Yesterday kicked off the first vice presidential debate between Senator Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence. The debate consisted of eight total segments covering a variety of topics from the COVID-19 pandemic to the recovery of the economy. Susan Page, a Washington Bureau Chief for USA Today, was the moderator of the debate and provided each of the candidates with questions pertaining to today’s national issues. This article will serve as an account of the debate and aims to reiterate important points and remarks each candidate made.
COVID-19 Pandemic Response
The debate opened with Page posing a question about the COVID-19 pandemic. Harris was given the floor first and deemed the current administration “incompetent” in terms of their response to this global health issue. She brought up facts and figures: 200,000 dead, 7 million people infected, and 1 in 5 businesses closed. Harris additionally mentioned that President Donald Trump and Vice President Pence both knew about the severity of the disease and the fact that it was airborne, but still chose to withhold this information from the American people. Under Biden, Harris stated that the administration will be committed to distributing free vaccines for all Americans, improving contact tracing, and increasing testing. Harris also condemned the Trump administration, stating that they do not have a structured plan to fight this disease.
As a rebuttal, Vice President Pence claimed that President Trump has put the health and safety of Americans first, and that his decision to stop travel from China earlier this year saved thousands of lives. Vice President Pence also noted that Vice President Biden opposed this decision due to fears of promoting xenophobia. Moreover, Vice President Pence explained some of the initiatives his task force has taken to alleviate the effects of COVID-19, some of which include administering millions of tests, reinventing testing, and getting supplies for medical staff. He also claimed that the Biden plan for a pandemic response mimics a lot of the ideas in the Trump plan: a “plagiarism” of ideas, as he called it. Vice President Pence also brought up the Swine Flu pandemic, in which 60 million people contracted the disease. In his estimation he claimed that if the Swine Flu was as lethal as the coronavirus, many more Americans would have died in 2008.
Oldest President to Serve? Uh-Oh
The next umbrella topic was regarding presidential disability. Page mentioned that no matter what the election result is, the next President will be the oldest to serve. Senator Harris expressed a sentiment that herself and Vice President Biden had similar upbringings and they share common values. She also verbalized her previous accomplishments to show her fit to potentially be President. Vice President Biden has also been transparent with his health records (and taxes), unlike President Trump, according to Harris.
Vice President Pence on the other hand seemed to avoid a clear answer to this topic. He thanked the American people for their widespread prayers for President Trump’s rapid recovery after he contracted COVID-19 a few days back. On an unrelated note, to comment on President Trump’s tax returns, Vice President Pence stated that the president paid millions of dollars in taxes and claims, and that public records corroborate these facts.
Economic Recovery
Page opened this segment by asking whether raising taxes on the American people would put the economy at risk. Senator Harris responded by saying that she and Vice President Biden believe that the strength of the economy comes from the strength of the American people. She suggested that President Trump didn’t believe in this idea, which according to her is reflective in his tax bill that provided tax cuts for the top 1%. Senator Harris additional stated that Vice President Biden plans to repeal this and instead invest money into infrastructure, clean energy, and education. Additionally, Senator Harris reiterated that Vice President Biden would not raise taxes for families who make less than $400,000 a year.
Vice President Pence spoke on this as well, and said that President Trump has cut taxes and contributed to the increase in average family income by $4,000. He claimed that Vice President Biden will raise taxes and ban fossil fuels, which as a result will decrease jobs. He also claimed that Vice President Biden is ambiguous on his plans to ban fracking, a fact that he mentioned many times during the debate. His points eventually came to the conclusion that the Biden plan will cause great economic decline and prove to be an action towards surrendering to China.
Climate Change
Page then opened the floor for discussions about climate change. Vice President Pence claimed that President Trump was committed to helping climate change. He voiced that the Green New Deal, a climate initiative proposed by many Democrats, will crush many American jobs. Furthermore, he claimed the Trump administration has already reduced carbon dioxide by a higher rate than other countries who are still in the Paris Accord.
Senator Harris on the other hand reassured the American people that Vice President Biden doesn’t plan to ban fracking. She also claimed that Moody’s, a Wall Street firm, claimed that the Biden plan will create more jobs by implementing clean and renewable energy.
Foreign Affairs
Senator Harris described America’s relationship with China as volatile. She claimed that President Trump has a pattern of being disloyal to the countries that are allies of the U.S. and friendly to leaders like Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Even after Russia was condemned for interfering in the 2016 presidential election, Senator Harris expressed that President Trump still trusted Putin over American intelligence.
Vice President Pence claimed that China is to blame for COVID-19. He also condemned them for not allowing the U.S. to collect more information on the virus. Apart from this, Vice President Pence also explained that President Trump has helped to strengthen alliances across the Asia-Pacific geographic location and additionally used the military to destroy Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a leader of the ISIS Caliphate.
Supreme Court Justice
Vice President Pence spoke briefly about Amy Coney Barrett, claiming that she has experience and hopes she gets a fair hearing, unlike the one given to Justice Brett Cavanaugh. Additionally, he also reiterated his position on abortion, claiming that he is proud to be pro-life. Finally, he questioned Senator Harris about her and Vice President Biden’s intent to pack the Supreme Court with more justices to equalize the ratio of liberalism to conservatism, to which Senator Harris did not respond.
Senator Harris then said that four million people have already voted, and that we are in the midst of an election. Therefore, she stated that she believes it is only fair for the American people to have a voice in who the next Supreme Court Justice is. Harris brought up a similar situation that occurred during the Lincoln presidency — when a Supreme Court vacancy occurred during the election season, Lincoln believed that it was only fair that the next president filled the vacancy.
Race
When asked about the occurrences surrounding the Breonna Taylor case, Senator Harris declared that Taylor was not served justice. She noted that she believes that the American people have the right to fight for their values, but should not resort to the use of violence. She also suggested there needs to be reform concerning policing, by creating national registers for police who commit offenses, decriminalizing marijuana, and expunging the records of those who have minor drug offenses. Harris cited her ideas related to her past work as a prosecutor and claimed she has a lot of experience in this field.
Vice President Pence, on the other hand, stated he trusts the justice system and harshly condemned the violent rioting and looting, expressing that there were no excuses for these actions. He also failed to acknowledge the existence of systematic racism, stating that the ideology was an insult to the men and women who work in law enforcement. Vice President Pence then went on an arguably aggressive tangent and criticized Harris’ work as a defense attorney. He claimed that under Harris, minorities were 19 times more likely to be prosecuted for minor drug offenses.
Election
The final topic of discussion for the night was about the election itself. When asked about what she would do if President Trump refused to peacefully leave his position, Senator Harris gave an off-topic response. She claimed that President Biden was committed to fighting for the integrity of democracy and urged viewers to vote during this election season.
Vice President Pence offered a different sentiment and confidently stated that he expects to be victorious in this election. He acknowledged the overwhelming support that the Trump campaign has seen and additionally attacked Democrats for trying to impeach Trump. He also claimed that Hillary Clinton, former First Lady and Secretary of State, had said to President Biden that under no circumstances should he concede.
Final Remarks
Compared to the presidential debate, the debate between Vice President Pence and Senator Harris seemed to be civilized. Each candidates were given an opportunity to speak equally about each of their positions on several pressing issues. According to massive internet responses, the real hero of the debate was a small fly that found a comfortable spot on Vice President Pence’s head.
The facts and figures in this article are directly taken from the candidates and their claims during the debate. Their accuracy is dependant on the information the candidates expressed during the debate.
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