AILSA CHANG, HOST:
The economy remains one of the biggest concerns for voters this election year. And this afternoon in North Carolina, Vice President Harris rolled out her agenda for cutting kitchen-table costs. The centerpiece of that agenda - well, she wants to give families up to $6,000 when they have a new baby, a time when many people deal with lots of expenses.
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VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: The costs can really add up, especially for young parents who need to buy diapers and clothes and a car seat and so much else.
CHANG: This speech was both a glimpse into how she thinks about the economy and how she's trying to quiet political criticism over the issue. NPR White House correspondent Asma Khalid is here with the details. Hey, Asma.
ASMA KHALID, BYLINE: Hi there. It's good to be with you.
CHANG: Good to have you. OK, so tell us more about this plan that Harris laid out today.
KHALID: Well, this is the most policy detail we have seen so far from Harris in her nascent presidential campaign. We saw a number of progressive economic ideas that she laid out, and I would really bucket them into three major prongs. The first is this federal ban on price gouging in the food sector. She said that prices for things like meat and bread have not come down since the pandemic, and she blamed grocery stores for that. Secondly, she has these efforts to cut costs that are top of mind - expenses like health care and housing. And she's suggesting a $25,000 down payment for first-time home buyers. And then lastly, she is calling for a major expansion of the child tax credit.
CHANG: OK, let's dig in further into some of these ideas. I want to start with the child tax credit. What is she proposing exactly?
KHALID: There's two parts to this. For families with newborn babies, she's calling for that up to $6,000 tax credit. This would be a brand-new initiative. And the second part is increasing the existing child tax credit up to $3,600 per child per year. That's how much it was during the pandemic, and that COVID boost was broadly recognized for curbing child poverty rates. It's worth pointing out that some Republicans, like the GOP vice presidential nominee, have also called for increasing the child tax credit. But, you know, this idea does certainly face criticism as well. Here's economist Kevin Corinth with the conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute.
KEVIN CORINTH: It would be very costly. The current child tax credit costs something like $100 billion a year. This would probably double that cost.
KHALID: His primary critique is that all of Harris' ideas require money that currently does not exist. Harris has not given details about how she intends to pay for all of this, but progressive groups that I spoke with tell me she could foot the bill by raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy.
CHANG: Well, what does Harris' plan tell you about how she thinks about the economy?
KHALID: Her ideas, I would say, mirror many of the White House's existing economic initiatives. I mean, I think that is to be expected. She's the sitting vice president. She's a part of the administration. And she, like Joe Biden, you know, has been focused on building up the middle class, but she is a different messenger. Felicia Wong with the progressive advocacy group Roosevelt Forward told me that Harris seems to be picking up the pieces of the Biden agenda that really matter to everyday Americans and expand them. One place we're seeing that is with the child tax credit.
CHANG: Well, what about the politics of all of this? Like, how is that playing out?
KHALID: Well, the Trump campaign was very quick to hold a call with reporters this afternoon to critique the plan. Kevin Hassett, who was a top economic adviser in the Trump White House, said that some of Harris' proposals would amount to price controls and could lead to shortages of supply. He said that Trump's approach of cutting taxes, deregulation would do more to address inflation. You know, Republicans have been trying to blame Harris for high prices and tie her to President Biden, who has been underwater for his handling of the economy. But thus far, that approach does not seem to work. Trump has had an advantage on the economy with voters, but he does not seem to have as strong of an edge when it comes to competing against Kamala Harris.
CHANG: That is NPR's Asma Khalid. Thank you so much, Asma.
KHALID: Good to speak with you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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