The COVID-19 pandemic was especially hard for workers and business owners in the hospitality industry, but increasing vaccination rates bring hope. Watch this webinar to learn about the state of the hospitality industry today, the lasting changes we can expect, and its path towards recovering lost business and having a lucrative summer.
PRESENTER/FACILITATOR
Dyllis Hesse, Senior Managing Director, Accenture
PANEL
Erika Alexander, Chief Global Officer, Global Operations, Marriott International
Susan Lacz, Principal and CEO, Ridgewells Catering
Max Fisher, SVP & CFO, MGM Resorts International
Kathy Hollinger, President & CEO, Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington
Companies can improve the diversity of their talent pipelines by proactively recruiting “Opportunity Talent,” defined by Grads of Life as often overlooked talent pools such as young adults without a 4-year degree, persons with disabilities, veterans, formerly incarcerated individuals, and individuals with DACA status. In this webinar, Grads of Life introduced the Opportunity Employment Principles and speakers from Micron Technologies and Bank of America shared real-life examples of these principles in action.
Presenters:
Dwight Powery, National Site Director, Year Up
Krysta Sadowski, Director of Advisory Services, Grads of Life
Business Case Study Speakers:
Zuzana Steen, Academic and Community Relations Senior Manager, Micron Technology
Camille John, D&I Enterprise Head of Underrepresented Ethnic Talent Strategy, Bank of America
Webinar Recording
Summary
Bridging the Opportunity Divide is a win-win for employers and prospective employees. Employers get to fill open roles with great talent, and those who have faced persistent barriers to education and good jobs have a shot at opportunity.
Each of the six Opportunity Employment principles is important. The six principles are:
Culture of inclusion and belonging. Is the company truly committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion at the leadership level and throughout its culture?
Minimizing barriers to accessing roles. For example, is the company willing to eliminate unnecessary degree requirements?
Family sustaining wages & benefits for all employees. Does the company pay a living wage for the metro area its operating in? Does it provide health benefits?
Data-driven approach to equity. Does it have systems in place to measure its progress towards diversity, equity, and inclusion goals?
Proactive & intentional recruitment. Is the company making relationships with new communities so that it can hire from a more diverse pool?
Systems that support on-the-job success and ongoing professional development. Is the organization giving staff at all levels opportunities to learn, grow, and advance?
To learn more about the six Opportunity Employment principles and view their affiliated list of practices, see this guide.
You can also use the Opportunity Navigator, a 10-minute online assessment that can help you see where you company’s strengths and growth areas are in hiring, advancing, and retaining Opportunity Talent.
About the Racial and Social Equity Webinar Series
The Greater Washington Board of Trade’s Racial and Social Equity Webinar Series will provide business leaders across the region the knowledge and tools they need to build more diverse, inclusive, and equitable organizations. It will help leaders identify drivers of inequity and injustice and take concrete steps towards being agents of positive change.
Corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) leaders must consider how their organization can best appreciate and accommodate our differences, including differences in how our minds operate. We interviewed Larysa Kautz, President & CEO of Melwood to learn more about neurodiversity and what it means to employers.
What does the term “neurodiversity” mean, and why is it an important concept for CEOs to understand?
“Neurodiversity” is the recognition that we all learn and process information differently.
Any CEO interested in innovation is well served by understanding neurodiversity. A Melwood participant once described her autism as having a brain that worked on a different operating system. Several studies note that people with autism often benefit from hyper focus, enhanced pattern recognition, improved memory, and strong mathematical thinking. Who better to offer creative ways to solve a problem or offer new perspectives?
How would you rate the DC area business community’s current treatment of neurodiversity? What have you seen from business leaders in our region?
The DC area business community has a lot to be proud of. There is a strong sense that businesses in this area want to embrace inclusion and neurodiversity.
The private sector has been a great partner in helping us build better training programs to prepare people with disabilities for the careers of the future. We partnered with Cybrary, a cybersecurity training firm based in College Park, MD, to develop abilIT, a technology training program that teaches technical and soft skills to help participants build lifelong careers as competitive technology professionals. Now, close to a dozen companies and organizations – including GDIT and MITRE – have not only hired program graduates but have joined the KPMG/Melwood Industry Council to provide feedback to help us improve, scale up, and sustain our model.
