Harris Vows to End Subminimum Wages in Policy Push Before Debate
(Bloomberg) -- Vice President Kamala Harris is pledging to end subminimum wages for tipped workers, widening a push to eliminate taxes on tips as she jockeys with Donald Trump ahead of their first debate Tuesday.
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In policy proposals posted to her website, Harris called for an increase in the overall minimum wage and for the end of the subminimum wage for tipped workers. Democrats have long pushed for the move and included it in their 2024 platform. She also reiterated a call to end taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers, a proposal Trump made first.
Employers are allowed to pay tipped workers less than the minimum wage with tips making up the difference — a situation critics say makes lower-wage workers more dependent on gratuities.
Harris and Trump are set for their first — and maybe only — debate Tuesday in Philadelphia. The forum will be a key moment for Harris to flesh out her pitch, particularly for voters who say they don’t know much about her, and for Trump to sharpen his critique, as he looks to tie Harris to her more progressive policy positions from the past.
Harris, in a truncated campaign blitz that followed President Joe Biden’s July announcement that he’d bow out of his reelection push, has trickled out policy positions, largely in line with Biden, with some exceptions.
The policies posted to her website also reiterated her call for Congress to pass the bipartisan border security bill that Senate negotiators agreed to earlier this year, but which died under pressure from Trump. In the statements, Harris added that the “immigration system is broken and needs comprehensive reform that includes strong border security and an earned pathway to citizenship.”
Harris also included some of her most expansive recent comments on the economic race with China. Harris “will not tolerate unfair trade practices from China or any competitor that undermines American workers” and “has stood up to China’s unfair economic practices to protect American workers, businesses, and families,” according to her website statement.
Harris also reiterated the current administration’s push for a hostage and cease-fire agreement in the Israel-Hamas war.
“She and President Biden are working to end the war in Gaza, such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination,” the policy statement said.
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