Biden links economic plan to March on Washington anniversary

President Biden touted his economic plan in a new op-ed marking the anniversary of the March on Washington, arguing trickle-down economics has failed Black Americans.

“Sixty years ago, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and hundreds of thousands of fellow Americans marched on Washington for jobs and freedom,” Biden wrote in The Washington Post.

“Each day of the Biden-Harris administration, we continue the march forward,” he wrote. “That includes a fundamental break with trickle-down economics that promised prosperity but failed America, especially Black Americans, over the past several decades.”

Biden often says he is tired of trickle-down economics and wants to instead build the economy from the bottom up and the middle out, which is the foundation of his economic plan, dubbed Bidenomics.

“Trickle-down economics … has exacerbated inequality and systemic barriers that make it harder for Black Americans to start a business, own a home, send their children to school and retire with dignity,” Biden wrote in the Post. “Vice President Harris and I came into office determined to change the economic direction of the country and grow the economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down.”

Biden argued that his plan, including major legislation like the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act, is “advancing equity” and making investments for Black Americans. He also touted his administration’s efforts to take on housing discrimination and invest in historically Black colleges and universities, and its work on student loan cancellation.

Additionally, the president acknowledged the deadly shooting in Jacksonville, Fla., this past weekend, which he said was “reportedly fueled by hate-filled animus.” Authorities said a white gunman opened fire at a store near a historically Black university in Jacksonville on Saturday and killed three Black people. Officials quickly described the incident as “racially motivated.”

“We must refuse to live in a country where Black families going to the store or Black students going to school live in fear of being gunned down because of the color of their skin,” Biden wrote. “On this day of remembrance, let us keep showing that racial equity isn’t just an aspiration. Let us reject the cramped view that America is a zero-sum game that holds that for one to succeed, another must fail.”

Biden and Harris on Monday will commemorate the anniversary of the March on Washington by meeting with community leaders and members of Martin Luther King Jr.’s family, 60 years after then-President Kennedy and King met in the Oval Office. Biden will also host a reception and give remarks to commemorate the day.