Kamala Harris and Joe Biden haven't always agreed.
- The federal government must step in -
So when Biden picked
the California senator as his running mate,
we decided to take a look at where they stand,
especially on major issues where they don't agree.
And we found that she often leans to his left.
First we look at Medicare For All,
which Biden opposes, putting Harris to the left of him.
Harris cosponsored
Senator Bernie Sanders' Medicare For All bill in the Senate,
but later said she was not comfortable with it.
Then she proposed her own version.
- We would have to go from the current system
into a Medicare For All system.
She laid out a plan
that would guarantee coverage for all Americans,
and keep a large role for private insurance.
- The right of every American
to have access and a decent healthcare.
Biden wants to shore up Obamacare
by giving Americans more choices and reducing costs.
When it comes to immigration,
Harris is also left of Biden on some issues.
But she has had right-leaning positions in the past.
As district attorney of San Francisco,
she supported a city policy
that delivered undocumented minors
to Immigration and Customs Enforcement
if they were arrested and suspected of a felony.
Her ideas and the issue have evolved, though.
She wants to reexamine and potentially restructure ICE.
Biden has said that ICE should be reformed, not abolished.
His current plan would increase training
and address inhumane practices.
Both support a path to citizenship
and oppose expanding Trump's border wall.
Harris seems more ambitious than Biden
when it comes to climate change.
She cosponsored the Green New Deal in the Senate,
while Biden has not endorsed it.
Biden has linked his climate proposal
to coronavirus economic recovery,
but drawn criticism from progressives
for not going far enough.
Harris has been steadfast
when it comes to supporting full abortion access.
She thrilled pro-choice activists
when she grilled Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh
during his confirmation hearing.
- Can you think of any laws that give government the power
to make decisions about the male body?
And she voted against a bill
that would ban terminating a pregnancy after 20 weeks,
often referred to as a late-term abortion.
Biden voted in favor of banning them in 2003.
And back in the 1970s,
he voted to prohibit federal funds
from being used to pay for most terminations.
He has since flipped his position on federal funds,
and he maintains that access to abortion should be legal.
Harris and Biden both support LGBTQ rights.
But Harris has had a more consistent progressive record,
while Biden has voted against same-sex marriage in the past.
Harris was officiating same-sex marriages
before it became the law of the land.
- These marriages are legitimate,
they are legal, and they are going to continue,
and it's about time.
- Biden did eventually voice powerful early support
for legalizing same-sex marriage,
even before Obama did.
- Men marrying men, women marrying women,
and heterosexual men and women marrying men
are entitled to the same exact rights.
- As attorney general of California,
Harris supported transgender people's right
to use their bathroom of choice.
Though, she did sign legal briefs
denying gender reassignment surgeries
for two transgender inmates.
Today, both candidates support the Equality Act,
which would give LGBTQ Americans
antidiscrimination protection.
Harris and Biden largely agree on gun control.
Both support a ban on assault weapons
and the sale of high-capacity magazines,
as well as universal background checks.
- There's no one who needs an AR-15.
Harris's views on marijuana
are more progressive than Biden's.
In 2018, she cosponsored the Marijuana Justice Act,
which would legalize it on the federal level.
She supports clearing nonviolent marijuana-related charges.
- Have you ever smoked?
- I have.
- OK.
- And I inhaled, I did inhale.
- Biden supports decriminalizing possession,
but doesn't support federal legalization.
Criminal justice is an issue where both Harris and Biden
have been widely criticized by progressive Democrats.
Harris for pursuing legislation
that would prosecute parents
whose children miss too many days of school
without an excuse,
defending the convictions of some people
even after they were proven innocent,
and fighting releases
after a federal court found unconstitutional overcrowding
in California's prisons.
In the 1980s, Biden supported mandatory minimum sentences
for drug offenses.
He also helped write a 1994 crime bill
that contributed to mass incarceration.
- The rampant crime and drug abuse.
But both Harris and Biden have become much more liberal.
They now support ending mandatory minimum sentencing,
lowering the prison population,
improving the treatment of inmates,
and eliminating private prisons.
And both are against the death penalty.
Harrison and Biden have often disagreed
when it comes to trade.
She opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership,
while Biden worked to pass it
during Obama's final months in office.
Harris voted against
the United States-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement,
and Biden supported it.
He also voted for NAFTA in 1994.
Overall, Kamala Harris seems to be more liberal than Biden,
which is probably one of the reasons why he picked her.
What progressive Democrats are wondering is whether that
will actually pull the Democrats platform more to the left,
or shift policy in the future.