Joe Biden unveiled the fourth plank of his Build Back Better Agenda on Tuesday afternoon, this one focused on advancing racial equity through economic investment. Biden opened by calling on the Senate and Donald Trump to pass the restored Voting Rights Act, now renamed after the late Rep. John Lewis. “If they don’t,” he said, “I’ve been saying all along it’s one of the first things I’ll do as president if elected. We can’t let the fundamental right to vote be denied,” especially against the backdrop of the racial disparities of the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden cited the 40% of Black-owned businesses that have been forced to close during the pandemic. “Everything is worsened by this crisis of presidential leadership,” he said, citing the “duty to care for the entire country” that Trump has failed so terribly. All of this—in addition to the hundreds of years of systemic racism in the United States—is the backdrop for Biden’s plan to help people of color advance in the nation’s economy.
Among many other things, Biden’s plan would put $30 billion into a small business opportunity fund for Black, brown, and Native entrepreneurs; “triple the federal goal for contracting with all small disadvantaged businesses from 5 percent to a minimum of 15 percent of all federal procurement dollars by 2025”; invest $50 billion in workforce training; and “Require publicly traded companies to disclose data on the racial and gender composition of their corporate boards.”
The Biden plan also addresses housing, long a source of not just segregation but of unequal access to wealth, with white families building wealth over generations through homeownership opportunities denied to Black and brown families. To that end, he would create a tax credit of up to $15,000 to help families buy their first home and work to reduce racial disparities in credit reporting, which can be a barrier for many would-be lenders. Additionally, Biden would “make a bold federal investment in new affordable, accessible housing construction. He will ensure these homes are energy efficient from the start—saving the families who live there up to $500 per year.
Biden will also drive additional capital into low-income communities and on tribal lands to spur the development of affordable housing and small business creation. He’ll incentivize smart regional planning that connects housing, transit, and jobs, improving quality of life by cutting commute times, reducing the distance between living and leisure areas, and mitigating climate change.”
Of course, not everyone is going to buy a home even so, and Biden pledges to increase Section 8 housing vouchers, protect tenants from eviction, and tackle exclusionary zoning.
But there’s more! (This almost feels like an Elizabeth Warren plan in length, detail, and scope.) “Student debt burdens are unequal across races, disproportionately depriving young Black and Latino graduates from beginning their working lives free of crushing student loan debt,” and Biden wants to change that, starting with $10,000 in COVID-19 student loan forgiveness and moving on to doubling Pell Grants, fixing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, forgiving federal student debt not just for public colleges and universities but for private Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions for debt-holders earning up to $125,000. Biden would also invest expansively in HBCUs and other MSIs.
This is all in addition to plans like a $15 minimum wage, expanding overtime pay, paid family and medical leave, and more foundations of an economy that’s fair and just at the most basic levels.
On one side, this presidential race is policy-free beyond brutality and racism. Joe Biden is doing his best to make it substantive and motivating on the other side.
