Kamala Harris pushes back on criticism that she’s underused as vice-president – live

Joe Biden tasked vice president Kamala Harris earlier this year with addressing the root causes of migration, but Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopoulos pointed out that the past year had the highest number of illegal border crossings since they began being recorded since 1960.

“What are you doing to turn that around? How long will it take?” Stephanopoulos asked.

“It’s not going to be overnight,” Harris responded. “We can’t just flip a switch and make it better. The reality is we inherited an immigration system that was deeply broken and it’s requiring us to actually put it back together in creating a fair process that is effective and efficient.

“In the root causes piece, what we’re looking at is, frankly, people don’t want to leave home, George. When they do, it’s for one or two reasons: they’re fleeing some kind of harm or to stay at home, they simply cannot satisfy the basic needs of their family.”

Vice president Kamala Harris told Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopoulos that the economy and skyrocketing prices is “one of the highest priorities for the president and for me”.

“It’s real and it’s rough,” Harris said. “The cost of groceries has gone up, the cost of gas has gone up. And this is all happening in the context of two years of a pandemic. It’s one of the highest priorities for the president and for me.

“We’re dealing with this issue in a number of ways. Short-term, one of the issues is the supply chain. We’re seeing a bottleneck and we need to relieve that bottleneck. We’re bringing people together everyone from the teamsters to Target to say, hey let’s bring everyone together from the truckers to the folks who are moving product and let’s open up some of our major ports for work, 24 hours a day and seven days a week. That’s happening and we’re seeing great results.

“Long-term, we need to bring down the cost of living. That’s a long-standing issue. We passed this week, the bipartisan infrastructure bill and that’s going to be about repairing roads and bridges and bringing high-speed Internet to all families but also we need to deal with the cost of childcare, the cost of prescription drugs, the cost of housing. That’s what we intend to do when we get the Build Back Better agenda passed.”

Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopoulos asked vice president Kamala Harris about growing frustrations among her friends and allies who “think you can be more helpful than you’ve been asked to be.”

“Do you share that frustration?” Stephanopoulos asked. “What do you say to your friends who are frustrated?”

“This was a good week. This week, when we got this bipartisan infrastructure act passed and signed by the president, makes a statement about all the hard work that has gone into it,” Harris responded. “Month after month after month, I have traveled around the country, as has the president, we have convened members of Congress, we have convened people around our nation, asking, ‘What do you want’?

“This is a response to what they want, and it’s actually going to hit the ground in a way that’s going to have direct impact for the American people. We’re getting things done and we’re doing it together.”

“So you don’t feel misused or underused?” Stephanopoulos asked.

“No I don’t,” Harris chuckled. “I’m very, very excited about the work that we have accomplished but I am also absolutely, absolutely clear-eyed that there is a lot more to do and we’re going to get it done.”

Good morning, US politics live blog readers, it’s going to be another busy one in Washington today so please stay tuned.

Here’s what’s afoot.

• US Vice-President Kamala Harris has just appeared for an interview on ABC News, pushing back against the build up of chatter in the media and politics circles that she’s, at best, on the sidelines in her job. Responding to Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopoulos asking do you “feel misused or underused?” Harris said: “No, I don’t. I’m very, very excited about the work that we have accomplished,” but “there is a lot more to do, and we’re gonna get it done.” More on that in the blog this morning.
• The US House of Representatives is expected to begin formally debating the Build Back Better $1.75tn mega-bill that is packed with social protection programs and action to tackle the climate crisis. House leaders are hopeful there will be a vote this week and determined that if not, then before Thanksgiving – or no break for lawmakers! If bill passes, it then goes back to the Senate.
• Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are meeting today with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (sometimes known as Amlo), so we’ll bring you that news.
• Biden will make remarks this morning as he signs several smaller bills at the White House.