Vice President Kamala Harris Expected To Focus On Child Tax Credit And Infrastructure During Visit To Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- On Monday, Kamala Harris will make her first visit to Pittsburgh as vice president.
During her visit, she is expected to shift her focus to President Joe Biden's expanded child tax credit and the American Jobs Plan, which the president announced in Pittsburgh last March.
"It's heartening to see her in Pittsburgh because the issues she's talking about, infrastructure and part of that is human infrastructure and care-giving, which is so important like the issue she'll be talking about," U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat, told KDKA political editor Jon Delano on Friday.
Casey will join the vice president along with Congressmen Mike Doyle and Conor Lamb.
Casey said the focus on children is critical for our region where 90 percent of kids have parents eligible for the expanded child tax credit.
"Allegheny County has right around 230,000 children. Just do 90 percent of that or something close to that. Westmoreland County has over 65,000 children," said Casey.
Also joining the vice president is Labor Secretary and former Boston mayor Marty Walsh, one of President Biden's point people on the infrastructure jobs bill.
Casey said southwestern Pennsylvania will be a chief beneficiary of the dollars.
"These investments are going to have a huge impact on job creation and on helping to rebuild communities."
While the White House is not disclosing details, sources tell KDKA's Jon Delano that Harris may stop at a recreation center in Brookline before speaking to labor supporters at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers on the South Side.
Republican officials panned the vice president for visiting Pittsburgh and not the Mexican border to deal with immigration issues.
"This is her first trip to Pittsburgh, and I'm still waiting for her first trip to the border because there's a crisis at the border and she seems to be going all across the country doing this PR tour trying to get people to think that this so-called infrastructure plan is actually going to benefit them," said Paris Dennard, a spokesperson for the National Republican Committee.
"Vice President Harris is working on comprehensive immigration reform, as the Republicans should be working on and they are not," said Casey.
What's clear is that Pittsburgh is right in the center of political policy and attention.