WASHINGTON -- Vice President Kamala Harris is out with a string of new economic proposals focused on food prices, taxes, housing and medical costs that she says will empower the middle class.

These plans represent the first significant policy proposals that Harris has unveiled in the nearly four weeks since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and gave his endorsement to his vice president.

A look at what Harris is proposing:

After years of polling showing that Americans are concerned about inflation, Harris is aiming to curb prices where they have often been most noticeable — at the grocery store. She's promising to, during her first 100 days in office, send Congress proposed federal limits on price increases for food producers and grocers. Harris also is seeking new authority for the Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general in states across the country to impose stricter punishments for violators. She also wants to utilize government regulators to crack down on mergers and acquisitions among large food industry businesses that the vice president argues have contributed to higher prices.

Harris is calling for the construction of 3 million new housing units within four years, which she claims will address a “serious housing shortage in America." She also intends to support legislation establishing a new series of tax incentives for builders who construct “starter” homes sold to first-time homebuyers.

She also seeks a $40 billion innovation fund — doubling a similar amount created by the Biden administration — for businesses building affordable rental housing. Harris also aims to streamline permitting and review procedures to get housing stock on the market more rapidly.

Harris further asserts that she can decrease rental costs by limiting investors who purchase homes in large quantities, as well as curbing the use of price-setting tools that she argues encourage collusion among landlords to inflate profits. She also seeks to expand a Biden administration plan providing $25,000 in potential down payment assistance to aid certain renters in buying a home, so that it will encompass a much wider range of first-time home buyers across the nation.

The vice president has also expressed support for repurposing certain federal lands to accommodate the construction of new affordable housing, an idea that Biden endorsed while campaigning for president and that Trump has also expressed favorable views towards.

Harris intends to expedite a Biden administration initiative that has authorized Medicare and other federal programs to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to lower the cost of prescription drugs, aiming to reduce the price tags of some of the most expensive and widely used medications by roughly 40% to 80% beginning in 2026. She has also pledged to promote competition by implementing steps to enhance transparency within pharmaceutical company pricing practices.

Harris also vowed to collaborate with state entities to eliminate $7 billion of medical debt for up to 3 million eligible Americans.

The vice president also proposed making permanent a $3,600 per child tax credit approved through 2025 for qualified families, while introducing a new $6,000 tax credit for families with newborn children. She argues that a Harris administration would strive to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit to reduce taxes for certain frontline workers by as much as $1,500 and lower taxes on healthcare plans offered on the marketplace established by the Affordable Care Act .