The swift pivot of the Democratic party from President Biden to VP Kamala Harris as a presidential candidate statement can be viewed as an instability in the party’s strategy. As 2024’s election draws near, Harris has been trying to gather support against her Republican adversary, Donald Trump. Her attempts have been mainly centered around swing states such as Arizona and Nevada, under the presumptuous idea that these areas hold the key to the White House. Regardless, it seems Trump continues to maintain a more influential presence, even having had a successful rally post a debated session recently.
While Harris and her supporters try to sway voters in Arizona, it is interesting to consider her track record from her tenure as vice president. Given the Democrats’ pro-immigrant stance, she commenced the Central America Forward (CAF) in response to concerns about immigration. This public-private partnership aimed to generate local employment and mitigate massive migration. However, this move appears to have had little impact as immigration concerns remain pressing to this day.
CAF, introduced under Kamala Harris’ supervision, allegedly gathered upwards of $5.2 billion since its launch in 2021, as a measure to support economic growth in Central America. The backing for this initiative has come from diverse sectors such as finance, technology, nonprofit, etc., as per the White House. That said, debates are ongoing on whether the money should have been channeled towards American citizens first before prioritizing external regions.
Harris has further tried to establish herself as a champion of voting rights in the country. She pushed for the passing of the John R Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, intended to extend the protections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and mandating federal approval for some local election law modifications. This, however, was an unsuccessful endeavor in 2021, falling short of the required 60 votes to overcome a Republican filibuster. This looks like yet another failure on Harris’s record to get essential legislation through the Senate.
In her rather characteristic opposition to the Supreme Court’s decision to overrule Roe v. Wade in 2022, Harris has been advocating for reproductive rights. Her ‘Fight for Reproductive Freedoms’ tour, including stops in Arizona, was executed to openly challenge and ridicule Republican laws that place restrictions on abortion. This high-profile tour has raised eyebrows considering the strong, divergent beliefs held by many on this sensitive issue.
Harris’ provocative statement in Phoenix on March 8, about crackdowns on healthcare providers for providing abortion services, is a testament to her position on the issue. Her claims about ‘extremists’ creating punitive laws against women seeking abortions and accusing local laws such as Arizona’s, reflects a divisionist stance, choosing to fuel controversy rather than seek common ground.
In 2023, a White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention was set up under President Biden’s rule. The responsibility to oversee this office was assigned to Harris. However, it’s an interesting approach to curb the violence by focusing solely on guns as the main factor rather than addressing the underlying reasons causing people to resort to violence.
The office aims to reinforce the prevention measures taken by the Biden-Harris administration to confront gun violence. Whereas the most effective ways to prevent violence would be improving education, addressing mental health, and providing better avenues for communication and expression. Maybe it’s high time that the Democrats consider this wider, deeper approach to problem-solving.
Before serving as vice president, while in the capacity of the U.S. Senator for California, Harris introduced bills such as the Maternal CARE Act and the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act aiming to enhance maternal healthcare across the nation. However, these bills seemed more focused on specific minority groups rather than encompassing all mothers in need of care, leaving out a large portion of the American populace.
Harris’ work on maternity and infant health was a crucial aspect of the controversial Build Back Better Act that was enacted in 2022. Although the act aimed to improve access to maternal care services and reduce mortality and morbidity rates, it still overlooks much of the populace, seemingly deviating from the principle of providing equitable services to all.
Another significant attempt of the Biden-Harris administration to appear progressive was the ‘Investing in America’ agenda under which Harris, along with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, announced new production of electronics equipment in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The million-dollar question is, why isn’t American-made materials used in all federal projects straight from the start?
The Investing in America drive and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law led to a massive $65 billion investment to widen the accessibility to reliable, high-speed internet across the U.S. It’s bewildering that even after this, several parts of the nation continue to deal with inconsistent and sub-standard internet services.
Harris hailed the infrastructural investments as the creation of job opportunities across Wisconsin and the nation while boasting improved access to reliable, high-speed internet. However, the effectiveness of these initiatives, much like most of her endeavors, appears questionable, furthering suspicions about the administration’s ability to fulfill their promises.