We are still a long way from solving the unemployment and underemployment of people with disabilities, but it is clear that DC-area business leaders are stepping up to do their part.
What does it look like for a company to lead on neurodiversity? What actions are most important?
The most important thing a company can do is to establish a diversity policy that includes all abilities and actively recruit from this talented pool of eager candidates. In our experience, having a coordinated approach that includes human resources, diversity and inclusion leads, and the project leads for the departments in need of talent helps streamline the hiring process. Engagement by an executive champion also makes a big difference because they can encourage key people to come to the table and make neurodiverse hiring a priority.
Providing proper accommodations, like natural lighting, workspaces that reduce sensory violations, noise blocking, accessible technology, and assistive devices, is also important, and not as difficult or expensive as you may think. Recent data from the Jobs Accommodation Network shows that the average investment is around $500 per employee who needs special accommodations.
Resources exist to help companies rate and improve their inclusion of neurodiverse talent. The Disability Employment Index (DEI) scores a corporation’s inclusiveness on a scale from 0 to 100. The index measures a wide range of criteria within six categories, including culture and leadership, enterprise-wide access, employment practices, community engagement, supplier diversity, and non-U.S. operations. More importantly, it provides a framework for companies to follow so they can understand what kinds of practices they can adopt to be more inclusive.
What public policies have improved employment rates for people with disabilities?
The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed 30 years ago. This sweeping legislation sought to end the discrimination, exclusion, and isolation so many people with disabilities were experiencing at the time. The laws created by the ADA were designed to help people with disabilities overcome the physical barriers to success – through things like wheelchair ramps and curb cuts – while also trying to reduce disability stigma and create new opportunities for employment.
More recently, the U.S. federal government established the AbilityOne program to bring more people with disabilities into the federal workforce. The AbilityOne Commission oversees nearly $3B worth of federal contracts set aside for people with disabilities. Recently, the program called on 24 federal agencies to pledge 1% of their funds to AbilityOne contracts, with an increase to 1.5% in FY22. These and other initiatives that the Office of Federal Procurement (OFPP) is implementing will result in new jobs for thousands of people with disabilities.
Unfortunately, there are also federal policies that have allowed people with disabilities to be paid less than minimum wage. Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was created in 1938, at a time when people with disabilities had no civil rights and were segregated from mainstream society. Melwood does not agree with the discriminatory practice of 14(c) and, in 2016, voluntarily relinquished our 14(c) certificate and over the next several years successfully advocated for the elimination of the practice in Maryland. However, currently there are only a handful of states that have abolished this practice and we are working to eliminate it at the federal level.
There is a lot of research showing that diverse organizations perform better than more homogenous ones. Does this extend to organizations that accommodate neurodiversity as well? Is there a business case to doing this work?
There is definitely a business case for disability inclusion and embracing neurodiversity.
61 million adults in the United States live with a disability according to the CDC and 1 in 54 children are diagnosed with autism each year. We are talking about a large population full of talent and unique strengths. Businesses can’t afford to overlook this group as consumers or talent.
In 2017, the Harvard Business Review made the case for Neurodiversity as a Competitive Advantage, stating that neurodivergent people “bring new perspectives to a company’s efforts to create or recognize value.”
It is widely accepted that organizations benefit from a diverse workforce. A variety of employee backgrounds and cultures brings a range of ideas, solutions, and proposals to a company. The same thought process should be applied to hiring neurodiverse workforces.
The neurodiverse population remains a largely untapped talent pool, the Harvard review notes, but tech companies like SAP, Microsoft, Dell Technologies, IBM, and more have either started or are exploring ways to expand the neurodiversity of their workforces where those business lines are a good fit for neurodiverse talent.
As a result, these companies are finding benefits from these programs, including higher productivity, improved corporate communication, higher employee engagement, lower turnover, higher employee morale, and more.
