Flashback: Kamala Harris responds to how she'd handle inflation

Vice President Harris' past comments about the impact of inflation on American consumers and how the Biden-Harris administration would address it are resurfacing in the wake of her becoming the Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee.

Harris spoke at a press conference on Nov. 12, 2021, and was asked about the administration's plans to prevent spending under the Build Back Better agenda from exacerbating inflation and the administration's other efforts to prevent prices from rising.

As of November 2021, inflation had reached 6.8% year-over-year and would continue to rise to a 40-year high of 9.1% in June 2022. Her remarks followed Congress' passage of the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the enactment of Democrats' $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act and came as the Democrat-controlled House prepared to vote on the $2.2 trillion Build Back Better Act.

"Let's start with this: Prices have gone up, and families and individuals are dealing with the realities of — that bread costs more, that gas costs more," Harris said. "And we have to understand what that means. That's about the cost of living going up. That's about having to stress and stretch limited resources. That's about a source of stress for families that is not only economic but is on a daily level something that is a heavy weight to carry." 

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"So that is something that we take very seriously, very seriously. And we know from the history of this issue in the United States that when you see these prices go up, it has a direct impact on the quality of life for all people in our country. So it's a big issue, and we take it seriously, and it is a priority, therefore," Harris explained.

"So we have addressed it in a number of ways. One of the issues that we know is related to this is the supply chain issue that we just discussed. So on a domestic level, in terms of domestic policy, one of the approaches we have taken is to work with labor unions and to work with municipalities in opening back up and extending the hours of our ports," she said.

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Harris noted the administration's work to extend the operational hours of ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach in California and Savannah, Georgia, to help address a backlog of container ships waiting to be offloaded amid a pandemic-induced supply chain glut that was contributing to inflation. She went on to tout the Biden-Harris administration's Build Back Better proposal as a means of lowering costs for Americans.

"There is also a point that is important to make on the Build Back Better framework. One, it is designed to make it less expensive for working people to live. It was specifically designed to bring down the costs of child care and increase accessibility and availability. Designed to bring down the cost of elder care and make it available to all the working families that need that support and need that help," she said. 

"And, Build Back Better is not going to cost anything — we're paying for it. So when we can get Build Back Better passed, and we are optimistic that we will, the American people will see costs actually reduced around some of the most essential services that they need to take care of their basic responsibilities, including issues like child care and elder care, and also preschool," Harris said. 

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Her remarks preceded House Democrats' passage of the $2.2 trillion Build Back Better Act the following week, although that bill stalled in the Senate amid opposition from Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia — a moderate senator who was a Democrat at the time but would eventually change his affiliation to Independent in June 2024.

After the Build Back Better Act faltered, the proposal was later reworked as the slimmed-down $1.2 trillion Inflation Reduction Act, which passed both the Democrat-controlled House and Senate on party-line votes through the reconciliation process. 

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Notably, Vice President Harris cast the tiebreaking vote for the Inflation Reduction Act in the Senate on its way to becoming law.

A spokesperson for Vice President Harris told FOX Business in a statement: "As the Vice President said in 2021, lowering costs is a top priority. We know that prices are too high, and we are taking action to lower them by capping prescription drug costs for seniors, building more homes to lower rents, and taking on price gouging."