Democrat President-elect Joe Biden announced on Sunday that his administration will prioritize economic aid for businesses based in part on race and gender, an announcement that sparked strong criticism.
“Our focus will be on small businesses on Main Street that aren’t wealthy and well-connected, that are facing real economic hardships through not fault of their own,” Biden said in a video that was posted to his administration’s official transition Twitter account. “Our priority will be Black, Latino, Asian, and Native American owned small businesses, women-owned businesses, and finally having equal access to resources needed to reopen and rebuild.”
“But we’re going to make a concerted effort to help small businesses in low-income communities in big cities, small towns, rural communities that have faced systemic barriers to relief,” he continued. “Think of the mom and pop owner with a couple of employees who can’t pick up the phone and call a banker, who doesn’t have a lawyer, an accountant, to help them through this complicated process to know if they’re even qualified or who simply didn’t know where this relief is available in the first place.”
Saying we went through this “when we brought Detroit back off its knees,” Biden concluded: “And as we saw in this morning’s jobs report, restaurants, bars, and hospitality industry have been slammed by this virus. We’re going to direct to those businesses and others that have been so badly hit—hit the hardest. We owe them that support to help them get through the other side of this crisis.”