Congressional Democrats Back Lawsuit Over Women's Set-Aside Seventy-one Democratic members of Congress are supporting a lawsuit aimed at forcing SBA to implement the set-aside program for woman-owned businesses. The Democrats filed a friend of the court brief May 26, declaring that the four-and-a-half year delay in implementing the program “frustrate(s) Congress’s intent.” Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN) described SBA officials as “stubborn bureaucrats who are deliberately failing to enforce the law.” The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce sued in Washington federal court in October, asking a judge to order SBA to implement the set-aside within three months. SBA’s motion to dismiss the case is pending before U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton. The day before the Congress members filed their brief, SBA issued a press release saying it will begin writing regulations to define eligibility for the program, but it did not say when. The ranking Democrat on the House Small Business Committee, Rep. Nydia Velazquez (NY), called SBA’s statement “the same story over and over again.” President Clinton signed the Women’s Procurement Program into law on Dec. 21, 2000. It allows set-aside contracts “in industries historically underrepresented by women-owned small businesses.” As required by law, SBA conducted a study to identify the eligible industries, but agency officials have said the Justice Department did not believe the study would stand up to a court challenge because it did not prove discrimination against women. In 2002 SBA asked the National Academy of Sciences to evaluate its study. The Academy’s Committee on National Statistics did not issue its report until March 2005, when it declared the study was flawed and recommended a new one. In its May 25 statement SBA said it will “request proposals for undertaking the industry-by-industry study, as recommended by the NAS, needed to determine those industries where women-owned small businesses are underrepresented and substantially underrepresented.” Velazquez remarked, “It took a year to do the study and now, three-and-a-half years later, they are studying the study.” Congress has set a goal of awarding 5% of federal prime contract dollars to woman-owned firms, but their share was less than 3% through fiscal 2003, the latest figures available. “Talk is cheap,” the Women’s Chamber CEO, Margot Dorfman, said. “We don’t need your special SBA women’s awards, special SBA women’s newsletters and publications with pictures of happy women and endless women’s events. What we need is for the Small Business Administration to implement the law.”