from every angle.

Because our highest charge must be to protect the lives of our people.

And, we must ensure that our country remains strong and competitive.

Which includes fixing our broken immigration system.

And let me be clear:

I reject the false choice that suggests we must choose between securing our border or creating a system of immigration that is safe, orderly, and humane.

We can and must do both.

We need clear legal pathways for people seeking to come to our country.

And we must make our current system work better.

For example, it can take years for asylum claims to be decided.

This is a problem we can solve.

Including by hiring more asylum officers, and expanding processing centers in people’s home countries.

And as President, I will work with Congress to create, at long last, a pathway to citizenship for hardworking immigrants who have been here for years.

Like Dreamers.

I have met with Dreamers throughout my career.

They who have grown up in the United States, were educated here, pay taxes here, serve in our military, and contribute to our communities every day.

They are American in every way.

But still, they do not have an earned pathway to citizenship.

And this problem has gone unsolved for decades.

The same goes for farmworkers, who ensure we have food on our tables, and who sustain our agricultural industry.

They, too, have been in legal limbo for years.

Because politicians have refused to come together and fix our broken immigration system.

Well, as President, I will put politics aside to fix our immigration system, and find solutions to problems which have persisted for far too long.

As I said at the beginning:

These issues are highly consequential for our nation.

And the contrast in this election is clear.

It is a choice between commonsense solutions, and the same old political games.

In the four years that Donald Trump was President, he did nothing to fix our broken immigration system.

He did not solve the shortage of immigration judges and border agents.

Or create lawful pathways into our nation.

He did nothing to address our outdated asylum system.

And did not work with other governments in our hemisphere to deal with what is clearly a regional challenge.

As overdoses went up during his presidency, he fought to slash funding for the fight against fentanyl.

And what did he do instead? 

He separated families.

Ripped toddlers out of their mothers’ arms.

Put children in cages.

And tried to end protections for Dreamers.

He made the challenges at the border worse.

And he is still fanning the flames of fear and division.

Let me be clear:

That is not the work of a leader.

That is an abdication of leadership.

Families Belong Together Immigration Protest, NYC, June 30, 2018. Remember what Trump’s immigration was like? He pulled infants and toddlers from their mothers, put kids in cages, lost them in the system so they were effectively orphaned. Vice President Kamala Harris “I reject the false choice that suggests we must choose between securing our border or creating a system of immigration that is safe, orderly, and humane. We can and must do both.” © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

And so, on behalf of all communities across our nation that want to see these problems solved…

I say:

We cannot accept Donald Trump’s failure to lead.

We should not permit scapegoating instead of solutions.

Or rhetoric instead of results.

As your President, I will:

Protect our nation’s sovereignty.

Secure our border.

And work to fix our broken system of immigration.

And I will partner with Democrats, Republicans, and Independents to do it.

It is time for us to turn the page on the ugly battles that have characterized our politics.

And time to move forward together, to achieve real solutions that make our country stronger.

FACT SHEET: Secure the Border, Protect Our Homeland, Stop the Flow of Fentanyl, and Fix Our Broken Immigration System

Vice President Harris will secure the border, stop the scourge of fentanyl on our streets, and fix our broken immigration system by working with Democrats, Republicans, and independents. She will embrace commonsense approaches as well as new technologies and modern solutions.

She is uniquely positioned to meet this challenge. As Attorney General of a border state, she prosecuted transnational gangs that traffic in guns, drugs, and human beings. She broke up a heroin trafficking ring with ties to Mexican cartels, took down a gang working with the Sinaloa Cartel to smuggle methamphetamine into the United States, and worked with the Attorney General of Mexico to prosecute more human traffickers. She also knows we need to reject the false choice between securing our border and creating a system of immigration that is orderly and humane. We can and must do both.

Families Belong Together Immigration Protest, NYC, June 30, 2018. Remember what Trump’s immigration was like? He pulled infants and toddlers from their mothers, put kids in cages, lost them in the system so they were effectively orphaned. Vice President Kamala Harris “I reject the false choice that suggests we must choose between securing our border or creating a system of immigration that is safe, orderly, and humane. We can and must do both.” © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Donald Trump wants to sow chaos and disorder at the border. He prefers to run on the problem instead of fixing it. He blocked a bipartisan border security bill with the toughest reforms in decades, just to score political points. He did nothing to fix our immigration system in his four years as President, while ripping toddlers out of mothers’ arms and separating 5,000 migrant families at the border. Now, he is continuing to fan the flames of fear and division—saying immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” and promising a “bloody” round-up of millions of immigrants who have lived and worked in America for years, tearing families apart.

The American people deserve a President who cares about fixing these problems, instead of playing political games. Vice President Harris is committed to serious solutions to secure our border, crack down on fentanyl, keep families together, and fix our broken immigration system.

Vice President Harris will make it a top priority to secure our border and ensure that illegal border crossings get lower and stay low.

Keep the border closed between ports of entry to crack down on illegal border crossings. Vice President Harris will put in place stronger emergency authorities than those in place as a result of the Biden-Harris Administration’s executive actions. She will make it harder to lift the emergency authority by requiring that the number of average border crossings be lower for longer before the shutdown can be lifted.

Impose consequences for illegal border crossings. She will continue to ensure that those who cross our border unlawfully will be apprehended, removed, and barred from re-entering for five years. Repeat violators will face felony prosecution. And those who cross the border unlawfully will be barred from receiving asylum.

Sign the bipartisan border security bill that Trump sabotaged. Vice President Harris, along with President Biden, negotiated the toughest border bill in a generation—a bill that was supported by some of the most conservative senators and the Border Patrol union. Trump tanked that bill for his own political gain, blocking vital resources and personnel from being deployed to secure the border. As President, Vice President Harris will work with Congress to pass the bill and request it in her budget, adding 1,500 Border Patrol agents and other personnel, 4,300 asylum officers, 100 immigration judges, and new drug detection technology, providing the additional personnel, resources, and authorities we need to secure the border. This bill will bring order to the border by reducing illegal immigration and create a fast and fair asylum process in which those who qualify are quickly admitted and those who are not are quickly removed.

Double the Department of Justice’s budget for prosecuting transnational criminal organizations and cartels and extraditing cartel leaders to the United States, and impose higher sentences on human traffickers. Vice President Harris will strengthen efforts to ensure that the transnational criminal organizations and cartel leaders making billions off human trafficking and narcotics are brought to justice through a game-changing expansion of resources devoted to prosecuting members of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, aggressively extraditing their leaders to the United States, and seizing their assets. These resources would support components of the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation devoted to this mission. Vice President Harris will also work with Congress to impose longer sentences on criminal organizations that engage in human trafficking.

Further modernize screening and vetting to keep bad actors out. The United States relies on screening and vetting to make it more difficult for actors with ill intent—whether cartel leaders or terrorists—to receive visas, board international flights, or cross borders. Vice President Harris will modernize our screening and vetting infrastructure to prevent bad actors from gaining entry to the United States by adopting new technologies and ensuring we have the intelligence and law enforcement personnel needed to keep pace with emerging threats. She will prioritize our intelligence community’s collection and analysis of open-source intelligence and new streams of information, and she will expand intelligence partnerships around the world to receive warnings of evolving threats to disrupt terrorist plots before they arrive at our border.

Strengthen partnerships with Mexico and other nations in the Americas. Illegal migration is a transnational issue, and Vice President Harris will bring a pragmatic, transnational approach to it. She will strengthen law enforcement cooperation across the entire U.S. government with allies and partners throughout the Western Hemisphere to collectively crack down on fentanyl trafficking, to dismantle human smuggling networks, and to interrupt illegal migration. Through information sharing and close partnership across the region, the United States will be better positioned to spot and address trends in illegal migration.

