Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

CNN Panelist Says Kamala Harris Has Been A Do-Nothing Vice President On Key Issues

CNN's David Urban

CNN panelist David Urban said on Thursday that Vice President Kamala Harris has not fulfilled any of her current campaign promises throughout the three-and-a-half years of her vice presidency.

Urban said the Biden-Harris administration took no action to mitigate the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, despite President Joe Biden having appointed Harris in March 2021 to address “root causes” of the border crisis in the Northern Triangle countries and Mexico. He questioned why several of Harris’ current policy proposals are not currently underway.

“She’s been in the job, her title is literally vice president of the United States, it points out correctly, for the first three years, they did nothing on immigration,” Urban said. “If they had just kept the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy that President Trump had, you wouldn’t have these current policy issues.”

CNN host Brianna Keilar interjected to say Mexico rejected a reinstatement of the “Remain in Mexico” policy in 2023, which required about 70,000 migrants to await their U.S. asylum hearings in Mexican border towns. The Biden administration originally suspended the program in June 2021.

“She has been the vice president of the United States, she is not a potted plant. If she has these visions, has she spoken up about them in the Biden White House?” Urban continued. “Why are they taking place now? She has had three-and-a-half years to implement her vision. She is a very powerful woman currently, so why haven’t we seen her at the tip of the spear on something, on any of these issues?”

The Harris-Walz campaign website still does not mention any of her policy proposals a month after she launched her presidential campaign. Harris has also not sat down for a single interview or held a press conference to discuss her supposed change in policy positions.

The Harris campaign has released advertisements branding the vice president as a tough-on-the-border candidate, with one ad from July claiming she will add more Border Patrol agents. Former Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott, who led the agency during Harris’ time as “border czar,” told the Daily Caller News Foundation that Harris never once spoke to him.

Over one million migrants from Central America have crossed into the U.S. illegally since Harris was tapped to address “root causes” in that region. The vice president visited the border one time in El Paso, Texas, on June 25, 2021, over 90 days after Biden appointed her to address immigration issues.

Harris supported a ban on fracking during her time in the U.S. Senate and as a 2020 presidential candidate. Her current campaign walked back her previous comments saying she no longer supports a ban.

The vice president vehemently supported the “defund the police” movement and co-sponsored the Justice in Policing Acts of 2020, which intended to reform an officer’s immunity and amend a federal criminal statute to allow for the prosecution of officers’ misconduct. After joining the Democratic ticket, the Biden campaign put out a statement denying that Harris supports defunding the police.

“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris do not support defunding the police, and it is a lie to suggest otherwise,” Sabrina Singh, Harris’ then-press secretary, said. “Throughout her career, Sen. Harris has supported increasing funding to police departments and boosting funding for community policing.”

Harris has attempted to paint herself as a moderate candidate despite having been rated the second most liberal senator behind Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 116th Congress, which ran from Jan. 3, 2019 to Jan. 3, 2021.