Dale Bumpers: “I am pleased to rise in support of S. 4, the National Competitiveness Act of 1994. Among other things, S. 4 creates a…”

“I am pleased to rise in support of S. 4, the National Competitiveness Act of 1994. Among other things, S. 4 creates a Civilian Technology Investment Company [CTIC] program aimed at fostering the development of critical technologies by small- and medium-sized businesses. In large part, the program is modelled after the Small Business Administration's [SBA's] successful Small Business Investment Company [SBIC] program which has helped develop such business superstars as Federal Express, Cray Research, and Apple Computer. When S. 4 was reported by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, I could not have supported the CTIC program it contained. That version would have established a duplicative bureaucracy within the Department of Commerce to administer the program, which in many respects was identical to SBA's SBIC program. Further, that version would have permitted the CTIC program to use nonparticipating equity securities, thus permitting investment companies to circumvent sharing some of their federally sponsored profit with the Federal Government. Happily, today S. 4 contains an improved CTIC program, thanks to the dedicated efforts of my colleagues, Chairman Hollings and Senator Rockefeller, their staffs, the Department of Commerce, the Small Business Administration, and my staff on the Senate Small Business Committee.”