- Group of senators from the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship reintroduce legislation to reauthorize the Interagency Committee on Women’s Business Enterprise
- Committee has been inactive since 2000, with no chairperson to lead it
- Bill would amend Title IV of the Women’s Business Ownership Act to ensure that a chairperson is appointed to operate the committee
Summary by Dirk Langeveld
Four members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship have reintroduced legislation designed so strengthen a government entity that assists women entrepreneurs in starting and growing businesses.
Two Democrats and two Republicans introduced the Interagency Committee on Women’s Business Enterprise Act. A piece of companion legislation has also been introduced in the House.
- The bill would reauthorize the Interagency Committee for Women’s Business Enterprise (ICWBE) to “help coordinate federal resources to encourage the formation, growth and success of women-owned businesses.”
- ICWBE was established in 1979, but currently has no chairperson to lead it and has been inactive since 2000
- The legislation would amend Title IV of the Women’s Business Ownership Act to ensure that a chairperson is appointed to operate the committee
- It also calls for updates to the interagency mission to identify the barriers women entrepreneurs face in starting or growing a business, and updating agencies and departments that coordinate on providing resources to women entrepreneurs to make sure all resources are being used effectively
