WASHINGTON (AP) – Vice President Kamala Harris spent her first two weeks in office working with the president on coronavirus relief, consulting with the head of the World Health Organization and talking to the Prime Minister of Canada.
It is her interview for a local news station in West Virginia, however, that is getting more attention – and not in a good way.
West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, a moderate whose support is critical to the success of President Joe Biden’s Congressional agenda, did not like the vice president’s effort to publicly pressure him in his home state, asking for the approval of a $ 1.9 trillion virus relief package, especially when he had no warning that it was coming.
“I couldn’t believe it. Nobody called me, ”said Manchin later on the same TV station. “We will try to find a bipartisan way forward, I think we need to. But we need to work together. This is not a way of working together. “
Manchin’s criticism appeared in the White House briefing room and was even commented on the daytime talk show “The View” on ABC and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on CBS.
The oscillation was an early sign of some of the problems Harris faces in settling and trying to define his position in the White House.
“Harris has the challenge of finding out what his role is, what his specialty is in this White House,” said former Democratic strategist Joel Payne.
Harris also spoke ill of some details in his interview in West Virginia, referring to “abandoned landmines” instead of “abandoned mines” in the coal region.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked about Harris and his comments in West Virginia twice during Monday’s briefing, and offered little information about how the interview happened, saying only that “our focus is on communicating with the American people ”on the coronavirus aid project.
And on Tuesday, Manchin himself was trying to get over the controversy, telling reporters that it was just a “mistake” and that “there was no need for excuses”.
In addition to the West Virginia television appearance, Harris also gave interviews to the editorial board of the state’s largest newspaper, as well as to a local newspaper and television station in Arizona, putting pressure on that state’s Democratic senators – two moderates whose support Biden will also you need to pass your COVID-19 package.
Although Harris’ overall role remains elusive, she and Biden have always said during the transition that she would be the “last voice in the room” in big decisions, just as Biden was for President Barack Obama. In fact, Harris is said to see Biden’s vice presidency as a role model for her.
Harris spokeswoman Symone Sanders noted that Harris has been working “closely” with Biden and “attended almost every meeting, meeting and event” with him.
Harris has been looking for members of both parties on Capitol Hill and has called on mayors and governors to present the COVID-19 package. She also spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the director general of the World Health Organization, and held a roundtable discussion with small business owners to discuss aid for coronavirus.
Twelve years ago, Biden and Obama took office representing very different generations and different approaches to politics and politics. They ended up becoming good friends and Obama entrusted Biden with implementing the 2009 Recovery Act to revive the economy and withdraw US troops from Iraq.
Harris’ chief of staff during her time as California attorney general, Nathan Barankin, predicted that her ability to connect with others would make her a convincing replacement for Biden if she were able to engage with the public.
“This is a constant in every briefing or interaction you have with Kamala Harris about political decisions. And that is, how does it affect real people? ” he said.
Payne, who is black, said that while Harris’ historic position as the first black and South Asian woman to serve as vice president offers new opportunities, she can also present complications.
“There are visible and invisible challenges for the first black woman in this position to fight. She will have to ask herself constantly: would a former vice president be criticized in this way? ” he said.
Even when Harris’s aides say she will be a central player in the government’s efforts to sell her COVID-19 package to the public and on Capitol Hill, where she served as a first-term senator until earlier this month, Biden himself has more time and deeper relationships with many senators are essential to passing the bill. And he may be a more popular figure in some of those senator states than Harris, who was seen as more progressive than Biden during the primaries.
In an equally divided Senate, if Democrats decide to seek approval of their COVID-19 bill through a budgetary maneuver that would only need majority support to pass, Manchin is the key to Democrats’ chances of success.
In fact, the White House reached out to Manchin after the news that he was unhappy. And before the interview, Biden made his own contact with Manchin by phone, as the two have remained friendly since his time in the Senate.
Even after the interview, Harris’ aides said she was calling lawmakers to defend the bill and to hear their concerns. She must continue to push for legislation in public interviews and other events.
They also say that she will be particularly engaged in publicizing the black community both in the bill and in the COVID-19 vaccine, with the aim of overcoming skepticism about vaccination in communities of color.
Although Manchin’s vote is necessary to reach a tie in the aid package, Harris, as president of the Senate, would give the tiebreaker in the event of a 50-50 split in the bill, or other important pieces of legislation in the future. The responsibility is certain to keep Harris close to the Capitol when major bills are approaching the vote.
For now, the White House said it is avoiding traveling anyway, in line with the recommendations of the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and is looking for “creative” ways to sell the aid package, such as city halls and targeting interviews. .
Historian Joel Goldstein noted that the ability to cast the tiebreaker is a significant opportunity, one that could set Harris’ vice presidency well beyond the end of his first term or any early gaffes she might make on TV.
“As long as she has to tie votes, she can claim credit for taking actions that are important to democratic constituents,” he said.