DNC Director of Outreach Communications Tracy King released the following statement: 

“Vice President Harris’ economic policy platform will be a boost to building Black generational wealth and closing the racial wealth gap. A Harris-Walz administration will continue to fight for working- and middle-class Black families by lowering the cost of groceries, rent and home ownership while capping the cost of insulin at $35 and lowering prescription drugs for everyone. Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s economic agenda has failed us at every turn. Under Trump, Black unemployment skyrocketed, Black small businesses were left to suffer during the pandemic, and his signature tax scam lined the pockets of his Wall Street allies at the expense of the middle class. This November, the choice is clear: Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are the only candidates in the race who will fight for Black families and our ability to build Black generational wealth.” 

Yesterday, Vice President Harris further laid out her economic philosophy and pragmatic vision to help the middle class that will directly benefit Black families. 

BET: “Harris, who has consistently promoted an “opportunity economy” focused on uplifting the middle class, is expected to further detail her economic policy platform. Her speech is anticipated to address several key issues, including the rising costs of food and groceries—a particularly significant concern for Black families and other marginalized communities.” 

Black Enterprise: “Vice President Kamala Harris has announced her economic plans if she’s elected. In her detailed proposal, it is clear that Harris’ priorities aim to lower the living costs for middle- and lower-class Americans, make housing affordable, and give Americans relief from rising costs that impact their day-to-day lives, such as groceries and healthcare.”

Earlier this month, Vice President Harris announced a plan to help small businesses start, grow, and create jobs that will directly benefit Black-owned small businesses. 

The Grio: “The Harris campaign announced that the vice president would also unveil new policies on Wednesday as part of her economic agenda. These include $5,000 to $50,000 in tax deductions for startup expenses for small businesses. Harris will also announce a goal of securing 25 million new small business applications in her first term if elected.

“Many of Harris’ economic policies announced so far directly align with the top concerns of Black voters, according to the Black Census, a 2023 survey of more than 200,000 Black voters conducted by Black Futures Lab”

Politico: “Kamala Harris rolled out a new plan for small business tax breaks, as the vice president looks to contrast her economic agenda with former President Donald Trump ahead of next week’s debate.

Harris’ proposal, released on Tuesday, calls for significantly expanding the tax deduction for start-up expenses from $5,000 to $50,000, while also setting the goal of 25 million new small-business applications during her first term, according to a Harris campaign official granted anonymity to describe details of the plan. The plan also proposes reducing barriers to getting occupational licenses and developing a standard tax deduction for small businesses. […]

The proposal’s focus on tax breaks for small businesses attempts to craft a contrast with Trump, who has called for lowering the corporate tax rate, as well as extending and expanding his 2017 tax law.”

In June, the Biden-Harris administration announced over 18 million new business applications had been submitted since they took office, and Black-owned small business creation is at its highest level in 25 years.  

Statement from President Biden: “Today, my Administration announced over 18 million new business applications since I took office, each one an act of hope and confidence. We’ve had the three strongest years for new businesses on record and the small business boom that has powered our economic comeback continues. Since the pandemic, Black business ownership has more than doubled, Hispanic business ownership is up 40 percent, and women own a record share of businesses.

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.” 

White House Fact Sheet: “The American Rescue Plan also includes a Small Business Opportunity Fund to provide growth capital to main street small businesses in economically disadvantaged areas, including minority-owned businesses”

Vice President Harris has helped to deliver more than $167 billion in student loan debt relief, which disproportionately affects Black Americans, helping to close the racial wealth gap. 

CBS News: “The White House on Wednesday said it has approved $7.7 billion of student debt cancellation for 160,500 borrowers, part of its ongoing effort to provide relief after the Supreme Court last year blocked President Joe Biden’s plan for broad-based college loan forgiveness. 

“With the latest round of forgiveness, the administration has erased a total of $167 billion in student loans for 4.75 million people, or about 1 in 10 student loan borrowers, the Department of Education said.”

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.”

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.”

The child tax credit expansion in the Biden-Harris administration’s historic American Rescue Plan cut poverty rates for Black children in half in 2021.

PolitiFact: “Biden says expanded child tax credit sharply cut poverty for Black children; data shows he’s right

“Poverty among Black children in the United States dropped nearly half from 2020 to 2021, following the expansion of the child tax credit, according to U.S. Census Bureau supplemental poverty measure data.”

The Biden-Harris administration provided relief and support to help families stay in their homes during the pandemic and has worked to help make homeownership a reality for more Americans. 

White House Fact Sheet: “President Biden’s American Rescue Plan has helped Americans, including Black Americans, stay in their homes by providing emergency rental assistance. Over 8 million households were served by Emergency Rental Assistance. As of June 2022, Black Americans were the largest group that received this help, representing more than 41% of aid recipients.  The Administration implemented a series of measures that protected homeowners from foreclosure, including a foreclosure moratorium, increased options for mortgage payment forbearance, enhanced loan modifications to resolve delinquencies. In addition, the ARP is helping struggling homeowners catch up with their mortgage payments and utility costs through the Homeowner Assistance Fund.”

Federal Housing Administration: “From Day One, the Biden-Harris administration has sought to make homeownership a reality for more Americans, especially those who have historically been shut out of such opportunities. While the market challenges we faced in fiscal year 2023 made our work more difficult, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) successfully expanded its role in making homeownership more affordable, more accessible, and fairer for all.”

Federal Housing Administration: “Similarly, FHA remained the

leader by share for mortgages supporting wealth-building for Black and Hispanic borrowers.”

New York Times: “The pilot program, part of the $6 trillion budget request planned to be released by President Biden on Friday, would pay for increased down payments from recipients of Federal Housing Administration loans, giving borrowers instant ownership equity comparable to that of their more affluent neighbors and white homeowners.”

Washington Informer: “The administration has budgeted $10 billion for the 2025 budget to help first generation homeowners to help nearly a half million families purchase a home.”

Let’s not forget that Trump’s MAGAnomics agenda left behind and failed Black business owners, students, and others.

New York Times op-ed: “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.”

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

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.’”

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.”

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”

NPR: “But a new report from the Small Business Administration’s inspector general found that businesses owned by people of color may not have received loans as intended under the Paycheck Protection Program. There was no evidence, the report said, that the SBA told lenders to prioritize business owners in ‘underserved’ markets, including business owners of color — something the CARES Act had specifically instructed the SBA to do.”