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Burns Pushes To Save SBIR Rural Outreach Program
Earlier this week, Senator Conrad Burns from Montana led an effort to save the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Rural Outreach Program, which allows small businesses in rural America, with help from state and local assistance providers, to play an integral role in federal research programs.
The Senate version of the FY 2001 Commerce-Justice-State (CJS) appropriations bill does not include funding for the Rural Outreach Program. Burns and six Senate colleagues asked the author of the CJS appropriations bill to provide $2 million in funding for the Rural Outreach program. Co-signers included Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY), Kit Bond (R-MO), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Thad Cochran (R-MS), and Patrick Leahy (D-VT). Burns is the second-ranking Republican on the Senate Small Business Committee.
Burns helped create the SBIR Rural Outreach Program in 1997, when he sponsored legislation annually authorizing $2 million for the program. The program, administered by the Small Business Administration, provides matching grants to state and local SBIR assistance efforts in states that traditionally have not received many SBIR awards. To date, 22 states have participated in the program.