Markey Amendment Puts Small Biz Back in SBIR

July 1, 2009

The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on SBIR Reauthorization next week and SBTC, a council of NSBA, is urging every SBIR company to contact and educate their Representative. More specifically, SBTC is encouraging all members to meet personally with their Representative during the recess, when the Members will be at home in their Districts. In order to pass a bill that is favorable to small business the reauthorization effort will need every vote it can get.

If you do not know who your Representative is, go to www.house.gov and enter your zip code in the upper left hand corner of the page. Or call (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the correct office.

Ask to speak to the person who handles the scheduling for your Representative. Find out where he or she is going to have town meetings next week, or be in a parade on July 4.

Prior to meeting face to face with your Representative, be sure to familiarize yourself with the talking points provided below. If you cannot meet with your elected official, call their small business legislative aid and talk to him/her.

Starting the Dialogue
An effective way to begin the conversation with your Representative or legislative aid may be to ask whether he or she is “Going to Support Local Main Street Businesses or Wall Street?"

Specific Asks During the Conversation
Urge your Representative to support the Markey Amendment to the SBIR reauthorization bill (H.R. 2965). In doing so be sure to make several key points:

1. SBIR is a great program that has really helped your company and your state.


2. SBIR is doing an excellent job of commercializing innovations. The National Academy of Sciences says that a third to a half of all Phase II awards are commercialized now. That is a far better commercialization rate than any other government program.


3. More and more studies are showing that the venture capital industry is foundering financially. Venture capitalists shouldn’t get a federal bail out at small business’ expense. This is a Main Street vs. Wall Street issue. Ask your Representative to support your local small business.


4. Companies that are majority owned by venture capital firms should be strictly limited in the SBIR Program.  SBIR is the only access that small business has to federal government R&D procurement. It should not be hijacked by big business and VC’s.


• SBIR is far and away the nation’s leading source of early stage capital to develop technology and innovation. This money should not be used to shore up VC’s that have been losing money for nearly a decade. Not only that, but (choose one of the following):


• VC’s do not invest in our state (click here to see a map)


• VC’s do not invest in minority-owned businesses (less than 2 percent)


• VC’s do not invest in women-owned businesses (less than 2 percent)


• VC owned firms have millions of dollars to compete against truly small business




5. H.R. 2965 radically changes SBIR and is bad because it:
   
   
   
   • Only reauthorizes SBIR for three years. This is not long enough for a business to execute a business plan that includes Phase I and Phase II SBIR awards. (The bill that we favor in the Senate, S.1233, authorizes SBIR for 14 years.)
   
   
   • By hugely increasing the size of SBIR awards and by allowing multiple Phase II awards, H.R. 2965 will reduce the number of awards by 50 percent.
   
   
   • H.R. 2965 also moves policy and control of SBIR from the Small Business Administration to the Department of Commerce and the White House.  The whole character of SBIR as a small business program will be destroyed if agencies that primarily deal with large businesses control the program.
   
   
   • The bill also shifts the goals of SBIR research the government needs to research that primarily interests VC’s and large companies. This would wreck the very basis of SBIR, costing the nation a great program that has worked well.
   
   
   • With its “rural preference,” the bill makes the geographic location of an applicant more important than the quality of the applicant’s research and technology.