Harris Adopts Biden’s Income Tax Pledge

Plus: ‘Weird’ vs ‘radical’ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [The Fisc](   By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey Happy Monday! Lots going on today, and we’re not even talking about the impending Major League Baseball trade deadline (Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET). Here’s what we’re tracking. (ddp/Maik Meyer via Reuters) ‘Weird’ vs ‘Radical’: Harris, Trump Sharpen Their Attacks With less than 100 days to go until Election Day, the presidential race has tightened according to polls, but former President Donald Trump still has an edge against Vice President Kamala Harris. The two candidates have been sharpening their attacks. Perhaps [grabbing a page]( from Trump’s playbook, Harris and her allies have set about labeling the Republican nominee and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, as weird. Meanwhile, Trump has sought to cast Harris as radically liberal — and he has resorted again to [election denialism]( baselessly claiming at a Saturday night rally that Democrats "cheated in the last election and they’re gonna cheat in this election." Trump told the crowd in St. Cloud, Minnesota: "If they don’t cheat, we will win this state easily" — even though a Republican presidential candidate hasn’t won the state since 1972. Biden proposes major Supreme Court reforms: The current president — Joe Biden, remember him? — on Monday [proposed]( sweeping reforms for the Supreme Court, including 18-year term limits and an enforceable code of ethics for the justices. He also called for a constitutional amendment to make clear that former presidents have no immunity for crimes committed while in office. "I have great respect for our institutions and the separation of powers," Biden wrote in a piece for [The Washington Post](. "What is happening now is not normal, and it undermines the public’s confidence in the court’s decisions, including those impacting personal freedoms. We now stand in a breach." Harris endorsed the president’s proposals, saying that the court faces "a clear crisis of confidence … after numerous ethics scandals and decision after decision overturning long-standing precedent." Still, the reforms likely have no chance of being enacted anytime soon. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has already called Biden’s proposals "dead on arrival." Harris Adopts Biden Pledge Not to Raise Taxes on Those Earning Less Than $400,000 It looks like Vice President Kamala Harris is staying pretty close to President Joe Biden’s fiscal proposals as she seeks the White House, at least as far as income taxes go. On Friday, her campaign [told Politico]( that she intends to stick with Biden’s pledge not to raise taxes on anyone earning less than $400,000 a year, as part of a campaign focused on working- and middle-class voters. "We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by but to get ahead," Harris said at a rally in Wisconsin last week, echoing Biden’s familiar messaging. "Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency." Like Biden, Harris is attacking former President Donald Trump as just another Republican primarily interested in cutting taxes for the rich. "He intends to give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations and make working families foot the bill," Harris said at a rally in Texas on Thursday. "America has tried these failed economic policies, but we are not going back." While Harris has not yet laid out a comprehensive fiscal or economic plan, there are signs that she won’t stray far from Biden’s economic policies, which were produced by an administration in which she played a part. Still, her economic advisers — who, according to Politico’s Sam Sutton, [include]( Mike Pyle, formerly with BlackRock, and venture capitalist Rohini Kosoglu — note that Harris has long been focused on the "care economy" that touches upon issues such as health, housing, education and family life. Early in the Biden administration, Harris pushed for policies including paid family and medical leave that would benefit the often-unpaid work done by caregivers, but those proposals dropped by the wayside as the administration negotiated legislation more focused on manufacturing, the environment and drug prices. The question remains, then, how hard Harris will push to bring the care economy back into focus as part of her platform. Her adopting Biden’s pledge to avoid tax cuts on anyone earning less than $400,000 suggests that while she may talk more in the coming weeks about supporting caregivers and, more broadly, the liberal values of equality and inclusion, her economic platform will point toward policies that are more aspirational than transformative. Chart of the Day: Climate Spending in the Balance If former President Donald Trump wins another term in the White House, he will likely seek to reverse some of President Joe Biden’s legislative accomplishments, not least the $1.6 trillion in climate and energy initiatives that were included in a handful of bills passed in the first two years of the Biden administration. "All of the trillions of dollars