[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 38 (Monday, March 14, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1574-S1576]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     SBIR/STTR REAUTHORIZATION ACT

  Ms. LANDRIEU. I come to the floor to urge my colleagues to consider 
voting yes on cloture this afternoon at

[[Page S1575]]

5:30, to proceed to a debate on two very important Federal programs 
that come under the jurisdiction of the Small Business Committee. I 
know the Presiding Officer has been a leader in his State on this 
general subject matter. Our committee has worked very hard in the 
Senate, and in the House I might add, to get these programs ready for 
reauthorization. They are the Federal Government's largest research and 
development programs for small business.
  As you know, I have said many times on the floor, as chair of the 
Small Business Committee I want and hope the Federal Government itself 
would be a better partner with small businesses in America to encourage 
innovation, to encourage appropriate risk-taking. We can do that in a 
variety of different ways.
  Of course, we have authority over banking systems and capital systems 
and financial systems. We sometimes do that with just big business in 
mind. We need to think about giving the 27 million small businesses in 
America opportunities for capital through the banking system and 
through nonbank lenders. Our committee has been very busy trying to do 
our part helping our country out of this recession by continuing to 
focus on capital access for small business.
  We also keep a close eye on regulations that might be dampening small 
businesses from growing and accelerating. Whether those financial 
regulations come out of the financial sector or health or EPA, et 
cetera, we try to keep an eye, in the Small Business Administration 
itself--in fact, an independent agency inside it, the SBA's Office of 
Advocacy--to look at rules and regulations. Our committee is going to 
take a hard look at any rule or regulation coming out of any Federal 
agencies that miss the mark or that fail to recognize the impact some 
of those regulations may have on small business. If it is too onerous, 
we are going to comment and push back.
  Another way our Federal Government can be a better partner to small 
business is to make sure they have access to some of the Federal 
Government's research and development and technology funds. From the 
Department of Defense, to the Department of Health and Human Services 
to the Department of Commerce, and others, the Federal Government 
spends literally billions of dollars in research and development. That 
is good. It is only a small portion of our budget.
  Some people argue the research and development dollars are too low 
because the Federal Government, by investing in research and 
development wisely, generates and promotes patents, inventions, 
discoveries, expansion of business, large and small. In fact, America 
does this probably better than any country in the world and we are 
proud of it. The Federal Government has a role to play.
  This particular program I will focus on today--the Small Business 
Innovation Research program--was started by Senator Rudman over 25--
actually almost 30 years ago now. Senator Rudman was a Senator from New 
Hampshire. As a Senator from a small State such as New Hampshire, he 
was, of course, very familiar with the great universities and the great 
small businesses there. He was actually shocked, and I think dismayed 
and saddened, to find out that small businesses in his own State had, 
even if they were inventing some of the best products, and had some of 
the best technology, couldn't get their foot in the front door to an 
agency such as the NIH. They didn't want to talk to a small business. 
They wanted to talk to the universities. They wanted to talk to the big 
companies. I think Senator Rudman got a little frustrated. He said: I 
think we need to have not a ceiling but a floor for amount of research 
agencies do with the small businesses in all of our communities, on 
Main Streets all over America, and say: What do you have to offer, and 
we will give you an opportunity.
  This works two ways. It is good for small businesses to have access 
to some of these research and development dollars. It is also important 
for the taxpayer to get the best bang for their buck they are paying in 
taxes, and they want the best technology--not just the easiest to 
access, they want the best technology.
  Having invested in this program now over almost 30 years, we have 
evidence to suggest the taxpayer has, in fact, gotten the best bang for 
its buck. In fact, these companies I am going to show you will prove, 
beyond a doubt, what I am saying.
  This company, Qualcomm, is a very famous company now, but 25 years 
ago or so, no one had ever heard of it. Qualcomm is a company based in 
San Diego, CA. It is publicly owned now, but its founder--Dr. Irwin 
Jacobs--testified before our Small Business Committee a couple of weeks 
ago on this program, urging us to do this reauthorization, which is 
going to take the bulk of the debate on the floor this week--this 
particular program. He said: Absolutely, positively, Qualcomm would not 
have been able to launch as a small business that started in his den 
with about 35 of his friends and associates--not 35 in the beginning, 
even a smaller number than that--who had come up with the initial 
technology that made wireless communication possible. They did that, in 
part, with a couple of SBIR grants, about $1.5 million in total. 
Without that patient capital invested in a very timely way in this 
particular company, they would probably not have been able to make it 
to become what that eventually did become, which is a company that 
contributes approximately $5.5 billion to San Diego's economy every 
year and pays in taxes over $1 billion every year to the local, State, 
and Federal Government. That is half the cost of this program. So one 
success story out of this program generates enough tax dollars to pay 
for almost half every year.
  This program doesn't cost the Federal Government anything because we 
are already investing in research and development. What this program 
does is say you are going allocate 2.5 percent of your research dollars 
for competition among small businesses--to invest in small businesses 
just like Qualcomm once was--in the hopes that they will develop into 
large businesses--or, even more important, that they will develop 
something that improves the quality of life for Americans and for 
people of the world.
  Most certainly, now that everyone is walking around with wireless 
technology, using it for any number of things--staying in touch with 
spouses, kids, from tracking threats to general business use--we know 
this technology has become a part of everyone's life. Qualcomm is only 
one example of the return on investment with the SBIR program.
  Another involved the pilot alert system for the B-52 bomber. That 
technology again came out of the SBIR Program. Reauthorizing this 
program is something we know is important to do to create jobs, to 
begin to create the kind of jobs that will lead us out of this 
recession. Innovation equals jobs, technology equals jobs.
  There is another success story I would like to share. This is 
actually from Louisiana. There are actually success stories from every 
State in the Union. Mezzo Technologies was created with the help of LSU 
and SBIR. Dr. Kevin Kelly started with two employees. Now his payroll 
exceeds $1.2 million.
  We ran into problems when we invaded Iraq and Afghanistan trying to 
run our tanks in places that were extremely hot. The radiators we had 
designed were not sufficient. We were running into serious equipment 
challenges.
  It was this small business, with the help of LSU, that began to 
develop new kinds of technologies that now can be used for our 
military, in this case in the Bradley tank. But it also has potential 
for significant commercial application, potentially in the race car 
industry. That is an example of how technology needed for a specific 
problem the Federal Government is having, responded to by small 
business--not a big company, a small company--new technologies can 
create the radiators of the future.
  Small businesses are the key to putting Americans back to work. They 
are the innovators. In fact, small businesses account for 13 times more 
patents than large businesses. Small businesses employ almost 40 
percent of American scientists and engineers. Studies show SBIR-backed 
firms have been responsible for roughly 25 percent of the Nation's most 
crucial innovations over the past decade.

