Kamala Harris in Vice-presidential debate
On Abortion:
A woman has the right to choose
HARRIS: There's the issue of choice and I will always fight for a woman's right to make a decision about her own body. It should be her decision and not Donald Trump's. Let's look at what else is before the court. It's the Affordable Care Act literally
in the midst of a public health pandemic when 7 million people probably have what will be in the future considered a preexisting condition because you contracted the virus. Donald Trump is in court right now trying to get rid of the Affordable Care Act.
PENCE: I couldn't be more proud to serve as vice president to a president who stands without apology for the sanctity of human life. I'm pro-life. I don't apologize for it, & this is another one of those cases where there's such a dramatic contrast.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris support taxpayer funding of abortion all the way up to the moment of birth. Late term abortion. They want to increase funding to Planned Parenthood of America.
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah
Oct 7, 2020
On Civil Rights:
Trump's 50 Court of Appeals appointments: no Blacks
I've witnessed the appointments for lifetime appointments to the federal courts, district courts, courts of appeal, people who are purely ideological. And do you know that of the 50 people who
President Trump appointed to the court of appeals for lifetime appointments, not one is black? This is what they've been doing. You want to talk about packing a court? Let's have that discussion.
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah
Oct 7, 2020
On Civil Rights:
First female DA in SF; Second black female senator
Joe asked me to serve with him because I have a career that included being elected the first woman District Attorney of San Francisco. I was elected the first woman of color to be elected Attorney General of the state of California. I serve in the
United States Senate as only the second black woman ever elected to the United States Senate. I serve on the Senate Intelligence Committee where I've been in regular receipt of classified information about threats to our nation.
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah
Oct 7, 2020
On Civil Rights:
Inspired by diverse Americans marching for equal justice
It brings me to the eight minutes and 46 seconds that America witnessed during which a man was tortured and killed under the knee of an armed uniformed police officer. People around our country of every race, of every age, of every gender,
perfect strangers to each other, marched shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm, fighting for us to finally achieve that ideal of equal justice under law. I was a part of those protests.
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah
Oct 7, 2020
On Civil Rights:
Trump declining to condemn white supremacists is a pattern
The President took a debate stage in front of 70 million Americans and refused to condemn white supremacists. Then said, "Stand back, stand by." He called Mexicans rapists and criminals. He instituted a Muslim ban.
In Charlottesville, where people were peacefully protesting, and on the other side, there were neo-Nazis. And Donald Trump said, "There were fine people on both sides."
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah
Oct 7, 2020
On Crime:
Ban chokeholds by police; registry of police crimes
Bad cops are bad for good cops. We need reform of our policing in America and our criminal justice system, which is why Joe and I will immediately ban choke holds and carotid holes.
George Floyd would be alive today if we did that. We will require a national registry for police officers who break the law.
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah
Oct 7, 2020
On Crime:
In CA, created many first-time criminal justice reforms
I was the first statewide officer to institute a requirement that my agents would wear body cameras and keep them on full-time. We were the first to initiate a requirement that there would be training for law enforcement on implicit bias because yes,
Joe Biden and I recognize that implicit bias does exist. We did the work of instituting reforms that were about investing in re-entry. This is the work that we have done and the work we will do going forward.
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah
Oct 7, 2020
On Drugs:
Will get rid of cash bail and decriminalize marijuana
We will, on the issue of criminal justice reform, get rid of private prisons and cash bail and we will decriminalize marijuana.
And we will expunge the records of those who have been convicted of marijuana. This is a time for leadership on a tragic, tragic issue.
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah
Oct 7, 2020
On Energy & Oil:
Carbon-neutral America by 2035
PENCE: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would put us back in the Paris Climate Accord. They'd impose the Green New Deal, which would crush American energy and would crush American jobs. President Trump and I believe the progress we have made in a cleaner
environment has been happening because we have a free market economy. What's remarkable is the United States has reduced CO2 more than the countries that are still in the Paris Climate Accord, but we've done it through innovation.
HARRIS: Joe understands that the west coast is burning. Joe has seen and talked with the farmers in Iowa whose entire crops have been destroyed because of floods. Joe is about saying we're going to invest that in renewable energy, which is going to be
about the creation of millions of jobs. We will achieve net zero emissions by 2050, carbon neutral by 2035We will also reenter the Climate Agreement with pride.
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah
Oct 7, 2020
On Foreign Policy:
Trump's China policy has cost American jobs & lives
HARRIS: The Trump administration's approach to China has resulted in the loss of American lives, American jobs. There is a weird obsession that President Trump has with getting rid of whatever accomplishment was achieved by President Obama and Vice
President Biden. They created the office responsible for monitoring pandemics. They got rid of it. There was a team of disease experts that President Obama and Vice President Biden dispatched to China to monitor what might happen. They pulled them out.
