Ernst’s Reforms to Put Small Businesses First Are Signed into Law

Necessary updates to SBIR-STTR give entrepreneurs the certainty needed to build and grow
WASHINGTON – Today, thanks to theleadershipof U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) to put small businesses first and safeguard our nation’s research and development dollars, President Donald J. Trumpsignedher updates to the SBIR-STTR programs into law.
“After years of work to put small businesses at the forefront of the SBIR-STTR programs, I am thrilled President Trump signed these long-overdue updates into law,”said Senator Ernst, Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.“Due to these reforms, we are putting our warfighters first, safeguarding American technology against foreign interference, holding recipients accountable for producing cutting-edge technologies, and eliminating taxpayer-funded blank checks. I look forward to working with the Trump administration to empower the entrepreneurs who drive American innovation forward and the men and women in uniform who deserve the best possible capabilities. Now these dollars will go out the door with the proper protections, and America’s seed fund will serve truly small businesses.”
Afterexposinghow these programsfavoreda few large companies over truly small businesses andfailed to protecttaxpayer-funded technologies from foreign influence, Ernst worked across the aisle and led her colleagues to change this unacceptable status quo by prioritizing small businesses and deterring malign foreign influence.
As a result, Ernst has nowusheredthese key updates into law:
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