WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman  Roger Williams (R-TX), Chairman of the House Committee on Small Business; Congressman Brian Babin (R-TX), Chairman of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology; Congressman Tim Walberg (R-MI), Chairman of the Committee on Education and Workforce; and Congressman John Moolenaar (R-MI), Chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), sent letters  to the  to the State University of New York (SUNY) and the University of California (UC) urging the university systems ensure that innovation developed by American small businesses stays out of the hands of our foreign adversaries, like the People’s Republic of China.

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“Foreign influence concerns loom over small-business programs”

CQ Roll Call

Briana Reilly

May 15, 2025

Leading House GOP lawmakers are doubling down on concerns about potential foreign influence in two critical small-business programs designed to bolster innovation within the military. 

A new pair of letters from four of the chamber’s committee chairmen offers the latest sign that issues surrounding contractors’ potential foreign ties will again loom large during debate over renewing the decades-old, complementary grant programs that advocates say are a critical pathway for introducing new technologies to the Pentagon. 

In their Wednesday missives, the lawmakers specifically invoked concerns about the People’s Republic of China’s relationship with the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs, charging that the two “have become a backdoor pipeline for China’s military and economic ambitions.” 

“Academic institutions are susceptible to exploitation by the PRC’s massive resources and infrastructure,” lawmakers warned. “By infiltrating universities and businesses that receive SBIR/STTR funding, China is able to use this pathway as yet another avenue to extract sensitive information and undermine both U.S. national security and economic competitiveness.”

The letters, addressed to the chancellor of the State University of New York and the president of the University of California, were cosigned by House Small Business Chair Roger Williams of Texas; Science, Space, and Technology Chair Brian Babin of Texas; Education and Workforce Chair Tim Walberg of Michigan; and House select China committee Chair John Moolenaar of Michigan. 

They ask both universities to answer questions about their approach to the threats foreign adversaries pose to their research programs. 

The focus on combating foreign influence in the two programs dominated the 2022 reauthorization debate, following a Defense Department-commissioned report that reportedly found the Chinese government “deliberately exploits the SBIR and STTR programs to acquire cutting-edge U.S. technology,” as lawmakers wrote in their letters. 

And two already-introduced plans to extend both programs identify efforts to address award recipients’ foreign affiliations. A bicameral bill (HR 3169), from top Democrats on the House and Senate Small Business panels, would re-up until 2030 language in current law (PL 117-183) that sought to head off risks posed by contractors’ foreign ties. 

Separately, a proposal (S 853) from Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chair Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, seeks to address the issue by, in part, strengthening agencies’ ability to claw back grant funds.

Ernst this week unveiled her own report that sought to highlight the volume of program applicants that had been flagged by government agencies for potentially risky foreign ties in 2023 and 2024, as she made the case for approving “strong and enforceable due diligence requirements” in her legislation.

“This alarming report must serve as a wake-up call to Washington,” Ernst said in a Wednesday release. “The SBIR-STTR programs provide a valuable pipeline of technology that we cannot allow China and other foreign adversaries to steal.” 

Williams has yet to introduce his plan to reauthorize the programs. Discussions over extending the programs will take place between the so-called “six corners” — the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Small Business committees and the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

Meanwhile, the letters explicitly stated House Republicans’ interest in tackling the foreign influence issue. 

“With the SBIR and STTR programs’ authorization set to expire on September 30, 2025, the Committees of jurisdiction will consider legislative and policy changes to end the PRC’s exploitation of American taxpayer dollars,” lawmakers wrote.

“This includes considering changes to further bolster American innovation while safeguarding national security,” they continued. “We must ensure that the groundbreaking technologies developed by our small business community remain in the United States.”

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