Comparing the Candidates: Tale of the Presidential Tape

Here we are, less than one month from election day. And the public sector should be watching closely as Nov. 5^th approaches. As is the case with any election, the outcome figures to affect the American workplace, including the government workplace. With that in mind, Public Eye takes a look at where candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump stand on a handful of work-related issues that will be of import to public sector employers and HR leaders over the next four years and beyond.

(In the meantime, voter registration deadlines vary from state to state. Make sure you don’t miss your chance to take part in the democratic process, and click here to make sure you’re all set and ready to cast your ballot.)

Artificial Intelligence

President Joe Biden signed an Oct. 30, 2023 executive order that established “new standards for AI safety and security.” In May of this year, the administration issued a memo that offered guidance to federal agencies on how they can and cannot use AI. Vice President Harris played a role in the creation of this policy, and has encouraged government agencies to continue to use artificial intelligence, provided they are doing so safely and without violating citizens’ rights.

The Trump/Republication party platform describes the Oct. 2023 executive order as “dangerous,” and pledges to repeal the mandate, saying it “hinders AI innovation and imposes radical leftwing ideas on the development of this technology. In its place, Republicans support AI development rooted in free speech and human flourishing.”

Compensation/Minimum Wage

The federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25 per hour since 2009. A number of states have enacted minimum pay rates that are higher than that, but it remains to be seen whether we will see a federal increase in the four years after this November’s election.

During the 2020 presidential race, Donald Trump said he would “consider” a $15 minimum wage nationwide, but also noted that he would rather let states determine their own minimum pay rate.

The Biden administration has pushed for a $15 federal minimum in the past four years. Harris pledged to support instituting a $15 federal minimum wage when she ran for president in 2020. During her current campaign, the vice president has reiterated her intent to raise the minimum wage should she win office, but she has not offered specific numbers.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

In September 2020, then-President Trump issued an executive order that prohibited diversity and racial sensitivity training in government agencies. That order was ultimately reversed, but Trump’s position on DEI efforts in the workplace seems to remain unchanged heading into this year’s election.

The Harris platform does not address DEI-related initiatives directly, but she has voiced her support for more equitable pay practices in the American workplace, telling an audience at a 2022 Equal Pay Day event that closing the gender wage gap is “not just a moral issue, it’s also a business one.”

Hiring

The public sector has helped lead the recent push toward more skills-based hiring, with more than 20 states relaxing or eliminating degree requirements for many state government jobs in the last two years alone.

This trend figures to continue regardless of who wins in November.

At a September campaign rally, for instance, Harris told a Wilkes Barre, Pa. audience that she would continue the Biden administration’s effort to implement more skills-based hiring policies, and that, if elected, she would “get rid of the unnecessary degree requirements for federal jobs to increase jobs for folks without a four-year degree.”

In 2020, then-president Trump signed an executive order that required federal agencies to increase and improve the use of assessments in their hiring process, and look less at degrees and educational achievements when evaluating job candidates.

Immigration

During his term as president, Trump sought mass deportations of immigrations from the United States, and has long maintained an anti-immigration stance. The Trump 2024 platform notes the party’s commitment to “an aggressive plan” to secure the border, promises to enforce immigration laws and “begin the largest deportation program in American history” should Trump win in 2024.

The Harris platform notes that Vice President Harris and running mate Governor Tim Walz “believe in tough, smart solutions to secure the border, keep communities safe and reform our broken immigration system.” Vice President Harris also touts her support of a bipartisan border security bill that offered what her campaign calls “the strongest [immigration] reform in decades,” saying the legislation would have deployed more detection technology designed to intercept fentanyl and other drugs, along with adding 1,500 more border security agents.

Labor

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents roughly 75,000 federal and D.C. government employees, has endorsed Vice President Harris, whose platform says she will sign “landmark pro-union legislation, including the PRO Act to support workers who choose to organize and bargain and the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act to make the freedom for public service workers to form unions the law of the land.”

Teamsters President Sean O’Brien spoke at July’s Republican National Convention, although the union, which represents many public sector workers, ultimately declined to endorse either Donald Trump or Vice President Harris in the 2024 election. During Trump’s presidential term, the National Labor Relations Board eased the process for employers to oust unions, and some unions have criticized his “anti-labor track record.”

Paid Family Leave

In 2019, then-presidential candidate Harris said she would provide Americans with up to six months of paid family leave to bond with a new child or to take care of other personal or family medical issues, as part of her “Children’s Agenda.” During her time as vice president, she has also called on states to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage from two months to 12, according to her campaign.

In 2019, then-President Trump signed the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act (FEPLA) into law, providing up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave to covered federal employees in connection with the birth or placement for adoption or foster care of a child occurring on or after Oct. 1, 2020. In 2018, he proposed a budget that included six weeks of leave for new mothers and fathers, including adoptive parents, to provide them with time to recover from childbirth and bond with their new child.