The Senate passed S.1233 today. With the House bill that passed last week, we now have two possible bills with three possible solutions:
- The House and Senate reach a compromise and then send the bill onto the President for his signature into law
- The House and Senate do not reach a compromise before the July 31st deadline but decide to temporarily continue through a Continuing Resolution. In this case, we would start the process all over again at a future date
- The House and Senate do not reach a compromise, there is no provision for a continuing resolution, and thus, the SBIR program dies.
Let's think positive and hope that the first option happens. If not, the second option would not be ideal, but it would be a better than the 3rd option.
The senate bill was passed with some amendments, including a requirement for better metrics and reauthorizing both programs for an eight-year period.
Hopefully, in the next week or two the House and Senate will reach a compromise and with the addition of President Obama's signature, we will have a reauthorized program.
Stay tuned!