Cathy Adams: (19:45)
Thank you so much, Ron and Madam Vice President Kamala Harris. As president of Oakland African-American Chamber of Commerce and also a business owner, my question is how can we ensure the provisions outlined within the American Rescue Plan reach black businesses, black communities, and black families?
Vice President Kamala Harris: (20:10)
Thank you, Cathy. And it’s so good to see you. It is so good to see you. So I will tell you, the president, and he and I have been spending a lot of time together before we got sworn in on January 20th and since. And I will tell you, he has such a deep commitment to equity. Really, he brings it up all the time. He challenges the team to make sure that we are keeping in mind that there’s a big difference between equality and equity, right? Which is that, well, everyone can get an equal amount, but if you don’t start out in the same place, you don’t end up in the same place. Equity suggests that we take into account that people start out in different places and we want everyone to have equal access to opportunity. So this is a very big principle as it relates to this issue and so many others in the way that the president thinks, specifically.
(21:13)
So $400 billion is directed, in our American Rescue Plan, to stop the pandemic and in particular around the health piece. And so again, I’ll say that the piece that’s about the vaccination centers and the federal vaccination centers is a very big deal. We are putting that money into these vaccination centers and mobile vaccination sites. Because one of the things that we realized, and we all know this, is that when we’re talking about folks who live in rural communities, when we’re talking about folks who don’t have access to transportation, they don’t have a car, they should not be left out. And so we are creating these federally supported large vaccination sites to places like the Oakland Coliseum where people know how to get there and there are good transit routes to get there, public transit routes, but also mobile vaccine centers.
(22:04)
And that’s going to have a huge impact on, again, equitable distribution of the vaccine, ensuring that black folks, brown folks, those who have been left out and have been disproportionately contracting COVID and dying from it, that they have equal access to the help that they need to save lives and to save lives of their families and their communities. We’re also investing over $1 trillion of the American Rescue Plan in families. And so that’s going to be about what I said that the commitment was the $2,000, the 600 already happened, the $1,400 checks. It’s also about an extension of unemployment insurance, so that we’re going to extend the additional $400 a month. And here’s the thing that you probably know, between November and December of 2020, so just a couple months ago, 82,000 black workers lost their jobs. 82,000. Part of the assistance for families is going to be about an extension of the moratoriums on evictions, right?
(23:07)
And what we know is that almost 10% of black renters in the United States said they would be evicted in March. So this is a huge piece of it because, of course, if we’re talking about business owners or the customers of those businesses and in those communities, the first order of business is people need to have a roof over their head if they’re going to be able to be productive at all. So this is a big piece. Money is going for the schools to reopen. And the money is looking at a number of issues to reopen schools safely. And that includes making sure that there’s the personal protective equipment that is available for the teachers, for the staff, the folks who work in the cafeteria, the school bus drivers, everybody, right? It’s also about making sure that we have the resources in our public schools around plexiglass and those things that are needed in the infrastructure, the physical infrastructure of the school to ensure that the students and the teachers and all staff are safe.
(24:03)
And then we are also extending the EITC, the child tax credit. And that’s something that I’m really excited about. And that, Cathy, when we get that part of this passed in our bill, will lift up half of America’s children who are in poverty. This child tax credit, half, can you imagine half of the children who are living in poverty right now will be lifted out of poverty by this one piece. It’s so important as you can imagine. And then the $15 billion in grants as opposed to loans for small businesses. So those are some of the things that we’ll do.
Secretary Janet Yellen: (24:46)Maybe I could-
Vice President Kamala Harris: (24:47)And please, Secretary Yellen.
Secretary Janet Yellen: (24:49)
I just want to follow up by emphasizing that it is foremost in our thinking, we recognize this economic crisis. It’s affected America, but it hasn’t affected all communities equally. And both the health impacts and the economic impacts have been disproportionately large for the black community. And there are long-standing inequities that existed in our society before the pandemic, but this pandemic has just compounded all the problems that existed. So the American Rescue Plan that the vice-president described, it was really designed with that in mind. That yes, it’s providing support to all Americans who are suffering economically or health-wise because of the crisis, but it will ensure that the communities that have really borne the brunt, the greatest pain are going to get the relief that they need.
