Interview: Vice President Kamala Harris

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Politics, Daily News, News

4.5 • 24.9K Ratings

🗓️ 20 December 2022

⏱️ 14 minutes

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Summary

Her life is about to change: with Democrats expanding their control in the Senate, Vice President Harris tells NPR's Asma Khalid that she won't need to stay as close to Washington as she has in the administration's first two years — when she was her party's tie-breaking vote in the chamber. Harris says she will expand her travel in support of activists and organizers working to advance abortion access and voting rights.

This episode: White House correspondent Asma Khalid.

This episode was produced by Elena Moore and Casey Morell. It was edited by Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi. Research and fact-checking by Katherine Swartz.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast.
0:06.8	I'm Asmakhaleh, I cover the White House.
0:09.1	And yesterday afternoon, I sat down in the Vice President's ceremonial office with
0:13.4	Kamala Harris for a year-end chat about what she feels the administration has accomplished
0:18.2	and how she feels her role evolving in the next two years.
0:21.9	In January, Democrats are expected to control the Senate.
0:24.9	That means Harris may no longer need to be the tie-breaking vote.
0:29.1	So first, I asked her what that changes for her.
0:32.1	Here's what she told me.
0:33.1	Well, I think one of the things that will change significantly is my schedule.
0:40.3	Because as the President of the Senate in a tie-breaking role, I needed to be available
0:47.2	and on call, essentially, throughout the week when the Senate was in session in the
0:52.4	event that my vote was needed.
0:54.3	And so that had a real impact on the ability to then plan any kind of travel, be it domestic
1:00.9	or international.
1:01.9	So that might seem like a mundane fact, but it actually will be a big difference in
1:06.4	terms of how I'm able to do my work as Vice President.
1:10.6	But I will tell you, there were times when, as President of the Senate, I would go to
1:15.1	the Senate because the issue itself was one of, I think, major concerns.
1:21.4	So for example, on voting rights, being there, knowing that sadly we did not have the votes,
1:28.0	but being there to make the point that this is something that we should pay attention
1:33.4	to because the issues that were at stake are so fundamental to who we are as a democracy.
	...

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