[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 3707]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        SBIR/STTR REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2011--MOTION TO PROCEED

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 17, S. 
493.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 17, (S. 493), a bill to 
     reauthorize and improve the SBIR and STTR programs, and for 
     other purposes.


                             Cloture Motion

  Mr. REID. I have a cloture motion at the desk. I ask that it be 
reported.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion having been presented under 
rule XXII, the Chair directs the clerk to read the motion.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

                             Cloture Motion

       We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to 
     proceed to Calendar No. 17, S. 493, a bill to reauthorize and 
     improve the SBIR and STTR programs, and for other purposes.
         Harry Reid, Mary L. Landrieu, Benjamin L. Cardin, Charles 
           E. Schumer, Daniel K. Inouye, Joseph I. Lieberman, 
           Bernard Sanders, Debbie Stabenow, Patrick J. Leahy, Tom 
           Harkin, Kay R. Hagan, Michael F. Bennet, Al Franken, 
           Herb Kohl, Sheldon Whitehouse, Thomas R. Carper, 
           Richard J. Durbin.

  Mr. REID. I now ask unanimous consent that the cloture vote occur 
immediately following the Senate's action in executive session on 
Monday, March 14; further, that the mandatory quorum call under rule 
XXII be waived.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. REID. I now withdraw my motion.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has that right.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I am disappointed that I had to file cloture 
on a bill as important as this one. We were going to have a new day in 
the Senate. I think it is really too bad. This is the small business 
innovation bill, and everyone knows we have had an open amendment 
process. People can offer amendments on anything they want. I think 
this is suggestive of maybe something I do not understand.
  Why wouldn't my Republican colleagues want us to move to a small 
business bill to help create jobs? We are told that 85 percent of all 
jobs in America are small business jobs. Should we not be trying to 
help them? That is what we have been working on. We have not been doing 
all of these things, these ``messages,'' cutting out programs for 
little boys and girls who want to learn to read, cutting Pell grants 
for young men and women who are in college, cutting the ability of 
renewable energy projects to go forward, and all of these other 
messages they are sending the American people. We are trying to create 
jobs.
  We have spent this Congress, over here in the Senate, on bipartisan 
issues creating jobs: FAA, 280,000 jobs. We just finished, within the 
last few hours, the bill that will change the patent system in this 
country. That has needed changing for 60 years, and we have done that.
  Now they are blocking our going to a small business bill, another 
bipartisan bill. Senator Snowe, the ranking member of that committee, 
has worked with Senator Landrieu to move this bill forward. Who is 
holding up our going to this very important jobs bill? I hope the 
Republicans in the House are understanding what we are doing over here, 
creating jobs.
  With those two bills I have just mentioned, the patent bill and the 
bill dealing with the Federal Aviation Administration, that is 580,000 
jobs. So I am very disappointed I had to file cloture on proceeding to 
a small business jobs bill.

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