Vice President Harris will disrupt the flow of fentanyl—from cutting off the precursor chemicals manufactured in China to stopping the smuggling of fentanyl into the U.S. by Mexican cartels and transnational criminal organizations.

Fentanyl—a highly addictive and highly lethal synthetic opioid—is killing more Americans today than any other drug. Vice President Harris and Governor Walz have mourned with the loved ones of overdose victims and seen firsthand the havoc fentanyl is wreaking on families and communities. While Trump was in office, overdose deaths rose meteorically. His response was trying to cut funding by 95% for the office leading the fight against opioid overdoses. Vice President Harris and Governor Walz will make sure law enforcement and communities have the resources that they need to bring down opioid overdoses and deaths, and they will ensure those profiting at the expense of American lives are held accountable. They will:

Surge additional support to the border and law enforcement agencies who are on the front lines of the fight to keep fentanyl out.

  • Boost drug enforcement staff at the border, including by increasing the number of Customs and Border Protection Officers to effectively screen entrants and cargo for illegal drugs and give Homeland Security Investigations agents the power to investigate drug trafficking across the United States.
    • Equip our agents and officers with next-generation technologies to make them more effective at blocking fentanyl at the border. In her first budget request, she will fund the acquisition and deployment of over 100 new, non-intrusive inspection (NII) systems to scan passenger and commercial vehicles at ports of entry crossing the U.S.-Mexico Border, as called for in the Bipartisan Border Bill that Trump blocked. And she will scale up the use of advanced computing across all U.S. ports of entry, including the U.S.-Mexico border, airports, and seaports to detect and disrupt fentanyl entering the United States via cars, packages, and shipments.

Crack down harder on those profiting from fentanyl.

  • Strengthen federal laws regulating pill presses that cartels and transnational criminal organizations rely on to produce fentanyl-laced fake pills that resemble traditional pharmaceuticals. Vice President Harris will work with Congress to strengthen pill press registration laws so law enforcement officials can track these devices and illegal uses. She will also work to increase the penalties for possessing an unregistered pill press with the intent to manufacture counterfeit fentanyl-laced pills—which currently carries a maximum penalty of only four years imprisonment.
    • Continue to push China and others to do more to crack down on companies that make the precursor chemicals for fentanyl, building on the work of the Biden-Harris Administration to shut down the companies that make those chemicals. She will use both sanctions and criminal indictments to deter and punish illegal fentanyl or precursor chemical production.
    • Double the Justice Department’s budget for prosecuting transnational criminal organizations and cartels, which will also target their fentanyl smuggling operations.

Vice President Harris will work to advance solutions to fix our broken immigration system.

Leverage humanitarian parole visas and other visa categories to take pressure off our border. Vice President Harris will continue to use legal pathways for those who apply far from our southern border and qualify for admission under our laws. For example, providing humanitarian parole visas to select immigrants has been shown to substantially lower illegal immigration.

Create an earned pathway to citizenship for longtime immigrants. The most durable and permanent solution for undocumented immigrants who are deeply rooted in the United States is to enact bipartisan legislation. Vice President Harris strongly supports an earned pathway to citizenship for those who have lived and worked in America for many years, and stands ready to work with members of Congress from both sides of the aisle to pass legislation to create a clear process for vetting, qualifying and recognizing those who are contributing members of our communities.

Protect Dreamers and other longtime immigrants. If Republicans continue to balk at bipartisan legislation, Vice President Harris will work to keep families together, give Dreamers a chance to remain in the nation they grew up in, recognize the essential work of farm workers who feed us, and more. Immigrants who have lived and worked in America, often for decades, need paths to stability and legal status to remain with their families and to continue contributing to the nation they now call home.

Vice President Harris will improve our legal immigration system. Currently, the system is not working for our workers, businesses, or families. Delays and outdated procedures result in the loss of innovation and talent that can help drive our economy and communities forward. Vice President Harris will work to modernize our system by making sure we are protecting American workers while increasing our competitiveness and fueling economic growth.

Help American communities welcome new arrivals by continuing to provide impact aid to support local communities adjusting to newly arriving immigrants, continuing to support the private-public partnership that has successfully resettled refugees for over 50 years, and responsibly engaging private citizens as sponsors for those admitted on parole visas.

She will pay for this plan by making the super wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share.

Economic Development, Economic Policies, Economy, Election 2024, News & Photo Features

VP Harris in Major Speech Detailing Plans for ‘Opportunity Economy’: ‘We Need to Grow Our Middle Class,’ ‘Invest in Innovation’

Vice President Kamala Harris stands with hospitality union workers in New York City. In a speech in Pittsburgh speech, she detailed her “Opportunity Opportunity” agenda, designed to grow the middle class, invest in innovation and small business, and create sustainable economic growth that helps families not just get by but thrive © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

It infuriates me when people say “what has Kamala Harris done as Vice President? What is her plan for the economy? ” when in fact, they typically are willfully ignorant.

In a major address in Pittsburgh laying out her vision for the economy and her economic philosophy, Vice President Kamala Harris vowed to “grow America’s middle class” and build an “opportunity economy” focused on lowering costs, investing in innovation, and winning the industries and creating the manufacturing jobs of the future.

She contrasted her optimistic vision to build the middle class, which she grew up in, with Donald Trump’s plan to look out only for himself and billionaires like him. Trump “has no intention of growing our middle class. He’s only interested in making life better for himself,” she said. “For Donald Trump, our economy works best if it works for those who own the big skyscrapers. Not those who build them. Not those who wire them. Not those who mop the floors.

“I have a different vision for our economy,” she declared. “I believe we need to grow our middle class.”

Here is an edited and highlighted transcript of Harris’ remarks and a fact sheet provided by the Harris-Walz campaign:– Karen Rubin, [email protected]

We gather at a moment of great consequence.

In this election, we have an extraordinary opportunity.

To make our middle class the engine of America’s prosperity.

To build a stronger economy where everyone has a chance to chase their dreams and aspirations.

And to ensure that the United States of America continues to out-innovate and out-compete the world.

Over the past three and a half years, we have taken major steps forward to recover from the public health and economic crisis we inherited.

Inflation has dropped faster here than the rest of the developed world.

Unemployment is near record lows.

We have created almost 740 thousand manufacturing jobs—including 650 at the battery manufacturing plant over in Turtle Creek.

And we have supported another 15 thousand jobs at Montgomery Locks.

Last week, for the first time in four and a half years, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates, which will make it a little easier for families to buy a home. Or a car. Or pay down their credit card bill.

But let’s be clear: for all these positive steps, the cost of living in America is still too high.

You know it, and I know it.

And that was true long before the pandemic hit.

Many Americans who aspire to own a home are unable to save enough for a down payment on a house. And starting to think that maybe home ownership isn’t within their reach.

Folks who live in factory towns and rural communities who have lost jobs, are wondering if those jobs will ever come back.

Many Americans are worried about how they’ll afford the prescription drugs they depend on.

And all of this is happening at a time when many of the biggest corporations continue to make record profits while wages haven’t kept pace.

I understand the pressures of making ends meet.

I grew up in a middle class family…

Every day, millions of Americans are sitting around their own kitchen tables. And facing their own financial pressures.

Because over the past several decades, our economy has grown better and better for those at the very top. And increasingly difficult for those trying to attain, build and hold on to a middle-class life.

In many ways, that is what this election is about.

The American people face a choice between two fundamentally different paths for our economy.  