Historically, companies have held the view that “it’s easier to fit people together if they are all perfect rectangles,” the review states. “But that requires employees to leave their differences at home – differences firms need in order to innovate.”
A 2018 report by Accenture looked at 45 companies that created new specialized disability policies and practices. The data revealed that those 45 companies achieved, on average, 28% higher revenue, double the net income, and 30% higher economic profit margins over the four-year period analyzed, compared to other companies in the sample. According to that study, companies should participate in “cutting-edge disability recruitment, hiring, and on-boarding strategies – not as charity or marketing, but because it serves their bottom line.” Additionally, the Department of Labor found that employers who embraced disability saw a 90% increase in employee retention.
How has COVID impacted disability employment?
On paper, COVID-19 has set the disability employment movement back by nearly a decade. In 2019, when national working age unemployment was at a record low of 3.5%, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities was also at a record low of 7.3% – down from nearly 15% a decade ago. In 2020, the unemployment rate for persons with a disability stood at 12.6%, an increase of 5.3 percentage points from the previous year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Their jobless rate continued to be much higher than the rate for those without a disability.
But COVID-19 has also provided reasons for optimism about the future. For example, employers are now more open to workplace flexibility and accommodation. To survive the impacts of COVID-19, many companies had to fundamentally re-think how they operate so they could enable their employees to be productive and succeed. Telework and flexible schedules – both commonly requested workplace accommodations – are now the norm in many sectors. Smart employers are going to recognize that figuring out how to accommodate their workers is key to survival. There is no going back – embracing workplace accommodation will be the silver lining of COVID-19.
About Melwood
Melwood is an AbilityOne nonprofit agency with more than 1,600 employees, nearly 1,000 of whom have a disability. For more than 57 years, Melwood has served adults and children with disabilities through job training and placement, day services, inclusive summer camps, healing retreats for injured veterans, as well as direct employment through more than 60 federal contracts in the greater Washington, DC area.
About Larysa Kautz
Larysa Kautz serves as Melwood’s President and & CEO. Prior to becoming CEO, Kautz had served as a vital part of Melwood’s executive leadership for more than seven years as Melwood’s first In-house General Counsel, Chief of Staff, and founder of Melwood’s Advocacy Department.
About the AbilityOne Program
The AbilityOne Program is made up of approximately 600 nonprofit organizations like Melwood across the United States that employ more than 45,000 people with disabilities who provide quality products and services to the Federal Government.
Black and Brown communities have historically been denied fair access to the services, amenities, and conditions we all need to live healthy lives, and as a result they often suffer worse health outcomes. This was made abundantly clear during the COVID-19 pandemic. Employers can help reverse this problem by designing benefits programs that meet the needs of their diverse workforce.
On March 25, 2021, we brought together three experts with deep insights on health equity to discuss the issue and what it means for employers.
Moderator: Dr. Christina Stasiuk, Senior Medical Director, Cigna
Panelists:
Anita Jenkins, Chief Executive Officer, Howard University Hospital/Adventist HealthCare, Inc.
Dr. Yele Aluko, Chief Medical Officer, EY Americas
Webinar Recording
Summary
What are “Social Determinants of Health”?
Dr. Stasiuk began the webinar with a presentation on “social determinants of health.” This term refers to factors that impact health and wellbeing, such as language barriers; bias on the part of medical practitioners; cultural beliefs and practices; awareness of, access to, and quality of care; health literacy; and physical environment and geographic location.
Health inequities arise when these factors disproportionately affect some communities. This is why we have seen differences in how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Black and Brown communities vs. majority white ones.
Attitudes About the COVID-19 Vaccines
Dr. Yele Aluko explained that all three vaccines that have emergency use authorization from the FDA (Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson) are designed to provoke an immune response to the COVID-19 virus without exposing the person to the live virus.
Though all FDA-approved viruses underwent a rigorous process of clinical trials, many people are still nervous that they will cause harmful side effects. Anita Jenkins said that initially, even leaders within the Howard University heath system were asking questions about whether the vaccine could be trusted. They cited historical examples of Black and Brown communities being mistreated by the medical community, such as the Tuskegee Experiment.
