Biden touts small business boom at White House meeting

President Biden on Thursday touted his economic strategy as the driver of a recent boom in small business creation and an uptick in job creation in the sector.

“Today, thanks to the economy strategy, more small businesses are being created and small businesses are creating more jobs faster than ever before,” he said during a meeting with five small business owners at the White House.

“These enterprises and entrepreneurs know that the American economy is strong because American small businesses are strong,” he added.

Biden said that small businesses account for more than 40 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in U.S., two-thirds of new jobs, and employ nearly half of all private sector workers.

“We have every indication that this trend is going to continue. The reason for that is because we are giving people financial security to take a risk and pursue their small business dreams. This boom has been particularly strong for entrepreneurs of color,” he said, noting that Hispanic entrepreneurs are creating businesses at a rate of 23 percent faster than pre-pandemic levels.

The president took another dig at Sen. Rick Scott’s (R-Fla.) proposed tax plan in his meeting with the entrepreneurs, arguing it aims to make small business owners pay more in taxes.

“Unfortunately, Republicans have a different approach. The Republican plan, led by Senator Rick Scott of Florida, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, would tax half of our small business owners an extra $1,200 a year on average,” he said. “Not only do they oppose making big corporations pay their fair share, they want middle class families and small business owners to pay more.”

The White House estimates that the proposal from Scott would raise taxes on 6.1 million small business owners.

Biden earlier on Thursday bashed Scott’s plan in response to the decline in GDP in the first quarter. Biden and the White House have tied congressional Republicans to Scott’s plan, although many have distanced themselves from his proposal.

The small business owners in the meeting included Jennifer Arniella of Unique Crafts by Jenn, an engraving business based in Miami. Biden said she started her business in part due to help from the Child Tax Credit, a provision in the American Rescue Plan, the COVID-19 stimulus package passed last year.

The meeting also included Jeff Yerxa and Nicolas Cabrera, co-founders of Lost Sock Roasters, a café in Washington, D.C., and Edward Garcia III and Daniel Trevino, co-founders of The Box Street Social restaurant in San Antonio.

The meeting comes after the Bureau of Economic Analysis released data earlier on Thursday that the U.S. GDP shrank at an annualized rate of 1.4 percent during the first three months of 2022, more than the 1 percent economists expected.