VP Harris pushes 'care infrastructure' as 'the bridge to building a business'

Vice President Kamala Harris said the coronavirus pandemic highlighted the importance of "care infrastructure" in the United States, calling it "the bridge to building a business," saying the Biden administration is working to "reimagine our economy" in a way to support all American entrepreneurs. 

In an essay for Forbes, titled "Kamalanomics: Vice President Harris Outlines Her Vision Of Inclusive Entrepreneurship," Harris said the pandemic "exposed the flaws and fissures in our economy," citing the small businesses that were forced to close and the nearly 2 million women who have been "forced out of the workforce." 

"In this moment, more than repair, we must reimagine. And after providing $60 billion in relief to small businesses, we must work to broaden access to capital and remove other barriers to success for entrepreneurs across the country," Harris wrote. 

President Biden and his administration have been pushing his new spending plan. The American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan initiatives would invest billions in what the administration defines as infrastructure – including roads and bridges, as well as transit systems, broadband and green energy – and would vastly expand the government's social safety net. The plans would be paid for with a slew of new tax hikes on wealthy Americans and corporations. Combined, the plans are projected to cost nearly $4 trillion. Meanwhile, the U.S. national debt has soared over $28 trillion, with an official federal budget deficit over $3 trillion.

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"For women entrepreneurs—and all entrepreneurs—the pandemic has highlighted the importance of our nation’s care infrastructure," Harris wrote. "For so many, care is the bridge to building a business." 

Harris added, "that is why, as we work to improve roads to transport goods, improve transit for consumers, and ensure affordable and accessible high-speed Internet, President Joe Biden and I are also working to ensure affordable and accessible child and family care." 

"In the face of the unimaginable, America’s entrepreneurs made the choice to reimagine their businesses," she continued.

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"Today, our nation must reimagine our economy, so that every American entrepreneur can launch and grow an enterprise," Harris wrote. "It is in this reimagining that we will remain competitive—and come out of this pandemic stronger than before." 

Biden has also proposed strengthening unions and raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour while discussing his plan to modernize infrastructure and ensure every American has "high-speed internet, building ports, roads and bridges" while interest rates are low.

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The Federal Reserve, led by Chairman Jerome Powell, has held interest rates near zero since March 2020 and has repeatedly indicated it will do so until "labor market conditions have reached levels consistent with the Committee's assessments of maximum employment and inflation has risen to 2% and is on track to moderately exceed 2% for some time." Powell has stressed that he sees no signs of persistent inflation.

Economic projections from policymakers' last meeting show that most officials expect rates to remain near zero through 2023.