Kamala Harris wants to tackle rising food costs and price hikes while setting her own economic priorities and distinguishing herself from the Biden administration if she wins the White House in November.
The Vice President leads Unpleasant North Carolina Friday to deliver her first speech on economic policy, nearly a month after she entered the presidential race following President Biden’s exit.
In one of her first economic proposals as the Democratic presidential candidate, Harris plans to call for the first-ever federal ban on corporate profiteering, her campaign said.
During her visit to Raleigh, Harris will announce her plan to implement the ban during her first 100 days in office, aimed at lowering the cost of groceries as inflation has raged through much of the past four years of the Biden administration.
While it’s not entirely clear how the proposal would be enforced, the campaign said in its press release that the plan would establish “clear rules” so companies “can’t unfairly exploit consumers.”
Vice President Kamala Harris travels to Raleigh, N.C., on Friday to deliver her first economic policy speech as the Democratic presidential candidate. The campaign said she will call for a federal ban on loan sharking during her remarks
This gives the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general the authority to investigate the food industry and impose “severe penalties” on companies that violate the rules.
The proposals would also end mergers between large food companies, which the campaign argues allow companies to raise food prices and undermine competition.
The plan comes as Americans remain frustrated over rising food prices in supermarkets due to inflation.
The rising cost has slowed significantly since inflation peaked in June 2022, when food prices rose more than 10 percent from a year earlier. Food costs are currently up 2.2 percent from a year ago, but are still well above where they were before Biden took office.
“While our economy is doing well in many ways, prices for everyday items like groceries are still too high,” Harris said recently at a rally in Wisconsin, where as California’s attorney general she touted the crackdown on price-fixing.
Some progressive groups accuse big corporations of taking advantage of the pandemic and supply chain challenges to drive up prices, and are urging the Biden administration to take action.
But other economists and the Federal Reserve hesitated to attribute the price increases to corporate greed, even though in some cases it played a role. The main causes of inflation were supply constraints and increased demand.
“It’s just going to lead to more shortages,” said Allison Schrager of the more conservative Manhattan Institute, noting that there is a “disastrous history of price controls” and economists generally agree that past efforts have not achieved their intended market goals.
“I don’t know if she wants to bring prices back to pre-pandemic levels, but it would clearly be a disaster for supermarkets,” she added.
Food prices have generally risen by more than 20 percent compared to before the coronavirus pandemic, but inflation has fallen dramatically from its peak in 2022. Food prices rose 2.2 percent from a year ago
During her economic policy speech on Friday, Harris will also present proposals addressing prescription drug costs and housing, her campaign said.
Harris’ economic vision is slowly beginning to take shape, both in terms of how she plans to adhere to Biden’s economic agenda and chart her own course.
Before leaving the presidential race, Biden had pledged during the campaign not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000, a pledge Harris’ campaign has said she would honor.
But to achieve that, the next administration will need to work with Congress to address provisions of Trump’s 2017 tax law, which expires next year.
Democrats and Republicans disagree over which provisions they want to keep and which they want to let expire by the end of 2025 if Congress does not act.
During her campaign and in official speeches as vice president, Harris, like Biden, focused on supporting and strengthening the middle class.
At a rally in Nevada on Saturday, Harris made waves with another proposal, agreeing with Donald Trump’s call to eliminate the tip tax.
“When I’m president, we’ll continue our fight for working families in America, including raising the minimum wage and eliminating the tip tax for service and hospitality workers,” she said.
Trump accused her of copying him, as he made a similar proposal in Nevada earlier this year.
The proposal has been met with mixed reactions. Some Democrats have called for an end to tax tips for years, but critics call it unfair tax policy and suggest that government workers should focus more on wages.
Harris has called for raising the minimum wage, a policy supported by President Biden. However, efforts by the administration to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour have been met with resistance in Congress.
The campaign has also touted other legislation that Harris helped pass as president, including the American Rescue Plan in 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, on which Harris had the tie-breaking vote.