Mrs. Jenkins’s hospital system calmed the concerns of its staff by providing accurate information on the COVID-19 vaccine through daily briefings. The helped staff understand how the vaccines were developed and why the vaccines are safe for everybody. Acknowledging and responding to concerns were key to winning trust.
How the Pandemic Highlighted Health Inequity
The pandemic raised the visibility of a historic truth that some communities have more exposure to disease and worse care. For example, in low-income communities it may be common for extended families to share a home. The higher density of people living together makes it difficult to stop the spread of disease. This may be true for all diseases but was made a more critical problem by the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is important to understand that Black and Brown people are not biologically or genetically more prone to disease—this is a myth. They have been impacted more by the COVID-19 vaccine because of social determinants of health like the one described above.
Inadequacies in the Health System
Mrs. Jenkins described that medical care has become “sick care,” where medical practitioners typically treat injury and disease but do not proactively help patients manage their health. Meanwhile, “wellness” is often thought of as the industry of health food subscription services, supplements, and boutique exercise studios that cater to the affluent. Howard University Hospital is trying to make wellness relevant and accessible to a wider variety of people by going back to the basics of preventative care and healthy cooking, using affordable and culturally relevant recipes.
There is statistical evidence that people receive worse care when their doctor is of a different racial or ethnic background. For that reason, we must increase diversity among medical practitioners. Dr. Aluko said it will take a long time to achieve parity in the percentage of Black and Brown physicians and the communities they serve, so in the meantime it is important that physicians be trained in cultural nuances. Dr. Aluko also said that historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have typically been the educators for Black and Brown physicians, but other medical schools need to have strategies. HBCUs cannot do it all.
Tips and Guidance for Employers
Mrs. Jenkins and Dr. Aluko agree that employees’ health is of material importance to business. This was made abundantly clear in the pandemic. Together, they offered the following tips for employers to ensure their workforce is as healthy and productive as possible, taking into account the different needs of Black and Brown communities.
Make sure it is easy for employees to navigate their healthcare benefits and to take advantage of employee wellness programs. Incentivize the usage of those programs and treat it as part of the core operations of the business.
Take a step back. There has been a lot of reactivity to COVID-19 but smart employers will develop more comprehensive strategies that enhance awareness, health literacy, and workforce resilience in an equitable manner.
Do not forget behavioral health. People are still dealing with a lot of anxiety and fear related to the pandemic and its consequences. Make sure employees have mental healthcare resources and know how/why to use them.
Be honest about the presence of racism and proactively work to dismantle its drivers, without defensiveness.
About the Racial and Social Equity Webinar Series
The Greater Washington Board of Trade’s Racial and Social Equity Webinar Series will provide business leaders across the region the knowledge and tools they need to build more diverse, inclusive, and equitable organizations. It will help leaders identify drivers of inequity and injustice and take concrete steps towards being agents of positive change.
The TD Bank Morning Star Speaker Series event on March 16 featured Bruce Mau, a celebrated design thinking expert with big ideas about the power and importance of empathetic, intentional design.
Watch Bruce’s Presentation
Happening now: Bruce Mau is making the case for massive change in our society and economy, and explaining how empathetic design can get us there.
— Greater Washington Board of Trade (@GWBoardofTrade) March 16, 2021
A powerful concept: what if we intentionally and carefully designed our relationship with nature? "It's not about taking control, it's about taking responsibility" says Mau. pic.twitter.com/qLVln43RcT
— Greater Washington Board of Trade (@GWBoardofTrade) March 16, 2021
The presentation was followed by a Q&A led by David Cronrath, Associate Provost and Professor at the School of Architecture, Planning, & Preservation at the University of Maryland.
Watch the Q&A
About MC24
Bruce Mau has long applied the power of design to transforming the world. Developed over the past three decades, this remarkable book is organized by 24 values that are at the core of Mau’s philosophy. MC24 features essays, observations, project documentation, and design work by Mau and other high-profile architects, designers, artists, scientists, environmentalists, and thinkers of our time. Practical, playful, and critical, it equips readers with a tool kit and empowers them to make an impact and engender change on all scales.
