在接受《早安美国》联合主播乔治·斯特凡诺普洛斯的独家采访时，副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯为自己的工作表现进行了辩护，坚称她和总统乔·拜登能够为美国人民做出贡献。

“副总裁总是面对关于他们的角色和相关性的喋喋不休。你也不例外。甚至你的亲密朋友和盟友，比如加州副州长埃莱尼·库纳拉基斯，也表达了一些沮丧，因为他们认为你可以比别人要求的更有帮助。你也有这种挫败感吗?你会对那些沮丧的朋友说什么?”斯特凡诺普洛斯问道。

“这是美好的一周，本周，当我们让这项两党基础设施法案获得通过并由总统签署时，发表了一份声明，讲述了一个月又一个月以来为之付出的所有辛勤努力。我走遍了全国，总统也去过，”哈里斯回答。“我们召集了国会议员，召集了全国人民，问‘你想要什么?’这是对他们想要的东西的回应。它实际上会以一种直接影响美国人民的方式落地。我们一起把事情做好，一起做。"

“那么，你不觉得自己被滥用或利用不足了吗?”斯特凡诺普洛斯跟进了。

“不，”哈里斯说。“我不要。我对我们已经完成的工作感到非常非常兴奋。但我也绝对、绝对清醒地认识到，还有很多事情要做，我们会完成的。”

哈里斯的防守来自于CNN报道这声称白宫西翼对哈里斯和她的工作人员越来越失望，描述了她办公室内的功能障碍和她在美国人民中缺乏能见度的沮丧。

她的首席发言人西蒙·桑德斯反驳了报道中对哈里斯的描述，在一份声明中说，“不幸的是...媒体上的一些人关注的是流言蜚语——而不是总统和副总统已经公布的结果。”哈里斯的团队成员对他们的老板表示声援，称他们为能为她工作感到“荣幸”和“自豪”。

利亚·米利斯/路透社

乔·拜登总统在签字仪式上与副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯握手...

负面报告出炉之际，白宫正急于兜售1.2万亿美元基础设施支出计划的通过。哈里斯在拜登周一的法案签署仪式上是焦点人物，他介绍了总统，并站在他的肩膀上签署法案使其成为法律。

但是，即使白宫庆祝胜利，美国人仍然感受到了30年来最严重的通货膨胀带来的影响。

“这是真的。这很艰难。食品杂货的价格上涨了，汽油价格也上涨了。当这一切发生的时候，在两年疫情的背景下。超过700，000人丧生，更少的是失去生计和正常感。所以，很多。这实际上是总统和我的最高优先事项之一，”哈里斯在谈到通胀带来的挑战时说。

“本质上，我们需要做的是，我们需要降低生活成本，因此我们正在以多种方式处理这个问题，”她说。“短期问题和长期问题。”

“我们本周通过了基础设施法案，两党基础设施法案，这将是关于修复道路和桥梁，并为所有家庭带来互联网和高速互联网。但我们也需要解决儿童保育的成本、处方药的成本、住房的成本，这也是我们在“重建得更好”议程获得通过后打算做的事情，”哈里斯说，他指的是拜登的下一个主要优先事项——1.75万亿美元的社会支出计划。

斯特凡诺普洛斯说:“我知道你希望获得通过，但正如你所知，包括参议员曼钦在内的几个人认为，该法案实际上会让通胀恶化，他可能是‘重建得更好’的关键投票人。“这就是他们退缩的原因。”

哈里斯回答说:“那么，事情是这样的，和17位诺贝尔奖获得者交谈，他们是经济学家，他们实际上已经研究了这个问题，并表示我们不会考虑对通货膨胀的贡献，但实际上我们会降低价格。事实上，今天穆迪和许多其他人说，听着，当你看数字时，关于通货膨胀和它为什么伤害我们的全部观点是因为价格上涨。随着重建更美好的议程，它将再次降低成本，儿童保育，老人护理，住房的成本。对于美国家庭来说，这些都是非常关键的问题，他们必须做出非常艰难的选择，是支付儿童护理费用，还是处方药费用，或者是支付房租。所以，这就是我们要实际完成的，用这个完成的，就是降低价格。”

尽管哈里斯参与了支出方案的谈判，给立法者打电话，主持国会黑人核心小组等团体，但她最近也在世界舞台上提升自己的资历，上周前往法国会见埃马纽埃尔·马克龙总统，并参加了多个国际会议。这是她作为副总统的第三次海外之行，此前，美国从阿富汗撤军给她的亚洲之行蒙上了阴影，她还前往危地马拉和墨西哥，讨论移民的根本原因。

哈里斯告诉斯特凡诺普洛斯，解决非法越境的历史水平不是一个快速的解决办法。

“这不会是一夜之间的事。我们不能只是扳动开关，让它变得更好，”她说。“现实是，我们继承了一个系统，一个被深深打破的移民系统，这要求我们实际上把它重新整合在一起，创造一个公平、嗯、有效和高效的过程。”

斯特凡诺普洛斯向哈里斯询问了司法部正在考虑向根据特朗普政府政策在南部边境被迫分居的移民家庭支付高达45万美元的报道。拜登表示，这笔款项不会那么多，但他确实支持向这些家庭支付款项。

“会有赔偿吗?要多少钱?”斯特凡诺普洛斯问道。

“嗯，如你所知，显然有一些诉讼围绕着这一点，这将在法庭上解决，”哈里斯说。

“那么，但是，但是白宫对此持开放态度吗?”斯特凡诺普洛斯按下。

“嗯，法院通常会对这种事情做出裁决，”哈里斯反对道。

斯特凡诺普洛斯问哈里斯，拜登是否告诉她他是否会在2024年寻求连任。哈里斯坚称，她和拜登都专注于基础设施、国家安全和其他优先事项。

“那么，你还没有讨论2024年?”斯特凡诺普洛斯问道。

“绝对不会，”哈里斯坚持说。

Harris says she's not being 'underused,' insists 'we're getting things done'

In an exclusive interview with "Good Morning America" Co-Anchor George Stephanopoulos, Vice President Kamala Harris defended her job performance, insisting she and President Joe Biden have been able to deliver for the American people.

