Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has acknowledged the challenges that lie ahead for Joe Biden when he will be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on Wednesday, saying “it is not going to be easy.”
Mr Biden enters the White House on January 20 with the top challenge to lift the country from the devastation of a raging pandemic that has killed more than 398,000 Americans and thrown millions into economic distress.
“We’re going into Wednesday knowing that we’re ready to do the work, and we’ve got a lot of work to do. It’s not going to be easy,” Ms Harris told reporters at Martha’s Table in Anacostia here on Monday, observing the National Day of Service.
Every year on the third Monday in January, Americans honour the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., who in the 1950s and 1960s organised non-violent protests for Black equality and voting rights.
The holiday traditionally features people commemorating Mr King’s work by participating in community service projects. However, both the pandemic and warnings of violence in cities across the country following the January 6 insurrection by pro-Trump supporters in the US Capitol affected the events this year.
“As we have discussed, Joe has outlined our plan for vaccinations, our plan for recovery, and in particular relief for working people, for families. And there is a lot to do,” Ms Harris said.
“Some of them say that ours are ambitious goals, but we do believe with hard work and with the cooperation and collaboration of the members of the United States Congress that we can get it done,” Ms Harris said in response to a question.
Asked if she felt safe going to the inauguration, amidst intelligence reports of more violent protests by supporters of the outgoing President Donald Trump, she said, “I am very much looking forward to be sworn in as the next vice president of the United States and I will walk there to that moment proudly with my head up and my shoulders back,” she said.
Ms Harris, 56, will make history on Wednesday as the first female, first Black and first South Asian American vice president.
Ms Harris and the future Second Gentleman of the US Doug Emhoff participated in a service event on Monday, packing food into plastic bags which will be distributed.
