Unlike yesterday's issue, this is the type of story I very much like sending you.
HOUSE PASSES SBIR/STTR/CPP EXTENSION THROUGH JANUARY 31, 2011
Borrowing
the title of a song from My Fair Lady, "You Did It!" There was thunder
on Capitol Hill today as hundreds of you responded to an emergency call
to action (from many people and organizations) to save the SBIR program
from lapsing, and that you did it!
Around 7:00pm this evening,
Nydia Velazquez under pressure from her peers and the House leadership,
accepted the Senate's SBIR and SBA extender bill, she and moved to
suspend the rules to pass S.3839 without amendments. That has now
happened and the SBIR program will be extended through January 31, 2011,
pending signature of the President (virtually automatic), who supports
the bill.
This is the 9th continuing resolution for SBIR, which
in and of itself is an outrage, but perhaps Velazquez & Day are now
wounded and certainly embarrassed, having been rolled over by the House
leadership twice in as many weeks. The Senate has worked strenuously in
bipartisan fashion to construct a compromise that Nydia & Day would
accept, but they showed little interest.
We will provide a
postmortem of this escapade in a future issue to show how close we came
to a programmatic lapse. Your voices played a major role in getting the
support to overrule Velazquez.
Nowhere were the cries for
passing S.3839 stronger than from the great state of Massachusetts. Not
only are they the second largest SBIR award winning state, but also the
most organized. To that end, two of their congressionals played major
roles in this victory, Ed Markey (D-MA) and Niki Tsongas (D-MA). Tsongas
wrote a powerful "Dear Colleague" letter (signed by supporters) that
truly made a difference. There are many more heros and we'll cover that
next week.
WHAT'S NEXT
This fight is far from over, but
the tide is turning. The big challenge for you is to get out and educate
the candidates running for election. Do it not only for the candidate
of your choice, but to the opposition as well. Attend their rallies,
talk to their staff, and to the press. Undoubtedly there will be many
new freshman congressmen and senators coming in to the next congress and
you'll want them to know about the importance of the SBIR/STTR programs
to your business and the economy. Also, step up to the plate and
publically thank those who have supported your programs, and don't be
afraid to criticize those who didn't.
2010 NATIONAL SBIR FALL CONFERENCE
Now
that we know we'll have our program for a while, consider attending the
Fall National SBIR conference in Oklahoma City, OK November 8-10, 2010.
Most of the National SBIR conferences are targeted to beginning and
intermediate companies participating, or wanting to participate in
SBIR/STTR. Complete details are available at www.sbirok.org/
CLOSING
I'm
sorry I haven't had enough time to answer all my email but I will try
as best I can to get back to all of you who have contacted me. Thanks so
much for your time, dedication to SBIR and patience.
Sincerely,
Rick
Rick Shindell
SBIR Gateway
Zyn Systems
40 Alderwood Dr.
Sequim, WA 98382
360-681-4123
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.zyn.com/sbir