May 1 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden welcomed dozens of small business owners to the White House on Monday to highlight private-sector economic growth under his legislative agenda.
The National Small Business Week event kicked off at noon, with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris welcoming small business award recipients from all 50 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. They also released a report card on the administration's support for small businesses, which were helping drive the American economy, the White House said.
Biden's small business initiative launched in April 2022 and established dozens of new federal measures to promote new business creation through loans and community support services.
"These actions are going to make sure that the banking system is safe and sound, and that includes protecting small businesses across the country [that] need to make payroll for workers and their small businesses," Biden said.
Biden and Harris also announced new Small Business Administration Guidance, awarding a permanent license to nonprofit lenders with a proven track record of higher lending rates to businesses owned by Black and Hispanic people, women, and veterans.
The announcement comes as a record 10.5 million applications for new businesses were filed in the United States throughout 2021 and 2022, while small businesses have created 3.1 million jobs since Biden took office, according to the White House.
The Council of Economic Advisers plans to release data this week that shows small businesses benefitting from Biden's Investing in America initiative, which has spent hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure and manufacturing projects nationwide.
During the White House event, Biden called attention to increased enforcement against corporate tax evasion and to his corporate minimum tax that aims to help small businesses compete with the corporate giants.
The president blasted a vote last week by House Republicans to raise the national debt ceiling through spending cuts, with which Biden has refused to go along, saying House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's bill would hurt small business growth and lead to 780,000 fewer jobs by the end of 2024, raising the risk of a recession.
"Speaker McCarthy passed a partisan bill that would claw back billions of dollars meant for small businesses," Biden said. "It would gut training and support, make it harder for veterans-owned businesses to win federal contracts."
Biden said the bill also would cut funding for education, public safety, healthcare, and food assistance.
McCarthy, R-Calif., said that his job was "done" after passing the House bill, adding that Biden "can no longer ignore by not negotiating."
The White House described the Republican plan as "a reckless attempt to extract concessions as a condition for the United States simply paying the bills it has already incurred."
The president has remained adamant that he would be willing to meet with McCarthy but not negotiate his stance on the debt limit.
Biden has been critical of Republicans over proposed spending cuts that would serve to slow loan approvals, impede new lender registration, reduce lender oversight, and obstruct technology updates and customer service for small business applicants, the White House said.
"Speaker McCarthy and House Republicans are holding the economy hostage by refusing to avoid default without slashing billions in funding for vital programs that support small businesses," the White House said, adding that the GOP plan would slash more than $2 billion from major small business initiatives.
The president also announced increased small business loans in minority communities and the June launch of a federal licensing program that will allow non-bank lenders to issue competitive small business loans.
"I finalized new rules to expand credit to rural, minority-, women-, veterans-owned enterprises by working with non-traditional lenders, like nonprofits, Biden said. "And invested $10 billion in state-level small-business programs, drawing tens of billions more from private funding -- for small companies."
" You've made so much progress in the last two years," he continued. "Now it's time for us to finish the job. Expand opportunities so people with great ideas can launch strong businesses, help grow our economy, and leave no one behind."