U.S. House approves Sharice Davids bill to boost funding for female entrepreneurs

The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to approve a bill that would increase funding to Women Business Centers through the U.S. Small Business Association, marking another attempt to get additional funding for a program proponents say helps create more female entrepreneurs.

The bill cleared the House on a voice vote, a sign of uncontroversial legislation that has bipartisan approval.

The bill, sponsored by Kansas Rep. Sharice Davids, comes as the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated gender disparity in the U.S. workforce. Women were more likely to leave the workforce than men as households faced increasing child care demands amid school and day care closures.

Women are down 1.1 million net jobs since February 2020, and there are 872,000 fewer women in the labor force than in February 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There are around 493,000 fewer men in the labor force compared to February 2020.

Davids' bill would reauthorize funding for the Women Business Center program, which provides counseling and training for women to create their own businesses. There are 150 Women Business Centers across the country, including a Kansas City organization based in Fairway.

"Women are the engine of our economy," Davids said in a floor speech Tuesday. "When we invest in the success of women, we're giving our entire economy a boost."

The bill would increase the amount of money allocated to the Women Business Center program from $18 million to $31.5 million and would give the Kansas City organization double its federal funding from $150,000 a year to $300,000.

Sherry Turner, the executive director of the Kansas City Women Business Center, said the bill would allow them to help more area women at a time when many are taking a more serious look at entrepreneurship.

"We have seen an uptick of calls from women that are interested in what we do and taking our startup class," Turner said. "And exploring this as an option to financial self sufficiency, and needing more flexibility, thinking that starting a business might provide that."

Davids proposed a similar bill in 2019, which was also approved by the House but did not make it through the Senate. Often, legislation increasing funding for a specific program is passed as part of a larger appropriations bill.

Ellie Turner, Davids' spokeswoman, said the bill had a better chance of passing this year because of the work Women Business Centers did to help more women.

"The Women Business Center program continues to prove its value and why it is deserving of reauthorization," Turner said. "Passing it again with strong bipartisan support increases the pressure on the Senate to take it up."

Turner did not say who Davids was working within the Senate to get the bill passed.

Davids is facing a challenging reelection bid in Kansas in a year where Republicans are favored to take back the House. While she beat her likely opponent, Republican Amanda Adkins, by 10 percentage points in 2020, the Kansas Legislature redrew the congressional map in a way that makes the district more competitive for Republicans.

The maps were recently struck down in state court, but Attorney General Derek Schmidt is appealing the decision.