Kamala Harris to use her appearance on The View to pitch to the 'sandwich generation'

Vice President Kamala Harris is set to propose the first-ever expansion of Medicare to help Americans known as the so-called ‘sandwich generation’ who are facing the staggering burden of taking care of kids as well as aging parents at the same time.

It is the latest in a series of economic proposals from the Democratic presidential nominee as she makes a bid for the White House in an extremely close race with former President Donald Trump.

The vice president is making her pitch to the ‘sandwich generation’ during an appearance Tuesday on The View, a show with an audience that consists largely of middle-aged and older women.

The proposal includes the first-ever expansion of Medicare to include at-home care benefits to help address the long-term care of seniors.

The vice president wants to cover home care services like in-home aides, so seniors do not have to choose between having to go to a facility for care as they age or burdening their families. 

The campaign believes the move would make care more affordable while easing the financial and emotional toll on families who become tasked with taking care of loved ones as the number of seniors in the U.S. expands.

Currently, Medicare does not cover long-term assistance such as home aides except under limited circumstances. The staggering out-of-pocket costs make such options nearly impossible for many Medicare recipients, leaving them with little options outside of family or significant financial burdens.

The vice president will call for the benefit to be paid for by expanding Medicare drug price negotiations, cracking down on hidden Pharmacy Benefit Manager costs as well as other measures, according to the campaign.

Some forty-seven percent of adults in their 40s and 50s have a parent over sixty-five and are also raising a or supporting a grown child. One in seven adults is providing financial support to both children and aging parents.

The latest proposal comes after Harris as already pitched expanding the Child Tax Credit in an effort to help ease child care costs for families as well as providing parents with a $6,000 credit for a new baby’s first year of life.

But the vice president’s proposals would face significant challenges getting through a divided Congress. Changes to Medicare have been met with fierce opposition for years.

Efforts by the Biden administration to expand the Child Tax Credit beyond one year in the American Rescue Plan passed in 2021 were blocked even though Democrats at the time controlled both chambers of Congress. 

If Republicans manage to flip the Senate in November and hold the House, passing her legislative agenda could become nearly impossible even if Harris were to win the presidency as Congress control the purse strings.

Harris has faced criticism for how she would pay for a series of economic proposals ranging from expanding small business tax deductions to providing $25,000 in down payments for first time homebuyers. 

When grilled about paying for her proposals on 60 Minutes on Monday, Harris talked about the rich paying their fair share.

'I'm going to make sure that the richest among us who can afford it, pay their fair share in taxes. It is not right that teachers and nurses and firefighters are paying a higher tax rate than billionaires and the biggest corporations. And I plan on making that fair,' she said.

'But we're dealing with the real world here,' Correspondent Bill Whitaker pushed back, asking her how she would get it approved by Congress.

'You know, when you talk quietly with a lot of folks in Congress, they know exactly what I'm talking about, because their constituents know exactly what I'm talking about. Their constituents are those firefighters and teachers and nurses,' Harris replies.

To cover the costs, the vice president has proposed a series of tax changes targeting large corporations and the richest Americans arguing that they need to pay their 'fair share.'