Kamala Harris DANA BASH CNN Interview
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00:00Madam Vice President, Governor Walz, thank you so much for sitting down with me and bringing
00:04the bus.
00:05The bus tour is well underway here in Georgia.
00:09You have less time to make your case to voters than any candidate in modern American history.
00:17The voters are really eager to hear what your plans are.
00:20If you are elected, what would you do on day one in the White House?
00:24Well, there are a number of things.
00:27I will tell you first and foremost, one of my highest priorities is to do what we can
00:33to support and strengthen the middle class.
00:37When I look at the aspirations, the goals, the ambitions of the American people, I think
00:44that people are ready for a new way forward in a way that generations of Americans have
00:52been fueled by hope and by optimism.
00:56I think, sadly, in the last decade, we have had in the former president someone who has
01:05really been pushing an agenda and an environment that is about diminishing the character and
01:13the strength of who we are as Americans, really dividing our nation.
01:20And I think people are ready to turn the page on that.
01:22So what would you do day one?
01:24It's going to be about, one, implementing my plan for what I call an opportunity economy.
01:28I've already laid out a number of proposals in that regard, which include what we're going
01:33to do to bring down the cost of everyday goods, what we're going to do to invest in America's
01:37small businesses, what we're going to do to invest in families, for example, extending
01:43the child tax credit to $6,000 for families for the first year of their child's life to
01:48help them buy a car seat, to help them buy baby clothes, a crib.
01:53There's the work that we're going to do that is about investing in the American family
01:58around affordable housing, a big issue in our country right now.
02:02So there are a number of things on day one.
02:04What about you?
02:05Well, I'm excited about this agenda, too, as I said, the idea of inspiring America to
02:10what can be.
02:11And I think many of these things that the vice president is proposing are things that
02:14we share in values.
02:15And the child tax credit is one we know that reduces childhood poverty by a third.
02:19We did it in Minnesota to have a federal partner in this.
02:23It's unbelievable, I think, in the impact that we can make.
02:25You talked about, you call it the opportunity economy.
02:30You are well aware that right now many Americans are struggling.
02:34There's a crisis of affordability.
02:37One of your campaign themes is we're not going back.
02:41But I wonder what you say to voters who do want to go back when it comes to the economy
02:46specifically because their groceries were less expensive.
02:50Housing was more affordable when Donald Trump was president.
02:54Well, let's start with the fact that when Joe Biden and I came in office during the
03:00height of a pandemic, we saw over 10 million jobs were lost.
03:07People I mean, literally, we were all tracking the numbers.
03:11Hundreds of people a day were dying because of covid.
03:14The economy had crashed in large part, all of that because of mismanagement by Donald
03:19Trump of that crisis.
03:21When we came in, our highest priority was to do what we could to rescue America.
03:26And today we know that we have inflation at under 3 percent.
03:31A lot of our policies have led to the reality that America recovered faster than any wealthy
03:36nation around the world.
03:38But you are right.
03:40Prices in particular for groceries are still too high.
03:42The American people know it.
03:43I know it, which is why my agenda includes what we need to do to bring down the price
03:48of groceries.
03:49For example, dealing with an issue like price gouging, what we need to do to extend the
03:52child tax credit to help young families be able to take care of their children in their
03:58most formative years, what we need to do to bring down the cost of housing.
04:02My proposal includes what would be a tax credit of $25,000 for first time home buyers so they
04:09can just have enough to put a down payment on a home, which is part of the American dream
04:16and their aspiration, but do it in a way that allows them to actually get on the path to
04:21achieving that goal and that dream.
04:23So you have been vice president for three and a half years.
04:26The steps that you're talking about now, why haven't you done them already?
04:30Well, first of all, we had to recover as an economy, and we have done that.
04:35I'm very proud of the work that we have done that has brought inflation down to less than
04:393 percent.
04:40The work that we have done to cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month for seniors.
04:44Donald Trump said he was going to do a number of things, including allowing Medicare to
04:48negotiate drug prices.
04:49Never happened.
04:50We did it.
04:51So now, as I travel in the state of Georgia and around our country, the number of seniors
04:56that have benefited.
04:57I've met, I was in Nevada recently, a grandmother who showed me her receipts.
05:04And before we capped the cost of insulin for seniors at $35 a month, she was paying hundreds
05:09of dollars, up to thousands of dollars a month for her insulin.
05:13She's not doing that anymore.
05:14I maintain that when we do the work of bringing down prescription medication for the American
05:21people, including capping the cost of the annual cost of prescription medication for
05:25seniors at $2,000, when we do what we did in the first year of being in office to extend
05:32the child tax credit so that we cut child poverty in America by over 50 percent.
05:37When we do what we have done to invest in the American people in bringing manufacturing
05:42back to the United States so that we created over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs, bringing
05:48business back to America.
05:50What we have done to improve the supply chain so we're not relying on foreign governments
05:55to supply American families with their basic needs.
05:59I'll say that that's good work.
06:01There's more to do, but that's good work.
06:03I want to get some clarity on where you stand on some key policy issues.
06:09Energy is a big one.
06:11When you were in Congress, you supported the Green New Deal.
06:15And in 2019, you said, quote, there is no question I'm in favor of banning fracking.
06:20Fracking, as you know, is a pretty big issue, particularly in your must-win state of Pennsylvania.
06:25Do you still want to ban fracking?
06:27No.
06:28And I made that clear on the debate stage in 2020, that I would not ban fracking.
06:34As vice president, I did not ban fracking.
06:36As president, I will not ban fracking.
06:40In 2019, I believe, at a town hall, you said, you were asked, would you commit to implementing
06:46a federal ban on fracking on your first day in office?
06:48And you said, there's no question I'm in favor of banning fracking.
06:51So yes.
06:52So it changed in that campaign?
06:55In 2020, I made very clear where I stand.
06:57We are in 2024, and I've not changed that position, nor will I going forward.
07:01I kept my word, and I will keep my word.
07:04What made you change that position at the time?
07:07Well, let's be clear.
07:09My values have not changed.
07:11I believe it is very important that we take seriously what we must do to guard against
07:18what is a clear crisis in terms of the climate.
07:22And to do that, we can do what we have accomplished thus far.
07:26The Inflation Reduction Act, what we have done to invest, by my calculation, over probably
07:31a trillion dollars over the next 10 years, investing in a clean energy economy.
07:35What we've already done, creating over 300,000 new clean energy jobs.
07:41That tells me, from my experience as Vice President, we can do it without banning fracking.
07:46In fact, Dana, excuse me, I cast the tie-breaking vote that actually increased leases for fracking
07:54as Vice President.
07:56So I'm very clear about where I stand.
07:57And was there some policy or scientific data that you saw that you said, oh, OK, I get
08:03it now?
08:05What I have seen is that we can grow and we can increase a thriving clean energy economy
08:12without banning fracking.