On April 27, 2026, Representative Glenn Grothman (R-WI) and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced companion bills, H.R. 8511 and S. 4390, titled the Ending Discrimination in Government Contracting Act. Although the bills are framed as eliminating race-, ethnicity-, and sex-based preferences in federal procurement, their operative provisions would repeal the SBA’s 8(a) Business Development Program in its entirety, including the special participation rules for Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs), Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian Organizations (NHOs). The bills would also repeal the Minority Business Development Act of 2021, eliminate the Department of Transportation Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program, and prospectively bar federal agencies from considering race, ethnicity, or sex in any contracting or grant decision.

Key takeaway: Substantively identical bills (H.R. 10216 and S. 5366) introduced by the same sponsors in the prior Congress died in committee without a single hearing. The current bills face the same procedural posture, no cosponsors, multi-committee referrals, and a crowded legislative calendar, but the political environment has shifted materially, and Native owned contractors should not assume a repeat outcome.

Overview of the Legislation

H.R. 8511 and S. 4390 are textually identical. Each consists of five operative sections:

• • Section 2 repeals or strikes every provision of the Small Business Act and related statutes that creates, references, or implements preferences for small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals (SDBs) or by women (WOSBs). Critically, it repeals 15 U.S.C. § 637(a)(4) through (a)(8) — the statutory eligibility, presumption-of-social-disadvantage, and program-administration provisions on which all 8(a) participation rests, including the ANC, tribal, and NHO special rules. Repealing these paragraphs would eliminate the 8(a) program in toto. Companion changes ‎throughout the Small Business Act (Sections 7(j), 8(d), 15(g), 15(h), 16, and 22) confirm that ‎Congress would not be merely retooling the program but eliminating it. Sole-source authority ‎above competitive thresholds, follow-on contracting flexibilities, the absence of a cap on ‎individual ANC, tribal, or NHO sole-source awards, and the SBA mentor-protégé protections ‎that flow from 8(a) status would all disappear.‎
  • Section 3 eliminates the DBE program for Department of Transportation financial assistance, lowering the airport-improvement small-business participation goal from 10% to 5% and replacing all references to “socially and economically disadvantaged” concerns with “qualified HUBZone” concerns under 49 U.S.C. §§ 47107 and 47113.
  • Section 4 eliminates federal reporting on contracts awarded to women-owned and socially and economically disadvantaged small business concerns and repeals Section 3021 of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (the EPA DBE program for clean-water and other infrastructure financial assistance).
  • Section 5 adds new prohibitions to Title 41 (civilian agencies, new § 4715) and Title 10 (Department of Defense, new § 4663), barring agency heads from considering “the race, ethnicity, or sex of individuals owning, controlling, or managing businesses” when granting contracts or awards, or from requiring or encouraging contractors to do so. The section directs all executive agencies to commence rulemaking within 60 days of enactment to remove all such preferences from agency regulations and guidance, with rulemaking to be completed within 180 days.

HUBZone, veteran-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned small business preferences are preserved in their entirety. Tribal, ANC, and NHO preferences are not separately preserved.

Senator Lee and Representative Grothman previously introduced substantively identical legislation in the 118th Congress under a slightly different short title:

Several factors weigh against near-term enactment of H.R. 8511 or S. 4390:

• • Neither bill currently has cosponsors.
  • Both bills face multi-committee referrals (the House version touches four committees), which historically slows or stops legislation of this scope.
  • The 118th Congress versions were never marked up despite a Republican-controlled House.
  • Veteran-owned small business preferences — which the bills preserve — are politically inseparable from broader small business contracting policy, complicating the legislative narrative; and
  • Tribal sovereignty and the trust relationship with Native communities have historically attracted bipartisan support, including from Senate Republicans whose states include significant tribal populations.

Several factors weigh in favor of taking the bills more seriously than the prior Congress’s versions:

• • The Trump Administration’s Executive Order 14398 on DEI in federal contracting (March 2026) has already curtailed agency use of SDB preferences administratively. Sponsors have framed the bills as a tool to “codify” the executive order and prevent reversal under a future administration.
  • Provisions of the bills could be attached to a larger vehicle (NDAA, reconciliation, or a continuing resolution), where individual provisions face less scrutiny than a standalone introduction.
  • The contracting downturn already underway reflects an administrative posture that aligns with the bills’ substantive goals, suggesting that elements of the bills may be implemented de facto even if the bills themselves do not advance; and
  • DOJ litigation activity targeting race-conscious federal programs has accelerated, increasing the likelihood that some 8(a) provisions may be enjoined judicially even without statutory change.

Native contractors should monitor these bills and ensure their voices are heard if these bills are taken up in committee or otherwise.

This article summarizes aspects of the law and opinions that are solely those of the authors. This article does not constitute legal advice. For legal advice regarding your situation, you should contact an attorney.