Maddy Remington
managing editor
The 2020 vice presidential races are heating up as viewers tune in across the country to see the nation’s leaders debate on the national stage
On the issue of climate change, Vice President Mike Pence said that the Green New Deal would crush american energy, the economy and american jobs. The progress the U.S. has made so far is because of a strong free market economy. He went on to note that the U.S. has reduced CO2 more than those in the paris accord due to natural gas production.
“Our air and land are cleaner than ever and there are no more hurricanes now, then there was a year ago,” Pence said
Whereas Kamala Harris had a different opinion, acknowledging that the west coast is burning, gulf states are being battered by farms, and mentioning Joe Biden has talked to Iowan farmers affected by the floods. The way forward is clean and renewable energy and Biden believes in the science to back it up, said Harris.
“In this election, we need to decide who is prepared to deal with these existential threats,” said Harris.
On the topic of Abortion as a segway into Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearing, Pence fails to answer the question of how we would want his home state to handle the legality of abortion. Instead using his time to say that he hopes Barrett gets a fair hearing, “We don’t want to see an attack on her faith,” Pence said.
Harris says that she thinks they should push the confirmation and let America decide who to put on that supreme court. However, she also addresses the question saying that she supports the pro-choice argument.
“I will always fight for women to have the right to their own body,” Harris said.
Then the debate takes a turn, where Harris and Pence get into more of a heated argument. Pence asks Harris directly if she is planning to pack the court.
“You are openly advocating for adding seats to the supreme court,” Pence said.
While Harris does not directly answer the packing the court question, she does counter that it is not following history for the U.S. to rush through a confirmation.
“I’m glad you brought up history, let’s go through a little history lesson,” Harris said. “Honest Abe said it’s not the right thing to do, American people have the right to make the decision.”
The pair was then asked their opinions on police reform and if they think Breonna Taylor got the justice she deserved.Harris said that she wanted to save lives and her life was taken unjustifyingly. People around the country of all ages, gender and races marched for equal justice under the law, but yet their cries weren’t heard. She then goes into the specificity of her ticket’s platform.
“We always must fight for our ideals,” Harris said.
Pence talks about how his heart breaks for the loss of american life and Breonna Taylor. He then talks about how the cities were burned to the ground by rioters and looters and defends police to an extent.
“The presumption that law enforcement has implicit bias against minorities is ridiculous and insulting to law enforcement,” Pence said.
Harris brings up that Trump refused to condemn white supremacy in his debate using the line “stand by and stand back.” Pence responds to Harris’s allegation, claiming that it is “not true.” Which causes Harris to get even more riled up on the subject essentially outlining all of Trump and Pence’s racist actions. Which leads Pence to state that the media tries to selectively edit moments.
