John Jefferson
Key events
Kamala Harris’s commitment to oppose the sale of US Steel to the Japanese company, Nippon, represents one of the few specific policy promises she has made since rising to the top of the Democratic ticket.
On Monday, between comments about the administration’s support for organized labor and Donald Trump’s attacks on labor organizing, Harris spoke against the pending purchase of US Steel and said it should re domestically-owned and operated.
US Steel is an historic American company and it is vital for our nation to tain strong American steel companies. And I couldn’t agree more with President Biden: US Steel should re American-owned and American-operated.
The United Steelworkers union, representing about 10,000 US Steel employees, opposes the $14.9bn deal, taking issue with Nippon Steel’s alleged violations of the union’s rights concerning change of control under their four-year basic labor agreement signed in 2022. The union and the companies are in arbitration talks.
Biden teams up with Harris in first joint campaign appearance in pitch to union workers
Good morning US politics readers. Joe Biden joined Kamala Harris in Pittsburgh on Monday for their first joint appearance on the presidential campaign trail since he ended his re-election bid in July and endorsed her.
The pair appeared at a rally to mark Labor Day with a tribute to union workers in Pittsburgh in the vital swing state of Pennsylvania. “We are so proud to be the most pro-union administration in American history,” Harris said.
Trade unions are a key Democratic constituency and Harris on Monday pledged to oppose the pending purchase of US Steel by Nippon Steel, arguing that the iconic Pennsylvania steel company should re in the hands of American owners. Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, also opposes the Nippon Steel deal and has said he will block it if president.
Here’s what else we’re watching:
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The House and Senate are out this week.
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Biden is back in Washington DC after having spent the last two weeks holidaying in California and at his home in Delaware. He will head to Wisconsin on Thursday and Michigan on Friday.
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Harris will be in New Hampshire on Wednesday and then travel to Pittsburgh on Thursday.
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The Harris campaign has released “Focused”, part of a $370m ad buy running through election day.
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Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor, will testify publicly before Congress next week about nursing home deaths during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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