On Thursday, May 1, Senator Barak Obama sent a letter to SBA Administrator Preston objecting to the SBA's proposed rule for the WOSB's procurement program.

In the letter, Obama calls on the SBA "to withdraw its proposal and replace it with a program that reflects the appropriate legal standard, Congressional intent, and the pervasive lack of federal contracting opportunities for women-owned small businesses."

The text of the letter is below:

Dear Administrator Preston,

As a member of the United States Senate, I write to convey my strong objection to the SBA's Proposed Rule entitled Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Assistance procedures, published December 27, 2007 (Fed. Reg. 73285). I join Senate Small Business Committee Chairman John Kerry who expressed his concerns to you in a recent letter as well. The proposal conflicts with the intent of Congress, is unjustified by any legal standard, and will do little or nothing to rectify the underrepresentation of, and discrimination and artificial barriers faced by, women owned businesses in government contracting awards.

As decades of evidence has shown, women business owners and minority business owners have been subject to discrimination in numerous ways, including in lending, access to capital, and basic access to federal contracting opportunities. Based on the record, in 2000, Congress passed an unambiguous law that sought to take a small step toward rectifying this chronic problem faced by women owned businesses. The legislation set a realistic and modest goal that 5% of federal contracts be awarded to women owned businesses. Because of persistent barriers, this goal has never been met. In 2006, women owned businesses comprised 30 percent of all small businesses but received only 3.4% of all federal contracts.

There is thus a critical need to implement the Women's Procurement Program in ways that will ensure that Congress's purposes will fully be met. The SBA proposal is not only inadequate to meet this goal; in fact it affirmatively undermines Congress's intent that women owned businesses be awarded their fair share of government contracts.

First, the SBA proposed regulations impose legal requirements that go far beyond any legal standard, statutory or constitutional. These requirements create a hurdle for federal agencies which will ensure that Congress's permissible and critical goals will never be met.

Moreover, the SBA has unnecessarily and unfairly restricted application of the Women's Procurement Program. Congress exceeded constitutional requirements in directing that the Program be used only in the specific industries where women-owned businesses are under-represented. But in interpreting the study it commissioned, the SBA limited the Program to only 4 of 2,300 business categories; in fact, the study should fairly be read to find under-representation in the overwhelming majority of business categories.

Despite a clear and legally justified Congressional mandate, the SBA refused to release the necessary implementing regulations for seven years. Unfortunately, this long awaited proposal is a tragic step backward. The SBA should withdraw this proposal and replace it with a program that reflects the appropriate legal standard, Congressional intent, and the pervasive lack of federal contracting opportunities for women-owned small businesses.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

United States Senator

The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) recently released statistics about women in elected office:

• Congress: women hold 87, or 16.3%, of the 535 seats in the 110th US Congress -- 16, or 16.0%, of the 100 seats in the Senate and 71, or 16.3%, of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. In addition, three women serve as Delegates to the House from Guam, the Virgin Islands and Washington, DC. 

• Statewide Elective Executive: In 2008, 74 women hold statewide elective executive offices across the country; women hold 23.5% of the 315 available positions. Among these women, 44 are Democrats, 27 are Republicans, and 3 were elected in nonpartisan races.

• State Legislature: In 2008, 1,746, or 23.7%, of the 7,382 state legislators in the United States are women. Women hold 423, or 21.5%, of the 1,971 state senate seats and 1,323, or 24.5%, of the 5,411 state house seats. Since 1971, the number of women serving in state legislatures has more than quintupled

For more information and to view the full article visit the CAWP website.

It's no secret that an increasing number of Americans are financially unprepared for their retirement.  A recent report released by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) found that workers' confidence about their prospects of retiring comfortably fell from 27 percent in January 2007 to 18 percent in January 2008. And with 77 million baby boomers set to retire over the next few years, retirement security will become an increasingly important issue for policy makers to address. For women, the challenge to be able to have a financially secure retirement is even steeper.

The causes for the increasing financial security challenges Americans face are varied.   For one thing Americans are living longer than ever before and a lot longer than many projected when they were planning for retirement. Making things more challenging is the fact that less than half of Americans have any type of employer-sponsored retirement plan.  Lastly, Social Security and personal savings as sources of retirement income are not enough. On average, Social Security provides just 38 percent of pre-retirement earnings and America's personal savings rate stands at a negative.