About the TD Bank Morning Star Speaker Series
For over ten years, this series has brought incredible authors and thought-leaders to the Board of Trade community for enlightening presentation and discussion. We are grateful to the series sponsor, TD Bank, for its commitment to providing this benefit to Board of Trade members and community stakeholders.
Members of the Board of Directors, Washington Metro Area Transit Authority (WMATA):
The Greater Washington Board of Trade urges you to reconsider the significant cuts proposed for the fiscal 2022 budget. Any of these reductions, individually or in combination, would dramatically stymie both near-term economic recovery and long-term economic growth. In particular, these cuts would adversely impact the essential workers we all rely on and further widen the region’s stubborn opportunity gaps and racial inequities.
We recognize the extraordinary financial challenges facing WMATA resulting from decreased ridership since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Options are limited, we know. The two federal stimulus programs passed in 2020 provided sufficient funds to stabilize WMATA’s budget through fiscal year end 2021. And now it appears that additional funds will be available to carry through to the end of the 2022 fiscal year. This is great news for the public transit system that serves the national capital region, and our home, yet it’s not a long-term, sustainable approach for reliable day-to-day operations, system expansion and necessary capital expenditures. For example, even prior to current shortfalls, WMATA faced significant funding and strategic challenges.
The Board of Trade continues to support your efforts as we have since Metro’s inception. We have advocated for Metro’s growth, federal and local funding and more; including the founding of MetroNow to help secure long overdue dedicated funding in 2018. Now that our region looks to emerge from the pandemic, we should take this opportunity to reimagine the future of WMATA and public transit. Recognizing the outsized role that buses have played of late – this service made essential work possible throughout the pandemic and carried two to three times as many customers as rail – implementing the regional Bus Transformation Project is a good place to start.
Our economy continues to diversify away from the federal employment base for which Metro was originally designed. A growing population, new businesses and emerging technologies require us to think anew about goals for how WMATA will provide reliable, safe, and convenient regional mobility. And perhaps most importantly, how might we move the system away from the need to consider service cuts during challenging times. Pre-pandemic, transit only captured 3% of the 17 million daily trips in our region – mostly work trips – opening the door to look beyond the commute as a construct for the future. We look forward to working with all of you and WMATA’s management team to explore ways to do better.
Thank you for all you do to make our region more competitive, help decrease the use of single-occupancy vehicles and enhance our quality of life and for considering our position on this important matter. Metro stimulates regional economic opportunities and is a linchpin in the region’s economy. We must find ways to grow not shrink Metro.
Sincerely,
Jack McDougle President & CEO Greater Washington Board of Trade
Millions of hard-working Americans lack access to good jobs and career pathways while at the same time, many employers struggle to hire the talent they need to succeed. This is referred to as the “Opportunity Divide.” At a national level, this dynamic is threatening US economic competitiveness. At the local level, many talented individuals are excluded from opportunities to build a long-term career and financial security. In this webinar, experts explored the perceptions, policies, and practices that often exacerbate the Opportunity Divide and begin to explore how your organization can be a driver for change.
PRESENTERS & MODERATORS
Ronda Thompson, Chief Diversity Equity & Inclusion Officer, Grads of Life
Krysta Sadowski, Director of Advisory Services, Grads of Life
PANELISTS
Rae Vann, Shareholder, Carlton Fields
Ken Jenkins, Business Development at NFP
Rebecca Shambaugh, President and CEO, SHAMBAUGH Leadership
Webinar Recording
Summary
Videos shown in the presentation from Grads of Life:
The “Opportunity Divide” impacts individuals and employers. On one side of the divide are individuals without traditional career pathways (for example, they may not have the opportunity to go to college). On the other side are employers who have roles, typically “middle-skill” roles, that they struggle to fill.
“Opportunity Talent” are those individuals who lack traditional career pathways but do posses unique skills and the desire to work. They may be young people not in higher education, people with disabilities, or the formerly incarcerated.