I want to chart a New Way Forward. And grow America’s middle class.  

Donald Trump intends to take America backward. To the failed policies of the past.

He has no intention of growing our middle class.

He’s only interested in making life better for himself.

And people like himself. The wealthiest of Americans.  

You can see it spelled out in his economic agenda.

An agenda that gives trillions of dollars in tax cuts to billionaires and big corporations. While raising taxes on the middle class by almost $4,000 a year. Slashing overtime pay. Throwing tens of millions of Americans off health care. And cutting Social Security and Medicare.

In sum, his agenda would weaken the economy and hurt working- and middle-class people.

For Donald Trump, our economy works best if it works for those who own the big skyscrapers.

Not those who build them. Not those who wire them. Not those who mop the floors.

Well, I have a different vision for our economy.

I believe we need to grow our middle class and make sure our economy works for everyone.

For people like those in the neighborhood where I grew up. And the hardworking Americans I meet across our nation.

I call my vision, the Opportunity Economy.

And it’s about making sure everyone can find a job and more.

I want working Americans and families to be able to not just get by. But be able to get ahead. To thrive.

I don’t want you to have to worry about making your monthly rent if your car breaks down.

I want you to be able to save up for your child’s education.

Take a vacation once in a while.

And buy Christmas presents for your loved ones without feeling anxious looking at your bank account. I want you to be able to build up some wealth.

Not just for yourself. But for your children and grandchildren. And here’s the thing.

We know how to build an economy like that.

We know how to unlock strong, shared economic growth for the American people.

History has shown it. Time and again.

When we invest in those things that strengthen the middle class—manufacturing, housing, health care, education, small businesses, and our communities—we grow our economy and catalyze the entire country to succeed.

I have pledged that building a strong middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.

And the reason is not about politics or ideology. It’s just common sense. It’s what works.

When the middle class is strong, America is strong.

And we can build a stronger middle class.

The American economy is the most powerful force for innovation and wealth creation in human history. We just need to move beyond the failed policies of the past.

And, like generations before us, be inspired by what’s possible.

As President, I’ll be grounded in my fundamental values of fairness. Dignity. And opportunity.

And pragmatic in my approach.

I’ll engage in what Franklin Roosevelt called “bold, persistent experimentation.”

I believe we shouldn’t be constrained by ideology.

We should seek practical solutions to problems. Realistic assessments of what’s working and what’s not.

And stay focused. Not only on the crises at hand. But on our big goals.

On what’s best for America over the long term.

And part of being pragmatic means taking good ideas from wherever they come.

I am a devout public servant. And I also know the limitations of government.

I’ve always been and always will be a strong supporter of workers and unions.

I also believe we need to engage those who create most of the jobs in America.

Look, I am a capitalist. I believe in free and fair markets.

And consistent and transparent rules of the road to create a stable business environment.

And I know the power of American innovation.

I’ve been working with entrepreneurs and business owners my whole career.

And. I believe companies need to play by the rules. Respect the rights of workers and unions. And abide by fair competition.

If they don’t, I will hold them accountable.

And if anyone has any doubt about that, just look at my record as Attorney General in California.

Taking on: Big banks for predatory lending. Big health care companies for conspiring to jack up prices. And big, for-profit colleges for scamming veterans and students.

At the same time, I believe that most companies are working hard to do right by their customers and the employees who depend on them.

And we must work with them to grow our economy.

I believe an active partnership between government and the private sector is one of the most effective ways to fully unlock economic opportunity.

And that’s what we will do when I am President.

We will target the major barriers to opportunity.

And remove them.

We will identify common sense solutions to help Americans buy a home.

Start a business. And build wealth.

And we will adopt them.

Let’s start with the first pillar of the Opportunity Economy.

Lowering costs.

I made that our top priority because if we want the middle class to be the growth engine of our economy, we need to restore basic economic security for middle class families.

To that end, the most practical thing we can do right now is to cut taxes for the middle class.

So that’s what we will do.

Under my plan, more than 100 million Americans will get a middle class tax break.

That includes $6,000 for new parents during the first year of a child’s life. To help families cover everything from car seats to cribs.

And we’ll also cut the cost of childcare and elder care.

And finally give all working people access to paid leave.

Which will help everyone caring for children, caring for aging parents, and the sandwich generation caring for both.

I have personal experience with caregiving. I remember being there for my mother when she was diagnosed with cancer. Cooking meals for her. Taking her to her appointments. Trying to make her comfortable. And telling her stories.

I know caregiving is about dignity.

And when we lower the costs, and ease the burdens people face. We not only make it easier for them to meet their obligations as caregivers. We also make it more possible for them to go to work, and pursue their economic aspirations.

And when that happens, our economy as a whole grows stronger.

Now, middle class tax cuts are just the start of my plan.

We will also go after the biggest drivers of costs for the middle class. And work to bring them down.

One of those big costs is housing.

So here is what we will do.

We will cut the red tape that stops homes from being built.

Take on corporate landlords who are hiking rental prices.

And work with builders and developers to construct 3 million new homes and rentals for the middle class.

Because increasing the housing supply will help drive down the cost of housing.

We will also help first-time homebuyers get their foot in the door with a $25,000 down payment assistance.

So more Americans can afford to buy a home. A critical step in building wealth.

And we will work to reduce other big costs for middle class families.

We will take on bad actors who exploit emergencies to drive up grocery prices. By enacting the first-ever federal ban on corporate price gouging.

And take on Big Pharma to cap the cost of prescription drugs for all Americans.

Just like we did for seniors.

By contrast, Donald Trump has no intention of lowering costs for the middle class.

In fact, his economic agenda would actually raise prices.

And that’s not just my opinion.

A survey of top economists by the Financial Times and University of Chicago found that by an overwhelming 70 to 3 percent margin, my plan would be better for keeping inflation low.

The second pillar of the Opportunity Economy is investing in American innovation and entrepreneurship.

For the last century, the United States of America has been a beacon around the world.

Not only for our ability to come up with some of the most breakthrough ideas.

But our ability to turn those ideas into some of the most consequential innovations the world has ever known.

I believe the source of our success is the ingenuity, dynamism, and enter-prising spirit of the American people.

To paraphrase Warren Buffett: Since our founding as a nation, “there has been no incubator for unleashing human potential like America.”

And we need to guard that spirit.

Including by solving the problems that small business owners face.

As I travel the country, what I hear time and again from those who own small businesses, and those who aspire to start them, is that too often, an entrepreneur has a great idea.

And the willingness to take the risk.

But they don’t have access to the capital to make it real.

Well, we can make it easier for them to access capital.

On average, it costs about $40,000 to start a new business. But currently, the tax deduction for startup costs is only $5,000.

In 2024, it’s almost impossible to start a business on $5,000.

That’s why, as President, I will make the startup deduction ten times richer.

We will raise it from $5,000 to $50,000.

And provide low- and no-interest loans to small businesses that want to expand.

All of which will help achieve our ambitious goal of 25 million new small business applications by the end of my first term.

Small businesses help drive our economy.

They create nearly 50 percent of private sector jobs. And they strengthen our middle class.

And if we can harness the entrepreneurialism of the American people, and unlock the full potential of aspiring founders, and small business owners, I am optimistic no one will ever outpace us.

By contrast, when Donald Trump was President, one of the nation’s leading experts on small businesses published a piece in a major paper. The title, “Does Donald Trump hate small businesses?” Their answer was yes.

Because at the same time Donald Trump was giving a tax cut to big corporations and billionaires, he tried to slash programs for small businesses.

And raise borrowing costs for them.

Instead of making it easier, he actually made it more difficult for them to access capital.

