Statement on Senator Ernst’s Empowering Women In Small Business Act

Statement on Senator Ernst’s Empowering Women In Small Business Act

Candace Waterman, President & CEO - Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP)

Senator Ernst’s Empowering Women In Small Business Act takes important steps towards creating a level playing field for Women Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs) and ensuring that federal agencies come closer to meeting the federal contracting goals for the WOSB program. By eliminating self-certification, Sen. Ernst’s legislation would prioritize WOSBs that made the time and effort to become certified according to SBA standards and would incentivize agencies to create more opportunities for WOSBs, as they would no longer be able to count self-certified businesses towards their contracting goals.

The legislation also requires additional reporting to Congress to help understand why agencies fall short of their WOSB contracting goals, and what steps they plan to take to meet their goals in the future. These provisions are sorely needed, especially given that the government has only met its 5% WOSB goal twice in the last two decades despite the fact that business ownership among women grew exponentially in that time. WIPP supports this legislation, and applauds Senator Ernst’s ongoing efforts to create more opportunities for women entrepreneurs to succeed and grow their businesses.