Biden Bits: “The Glue That Holds Our Nation Together”…

Biden Tweets Logo. Image by Lenny Ghoul.

It’s Tuesday…

President Biden’s public schedule for 04/30/2024:

10:00 AM
Presidential Daily Brief
The President receives the President’s Daily BriefClosed Press
12:15 PMOut-of-Town Pool Call Time
1:25 PM
Leaves the White House
The President departs the White House en route to Wilmington, Delaware
2:20 PM
Arrives in Wilmington
The President arrives in Wilmington, Delaware
3:00 PM
Campaign Event
The President participates in a campaign event
6:15 PM
Leaves Wilmington
The President departs Wilmington, Delaware en route to the White House
7:20 PM
Arrives at the White House
The President arrives at the White House

Small Businesses Tweets

From Monday…

From the White House…

04/29/2024:

FACT SHEET: Celebrating National Small Business Week, Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces a Record in Federal Procurement Dollars Awarded to Small Businesses

As Congressional Republicans Propose Cutting SBA Funding by 31%, White House releases 2024 Small Business Boom Report that Shows SBA Small Dollar Loans on Track to Nearly Double Since 2020

Small businesses are the engines of the economy. As President Biden says, every time someone starts a new small business, it’s an act of hope and confidence in our economy. In celebration of National Small Business Week, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing new milestones in support delivered to small businesses across the country.

Since arriving in office, the Biden-Harris Administration has overseen a sustained small business boom across the country. The President’s agenda has driven the first, second and third strongest years of new business application rates on record—and is on pace for the fourth—with Americans filing a record 17.2 million new business applications. Business applications are a leading indicator for new business creation, and the historic growth in business applications has coincided with the strongest labor market in decades. And traditionally underserved small businesses are growing at near-historic rates, with Black business ownership growing at the fastest pace in 30 years and Latino business ownership growing at the fastest pace in more than a decade.

Republicans in Congress have undermined small businesses by attempting to repeal Inflation Reduction Act investments that are lowering costs for small business. House Republicans are also threatening assistance to small businesses across the country by proposing draconian cuts to the Small Business Administration as part of their 31% reduction to government-wide spending. And House Republicans would defund the President’s agenda to advance racial and gender equity in federal contracts.

President Biden is fighting to grow the small business boom spurred by his agenda. Today, the Biden-Harris Administration announced:

New Records for Federal Procurement Dollars Awarded to Small Businesses, Including Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDBs). The Small Business Administration (SBA) released its Procurement Scorecard showing that in Fiscal Year 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration awarded an all-time high in federal contracts to small businesses across federal agencies. In total, a record-high of $178.6 billion, or 28.4 percent, of all contracting dollars went to small businesses. This includes:

FACT SHEET: Celebrating National Small Business Week, Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces a Record in Federal Procurement Dollars Awarded to Small Businesses. 04/29/2024.
  • $76.2 billion to SDBs, totaling 12.1 percent of federal contracting dollars and surpassing the 12% goal for FY23 established by the Office of Management and Budget. This represents the third consecutive year of record-breaking awards to SDBs under President Biden, and puts the Administration on track to reach the President’s goal of increasing federal contracting dollars to SDBs by 50% by 2025. Increasing federal investments in under-resourced businesses helps more Americans realize their entrepreneurial dreams, strengthens the supplier base, and contributes to narrowing persistent wealth disparities.
  • $32 billion to Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB), representing a nearly $4 billion increase from Fiscal Year 2022. The Administration surpassed its goal by nearly 70%, with a total of 5.07 percent of federal contracting dollars going to SDVOSB.
  • In FY23, government contracting with small businesses supported one million jobs, includingin manufacturing, construction, research & development, technology, defense, and other vital industries.
  • Across the federal government, 22 agencies received an ‘A’ or higher on their individual procurement scorecards, surpassing last year’s total.
  • In conjunction with the scorecard, the SBA released federal contract data broken down by business owner race and ethnicity for FY23, which shows that businesses owned by historically underrepresented groups earned more through federal contracts across every category.

