{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://scholten.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-scholten-leads-small-business-committee-democrats-calling-sba-release", "Rep. Scholten Leads Small Business Committee Democrats in Calling on SBA to Release Updated Minority Contracting Statistics", "2023-10-26", "2023", "2023-10", "Democrat", "House", "MI", "Hillary J. Scholten", "S001221", "scholten.house.gov", "scholten", "https://scholten.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 Today, Rep. Hillary Scholten (MI-03), along with Small Business Committee Ranking Member Nydia M. Vel\u00e1zquez (D-NY) and Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-MD), led five Small Business Committee Democrats in sending a letter to the Small Business Administration (SBA) calling on the agency to release updated, disaggregated data of federal contracting spending by race/ethnicity of business owners for Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22).\n\n\u201cGiven the ongoing challenges for small businesses in the federal marketplace, including and especially for minority-owned small businesses and programs that focus on minority-owned businesses, we believe that this data will continue to demonstrate the need for targeted programs,\u201d wrote the lawmakers. \u201cUpdating and releasing this information would be a prudent and clear step toward our shared goal of increasing opportunity for all underserved small business government contractors.\u201d\n\nIn 2021, the Biden administration released disaggregated federal contracting data for the first time in an effort to increase transparency and equity in procurement programs. The data highlights that minority-owned small businesses continue to be underrepresented in the federal marketplace. The data has emerged as a valuable tool for lawmakers crafting policies to address barriers to entry and other obstacles for government contractors.\n\n\u201cThe committee requests that the SBA compile this information from the FY22 data as soon as practicable,\u201d wrote the lawmakers. \u201cWe believe that this information is especially timely and prudent and would be helpful to ongoing efforts to protect programs that level the playing field for minority-owned businesses.\u201d\n\nThe letter was also signed by Reps. Shri Thanedar (D-MI), Morgan McGarvey (D-KY), Sharice Davids (D-KS), Dean Phillips (D-MN), and Judy Chu (D-CA).", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T00:49:26Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://scholten.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-scholten-leads-small-business-committee-democrats-calling-sba-release"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8148110937327147, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}