Kamala Harris has said that public service workers “do the most noble and selfless work that anyone can do.” She understands AFSCME members and our drive to serve our communities, because it’s what drives her too.
Kamala grew up in a pro-union household, and one of the first things she learned was to never cross a picket line. Since then, she’s marched with striking hotel workers and autoworkers. She backed UDW/AFSCME Local 3930 child care providers in California when they were still fighting for their union. And she’s worked throughout her career to improve the lives of working people.
As vice president, Harris cast the deciding vote on the American Rescue Plan, which sent money to states, cities, towns and schools during the pandemic to bring laid-off AFSCME members back to work and helped AFSCME negotiate strong contracts over the last several years.
She also cast the deciding vote to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which capped the cost of insulin at $35, empowered Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices and capped out-of-pocket costs for seniors.
She has supported the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program and personally met with AFSCME members whose lives were changed by it, including an AFSCME social worker who had $350,000 in student debt canceled.
Before her time as the nation’s second in command, Harris championed working people in the Senate, co-sponsoring the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act and Protecting the Right to Organize Act. As attorney general of California, she took on for-profit colleges that saddled students with exorbitant debt and has continued to advocate for student loan forgiveness, especially for our nation’s public service workers.
Kamala Harris’ vision for the future is one we can all get behind: a future where every person has affordable health care; where every worker is paid fairly; and where every senior can retire with dignity. She knows that public service workers are essential in carrying out this vision and has said, “it is the members of AFSCME who do so much of the work that actually brings meaning to these ideas, who are out there doing the work every day.”
Her actions prove that she is exactly the right leader to meet this moment and continue progress for working families.