EXCLUSIVE: TheGrio met with White House officials to discuss the dissolution of federal funds earmarked for Black farmers.
Members of Congress and the White House have been hinting that they may be close to a deal for the Build Back Better (BBB), infrastructure spending plan. Despite Biden officials claiming that both infrastructure and money are important, they remain a sticking point.
Alexander Ocasio Cortez, a Democratic U.S. Congresswoman, of New York, exclusively stated to theGrio on Capitol Hill: It is unfortunate how often provisions for our Black communities are cut back along with many other provisions that apply to people of color.
She added that she believes there are many exciting investments in this area. In the original [American Rescue Plan], we had the initial expansions for Black farmers. As we've seen, there has been much resistance to that expansion and [we] will continue to push for it. It is extremely important.
White House Domestic Policy Director Susan Rice and other senior officials have indicated that BBB will provide some funding for Black farmers.
Rice was previously an advisor to President Barack Obama and claims that $6 billion has been earmarked for Black farmers.
Nearly 49,000 farmers were a significant support for Joe Biden's campaign in many southern states, which are often red. This line item is for Black farmers. It's an attempt to correct long-standing agricultural inequalities.
Officials at the White House say that the Build Back Better framework provides relief for farmers, ranchers and includes a program that will provide debt relief to certain farmers and ranchers who have qualified loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This provision will apply to farmers and ranchers who have been financially strained by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Since the Bill Clinton Administration, the Department of Agriculture has had to pay settlement money to Black farmers. This was due to discrimination in USDA loan programs. The USDA has not provided equal access to money or programs for Black farmers over the years, which has led to a decline in their numbers.
Handy Kennedy, founder and CEO of AgriUnity, counts his cows at HK Farms in Cobbtown. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images).
Susan Rice says that this issue and others that impact Black America are major issues in these bills.
Rice claims that the BBB has money to respond to gun crime prevention and response. These crimes are connected to gun homicide, where Black men account for more than half of all deaths. These statistics show a significant disparity considering that Black men only make up 6% of the total population.
Biden's administration budgeted funds to address gun-related crimes in Black communities to try to solve this problem. Rice stated that the package funds evidence-based community violence prevention programs.
The BBB framework also includes the largest investment in clean water. Michael Regan, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, told theGrio that there is a lot of money in the $55 billion available for water infrastructure. A large portion of this money will be used to remediate lead pipes.
This is approximately six to 10 millions lead pipes, most of which are located in Black or Brown communities. This is going to be a huge amount. Reagan said that $5 billion was spent on the cleanup of contaminated sites such as gas stations and old warehouses that housed chemicals.
Regan stated that 34% of Blacks live in areas that see an alarming rise in childhood asthma rates, and that 40% of Blacks currently live in areas that see high heat-related deaths.
Flint Fire Department attempts to extinguish a house fire by using discolored water. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images).
Regan said that there is a direct correlation between infrastructure dollars and the money used to clean up land and water pollution. Regan has created the Justice40 initiative. The President has a Justice40 initiative. It is essentially establishing a structure to ensure that 40% of federal spending goes to environmental justice. This will allow communities to stay in place and invest not only in pollution remediation or cleanup [in marginalized areas], but also in economic development, job growth, and job creation.
A campaign promise, and a project of Senator Kamala Harris at the time, is to address maternal health. BBB will provide $3 billion funding for this initiative. The money will go towards maternal health for Black mothers who are more likely to die from complications during pregnancy. Black women are three times more likely to die during pregnancy than White women.
According to the newly released Congressional text, public housing will receive $10 billion in capital funds and $66.5 billion for priority investments determined by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge. This money will be used to repair, replace and build properties. $2.75 billion is available for competitive grants which go towards transforming, rehabbing and substituting public housing.
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images).
Along with other minority-serving institutions and HBCUs, they will receive $300 million to modernize their academic research facilities, and $700 million for related research activities. Officials say that this is not the only funding available to HBCUs.
The plan to assist HBCUs has not been changed. We know that information was spread about them being pulled out. TheGrio was told exclusively by Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Democratic Congresswoman from Texas. I have done something for HBCUs in the 29 years Ive been on this committee.
Johnsons committee, which is the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, was specifically responsible for funding research at HBCUs.
Black families are also less likely to have high-speed Internet access. The broadband gap between those who have internet access and those without is being addressed by a $65 billion program. This often ends up in Black or minority communities.
Susan Rice claims that the President Biden's BBB agenda reduces child poverty by half for families. As it stands now, 22.1% of Blacks are below the poverty line. The bill will expand the child tax credit, which will provide a significant tax cut to almost 3 million Blacks. It will also reduce the Black poverty rate of 34% and the child poverty rate of nearly half.
Because it has been conflated in recent months, it is important to concentrate on the research component of the funding.
Joe Manchin, a Democratic West Virginia senator, is again preventing the Build Back Better plan from moving forward. Manchin and Senator Kyrsten Silena from Arizona have objected to many provisions in the bill, which led Democrats to reduce the $3.5 trillion initial figure to $1.75 trillion. Manchin stated that the spending package does not address the issue of paid family leaves.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Black mothers experienced the greatest absolute gains from taking paid family leaves.
This report was contributed by Jessica Floyd, TheGrios.
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TheGrio first published the article Black America to Receive Billions from Biden's BBB Plan. Here are the numbers.
