Bidenomics Is Delivering for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders: The President’s Plan Grows the Economy from the Middle Out and Bottom Up—Not the Top Down

President Biden and Vice President Harris came into office determined to rebuild our economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down—and that strategy is working. Even as they faced an immediate economic and public health crisis—with a raging pandemic, elevated unemployment, snarled supply chains, and hundreds of thousands of small businesses at risk of shuttering—the President and Vice President understood that it wouldn’t be enough to simply go back to the economy we had before the pandemic. That economy was saddled with longstanding challenges that held America back—including rising inequality and disinvestment from communities across the country.
 
President Biden recognized that some of those challenges were rooted in a failed trickle-down theory that supported slashing taxes for the wealthy and big corporations, shrinking public investment in critical priorities like infrastructure and education, and failing to safeguard market competition.

The President took office determined to move beyond these failed trickle-down policies and fundamentally change the economic direction of our country. His plan—Bidenomics—is rooted in the recognition that the best way to grow the economy is from the middle out and the bottom up. It’s an economic vision centered around three key pillars:

• Making smart public investments in America
• Empowering and educating workers to grow the middle class
• Promoting competition to lower costs and help entrepreneurs and small businesses thrive

While our work isn’t finished, Bidenomics is already delivering for the American people, including for AA & NHPI communities. During the Biden-Harris Administration, we have:

• Lowered the Asian American unemployment rate to pre-pandemic levels.
• Achieved the highest Asian American employment rate since 2008.
• Increased AA & NHPI enrollment in HealthCare.gov coverage by about 100,000 from 2020 to 2022.
• Lifted 18,000 AA & NHPI children out of poverty through the Thrifty Food Plan.
• The number of Asian American owned businesses increased by 18% compared to pre-pandemic.
• Began reversing decades of infrastructure disinvestment in communities of color, including with $4 billion to reconnect communities that were previously cut off from economic opportunities by transportation infrastructure and to help advance transportation projects in disadvantaged or underserved communities.
• Began closing the digital divide for communities of color, with funding and a commitment to connect every person in America to reliable, affordable high-speed internet by 2030.
• Set a goal of increasing by 50% the amount of federal contracting dollars going to small disadvantaged businesses by 2025—which would translate to an additional $100 billion to minority-owned and other underserved businesses, and help more Americans realize their entrepreneurial dreams.
• Expanded access to health care and disability benefits, reduced homelessness, and achieved historic unemployment rates for veterans, including for the nearly 400,000 AA & NHPI veterans.

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