Press Release - Vice President Harris Joins The View for Wide-Ranging Interview

During a lengthy in-person interview with The View, the Vice President discussed reproductive freedom, attacks on teaching America's full history, the Biden-Harris Administration's record of accomplishments, and what she's hearing on the road as she continues to travel the country.

NEW YORK – Vice President Kamala Harris sat down with the six co-hosts of ABC's The View this morning for a wide-ranging conversation that aired across the country. During the live interview, she continued her leadership on the fight for reproductive freedom, responded to attacks on teaching America's full history, and answered questions on a range of topics – from the economy and immigration to the Israel-Hamas conflict. The Vice President also recapped how the Biden-Harris Administration has taken historic steps to deliver for families, previewed her upcoming reproductive freedoms tour, and shared what she has been hearing while traveling the nation.

ICYMI, here are four key moments from today's interview:

1. Vice President Harris spoke about the need to protect the freedom of every woman to make decisions about her own body. She also previewed her upcoming nationwide Fight for Reproductive Freedoms tour that kicks off in Wisconsin on Monday:

"I travel our country, and I have been in states that have banned access to reproductive freedom, to abortion, even in the case of rape or incest. And many of you know, I started my career as a prosecutor…in large part because when I was in high school, one of my best friends, I learned, was being assaulted by her stepfather. And so, I decided I wanted to take on an issue that, in particular, was around prevention of and accountability for violence against women and children. The idea that in some of these states a ban on abortion includes denying a survivor of rape or incest the ability to make a decision about what happens to their body next, it's a big, big deal…

In this year of our lord 2024, the government should not be telling women what to do with their bodies….and starting January 22nd, which is the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, I'm starting a tour on fighting for our reproductive freedom."

2. Vice President Harris responded to attacks on the freedom to learn and teach America's full history:

"We cannot get to a place of progress on the issue of race by denying the existence of racism, by denying the history of racism, to suggest that enslaved people benefited from slavery…It is not in our best interest to evolve on the issue of race in America to suggest that the Civil War was prompted by anything other than slavery in America. It is not in the best interest of our progress as a nation to ban books and deny our children the ability to benefit from the knowledge of America's full history so that we can move toward progress. So, it's unfortunate that there are some who would deny fact or overlook it when moving toward progress requires that we speak truth."

3. Vice President Harris shared what she has been hearing as she travels the country to meet with people in their communities. This includes traveling to 24 states last year:

"They talk about their concern that if their daughter is going to college, will she go to a state where she will have access to the healthcare she might need, including reproductive health. They talk about the prayer that many will speak and say as they drop their children off at school, because of their fear that there may be somebody with an assault weapon at some time during that school day. They talk about the concern that they have about whether their children, if they go to college, will be able to pay off their student loan debt.

And they then thank our administration for some of the work we've been doing, standing for fundamental rights like the right of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her what to do. The need to have reasonable gun safety laws and stand for the idea, as I do, I support the Second Amendment, but there's no reason that we have assault weapons in a civil society, and we need to ban them. They talk about the fact that our administration, because of the President, Joe Biden, and our administration has tackled the issue of student loan debt and have now forgiven student loan debt for over three and a half million Americans."

4. The Vice President outlined some of the historic accomplishments that the Biden-Harris Administration has achieved while lowering costs and investing in families and communities:

"We are in the process of investing over a trillion dollars in the climate crisis. This is a president who said we need to take on the issue of student loan debt, in spite of many members of Congress who fought against it. This is a president who said, you know, everybody – including the person you were just talking about – kept talking about "Infrastructure Week," which, by the way, never happened. Joe Biden, because of not only his knowledge but his insistent on seeing things through, we have passed a Bipartisan Infrastructure Law."