Support a Continuing Resolution that Protects Women-Owned Small Businesses from Hostile Federal Regulations

Recipient: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, and Chairman Obey:

On behalf of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), the nation’s oldest, largest, and most diverse civil and human rights coalition with nearly 200 member organizations, we are writing to urge you to include an amendment to the Continuing Resolution that would bar any federal funds from being spent on issuing or implementing a Small Business Administration (SBA) regulation that would subvert the will of Congress and undermine women-owned small businesses.

The SBA’s proposed regulation, implementing the Women’s Procurement Program (72 Fed. Reg. 73,295), is an attempt to undermine years of bipartisan cooperation in Congress to help women-owned businesses compete on a level playing field for federal contracts. The proposed rule willfully misreads all applicable legal standards and directly contravenes congressional intent by closing the doors of the program to the vast majority of businesses and creating unnecessary hurdles before any agency could implement the program, effectively ending it before it begins.

The Continuing Resolution is the last chance to stop this administration from harming women-owned businesses because SBA has already sent a final rule to the Office of Management and Budget for review. The final rule can be stopped with a simple “defunding” amendment, such as:

None of the funds made available under this Act may be used to promulgate or implement the proposed rule relating to women-owned small business Federal contract assistance procedures published in the Federal Register on December 27, 2007 (72 Fed. Reg. 73285 et seq.).

When Congress returns to act on the 2009 appropriations bills, it can address a more permanent fix to the problem. However, it is worth noting that the Senate Appropriations Committee recently unanimously approved similar language in the Fiscal Year 2009 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill which would prohibit the SBA from utilizing funds in the bill to implement the proposed rule.

While the Continuing Resolution may not be the ideal legislation for addressing many policy concerns, the Women’s Procurement Program is a federal contracting program and the rule at issue would determine how federal funds are spent, making this an appropriate subject for inclusion in a bill providing those funds. We urge you to include the amendment in the Continuing Resolution. If you require further information about the program or have any questions, please contact David Goldberg, Senior Counsel, at (202)466-0087, regarding this or any issue.

Sincerely,
Wade Henderson, President & CEO
Nancy Zirkin, Executive Vice President