SDDP Chair Shane Merrill: The numbers are in. Bidenomics is delivering for South Dakota small businesses
On Small Business Saturday, we recognize the fundamental role small businesses play in powering South Dakota’s economy and providing jobs for our communities.
From the very beginning, small businesses have been at the forefront of Bidenomics (as illustrated above in a public domain photo posted in wikimedia commons) at work, and thanks to the Biden-Harris administration’s leadership, a record number of small businesses — including in South Dakota — have filed applications to open. Despite extreme Republicans who are doing everything in their power to rip apart the progress that’s been made, President Biden, Vice President Harris, and South Dakota Democrats will continue helping South Dakota’s entrepreneurs and small businesses thrive and building the economy from the bottom up and the middle out.
Here’s how the Biden-Harris administration is delivering for South Dakota small businesses:
Under President Biden, America has seen the fastest growth in Black business ownership in over 30 years.
In 2021, Hispanic Americans started new businesses at the fastest rate in more than a decade and 23 percent faster than pre-pandemic levels.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced $50 million to help underserved small businesses secure financing.
In October, Treasury announced a $75 million competitive grant program with American Rescue Plan funds for states to provide services to help very small and underserved businesses access opportunities created by the president’s Investing in America agenda.
In 2022, the Biden-Harris administration awarded a record-breaking $163 billion in federal procurement opportunities to small businesses.
This fall, the Small Business Administration (SBA) issued new licenses to lenders in the Small Business Lending Company (SBLC) program for the first time in 40 years.
The Treasury Department has dedicated $300 million of SSBCI Technical Assistance funding to support small businesses across the country.
The SBA has backed $108 billion in 7(a) and 504 loans to small businesses during the Biden administration — 32 percent more than the same time in the prior administration.
Since 2020, the share of the SBA’s loan portfolio going to minority-owned businesses has increased from 23 percent to over 32 percent.
Shane Merrill of Parker is the chair of the South Dakota Democratic Party.
