Vice President Kamala Harris has announced a sweeping set of economic proposals meant to cut taxes and lower the cost of groceries, housing and other essentials for many Americans. Friday in the battleground state of North Carolina, Harris said that “building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency." During a speech She endorsed a proposal for a federal ban on price gouging by food producers and grocers, and proposed $25,000 in down payment assistance for certain first-time homebuyers. Regarding price gouging on groceries, Prof. Mary Eschelbach Hansen, American University Dept. of Economics says this is something Harris, if elected, could do with out Congress. “Meat has been the thing we’ve been hearing the most about. And there certainly has been a lot of consolidation in the meat industry and packing. And so to control that kind of increase in the price of groceries wouldn't require an act of Congress. This is something that could be done through antitrust enforcement,” Hansen said. Hansen also notes, Harris’ two-prong approach to housing, saying that one part is helping first-time house buyers, and the other is creating more housing availability. “She is suggesting that first time homebuyers could have a large down payment assistance, perhaps even $25,000 to move them into help them overcome any shortages of savings that they have and move them into the market for new homes,” Hansen said. During her speech Harris also spoke about restoring and expanding the child tax credit. And Hansen says the child tax credit has been successful in the past. “We had a, we had a lot of testimony from parents and from policymakers that this increase in the child tax credit allowed working class families and lower income families to access services for their children that they weren't able to access before,” Hansen said.