In Milwaukee, Biden wants to highlight progress for Black-owned small businesses
WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden plans to use a visit to the state of Wisconsin on Wednesday to highlight the sharp increase in federal government support for Black-owned small businesses during his tenure in the White House and to to highlight his government's efforts to increase this. investments in distressed communities.
The Small Business Administration supported 4,700 loans worth $1.5 billion to Black-owned businesses last fiscal year. Under Biden, the SBA says it has more than doubled the number and total dollar amount of loans to Black-owned small businesses.
Since 2020, the share of SBA loans going to minority-owned businesses has increased from 23% to more than 32%.
Joelle Gamble, deputy director of the White House National Economic Council, said the president's visit to the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce will give Biden a chance to show “how Bidenomics is driving a boom in Black small businesses. ”
Wisconsin was one of the most competitive states in Biden's 2020 election victory over former President Donald Trump and will likely be key to his 2024 reelection hopes. Trump is the leading contender vying for the GOP's 2024 presidential nomination.
In Wisconsin and beyond, Biden is trying to cheer up American voters at a time when polls show people are largely tough on his handling of the economy. The president is struggling with poor approval ratings for the economy, even as the unemployment rate is near historic lows and inflation has plummeted from 9.1% to 3.2% in just over a year.
The White House said Biden also planned to emphasize his administration's commitment to replace the nation's leading water pipes within a decade, to ensure communities across the country, including Milwaukee, have safe have drinking water.
Biden is pitching his lead pipe project as a generation-changing opportunity to reduce brain-damaging lead exposure in schools, child care centers and more than 9 million American homes that draw water from lead pipes. It's also an effort the administration says can help create enough good-paying union jobs across the country.
The president's $1 trillion infrastructure legislation passed in 2021 includes $15 billion to replace lead pipes. Officials said the president would appear during the visit with the owner of Hero Plumbing, a black-owned company that replaces lead pipes in Milwaukee and benefits from the infrastructure law.
Biden will also announce that the Grow Milwaukee Coalition is one of 22 finalists for the Commerce Department's “Recompete” pilot program, according to the White House. The program is funded by Biden's CHIPS and Science Act and aims to invest $190 million in federal funding in job creation and small business growth in hard-hit American communities.
The Grow Milwaukee Coalition's proposal aims to revitalize Milwaukee's 30th Street Industrial Corridor.