Whitmer says people ‘reading too much’ into price-gouging plan specifics

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Sunday people are “reading too much” into the specifics of the price-gouging plan from the Harris-Walz campaign amid backlash from pundits and Vice President Harris’s political opponents.

“Well, I think people are reading too much into what has been put out there. We know that Kamala Harris is going to be focused on building up more affordable housing. We know that Kamala Harris has already delivered on making sure that health care is more accessible and affordable for Americans and will protect ObamaCare,” Whitmer, a co-chair of the Democrats’ campaign, said about criticism of the plan in an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press.”

“That’s a million people who have health care in Michigan right now that Donald Trump’s been trying to rip away. That only adds costs on to people’s backs,” she continued.

Whitmer defended Harris’s economic agenda as one that is “laying broad strokes” and demonstrates that Harris “sees every American.”

“She understands what people are struggling with and wants to help you keep more money in your pocket,” Whitmer added.

Whitmer pushed back against The Washington Post editorial board’s pan of the price-gouging plan as “gimmicks.”

“I think it speaks to Kamala Harris’s values that she wants consumers to keep more money in their pockets. She wants hardworking Americans to be able to get ahead. She wants to make sure that there is corporate responsibility,” Whitmer said when asked if the plan is “anything more than a gimmick.”

“We know we’ve got to have business growth in this country, small business growth, big business growth for good paying jobs. But we also know that you can’t gouge and hurt the American consumer just to pad your bottom line. And I think there’s a balance there,” she continued.

Whitmer defended the plan when asked whether it’s “smart policy.”

“You know what? I think that any effort we make to keep more money in Americans’ pockets is worth walking the path and having the conversations and figuring out, how do we make this economy work for everybody?”