Vice President Kamala Harris: (26:00) Ron, hold on. One more thing, including by the way- (26:02) Brian, hold on. One more thing… Including by the way.
Brian: (26:04) Sure thing.
Vice President Kamala Harris: (26:04)
As you can tell, we’re very excited about this plan. There’s so there’s a lot of good stuff in it, including federal support for behavioral health. Right? One of the things we’ve not been talking enough about in this pandemic has been the impact on mental health. And the way the president and I, and all of us, think about healthcare is that health care isn’t just about the body from the neck down. It’s also about the body from the neck up. And there’s been a lot of undiagnosed and untreated trauma, a lot of depression and all of those things. And in particular, when we’re talking about minority communities, Black and Brown communities. So there is a significant component of what we’re doing in this plan that is also about mental health and behavioral health and giving support to those services.
Ron Busby: (26:53)So I know you were up late last night from my understanding, there was a vote this morning at 5:00 AM.
Vice President Kamala Harris: (26:59)Correct.
Ron Busby: (26:59)
So I know you probably feel a little bit of stress as well. But because of a state representative in Georgia, we had the votes to get it across. And so we’ve invited the Atlanta Black Chamber of Commerce to have some questions. I know how important they were to not just convincing America, but to change the whole complex of Red States now versus Blue States. And so, honored to have Melvin Coleman from the Atlanta Black Chamber of Commerce ask our next question.
Melvin Coleman: (27:31)
Thank you, Ron. Hello, Madam Vice President. Hello, Madam Secretary. My question is, the American Rescue Plan includes a $15 billion grant program to provide financing to more than one million of the hardest hit small businesses. How is the administration prepared to equitably deploy these grants to the businesses most underserved and overlooked by traditional capital access pathways?
Vice President Kamala Harris: (28:09) So, I’ll start. And then I’m going to…
Secretary Janet Yellen: (28:11)Sure.
Vice President Kamala Harris: (28:12)
Greetings Mr. Coleman and thank you to everyone in Atlanta and Georgia. Yes, Mr. Busby, I was there voting at five o’clock this morning.
Ron Busby: (28:24)Thank you for that vote.
Vice President Kamala Harris: (28:25)
No, but let me tell you, it was it enjoyable to be there and I got some time with the two new senators from Georgia while I was there to check on them. So I had a little bit of time with Reverend Warnock, I had a little bit of time with Senator Ossoff. And so thank you for sending them to the United States Senate.
Vice President Kamala Harris: (28:46)
I will say that, first, it’s really important to recognize the advocacy that so many of our business leaders, you and the Black chambers, did around the need to understand that in addition to the PPP, we needed to have grants. And your advocacy in that way had a lot of influence in this new component, this new approach, which is in the American Rescue Plan to put $15 billion into the grants. Which are obviously, they don’t need to be paid back, and people need to qualify for them, but it really is about creating support for communities that have been devastated and so hard hit.
(29:31)
And so the plan was structured in a way that it’s, again, it’s about equity. And also understanding that in many ways the PPP was structured and certainly was implemented in a way that helped big businesses, but our smaller businesses also need help. Black owned businesses, the average Black owned business has 10 or fewer employees. Right? And so we recognize that’s a different dynamic. And the grant program is also about not only saving businesses that are on the edge through no fault of their own, but giving them the support to not only survive but thrive. And I’ll pass it to the secretary.
Secretary Janet Yellen: (30:14)
Yeah, thanks so much. I just want to add that we understand that in addition to the grant money, businesses need outreach, technical assistance to understand what’s available to them, how to take advantage of it. A lot of businesses rely on sophisticated lawyers and accountants and small businesses often, they don’t have that those resources. And so there’s money here and an effort will be made to make sure we provide outreach and technical assistance.
Secretary Janet Yellen: (30:53)
And we want to make these programs really accessible. So we hope we can work with you and other partners to try to really reach businesses where they are. So the smallest businesses with the greatest needs can get the support that they require. So we’re very focused on implementation and wanting to avoid 55 page applications and expensive accounting firms to be able to apply for this aid.
