4 Ways Your Finances Could Be Impacted If Harris Replaces Biden in the 2024 Election
Written by
Gabrielle Olya
Edited by
Chris Cluff
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In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, President Joe Biden announced that he has dropped out of the 2024 presidential race.
“While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote. “I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision.”
Now that Biden has dropped out, Vice President Kamala Harris could become a key player in this year’s election. She’s the most likely replacement.
As a former presidential candidate, Harris has outlined where she stands on such topics as healthcare and consumer protections, which could directly impact your wallet.
Here’s a look at what a Harris presidency could mean for your finances.
Access to Affordable Healthcare
Harris outlined a plan during her 2020 presidential campaign to achieve universal healthcare coverage by growing the Medicare program. Under her plan, Americans would be able to choose between public plans and certified private Medicare plans. She also promised that costs would be low, demanding that private insurers adhere to cost requirements to be a part of the program.
“If they want to play by our rules, they can be in the system,” Harris wrote in a Medium essay. “If not, they have to get out.”
More Consumer Protections
A Harris presidency could mean more protections for consumers on a federal level.
During her time serving as California general attorney, Harris fought to protect consumers’ dollars. She helped secure a $25 billion settlement for California homeowners from large mortgage firms after the 2008 foreclosure crisis, prosecuted predatory lenders and fought for protections for those drowning in student debt.
Pay Bumps for Underpaid Workers
Harris has advocated for increased wages for several groups of underpaid workers. When she ran in 2020, she proposed that the federal government spend $315 billion to increase teacher salaries over the next 10 years. Her plan also would have resulted in a $13,500 pay increase for most teachers during her first term, paid for by increasing taxes on the wealthy.
Harris also proposed a plan to close the gender wage gap. Companies with 100 or more employees would be required to disclose pay data to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. If the data did not show that men and women who perform comparable roles were paid the same, companies would be penalized by being fined a percentage of their profits, Vox reported.
She also suggested a bill that would provide pay parity for public defenders and prosecutors.
Financial Support for Middle-Class Households
Harris proposed a bill that would provide cash payments to middle-class households. Under her LIFT Act, single people would have gotten $250 per month ($3,000 a year) and married couples would have gotten $500 per month ($6,000 a year). Single households making under $50,000 and married households making under $100,000 would have qualified for the payments.
It remains to be seen whether Harris would stand by these same proposals if she were to become the Democratic nominee for president, but it’s useful to see where she has stood on these issues in the past.
Nicole Spector contributed to the reporting for this article.
Editor’s note on election coverage: GOBankingRates is nonpartisan and strives to cover all aspects of the economy objectively and present balanced reports on politically focused finance stories. You can find more coverage of this topic on GOBankingRates.com.
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