The House fails us again!

Well, folks, SBIR is still on life support. Despite the valiant efforts of the leadership of the Senate Committee on Small Businesses and Entrepreneurship (in Sens. Snowe & Landrieu), and the unanimous consent of the U.S. Senate in passing S.4053 yesterday, the House failed once again miserably to do something good for the country.

Despite apparent willingness by outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, the intervention of the House Shafting Businesses Committee, namely in the personages of outgoing Chair Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), and incoming Chair Sam Graves (R-MO), who both opposed "unanimous consent" as a mechanism for voting on the bill, the bill was never considered. It does look distinctly like, despite the musical chairs of the committee leadership, the House SBC will continue to shaft small businesses at will. Will incoming Speaker John Boehner have the courage to do what's right?

Remarkably, an unprecedented alignment of forces supported S.4053. It was endorsed not only by small business organizations, but also by both the National Venture Capital Association and the Biotechnology Industry Organization who have been heretofore the major opponents of any compromise short of redefining small business to the point of meaninglessness.

Yet, there are indications that misguided or insidious elements in the academic community (including the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy) are working to defeat any continuation or expansion of R&D involvement by the small business community. I can't say it better than Rick Shindell, so I'll let his words make the case:

Some university organizations are claiming that these greedy SBIR small businesses are trying to steal R&D funds away from them by raising the SBIR allocation from 2.5% to 3.5%. In an emergency letter (Dec 22, 2010) to the House leadership, The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology cried out "This bill would increase the SBIR set-aside by 40 percent…"

What these groups won't tell you is that well over 1/3 (closer to 38%) of all the scientists and engineers in the US work for, or own small high tech businesses but these businesses get only about 4.3% of the government's research dollars, and that's inclusive of the 2.5% SBIR allocation!

In actuality, universities and SBIR small businesses are helping each other more than ever before. Each entity has its strengths and they can leverage each other's assets to improve chances for success.

This is not about greed; this is not a scramble for diminishing crumbs. This is about propelling the US and the world forward, out of this mess of a recession, toward a better and brighter future. This is not a zero-sum game. The more innovation, the better our lives, all of our lives, will be.

What is the best way that we as a society can support innovation? SBIR is right there at the top. And as a boon, it creates jobs and excitement along the way. Seed funding for innovative startups; and for the startup of innovative ideas, transforming those ideas into commercial products, from start to finish. That's what SBIR is all about.

Let's get this taken care of in the new Congress, without prevarication and without delays. Is there leadership enough to get this renewed for 8 years before the current Continuing Resolution expires on January 31? Let us hope!

Another Continuing Resolution

Nydia Velazquez' continuing war against the interests of small businesses notwithstanding, we've got yet another reprieve for SBIR and other SBA programs (number nine in a long series of continuing irresolutions, for those keeping count). Why is she still chairwoman of the House Small Business Committee?

via thomas.loc.gov

S.3839
Title: A bill to provide for an additional temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Sen Landrieu, Mary L. [LA] (introduced 9/24/2010) Cosponsors (1)
Related Bills: H.R.3614, H.R.4508, H.R.5849, S.1513, S.1929, S.3253
Latest Major Action: 9/28/2010 Cleared for White House.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAJOR ACTIONS:
9/24/2010 Introduced in Senate
9/24/2010 Passed/agreed to in Senate: Introduced in the Senate, read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
9/28/2010 Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote.
9/28/2010 Cleared for White House.

Thanks to Rick Shindell and all the SBIR advocates out there who overflowed Speaker Pelosi's voice mail, and contacted their own Representatives. Now let's get some real resolution in the form of reauthorization.

Firestorm against Nydia Velazquez

Small Business California notes the rising firestorm against Nydia Velázquez, current (and hopefully soon-to-be-departing) Chair of the House Small Business Committee, whose loyalties to small business seem to be ever more in question.

Rick Shindell's SBIR Insider posted notice a few days ago of Nydia's latest outrage in the form of the following statement (in her official capacity as chair of the House SBC):

Without the participation of venture-backed companies, the SBIR program has become little more than corporate welfare for marginal companies who are unable to secure external market based funding.

It's quite amazing really that she could be so (willfully) ignorant of the ways innovation and job growth have been spurred in this country for the past quarter century, and the essential role that SBIR and perhaps other similar programs have played in SEEDING innovative small businesses.

Once again, for the record, if there are any VCs out there with even the slightest interest in SEED FUNDING, stand up and be heard. No? Noone! I didn't think so.

SBIR, remade in the image of the puppet masters who control Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) and her companion-in-arms Sam Graves (R-MO), the committee's ranking member, would cease to foster, support, and sustain small business innovation and job growth. Unfortunately, it's not simply their actions, but the general inaction in Washington that most threatens the economy and the prospects for innovative high-tech small businesses to play our leading role.

The offending comment was not a private offhand remark, but passed on March 4 by unanimous consent of the entire House Small Business Committee as part of the committee's Views & Estimates document sent to the Chair of the House Budget Committee. Interestingly, the document was subsequently "corrected" to reword the offending passage, softening the language that calls for exactly the same thing: dismantling of the SBIR focus on seed funding of small businesses.

Read Scott Hauge's firestorm post on Small Business California. And read Rick Shindell's background on the story I describe here, then take action to urge our elected officials to do what's right. I join Fred Patterson in his call to have Velazquez removed as chair of the House Small Business Committee. It's time. Is anyone in the leadership in Washington listening?

DoD-only SBIR reauthorization for 1 year!

Rick Shindell gives the scoop (via SBIR Insider):

Wednesday, October 7, 2009 the House & Senate Armed Service Committees reached agreement on the conference report to H.R. 2647, the Fiscal Year 2010 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

In this conference report ... there are 2 pages of language that in essence, reauthorize the DoD's SBIR and STTR programs for 1 year (ending September 30, 2010), and extending the Commercialization Pilot Program (CPP) for the same period.

This has no effect on the other ten agency SBIR/STTR programs that will expire on October 31, 2009 unless extended by another CR or reauthorized.

The NDAA should come to the floor of both bodies quickly for a vote, perhaps Thursday. There are some provisions that are controversial and a few that the President didn't want, so the bill's passage and the President's signing, although likely, will not be a slam dunk. We have a copy of the SBIR portion of the report at http://www.zyn.com/sbir/insider/SBIR-Armed_Services_Report-100709.pdf

... Obviously the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) actions reflect a vote of "no confidence" in the ability or likelihood of the other committees to reach SBIR reauthorization in a timely manner.

INSIDE STUFF: Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), chair of the SASC, who is also a member of the SBE, worked closely with SBE committee chair Mary Landrieu (D-LA) as did their staffers, to incorporate the entirety of the Senate's SBIR reauthorization bill (S.1233) into the NDAA. Some SBIR changes were made by the SASC including making the reauthorization for 14 years, making the CPP permanent (rather than its pilot program status), and expanding the CPP to the STTR program.

... Once it came to light that this action was for real and was gaining traction, HSBC chair Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), and HS&T subcommittee chair David Wu (D-OR) fired off a strong letter of complaint to HASC chair Ike Skelton (D-MO) and ranking member Buck McKeon (R-CA), along with a CC to Nancy Pelosi. (see http://www.zyn.com/sbir/insider/HASC_letter-9-25-09.pdf )

In the House, there was great pressure on Armed Services to stand down on the SBIR issue. Chairman Skelton would not cave but he would compromise. The 14 years were reduced to 1, CPP was also only 1 year and was not expanded to STTR.

This compromise should serve notice the other House committees that SBIR must be reauthorized properly or the DoD may run with their own program next year.