2.0  editorial: House sbir reauthorization bill - DOA in the Senate?

We continue to be appalled by the irresponsible action of the U.S. House in their total abdication to the BIO/VC special interests as defined in the 2008 SBIR Reauthorization legislation, H.R. 5819. It is obvious to this observer that the majority of the House members supporting this bill had absolutely no idea of the meaning and consequences of their vote (Barbara Cubin is a notable exception; she was one of only 43 Representatives to vote against H.R.5819). But, it also now appears possible that by crafting the legislation in secret and bringing it to the House floor at the last minute may be the downfall of the entire nefarious enterprise. The bill is so outrageously over-the-top as to virtually guarantee it will not be endorsed by the more responsible and deliberative Senate.

By keeping the SBIR budget fixed at its current level while tripling the Phase I and Phase II award levels, the House legislation has, in one sweep of the pen, reduced the total number of possible SBIR awards by 67%! But it gets much worse than that. The provisions that allow a Phase II award to be made without a prior Phase I award, allowing more than one Phase II award for the same project, and allowing Phase II awards to exceed the $2.2 million cap, will result in a further drastic reduction in the number of Phase I awards (the SBIR program is a ‘zero sum game’; one $2.2 million Phase II award will eliminate seven $300,000 Phase I awards). The disastrous outcome of H.R. 5819 would be that the total number of SBIR awards will be reduced by an estimated 75-80%; a consequence so egregious that one can only hope that it is an unintended consequence of H.R. 5819, and one the entire Senate will overwhelmingly reject. If these provisions of H.R. 5819 are allowed to become law, it will mark the end of the invaluable and irreplaceable contribution of the SBIR/STTR program to the development of Wyoming’s emerging tech-based small business sector.

Having said all of the above, the time left for the Senate to reauthorize the SBIR program is perilously short, especially with the pressure of other pending legislation and the distractions of an election year. Without the benefit of insider information, it appears to this observer that it is probable the Senate will not bring SBIR reauthorization legislation up for a vote this session, leaving the fate of the SBIR program up to the formulation of some sort of continuation legislation. In this observer’s opinion, these eventualities leave open the very real possibility that the very determined BIO/VC lobbies will work effectively to bring about another secret last-minute coup by attaching their legislation onto some other must-pass legislation, a tactic that is, unfortunately, frequently employed. Paranoid perhaps, but both the precedent and the motivation are in place.

WHAT YOU CAN DO – LET THE SENATORS KNOW OF YOUR CONCERNS

Let Senator Enzi know of your concerns – phone - 202.224.3424; FAX 202.228.0359; Toll Free - 888.250.1879 .
Legislative Director, Randi Reid randi_reid@enzi.senate.gov.
Small Business Legislative Assistant, Travis Jordan travis_jordan@enzi.senate.gov.

Senator John Kerry is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Let him know of your concerns – phone - 202.224.2742; FAX 202.224.8525

Senator Barrasso – 202.224.6441; FAX – 202.224.1724