mr. schock: thank you, mr. chairman. i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 5 printed in part a of house report 111-219 offered by mr. schock of illinois. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 669, the gentleman from illinois, mr. schock, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois. mr. schock: thank you, mr. chairman. i'd yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. schock: our country continues to see a significant increase in foreclosures which were up 18% this january over last. those figures continue to rise the first quarter of 2009 with an additional 616,000 homeowners filing foreclosures. over 25,000 of those foreclosures were in my home state of illinois alone. and now the percentage of subprime loans and foreclosure has for the first time ever eclipsed 14%. we've all heard about these ridiculous loans, ballooninged a jurtible rates, and from-only mortgages which never prov

mr. schock. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. schock: i rise in support of this bill. it incorporates language i introduced in h.r. 2172, the sbir and sttr improvement act. i would i thinklike to thank my colleagues for moving this piece of legislation forward and doing so in a bipartisan way. i also want to thank my colleague congressman nye for his work with me on the subcommittee level to ensure the process of modernizing the small business innovation research program was done in an effective, efficient, and bipartisan fashion with the input from those who are most important, that is, the small business sector who utilizes this important program. the small business innovation research, or sbir program, as we refer to it, was established over 20 years ago and is an important resource in assisting small business owners wishing to bring their technological advancements to the marketplace. while small business owners represent some of the brightest innovators our country has, because of the high cost of doing technological research for the government, small businesses a

mr. schock, mrs. hafflerson, and most importantly, the bill's sponsor, mr. altmire. also, the science and technology , both chairman and ranking member and the subcommittee chairman, and the ranking member and especially i want to say thank you to the staff from both committees who have worked so diligently in working in a bipartisan manner. this legislation has the support of 60 different organizations, including the u.s. women's chamber of commerce , the biotechnology industry organization. the sbir and sttr programs are critical small business resources. they help 1,500 firms get off the ground every year. and in the past we have sparked break throughs in everything from software to defense technology. clearly, this program holds enormous value. even so, they haven't been modernized in eight years and are in sore need of enhancement. in improving sbir and sttr, we are going to increase efficiency, expand the talent pool and boost commercialization. meanwhile, we are also going to give entrepreneurs more options for funding their ventures. taken together, these mea