As a senator, Kamala Harris voiced her "unequivocal" support for slashing America's defense budget and "redirecting funding to communities in need." Years later, the vice president and Democratic presidential nominee won't say where she stands on the issue.
Harris in 2020 released a statement addressing an amendment from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) that would have redirected 10 percent of the Pentagon's budget—$74 billion in total—into an annual federal grant program. While Harris voted against the amendment, she assured constituents that her issue was with its specific wording, not its general goal.
"I applaud Senator Sanders and am grateful for all the work that he's done on this amendment," she said at the time. "I unequivocally agree with the goal of reducing the defense budget and redirecting funding to communities in need, but it must be done strategically."
"I remain supportive of the effort and am hopeful that with the benefit of additional time, future efforts will more specifically address these complicated issues and earn my enthusiastic support."
Harris's statement came amid mounting threats in the Middle East. Months before the amendment vote, in February 2020, the terror organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad launched rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip on a near-daily basis. Now, as Israel continues its war against fellow Gaza-based terror group Hamas, it's unclear whether Harris still believes the Pentagon budget should be slashed.
Both Harris's office and campaign did not respond to requests for comment on Harris's current position. The Washington Post also pressed Harris on the issue in a Sunday editorial, noting that Harris once supported cutting the country’s defense budget. "Is that still her view?" the Post asked.
Harris’s past willingness to scale back American defense spending is likely to raise eyebrows, given the vice president's recent flirtations with radical anti-Israel activists.
Harris engaged last week with the Uncommitted National Movement, a coalition of anti-Israel activists who boycotted President Joe Biden over his support for the Jewish state’s war against Hamas.
When confronted by one of the group’s members during a town hall event in Michigan, Harris reportedly "expressed an openness" to consider one of their key demands: a full-blown embargo on U.S. weapons sales to Israel.
"She said yes, I will meet with you," the group’s founder, Layla Elabed, said in a tweet. "And I understand when she agreed to meet with me, she wasn’t agreeing to an arms embargo, she was agreeing to discuss an arms embargo and discuss a policy that will save lives now in Gaza and hopefully get us to a point where we can put our support behind VP Harris."
Harris’s national security advisor, Phil Gordon, quickly walked that position back after the Democratic nominee came under fire from GOP leaders.
"She does not support an arms embargo on Israel," Gordon wrote on X. "She will continue to work to protect civilians in Gaza and to uphold international humanitarian law."
The Biden-Harris administration has come under intense fire for its decision to freeze and slow-walk American arms deliveries to Israel as it faces down Hamas. American diplomats are using the arms sales as a way to pressure Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu into inking a ceasefire deal with Hamas.