“The federal government spends billions of dollars a year in paid advertising,” the document states. “However, the federal government’s process for allocating advertising dollars fails to recognize and value the unique relationship that Black-owned media have with their audiences.”

The signed letter goes on to explain that currently, allocated advertising funds are awarded to a predominantly White firm, with “the stipulation that the agency include a multicultural agency as a subcontractor.”

The primary contractor then has control over the amount of funds given to the multicultural subcontractor.

“This routinely results in a smaller fraction of federal dollars going to the subcontractors,” the document explains. “And, when the subcontractor does get to spend money, it is usually directed to spend that money with Black-targeted media and not with Black-owned media.”

The document asks Biden to “direct all federal agencies to investigate the process by which they grant advertising contracts, and how they oversee those contracts after they are granted.” Specifically, members of Congress have asked Biden to reinstate former President Bill Clinton’s Executive Order 13170. The order states that “each Federal department and agency … ensure that all creation, placement, and transmission of Federal advertising is fully reflective of the Nation’s diversity.”

It also states that “each Federal department and agency … take clearly defined and aggressive steps to ensure small and disadvantaged business participation in procurement of information technology and telecommunications contracts.”

According to the letter, lawmakers have also asked Biden to conduct audits on “contracts funded by COVID-19 response legislation, including the American Rescue Plan and CARES Act, that were awarded to white-owned media and advertising firms, that were awarded to Black-owned firms directly, that were awarded to white-owned firms that were to be subcontracted to Black-owned firms, and that were in fact subcontracted to Black-owned firms.”

According to Black Enterprise, the media company analyzed “data received from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)” that uncovered a discrepancy in “COVID-19 vaccine outreach efforts,” causing Black-owned media to receive “a fraction of the overall committed media spend of $212 million to date, and roughly a third of the of paid media dollars on advertising targeted at Black Americans.”

The negligence in the appropriate allocation of funds was discussed during both the Trump and Obama administrations, Black Enterprise reports. According to the media group, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus found that from 2013 to 2017, federal government agencies spent approximately $5 billion in advertising. Only a fraction of those funds, $51 million, went to Black-owned firms over the five-year period.

Podcast host and media personality Roland Martin has been particularly outspoken on the issue. Martin, along with other Black business leaders, made a significant push to get more information from officials at the Department of Health, as well as “the COVID-19 Task Force, and the White House, including Cedric Richmond, director of the White House Office of Public Engagement,” according to Black Enterprise.

“THIS is why I was yelling and screaming about the lack of ad dollars Black-owned media got in 2020,” Martin tweeted on Thursday after it was reported that Black, Latino and Native Americans were left out of the 2020 census at higher rates than 10 years ago. “This is why the CBC should demand an audit of ALL ad dollars to see where the money went.”

The document was signed by 38 members of Congress, including Reps.  Hank Johnson Jr. (D-Ga.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.).