Political Quotes

“The Senators have done such a good job managing this bill. I appreciate the opportunity to offer this amendment and to be paired with this important amendment that the Senators from Kentucky and Oregon have offered. I will explain it briefly because a longer explanation would not be necessary. This body is very familiar with the reauthorization of the SBIR Program. The reason I believe the chairman and ranking member allowed me to offer this amendment with Senator Snowe is twofold. One, it has a bearing on the Department of Defense in that the Department of Defense is the largest contributor to the SBIR and STTR programs, the two most important research and development programs for small business that the Federal Government runs and operates. The Senators know full well the importance for the Department of Defense and therefore extrapolate correctly the importance of this program for all of our agencies. We take a small portion of the research and development dollars for all Federal agencies and basically direct it to small business. There are some good reasons for that, which I will put in the Record. As written by one of the advocates supporting the program--and I will put this into the Record--she writes: The SBIR/STTR funding award process spawns competition among high-tech businesses. Scientists and engineers propose their best technological concepts to solve a problem of national interest. The best of the best of these technical concepts are selected for funding.…”