PENCE: China is to blame for the coronavirus. President Trump stood up to China that had been taking advantage of America for decades in the wake of Joe Biden's cheerleading for China.
President Trump made that decision before the end of January to suspend all travel from China. The American people deserve to know Joe Biden opposed President Trump's decision to suspend all travel from China.
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah
Oct 7, 2020
On Government Reform:
Lincoln, before 1864 election, left Supreme Court seat open
PENCE: Your party is actually openly advocating, adding seats to the Supreme court, which has had nine seats for 150 years if you don't get your way. I think the American people would really like to know if Judge Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed at
the Supreme Court of the United States. Are you and Joe Biden, if somehow you win this election, going to pack the Supreme Court to get your way?HARRIS: In 1864, Lincoln was up for reelection and it was 27 days before the election.
And a seat became open on the United States Supreme Court. Abe said, "The people deserve to make the decision about who will be the next president of the United States. And then that person can select who will serve for a lifetime on the highest court
of our land." Joe and I are very clear: the American people are voting right now and it should be their decision about who will serve on this most important body for a lifetime.
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah
Oct 7, 2020
On Health Care:
Trump knew the truth on coronavirus and covered it up
The American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country. 210,000 dead. Over 7 million who have contracted this disease. One in five businesses closed.
We're looking at frontline workers who have been treated like sacrificial workers. We are looking at over 30 million people, who had to file for unemployment.
On January 28th, the vice president and the president were informed about the nature of this pandemic. They were informed that it's lethal in consequence, that it is airborne, that it will affect young people, and that it would be contracted because
it is airborne. Can you imagine if you knew on January 28th, as opposed to March 13th, what they knew, what you might've done to prepare? They knew, and they covered it up. The president said it was a hoax.
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah
Oct 7, 2020
On Health Care:
On pre-existing conditions: Republicans are coming for you
Joe Biden was responsible with President Obama for the Affordable Care Act, which brought healthcare to over 20 million Americans and protected people with preexisting conditions. Donald Trump is in court, trying to get rid of the
Affordable Care Act. If you have a preexisting condition, they're coming for you. If you love someone who has a pre-existing condition, they're coming for you. If you are under the age of 26 on your parents' coverage, they're coming for you.
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah
Oct 7, 2020
On Principles & Values:
We have broad support and will bring integrity back
We have the support of Democrats, but also independents and Republicans. Seven members of George W. Bush's cabinet are supporting us. We have the support of Colin Powell, Cindy McCain, John Kasich, over 500 generals, retired generals and former
national security experts. They know Joe Biden has a commitment to bring integrity back to the White House. We will not let anyone subvert our democracy as Donald Trump did on the debate stage when he openly attempted to suppress the vote.
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah
Oct 7, 2020
On Tax Reform:
We won't raise taxes on anyone earning less than $400,000
HARRIS: Joe Biden will not raise taxes on anyone who makes less than $400,000 a year. He has been very clear about that. Joe Biden will not end fracking, he has been very clear about that. Joe Biden is the one who, during the Great Recession
was responsible for the Recovery Act that brought America back. And now the Trump-Pence administration wants to take credit when they rode the coattails of Joe Biden's success for the economy that they had at the beginning of their term.
On the other hand, you have Donald Trump who has reigned over a recession that is being compared to the Great Depression.PENCE: [Biden] said he's going to repeal the Trump tax cuts.
Joe Biden has said it twice in the debate last week that he's going to repeal the Trump tax cuts. That was tax cuts that gave the average working family $2,000 in a tax break every single year.
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah
Oct 7, 2020
On Tax Reform:
Americans deserve transparency on president's taxes
Joe Biden has been transparent. The President has not. We now know that Donald Trump paid $750 in taxes. When I first heard about it, I literally said, "You mean $750,000?" And it was like no, $750. We now know Donald Trump is
in debt for $400 million. It'd be really good to know who the President of the United States owes money to because the American people have a right to know what is influencing the President's decisions.
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah
Oct 7, 2020
On War & Peace:
Trump does not care about troops' injuries or deaths
HARRIS: There was a counter strike on our troops in Iraq, and they suffered serious brain injuries, and do you know what Donald Trump dismissed them as? Headaches. This is a pattern where he referred to our men who are serving as
suckers and losers. Public reporting said Russia had bounties on the heads of American soldiers. Donald Trump had talked at least six times to Vladimir Putin and never brought up the subject.
PENCE: My son is in captain in the United States Marine Corps. My son-in-law's deployed in the United States Navy. I can assure all of you with sons and daughters serving in our military, President Donald Trump, not only respects,
but reveres all of those who serve in our armed forces and any suggestion, otherwise is ridiculous. Let me also say the American people deserve to know-
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah
Oct 7, 2020
Page last updated: Oct 11, 2020