A bill to provide for an additional temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 1929) to provide for an additional temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

The legislation before us will extend the Small Business Administration's broad array of critical programs until the end of January. This will allow small businesses to go on using the valuable services of the SBA while the House and the Senate continue our work to comprehensively reauthorize the Small Business Administration.

Already this year we have made important progress toward reauthorizing the SBA. In May, the House passed legislation reauthorizing the agency's entrepreneurial development programs. In July, we approved a measure to update the Small Business Innovation Research Initiative. And later this week, the House will consider H.R. 3854, a bill to comprehensively update the SBA's capital access initiatives. Passing the bill before us today will let us complete our work on these measures and conference them with our counterparts in the Senate.

The SBA clearly needs to be modernized in order to meet today's challenges. I look forward to sending legislation to the President's desk that will bring all of these various initiatives up to date. In the meantime, this bill offers the appropriate amount of time to continue our work while ensuring the agency can continue serving small businesses.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Wu).

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on this vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.

I thank the gentlelady.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 1929, as amended by the House. We have been working diligently on reauthorizing key programs of the SBA, including the Small Business Innovative Research and the Small Business Technology Transfer programs.

While progress has been made, a temporary extension of SBA programs is necessary to provide more time for us to continue working and provide stability to the SBA. S. 1929, as passed by the Senate, would extend SBA programs through April 30, 2010.

While I believe it is important to provide stability for SBA, 6 months is simply too long of a time to extend the programs because we need to keep our focus on a comprehensive reauthorization of SBIR and STTR. By extending the program for 6 months, we would delay this process. We would be putting off important work that needs to be done, such as permitting technology and venture capital participation in SBIR to a larger extent, changing grant sizes and other important things to turn the program into an innovation program as well as a small business program.

S. 1929, as amended by the House, will provide a 3-month extension that will provide stability to the SBA but also ensure that we continue to work expeditiously to pass reauthorization bills for SBIR and STTR.

I commend the chairwoman for her leadership on the Small Business Committee and working to keep small businesses in their important role as we work toward an economic recovery. Small business is the heart of our innovation economy, and we have to have the tools to keep them active and thriving in a 21st century economy.

Mr. President, I ask the Chair to lay before the Senate a message from the House with respect to S. 1929.

The Presiding Officer laid before the Senate a message from the House, as follows:

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate concur in the amendment from the House; that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, there be no intervening action or debate, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 1929, introduced earlier today.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read three times and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to the bill be printed in the Record.