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  Unfortunately, and this is why I am on the floor today, this 
important program that does so much to give taxpayers the full measure 
and worth of their tax dollar, that gives small businesses the 
opportunity to grow, to create jobs right here in America--not in 
China, not in France or in Spain but right here in America--these 
programs have been sputtering. This particular program has been 
sputtering on short-term extensions. Every 3 months we reauthorize it--
or every 6 months. We need to move forward and provide a longer term 
extension. The bill we are going to be debating this week provides an 
8-year authorization, which gives some certainty. It gives some 
stability to the 11 Federal agencies that use SBIR to help meet its 
research and development needs, to help the 300 labs in the United 
States of America that do primarily research and development for the 
Federal Government. It sends out a clear signal to innovators: The 
Federal Government has challenges, the Federal Government has problems, 
and now we are putting some money behind these challenges and problems 
and we want you to be part of the solution.
  We believe in this program. I wish to thank particularly Senator Tom 
Coburn for negotiating this 8-year extension, a little bit longer than 
a normal 5 but less than what some of us wanted initially, permanency 
and then the 14-year authorization--because we think long-term 
stability is so important for these programs.
  The agencies have to do some more work--our Federal agencies do--to 
step up their administration of this program, to get even better at 
putting out the needs of their agencies, identifying small businesses, 
so we want to give them the confidence this program is actually going 
to last for more than a few months, 2 years or 3 years or even 4. So 
this 8-year authorization is important.
  I am proud, under my leadership, and also previously under the 
leadership of Senator Snowe and Senator Kerry, we have worked very hard 
together to get this bill into its current form. In the very last hours 
of the last Congress, we were actually able to negotiate a landmark 
compromise with the Biotechnology Industry Organization--formally known 
as the BIO--and the Small Business Technology Coalition. They had been 
basically at odds over some aspects of this reauthorization. Because we 
worked very hard and in good faith, both sides came together, we have 
now achieved a compromise which has the support of the National Small 
Business Administration, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the NFIB, the 
National Venture Capital Association, local technology groups, many 
universities throughout the country, including my alma mater, Louisiana 
State University, Louisiana Tech, the University of Akron, in Ohio--
just to name a few.
  I wish to make sure people understand, not only from examples, what 
this program will fund; in terms of Qualcomm, which was an earlier 
example, wireless technology, or whether it is a radiator used in 
military equipment, both in our tanks and sometimes used in other 
platforms, but also this technology can be used potentially in the 
racing car industry.
  No other SBIR and STTR reauthorization bill has had this much support 
of this many organizations, and this compromise is represented in the 
bill we have laid down or we will be passing forward today.
  The agencies have been particularly cooperative, particularly 
Department of Defense, USDA, and the Department of Energy. Along with 
Health and Human Services, they have the lion's share of these research 
budgets. DOD, it is not an insignificant amount, it is over $1 billion. 
The Department of Defense will invest in small businesses to get the 
best technologies available, such as the radiator technology they need 
for our tanks.
  HHS has $615 million. It is a very small part of their total research 
budget but an important part, so when they put out the challenge to 
small businesses in America to come up with the next newest vaccine or 
the next medical technology or information technology that saves 
taxpayer money and helps provide better quality of life for all 
Americans, that word will go out from HHS.
  DOE has $150 million available to invest in small business; NASA $125 
million, just to name a few.
  So not only will the taxpayers benefit, but small businesses and the 
people they hire as well. Many of these advanced technologies, 
developed by businesses that could have started in your garage or your 
den, such as Qualcomm, could not have existed without those programs. 
They are the brainchild of a scientist who took his idea to the next 
level, and had this program to get that first $150,000, and then that 
first $1 million.
  I am urging all of my colleagues to support moving to this bill this 
afternoon. It passed out of the Small Business Committee last week 
nearly unanimously, and has continued to gain large bipartisan support 
publicly and privately. The CBO estimates a very modest cost of $150 
million over 5 years. We have made changes that have decreased the 
estimate from last year's cost of $229 million.
  We believe this $150 million is a fantastic investment for the 
Federal Government to place research dollars in the hands of some of 
the best, most dynamic, most innovative entrepreneurs on the face of 
the Earth today. We want to give them an opportunity, particularly in 
tight credit and capital markets, to access these funds at the Federal 
level to produce the kind of goods and services and, most importantly, 
jobs for the future.
  I see my time has expired. Again, I look forward to coming down with 
my members of the Small Business Committee to talk more about this bill 
as the week unfolds. I urge my colleagues today at 5:30 to vote yes for 
cloture on this important bill so we can pass it out of the Senate 
today, get it over to the House as quickly as we can, and to the 
President's desk for signature.
  I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. KYL. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call 
be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 15 
minutes.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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