Jobs, Health Care and Police Reform

Friends,

While there is much uncertainty in the world right now, I find myself reciting Psalms 16:1 throughout the day: "Preserve me O Lord, for in thee I put my trust." My faith in Christ keeps my family and I grounded as we face these unprecedented times.

As our state and country grapple with how to reopen and emerge from the COVID-19 global health pandemic, my priorities have remained constant – to make sure health care providers in our community have the resources they need and to support small businesses and protect jobs.

Throughout this time, I have come to work every day with this goal in mind. This week, we held two hearings in two of my Energy and Commerce Subcommittees. We examined the effects of the coronavirus on the energy sector, as well as discussed health care inequality and the racial disparities in our health care system.

There's no question the Coronavirus pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on minority communities. That's why I have been asking for a hearing in Congress on this topic for over a month. In last week's hearing, I shared that in Fayetteville, African Americans make up 57% of the COVID-19 patients at Cape Fear Valley Hospital, but are just 34.9% of the population. This is both alarming and concerning. We need to help these communities through education on prevention and by eliminating obstacles that make it harder for certain communities to access health care than others. I am committed to working with my colleagues on the Health Subcommittee to address these disparities.

I am also committed to job creation, including in the energy sector. According to estimates, the energy sector has lost more than 1.3 million jobs. Now is the time to come together in a bipartisan way and produce solutions that actually help our energy sector, not just pick winners and losers. For instance, my friend and Democrat Chairman of the Energy Subcommittee Bobby Rush and I have a bill together, H.R. 4061, the Blue Collar and Green Collar Jobs Development Act. This legislation is an all-of-the-above energy jobs bill and it is bipartisan ideas like this that will get Americans back to work. We must do this, especially for minority communities.

The effects on minority employment and business ownership have been staggering. African American unemployment has risen from a record-low 5.4% - thanks to Republican tax reform and President Trump's economic policies - to 16.8% due to the coronavirus shutdown. Hispanic employment soared from a record-low 3.9% to 17.6%, and Asian employment dropped from a record-low 2.1% unemployment to 15%. Further, 41% of African American-owned businesses have closed, 32% of Hispanic-owned businesses, and 26% of Asian-owned businesses. Overall, 36% of immigrant-owned businesses have closed.

I have heard from many minority small business owners in our community who were impacted by the economic shutdown in response to coronavirus. I know this has disproportionally affected minority communities and I have tried to work through problems like access to the banking system.

I value this feedback and am constantly seeking to hear directly from you. Last week, I heard firsthand about these challenges in a live video town hall with small business owners and members of the National Federation of Independent Business from throughout our region. Without hearing directly from those on the front lines of this pandemic, I could not do my job effectively. I appreciated hearing their concerns as we discussed what measures Congress can implement to further support small businesses and workers.

As I also focus on forging bipartisan and common sense police reform legislation being debated in Congress, please know I will continue my focus on jobs and improving access to health care for everyone.

The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on our economy and there are many challenges that we need to address. Rest assured, I will continue to fight for common sense legislation that gets Americans back to work and keeps our small businesses afloat as they weather this storm.

Until next week,

Richard Hudson

Member of Congress