[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 177 (Thursday, November 20, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10721-S10722]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 SBIR/STTR REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2008

  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, in July, the Committee on Small Business 
and Entrepreneurship passed S. 3362, the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act 
of 2008, by a unanimous 19-0 vote. Since then, Senator Snowe, myself, 
and others have worked diligently to address concerns that have been 
expressed to us by our colleagues and the administration, and we 
reached an agreement with the administration on the terms of the bill. 
Unfortunately, at the last minute, a colleague had objections and we 
cannot pass the bill.
  As the title suggests, the purpose of S. 3362 was to reauthorize the 
Small Business Administration's Small Business Innovation Research and 
Small Business Technology Transfer programs, otherwise known as SBIR 
and STTR. The bill makes improvements to these programs that will allow 
them to work better for small businesses, while contributing to our 
economy, fulfilling the priority research needs of the nation, and 
expanding and diversifying our military's supply base.
  Small businesses continue to receive only about 4 percent of Federal 
research and development dollars despite

[[Page S10722]]

the fact that they employ nearly 40 percent of America's scientists and 
engineers, produce more than 14 times more patents than large 
businesses and universities, and produce patents that are of higher 
quality and are more than twice as likely to be cited. Unlike large 
businesses, which tend to focus more on improving existing product 
lines, and university research, which leans toward education and 
publications, America's small businesses and entrepreneurs are the ones 
willing to take on the high-risk, high-reward research that truly 
drives innovation.
  The SBIR and STTR programs are two of the very few Federal programs 
that tap into the scientific and technical community found in America's 
small businesses. These programs foster government-industry 
partnerships by making competitive awards to firms with the best 
scientific proposals in response to the research needs of our agencies 
and by helping to move technologies from the lab to the marketplace or 
from the lab to insertion in a government program or system.
  Since the inception of the SBIR program in 1982, recipients of SBIR 
and STTR awards have gone on to produce more than 84,000 patents and to 
generate millions of well-paying jobs across all 50 States. Both 
programs have garnered high praise from well-respected sources, 
including from the National Academy of Sciences, which completed its 
comprehensive assessment of SBIR last year. Governments around the 
world are increasingly adopting SBIR-type programs to encourage 
innovation in their countries.
  Among the technologies pioneered by SBIR-funded small businesses are 
a machine that uses lasers and computer cameras to sort and inspect 
bullets at a much finer level than the human eye can manage, the 
technology that creates the ``invisible'' condensation trail of the B-2 
bomber, a therapeutic drug to treat chronic inflammatory disease, and a 
nerve gas protection system. With regard to the bullet sorting 
technology, developed by CyberNet Systems, a small, women-owned 
business located in Ann Arbor, MI, and currently in use in Iraq and 
Afghanistan, that SBIR technology is estimated to have saved taxpayers 
more than $300 million. Those are real cost savings and tangible 
technological improvements and we could have more such technologies if 
we increased the SBIR and STTR allocations, as the legislation that 
passed Committee proposed to do.
  S. 3362 is the result of much deliberation and compromise and 
reflects a truly bipartisan effort to strengthen and improve the SBIR 
and STTR programs. I am proud that Senator Snowe, Senator Bond, myself, 
and others were able to come together to reach agreement on a number of 
very difficult issues, including on the involvement of firms majority-
owned and controlled by multiple venture capital companies in the SBIR 
program, and that we unanimously passed this legislation out of 
committee. And as I said at the start of my remarks, I am also proud 
that we were able to resolve our differences with the administration to 
craft a bill that would keep these programs going strong.
  It is truly a shame that one Republican in this Chamber has blocked 
this bill from passing, and that all of the effort and all of the 
compromises that went into getting the legislation to this point will 
be lost. I ask my colleagues to be aware that the SBIR program is 
temporarily authorized through March 20, 2009, that the STTR program 
expires on September 30, 2009, and that we should act fast in the new 
year to extend or comprehensively authorize these programs to help keep 
our country ahead in technology.

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