Harris, Trump Pitch Opposing Visions for Strengthening US Economy

As the 2024 presidential race tightens, financial security and inflation impacts remain top issues among voters, with Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump presenting dueling visions for strengthening the U.S. economy on Thursday. 

Harris will unveil a broader economic plan on Friday, focusing on banning price gouging, lowering prescription costs, and getting prices down for average Americans.

Trump is linking the rise of groceries and utilities to policies from the Biden-Harris administration, suggesting a ramp-up in energy production through oil and natural gas will lower costs for all consumers.

Inflation and the economy remain top issues among voters, according to a recent poll by The Economist/YouGov.

While unemployment and higher borrowing rates are still affecting consumers, this week annual inflation rate dropped below 3 percent for the first time since March 2021. Prices had surged by more than 20 percent during the Biden administration.

Harris is touting a recent agreement with drug companies to lower the prices of 10 of the most expensive prescription drugs covered under Medicare.

She is also celebrating her role as the tie-breaking vote in the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, which gave the president and the government the ability to negotiate Medicare drug prices.

Trump has emphasized that Harris was also the tie-breaking vote in the American Rescue Plan Act, which was a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package to help the country recover from the pandemic, but has also been blamed for contributing to inflation. 

Trump suggested that his successors have limited oil drilling and natural gas fracking, which he said has led to an economic affordability crisis.

The United States hit a 13,300-barrel record for crude oil production last week, up from the previous record of 13,000 barrels set in February 2020 under the Trump administration.

The data suggests that oil production has steadily increased after a drop-off during the COVID-19 pandemic.

—Jacob Burg

DEAL ON DRUG PRICES

Nearly 9 million Americans are expected to benefit from lower medicine prices in 2026 after an agreement between Medicare and drug companies, The Epoch Times’ Tom Ozimek reports.

The deal, which follows months of negotiations between the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and pharmaceutical firms, is expected to save the Medicare program about $6 billion, and patients some $1.5 billion.

On the list of selected drugs are blood thinners, such as Eliquis and Xarelto; diabetes medications (Jardiance and Januvia); as well as medications for heart failure and autoimmune diseases.

In 2023, the cost of those treatments to the Medicare program was $56.2 billion.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services led the negotiations. The agency said it would select up to 15 more drugs next year for price negotiations.

—Richard Moore

More Debates Confirmed

The Democrat and Republican vice presidential candidates have agreed to a debate on CBS on Oct. 1. Meanwhile, the Harris campaign said she would agree to a second debate sometime in October.

It remains unclear if Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will participate in a September debate on CNN to which Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) has agreed.

“See you on Oct. 1, JD,” Walz wrote on Aug. 14 on X in response to a post from CBS’s public relations account.

CBS’s post, also dated Aug. 14, listed four possible dates for a debate in New York City: Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 1, and Oct. 8.

“The American people deserve as many debates as possible, which is why President Trump has challenged Kamala to three of them already. Not only do I accept the CBS debate on Oct. 1, I accept the CNN debate on Sept. 18 as well. I look forward to seeing you at both!” Vance wrote on X in response to Walz’s post.

CNN has confirmed that Vance accepted an invitation to a debate extended to both major party vice-presidential hopefuls.

The first debate between Harris and Trump is scheduled for Sept. 10 on ABC.

Like his running mate, Trump wants more chances to face his opponent one on one.

At an Aug. 8 press conference at Mar-A-Lago, he said he was seeking a Sept. 4 debate on Fox and a Sept. 25 debate on NBC.

—Nathan Worcester

BOOKMARKS

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) has asked Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to investigate Temu, a budget retailer based in China. “There are concerns that Temu may be a conduit for counterfeit products,” Scott wrote in a letter outlining numerous concerns with the company.

An emergency filing with the Supreme Court seeks to preserve the Biden administration’s SAVE plan for student debt forgiveness. The application from U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar follows an Aug. 9 injunction in the Eighth Circuit that brought elements of the plan to a halt. 

Google’s Threat Analysis Group has said that an Iran-linked hacking group targeted members of the Trump and Biden campaigns. It verified that the group successfully accessed an email account belonging to an unnamed “high-profile political consultant.”

The Loudon County Sheriff’s Office has identified 39-year-old Toby Shane Kessler as the suspect in the recent break-in at a Trump campaign headquarters in northern Virginia, not far from D.C. “The LCSO is working with other law enforcement agencies to locate Kessler and is asking the public’s assistance,” a statement from the office reads.

New Zealand plans to extradite Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom to the United States after Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith signed an extradition order. The German-born Dotcom, who changed his name from Kim Schmitz, faced a Department of Justice indictment in 2012 over allegations of large-scale online piracy on Megaupload.