Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is a time to celebrate and honor the AANHPI community’s accomplishments throughout history. President Biden and Vice President Harris have tirelessly worked to ensure that AANHPI communities have access to educational and economic opportunity, from delivering $5 billion in American Rescue Plan funds to support AANHPI-serving institutions to investing in AANHPI entrepreneurs. Under President Biden and Vice President Harris’s leadership, the Small Business Administration provided over $22 billion in loans to AANHPI entrepreneurs, contributing to the highest Asian American employment and entrepreneurship rates in over a decade. 

DNC Deputy National Press Secretary Nina Raneses released the following statement: 

“President Biden and Vice President Harris are breaking systemic barriers and expanding economic and educational opportunities for AANHPI communities. The Biden-Harris administration has distributed nearly $22 billion in Small Business Administration loans to AANHPI entrepreneurs and given $121 million in Department of Labor grants, all of which helped lead to the highest Asian American employment and entrepreneurship rates in over a decade. President Biden and Vice President Harris believe in building the economy from the bottom up and middle out, which is why their administration continues to support AANHPI small businesses and help students afford higher education. Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s failed MAGAnomics agenda created incentives to ship jobs overseas, implemented tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy, and left middle class families behind. This November, we have a clear choice: President Biden’s plan to uplift all Americans, including our AANHPI communities, or Donald Trump’s plan to leave working families behind while the ultra-rich line their pockets with tax breaks.”

AANHPI small businesses are thriving thanks to President Biden’s economic agenda.

Forbes: “Three-Year Small Business Boom Is Unprecedented”

“AAPI businesses have benefited from a stronger economy, with over 2.91 million AAPI owned businesses and counting, fueling job creation and economic growth in their communities.”

White House Fact Sheet: “Promoting Economic Opportunity for AA and NHPI Communities. By signing into law the historic American Rescue Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act, and CHIPS and Science Act implementing robust regulatory reform, the Biden-Harris Administration has led the most equitable economic recovery on record, creating more than 12 million jobs since coming to office and helping create new economic opportunities for all Americans, including AA and NHPI workers, small business owners, and entrepreneurs.”

Meanwhile, Trump prioritized big corporations over small businesses during his presidency — and he’s promised to do it again if reelected. 

New York Times: “Republicans argue that this will benefit small businesses. In fact, a large majority of small-business owners already have personal tax rates below 25 percent. This provision would aid a small group of developers, investors and other tycoons who work in professions or industries where it is relatively easy to set up pass-through businesses. Like, yes, Mr. Trump and his family, who make their money from one such industry: real estate.”

Economic Policy Institute: “The TCJA overwhelmingly benefited the rich and corporations while overlooking working families”

Vox: “Trump said this tax break was for small businesses. It’s giving $17 billion to millionaires this year”

“If many average Americans aren’t noticing or loving the tax cut bill yet, it might be understandable — it benefits the wealthy by design. And a congressional report released this week shows that one specific new deduction for so-called ‘pass-through’ companies is heavily benefiting the rich. … The Republican tax bill cut the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent and disproportionately benefits corporations and the wealthy.”

President Biden has made higher education more accessible to AANHPI communities by providing millions in debt relief and creating initiatives to directly support historically underserved communities.

White House Fact Sheet: “In March 2023, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) awarded approximately $54 million in funding for the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) to address violations of the Fair Housing Act and end housing discrimination. Included within these awards were seven FHIP grants that serve the AA and NHPI community. The grantees will provide education and outreach, translate materials into Asian and Pacific Islander languages and conduct enforcement related activities to address discriminatory acts against the AA and NHPI community.”

The Nation: “How Student Loan Cancellation Helps Asian Americans”

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.”

Meanwhile, Trump is hellbent on ABOLISHING the Department of Education and tried to slash billions in funding during his time in office. 

CNN: “Trump wants to close the Department of Education, joining calls by GOP rivals”

Associated Press: “Trump has pledged to terminate the Department of Education, but he also wants to exert enormous influence over local school districts and colleges.”

Inside Higher Education: “President Trump called for a $7.1 billion cut to funding at the Education Department with a proposed budget that retreads familiar higher education ideas for this White House. … The proposal marks the third straight year that President Trump has asked Congress for major cuts to education spending — the proposal would mean a 12 percent cut for the Education Department from fiscal year 2019 — and to overall discretionary expenditures.”

Instead of pushing an economic agenda that would help AANHPI families, Trump would double down on his extreme MAGA tax scam that would help his ultra-rich friends and hurt the middle class. 

Trump: “I will never let the Trump tax cuts … I will never let them be taken away.”

Trump: “You’re all people that have a lot of money … You’re rich as hell …We’re gonna give you tax cuts.”

Trump: “We will replace Biden’s tax hikes with the beautiful Trump tax cuts. You know, we have to extend the tax cuts.”

Trump on whether his second term tax policies would echo those of his first term: “Yes, and I’d do even more taxes.”

Washington Post: “The former president’s closest economic advisers are plotting an aggressive new set of tax cuts to push on the campaign trail and from the Oval Office if he wins a second term. Trump and his advisers have discussed deeper cuts to both individual and corporate tax rates that would build on his controversial 2017 tax law. … Trump’s advisers, though, have discussed proposals to make deeper cuts to the overall corporate tax rate, potentially to as low as 15 percent, or to use the revenue from the proposed tariffs to pay a dividend to U.S. households. Further cutting corporate taxes … would primarily benefit large firms.”

Bloomberg: “[Trump] intends to center his economic plans on extending and deepening the Republican tax cuts from 2017.”

Vanity Fair: “Donald Trump Wants to Give His Favorite Corporations Another Giant Tax Cut in a Second Term: Report”