And that’s not surprising.

Because Donald Trump does not prioritize small businesses. He does not seem to value the essential role they play.  

Well, when I look at small business owners, I see some of the heroes of our economy.

Not only entrepreneurs.

But civic leaders.

I see the glue that holds our communities together.

The third pillar of the Opportunity Economy is leading the world in the industries of the future.

And making sure America—not China—wins the competition for the 21st Century.

One of the recurring themes of American history is that when we make an intentional effort to invest in our industrial strength, it leads to extraordinary prosperity and security.

Not only for years. But for generations.

Think of Alexander Hamilton having the foresight to build the manufacturing capabilities of our new nation.

Lincoln and the transcontinental railroad.

Eisenhower and the interstate highway system.

Kennedy, committing America to win the space race and spurring innovation across our society.

From our earliest days, America’s economic strength has been tied to our industrial strength.

The same is true today.

So, I will recommit the nation. To global leadership in the sectors that will define the next century.

We will invest in biomanufacturing and aerospace.

Remain dominant in AI, quantum computing, blockchain, and other emerging technologies.

Expand our lead in clean energy innovation and manufacturing.

So the next generation of breakthroughs—from advanced batteries to geothermal to advanced nuclear—are not just invented, but built here in America by American workers.

And we will invest in the industries that made Pittsburgh the Steel City, by offering tax credits for expanding good union jobs, in steel, iron, and manufacturing communities like here in Mon Valley.

And across all these industries of the future, we will prioritize investments for:

Strengthening factory towns. Retooling existing factories. Hiring locally. And working with unions.

Because no one who grows up in America’s greatest industrial or agricultural centers should be abandoned.

And here is what else we will do when I am President.

We will double the number of registered apprenticeships by the end of my first term.

Eliminate degree requirements while increasing skills development for half a million federal jobs.

And challenge our private sector to make a similar commitment to emphasizing skills, not just degrees.

We will reform our tax laws to make it easier for businesses to let workers share in their company’s success.

And I will challenge the private sector to do more to lift up workers through equity, profits, and benefits. So more people can share in America’s success.

Not only must we build the industries of the future in America.

We must build them faster.

The simple truth is, in America, it takes too long and costs too much to build.

Whether it’s a new housing development, a new factory, or a new bridge, projects take too long to go from concept to reality.  

It happens in blue states and red states. And it’s a national problem.

I will tell you this. China is not moving slowly. And we can’t afford to, either.

As President, if things are not moving quickly, I will demand to know why.

And I will act. I will work with Congress, workers and businesses, cities and states, community groups and local leaders, to reform permitting.

Cut red tape. And get things moving faster.

Patience may be a virtue. But not when it comes to job creation. Or America’s competitiveness.

The Empire State Building was built in a year.

The Pentagon, 16 months.

No one can tell me we can’t build quickly in our country.

Now, Donald Trump makes big promises on manufacturing.

Just yesterday, he went out and promised to bring back manufacturing jobs.

If that sounds familiar, it should. In 2016, he went out and made that very same promise about the Carrier plant in Indianapolis. You’ll remember, Carrier then offshored hundreds of jobs to Mexico under his watch.

And it wasn’t just there. On Trump’s watch, offshoring went up, and manufacturing jobs went down across our economy.

All told, almost 200,000 manufacturing jobs were lost during his presidency, starting before the pandemic hit.

Making Trump one of the biggest losers ever on manufacturing.

Donald Trump also talked a big game on our trade deficit with China. But it is far lower under our watch, than any year of his Administration.

While he constantly got played by China, I will never hesitate to take swift and strong measures when China undermines the rules of the road at the expense of our workers, our communities, and our companies—whether it’s flooding the market with steel.

Unfairly subsidizing ship-building. Or hurting our small businesses with counterfeits.

Recall Donald Trump actually shipped advanced semiconductor chips to China to upgrade their military.

I will never sell out America to our competitors or adversaries.

I will always make sure we have the strongest economy and most lethal fighting force of any nation in the world.

At this pivotal moment, we have an extraordinary opportunity. To chart a New Way Forward. One that positions the United States of America—and all of us blessed to call this home—for success and prosperity in the 21st Century.

There is an old saying, that “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”

Well, that is the story of the Steel City.

The city that helped: Build the middle class. Birth America’s labor movement. And power the rise of American manufacturing.

And the city where Allen Newell and Herbert Simon launched the first AI research hub at Carnegie Mellon.

And created entirely new fields. Like machine learning. And Carnegie Mellon is now home to the largest university robotics center in America.

The proud heritage of Pittsburgh reveals the character of our nation.

A nation that harnesses the ambitions, dreams, and aspirations of our people.

Seizes the opportunities before us. And invents the future.

That is what we have always done. And that is what we must do now.

New Independent Economic Analysis Finds Trump Plan Will Lead to ‘Permanently Higher Inflation’

The Peterson Institute for International Economics: “Manufacturing taking the biggest hits—the opposite of Trump’s stated goals”

“Does more damage to the US economy than to any other in the world”

In contrast to Harris’ defined plan for sustainable economic growth, yet another independent economic analysis concludes that Donald Trump’s second term agenda would send inflation skyrocketing, crush growth, and eliminate American jobs.

Key findings:

  • “Scenarios combining individual policies show that the changes cause a large inflationary impulse and a significant loss of employment (particularly in manufacturing and agriculture) in the US economy.”
  • “We find that ironically, despite his ‘make the foreigners pay’ rhetoric, this package of policies does more damage to the US economy than to any other in the world. They result in lower US national income, lower employment, and higher inflation than otherwise. In some cases, foreign countries benefit from the inflow of capital leaving the United States.”
  • “Both of Trump’s tariff plans—imposing 10 percentage point additional tariffs on US imports from all sources and 60 percentage point tariffs on imports from China—hurt US GDP and employment by 2028, with or without retaliation by trading partners. But the effects vary by sector, with durable manufacturing taking the biggest hits—the opposite of Trump’s stated goals.”
  • “Figure 41 shows that the permanently higher inflation leads to ever-increasing prices across the US economy with some relative price shifts, particularly for the energy and mining sectors relative to services in the early period of adjustments. By 2040, prices across the economy are roughly 41 percent higher than the baseline.”
  • “Figure 44 shows that inflation peaks between 4.1 and 7.4 percentage points above baseline by 2026. If baseline inflation is 1.9 percent, the peak will be between 6 and 9.3 percent. Inflation stays permanently above baseline by 2 percentage points because the Fed’s loss of independence does not boost the economy’s supply side.”

This new study from the Peterson Institute for International Economics adds to a clear consensus among economists – many conservative-leaning – that Donald Trump’s plans would devastate the American economy and the middle class.

“Donald Trump will not just impose a $4,000 a year middle class tax hike – his plan will permanently jack up inflation, crush American manufacturing jobs, and hurt manufacturing workers more than any other sector,” stated Harris-Walz 2024 Spokesperson Joseph Costello. “Over and over, independent economists are warning of the economic dangers of Trump’s plan, and Americans should take note. This is a fundamental contrast with Vice President Harris, who has a plan to lower costs and create economic opportunity for the middle class, including major investments in creating the manufacturing jobs of the future.”

