Joe Biden slammed for prioritizing Black, Latino, Asian businesses hit by pandemic, conservatives fear corruption
Joe Biden, who has served in one of the most diverse administrations at the White House as the vice president and is set to lead another such administration starting January 20, has promised to see the US heal after four tumultuous years of President Donald Trump. But despite his remarkable win in the 2020 presidential election and his pledge to see the US recover its old self, it will not be an over-statement that the veteran leader will find stiff resistance.
On Monday, January 11, Biden spoke about his plans to help small businesses that have been badly hit by Covid-19 with federal funds. In a video which was tweeted by the Biden-Kamala Harris transition team, he said: “Our focus will be on small businesses on Main Street that aren’t wealthy and well connected, that are facing real economic hardships through no fault of their own.”
“Our priority will be black, Latino, Asian, and Native American-owned small businesses, women-owned businesses, and finally having equal access to resources needed to reopen and rebuild. But we’re going to make a concerted effort to help small businesses in low-income communities, in big cities, small towns, rural communities that have faced systemic barriers to relief,” the Democratic leader added.
"Our priority will be Black, Latino, Asian, and Native American owned small businesses, women-owned businesses, and finally having equal access to resources needed to reopen and rebuild." — President-elect Biden pic.twitter.com/pIyDuhf5pH
— Biden-Harris Presidential Transition (@Transition46) January 10, 2021
However, conservative camps found Biden’s stance insincere. Conservative news site BizPac Review (BPR) alleged that the president-elect planned to help only those businesses that “fit within the parameters of identity politics” saying it was at par with what the Democrats prioritize.
Mocking Biden saying that he was reading off a teleprompter, the BPR piece by Robert Jonathan said although Biden mentioned words like “systemic”, which it again mocked a favorite buzzword of the liberal, he did not recognize the fact that “business owners from all walks of life and demographics and who usually lack connections are in dire financial shape given the challenging economic consequences of the pandemic and the lockdowns”.
Negating Biden’s claim that the focus will be on businesses that are not wealthy or well-connected, the BPR article also accused the Democrats to be a party of Wall Street and Big Tech.
Conservative piece suspects corruption will unfold
Suspecting corruption unfolding under the next administration, the conservative piece said: “There is also the possibility that a business owner will game the system (as some have done in the past with similar federal programs) by setting up a shell company with front men or women selected for the purpose of qualifying for government cash.”
It also targeted Biden over his regretting the fact that the restaurant industry has been “slammed by the virus” and vowed particular support for them. The piece called it “irony or lack of awareness” and claimed that most Democratic governors, mayors and other officials harmed the hospitality sector by undertaking draconian measures which they themselves allegedly violated.
The BPR article also ridiculed Biden as someone who has no private-sector experience after he promised to help mom and pop businesses saying they lacked the expertise to call up a banker or engage a lawyer or accountant to help them access Covid-19 relief funds by going through a “complicated process”.
The piece then listed some tweets that criticized Biden’s plan to help specific identities and some of them were also posted by people who claimed themselves to be Asian, Hispanic and Democrat and differed with the plan to help certain identities.
Congress in December passed a $900 billion coronavirus stimulus package besides a $1.4 trillion government funding bill and President Trump initially refused to sign it seeking modifications to the bill demanding a raise in the $600 stimulus checks to $2,000 and more aid to small businesses, particularly restaurants. He also opined that there were several wasteful items in the relief package, including foreign aid and environmental projects funding.
Biden also emphasized the significance of the bill and wanted Trump to sign it. He called the bill “a first step and down payment” for additional necessary at the beginning of 2021 to contain the pandemic and bring the battered economy back on track.