Here’s and update on SBIR and STTR from our friends at BIO in DC.
“Last week the cloture vote to move the SBIR bill toward final passage in the Senate failed and unfortunately the Senate is currently at an impasse.
With the program set to expire on May 31st, today Senator Landrieu filed a one-year extension of the SBA and its programs, including SBIR and STTR. This bill is similar to reauthorizations the committee has been passing since September 2006. Attached is the language of the bill and the press release that was sent out today on this issue. The House must receive the extension by May 16th or May 17thfrom the Senate in order to consider it on the suspension calendar before Memorial Day weekend.”
Gillian S. Mullins, Director, Government Relations & Grassroots Programs, Biotechnology Industry Organization
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 11, 2011
Contact: Richard Carbo, (202) 224-3655
To Avoid Shutdown, Landrieu Files Extension of SBIR, STTR Programs
WASHINGTON – United States Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., Chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, today filed a one-year extension of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technical Transfer (STTR) programs. After five weeks on the floor, the Federal government’s two largest research and development programs for small businesses failed to pass a crucial vote last week. Long-term reauthorization is now stuck, and the current extension of these programs is set to expire on May 31, 2011.
“After years of negotiations, and with so much support from my colleagues and the small business community, it is extremely unfortunate that we are right back where we started. To ensure that the SBIR and STTR programs do not end completely, I am filing a one-year, clean extension. There are too many businesses across the country with great ideas that are working with our government to develop technologies to improve national security, better the diagnosis, treatment and cure of diseases and move us closer towards energy independence and efficiency that would be left in the dark if these programs were to stop. We’d lose so much good technology and important investments. To avoid that, it is necessary to make sure the programs don’t shut down or slow down. I hope that we can provide, if only for one year, some sense of certainty for the businesses that partner with the government, and I urge my colleagues to support its continuation.”
The SBIR and STTR Reauthorization Act of 2011, S. 493, passed out of the Committee on March 9, 2011 by a nearly unanimous vote of 18-1. Last week, the Senate held a cloture vote to end debate on S.493, but the motion failed by a vote of 52-44.
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You will find the full text of the bill here at GovTrack.US. If thbis is an issue that is importnat to you and your comapny, you can show your support or opposition to this bill on the new website POPVOX.com.