[snip]
The move is the latest example of the Trump administration’s crackdown on affirmative action in the federal government. The agency offered special grants and contracts to minority-owned businesses until 2024, when a federal judge, Mark Pittman, ruled it could not use racial preferences to allocate capital. Last year, the agency received $70 million in funding and dispensed more than $1.5 billion in grants and contracts.
Minority-contracting programs are notorious for fraud. Contractors have been known to lie about their racial identity in order to access the programs, and set-asides have been linked to higher costs on infrastructure projects.
[snip]
“While the Agency’s work may help alleviate opportunity gaps faced by [minority-owned businesses], two wrongs do not make a right,” Pittman wrote in his 2024 decision. “And the MBDA’s racial presumption is a wrong.”
* Original Article:
Trump Administration Lays Off Last of Minority Business Development Agency