William Bradley: “I rise in support of the effort to strike this provision from the bill. I do so because I think it is in the interest of…”

“I rise in support of the effort to strike this provision from the bill. I do so because I think it is in the interest of the American taxpayer and because it will reduce the budget deficit if we eliminate this section of the bill. We can have a legitimate debate over what the Government can and cannot do well. Running a venture capital operation is, however, something I am fairly sure that the Government cannot do well. Before the Government steps into the marketplace, I think we have to think there is some problem that the private sector cannot, on its own, solve. There should be some market failure that we need to address. My question is: What is the problem? What is the market failure here? Before we go forward with this program, ask yourself just a couple of questions: Would you put your own personal money in a Government-run venture capital program? Would you risk your pension funds on the ability of a technology licensing committee to find the right technologies? Would you risk your child's education bonds on the ability of bureaucrats to outperform markets? If you would not, then you should not be voting for this program. You should not be wagering taxpayer money on an ill-advised effort at industrial policy. The goal of this program is 'to stimulate and expand the flow of private capital to private companies.' And the means of doing that is a 100 percent guarantee of principal and interest --100 percent. Let us be a little more serious about this.”