At Risk
The 8(a) program faces an uncertain future.
The 8(a) program faces an uncertain future.
Political and legal threats loom over the Small Business
Administration's 8(a) minority set-aside program, which
provided 6,625 new contracts and more than 25,000 contract
modifications totaling $5.82 billion to small minority businesses
in fiscal 1995. California's passage of the anti-affirmative
action Proposition 209 and the Supreme Court's June 1995
decision in Adarand v. Peña possibly invalidating
government agencies' racial classifications make it more than
likely Congress will attempt to redraw the SBA program as part of a
broader effort to make federal laws more color- and
ethnicity-blind.
Rep. Charles Canady (R-FL) will reintroduce the bill he
sponsored last session, which ends racial and gender preferences
for federal programs. Last session, only Republicans publicly
supported the Dole-Canady bill. But a Canady aide says some
Democrats were also on board, if silently. "There will be
Democratic support for something in this direction," he
maintains.
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It is uncertain whether anyone will introduce a narrower bill on
the 8(a) program, as Rep. Jan Meyers (R-KS), the retired chair of
the House Small Business Committee, did in 1996, to no avail. But
the Clinton administration will fight any major reform efforts.
"There is no need for drastic change," says SBA spokesman
D.J. Caulfield, who notes that while the Justice Department is
considering changes to federal programs in the wake of
Adarand, none are expected to significantly affect 8(a).
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