For months, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have been making promises to the American people about what they’d do to improve the lives of Americans if elected president in the 2024 election. Their promises encompass climate, foreign policy, social issues, health care and, of course, taxes.
Some campaign promises may be fulfilled through the power of the pen with an executive action, while others would require congressional approval.
Here’s what Trump and Harris have been promising Americans during their campaigns.
Trump’s campaign promises:
End the war in Ukraine before Inauguration Day
Trump has more than once promised to end Russia’s war on Ukraine before he’s inaugurated.
“That is a war that’s dying to be settled. I will get it settled before I even become president,” Trump said in the September presidential debate against Harris.
He has also said in a May 2023 CNN town hall that he’d end the conflict “in 24 hours.” Trump has repeatedly been asked how he’d do this but has never outlined a plan.
When asked in late September by CBS News’ Caitlin Huey-Burns what an end to the fighting would look like, he responded, “I don’t want to tell you what that looks like.” And in response to a question from reporters about whether Ukraine should cede land to Russia to end the war, Trump did not answer directly. “Let’s get some peace,” he said.
Carry out the largest mass deportation in U.S. history
Trump frequently vows to carry out the “largest deportation” effort in U.S. history. In September, he said he’d begin by targeting migrants in Aurora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio. A Trump spokesperson told the Associated Press that Trump “would marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals, drug dealers, and human traffickers.”
Cut federal funding to schools that teach “critical race theory” and “transgender” matters
Trump says he’d cut federal funding for schools that teach “critical race theory” and “transgender” matters, which he calls “transgender insanity.” He has suggested launching civil rights investigations into schools that support transgender rights. Shortly after becoming president in 2017, Trump withdrew Obama-era protections that permitted transgender students to use public school restrooms according to how they identified.
Local taxes provide the vast majority of funding for school districts, not federal tax dollars. The Department of Education estimates that tax dollars account for about 8% of funding for U.S. public schools.
Roll back Biden’s electric vehicle mandate
Trump often says he’d repeal President Biden’s electric vehicle mandate. Mr. Biden has not issued an EV mandate, though he is urging Americans to adopt EVs and is offering incentives to move the country to the point where 50% of new vehicles sold are zero-emission, a goal he hopes to reach by 2030. Rolling back an EPA rule entails logistical hurdles, but it is something a president can accomplish without Congress.
End taxes on tips
A few months ago, Trump began saying he’d end federal taxes on tips, and soon afterward, Harris followed suit. Doing so would require Congress to pass legislation so that tipped workers would no longer be subject to federal taxes on those tips. Trump has not said how he’d pay for this plan.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated the cost of this promise to be as high as $250 billion.
No taxes on Social Security income
Trump has also pledged to stop taxing Social Security benefits for seniors. About 40% of Social Security recipients pay federal income taxes on those benefits, according to the Social Security Administration. Federal taxes on Social Security income don’t kick in until an individual’s combined income reaches $25,000. An individual filer with a total income between $25,000 and $34,000 may have to pay income tax on up to 50% of those benefits, and above $34,000, up to 85% of Social Security benefits may be taxable, according to the SSA.
This, too, would require legislation. Trump has not said how he’d pay for this plan.
“Replace” Obamacare
In his debate against Harris, Trump pledged to replace the Affordable Care Act, something he was unable to do in the four years he was president. In 2016, he also campaigned in 2016 on repealing the health care law.
“Obamacare was lousy health care,” Trump said during the debate. “Always was. It’s not very good today. And what I said, that if we come up with something, and we are working on things, we’re going to do it and we’re going to replace it.”
Pressed during the debate on what his replacement plan would be, Trump replied that he had “concepts of a plan.”
Congress would have to pass a repeal, and Republicans’ best chance to do so failed with the late Sen. John McCain’s thumbs-down vote in 2017. Trump and Republicans tried to dismantle Obamacare through the courts, too, but the Supreme Court rejected the challenge.
Expand the child tax credit
The Trump campaign has proposed expanding the child tax credit to up to $5,000 a year per child. Congress which holds the power of the purse, would have to sign off on this expansion. The CTC is currently $2,000 per child, with only $1,600 of that being refundable. Refundable tax credits can be received as a refund even if the filer owes no tax to the federal government.That means filers who owe the federal government little or nothing in federal income taxes are eligible for a tax credit of $1,600 per child.
Harris’ campaign promises:
Take on pharmaceutical companies
Harris has pledged to continue President Biden’s campaign to take on pharmaceutical companies, particularly by addressing high drug prices. Americans pay more for prescription drugs than do citizens of other countries. The Inflation Reduction Act, passed in 2022, gave Medicare the authority to negotiate lower prices with drug companies. The Biden administration has lowered the cost of a number of popular prescription drugs covered by Medicare, and Harris has pledged to continue that effort.
Ban price gouging on groceries
It’s not completely clear how Harris would accomplish this, but she’s said she wants to eliminate price gouging on groceries. Grocery prices have jumped 25% since 2020, and the price tag of many individual items has increased much more than 25%. Price gouging is when businesses charge excessively high prices on items that become scarce, such as during a hurricane. But experts have told CBS News there are a number of factors behind the higher prices at the supermarket.
However, economists agree with Harris that adding more competition to the grocery and food industries could help tackle rising food prices by adding to the supply of products on the market. That in turn would give consumers more choice while curtailing companies’ ability to set unreasonably high prices. Economist Mark Zandi suggested the Justice Department should keep a close eye on any proposed mergers or acquisitions of food companies.
Expand the child tax credit
Harris says she’d expand the child tax credit to up to $6,000 for newborn children, $1,000 more than Trump VP candidate Sen. JD Vance proposed, although his expanded tax credit would not be restricted to those with newborn children. Any expansion of the tax credit would require congressional approval. It’s not clear how Harris would pay for the proposal.
Nominate a Republican to her Cabinet
Harris says she’ll appoint a Republican to her Cabinet, which would set her apart from President Biden, who has no Republicans in his Cabinet.
“It would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who is a Republican,” Harris told CNN in August.