Campaign staffers say presidential candidate Kamala Harris has reversed her 2019 pledge to ban plastic straws for climate change.
In 2019, during a CNN Town Hall, Kamala Harris said America should ban plastic straws to fight against the climate crisis while acknowledging paper straws could be difficult to drink from.
“Innovation is a process. But you know, let’s encourage innovation. I think we can do a little better than some of those flimsy plastic straws,” she said. “We do need to ban the plastic.”
According to a report from Alex Thompson of Axios on Thursday, the Kamala Harris campaign said that is “no longer her position.”
“Banning plastic straws to protect the environment and marine life is the latest progressive issue on which Harris and her campaign have either declined to comment or changed her position,” noted the report.
“Many parts of the country have banned plastic straws as concerns have grown about plastic pollution in oceans and waterways,” it added.
When reached for comment, the Harris campaign said, “She doesn’t support banning plastic straws.”
“She cast the tie-breaking vote on the most consequential legislation to combat climate change and create clean energy jobs in history, and as President, she is going to be focused on expanding on that progress,” the statement added. “She joked even then about how crappy paper straws are and the need to come up with better eco-friendly alternatives.”
The revelation about her alleged flip on banning plastic straws comes one week after she reversed her previous call to ban fracking.
“There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking,” Harris said during the 2020 primary. “And starting with what we can do on day one around public lands. There has to be legislation. Yes. This is something I’ve taken in California. I have a history of working on this issue … We just have to acknowledge that the residual impact of fracking is enormous in terms of the impact on the health and safety of communities.”
When confronted by Dana Bash with her past statements, Harris said that she never pledged to ban fracking.
“I made that clear on the debate stage in 2020,” she said. “That I would not ban fracking. As vice president, I did not ban fracking. As president, I will not ban fracking.”
Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning Christian tech thriller, EXEMPLUM, which has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes critic rating and can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free rental can also be streamed on Google Play, Vimeo on Demand, or YouTube Movies. Follow him on X @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.