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Bipartisan Support For Contracting Bill
By Marc Tracy
We wanted to note something briefly about the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act. The bill, which we covered when it was first introduced, was submitted by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) but penned by Lloyd Chapman of the American Small Business League. The bill would redefine small businesses for federal contracting purposes such that the subsidiaries of large businesses would no longer be eligible to be counted as small, mainly by requiring that a business that wins a federal contract be reported as its parent company. The proposed law comes in response to the revelations last year that, due to a 6% error rate, small businesses did not receive the 23% of federal contracts to which they are legally entitled. If the bill is enacted, the change could divert over $100 billion per year to small businesses, Chapman estimates.
The ASBL tends to be, politically, a pretty liberal group: in fact, they have even attacked President Obama from the left for allegedly cozying up too closely to the venture-capital industry (most notably in his selection of venture capitalist Karen G. Mills as head of the Small Business Administration). So count us surprised--pleasantly!--to find, via CNNMoney, that the National Federation of Independent Business, the most powerful small-business interest group, and one which typically finds itself on the right wing of the political spectrum, supports Chapman's bill. "Tightening the definition of small business would create significant opportunities for actual small businesses," says the NFIB's vice president of public policy. Note that pointed word "actual". Great stuff.
The NFIB deserves plaudits for supporting a bill that would so clearly benefit all small businesses, and thereby doing a wonderful job of living up to its own mission statement. We hope the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is embarassed by its reported opposition to the bill. And we hope that the bill's bipartisan support eases its passage into law.
Comments (0)July 10, 2009 4:43 PM
