What to Know in Washington: Harris Unveils Small Business Grants

Vice President Kamala Harris will unveil the winners of $125 million in grants aimed at helping small business entrepreneurs in underserved communities access capital, with Bridgeway Capital receiving $2 million of the funds.

Harris will announce the 43 grant winners at an event in Washington today as part of the administration’s latest attempt to push its “Bidenomics” agenda ahead of the 2024 election. The grants stem from the Capital Readiness Program, which is funded by President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan.

Photographer: Sergio Flores/Bloomberg

Kamala Harris at a campaign event in Edinburg, Texas, on Oct. 30, 2020.

In addition to Bridgeway — whose grant will help at least 340 minority-owned and rural entrepreneurs in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio — recipients include the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation in Phoenix; the Urban League of Greater Atlanta; and the Capital Region Minority Supplier Development Council in Silver Spring, Maryland, according to a White House fact sheet.

The Biden administration is aiming to sell skeptical voters on the president’s economic accomplishments. Biden has seen GDP growth, a strong jobs market, wage gains, and cooling inflation. However, polls show voters still disapprove of his handling of the economy, an issue critical to his reelection prospects. Biden faces additional economic and market headwinds after Fitch Ratings on Tuesday stripped the US of its top-tier credit rating, likely spurring a new round of fiscal fights. Hadriana Lowenkron previews today’s announcement.

BIDEN’S AGENDA

• The president travels from Rehoboth Beach to New Castle, Delaware this morning but has no public events scheduled.

Politics, Probes, and 2024

Trump Pleads Not Guilty to Charges of Obstructing Election

Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to charges that he conspired to obstruct the 2020 presidential election and interfere with the voting rights of millions of Americans — a case his legal team said it was prepared to “vigorously” defend.

• US Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya warned the former president to not communicate about the case with any witnesses except through his attorneys. Any violations could result in Trump being jailed pending trial, she said. Read more.

Supreme Court Justices Are ‘Not Imperial,’ Kagan Says

In an appearance at the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference on Thursday, Justice Elena Kagan weighed in on the controversy fueled by reports of alleged ethics shortfalls by justices on both sides of the ideological divide, saying that Congress has some powers over the Supreme Court but lawmakers can’t do anything they want when it comes to regulating it.

• Kagan also expressed surprise at the attention given to a heated exchange with her frequent ally Sonia Sotomayor over the court’s May ruling in the Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith copyright dispute. Read more.

What Else We’re Reading

Biden Urged to Curb US Purchases of China Stocks and Bonds

Biden should include restrictions on stocks and bonds in his upcoming executive order aimed at limiting US investments in China, according to Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), the chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

To contact the reporter on this story: Giuseppe Macri in Washington at gmacri@bgov.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kayla Sharpe at ksharpe@bloombergindustry.com