[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 49 (Wednesday, April 6, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2182-S2183]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            SBIR/STTR REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2011--Continued


                      Amendments Nos. 240 and 253

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
resume consideration of S. 493 and set aside the pending amendments so 
that I may call up the following two amendments en bloc. They are 
Cardin amendment No. 240 and Snowe amendment No. 253.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Louisiana [Ms. Landrieu] proposes en bloc 
     amendments numbered 240 and 253.

  The amendments are as follows:


                           AMENDMENT NO. 240

(Purpose: To reinstate the increase in the surety bond guarantee limits 
                 for the Small Business Administration)

       At the end, add the following:

     SEC. ___. SURETY BONDS.

       (a) Maximum Bond Amount.--Section 411(a)(1) of the Small 
     Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 694b(a)(1)) is 
     amended by striking ``(1)'' and all that follows and 
     inserting the following: ``(1)(A) The Administration may, 
     upon such terms and conditions as it may prescribe, guarantee 
     and enter into commitments to guarantee any surety against 
     loss resulting from a breach of the terms of a bid bond, 
     payment bond, performance bond, or bonds ancillary thereto, 
     by a principal on any total work order or contract amount at 
     the time of bond execution that does not exceed $5,000,000.
       ``(B) The Administrator may guarantee a surety under 
     subparagraph (A) for a total work order or contract amount 
     that does not exceed $10,000,000, if a contracting officer of 
     a Federal agency certifies that such a guarantee is 
     necessary.''.
       (b) Denial of Liability.--Section 411 of the Small Business 
     Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 694b) is amended--
       (1) by striking subsection (e) and inserting the following:
       ``(e) Reimbursement of Surety; Conditions.--Pursuant to any 
     such guarantee or agreement, the Administration shall 
     reimburse the surety, as provided in subsection (c) of this 
     section, except that the Administration shall be relieved of 
     liability (in whole or in part within the discretion of the 
     Administration) if--
       ``(1) the surety obtained such guarantee or agreement, or 
     applied for such reimbursement, by fraud or material 
     misrepresentation;
       ``(2) the total contract amount at the time of execution of 
     the bond or bonds exceeds $5,000,000;
       ``(3) the surety has breached a material term or condition 
     of such guarantee agreement; or
       ``(4) the surety has substantially violated the regulations 
     promulgated by the Administration pursuant to subsection 
     (d).'';
       (2) by striking subsection (k); and
       (3) by adding after subsection (i) the following:
       ``(j) Denial of Liability.--For bonds made or executed with 
     the prior approval of the Administration, the Administration 
     shall not deny liability to a surety based upon material 
     information that was provided as part of the guaranty 
     application.''.
       (c) Size Standards.--Section 410 of the Small Business 
     Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 694a) is amended--
       (1) by striking paragraph (9); and
       (2) adding after paragraph (8) the following:
       ``(9) Notwithstanding any other provision of law or any 
     rule, regulation, or order of the Administration, for 
     purposes of sections 410, 411, and 412 the term `small 
     business concern' means a business concern that meets the 
     size standard for the primary industry in which such business 
     concern, and the affiliates of such business concern, is 
     engaged, as determined by the Administrator in accordance 
     with the North American Industry Classification System.''.

[[Page S2183]]

                           Amendment No. 253

       (Purpose: To prevent fraud in small business contracting)