Ron Busby: (31:30)
What we heard across the country was that the stimulus package, better known as the Payroll Protection Plan was really not designed for Black owned businesses. Of the 2.6 million Black businesses that we have, 2.5 million have no employees. And so when you create a program that’s based on payroll versus based on need, you’re leaving out a large percentage of the Black owned businesses. I know in Louisiana, particularly, many of the businesses did not have an opportunity to participate in either, the EIDL Program or the Payroll Protection Program. And I have asked Kelisha Garrett to join us from the Louisiana coalition of African-American Chambers, where she sits as the Vice President of Operations. Ms. Garrett.
Kelisha Garrett: (32:22)
Good afternoon, Vice President Harrison and Secretary Yellen. In addition to the 15 billion in grants and 35 billion in the state, local and tribal small business programs included in the plan, what are other ways that this new plan will provide supplementary support to existing small business initiatives like the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program.
Vice President Kamala Harris: (32:44)
Thank you, Ms. Garrett. So first of all, from the December bill… We’re going to actually give you the website and I’m looking for it right now. I think it’s sba. gov is the website? But we want to make sure that people know to go there, to apply for what currently exists in the PPP program.
Vice President Kamala Harris: (33:11)
But we have to make it better in a number of ways. One, we intend to support the SBA for distribution of the support for the small businesses by having navigators. So that’s one of the things that did not exist before. Right? And having navigators who help our small businesses. So, as the secretary said, they don’t have to fill out 50 page reports that don’t apply to their business model.
(33:40)
I’ll never forget, a small business in California reached out to my office at the beginning of the pandemic and she said, “Look, they want me to fill out this form. And they want me to tell them about my,” she has a salon. She said, “They want me to give them all the names of my vendors.” She said, “Well, I go to the beauty supply store to get all my stuff.” And so we need to understand who the businesses are and their business model, and then make it accessible to them because they are no less a small business owner than anybody else. Right? And so that’s where the navigator comes into play. And then also helping the SBA with what they need to do more to provide technical assistance to our small businesses. And not only technical assistance to help people take the benefit of these relief plans, but technical assistance.
Vice President Kamala Harris: (34:38)
Because now in the midst of this crisis, one of the opportunities we have seen and small businesses have seen is how they can adopt technology to talk with their clients and to move their products. Right? And so let’s seed the opportunity presented in this moment to give them even more technical assistance, to think about how they can grow their business now in a way that uses technology to perform their business. And it is one of our highest priorities, all of that being said, to fix the assistance piece of the PPP program and I’ll pass it to the secretary.
Secretary Janet Yellen: (35:15)
Thanks so much [inaudible 00:35:19] Vice President. So I would first say, in thinking about implementing the PPP program, we’re really learning lessons from the failures of the first round and taking many steps to try to ensure that the smallest businesses get access to these funds first and the ones that were left out in the first round get first preference now. (35:46)
I also want to point out that beyond the PPP program, there are other programs we think can be very helpful to Black businesses. The recently passed legislation contains $12 billion of funds to invest in CDFIs and Minority Depository Institutions. The legislation, the bill that you were so instrumental… It’s very exciting that this has been included.
(36:18)
I’ve been meeting with mayors and small business owners around the country over the last week or two. And they’ve told me, and I know from my own experience, that CDFIs and Minority Depository Institutions can and do play a crucial role in getting capital to businesses who need it.
(36:40)
And we’re seeing this as a unique opportunity to support institutions that can support small businesses in your communities. And not only in response to the pandemic, but will strengthen permanently these institutions to make a contribution. The other thing I just want to mention is that beyond PPP and the grants program that’s in the American Rescue Plan, there are other tax credits that could be very helpful to small businesses. For example, small businesses can also take advantage of an employee retention tax credit and paid leave tax credits. And so we’re really committed to providing information to small businesses so they can navigate this process and to try to make sure that businesses receive every dollar they’re entitled to.
Vice President Kamala Harris: (37:42)That’s great.
Ron Busby: (37:44)
Thank you so much to both of you. Our last question comes from our chairman, Mr. Charles O’Neal, who’s also the president of the Texas African-American Chamber of Commerce, where they represent 25 Black Chambers. Mr. O’Neal.
Charles O’Neal: (37:59)
Thank you, Ron. Madam Vice President and Secretary Yellen, if you don’t mind my taking just the liberty to add on behalf of the entire board of directors of USBC and the thousands of women to men committed to aspirational goals of black businesses across the country. Thank you for this opportunity to engage the administration in a productive discussion.
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