Iowa Senator Joni Ernst says a bill she co-sponsored has closed loopholes in two federal programs that award military contracts to small businesses that are engaged in research and development and technology.
Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, is chair of the U-S Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. “We’re really proud that we got a bill done, again, in a bipartisan manner, through the House, through the Senate and signed into law by President Trump,” Ernst said.
Ernst and other lawmakrs alleged that large corporations were gaming the system, so there’s now a limit on applications for these federal contracts and rules that prioritize small businesses. “We just really had to take a hard look at the programs and are they doing what we need them to do which is develop goods or services for the federal government,” Ernst said.
Ernst sponsored an event Tuesday in Ames for the owners of more than 300 Iowa small businesses, so they can learn about contracts in the federal government they might apply for. Ernst said while small businesses and the entire U.S. economy have been affected to the war in Iran, the president took the right action to try to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
“It was not a choice that was easily made by the president, but it was done in defense of the nation,” Ernst said. “I do understand there are economical hardships hitting our families and individuals and small businesses, but at the same time we will have a point where we come back with a resurgence with American opportunity and we will be safer…because of the interactions that we’ve had in the Middle East.”
Ernst is not seeking reelection and this was her fourth annual — and final — Iowa Small Business Entrepreneur Expo.
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