by Matt Evans
Furniture manufacturers hoping to win greater access to the huge federal government purchasing market are hopeful that a


reform bill aimed at ending preferences for products made by the Federal Prison Industries program will pass before the end of the current Congress.

That bill, which would erase a requirement that government agencies shopping for goods or services go to the prison manufacturing program first, has passed through the Judiciary Committee and is awaiting action by the full House. A similar bill passed the House by a wide margin in the last Congress, but did not receive a full Senate vote. If the bill doesn’t win approval by both chambers this year, supporters will have to start over with the next Congress.