Harris has cast more tie-breaking votes in Senate than any vice president in US history

Vice President Kamala Harris has cast key tie-breaking votes in the U.S. Senate that passed legislation to provide billions of dollars in assistance to the residents of Michigan.

According to the U.S. Constitution, the vice president serves as the president of the Senate; she has no vote unless there is a 50-50 tie in that body. Since taking office in January 2021, Harris has cast 33 tie-breaking votes, the most of any Senate president in American history. Her immediate predecessor, former Vice President Mike Pence, cast 13 tie-breaking votes.

In March 2021, Harris provided the 51st vote in the Senate in favor of passing the American Rescue Plan, joining with Democratic senators in moving the bill forward, while Republican senators unanimously opposed it. The legislation provided $1.9 trillion in economic stimulus meant to assist the economy recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Help has arrived for the workers who lost their jobs. Help has arrived for the students who’ve been stuck at home. Help has arrived for the families that have struggled to put food on their table and for the small businesses that have struggled to keep their doors open. Help has arrived, America,” Harris said at the March 2021 signing of the bill at the White House.

Rescue Plan funds were used in Michigan to provide direct financial support to municipalities. Child care programs, school districts, police departments and renters were among those provided assistance under the law. Businesses also benefited from pandemic relief and, according to the White House, Michigan residents applied to start 288,000 new small businesses in 2021 and 2022. In the two years following the law’s passage, Michigan added 298,000 jobs. The unemployment rate in the state has gone from 6.5% in January 2021 to 4.1% in June of this year.

Harris’ vote was also pivotal in August 2022 to break the Senate tie over the Inflation Reduction Act. That legislation is the largest federal investment in clean energy in American history and also includes provisions designed to cut the cost of prescription drugs.

“Unfortunately, not a single Republican in Congress voted for the package. Not a single Republican voted to lower the cost of prescription drugs, reduce health insurance premiums, make investments to address the climate crisis, tackle inflation, or require the wealthiest corporations to pay their fair share,” Harris said in a statement following her vote.

The White House said that since passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, along with the CHIPS and Science Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which Harris also supported, more than $28 billion in commitments for private sector investments in Michigan have been announced.

Harris has also provided tie-breaking votes to confirm federal judicial nominations submitted to the Senate by President Joe Biden. Those votes most recently led to the successful appointments of Judges Loren L. AliKhan, Natasha C. Merle, Margaret R. Guzman, and Araceli Martínez-Olguín.

The Biden-Harris administration has appointed more women and people of color to the federal judiciary than any administration in U.S. history.