In January, I received a phone call at my Garden City office that no parent should ever have to make. Andrew Jedlicka, a father from Merrick, whose 5-year-old son is fighting a rare and debilitating genetic disorder, was desperately seeking help. The only lab in the world treating, and potentially capable of curing, his son was set to shut down because its federal funding had run out.
The lab, in Queens, had been partially funded by grants from a federal program known as the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer. The program is branded as “America’s Seed Fund” for high-risk, high-reward medical and technological research and development that is often not attractive to investors. The federal funding is the crucial factor to incentivize and enable private-sector investment in these types of innovations.
For the Jedlicka family and others, SBIR/STTR program dollars promise a future for a child whose life depends on them. And the program not only aids the families and small-business owners who directly benefit from it; it also grows and strengthens our economy and enhances the United States’ competitive edge and dominance in medicine and technology. For every dollar the federal government invests in SBIR/STTR, taxpayers see a return of $22 to $33 in economic impact.
The program has supported everything from new, innovative cancer treatments to semiconductors that power our lives to the world’s smallest heart pumps. It should have been reauthorized without delay. Unfortunately, it ground to a halt in late 2025, leaving small businesses and families like the Jedlickas in peril.
Andrew’s plea was heartbreaking — I certainly understood the anguish and fear his family felt, and was determined to break the gridlock and get his family the help they needed. Reauthorizing the program had broad bipartisan support — a bill had passed the House, but because of delays in the Senate, the program expired without being reauthorized.
I immediately reached out to and pushed my colleagues on the Senate Small Business Committee, including the chair, to work across the aisle to reauthorize the program. Following my efforts, the Senate finally reached a bipartisan deal to reauthorize funding for five years.
After passage of a revised bill in the Senate, followed by the House, with a bipartisan, veto-proof majority, we thought the Jedlicka family’s nightmare might be over. But then, instead of moving to the president’s desk, the bill inexplicably sat on the House speaker’s desk for weeks, awaiting his signature. There was no good reason for this, and on April 1, I demanded that the speaker act. Two days later, the bill was at last presented to the president, and on April 13 it was finally signed into law.
I’m glad colleagues on both sides of the aisle came together to finally reauthorize the SBIR/STTR program. This long-overdue victory belongs to Andrew and his son, and it is an honor to fight on their behalf. Andrew’s relentless advocacy shows how one father can make a real difference for Americans at a time when constant partisanship in Washington leaves many families feeling helpless. His family, and others facing the diagnosis of a rare disease, should never have faced this uncertainty.
My office is now working to ensure that the National Institutes of Health moves the funding to the lab immediately. We have extended vital medical research funding for the next five years, but Washington should not need a crisis to compel it to act. I will never stop fighting for Long Island families, and will use every tool available to cut through the partisanship and political games that put their futures at risk.
Laura A. Gillen represents the 4th Congressional District.
