Democrat Biden Promises Economic Policies to Fight Racial Inequity

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.