Readout From Vice President Kamala Harris’s Convening of Faith Leaders in South Carolina

Today, in Orangeburg, South Carolina, Vice President Harris convened faith leaders and community leaders for a conversation about the Biden-Harris Administration’s historic efforts to ensure all communities, including Black communities, can live with dignity, safety, and have access to opportunity.

The Vice President and participating leaders discussed efforts to cut prescription costs, like capping insulin at $35 a month, which means Black seniors, who are 60% more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes, no longer have to choose between filling their prescriptions or refrigerators. They also discussed the Administration’s work to tackle student debt, make the criminal justice system more just, and reduce gun violence, including the President signing the Bipartisan Safter Communities Act—the first significant gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years. Additionally, they spoke about the importance of the Administration’s investments in Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs), including those in South Carolina, and the Administration’s efforts to expand access to high-speed internet.

This was the Vice President’s 9th trip to the Palmetto State since becoming Vice President. Earlier this month, she visited Columbia, South Carolina, to deliver the keynote address at the South Carolina NAACP’s annual “King Day at the Dome,” and prior to that, she visited Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on January 6th to deliver the keynote address at the 7th Episcopal District AME Church Women’s Missionary Society annual retreat.

Participants included:

• Congressman Jim Clyburn, Assistant Democratic Leader
• Reverend Desimond Antley, Pastor, St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church
• Reverend Constance Barnes-McLeod, Pastor, New Grace United Methodist Church
• Bishop Michael C. Butler, Suffragan, Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc. and Mayor of Orangeburg, SC
• Reverend Dr. Jamey O. Graham, Sr. Pastor, St. John Baptist Church
• Trudy Grant, Manager, Religious and External Relations, National Action Network
• Bishop Jonathan Holston, Presiding Bishop, South Carolina
• Reverend Gary Miller, Moderator, Orangeburg-Orthodox Baptist Association 
• Reverend Glotavia Morris, Pastor, New Hope Missionary Baptist Church
• Pastor Radhika Patel, Pastor, Embodeed Ministry
• Reverend Nelson B. Rivers, III, Vice President, Religious Affairs and External Relations, National Action Network and Pastor, Charity Missionary Baptist Church

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