As the president of WIPP, I have seen firsthand the unique challenges that women business owners face when it comes to saving for retirement.  Women spend an average of 12 years less than men in the workforce, which translates into fewer years saving or participating in an employer-sponsored retirement plan.  Women also earn only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men.  Consider that a typical 25-year-old woman with a college degree will make about $523,000 less in wages over her lifetime than her male counterpart.  This amount, or even a portion of it, with accumulated interest, could itself represent a comfortable retirement nest egg.

And women will need to do more with less, as their life expectancy is 80 years from birth, compared to just 74 for men.  Women who are living alone face a much greater risk of declining living standards or poverty in old age.

One way to address this retirement challenge is to encourage the "annuitization" of savings.  Lifetime annuities are the only retirement vehicle besides Social Security and pensions that can deliver retirees a steady stream of income for life - a "paycheck" for life.  Lifetime annuities greatly ease the challenges of retirement planning and take the guesswork out of estimating the necessary level of savings and rate of consumption.  Annuities are a particularly useful retirement tool for women entrepreneurs and small business owners, who typically do not have access to traditional retirement vehicles such as pensions or 401(k)s.

A large bipartisan group of Members of Congress have recognized the importance of savings annuitization through the introduction and support for the bipartisan Retirement Security for Life Act (S, 1010/HR 2205).  The legislation would provide a tax incentive that would exempt from income taxes 50 percent of the retirement income received from an annuity. For an average taxpayer, this would yield an average of $5,000 in savings. Most importantly, it provides an incentive to save outside of an employer-sponsored plan, thus providing greater flexibility and helping to level the playing field for women saving for retirement.  It's a small but important step toward ensuring retirement security for all Americans.

I urge you to contact your Congressional delegation asking them for their support of this legislation.  We've made it easy to do.  Go to our website and click on Take Action.  You will see an action alert where you can ask your Congressional delegation to support The Retirement Security for Life Act.  It will only take a minute but your voice will be heard.

For more information on Americans for Secure Retirement, visit www.paycheckforlife.org

On April 9 WIPP released key findings from their Annual Survey. Respondents ranked the state of the US economy and health care as the top two issues.  These results guide our work in Washington, so you know how important they are and so do we. That's why we're updating the 2008 economic forecast portion.

Please take a moment to answer 3 questions.

    Each year WIPP polls its members to get confirmation and reaffirm the issues that are most important to them, and to gain a sense of the priority of those issues.   For the first time, health care was out-ranked as the most pressing issue, by concern for the economy.

   Despite ranking the U.S. econonomy as the #1 issue, WIPP members are optimistic about their business prospects in 2008.   Over 82% do not expect to downsize their business, and 49% expect to add up to 5 new employees this year.

   The response from women entrepreneurs clearly reflects the growing concern with the U.S. economic outlook.   Given the key role that small business plays in our overall economy, the results of the survey helps shape federal and state policy that supports the continued health of WIPP's 500,000 members, and the millions of small business owners in the United States.

   Right behind the U.S. economy, as in past years, members ranked health care as their leading issue.   65% of the surveyed women business owners offer health insurance coverage to their employees.   While the majority oppose the federal government acting as the sole provider of healthcare coverage, our members were split on whether or not employers or individuals should be responsible for obtaining insurance for health care.   In 2007, 33% said individuals rather than employers should assume that responsibility.   This number has increased to 46% in 2008.

   When asked about possible solutions to address health care costs, 89% were supportive of proposals which would give small employers access to the same insurance offered to government employees.   Additionally, 62% of survey respondents supported lifting restrictions which prohibit business owners and employees to shop across state lines.

   Other issues that ranked as important or very important in the survey, included energy and the environment, access to capital, federal procurement programs and telecommunications issues.

   One of the items that surprised me - and pleased me so much - was the growth of the number of minority members in our organization.   According to the survey, 36% of our members responded as a member of a minority community:   African American, Hispanic, Asian, etc.    Diversity has been a top priority for WIPP.   We've been working hard to increase minority participation, and are making steady progress.   Thank you all for your confidence and faith in us.

   For more information on the survey, a detailed Executive Summary of the survey results, and our Top Ten WBO Facts, check out our website!