The campaign provided more from CNN’s breakdown of the study:

  • The Trump agenda would cause weaker economic growth, higher inflation and lower employment, according to a working paper released Thursday by the Peterson Institute for International Economics. In some cases, the damage could continue through 2040.
  • The paper represents the most comprehensive analysis to date on the combined impact of Trump’s trade, immigration and Fed proposals.
  • In that scenario, employment would be 9% lower than baseline by 2028 and inflation would surge to 9.3% by 2026. GDP would be 9.7% lower than otherwise.
  • The Peterson Institute research finds that Trump’s tariff and other plans would backfire – hurting manufacturing more than any sector. That means the same factory workers Trump says he is trying to help would be hurt the most.
  • “If other countries retaliate, as many likely would, a recession in the year after the increase in tariffs would be a serious threat,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told CNN in an email.
  • The paper found that erosion of Fed independence would cause higher inflation, capital outflows, a significant loss of value for the US dollar and higher unemployment – all of which would “worsen American living standards.”

Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who was nominated by Trump in 2017, cautioned against any effort to interfere with Fed independence.

Biden Administration, Labor and Worker Issues, Labor and Workers, News & Photo Features

Biden, Harris Honor Workers on Labor Day, Review Pro-Worker Actions, Signs Order Raising Federal Pay 2%

The Biden-Harris Administration has consistently stood up for workers, implementing worker health and safety protections, like instituting rules for heat and for accommodations for pregnant women and protecting overtime pay and pensions, and even being the first sitting President to walk the picket line © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

By Karen Rubin, News-Photos-Features.com, [email protected]

This Labor Day, as President Biden and Vice President Harris visit Pittsburgh, it is important to be reminded of just some actions the most pro-worker and pro-union administration in history has taken to support good jobs and improve worker conditions because it seems the so called “working class” have no clue, and take for granted the gains made – with great effort – by the Biden-Harris without considering how fortunes would reverse under anti-worker Trump, if he retakes the White House. Too many take for granted protections for workers implemented by Biden-Harris administration who are forced to work under extreme heat conditions, and rights for pregnant women to have their work load and schedules adjusted to accommodate, and standing up for the rights of workers to organize. They forget how workers were forced by the Trump administration to go back to work during COVID without any safety precautions, or face losing unemployment or disability benefits.

  • Launched the first ever White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, chaired by Vice President Harris, which resulted in over 70 actions to promote worker organizing and collective bargaining for federal employees and worker employed by public and private-sector employees.
    • Signed the Butch Lewis Act as part of the American Rescue Plan to save the pensions of millions of hard-working union workers.
    • Implemented a new rule to require Project Labor Agreements on nearly all major federal construction projects of over $35 million, so federal construction projects will be delivered on time and on budget with good wages and well-trained workers.
    • Published a final rule from the Department of Treasury implementing prevailing wage and apprenticeship bonus credits for clean energy projects funded by the President’s Inflation Reduction Act to ensure workers are paid good wages and that these projects create equitable pipelines to these good jobs.
    • Published a new rule restoring and extending overtime pay protections to millions of workers.
    • Published the first update to Davis Bacon prevailing wages in nearly 40 years, which will increase pay for one million construction workers over time.
    • Proposed a new rulemaking from the Department of Labor that would protect 36 million indoor and outdoor workers from extreme heat on the job.
    • Signed a Registered Apprenticeship Executive Order to bolster apprenticeships in the federal workforce. Since then, federal agencies including the Departments Agriculture, Defense, Education Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, Transportation, and Treasury, and the Architect of the Capitol and U.S. Agency for Global Media have identified potential opportunities for developing new and scaling existing registered apprenticeships to create pathways to good jobs including in mission critical occupations.
    • Through the CHIPS Act, provided $200 million in dedicated CHIPS funding for training and workforce development to ensure local communities have access to the jobs of the future in upcoming projects and introduced a requirement that companies receiving grants under the CHIPS Act over $150 million create a child care plan to ensure access for their employees.
    • Invested nearly $730 million in Registered Apprenticeships, leading to more than 1 million registered apprentices receiving earn as you learn training for in-demand jobs.
    • Designated nine Workforce Hubs across the country to ensure we have the workforce we need for this Administration’s historic investments.
    • Vocally supported unions, including becoming the first sitting President to walk a picket line.
    • The NLRB expanded remedies available to workers when their employers engage in union-busting, to now include all direct and foreseeable pecuniary harm, such as financial loss from credit card debt, medical bills, or missed rent payments.
    • The NLRB overhauled the process for union representation elections by requiring an employer to bargain if it commits an unfair labor practice during the election process, and by reducing unnecessary delays before workers can vote.

In his Proclamation for Labor Day, President Biden declared:

      “Every year on Labor Day, we celebrate the dignity of America’s workers and the labor unions they have built.  I often say that Wall Street did not build America — the middle class built America, and unions built the middle class.  Labor unions have done so much for our Nation — giving workers a voice at the workplace, raising standards on the job, and fighting for better benefits and wages for us all.  Today, we honor the pioneers who fought for the rights of working people, pay tribute to the dedication of our American workforce, and honor the enduring movement that powers our economy and strengthens our Nation.

    “My father taught me from a young age that a job is about far more than just a paycheck — it is about your dignity.  When I came into office, too many people had lost both their paychecks and their sense of dignity.  Our economy was failing working-class and union families.  Decades of trickle-down economics sent jobs overseas, shut down factories, and hollowed out our communities.  People had lost their sense of pride, their security, and their pathway to the middle class. 

     “That is why I promised to be the most pro-labor, pro-union President in history and ensure unions have the support they need to fight for our workers.  Last year, the Department of the Treasury released a comprehensive report detailing how unions are not just good for union workers but non-union workers as well, showing that union growth helps to build a strong middle class in America.  I am proud to be the first sitting President to walk the picket line to support workers who were striking for better conditions.  I am also proud that, to date, we have created nearly 16 million new jobs, including almost 800,000 manufacturing jobs and nearly 900,000 construction jobs.  In fact, investment in construction of new factories has nearly tripled since I took office.  My Administration announced more than 60,000 projects to rebuild America’s roads, bridges, airports, ports, and more through our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.  Wages are up, inflation is down, and we have had the fastest recovery of any advanced economy in the world since the pandemic started. 

     “Furthermore, we are positioning American workers to lead the world in innovation.  I signed the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in clean energy and climate action in history, creating nearly 335,000 clean energy jobs according to outside estimates.  I also signed the CHIPS and Science Act to bring semiconductor manufacturing back home and ensure that America’s clean energy jobs go to American workers.  To date, we have attracted nearly $900 billion in private-sector commitments to invest in manufacturing and clean energy.  I am proud that this manufacturing boom we ignited is being done with American products and led by American workers — the most highly skilled workers in the world — because of “Made in America” provisions that I championed and my Administration enforced. 

     “Today, more Americans are joining the workforce, and we have the highest share of working-age Americans in the workforce in over 20 years.  And over the past 2 years, more workers have been petitioning for union representation.  To ensure those workers have a voice on the job, I have required the use of project labor agreements for nearly all large-scale Federal construction projects.  I have also strengthened Davis-Bacon requirements to guarantee that prevailing wages pay workers what they deserve and enacted the Butch Lewis Act — the most significant law for union retirement security in 50 years — that has protected the pensions of 1 million union workers.  We issued a rule that expands overtime protections to millions of workers, and my Administration is working to crack down on noncompete agreements, which prevent 30 million Americans from taking new, higher-paying jobs.

     “My Administration is also making sure that workers feel safe and secure on the job.  That is why the Department of Labor is proposing a new rule that will establish the Nation’s first-ever Federal safety standard for excessive heat in the workplace.  That rule includes developing a response to heat illness, training employees and supervisors, implementing rest breaks, and ensuring access to shade and water.  And we are limiting workers’ exposure to toxic materials like silica dust to prevent them from developing preventable and irreversible illnesses.  My Administration also issued a rule to ensure that workers are empowered to have a representative accompany an Occupational Safety and Health Administration official during workplace inspections. 