Companies are most successful in their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts when the very highest levels of leadership support and advocate for it. Companies should identify executives who are responsible for DEI outcomes and provide resources and businesses processes to support them.
Ken Jenkins of NFP said that the most the most critical step is to define the relationship between the DEI advisory board and the executive leadership team and the governance model. The company should decide if the DEI advisory board is a recommending body or a decision-making body, and how changes will be reviewed and implemented. Establishing a strong structure ahead of time ensures that DEI efforts are fully supported by the organization.
It is important that companies have structures in place to hold executives accountable for DEI outcomes. As Rebecca Shambaugh of Leadership put it, “What gets measured gets done.” Companies should track their DEI performance with quantifiable metrics and data, and make outcomes an expected part of executive performance.
It is also important that executives understand how their employees are experiencing work. One way to do this is to go on a listening tour and create a space where employees can share their needs and concerns. Black employees often report unfair disadvantages, such as not being given the same levels of constructive feedback or opportunities to build visibility in their organization.
About the Racial and Social Equity Webinar Series
The Greater Washington Board of Trade’s Racial and Social Equity Webinar Series will provide business leaders across the region the knowledge and tools they need to build more diverse, inclusive, and equitable organizations. It will help leaders identify drivers of inequity and injustice and take concrete steps towards being agents of positive change.
The Biden Administration is now underway and moving quickly to enact a new policy agenda. In this webinar, a panel of experts discuss Biden’s early moves on pandemic response, economic recovery, and more.
Moderator: Evan Kraus, Managing Director & President of Operations, APCO Worldwide
Speakers:
Dr. J. Stephen Jones, President & CEO, Inova
Evelyn Lee, President, Greater Washington Region, SunTrust Bank now Truist
Chris Scribner,Senior Policy Advisor, Venable, LLP
Dr. Kavita Patel, Physician and Health Policy Expert
Following is a letter to Board of Trade members and friends from our President and CEO, Jack McDougle:
Washington, DC will host the 59th Presidential Inauguration on January 20, 2021 under extraordinary circumstances that none of us could have imagined. As during past Inaugurations and even more so this year, we are in close contact with the Secret Service, FBI, DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and other agencies to monitor security procedures and other issues. As you might imagine, the situation is constantly evolving, and officials are striving to adjust as needed. Over the next week, we encourage everyone to err on the side of caution across the region, especially in downtown DC.
Please stay close to your preferred news sources and, if you have not already, visitinauguration.dc.govor text INAUG2021 to 888-777 for real-time updates from the DC government on public safety, street closures, weather alerts, transit updates, and more.
A few updates:
Beginning at 6:00 am this Friday, January 15, all parking garages in restricted zones will be inaccessible. Any vehicle still in a garage or loading zone after this time must remain there until after the Inauguration. Restricted zones include the White House Zone (19th to 14th Streets NW and K Street to Constitution Ave). More street closures and restricted zones will be announced later. Visit inauguration.dc.gov/closures for the latest.
Metro will close 13 stations (11 beginning Friday and an additional two on Saturday) in downtown DC through the Inauguration. Read the announcement for more details.
Mayor Bowser, Governor Northam, and Governor Hogan are asking people not to attend the Inauguration or travel to downtown DC. Most events have been canceled or will be held virtually.
Federal assistance has been approved to supplement DC’s response efforts due to the emergency conditions through January 24, 2021. More than 15,000 National Guard troops are expected.
DC non-essential businesses are required to telework to the maximum extent possible as per COVID-19 restrictions.
This will continue to be a fluid and dynamic situation. Please stay informed and have a plan for unexpected curfews, street closures, and transit disruptions.
After a year of upheaval with the COVID-19 pandemic, economic duress, long overdue attention to racial and economic inequality, and last week’s reprehensible attack on the U.S. Capitol, we are tired, frustrated, stressed, annoyed, and the list goes on. Yet, over the long term, our region will prevail and emerge stronger.
