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Democrat Biden promises economic policies to fight racial inequity

Published 07/28/2020, 06:11 AM
Updated 07/28/2020, 08:00 PM
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Biden speaks at campaign event in Wilmington, Delaware

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Biden speaks at campaign event in Wilmington, Delaware

By Trevor Hunnicutt

WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden promised on Tuesday to fight the outsized economic burdens of nonwhite families with billions of dollars in federal spending for minority-owned businesses and provisions for more affordable housing.

The Democrat, who faces Republican President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 presidential election, announced the proposal as the fourth and final plank of a plan to revitalize the coronavirus-hit U.S. economy.

Speaking in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, Biden, who leads Trump in national polls, invoked the name of U.S. Representative John Lewis, the Black civil rights hero who died of cancer 10 days ago.

When the two men spoke recently, the dying Lewis waved off concerns about his own health, Biden said. "He asked that we stay focused on the work left undone to heal this nation."

The former vice president assailed Trump for his responses to the pandemic and U.S. protests over racial inequity. He accused Trump of deploying federal agents to quell unrest in Portland, Oregon, as a political tactic to stoke division and rescue what he called a failing campaign.

"Donald Trump fails the basic threshold test of being president - the duty to care about the entire country, not just his re-election prospects," Biden, 77, said.

Trump, 74, has defended his actions against protesters as necessary to stop criminals intent on violence.

In a statement responding to Biden's plan, Trump campaign senior adviser Katrina Pierson cited as achievements for Black Americans both criminal justice reform and record low unemployment before the pandemic under Trump.

$150 BILLION

Biden's overarching economic plan includes investing trillions of dollars in manufacturing and innovation, clean energy and childcare. Republican critics have said the plans will lead to higher taxes.

The campaign has not detailed how it would pay for every proposal, though it has said raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy would cover much of the cost.

Tuesday's speech sought to outline how Biden would place racial justice at the center of his economic politics.

Biden has resisted calls from some in his own party for more aggressive measures to erase the sizable racial wealth gap, such as reparations for descendants of Black slaves and "baby bonds" providing every child a government-sponsored investment account. He has said he supports studying such initiatives further.

His plan would put $30 billion into a new small business opportunity fund. The investment would leverage $5 in private investment for every $1 of public money, the campaign estimated.

In total, the campaign said, the plan would provide $50 billion in public-private venture capital and another $100 billion in low-interest business loans for mostly minority-owned businesses that historically have struggled.

Biden proposed requiring the Federal Reserve to report regularly on what it is doing to address racial economic inequality.

The proposal includes a housing tax credit of up to $15,000 for low- and middle-class families.

Biden spoke at a community center for children in majority-Black central Wilmington, where the unemployment rate has more than trebled this year.

© Reuters. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden holds campaign event in Wilmington, Delaware

Biden, who said on Tuesday he plans to name a running mate in the first week of August, has been under increasing pressure to pick a Black woman in the face of months of protest following the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man in Minnesota.

Latest comments

Sure! just give money to the poor n all problems go away.
creepy joe is at it again, promising the left all sorts of goodies he has no intention of keeping once elected ;just like his mentor shovel ready obama who cared less about inequality amongst races but more about his pocket book. that's joe for you!!! keepem guessing; feed them peloses' crumbs in the meantime. Right joe ,follow your daddys' playbook
Nice addressing of the mass ***in.g of children and other people happening in democrat run states. Racial inequality? I'd love to see this issue under the Obama presidency. BLM? People forgot there was a black president just a while ago. You can be president of the US if you are white or black, seems very equal to me, except for a few psychotic individuals that disagree, but there will always be mental illness. For every plan this guy has, Trumps actually is making about 5 other things happen at the same time, usually 1 or 2 of them are without precedent and account for tremendous benefits for people. One makes promises, the other makes things happen in record ways.
Wow, another Joe's "plan". Brought to you by Joe Biden, made by Bernie Sanders and AOC, The plan is to DIVIDE, and CONQUER. Brilliant. Marks and Engels would be proud of you Joe. United States of America 2020, land of the free and the home of the brave is becoming the communist state. We are all equal, but some are more equal than others. Joe is playing the role of Napoleon from the Orwell's novel "Animal Farm". "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."  Ya, Joe forgot even his wife's name, never mind some old history. But what about American people? Nobody cares about that? Heart-wrenching.
Can't spell? Racial inequality
yeah by stating if you don't vote for me (Biden) you ain't black. sure racist Joe, we believe you...
They've already invested trillions in child care for minorities, it's called public school.
So there are no white students attending public schools? Better yet you are saying that there is enough room in private schools to for every white student in the U.S
it's called welfare!!!
Ole gaffer Biden at it again. I bet he envisioned his final years quite differently, by now he should just be fighting off other senior citizens for a parking space at IHOP whilst getting a refill for his dementia pills.
BLM is a racist movement that Biden supports. Still the same old hypocrite.
How about weighing on the violent “protests” ? Guess he will stop them after he’s elected (otherwise we will keep them going)
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