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Where in the world is Kamala Harris?

By: The Horn editorial team

The vice president serves as president of the Senate and plays a vital role in the president’s administration.

When President Joe Biden was serving as vice president, he rallied Senators to vote for former President Barack Obama’s legislative agenda. He convinced the Senate Democrats to use the Dodd-Frank Act for creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as he pointed out on CNN in 2019.

Now, the Senate Democrats are negotiating a massive spending bill…  and yet Vice President Kamala Harris is nowhere to be found.

She wasn’t present during Biden’s negotiations in Congress on Thursday.

On Friday, Biden traveled to the Capitol to speak with reluctant Democrats, and Harris was jetting to Palm Springs, California in secret.

The White House remained silent about the reasons for Harris’s cross-country trip. Then, on Monday, a White House official told the Washington Examiner simply, “It was a private family matter.”

By Wednesday, the Senate was still trying to reconcile a $1.2 trillion bill with a massive $3.5 trillion bill. Meanwhile, Harris was eating at a Cuban restaurant and following up her meeting with Latina entrepreneurs.

Harris spoke about the spending bills after her meal, but she failed to take questions.

“Daniella’s work here at Colada and her other businesses is a prime example of why these two pieces of legislation are critical and are about everyday folks trying to contribute to their community—contributing and growing our workforce and in that way essential to all of us if we want a productive and an economically healthy community,” she said, referring to the Colada Shop restaurant and its owner, Daniella Senior.

Reporters have noticed Harris’s lack of involvement in the Senate’s negotiations. One reporter brought this up to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki during a press conference last week.

“She was a senator as recently as this year,” the reporter said. “Why isn’t she on the Hill helping to broker this deal?”

Psaki responded. “A lot of what’s happening right now is discussions at a staff level, a senior staff level to get through these intricate details, and that’s where the focus is in this moment.”

“She’s been making calls herself, just like the President. If it’s constructive for her to go to the Hill or for him to go to the Hill, to have members down here, they’ll do that. We’re ready and willing. This is our top priority. All hands on deck.”

Some allies have defended Harris for staying absent during negotiations. After all, Harris first arrived at the Senate in 2017, and Biden spent 36 years there.

Other analysts say that Harris simply fading into the background. Some worry about her electoral prospects in 2028… or 2024.

After all, Biden led his voters to believe that Harris would be a more active veep.

“When I agreed to serve as President Obama’s running mate, he asked me a number of questions,” Biden said at a 2020 campaign event in Delaware. “I told him I wanted to be the last person in the room before he made important decisions. That’s what I asked Kamala.”

“I asked Kamala to be the last voice in the room.”

Yet, Harris hasn’t spent much time in the proverbial room. Rather, she’s been at a Cuban restaurant.

 

The Horn editorial team