In the meantime, and I know you are, please take care and stay safe. And let us never forget to appreciate everyone who continues to work tirelessly on the frontlines for our benefit—nurses and doctors, firefighters and police officers, transit and utility workers, and many more. We owe them so much.
Please contact me if you have questions or concerns.
Yours very truly,
Jack McDougle President & CEO, Greater Washington Board of Trade
In this 1-hour webinar, a cross-sector panel of experts discuss how the Biden Administration is likely to change public policy in Congress and the White House and what that means for your company and community.
Moderator: Evan Kraus, President & Managing Director of Operations, APCO Worldwide
Speakers:
Larry Di Rita , Greater Washington, DC Market President, Bank Of America
Bart Gordon, Partner, K&L Gates
John Mayo, Professor and Executive Director of the Center for Business and Public Policy, Georgetown University
Karishma Page, Partner, K&L Gates
Read the summary
Priorities for the Incoming Biden Administration
Clearly, getting the COVID-19 pandemic under control, preventing more mass casualties, and getting our economy back on track are going to be top priorities for the Biden Administration. All panelists agreed that Biden must prioritize testing, contact tracing, distribution of a vaccine, and passing a stimulus deal. (Which, John Mayo thinks will not happen in the lame duck session.)
But there are other major priorities that will compete for the Biden Administration’s attention and resources. Larry Di Rita explained that all incoming administrations have a list of executive orders ready to go on day one, and that this is a way to set the tone early in their tenure. He expects Biden to release early executive orders on immigration and climate change.
Bart Gordon said that Biden will have to “walk and chew gum at the same time,” citing rebuilding our reputation with foreign allies as one of those other projects. Gordon also said it would be important for the Biden Administration to meaningfully engage on climate, both because it’s the right thing to do and because it is a way to build bridges with the progressives in the Democratic party. He can start by rejoining the Paris Climate Accord and rolling back some deregulations from the Trump Administration.
What the policy landscape may look like…
On SBA loans and stimulus
Karishma Page pointed out that there will be a great deal of scrutiny and oversight of how stimulus dollars are allocated and spent. This will not likely result in retroactive rule changes to SBA loans, but there may be changes to the rules in future stimulus deals.
Larry expressed his view that the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) should be considered a success, even if there is some room for improvement. There is tension between spending money correctly and see more of that money get pushed out, and we have an opportunity to fine-tune the program if it gets a chance to be continued.
Larry does not expect interest rates to increase above their very low rates anytime soon, and though the rising debt will need to be addressed, it does not need to be a priority in the short term. It will take a while to get to troubling levels of inflation, and getting stimulus spending out to people and businesses that need it is essential for economic recovery.
John pointed out that this recession has been demand-induced, so it lends itself to stimulus. But a nuance is that it is very idiosyncratic and depends on the sector—some have suffered, like restaurants and airlines, while others have done well, like the tech sector.
On tax policy
Karishma Page explained that the Biden campaign made it clear that review of tax policy is on the agenda, but a Republican Senate creates significant headwinds. However, that does not mean nothing will get done. A starting point is the stimulus for COVID-19, where tax policy can be used to stimulate economic activity.
On infrastructure
There has been bipartisan interest in an infrastructure package, but there is continuing disagreement between the parties on how much to spend and how we are going to pay for it.
On the minimum wage
On scale of 1 to 100, Karishma puts the likelihood that the federal minimum wage will change at 30. There is some bipartisan interest in raising the wage, but very partisan disagreement remains on the amount. We will likely see more state and local jurisdictions raising minimum wages, which creates a patchwork of policy across the country and increases pressure for a federal minimum wage increase. The chances might increase as we get closer to the 2022 race because there are more republican members of congress in vulnerable seats.
On tech policy
John says he expects the debates to continue but Biden’s influence may bring down the heat and hyperbole.
On healthcare
Assuming republicans hold their majority in the Senate and the ACA is not overturned by the Supreme Court, Karishma believes there can be some bipartisan support for certain issues, like curbing surprise billing and providing price transparency. There are probably not very big ramifications for employers.