     “I have long believed that workers deserve a seat at the table and an opportunity to join a union, organize, and bargain collectively with their employer without coercion or intimidation.  That is why I appointed people who actually care about American workers to the National Labor Relations Board.  And I established the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, led by Vice President Harris, which resulted in over 70 actions to promote worker organizing and collective bargaining.

     “As we look to the future, my Administration is creating long-term pathways to help people secure good-paying jobs, including union jobs.  We invested nearly $730 million to expand Registered Apprenticeships, which support the education and training needs of apprentices across the country.  And I signed an Executive Order that expands Registered Apprenticeship programs in the Federal workforce, encourages Federal agencies to hire people who have participated in these programs, and increases workers’ voices in Federal programs and contracts.  

     “This Labor Day, let us stand in solidarity with America’s workers, who are the engines behind our Nation’s prosperity.  Let us celebrate labor unions, who give voice to our workers and ensure they are given the dignity, respect, and protections in the workplace that they deserve.  And let us recommit to ensuring that every hardworking American has a fair shot at achieving the promise of the American Dream for generations to come.”

As part of the most pro-union administration in history, Vice President Harris has created millions of good-paying jobs. She is a strong supporter of the PRO Act, cast the deciding vote on legislation that is saving hundreds of thousands of union workers’ pensions, and previously has joined union members on the picket line. She will continue supporting workers and working and middle-class families as president, together with her nominee for Vice President, Time Walzm a former union member himself.

Governor Walz, , who is delivering remarks at the Milwaukee Area Labor Council’s laborfest 2024 in Milwaukee Wisconsin on Sept 2, passed the most pro-worker package of laws in Minnesota’s history — making it easier to form unions, strengthening worker protections, cracking down on union-busting, and giving workers paid leave.

Meanwhile, Biden just signed an order increasing base pay for federal workers by an average of 2%, stating, “We must attract, recruit, and retain a skilled workforce with fair compensation in order to keep our Government running, deliver services, and meet our Nation’s challenges today and tomorrow.  This alternative pay plan decision will continue to allow the Federal Government to employ a well‑qualified Federal workforce on behalf of the American people, acknowledging wage growth in the labor market and fiscal constraints.”

Donald Trump was one of the most anti-worker and anti-union presidents in history. He hurt autoworkers, shipped jobs overseas, and lined the pockets of the super wealthy and big corporations at the expense of the middle class. A second Trump presidency would be even worse – his Project 2025 agenda will raise taxes on typical working families by nearly $4,000 a year, allow employers to stop paying many workers overtime, and roll back labor and workplace protections. Trump ignored the National Labor Relations Board and the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, he would eliminate these agencies in a second term. He gloated and giggled with Elon Musk as the greatest “cutter” – firing striking workers, which prompted the UAW to file lawsuit.

One side appreciates what federal workers do, in the name of public service, to improve the lives of all of us, while Trump is vowing to fire tens of thousands of career professionals, experts, and staff on Day 1 who do not declare their loyalty to him, rather than the nation or Constitution. The Trump campaign aide who shoved the federal worker at Arlington National Cemetery doing her job of preserving the sanctity of that hallowed place, demonstrates the contempt Trump has for those he demeans as “bureaucrats” and “Deep State.”

__________________________

© 2024 News & Photo Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. For editorial feature and photo information, go to www.news-photos-features.com, email [email protected]. Blogging at www.dailykos.com/blogs/NewsPhotosFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures, Tweet @KarenBRubin Threads:@news_and_photo_features

Democracy, Democratic Party, Democrats, Elections, News & Photo Features

VP Kamala Harris Accepts Democratic Nomination for POTUS  Outlining ‘A New Way Forward,’ An Opportunity Agenda ‘For the People’ & Defense of Freedom, Democracy

In a stirring, pitch-perfect speech accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination for President, Vice President Kamala Harris prosecuted the case for her election, listing her credentials, outlining her “Opportunity Agenda”, her plans to bring the nation forward, and building to a powerful crescendo in declaring her defense of national security and America’s role as leader of the Free World defending freedom and democracy not only for every American, but for freedom-seeking people around the world.

Along the way, she listed why Donald Trump and the Republicans, with their chaos and Project 2025 blueprint to strip Americans of freedom, and Trump’s denigration of the nation and US military, his promise of retribution and weaponizing Justice and the military, and his kowtowing to the despots, tyrants and autocrats he hopes to emulate, was wholy unqualified to ever occupy the Oval Office ever again.

“It is now our turn to do what generations before us have done, guided by optimism and faith: to fight for this country we love, to fight for the ideals we cherish, and to uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on Earth — the privilege and pride of being an American,” Harris declared.

Here is a highlighted transcript of her historic speech: – Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Vice President Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention after delivering her speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president. She would be the first Black South Asian woman U.S. president © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com via MSNBC.


      THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Good evening!  (Laughs.)  (Applause.)
 
     AUDIENCE:  Kamala!  Kamala!  Kamala!
 
     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  California.  (Laughs.)  (Applause.)
 
Good evening, everyone.  Good evening.  (Laughs.)  (Applause.)  Good evening.  (Laughs.)  (Applause.)
 
Oh, my goodness.  (Applause.)
 
Good evening, everyone.  Good evening.  Go- — (laughs).  (Applause.)  Good evening.  Thank you.  (Applause.)
 
Thank you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)
 
AUDIENCE:  Kamala!  Kamala!  Kamala!
 
THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Good evening.  (Applause.)
 
Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank — thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  Thank you, everyone.  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)
 
     AUDIENCE:  USA!  USA!  USA!
 
     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Thank you all. 
 
     AUDIENCE:  USA!  USA!  USA!
 
     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Thank you all.  (Applause.)
 
Okay, we’ve got to get to some business.  We’ve got to get to some business.
 
     Okay.  Thank you all.  (Applause.)  Okay.  (Laughs.)  Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you, thank you.  Please.  Thank you.  (Applause.)
 
     Please.  Thank you so very much.  Thank you, everyone.  Thank you, everyone.  Thank you.  (Applause.)
 
     Okay, let’s get to business.  Let’s get to business.  All right.  (Laughs.)  (Applause.)
 
So, let me start by thanking my most incredible husband, Doug — (applause) — for being an incredible partner to me, an incredible father to Cole and Ella.  And happy anniversary, Dougie.  (Laughs.)  (Applause.)  I love you so very much.
 
To our president, Joe Biden — (applause) — when I think about the path that we have traveled together, Joe, I am filled with gratitude.  Your record is extraordinary, as history will show, and your character is inspiring.  And Doug and I love you and Jill and are forever thankful to you both.  (Applause.)
 
And to Coach Tim Walz — (applause) — you are going to be an incredible vice president.   (Applause.) 
 
And to the delegates and everyone who has put your faith in our campaign, your support is humbling. 
 
So, America, the path that led me here in recent weeks was no doubt unexpected, but I’m no stranger to unlikely journeys.
 
So, my mother, our mother, Shyamala Harris, had one of her own.  And I miss her every day and especially right now.  And I know she’s looking down smiling.  (Applause.)  I know that.
 
So, my mother was 19 when she crossed the world alone, traveling from India to California with an unshakable dream to be the scientist who would cure breast cancer.  (Applause.) 
 
When she finished school, she was supposed to return home to a traditional arranged marriage, but as fate would have it, she met my father, Donald Harris, a student from Jamaica.  (Applause.)  They — they fell in love and got married, and that act of self-determination made my sister Maya and me.  (Applause.)
 
