Report - National Archives and Records
July 19, 1995
On March 7, 1995, President Clinton directed that a review be conducted of the Federal government's affirmative action programs. The President asked the following questions:
Descriptions. What kinds of Federal programs and initiatives are now in place, and how are they designed?
Performance. What is known about their effects -- benefits and costs, direct and indirect, intended and unintended -- both to the specified beneficiaries and to others? In short, how are they run? Do they work? Are they fair?
In preparing this report, we analyzed federal programs that might be categorized as affirmative action. (1) These programs range from outreach efforts that encourage grantmakers to seek out members of disadvantaged groups, to procurement regulations that set aside particular contracts for competitive bidding limited largely to minority-owned, economically disadvantaged small businesses.
The report first sets forth the framework we used to analyze these programs. It then describes the evolution of affirmative action, as policymakers sought to make real the promise of the civil rights legal breakthroughs. It then summarizes the evidence of discrimination and exclusion today, followed by a brief review of the overall effectiveness of affirmative action and anti-discrimination measures. All of this provides the context for considering current affirmative action programs in more detail. Several sections describe the government's major affirmative action programs, and applies to those programs the policy test set forth by the President.
We conclude that these programs have worked to advance equal opportunity by helping redress problems of discrimination and by fostering the inclusion needed to strengthen critical institutions, professions and the economy. In addition, we have examined concerns about fairness. The evidence shows that, on the whole, the federal programs are fair and do not unduly burden nonbeneficiaries. Finally, we conclude that some reforms would make the programs work better and guarantee their fairness.
