Senators want program funding

Fourteen senators asked Appropriations Committee leaders to help restore funding for the Small Business Innovation Research program, which provides research and development funds to small businesses. Funding for the program was cut in the omnibus appropriations bill.

The 14 senators include Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, who leads the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and John Kerry, D-Mass.

The program provides grants to states to strengthen the technological competitiveness of small businesses. The Bush administration requested $3.5 million for the two grant programs; last summer the Senate had agreed to the amount.

-- Gail Repsher Emery