By DNC National Press Secretary Sarafina Chitika
In celebration of Black History Month, we’re highlighting the ways that President Biden and Vice President Harris have kept their promise to Black communities by continuing to deliver for them — growing the economy, creating jobs, investing in communities, and fighting for working families.
DNC National Press Secretary Sarafina Chitika released the following statement:
“President Biden and Vice President Harris are keeping their promise to uplift Black communities across America — taking action from day one of their administration to increase Black wealth, spur record growth for Black-owned businesses, cut Black child poverty in half, forgive over $136 billion in student debt to ease a burden that especially affects Black borrowers, and deliver the lowest Black unemployment rate in history. The Biden-Harris administration’s record for Black families is in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s string of broken promises under his failed administration, from skyrocketing unemployment and rising uninsured rates for Black families to a historic number of Black-owned small businesses shuttering under his watch, to a widening of the racial wealth gap as a result of his signature tax scam that lined the pockets of his wealthy donors. Voters know there’s only one candidate on the ballot this November who has a proven record of expanding economic opportunity for Black Americans, and that’s President Biden.”
President Biden promised to invest in Black entrepreneurship and build wealth — and under his leadership, Black small businesses are experiencing record growth.
White House Fact Sheet: “Under President Biden, a record 16 million new business applications have been filed, while the share of Black households owning a business has more than doubled, and the share of Latino households owning a business has increased by 40%.”
Small Business Administration: “Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the United States has experienced a historic small business boom being led by women and people of color, and FY23 furthered that trend with 11 percent more loans delivered to small businesses than in FY22. Black-owned small businesses are crucial to this monumental growth, with the rate of Black-owned small business creation at its highest level in 25 years.”
Donald Trump’s MAGAnomics agenda was filled with empty promises to Black-owned businesses.
Brookings Institute: “Under the Trump administration, the Treasury Department oversaw and led the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was slow to reach most Black-owned businesses. In 2021, Treasury Secretary Yellen announced that the department would invest $9 billion into the Emergency Capital Investment Program, a new initiative designed to provide capital to community development financial institutions and minority depository institutions—entities that have a better track record of working with the conditions surrounding Black borrowers.”
CNBC: “Paycheck Protection Program may have left minority business owners behind due to an implementation failure”
President Biden promised to create jobs and opportunity for Black Americans — and under his leadership, Black unemployment reached historic lows.
Axios: “The unemployment rate for Black Americans fell below 5% for the first time ever in April. By the numbers: The rate peaked at 16.8% in May 2020, and since then has fallen by an astonishing 12.1 percentage points to 4.7% now.”
Not only did the Black unemployment rate reach a record low under President Biden — lower than it ever was under the Trump administration — but Trump also tried to take credit for Black job growth that he didn’t deserve.
Associated Press: “THE FACTS: Trump is seeking credit he doesn’t deserve for black job growth. He’s also wrong to assert that Democrats haven’t done anything to improve the economic situation for African Americans.”
President Biden promised to increase access to high-quality education for Black students — and he fought for 0ver $136 billion in student loan debt relief with more in the works.
ABC News: “About 12% of youth put student loan debt into their top three issues, while Black voters are twice as likely to list it in their top three, Kiesa said, citing a recent CIRCLE survey from November.”
HIT Strategies: “The September survey revealed that 86% of Black voters supported President Biden’s loan forgiveness plan, including 60% who ‘strongly supported’ the policy. These figures are considerably higher than those in the general population, where just 51% of all voters support Biden’s loan forgiveness plan, according to an Economist/YouGov survey released in September.”
Forbes: “How Biden Forgiving Another $9 Billion In Student Loan Debt Helps Close The Racial Wealth Gap”
“The burden of student loan debt has reached crisis levels, disproportionately affecting students of color and amplifying the racial wealth gap. Now, President Biden’s latest step will help 125,000 borrowers by erasing $9 billion in debt through existing programs. This debt load is not distributed evenly across populations, it falls disproportionately on students of color and their families who are actively trying to close the racial wealth gap.”
Trump failed to deliver on student loan debt forgiveness, and on the campaign trail he’s continued to take credit for his hand-picked Supreme Court justices who struck down President Biden’s student loan debt forgiveness plan.
Daily Mail: “Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – leading the 2024 Republican field – both went after President Joe Biden for his student loan forgiveness plan. ‘Joe Biden and the Radical Left Democrats have just orchestrated another election enhancing money grab, this time to the tune of $300,000,000,000 – and just like I predicted, it’s coming right out of the pocket of the working-class Americans who are struggling the most!’ Trump said in a statement released Thursday morning.”
Press Release, Donald J. Trump for President: “Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down massive wins for the American people— halting Joe Biden’s unconstitutional student loan gimmick, restoring fairness to the college admissions process, and applying the strongest safeguards to First Amendment rights in a generation. One thing is clear: these wins were only made possible through President Trump’s strong nomination of three distinguished and courageous jurists to the Supreme Court.”
Associated Press: “Education advocates say President Donald Trump’s budget contradicts his campaign pledge to make college more affordable with its proposed elimination of subsidized student loans and cuts in other programs that help students pay tuition. … When he accepted the Republican presidential nomination last year, Trump had said, ‘We’re going to work with all of our students who are drowning in debt to take the pressure off these people just starting out in their adult lives. Tremendous problem.’”