  (The amendment is printed in the Record of March 28, 2011, under 
``Text of Amendments.'')
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I thank Senator Cardin for his patience 
and Senator Snowe as we have worked up through the last hour or two on 
their two proposals. Both have to do with perfecting our contracting 
programs. While not specific to the SBIR Program and STTR Program, they 
are very relevant to the work we do on the Small Business Committee.
  I appreciate all the Members who allowed these two amendments to go 
forward. They are pending and hopefully tomorrow we can get some 
agreement on some additional votes. We have had a very busy day today 
on the underlying bill, the SBIR bill. We voted on seven amendments. We 
had heated discussions on issues that are not related to this bill but 
are very important to this body.
  I thank the Senators for working in good faith as we try to move 
through the many amendments that have been filed, most of which are not 
germane to the issue at hand but are important to be discussed on the 
floor of the Senate and in Congress.
  I thank particularly Senator Cardin. I notice he is on the floor. He 
may want to say a word now about his amendment briefly. I commit to the 
Senator that we will discuss his amendment and Senator Snowe's 
amendment as soon as we can tomorrow.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I thank Senator Landrieu for her 
extraordinary work and patience. She gives us credit. We give her 
credit for patience in the manner this legislation has been considered.
  This bill is very important not just to the small business community 
but to our economy. We are talking about providing the wherewithal for 
innovation in America. Small businesses will produce the largest amount 
of innovation in this country and the largest job growth. This bill 
gives them some degree of predictability on getting the types of 
resources so they can innovate.
  I do applaud the Senator. I am proud to be part of the committee. 
This has been a very bipartisan bill. I thank her. I thank her for 
accommodating the amendment that she was helpful in getting passed 
initially, along with Senator Snowe, that increases the size of surety 
bonds from $2 million to $5 million, which makes a difference for a 
small construction company getting government procurement. It is 
critically important. It has worked much more successfully than we 
thought when we first put the increase into effect. We actually had a 
lot more contracts than we thought when we originally suggested this.
  I am pleased to tell the chairman that it has no scores as far as 
cost. There is no taxpayer cost involved. This is a win-win situation 
to help small businesses get construction work, adding to our economy 
and job growth.
  I look forward to talking about this amendment tomorrow. Hopefully, 
we will be able to get a vote. I again thank the Senator for her 
attention.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I wish to speak for 2 minutes in general 
wrapup. There may be other Senators coming to the floor. I am hopeful 
we can lock in a time to vote on Cardin amendment No. 240 and the Snowe 
amendment No. 253. There are other amendments, a few amendments that 
are pending. Many others have been filed. The Senators are working 
together to see what kind of accommodations we can make.
  Again I remind everyone, while we are working hard behind the scenes 
in many rooms and meetings today to try to keep our government open and 
operating while reducing spending where we can in an effective and a 
smart and constructive way, I remind our Senators how important this 
bill is because it will be reauthorizing a program that actually 
creates jobs in America by the small businesses that are represented on 
all of our Main Streets in our States and our communities.
  This is the Federal Government's largest program for research and 
development. We do not believe that only big business, only 
international corporations have the best technology, the best 
approaches, or the best methods. We actually believe there are small 
businesses, some quite tiny, just one scientist and an assistant who 
can come up with cutting-edge technology, an engineer or an assistant, 
or a doctor and an assistant, who can come up with cutting-edge 
technologies that can cure a disease of the time or create a new 
mechanical system or technology system that helps not only our Federal 
agencies to cut spending, operate more efficiently, but can be 
commercialized in a way that creates manufacturing jobs and service 
jobs in America.
  There are many ways to get to a balanced budget. We have heard a lot 
about cutting spending. Yes, we need to do that. But we also need to 
create jobs which generate income to close that budget gap. If we can 
get a more robust economy underway, this program most certainly is one 
of the ones.
  I am proud of the new economic data that has come out. We are not 
where we need to be. Unemployment is still too high, but it is coming 
down. We are not creating enough jobs, but we are creating more and 
more every month. In large measure, it is because of some of the work 
our Committee on Small Business has done, both in the stimulus package 
and in our last small business bill opening up lending, getting credit 
lines started in partnership with community banks. Part of it is smart 
programs such as this. There are some government programs that do not 
work. This is not one of them.
  I thank our Members for being patient. We now have the Cardin-Snowe 
amendments pending. We will hopefully lock in a time to vote on those 
and a few others we are considering as well.
  Tomorrow, hopefully, we will start at an early hour and will continue 
to work on this important bill.

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