Release of Third Annual Small Business Boom Report. The White House released its third annual Small Business Boom Report, illustrating the continued achievements of the Biden-Harris Administration to support small businesses by expanding access to capital, providing small businesses with more hands-on support, ensuring federal spending benefits small businesses, and building a fairer tax code. The report shows the Administration has continued to make historic progress on all 35 commitments in the original report including:

FACT SHEET: Celebrating National Small Business Week, Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces a Record in Federal Procurement Dollars Awarded to Small Businesses. 04/29/2024.
  • SBA has nearly doubled small dollar loans. Small businesses consistently voice the need for access to small dollar loans, with survey results indicating over 50% of small businesses seek loans of less than $100,000, but only one-third of the smallest businesses – those with $100,000 or less in annual revenue – report receiving the full funding they request from banks. Less than one year since implementing policy reforms to increase access to small dollar loans, SBA is on pace to nearly double the number of small loans approved compared to the final year of the previous Administration, with over 20,000 7(a) loans under $150,000 approved in Fiscal Year 2024. It represents a one-third increase over last year, translating to 750 more businesses getting approved for a small dollar loans every month.
  • Through the American Rescue Plan’s State Small Business Credit Initiative approved over $8 billion in capital support for small businesses, leveraging significantly more in private sector funding. Funded by the American Rescue Plan, Treasury’s nearly $10 billion State Small Business Initiative (SSBCI) program delivers funding to states, territories, and tribal governments that spur lending and investing in small businesses, and provides critical technical assistance. So far, Treasury has approved $8.4 billion in allocations to 55 states and territories and 34 tribal governments that are expected to catalyze at least $10 in private investment for each dollar of SSBCI capital funding. Already $1.1 billion of approved funding has been deployed to support loans or investments to small businesses or investments in venture capital funds. To date, Treasury has also announced the approval of more than $135 million in technical assistance grants to 40 states and territories.
  • Delivering more than $250 billion to small businesses through SBA’s lending programs by the end of the decade. In 2021, SBA committed to delivering more than $250 billion in financing to more than 500,000 small businesses by the end of the decade. Under this Administration, SBA has taken numerous steps to expand access to capital including finalizing rules to increase small dollar lending, expanding programs that help connect traditionally underserved businesses with resources, and revamping its Lender Match portal. As a result, SBA has delivered nearly $124 billion in financing to small businesses through its 7(a), 504, and microloan programs, putting them on pace to reach their goal.

Officers Killed in the Line of Duty Tweet

From Tuesday…

Show more =’s We mourn for them and their loved ones. And we pray for the recoveries of the courageous officers who were wounded.   To the families of those we lost: Jill and I, and all Americans, are here for you.    We will always be here for you.

Statement from President Joe Biden on the Shooting in Charlotte, North Carolina:

Earlier today, four brave law enforcement officers – including a Deputy U.S. Marshal – were killed in the line of duty. They are heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice, rushing into harm’s way to protect us. We mourn for them and their loved ones. And we pray for the recoveries of the courageous officers who were wounded.
 
When a law enforcement officer puts on that shield in the morning and heads out the door, their family members dread the phone call – the very call that came today. It’s like losing a piece of your soul. To the families of those we lost: Jill and I, and all Americans, are here for you. And we will always be here for you.
 
We must do more to protect our law enforcement officers. That means funding them – so they have the resources they need to do their jobs and keep us safe. And it means taking additional action to combat the scourge of gun violence. Now. Leaders in Congress need to step up so that we ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, require safe storage of guns, and pass universal background checks and a national red flag law. Enough is enough.
 
May God Bless these fallen heroes.

Statement from President Joe Biden on the Shooting in Charlotte, North Carolina. 04/29/2024.

Monday afternoon the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force attempted to serve a warrant at a home in Charlotte, North Carolina. USA TODAY says that the suspect opened fire at the approaching officers with a “high-powered rifle”. Officers returned fire and struck one suspect who died at the scene. It was then that a second suspect started firing at officers. Both suspects from inside the home were taken into custody.

Three members of the U.S. Marshal task force were pronounced dead at the scene. A Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer was critically wounded in the shooting died at the hospital late Monday.

Other news agencies are reporting that four other officers were wounded during the shooting.

Three of the fallen officers have been named.

North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections issued the following statement:

Tonight we are mourning the loss of two members of our corrections family, killed today in a tragic shooting in Charlotte.

Sam Poloche and Alden Elliot were both 14-year NC Department of Adult Correction veterans. They were task force officers assigned to the U.S. Marshals Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force.  Sam Poloche joined our NCDAC Special Operations and Intelligence Unit in 2013 and Alden Elliot followed in 2016, each after serving several years as probation/parole officers.  They loved their work, and were passionate about their roles in protecting our communities.

Sam leaves behind a wife and two children, and Alden and his wife were parents to one child.

These officers died as heroes and made the ultimate sacrifice in their service to our state.  We remember them, we honor their service, we send our deepest condolences to their families and friends, and we pray for healing for all affected by this tragic incident.

North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections issued the following statement. 04/29/2024.

“New” from the White House…

04/29/2024:

04/30/2024:

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About Tiff 2584 Articles
Member of the Free Press who is politically homeless and a political junkie.