[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 116 (Thursday, July 16, 2026)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E700-E701]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EMPOWERING WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESSES
______
HON. NYDIA M. VELAZQUEZ
of new york
in the house of representatives
Thursday, July 16, 2026
Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong
opposition to the so-called ``Ending Discrimination in Government
Contracting Act,'' legislation that would more accurately be described
as the ``Ending WOSB Participation in Government Contracting Act.''
This latest attempt to attack small business entrepreneurs and
women's participation in the federal marketplace is transparent,
misguided, and cruel. The intent of this bill is specific and the
result is predictable: it will depress contracting opportunities for
women-owned small businesses, unlevel the playing field to reduce
competition, and further the underrepresentation of women-owned firms
in federal contracting across all sectors and industries.
Mr. Speaker, starting and growing a small business is already
incredibly difficult for most current and aspiring entrepreneurs. The
challenges can be immense, from accessing affordable capital and hiring
qualified staff to maintaining or growing sales while integrating new
tech. Successfully navigating the landscape requires persistence,
determination, and flexibility. Competing for government contracts adds
another layer of complexity, especially for small firms without the
resources of corporate giants or the ear of this President.
The Small Business Administration (SBA)'s Women-Owned Small Business
(WOSB) Program is designed to help level the playing field for women-
owned small businesses in the federal marketplace. It was not
established solely to remedy the very real discrimination and bias that
women-owned firms faced then and still face today. Congress established
the WOSB Program to address how the systematic, well-documented
underrepresentation of women-owned firms in specific industries was
undermining the government's objectives.
Like the WOSB federal contracting goals, the government's objectives
remain unmet.
In 1994, Congress established a goal of awarding 5 percent of federal
contracting dollars to women-owned small businesses government-wide,
providing ``a target that will result in greater opportunities for
women to compete for federal contracts.'' Recognizing the obstacles
that female entrepreneurs faced when entering and competing in the
federal market. Congress identified this as an uphill battle: ``Given
the slow progress to date . . . this goal may take some time to be
reached.''
Over three decades later, this remains an understatement. The
government has only met the goal twice, most recently in 2019.
At the time the goal was enacted, women-owned firms were awarded less
than 2 percent of federal contracts. The dollars and percentages have
climbed slowly and steadily but progress is inconsistent. In recent
years, WOSB contracts have made up almost 5 percent of eligible small
business spending, meaning the goal has helped to grow WOSB market
share by roughly 1 percent each decade. We knew it would take time, but
this progress has been insufficient for those of us who believe
strongly in equal opportunity and a level playing field.
It appears that for supporters of the ``Ending WOSB Participation in
Government Contracting Act,'' more than 95 percent of federal contract
awarded to non-women-owned small businesses is insufficient for their
goals as well. Apparently, the ``discrimination'' that non-WOSBs face
as a result of receiving only more than 95 percent of federal
contracting dollars must be remedied with legislative efforts designed
to reduce the market share of women-owned firms--from its current 4.5
percent to zero.
The motives behind this bill are transparent but we do not need it to
pass to know the result. We are now seeing the impact of a government
that retreats from policies empowering women-owned firms. As the SBA
recently announced, in Year One of the Trump Administration:
The value of contracts awarded to all small businesses dropped by
$4.5 billion, while women-owned firms saw a decrease of $2.3 billion.
That is a staggering amount: WOSB contracts make up 16 percent of all
small business contracts but took half the total losses for all small
businesses last year.
The number of small businesses participating in the industrial base
also tanked, while WOSBs were again disproportionately impacted. The
government awarded contracts to 6.9 percent fewer small businesses than
the year before, yet 7.4 percent fewer women-owned firms received a
contract.
The disproportionate impact of this Administration's policies on
women-owned small businesses previews the predictable and foreseeable
consequences of the ``Ending WOSB Participation in Government
Contracting Act.'' It further highlights why the goals and tools are
needed now more than ever.
In 2000, I wrote, and successfully shepherded into law, legislation
that created the WOSB Program. Rather than relying only on a goal, we
gave federal agencies the tools to bring women into the market and
level the playing field for them to compete. Like other small business
procurement programs, contracting officers are permitted to use small
business only competitions and direct awards to SBA-certified firms,
when certain conditions are met.
We knew at the time that any federal contracting program assisting
women-owned firms had to pass constitutional scrutiny. We built in
strong legal protections that have enabled the program to remain
operational today.
As a result of the details and complexity of these protections,
however, the WOSBs tools remain underutilized, and contracts awarded
using these tools are few. The less than $2 billion in contracts
awarded through the WOSB Program makes up: just over 6 percent of
contracts awarded to women-owned small businesses, roughly 1 percent of
all small business contracts, and barely a fraction--only 0.3 percent--
of total government contracts.
That bears repeating, as supporters of efforts like this bill
conveniently leave it out: the overwhelming majority of contracts
awarded to WOSBs are awarded competitively. Firms owned by men are not
discriminated against or left out of these competitions, women-owned
firms are winning them. In Fiscal Year 2024, WOSBs won $12 billion in
competitions among other small businesses and more than $8 billion in
competitions against other than small firms.
This context helps clarify the motives behind this bill: to
stigmatize the WOSB Program and eliminate the market share that
currently results from WOSBs winning competitively-awarded contracts.
For those of us who believe strongly in equal opportunity and a level
playing field, the unmet goal and underutilization of the procurement
tools show the government is not properly implementing the WOSB
program-and therefore not addressing needs of the women business owners
it is designed to serve.
In a recent Small Business Committee hearing on the defense
industrial base, Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) summed it up
bluntly: ``It is not a shortage of capable women-owned firms ready to
bid and win. . . . The goal is the government's to meet, and the
reasons it goes unmet are structural and within the government's own
control.''
It appears however that for supporters of the ``Ending WOSB
Participation in Government Contracting Act,'' more than 99.97 percent
of federal contracts open to competition from non-WOSBs does not meet
their needs either.
This bill and similar attacks on small business programs often imply
that the government simply hands out contracts to unqualified and
unvetted companies. This ignores the fundamental nature of government
procurement, and is both inaccurate and insulting.
In my years leading the Small Business Committee, I have yet to meet
a small business who says the government's requirements are too lax,
winning contracts is easy, and compliance is not burdensome. Even
before last year's exodus of small businesses from the federal market,
estimates showed the government has almost half the number of small
businesses in its ecosystem than a decade ago. The shrinking industrial
base usually sets off bipartisan alarms. The Department of Defense
calls it a national security risk.
Therefore, recruiting and retaining small businesses into the public
sector, ensuring they have contracting opportunities, and bolstering
the resiliency and competitiveness of the industrial base should be our
priority. As women entrepreneurs increasingly venture into diverse
industries, the WOSB Program can help us do that. In fact, women-owned
small businesses are the industrial base's growth opportunity.
I hope all of my colleagues will join me in opposing this extremist
bill to eliminate the WOSB program and any legislation that rolls back
the hard-fought gains women have made in the workplace, the business
community, and the federal market.
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