Infrastructure bill a boon for Black businesses, says Rep. Carter
7th September 2021 · 0 Comments
By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer
As Congress goes back and forth about President Biden’s proposed infrastructure initiative, U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-Louisiana, said the passage of the $1 trillion proposal would be a boon to the community, and the African-American small-business economy in particular, which Carter said continues to struggle with the medical and economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The COVID-19 crisis has further amplified many of the economic and racial disparities millions of Americans face every day,” Carter told The Louisiana Weekly. “In order to fully and fairly recover from this pandemic, we have to bring equity into every area of our work, including small business policy. The historic infrastructure package will be transformative for Black businesses and racial equity, especially regarding federal contracts.”
The massive infrastructure spending bill is one of Biden’s signature proposal’s, one he and supporters believe is severely overdue as roads, bridges, water systems, airports and other national infrastructure continues to crumble across the country.
The $1 trillion measure has in general been supported by Democrats and rebuffed by Republicans, with hesitant centrists in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives being courted to sway the final vote on the infrastructure bill.
Carter, a first-term member of Congress who serves on the House Small Business Committee, noted that just five percent of federal contracting dollars are given to businesses owned by minorities and women, a stark number given that African Americans make up about 13 percent of the U.S. population.
To address the historical, disproportionately low amount of federal infrastructure contracts being awarded to minority-owned businesses, the infrastructure bill includes a passage that would break up large federal contracts into smaller deals that would allow minority-owned firms to bid exclusively on the contracts, which would theoretically increase the amount of contracting work and funding given to such businesses.
In addition, the legislation includes an amendment making the federal Minority Business Development Agency a permanent entity and increasing its budget from $42 million to $110 million, which advocates say would facilitate the designation of contracts to minority-owned small businesses and facilitate the payment of such contracts.
With the legislation, the MBDA, which was created in 1969, will be able to open additional regional offices and rural business centers, with HBCUs administering these new localized offices.
“This infrastructure bill also establishes the Minority Business Development Agency as a permanent agency and expands its budget, more than doubling the resources available to continue critical work bringing training, opportunity, and entrepreneurship to minority communities nationwide,” Carter said.
The Congressman told The Louisiana Weekly that if adopted by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Biden, these and other facets of the $1 trillion legislation would have a significant, positive impact on the minority-business community, which has been devastated by the economic slowdown caused by the pandemic and the ensuing bureaucratic inefficiency in the government’s efforts to administer economic and financial relief legislation.
“This bill will allow Black businesses more access to federal contracting money that historically they have not been awarded,” Carter said.
“If the federal government fundamentally changes the way it does business with Black firms, we can drive more inclusion in the economy and help build Black wealth that will ripple through generations.
“As a member of the House Small Business Committee, the measures for small business in the Infrastructure Bill are an important step forward on this often overlooked issue.”
The infrastructure measure has the support of numerous organizations and entities that support and advocate for the establishment and development of minority-owned businesses that serve communities of color.
The local Black chamber has thrown its support behind the infrastructure legislation as well. In a commentary submitted to The Louisiana Weekly, LaVerne Toombs, executive director of the New Orleans Regional Black Chamber of Commerce, said Black businesses are still struggling mightily as the pandemic wears on.
She noted that an analysis by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that following the start of the COVID crisis, roughly 41 percent of Black businesses closed. Toombs added that minority-owned firms are more likely to be denied loans, and the annual gross receipts by Black companies significantly trails non-businesses of color.
“This significant impact exposed long-standing racial disparities in access to capital and technical assistance,” she wrote, adding that the NORBCC is urging Louisiana’s legislators to adopt the bill “to make sure the playing field is equal and that Black business owners have a seat at the table.
“Black businesses must receive their fair share to emerge from the pandemic, continue to grow, and be given the opportunity for economic prosperity,” she added.
This article originally published in the September 6, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
