Political Quotes

“As the Senate considers S. 4, the National Competitiveness Act, I would like to address an issue I have been working on for over a year. As the ranking member on the Small Business Committee, I would like to make clear for the record the chronology of events surrounding this controversy. While I am troubled by a variety of provisions contained in S. 4, one has troubled me greatly from the very start. Specifically, it is the provision in the original bill that would have created a Civilian Technology Investment Companies [CTIC's] Pilot Program within the Department of Commerce. CTIC's would invest Government money in high-risk, long-term, advanced technology projects. They would provide venture capital to private businesses. The problems with this pilot program are twofold. First, it would create a new Federal program that nearly duplicates a program already in operation at the Small Business Administration [SBA]. The SBA Small Business Investment Company [SBIC] Program has been successfully financing technology ventures for more than 35 years.”