Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the SBIR and STTR Extension Act of 2022. I thank Chair Velazquez and Ranking Member Luetkemeyer for their work in a bipartisan fashion. I also thank Senators Ernst and Cardin for what they have done for this legislation. I am pleased that this bill has been brought to the floor in an expedited fashion. The Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Extension Act is an important piece of legislation, and the changes this bill brings to these programs are urgently needed. For those who are not familiar, the Small Business Innovation Research program was created in 1982. The program was intended to spur American innovation and harness ingenuity by increasing small business engagement in federally funded research and development. More recently, however, the Chinese Government has been manipulating this program. A report from the Department of Defense in April 2021 revealed some of the tactics China has used to this end. The DOD revealed instances where companies were created, received SBIR grants, and then the founders mysteriously dissolved the company. Upon further investigation, it became clear that these companies were either recruited to China or were formed with the intent of returning to China from the start. Either way, the result was the same: The American taxpayers funded projects that were stolen by the Chinese Government. This was simply an unacceptable status quo. This bill fixes those problems.…”