VP Kamala Harris visits N.J. today to discuss child care and vaccinations

Kamala Harris

Vice President Kamala Harris meets with small business owners on Sept. 29, 2021, in Washington.AP

Vice President Kamala Harris will visit New Jersey on Friday to tout the need to get vaccinated against the coronavirus and to highlight the child care provisions in President Joe Biden’s spending proposal.

Harris will be accompanied by Gov. Phil Murphy and Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-11th Dist., on her trip to Little Falls, where she will visit a day care center. Murphy also will join the vice president in Newark to discuss vaccinations.

Biden’s spending plan, which is expected to be reduced from its current $3.5 trillion price tag, would expand and hold down the cost of child care to make it easier for women to work outside the home. A U.S. Treasury Department report released last month called the child care sector “a crucial and underfunded part of the American economy.”

The bill also would expand health care, fight climate change, and address the Republican tax law’s $10,000 cap on deducting state and local taxes. Congressional Democrats plan to pass the legislation through a process known as reconciliation, which prevents a Senate Republican filibuster and allows approval by majority vote.

Progressive House Democrats last week blocked consideration of separate $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure legislation until lawmakers in both houses also agreed on a second spending bill.

More than 700,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 as the delta variant spread, even as millions of others refuse to get a shot.

“The fact is, this has been a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” President Joe Biden said Thursday during a visit to Chicago.

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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him at @JDSalant.

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