Factcheck: A trio of silly, false claims that JD Vance makes about Kamala Harris

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GOP vice-presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (Ohio) has been attacking Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, at every turn. We’ve dealt with some of his more substantive policy attacks, but here’s a quick roundup of some of the sillier false claims he’s made.

A Vance spokesman did not respond to a request to provide evidence for these claims, which seem rooted in misleading clips that circulate on right-wing social media.

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Children and climate change

“She has said things like, ‘it’s reasonable not to have children over climate change.’ I think that’s the exact opposite message we should be sending to our young families.”

– Vance, interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Aug. 11

This is false. Vance made this comment as he tried to explain 2021 remarks that Harris was one of those “childless cat ladies who are miserable in their own lives and they want to make the rest of country miserable, too.” (Harris has two stepchildren.) To Bash, he said: “I criticized Kamala Harris for being part of a set of ideas that exists in American leadership that is anti-family. I never, Dana, criticized people for not having kids. I criticized people for being anti-child.”

That’s when he offered the claim that Harris once said “it’s reasonable not to have children over climate change.”

There is zero evidence that Harris said that. Instead, Vance appears to be channeling a misleading Facebook post by Donald Trump Jr.

“WATCH: Resurfaced video shows Kamala Harris suggesting that young people should not have children due to climate change,” Trump Jr. wrote on July 27. “She calls climate anxiety ‘the fear of the future and the unknown of whether it makes sense for you to even think about having children.’”

Trump Jr. clipped a small section and then mischaracterized it. Here’s the full statement, made at an event at a community college in Reading, Pa., on Sept. 19.

“Because young people – and, in particular, young voters – said, “We are going to direct and decide what is the direction of our country.” … Because young people said, “We’re not leaving it to other people to decide how we’re dealing with the climate crisis” –

“You know, I’ve heard young leaders talk with me about a term they’ve coined called “climate anxiety.” Right? Which is fear of – of the future and the unknown of whether it makes sense for you to even think about having children, whether it makes sense for you to think about aspiring to buy a home because what will this climate be?

“But because people voted, we have been able to put in place over a trillion dollars in investment in our country around things like climate resilience and adaptation, around focusing on issues like environmental justice.”

In sum, she was characterizing “climate anxiety” and noted the Biden administration was taking steps to mitigate it.

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Gas stoves

“She wants to take away your gas stoves.”

– Vance, remarks in Atlanta, Aug. 3

This is false. Harris has never advocated taking away gas stoves and in fact has tweeted photos of herself cooking with a gas stove.

This line appears based on a manufactured controversy involving a member of the Consumer Product Safety Commission who said that gas stoves were a “hidden hazard” because of their pollutants. “Any option is on the table,” the member, Richard Trumka Jr., said in an interview with Bloomberg News that was published on Jan. 9, 2023. “Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”

The CPSC is an independent agency with five commissioners, usually with three representing the party of the sitting president. Trumka has a Democratic seat and was appointed by President Joe Biden.

When a firestorm erupted, Trumka tweeted the same day: “To be clear, CPSC isn’t coming for anyone’s gas stoves. Regulations apply to new products.”

On Jan. 11, 2023, CPSC chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric issued a statement: “To be clear, I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so. CPSC is researching gas emissions in stoves and exploring new ways to address health risks. CPSC also is actively engaged in strengthening voluntary safety standards for gas stoves.”

In other words, the issue was quickly settled. The Biden administration never had a policy on gas stoves. And Harris never said a word about it. In fact, as we noted, she uses a gas stove – presumably with proper ventilation.

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Red meat

“She even wants to take away your ability to eat red meat. That’s how out there she is. That’s real. The fake news will fact-check it. They will fact-check it true. She actually said that.”

– Vance, remarks in Atlanta, Aug. 3

Sorry, we fact-check this as false. (We should note that Donald Trump also makes this claim, often adding that she wants “to get rid of cows.”) Harris has never said anything like this.

So where does this come from? During a 2019 climate-change forum on CNN, one participant noted that climate change had been linked to consumption of red meat and overproduction of crops. She asked Harris whether she supported changing dietary guidelines as a way to encourage people to reduce their consumption of meat.

Harris gave a long answer but, in essence, she said she would support a change in the guidelines, as there had to be incentives to encourage less consumption of meat – even though she loved a cheeseburger from time to time.

“As a nation we actually have to have a real priority at the highest level of government around what we eat and in terms of health eating because we have a problem in America. … The balance that we have to strike here, frankly, is about what government can and should do around creating incentives and then banning certain behaviors,” Harris said. “I mean just to be very honest with you; I love cheeseburgers from time to time. I just do. … But there has to be also what we do in terms of creating incentives that we will eat in a healthy way, that we will encourage moderation, and that we will be educated about the effects of our eating habits on our environment, and we have to do a much better job of that. And the government has to do a much better job of that.”

Erin Burnett, the moderator, followed up to see if Harris would support updating the “food pyramid.” (This was a bit out of date. In 2011 the Agriculture Department replaced the food pyramid with an image called “MyPlate,” which on the USDA website can be customized to dietary needs, preferences, cultural traditions and other factors.)

Harris said “yes” and added: “It is about consumer awareness, also. And again, maybe this comes from my years of being – doing the work I did as attorney general, which is, I strongly believe that the American consumer is still left without the information that you need and deserve to have about what it is that you are putting in your body or surrounding yourself with. And the health implications of those things.”

In sum, Harris never said she would ban red meat or hinder the ability of people to eat meat. She even said she loved cheeseburgers. When she mentions “banning certain behaviors,” that is in the context of the government finding the right balance to motivate people to eat properly. For that reason, she supported a change in dietary guidelines.

But there is no requirement for Americans to follow dietary guidelines – so people can eat as much red meat as they want.