Political Quotes

“I rise today, during National Small Business Week, along with my colleague Senator Gillibrand, to introduce the Fairness in Women-Owned Small Business Contracting Act. This vital piece of legislation builds upon a bill I introduced last summer, the Small Business Contracting Programs Parity Act, S. 1489. The purpose of the bill is to remove the inequities involved in the women-owned small business contracting program. As former Chair and now Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I have long been a champion of women entrepreneurs and have urged both past and present administrations to implement the woman-owned small business, WOSB, Federal contracting program, which was enacted into law ten years ago. On March 4, 2010, the Small Business Administration, SBA, finally proposed a workable rule to implement the women's procurement program. The SBA's new proposed rule clarifies that individual Federal agencies do not have to certify that they have engaged in past discrimination against women in order for their contracting officials to reserve contracts for WOSBs. The proposed rule also identifies 83 eligible industries under the program as those in which women-owned small businesses are underrepresented or substantially underrepresented. These initiatives will help increase opportunities and access by women to Federal procurement.”