PITTSBURGH — Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris returned to Pittsburgh Wednesday to outline an economic program she said would boost the middle class and with it America’s prosperity.
“We have an extraordinary opportunity to make our middle class the engine of America’s prosperity, to build a stronger economy where everyone everywhere has a chance to pursue their dreams and aspirations and to ensure the United States of America continues to out-innovate and outcompete the world.” she said in her presentation to the Economic Club of Pittsburgh in a packed Philip Chosky Theatre at Carnegie Mellon University.
Harris promised to work with businesses and unions to create jobs. “I am a capitalist,” she said.
Specifically, she called for speeding up permitting for construction, noting that the Empire State Building was built in a year.
“In America, it takes too long and it costs too much to build,” she said. “China is not moving slowly, and we can’t afford to either. … Patience might be a virtue but not when it comes to job creation.”
She said she wanted to help families do more than just be able to pay their bills. She said they should be able to put away money for their children’s education, take vacations and buy holiday gifts.
“I want Americans and families to not just be able to get by but to get ahead,” she said, “We know how to build an economy like that. We do know how to unlock strong shared economic growth for the American people. History has shown it time and time again: When we invest in those things that strengthen the middle class, we grow our economy.”
Among Harris’ proposals was a tax cut for 100 million Americans and a promise that no one earning less than $400,000 a year would pay more in taxes.
She also proposed a $6,000 tax credit for families during a child’s first year of life and a $3,600 tax credit per child for working families.
She reiterated her call for a $50,000 tax deduction for new small businesses (up from $5,000), and $25,000 to help first-time homebuyers with down payment.
She promised to work to reduce prescription drug prices for everyone, not just the elderly. I intend to chart a new way forward and grow America’s middle class. Donald Trump has no intention to grow our middle class. He’s only interested in making life better for himself and people like himself, the wealthiest of Americans.Vice President Kamala Harris
Harris also said that the U.S, has “taken enormous steps” to recover from the economic downturn and pandemic that the current administration inherited from Trump.
Those steps are evidenced by low unemployment, the Federal Reserve recently lowering interest rates, inflation continuing to decline, and 740,000 manufacturing jobs being created, including 650 of them at the Eos Energy zinc battery plant in Turtle Creek that once was a Westinghouse factory, she said.
Even so, she acknowledged that “the cost of living in America is just too high. You know it, and I know it.”