that are sitting there not yet spent, we will redirect that money for important projects like roads, bridges, dams and we will not allow it to be spent on meaningless Green New Scam ideas," Trump said at the Republican convention earlier this month. Politico’s Kelsey Tamborrino, Timothy Cama and Jessie Blaeser [took a look]( at how far Trump would be able to go as he seeks to rip up Biden’s environmental policies, and the answer appears to be that he could go very far indeed. For example, Biden signed about $527 billion worth of tax credits focused on clean energy into law, but most of them have yet to be fully operationalized by the Treasury Department. "That means Trump’s Treasury appointees could rewrite or reinterpret those implementation rules, with no need for Congress’ blessing," the Politico team writes. Senate Appropriators to Consider Four Spending Bills, but Not One for DHS The House is out for an extended summer recess, but the Senate is still in session this week and appropriators on that side of the Capitol will be working to advance several more annual spending bills before they leave town at the end of the week. The Senate Appropriations Committee has already approved seven of the 12 annual spending bills, and it’s set to consider four of the remaining five on Thursday. But Senate negotiators are reportedly punting the Department of Homeland Security funding bill as they struggle to reach agreement on it. "Over the last few weeks, we have made serious progress writing strong, bipartisan funding bills—passing seven so far out of Committee with overwhelming bipartisan support," Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray, a Democrat, said in a statement cited by [The Hill](. "I look forward to keeping the momentum up on Thursday when we consider another four bills, and we will continue working toward a bipartisan agreement on the Homeland Security bill." House lawmakers have passed five appropriations bills so far, but Republicans have faced internal fights that bogged down the remaining measures, leading party leaders to begin their August recess a week early. Both chambers are expected to have to pass a stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown at the end of September. Number of the Day: $35 Trillion The national debt topped $35 trillion for the first time on Monday. "The leading presidential candidates, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald J. Trump, have said little about the nation’s deficits on the campaign trail, suggesting that the economic problem will only worsen in the coming years," Alan Rappeport writes at [The New York Times](. "Deep differences between Republicans and Democrats on policy priorities and resistance within both parties to enacting cuts to the biggest drivers of the national debt — Social Security and Medicare — have made it difficult to reduce America’s borrowing." Fiscal News Roundup - [Schumer Tees Up Vote on Bill to Expand Child Tax Credit]( – The Hill - [Massive Veterans Budget Gap Rips Hole in Appropriations Process]( – Roll Call - [Mark Kelly Seen Most Favorably of Potential VP Picks, Followed by Shapiro, Beshear, Buttigieg: Poll]( – The Hill - [With Vance’s Rocky Debut, Republicans Ask if Trump’s VP Bet Will Pay Off]( – Washington Post - [A Project 2025 Target: The IRS]( – Politico - [1 Million People Now Owe More Than $200,000 in Federal Student Loans]( – CNBC - [US Cuts Borrowing Estimate, Sees Smaller Year-End Cash Pile]( – Bloomberg - [US Will Send $1.7 Billion in Military Aid to Ukraine]( – Associated Press - [Denver Gave People Without Housing $12,000. Here's What Happened a Year Later]( – CNN (video) - [NY’s MTA Outlines List of Improvements to Exceed $51.5 Billion]( – Bloomberg Views and Analysis - [Joe Biden: My Plan to Reform the Supreme Court and Ensure No President Is Above the Law]( – President Joe Biden, Washington Post - [Factcheck Updates How the US Has Performed Under Biden]( – FactCheck.org - [The Biggest Success Story the Country Doesn’t Know About]( – Dean Baker, New Republic - [Have the 2024 Fundamentals Changed?]( – Stuart Rothenberg, Roll Call - [Trump vs. Biden’s Historic Climate Agenda]( – Kelsey Tamborrino, Timothy Cama and Jessie Blaeser, Politico - [Congress Trump-Proofed This $27B Climate Program. Here’s Why That’s a Problem]( – Jean Chemnick, Politico - [The Kamala Harris Surprise]( – Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal - [Believe Trump When He Says He Won’t Give Up Power]( – Timothy L. O’Brien, Bloomberg - [Rejecting ‘Unity,’ Trump Says ‘Maybe I’ve Gotten Worse’ After Shooting]( – Steve Benen, MSNBC - [Why JD Vance Worries About Childlessness]( – Greg Ip, Wall Street Journal - [Extreme Republicans Won’t Stop After Chevron]( – Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY), The Hill Copyright © 2024 The Fiscal Times, All rights reserved. You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed at our website or through Facebook. The Fiscal Times, 399 Park Avenue, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10022, United States Want to change how you receive these emails? [Update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe](