Harris is set to propose a federal ban on price gouging for food and groceries and will offer strategies to reduce prescription drug costs. Additionally, her campaign previewed new details about her plan to address housing affordability.
The proposal includes up to $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers, exceeding the $10,000 tax credit previously offered by the Biden administration. Her campaign estimates that this initiative will enable more than 4 million first-time buyers to purchase homes.
Harris will also aim to offer homebuilders tax incentives to construct and sell starter homes and create a $40 billion fund to assist local governments in addressing housing shortages.
Since assuming the Democratic ticket in late July, Harris has emphasized that reducing costs for middle-class families will be a central focus of her administration. However, specific details have been limited in the weeks since she took over from Biden.
"The cost of living remains too high, driven up daily by giant corporations," Harris said at a campaign rally in Nevada last week. "That’s why we’re challenging special interests and working to reduce the costs of housing, gas, groceries, and other everyday essentials."
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The lack of details in her agenda has given her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, an opportunity to make claims. At a rally on Wednesday, Trump asserted—without evidence—that Harris would lead the country into a "1929-style Depression" and warned that Americans' finances would "never recover" if she became president, despite new consumer price index data showing a slowdown in inflation rates.
Inflation rose by 2.9 percent in July, marking the slowest increase since early 2021.
On Friday morning, Harris' campaign announced her support for permanently expanding the Child Tax Credit to $3,600 per child. Additionally, she plans to cut taxes for lower-income workers without children by $1,500. Under her proposal, families with newborns would be eligible for a $6,000 tax credit.
She will also advocate for caps on prescription drug costs, including a $35 monthly limit for insulin and a $2,000 annual cap on out-of-pocket expenses. This proposal builds on a program for seniors included in the healthcare and economic law that Harris cast the deciding vote on in 2021.
As a former California Attorney General, Harris is leveraging her legal background to shape and strengthen her agenda.
Her campaign has announced that she will enforce the proposed new price-gouging regulations by granting state attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission greater authority to investigate and penalize businesses. Additionally, she will advocate for government intervention to block mergers that could increase grocery prices.
Harris has also opposed new tariffs, which could drive up the cost of household goods, and rejected tax cuts for wealthy Americans. On Thursday, she appeared with President Joe Biden at an event in Maryland, where Biden revealed that Medicare had negotiated with private companies to lower the costs of drugs used to treat cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and blood clots.
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