“Two outrageous bills Kamala Harris sponsored would crush taxpayers,” notes the American Enterprise Institute. “As a U.S. senator, Vice President Kamala Harris had a remarkably slim record of accomplishments.” But she tried to pass legislation that would have increased the national debt by tens of trillions of dollars: “two bills she introduced (that went nowhere) may best define her past, and potential future, priorities as a lawmaker. Those bills would have turned the federal government into an unprecedented ATM machine, spitting out trillions of dollars” in new federal spending annually.
As AEI explains, “Then-Senator Harris’s sparse record” of accomplishments
is partially explained by the fact that her four years on Capitol Hill coincided with a Senate Republican majority and the Trump administration. Indeed, Roll Call in 2020 described her record as that of a “loyal Democrat and Trump counterpuncher.” That suggests that, to best understand her legislative priorities, one should look not to the few bills that she passed, but to those that went nowhere — but might advance in the future if she occupies the White House.
That list includes dozens of bills that would have expanded the federal leviathan in all directions….two Harris bills far exceed all the rest in sheer audacity and cost.
The first [the LIFT Act] would have added nearly $3 trillion to deficits in the first decade alone….
A second bill makes the LIFT Act seem positively thrifty. During the pandemic, Harris proposed the 2020 “Monthly Economic Crisis Support Act,” which may have been the most expensive legislation ever introduced. Conservatively estimated to cost $21 trillion, this bill would have sent most American children and adults $2,000-per-month “crisis payments” throughout the COVID emergency, running from March 2020 through August 2023.
Households could collect up to $10,000 per month or an astonishing $120,000 per year — nearly double the U.S. median household income of $67,521 in 2020. Across a span of 42 months, a typical family of four could have received $336,000 in federal benefit checks without anyone working a minute. That stunning payday would have been in addition to tens of thousands of dollars in existing pandemic benefits, like $600-per-week unemployment bonuses, expanded food stamps, and far more.
[The bill’s] $21 trillion cost would have been seven times the $3 trillion cost of the 2020 CARES Act — the most expensive bill ever signed into law. While in effect, Harris’ legislation would have doubled the federal budget, sending the current $35-trillion national debt soaring to well over $55 trillion, without even considering its grim inflation and interest rate implications.
President Biden often says “show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” If he is right, Harris’ mostly forgotten Senate agenda shows the high value she places on dramatically expanding federal benefits, spending and deficits. Republicans stood in the way of that agenda while Harris was in the Senate, and for the last two years under their House majority. The next 100 days will determine not only whether Harris moves up to the White House, but also whether any brake remains on her mostly forgotten record of extraordinary fiscal recklessness.
The national debt of more than $55 trillion resulting from these two Kamala Harris policies would give America a national debt bigger than every other country on Earth — a national debt that is more than all those countries’ debts, combined. It would give America a national debt that is bigger as a percentage of its economy than countries that defaulted on their debts or went through an economic crisis as a result of excessive borrowing.
As vice president, Kamala Harris cast tie-breaking votes in the Senate to pass massive spending increases backed by Joe Biden that made inflation get worse, according to economists.
Kamala Harris is hostile to free speech, free markets, and fiscal responsibility. In 2019, Kamala Harris called for restricting online speech and pressuring social media companies to restrict speech. As California’s attorney general, Harris was especially hostile to free speech, notes the Wall Street Journal.
Harris also has a history of left-wing stances, such as supporting the Green New Deal (which could cost $90 trillion), rent control, and racial redistribution of wealth. Harris supports imposing a higher tax rate on corporations than socialist Venezuela.
“While in the US Senate, nobody was to the left of Kamala Harris. Not even [socialist] Bernie Sanders,” notes Jeremy Redfern. As Newsweek reported:
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s pick for his vice presidential running mate, Democratic California Senator Kamala Harris, was ranked as being more liberal than Democratic Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the congressperson often considered the furthest left within the Democratic caucus.
The government watchdog website GovTrack.us ranked all 100 U.S. Senators with an “ideology score” from 1.0 (most conservative) to 0.0 (most liberal). The score is based on each senator’s legislative behavior: namely, how similar the pattern of bills and resolutions they co-sponsor are to other congress members….GovTrack.us gave Sanders an ideology score of 0.02 and Harris a score of 0.00. together, they ranked as the most liberal members of the Senate. The website said Harris joined bipartisan bills the least often compared to Senate Democrats.
Harris has long supported rent control, even though 93% of economists think that rent control is a bad idea that reduces the quantity and quality of housing available.
Earlier this year, Harris denounced “corporate landlords” that provide rental housing, even though blocking them from the rental housing market would reduce the quantity and quality of housing available. Studies show that corporate landlords provide a useful function. Due to their advantages in accessing capital, corporate landlords can spend more on renovations than the typical landlord. This can lead to improved neighborhood and housing quality. Single-family rentals owned by corporate landlords can provide increased access to better neighborhoods for lower-income families (Khaleel & Hanlon, 2023) and higher-performing schools (Mayock & Vosters, 2024).
Even Obama administration officials have said that rent control is stupid and counterproductive. So Harris’s support for rent control marks her as a left-wing Democrat, because rent control doesn’t work (for example, it discourages construction of rental housing, turns some buildings into slums by leaving the landlord with less money for maintenance, makes it hard for new residents to find housing, and encourages empty-nesters to stay in four-bedroom apartments they no longer need, rather than moving out and letting a family with kids live in it). “Obama economic advisor Jason Furman has, in line with a strong majority of economists, acknowledged that ‘Rent control has been about as disgraced as any economic policy in the tool kit.’”
Harris also supports price controls, which 95% of economists oppose, because price controls cause shortages, shrink the economy, and create deadweight losses.
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