Jeffries defends Harris amid criticism of economic plan

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) defended Vice President Harris on Sunday after her recently unveiled economic plan received some criticism.

Harris outlined a series of economic policy proposals during a campaign stop in North Carolina on Friday, where she called for a federal ban on corporate price-gouging. CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Jeffries Sunday on “State of the Union” whether he backed her plan to ban price-gouging.

“Kamala Harris has articulated a very important plan to make sure that we are lowering costs for everyday Americans, that we are ending price gouging throughout the country, and that, of course, we are growing the middle class and making sure that everyday Americans can get ahead. So, we, as House Democrats, look forward to working with Kamala Harris to drive costs down,” Jeffries said on CNN.

The Washington Post editorial board hit Harris over her newly announced economic agenda on Friday, characterizing the plan as “populist gimmicks.”

“Vice President Kamala Harris’s speech Friday was an opportunity to get specific with voters about how a Harris presidency would manage an economy that many feel is not working well for them,” the board wrote in an editorial Friday. “Unfortunately, instead of delivering a substantial plan, she squandered the moment on populist gimmicks.”

When Tapper pointed to The Washington Post editorial piece while pressing Jeffries on the issue, the House Democrat said President Biden inherited “three different catastrophes from the prior president.”

“At the same time, there was a public health catastrophe connected to the COVID-19 pandemic. There was an economic catastrophe that resulted from the shutdown of our economy. And, of course, there was a democracy catastrophe related to the January 6 violent assault on the Capitol incited by the former president as part of the effort to halt the peaceful transfer of power. And so, in the context of the economic catastrophe, the shutdown of the economy had consequences,” he said.

“And when demand came back, the supply chain needed to, of course, catch up. And so that is a process that has been underway that has triggered an inflationary environment,” he continued “But it’s fair to say that part of the challenge that many everyday Americans have felt is that price gouging is occurring by some bad actors, and it’s reasonable for us to look into how we can stop it from occurring. Vice President Harris is simply saying, we have to make sure that markets are properly functioning. That’s the American way.”