Breaking Down The Plans: Kamala Harris

Breaking Down The Plans is a short political writing series that I am doing trying to break down 8 of each Presidential candidate’s plans (the issues that young people most care about) into factual bullet points that anyone can easily digest. I will give my opinion at the end as well as a link to the official website to read more. I’m doing this because 1. I’m a policy geek and 2. not everyone can sit through a 36-page plan. Also, if anything is in bold, it means that I feel it is significant in some way. We are gonna start with the highest polling candidate. Enjoy!

Climate change:

• Passing the Climate Equity Act, the Environmental Justice Act, and the Water Justice Act
• Investing $250 billion over five years to repair and replace drinking water infrastructure
• Halting pipelines on native lands
• Ending fossil fuel subsidies
• Funding the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
• Establishing a climate pollution fee
• Achieving a clean economy by 2045
• Investing $10 trillion in the next 10 years into creating sustainable jobs
• Getting to 100% carbon-neutral electricity by 2030
• Requiring all new buses be zero-emission by 2030
• Passing the Clean School Bus Act and the Living Shorelines Act
• Reviving the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant
• Passing the 21st Century SKILLS Act providing $8,000 for a Just Transition
• Passing the Combatting Sexual Harassment in STEM Act
• Passing the 21st Century STEM for Girls and Underrepresented Minorities Act
• Halting all new fossil fuel leases on public lands or waters
• Creating a Public Land Renewable Energy Zone Strategy
• Protecting 30% of our lands and oceans by 2030
• Requiring climate-smart conservation
• Creating an Office of Outdoor Recreation
• Passing the Restore Our Parks Act
• Re-joining the Paris Agreement
• Ratifying the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol
• Proposing a meeting of global leaders to discuss climate solutions in early 2021

Gun violence:

• Passing and expanding universal background checks
• Revoking the license of gun manufacturers who break the law
• Repealing the Protection of Commerce in Arms Act
• Using the $500,000 fine for each gun industry violation to support mental health services
• Prohibiting fugitives with outstanding warrant arrests from buying guns
• Closing the boyfriend loophole
• Banning assault weapons from being imported into the US

Public education/student loan debt:

• Allowing current debt holders to refinance high-interest loans to lower rates
• Expanding Income Based Repayment
• Providing student loan forgiveness to Pell Grant recipients who start a successful business

Immigration:

• Re-instating and expanding DACA
• Increasing the two-term of DACA protection to three years
• Updating the cutoff date for entry into the US
• Creating a Dreamers Parole in Place Program
• Directing the DHS to grant work authorization to DACA recipients
• Reversing Trump’s travel ban
• Closing private detention centers
• Expanding Temporary Protected Status

Gender equality:

• Requiring companies to obtain an Equal Pay Certification
• Fining companies 1% of every 1% wage gap they let continue every day
• Requiring companies to disclose if they are Equal Pay Certified on their website
• Requiring states with anti-abortion practices to clear any new laws with the DOJ
• Nominating judges who respect Roe v Wade
• Reversing Trump’s attempts to cut Teen Pregnancy Prevention programs

Racial equality/criminal justice:

• Doubling the DOJ’s civil rights division
• Expanding pattern and practice investigations
• Enforcing consent decrees
• Legalizing marijuana
• Ending private prisons, death penalty, cash bail, and solitary confinement
• Passing the Marijuana Opportunity Investment and Expungement Act
• Ending mandatory minimums
• Increasing clemency use and removing that department from the DOJ
• Ending federal crack and powder cocaine disparity
• Forming a National Criminal Justice Commission and a Beauru of Children and Family Justice
• End life sentences and solitary confinement for children
• Requiring federal prisons to have job training and mental health services
• Garantee Automatic expungement of offenses that are not serious or violent after 5 years
• Restoring voting rights for all formerly incarcerated people
• Ending federal bans on formerly incarcerated people’s access to housing
• Creating a National Police Systems Review Board
• Increasing funding for body cameras
• Requiring police data reporting as a condition of federal funds
• Increasing funding for mental health professionals in law enforcement
• Passing the EQUAL Defense Act and the Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act
• Investing $1 billion to eliminate state’s rape kit backlogs within four years
• Investing $100 billion to homebuyers who live in historically red-lined communities
• Investing $60 billion in STEM at HBCUs and MSIs
• Creating a $10 billion infrastructure grant program for HBCUs and MSIs
• Providing $2.5 billion to HBCU programs that generate Black teachers
• Creating a $12 billion grant and technical support fund for minority small business owners

LGBTQIA+ equality:

• Re-instating Obama’s LGBTQIA+ Executive Actions to protect federal workers from discrimination
• Supporting a third-gender option on federal ID cards and documents
• Rolling back Trump’s policies that allow religious beliefs as excuse for discrimination
• Appointing an Attorney General to prosecute LGBTQIA+ hate crimes
• Reversing Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the Armed Forces

Voting rights:

• Restoring full protection of the Voting Rights Act
• Requiring the availability of early voting
• Making Election Day a national holiday
• Requiring public disclosure of donors from dark-money interest groups
• Replacing outdated electronic voting machines
• Implementing cyber security guidelines

Read more about her plans: https://kamalaharris.org/issues/