By Eoin McSweeney Kamala Harris will soon be making more history when she becomes the first United States vice president to have a figure on display at the Madame Tussauds wax museum in New York City. The attraction in Times Square released
White House considers broad range of migration plans ahead of Harris visit to Central America
By Priscilla Alvarez The Biden administration is considering pressing Guatemala to address governance issues in the country, ranging from investment to corruption, according to a source familiar with the deliberations at the White House, highlighting just one of the delicate negotiations Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to lead. The State Department, in coordination with other federal agencies, is weighing a list of priorities to address irregular migration ahead of Harris’ expected visit to Guatemala. Those priorities include legislative reform designed to improve conditions in the country, bolstering border security in the region and increasing Immigration and Customs Enforcement removal
Harris pitches American Jobs Plan during first extended economic speech since becoming VP
By Maegan Vazquez Kamala Harris on Monday delivered her first extended economic speech since becoming vice president, making a pitch for the Biden administration’s infrastructure plan and touting the White House’s accomplishments since President Joe Biden was sworn in. “Help is here and hope is here — and things are looking up. Schools are reopening. Businesses are reopening. Grandparents are seeing their grandchildren in person. We are delivering real, real relief,” Harris told an audience at Guilford Technical Community College in North Carolina. The vice president specifically discussed what the administration’s roughly $2 trillion infrastructure package — the President’s top
The second couple settles in after a stressful start to their life in Washington
By Kate Bennett Three months into her historic vice presidency, Kamala Harris and her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, have finally unpacked their suitcases and are enjoying the comforts of their official residence. The unseasonably warm temperatures and sunny spring skies in Washington over the last week have led them on most recent evenings to walk around outdoors and relax on the veranda at One Observatory Circle — something they weren’t able to do as easily at Blair House, the presidential guest home across the street from the White House, where they spent the chilly early days of their life
Harris to move into Naval Observatory residence next week after renovations delay
By Kate Sullivan Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will move into the vice president’s official residence next week after their move was delayed for more than two months because of “repairs to the home,” Harris’ chief spokeswoman Symone Sanders said on Thursday. Harris and Emhoff have been temporarily living at Blair House, the President’s guest quarters on Pennsylvania Avenue across from the White House, since Harris took office. The vice president’s official residence is located on the grounds of the US Naval Observatory a couple of miles from the White House. “The repairs included maintenance on
Kamala Harris dives into migration diplomacy as GOP aims to make her the face of the border crisis
By Jasmine Wright and Arlette Saenz Vice President Kamala Harris and her team are staring down attempts to make her the face of the Biden administration’s response to the crisis at the border, a little more than a week after being assigned a role that positions her in the center of one of the administration’s most divisive issues. Aides define her official task as leading the diplomatic outreach to Central American countries to address the root causes of migration. But Harris has already been tied to the border situation at large, as Republicans seek to conflate her more narrowly defined
After two months in office, Kamala Harris is still living out of suitcases — and she’s getting frustrated with it
By Kate Bennett It has been more than two months since Kamala Harris was sworn in as vice president of the United States, a historic moment for the country, as Harris is the first woman and the first woman of color to hold the second highest office in the land. Yet, Harris — along with her husband, Georgetown Law professor Douglas Emhoff — is still, ostensibly, living out of suitcases, unable to move into the private residence reserved for the vice president because it’s still undergoing renovations. It’s unclear why the renovations are taking so long, said one administration official,
Biden assigning Harris to lead diplomatic efforts in Central America to address immigration
By Kevin Liptak and Jasmine Wright President Joe Biden is tasking Vice President Kamala Harris with overseeing efforts with Central American countries to stem the flow of migrants to the US southern border, the first major issue Biden has assigned directly to his No. 2. “I asked her, the VP, today, because she’s the most qualified person to do it, to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle, and the countries that can help, need help in stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border,” Biden told reporters ahead of an immigration
Kamala Harris’ campaign trail gun rhetoric meets Biden’s reality
By Jasmine Wright and Maegan Vazquez Presidential candidate Kamala Harris campaigned aggressively on gun control reform — making the case that if Congress couldn’t act to make changes, the president could. A California senator without much to lose as she fought to define herself in the 2020 Democratic primary, Harris at the time made bold claims about presidential power that then-candidate Joe Biden did not agree with and is unlikely as president to take on. Biden on Tuesday urged Senate action on two House-passed bills on background checks and an assault weapons ban in the wake of two mass shootings
Man arrested outside Vice President Kamala Harris’ official residence and had rifle and ammunition in car
By Whitney Wild and Rashard Rose, CNN Washington, DC, police arrested a Texas man outside Vice President Kamala Harris’ official residence, the US Naval Observatory, in the nation’s capital on Wednesday and he’s now facing weapons and ammunition charges. A spokesperson for Washington’s Metropolitan Police said officers responded “at approximately 12:12 pm, to the 3400 block of Massachusetts Avenue, NW in reference to a suspicious person based on an intelligence bulletin that originated from Texas, who was detained by US Secret Service.” Law enforcement contacted the man after a region-wide intelligence bulletin had been issued for the suspect. DC police
Harris uses UN speech to champion women’s role in democracy
By Jasmine Wright, CNN Kamala Harris declared “the status of women is the status of democracy” on Tuesday, in her first speech before the United Nations as the first female vice president of the United States. “Eleanor Roosevelt, who shaped the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, once said, ‘Without equality, there can be no democracy.’ In other words, the status of women is the status of democracy,” she said during the UN’s 65th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. “The status of democracy also depends fundamentally on the empowerment of women. Not only because the exclusion of