'I'm a capitalist,' Kamala Harris says as she reveals $100 billion manufacturing plan
Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday outlined her $100 billion plan to boost U.S. manufacturing and take on China while helping middle-class Americans.
“I believe 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,” the Democratic presidential nominee said at the Economic Club of Pittsburgh, before touting the Biden administration’s investments in manufacturing.
Harris said her potential administration would create an “America Forward” strategy to build on her predecessor’s big investment bills, like the Inflation Education Act and the Chips and Science Act. That plan would include offering new tax credits linked to how workers are treated and whether they have the right to freely unionize, as well as support investment in energy, manufacturing, and agricultural communities, the campaign said in a fact sheet.
Those credits would help companies across a series of sectors that the U.S. sees as necessary to compete with China due to both national security concerns and a need to protect domestic jobs. That includes automakers, artificial intelligence firms and data centers, semiconductor manufacturers, and firms working on clean energy.
The investments will ensure “the next generation of breakthroughs—from advanced batteries to geothermal to advanced nuclear—are not just invented, but built here in America by American workers,” Harris said. “And we will invest in the industries that made Pittsburgh the Steel City, by offering tax credits for expanding good union jobs, in steel, iron, and manufacturing communities like here in Mon Valley.”
She also pitched plans to eliminate unnecessary degree requirements for federal jobs, support groups working on apprentice ships and other training opportunities, increase domestic production of critical minerals, like lithium or aluminum, and slash red tape.
According to the Harris campaign, her plan will cost $100 billion, although it claims it will be paid off by proceeds from international tax reforms.
Harris on Wednesday also sought to remind voters that “I’m a capitalist” and shut down attempts to paint her as a socialist or a Marxist, as rival Former President Donald Trump has done. Throughout her speech she paraphrased legendary investor Warren Buffett, Alexander Hamilton, and innovators like Allen Newell and Herbert Simon, who founded Carnegie Mellon University’s computer science school.
“Look, I am a capitalist. I believe in free and fair markets,” Harris said. “And I know the power of American innovation. I’ve been working with entrepreneurs and business owners my whole career.”
Harris’ promises come in addition to her prior pledges, including tax credits for families with young children and efforts to take on high drug prices and Wall Street’s home buying spree. Harris has said much of her policies would be paid off by increasing the corporate tax rate and other taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
Trump has made his own pledges to boost American manufacturing and take on China in the form of increased tariffs, which he says would offset the cost of lowering taxes on corporations and individuals. Tariffs on Chinese imports could be raised by as much as 50% under Trump’s proposals, which would make those goods considerably pricier for consumers.
In an interview Wednesday evening with MSNBC’s (CMCSA) Stephanie Ruhle, Harris bashed Trump’s thoughts about tariffs “not very serious.” Earlier in the day, while speaking in Pittsburgh, Harris called Trump “one of the biggest losers ever on manufacturing, citing an incorrect statistic.
