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

ICYMI from yesterday: minutes after the House of Representatives voted to censure congressman Paul Gosar and strip him from his committees for tweeting an anime video depicting violence against Democrat congresswoman Alexandria Ocasia-Cortez, the Republican allegedly retweeted the video.

Read more here:

In a letter to the Democratic caucus, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi provided an update on the Build Back Better Act, the bill formerly known as the reconciliation bill, which has also been referred to a time or two as the “human infrastructure” bill.

“Very soon, the American people will have an historic cause for celebration, with the passage of the transformative Build Back Better Act,” Pelosi wrote.

Debate in the House of Representatives on the bill began this morning, with a very optimistic hope of a vote tonight. A vote hinges on final estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, and when members will receive them – the CBO has given itself a Friday deadline.

“As soon as we receive the final CBO estimates for Member review, we can then proceed to votes on the revised Rule with the Manager’s Amendment and final passage,” Pelosi wrote.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, at least one of the two moderate Democrats who balked at the size of the reconciliation package is still unsure how to proceed. West Virginia senator Joe Manchin, who along with Arizona senator Krysten Sinema stymied negotiations, still appears to be very much a wildcard.

Joe Biden ended his remarks by asking bipartisan leadership to come together and “finally pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.”

“That’s next,” he said.

Biden had wanted to sign the bill into law before the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, whose 2020 killing at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin sparked protests and demonstrations worldwide.

The legislation seeks to invest in police training, ban the use of chokeholds and establish a national database of police misconduct.

In signing into law these bills about law enforcement, the president made clear his stance on the movement to defund police: Joe Biden announced $140m in community policing grants from the Justice Department that will go to 183 law enforcement agencies and fund more than 1,000 new law enforcement positions.

In addition, these grants will fund other initiatives addressing gun violence, violent crimes and hate and domestic extremism as well as “enhance response to people in crisis”, Biden said.

“When you look at what our communities need and what our law enforcement is being asked to do, it’s going to require more resources, not fewer resources,” Biden said. “That is why my administration is investing in the community policing we know works and the training and partnership that law enforcement and our communities have requested, and in community-based programs and interventions that can stop violence before it starts.”

Read more about the defunding police movement here:

These are the bills that Joe Biden is signing into law today:

The Protecting America’s First Responders Act of 2021 updates the Public Safety Officers Benefits Program that was established in 1976 to provide death benefits to survivors of officers who die in the line of duty. Specifically, the new law will update the definition of disability, ensuring that officers who are permanently unable to secure meaningful gainful employment following an injury in the line of duty remain eligible for benefits.

The COPS Counseling act will provide confidentiality to federal law enforcement officers who use peer counseling services, while excepting admissions of criminal conduct or threats of serious physical harm.

The Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila Federal Officers and Employees Protection Act was named after US immigration and customs enforcement special agents Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila, who were attacked by Mexican drug cartels in San Luis Potosi, Mexico on 15 February, 2011. Zapata was killed, and though his killers were arrested and tried, a federal appeals court dismissed the murder convictions because the district court did not have jurisdiction over the crimes committed against law enforcement stationed overseas. This law will clarify that the Justice Department may try any attackers of federal officers and federal employees serving internationally in federal court.

Joe Biden is delivering some remarks now as he signs into law three bills: the Protecting America’s First Responders Act, the Confidentiality Opportunities for Peer Support Counseling Act (also known as the COPS Counseling Act) and the Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila Federal Officers and Employees Protection Act.

According to vice president Kamala Harris, she and Joe Biden have not even begun discussing 2024 yet.

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.