Growing up, we moved a lot.  I will always remember that big Mayflower truck packed with all our belongings, ready to go to Illinois; to Wisconsin — (applause); and wherever our parents’ jobs took us. 
 
My early memories of our parents together are very joyful ones: a home filled with laughter and music — Aretha, Coltrane, and Miles.  At the park, my mother would say, “Stay close.”  But my father would say, as he smiled, “Run, Kamala, run.  Don’t be afraid.  Don’t let anything stop you.”  (Applause.)  From my earliest years, he taught me to be fearless.
 
But the harmony between my parents did not last.  When I was in elementary school, they split up, and it was mostly my mother who raised us. 
 
Before she could finally afford to buy a home, she rented a small apartment in the East Bay.  In the bay — (applause) — in the Bay, you either live in the Hills or the Flatlands.  We lived in the Flats, a beautiful working-class neighborhood of firefighters, nurses, and construction workers — (applause) — all who tended their lawns with pride. 
 
My mother, she worked long hours.  And like many working parents, she leaned on a trusted circle to help raise us: Mrs.  Shelton, who ran the daycare below us and became a second mother; Uncle Sherman; Aunt Mary; Uncle Freddy; Auntie Kris.  None of them family by blood and all of them family by love.  (Applause.) 
 
Family who taught us how to make gumbo, how to play chess — and sometimes even let us win.  Family who loved us, believed in us, and told us we could be anything and do anything.  (Applause.)
 
They instilled in us the values they personified: community, faith, and the importance of treating others as you would want to be treated — with kindness, respect, and compassion.  (Applause.)
 
My mother was a brilliant, five-foot-tall brown woman with an accent.  (Applause.)  And as the eldest child — as the eldest child, I saw how the world would sometimes treat her.  But my mother never lost her cool.  She was tough, courageous, a trailblazer in the fight for women’s health.  And she taught Maya and me a lesson that Michelle mentioned the other night.  She taught us to never complain about injustice, but do something about it.  Do something about it.  (Applause.)  That was my mother. 
 
And she taught us — and she always — she also taught us — and she also taught us “and never do anything half-assed.”  (Applause.)  And that is a direct quote — (laughs) — a direct quote.
 
I grew up immersed in the ideals of the Civil Rights Movement.  My parents had met at a civil rights gathering.  And they made sure that we learned about civil rights leaders, including the lawyers, like Thurgood Marshall and C- — Constance Baker Motley — those who battled in the courtroom to make real the promise of America. 
 
So, at a young age, I decided I wanted to do that work.  I wanted to be a lawyer.  And when it came time to choose the type of law I would pursue, I reflected on a pivotal moment in my life. 
 
You see, when I was in high school, I started to notice something about my best friend, Wanda.  She was sad at school, and there were times she didn’t want to go home. 
 
So, one day, I asked if everything was all right, and she confided in me that she was being sexually abused by her stepfather.  And I immediately told her she had to come stay with us, and she did.  (Applause.) 
 
This is one of the reasons I became a prosecutor — to protect people like Wanda — because I believe everyone has a right to safety, to dignity, and to justice.  (Applause.)
 
As a prosecutor, when I had a case, I charged it not in the name of the victim but in the name of the people for a simple reason: In our system of justice, a harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us.  (Applause.)
 
And I would often explain this to console survivors of crime, to remind them no one should be made to fight alone.  We are all in this together.  (Applause.) 
 
And every day in the courtroom, I stood proudly before a judge and I said five words: “Kamala Harris, for the people.”  (Applause.) 
 
And to be clear — and to be clear, my entire career, I’ve only had one client: the people.  (Applause.) 
 
And so, on behalf of the people; on behalf of every American, regardless of party, race, gender, or the language your grandmother speaks; on behalf of my mother and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey; on behalf of Americans like the people I grew up with — people who work hard, chase their dreams, and look out for one another; on behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth, I accept your nomination to be president of the United States of America.  (Applause.)

     And with this election — and — (laughs) — and with this election, our nation — our nation, with this election, has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the past; a chance to chart a new way forward — (applause) — not — not as members of any one party or faction but as Americans.  (Applause.)

     And let me say, I know there are people of various political views watching tonight, and I want you to know I promise to be a president for all Americans.  (Applause.)  You can always trust me to put country above party and self; to hold sacred America’s fundamental principles, from the rule of law to free and fair elections to the peaceful transfer of power.  (Applause.)


     I will be a president who unites us around our highest aspirations.  A president who leads and listens; who is realistic, practical, and has common sense; and always fights for the American people.  (Applause.)

     From the courthouse to the White House, that has been my life’s work.  (Applause.)

     As a young courtroom prosecutor in Oakland, California — (applause) — I stood up for women and children against predators who abused them. 

     As attorney general of California, I took on the big banks — (applause) — delivered $20 billion for middle-class families who faced foreclosure and helped pass a homeowner bill of rights, one of the first of its kind in the nation.  (Applause.)


     I stood up for veterans and students being scammed by big for-profit colleges — (applause) — for workers who were being cheated out of their wages, the wages they were due — (applause) — for seniors facing elder abuse. 

     I fought against the cartels who traffic in guns and drugs and human beings — (applause) — who threaten the security of our border and the safety of our communities. 

     And I will tell you, these fights were not easy and neither were the elections that put me in those offices. 

     We were underestimated at practically every turn, but we never gave up, because the future is always worth fighting for.  (Applause.)  And that’s the fight we are in right now: a fight for America’s future.  (Applause.)

     Fellow Americans, this election is not only the most important of our lives, it is one of the most important in the life of our nation.  (Applause.)

Vice President Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention delivers her speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president. “It is now our turn to do what generations before us have done, guided by optimism and faith: to fight for this country we love, to fight for the ideals we cherish, and to uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on Earth — the privilege and pride of being an American,” Harris declared. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com via MSNBC.


     In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man.  (Laughter.)  But the consequences — but the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.  (Applause.)

     Consider — consider not only the chaos and calamity when he was in office but also the gravity of what has happened since he lost the last election.
     Donald Trump tried to throw away your votes.  When he failed, he sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol, where they assaulted law enforcement officers. 
 
     When politicians in his own party begged him to call off the mob and send help, he did the opposite.  He fanned the flames. 
 
     And now, for an entirely different set of crimes, he was found guilty of fraud by a jury of everyday Americans — (applause) — and separately — and separately found liable for committing sexual abuse.

     And consider — consider what he intends to do if we give him power again.  Consider his explicit intent to set free violent extremists who assaulted those law enforcement officers at the Capitol; his explicit intent to jail journalists, political opponents, and anyone he sees as the enemy; his explicit intent to deploy our active-duty military against our own citizens. 

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Consider — consider the power he will have, especially after the United States Supreme Court just ruled that he would be immune from criminal prosecution.

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails.

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States not to improve your life, not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had: himself.  (Applause.)

     And we know — and we know what a second Trump term would look like.  It’s all laid out in Project 2025, written by his closest advisers.  And its sum total is to pull our country back to the past.  But, America —

     AUDIENCE:  We are not going back!

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — we are not going back.  (Applause.) 
     We are not going back.  We are not going back.
 
     AUDIENCE:  We’re not going back!  We’re not going back!  We’re not going back!

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  We are not going back to when Donald Trump tried to cut Social Security and Medicare. 

     We are not going back to when he tried to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, when insurance companies could deny people with preexisting conditions. 

     We are not going to let him eliminate the Department of Education that funds our public schools.  (Applause.)

     We are not going to let him end programs like Head Start that provide preschool and childcare for our children.  (Applause.)

     America, we are not going back.

