Norton to Introduce Bill to Require Federal Agencies to Report Advertising Spending with Newspapers and Media Companies Owned by Minorities and Women

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that she will introduce a bill to require all federal agencies to include in their annual budget requests to Congress the amount they spent in the most recent fiscal year on advertising contracts with newspapers and media companies owned by minorities and women, as well as projections of such spending for the upcoming fiscal year. Norton will also send letters to all 12 appropriations subcommittees during the next appropriations cycle requesting that they require each agency under their jurisdiction to include this advertising data in their budget requests.

In 2016, Norton led a group of Members of Congress in requesting a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the federal advertising contract obligations to small disadvantaged businesses (SDBs) and those owned by minorities and women. The GAO report, released in July, showed that in fiscal year 2017, only 16 percent of the federal government's advertising contract obligations went to SDBs and those owned by minorities and women.

"The federal government is the largest advertiser in the United States, and it has an obligation to ensure fair access to its contracts for minority and women-owned newspapers and media companies," Norton said. "My bill would provide the transparency to ensure federal agencies are striving to reach minorities, who often get their daily news from smaller media outlets who serve communities of color."