During a portion of an interview with CNN that took place on Thursday that was aired on Thursday’s broadcast of “The Lead,” 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris responded to a question on her policy changes by saying that her “values have not changed.” She also stated that the Inflation Reduction Act is an implementation of the values of the Green New Deal.
CNN host and Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash asked, “Generally speaking, how should voters look at some of the changes that you’ve made — that you’ve explained some of here — in your policy, is it because you have more experience now and you’ve learned more about the information, is it because you were running for president in a Democratic primary? And should they feel comfortable and confident that what you’re saying now is going to be your policy moving forward?”
Harris answered, “Dana, I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed. You’ve mentioned the Green New Deal, I have always believed — and I have worked on it — that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter, to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time. We did that with the Inflation Reduction Act. We have set goals for the United States of America, and, by extension, the globe, around when we should meet certain standards for a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as an example, that value has not changed. My value around what we need to do to secure our border, that value has not changed. I spent two terms as the attorney general of California prosecuting transnational criminal organization[s], violations of American laws regarding the passage — illegal passage of guns, drugs, and human beings across our border. My values have not changed.”
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