     AUDIENCE:  We’re not going back!  We’re not going back!  We’re not going back!

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And we are charting — and we are charting a new way forward — (applause) — forward to a future with a strong and growing middle class, because we know a strong middle class has always been critical to America’s success.  And building that middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.  (Applause.)

     And I’ll tell you, this is personal for me.  The middle class is where I come from.  My mother kept a strict budget.  We lived within our means, yet we wanted for little.  And she expected us to make the most of the opportunities that were available to us and to be grateful for them, because, as she taught us, opportunity is not available to everyone. 

     That’s why we will create what I call an opportunity economy — an opportunity economy where everyone has the chance to compete and a chance to succeed — (applause) — whether you live in a rural area, small town, or big city.

     And as president, I will bring together labor and workers — (applause) — and small-business owners and entrepreneurs and American companies to create jobs, to grow our economy, and to lower the cost of everyday needs like health care and housing and groceries. 

     We will provide access to capital for small-business owners and entrepreneurs and founders.  (Applause.)  And we will end America’s housing shortage — (applause) — and protect Social Security and Medicare.  (Applause.)

     Now compare that to Donald Trump, because I think everyone here knows he doesn’t actually fight for the middle class.  Not — he doesn’t actually fight for the middle class.  Instead, he fights for himself and his billionaire friends.  And he will give them another round of tax breaks that will add —
    
     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — up to $5 trillion to the national debt.

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —
     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And all the while, he intends to enact what in effect is a national sales tax — call it a “Trump tax” — that would raise prices on middle-class families by almost $4,000 a year.
    
     AUDIENCE:  Booo –
     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Well, instead of a Trump tax hike, we will pass a middle-class tax cut that will benefit more than 100 million Americans.  (Applause.)

     Friends, I believe America cannot truly be prosperous unless Americans are fully able to make their own decisions about their own lives, especially on matters of heart and home.  (Applause.)  But tonight, in America, too many women are not able to make those decisions.

     And let’s be clear about how we got here.  Donald Trump handpicked members of the United States Supreme Court to take away reproductive freedom.

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And now he brags about it.  In his words, quote, “I did it, and I’m proud to have done it.”  End quote.

     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Well, I’ll tell you, over the past two years, I’ve traveled across our country, and women have told me their stories.  Husbands and fathers have shared theirs.

     Stories of women miscarrying in a parking lot, developing sepsis, losing the ability to ever again have children, all because doctors are afraid they may go to jail for caring for their patients.  Couples just trying to grow their family, cut off in the middle of IVF treatments.  Children who have survived sexual assault potentially being forced to carry a pregnancy to term. 
 
     This is what’s happening in our country because of Donald Trump.  And understand, he is not done.  As a part of his agenda, he and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion, and enact a nationwide abortion ban, with or without Congress.
 
     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

     And get this.  Get this.  He plans to create a national anti-abortion coordinator and force states to report on women’s miscarriages and abortions. 
 
     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Simply put, they are out of their minds.  (Applause.)

And one must ask — one must ask: Why exactly is it that they don’t trust women?  Well, we trust women.  We trust women.  (Applause.)

     And when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom, as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law.  (Applause.)

In this election, many other fundamental freedoms are at stake: the freedom to live safe from gun violence in our schools, communities, and places of worship; the freedom to love who you love openly and with pride — (applause); the freedom to breathe clean air and drink clean water and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate crisis — (applause); and the freedom that unlocks all the others, the freedom to vote.  (Applause.)
 
     With this election, we finally have the opportunity to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act.  (Applause.)

     And let me be clear.  And let me be clear.  After decades in law enforcement, I know the importance of safety and security, especially at our border. 

     Last year, Joe and I brought together Democrats and conservative Republicans to write the strongest border bill in decades.  The Border Patrol endorsed it.  But Donald Trump believes a border deal would hurt his campaign, so he ordered his allies in Congress to kill the deal.
 
     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Well, I refuse to play politics with our security, and here is my pledge to you.  As president, I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he killed, and I will sign it into law.  (Applause.)

     I know — I know we can live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants and reform our broken immigration system.  (Applause.)

     We can create an earned pathway to citizenship and secure our border.  (Applause.)

And, America, we must also be steadfast in advancing our security and values abroad. 
 
     As vice president, I have confronted threats to our security, negotiated with foreign leaders, strengthened our alliances, and engaged with our brave troops overseas.  (Applause.)
 
     As commander in chief, I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.  (Applause.)  And I will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families, and I will always honor and never disparage their service and their sacrifice.  (Applause.)
 
     AUDIENCE:  USA!  USA!  USA!

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  I will make sure that we lead the world into the future on space and artificial intelligence; that America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century; and that we strengthen, not abdicate, our global leadership. 
 
     Trump, on the other hand, threatened to abandon NATO.  He encouraged Putin to invade our allies.  Said Russia could, quote, “do whatever the hell they want.”
 
     AUDIENCE:  Booo —

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Five days before Russia attacked Ukraine, I met with President Zelenskyy to warn him about Russia’s plan to invade.  I helped mobilize a global response — over 50 countries — to defend against Putin’s aggression.  (Applause.)  And as president, I will stand strong with Ukraine and our NATO Allies.  (Applause.)

     With respect to the war in Gaza, President Biden and I are working around the clock, because now is the time to get a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal done.  (Applause.)

     And let me be clear.  And let me be clear.  I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself — (applause) — and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself, because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on October 7 — (applause) — including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival.
 
     At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating.  So many innocent lives lost.  (Applause.)  Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again.  The scale of suffering is heartbreaking.
 
     President Biden and I are working to end this war, such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination.  (Applause.)
 
     And know this: I will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend our forces and our interests against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists.  I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong Un, who are rooting for Trump — who are rooting for Trump.  (Applause.)
 
     Because, you know, they know — they know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors.  They know Trump won’t hold autocrats accountable because he wants to be an autocrat himself.  (Applause.)
 
     And as president, I will never waver in defense of America’s security and ideals, because in the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand and I know where the United States belongs.  (Applause.)

     AUDIENCE:  USA!  USA!  USA!

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  So, fellow Americans — fellow Americans, I — I love our country with all my heart.  (Applause.) 

     Everywhere I go — everywhere I go, in everyone I meet, I see a nation that is ready to move forward, ready for the next step in the incredible journey that is America.
 
     I see an America where we hold fast to the fearless belief that built our nation and inspired the world — that here, in this country, anything is possible; that nothing is out of reach.  An America where we care for one another, look out for one another, and recognize that we have so much more in common than what separates us.  (Applause.)  That none of us — none of us has to fail for all of us to succeed.  (Applause.)  And that in unity, there is strength. 
 
     You know, our opponents in this race are out there every day denigrating America, talking about how terrible everything is.  Well, my mother had another lesson she used to teach: Never let anyone tell you who you are; you show them who you are.  (Applause.)
 
     America, let us show each other and the world who we are and what we stand for: freedom, opportunity, compassion, dignity, fairness, and endless possibilities.  (Applause.)
 
     We are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the world.  And on behalf of our children and our grandchildren and all those who sacrificed so dearly for our freedom and liberty, we must be worthy of this moment.
 
     It is now our turn to do what generations before us have done, guided by optimism and faith: to fight for this country we love, to fight for the ideals we cherish, and to uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on Earth — the privilege and pride of being an American.  (Applause.)
 
     So, let’s get out there, let’s fight for it.  Let’s get out there, let’s vote for it.  And together, let us write the next great chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told.  (Applause.)

     Thank you.  God bless you.  And may God bless the United States of America.  Thank you all.  (Applause.)