Scott Hauge, founder and president of Small Business California, and Christopher White, of the Bay Area Innovative Alliiance, are sounding the alarm on behalf of small business.
Next week, Congress is scheduled to vote on reauthorization of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which directs $2.2 billion annually in federal grants to small technology businesses across the country.
The problem, according to Hauge and White, is that the House bill contains a provision which changes the definition of small business to include subsidiaries of multinational corporations and companies that are majority-owned by multi-billion venture capital funds and other large financial institutions, including foreign financial institutions.
Click here to read their statement. They recommend that people call Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s office and Rep. Jackie Speie’s office to oppose the changes and keep the original SBIR small business eligibility criteria in place.