And Finally, August 4, 2015
"Politics and Policy"
Some people love the quadrennial Olympic Games. Some people pine for the quadrennial World
Cup. And many American political geeks
like myself get great joy over the quadrennial quest to become President of the
United States.
The first major debate of the 275 Republican candidates
will take place this week. (I know,
there are only 16 as of this writing, and only 10 will be allowed on the stage,
still the makings of a Battle Royal.)
But despite the theater of the primary and the upcoming
campaign, this is deadly serious business and impacts everyone. I grew up in a Washington DC family and
community where politics was discussed at the dinner table. I learned from an early age that if you do not
know what you want from politicians, they can’t deliver no matter how apparent
your need is to others. And furthermore,
if you know what you want, and you do not ask for it, you will not get what you
need. Therefore, the only chance you
have to get what you need, assuming you know what you need is to ask for it in
a way that benefits those who can provide.
Now is the time for leaders in the minority business
development space to ask for what they need.
The “ask” should not be to just one candidate or one party. This ask can be and should be considered by
all of the candidates. The time is now -because
now the balance of power is with those who hold the keys to what the candidates
want and need – money and votes. Minority
business owners and their supporters have those both. Once in office, politicians continue to ask
for money and votes, but the need for either - money or votes - is diminished
until the next round of elections.
As I think about “the ask”, several things come to mind. First, the candidates need to be educated on
the importance of minority business in the general scheme of things. This is part of building the case. Once the case is built on the importance of
minority business, the candidates need to be educated on the evolving role the
federal government has played in minority business development. One of the first things that I would ask the
candidates to commit to would be a significant increase in the budget of the
U.S. Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency. Currently the MBDA has a paltry budget of
less than $35 million. Not to single out
the EPA or the importance of Brownfield remediation, but the EPA gives out almost
twice as much in grants to Brownfield remediation than is in the budget of the
MBDA. There is irony in this reality
because many of these Brownfields are where there are large percentages of
minority residents and businesses. The
point is not that the money has to come from EPA, or Brownfield remediation.
The point is, there needs to be an elevation of the policy importance of
building minority businesses that is not demonstrated with a budget of $35
million.
Based on the performance (MBDA Performance Report Link - http://www.mbda.gov/sites/default/files/2014APR_MBDA.pdf) of the MBDA, the presidential candidates
should be stepping over themselves to sing the praises of investments in the
MBDA as a way to increase wealth, lower unemployment and improve conditions in
communities.
So what should be “the ask?”
My suggestion is the MBDA budget should be no less than $300
million. Sounds like a lot of
money. It is, but this would represent
less than 3.5 percent of the Department of Commerce’s $8.8 billion budget (where
the agency sits) and it is not even a rounding error in the $3.9 trillion U.S.
federal budget.
I hope someone during the debate has the audacity to raise
this issue as something that is important to so many Americans. Maybe it is too much to ask the candidates,
who all seem to be competing for the title of Most Outrageous, to actually
begin to address the real issues of business and race. But I know that in politics if you do not ask
you have no chance of getting. The
candidates should consider themselves – asked.
