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Thanks so much for joining us on Tuesday morning at the Roost or virtually for a Punchbowl News pop-up conversation with Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio). The event focused on reconciliation negotiations and the uneven recovery of Black small business owners from the Covid recession.

Beatty also weighed in on the race for the next Democratic House leader, HBCU funding and her analysis on whether Congress will avert a debt limit crisis.

 → We asked Beatty what she thought of two potential candidates to be the next Democratic House leader — Majority Whip Jim Clyburn and Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries. She had gushing praise for both of them, but particularly Jeffries, who is considered the more likely long-term candidate.

Here’s Beatty:

If in fact Speaker Pelosi has decided that she is wrapping up her tenure, then I would say if you were asking me in any hat I wear, I would love to see the names that you’ve mentioned be the next speaker. And that’s not because they are Black Americans, it’s because I view them as the most talented individuals that we could have, because of their skills, because of what they bring to the table… Majority Whip Clyburn helped mentor me, helped bring me to Congress, supported me against the odds of other leaders or those in leadership, so I’ll always be grateful to him… Clyburn, according to the president of the United States, but for him and his leadership, would not be president…

Hakeem Jeffries is one of the most brilliant individuals in Congress, in my opinion, and most comfortable with himself, and I think that’s what’s important… You tell me another Black man in Congress that can rap and then speak with judiciary elegance in the same breath. And people unequivocally follow him and like him.

Beatty said she’s not interested in being speaker — at this time. 

→ On raising the debt ceiling: “When you look at history and what has happened in the past, whether that’s been Republican leadership or Democratic leadership, the one thing at the end of the day that members of Congress realize is that the nation has to continue. Raising the debt limit is not something that we’ve not witnessed before. I’m not quite sure that I would say that we don’t have a Democratic strategy for it. I would just say we are prioritizing things on our plate, we know the timetable for that. And I am very comfortable when we get to that timetable that we have to do that. Now that could be two days from now, or it could be Oct. 1, or later. At that time we will not fail this country.”

→ On the Biden administration: "It’s good that we now have an administration that puts people first, puts country first, and I don’t think that we want to lose sight of that."

→ In the wake of Rep. Alma Adams’ (D-N.C.) stance on HBCU funding reconciliation, Beatty maintained that money allocated to HBCUs should be far greater than the $2 billion currently in the package. Beatty said that figure was “certainly disheartening and it’s not acceptable.”  She predicted the final amount for HBCU funding would be “somewhere well above 2 [billion dollars], and closer to 55 [billion dollars].”

→ Beatty on the obstacles people of color face in business: “We know for Black Americans and brown Americans, and we know also for women, that we started out with a disadvantage because of cultural issues, societal issues and government issues. If you’re not in the room to help make a difference, oftentimes you’re not thought about. So when I’m in the room and they’re meeting with me, whether it’s as chair of the subcommittee on diversity and inclusion or as the powerful Congressional Black Caucus chair, it makes a difference. Because I see things that other people don’t see. But I also am in a position to speak up and make things happen.”

Ohio-based small business owners Letha Pugh and Haleema Shafeek also joined us for a fireside chat. The conversation touched on racism they have faced in the business world and how Covid has affected their businesses.

Letha Pugh, Co-owner, Bake Me Happy (Columbus, Ohio):

→ Pugh recounted a discriminatory episode she experienced with a bank. Pugh said she recently tried to purchase a building and her loan was approved — but when she applied for a loan to renovate it, the bank asked her to write a non-quantitative letter justifying her business decision. 

“I know my white counterparts would not have had to probably write a letter like that. It was an additional barrier that was put up ahead of us.”

→ What she wished Washington knew about small business owners:

“Small business owners aren’t looking for a handout, they’re just looking for a way to continue to support their business,” Pugh said. “With banks, if there was a public scorecard that would show — this particular bank, this is the percentage of folks they’ve worked with from these specific communities, from a representation matters standpoint that would be helpful."

Haleema Shafeek, President, GOFS Commercial Interiors (Columbus, Ohio):

→ Shafeek said banks should be thinking how they can create programs that allow them to fund federal dollars back to the small business owners that need access to capital.

Here’s Shafeek on how federal contracting can be improved:

A big thank you to Goldman Sachs for partnering with us on this event. Watch the full conversation here.

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Team Punchbowl News

Photographs courtesy of Snow Photography