Let me just point out my concern. Mr. Glover's testimony particularly underscores this, that there has been an historic hostility at NIH to allowing special allocations to small businesses within the innovative research program.

Thank you very much for that testimony. Particularly, for some of the history, which I found very, very helpful.

I want to talk about the current economic climate and how urgent it is for us to try to get some relief to innovative small companies.

My point is, do you see any special effort by NIH today to reach out to small, innovative companies to try to make sure that they are included in the Recovery funds?

We need to make sure that NIH continues its extremely important mission, that the universities can do the work that they are doing, and the small, innovative companies have the capital they need.

Believe me, those of us on the Small Business Committee were livid at the fact that this was included without consultation with the Small Business Committee.

Well, let me welcome everyone to this hearing of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee of the United States Senate.

I agree completely with you and other witnesses that NIH could rectify the problem with that amendment.

Well, I am hoping the same can be said, Senator Cardin, as others have sent that message to them.

In other words, why we are going down. We are going backwards. In other words, the numbers are coming down.

I want that little boy, that white boy in Roanoke, Virginia, I want him to have a chance to be in the Coast Guard, and I want that African American in San Francisco to have a chance if they are qualified.

We want to move the process along. We don't know how much time we have in these positions.

I want dates for those things; I don't want to just wait until the end.

I want to get some of those kids, young people, into the Coast Guard Academy, and I want to get them in so that they will be a part of the pipeline.

I really believe that we can do better. I just believe our Country is greater than that, that we can do better.

You know, one of the things that is a little bit disturbing about these charts is that when we look at completed applications, Class of 2009 for African Americans there were 55, Class of 2010 there were 52, Class of 2011 there were 39…

I think that we are definitely moving in the right direction, no doubt about it.

I have a vision for how this can come about with regard to the civil rights program.