Scott Fitzgerald: “I thank the ranking member for yielding. I rise in support of S. 4900, which would reauthorize the Small Business…”

“I thank the ranking member for yielding. I rise in support of S. 4900, which would reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs. In addition to extending the SBIR and STTR programs for 3 years, this bill contains several important provisions that safeguard our government and its research from foreign entities and enhance benchmarks for those companies that have received multiple awards. Since 1992, the SBIR and STTR programs have helped promote public- private partnership and small business innovation by requiring agencies with sizable R&D needs to set aside a portion of their budget for small business participation. As many of the speakers said before me, the return on investment has been nothing short of impressive. In the Department of Defense alone, between 1995 and 2018, the SBIR and STTR programs resulted in $28 billion in new product sales to the U.S. military, $347 billion in total economic output, and the creation of more than 1.5 million jobs. But with this amount of participation comes the likelihood of malign influence and fraud within the program. This was evidenced by a DOD report that found China was using shell companies in its Thousand Talents Program to profit off federally funded research programs like these two we are talking about here this afternoon.…”