SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. GRAVES. Madam Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Chairman, I would first like to thank Chairwoman Velázquez and Ranking Member Chabot from the Small Business Committee for moving forward with this bill. This bill is critically important to small businesses and innovation in this country.

The SBA provides startup funding to small businesses in a variety of ways. One such program is the Small Business Innovative Research program, or SBIR, which allocates a specific percentage of Federal research and development grant monies to small business applicants. This program allows for cutting-edge innovative research that may not, in its earliest stages, attract funding from other sources. I strongly believe in the SBIR program and what it does for small businesses.

American innovation is what drives this country and economy. As Members of Congress, we need to create an environment that will keep American innovation at the forefront of the global market.

As a member of the Small Business Committee, I work to advocate on behalf of small businesses, and the passage of my amendment will have a tremendous impact on the success of those small firms.

My amendment addresses a problem that began in 2003. The Small Business Administration reversed a 20-year-old policy by ruling that small business companies that are majority venture capital backed could no longer compete for small business grants, regardless of how few employees a company may have. As a result, small businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to acquire the investment capital necessary to start or grow their businesses. This jeopardizes the development of innovative treatments, therapies, and technologies.

Venture capital funding is critical to capital intensive industries. They provide the needed seed money to help get some of those innovative ideas off the ground. Without this investment, some of our most innovative ideas would never develop.

My amendment will restore majority venture capital backed small companies' eligibility so they can compete for SBIR grants and receive other small business assistance.

Small businesses are providing this country with the ideas and innovation that has become the identity of the United States. Without these thoughts and ideas, the United States will fall behind the rest of the world in innovations and breakthroughs.

Creating an environment that will keep American innovation in the forefront of the global market is a priority of this body, and I am very confident this amendment and bill will help us meet those goals.

My amendment simply makes a couple of technical corrections in title II of the bill which has the support of both the chairwoman and the ranking member of the Small Business Committee. Simply put, this amendment helps remove barriers to participation in the SBIR program.

I would like to thank the staffs of Chairwoman Velázquez and Ranking Member Chabot for all of their hard work on this issue. This bill and amendment have been a work in progress for over 3 years, and I appreciate all of the work they have done on my behalf. This is a very important issue to me, my constituents, and small businesses everywhere, and I am glad to see it before the House today.

Madam Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source