"Vice presidents always face chatter about their role and their relevance. You're no exception to that. Even your close friends and allies like the lieutenant governor of California, Eleni Kounalakis, have expressed some frustration because they think you can be more helpful than you've been asked to be. Do you share that frustration? What do you say to your friends who are frustrated?" Stephanopoulos asked.

"This was a good week, and this week, when we got this Bipartisan Infrastructure Act passed and signed by the president, makes a statement about all of the hard work that has gone into it, month after month after month. I've traveled around the country, as has the president," Harris answered. "We have convened members of Congress, we have convened people around our nation, asking, 'what do you want?' And this is a response to what they want. And it's actually going to hit the ground in a way that is going to have direct impact on the American people. We're getting things done, and we're doing it together."

"So, you don't feel misused or underused?" Stephanopoulos followed up.

"No," Harris said. "I don’t. I'm very, very excited about the work that we have accomplished. But I am also absolutely, absolutely clear-eyed that there is a lot more to do, and we're gonna get it done."

Harris' defense comes in the wake of aCNN reportthat alleges the West Wing has grown frustrated with Harris and her staff, describing dysfunction within her office and frustration with her lack of visibility with the American people.

Her chief spokesperson, Symone Sanders, pushed back on the depiction of Harris in the report, saying in a statement, "It is unfortunate that ... some in the media are focused on gossip -- not on the results that the President and the Vice President have delivered." Harris's team members echoed solidarity with their boss, saying they were "honored" and "proud" to work for her.

The negative report comes as the White House is eager to tout passage of a $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending package. Harris was front and center at Biden's signing ceremony for the bill Monday, introducing the president and standing over his shoulder as he signed the bill into law.

But even as the White House celebrates that victory, Americans continue to feel the effects of the steepest rise in inflation in 30 years.

"It's real. And it's, it's rough. Groceries -- the cost of groceries -- has gone up, the cost of gas has gone up. And, as this is all happening, in the context of two years of a pandemic. Over 700,000 lives lost much less the loss of livelihoods and, and a sense of normalcy. So, it's a lot. And it's one of the highest priorities actually, for the president and for me," Harris said of the challenge inflation poses.

"Essentially what we need to do is, we need to bring down the cost of living and so we're dealing with this issue in a number of ways," she said. "The short-term issue, and the long-term issue."

"We passed this week, the infrastructure bill, bipartisan infrastructure bill, and that's going to be about repairing roads and bridges and bringing internet and high speed internet to all families. But also we need to deal with the cost of child care, the cost of prescription drugs, the cost of housing, and that's what we intend to do when we get the Build Back Better agenda passed," Harris said, referring to Biden's next major priority -- the $1.75 trillion social spending package.

"I know you hope to get that passed, but as you know, several people including Senator Manchin, who could be the key vote on Build Back Better, believe that the bill is actually going to make inflation worse," Stephanopoulos said. "That's why they're holding back."

Harris responded, "So, here's the thing, talk tot 17 Nobel laureates who are economists, who actually have studied the issue and have indicated that we're not looking at a contribution to inflation, but actually we're going to bring prices down. In fact, today Moody's and a number of others have said, listen, when you look at the numbers, the whole point about inflation and why it hurts us is because prices go up. With the Build Back Better agenda, it's gonna bring the cost down, again, cost of child care, elder care, housing. These are very critical issues for American families, who have to make very difficult choices about whether they can afford to pay for child care, or prescription drugs, or, or pay the rent. So, that's what we're going to actually accomplish, accomplish with this, is to bring the prices down."

While Harris has been involved in negotiations on the spending packages, making phone calls to lawmakers and hosting groups like the Congressional Black Caucus, she has also lately been bolstering her credentials on the world stage, traveling last week to France to meet with President Emmanuel Macron and participate in multiple international conferences. The trip abroad was her third as vice president, after a trip to Asia overshadowed by the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan and a thorny trip to Guatemala and Mexico to discuss the root causes of migration.

Addressing historic levels of illegal border crossings, Harris told Stephanopoulos it will not be a quick fix.

"It's not going to be overnight. We can't just flip a switch and make it better," she said. "The reality is that we inherited a system, an immigration system that was deeply broken, and it's requiring us to actually put it back together in terms of creating a fair, um, process that is effective and efficient."

Stephanopoulos asked Harris about reports the Department of Justice was weighing making payments of as much as $450,000 to migrant families forcibly separated at the southern border under a Trump administration policy. Biden has indicated the payments won't be that large, but that he does support payments to the families in general.

"Is there going to be compensation? How much is it going to be?" Stephanopoulos asked.

"Well, as you know, there's, there's apparently some litigation around that, and that will be resolved in court," Harris said.

"So, but, but the White House is open to it?" Stephanopoulos pressed.

"Well, the, usually courts rule on that kind of thing," Harris demurred.

Stephanopoulos asked Harris whether Biden has told her whether he's going to seek reelection in 2024. Harris maintained that she and Biden are focused on infrastructure, national security and other priorities.

"So, you're not discussing 2024 yet?" Stephanopoulos asked.

"Absolutely not," Harris insisted.