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Bonnie Watson Coleman bails out wealthy white people
July 15 amendment would cancel Community Disaster loans issued by the Small Business Administration disproportionately awarded to the rich
New Jersey Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman sponsored an amendment in committee that will absolve wealthy white people from repaying loans that were disproportionately awarded to them over less affluent minority citizens who suffered the same natural disasters.
The July 15 Watson Coleman amendment would cancel Community Disaster loans issued by the Small Business Administration following hurricanes, storms and other natural disasters and it was adopted by voice vote.
An analysis of the $40 billion worth of loans approved shows that only 28 percent of applicants in zip codes with a majority black population were successful but the SBA approved 52 percent of loans in zip codes with population that is over 90 percent white.
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The value of loans is also racially slanted. Disaster loans in zip codes with a black majority population covered 31 percent of the reported damage compared with 38 percent of the damage costs among loans issued in zip code areas with population that is over 90 percent white.
The overall approval rate for the loan program is 41 percent, so cancelling repayment obligations would benefit recipients who are disproportionately white and upper income.
Find out what's happening in East Brunswickfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The disparities in disaster lending have enabled predominantly white communities to rebuild faster and more thoroughly than black communities, thus perpetuating the nation's racial gap in wealth.
In the nation’s 10 whitest states, the SBA approved 55% of the disaster loan applications. In the 10 states with the largest percentage of Black residents, the combined approval rate was 37%.
The amendment was included in the 2021 Homeland Security appropriations bill, which was approved by a vote of 30 to 22.
The 2021 Homeland Security appropriation willgive the Trump administration almost $60 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Coast Guard operations.
Nothing in the legislation would restrict the Trump administration from abducting American citizens with unidentified Homeland Security agents in military garb, as has happened to peaceful protesters in Portland, Oregon.