Ed Markey: “I rise to oppose the substitute amendment offered by the Senator from Iowa. The SBIR and STTR Programs expire at…”

“I rise to oppose the substitute amendment offered by the Senator from Iowa. The SBIR and STTR Programs expire at midnight tonight, separate from everything else that is going on here in the Senate today. The only bipartisan option to avoid the program ending is to pass H.R. 5100 as passed by the House of Representatives already before us. The Republican chairmen in the House have already passed it over to us. As I said previously, we all have changes to the program we would like to enact, and that is just going to take time. They recognize that over in the House, the Republican chairmen. We should extend these programs, which we should do on a bipartisan basis, while continuing to work on a bipartisan basis to address the Senator from Iowa's concerns, along with other reforms that other Senators and House Members would like to make. I object to this amendment because it guarantees a lapse and because it would, No. 1, punish successful, innovative small businesses; No. 2, force small businesses to avoid pursuing the riskier, more cutting-edge ideas that keep American innovation at the forefront--it is the small companies that do the innovation; big companies buy that innovation from small companies, but it is the small companies that do the innovation in our country; and No. 3, prevent Agencies from being able to fund technology that aids their mission if that technology comes from a successful small business.”