Rep. Chu Fights for More Opportunities for Women Small Business Owners

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-CA) offered an amendment to H.R. 4094, the Contract Accessibility Improvement Act, during the House Small Business Committee’s markup today. The amendment would raise the federal government’s goal of contracts awarded to women-owned small businesses from 5% to 6%. While the Republican-led legislation has received bi-partisan support, Rep. Chu’s amendment was defeated by a party-line vote. Rep. Chu released the following statement:

“I am extremely disappointed to see political calculations standing in the way of progress for female small business owners,” said Rep. Chu. “The change my amendment called for was small, but it would have made a huge difference for women across the country who want to do business with the federal government. The government spends over $500 billion each year on contracts with the private sector, and I will continue to fight for more opportunities for women-owned small businesses to access that revenue.”

Although women make up half of our workforce, women-owned businesses continue to lag behind male-owned businesses. The average revenue of women-owned businesses is only 27 percent of their male counterparts. By granting a larger share of government contracts to women-owned small businesses, Rep. Chu’s amendment would have given these businesses access to billions of dollars in federal contracts.