Former White House economist warns Harris' agenda could 'shut down' the entire US economy
Kevin Hassett said Harris' green energy policies could cause a 'deep recession' toward carbon
Former Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers Kevin Hassett breaks down Kamala Harris’ approach to economic policy during an appearance on ‘The Big Money Show.’
A former White House economist is sounding the alarm on Vice President Kamala Harris' economic agenda after former President Trump warned the U.S. would suffer a "1929-style depression" under a Harris presidency.
"My guess is that a lot of the things she said in the past about what she really wants to do, like the Green New Deal, for example… getting carbon-neutral by 2030 – all that kind of stuff would cause a deep recession toward carbon," Kevin Hassett told "The Big Money Show" Thursday.
"Carbon-neutral by 2030 is almost impossible. 75% of our electricity comes from burning fossil fuels. So how are they going to do that if they try it? That you're just going to have to shut down the economy?"
FORMER WHITE HOUSE ECONOMIST WARNS OF WALZ'S 'DISTURBING' POLICIES: 'AVOWED SOCIALIST'
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris waves as she boards Air Force Two at San Francisco International Airport on August 11, 2024,in San Francisco, California, as she returns to Washington, DC. (JULIA NIKHINSON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Harris co-sponsored the Green New Deal as a senator in 2019, a proposal to stem climate change that includes a ban on fracking.
Since becoming the Democratic nominee, however, Harris has appeared to walk back her support for a nationwide fracking ban.
Harris' campaign last month said the vice president "does not support a total ban on fracking" despite the candidate stating in 2019 that there was "no question I’m in favor" of it.
HARRIS' RUNNING MATE FACES RENEWED SCRUTINY AFTER HIS 'WEIRD' SOCIALISM COMPARISON RESURFACES
Former White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett weighs in on Gov. Tim Walz’s controversial approach to economic policy on ‘Varney & Co.’
"If you look at all the things that she says that she supports, like a guaranteed job for everybody – she's opposed to fracking. If you look at the way the campaign pulled that back, they said, well, she's not opposed to all fracking. In other words, yes, she's opposed to fracking," Hassett said.
Harris delivered her first major policy speech as a 2024 candidate Friday, touting the U.S. economy as the strongest in the world while stressing the need to bring down food and housing costs for Americans.
During her failed 2019 presidential campaign, Harris' economic policies included a $3 trillion tax plan aimed at increasing taxes on the wealthy. Like her current campaign, she wanted to raise the federal minimum wage, direct billions of dollars in tax credits to low-income renters, create a Bernie Sanders-style Medicare for all health care system and lower cash bail for criminals.
"She's got a whole bunch of things that she's advocated in the past which collectively would do exactly what [Trump's] saying. I guess the question is if she's backing away from that," Hassett said. "She's recruited a bunch of advisers that have been advising previous presidents like Gene Sperling and so on. So maybe she's going to try to run to the middle on policy in the election."
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Fox News' Hanna Panreck, Jamie Joseph and Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.