[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 97 (Wednesday, July 14, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8105-S8107]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   ENSURING AMERICA'S COMPETITIVENESS

  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I have come to this floor several times 
in the last few months to discuss our country's future competitiveness 
in the global marketplace, which I consider to be a very serious 
subject. As a first step in tackling the challenges we are now facing, 
yesterday I introduced three bills that I feel will move us in the 
right direction. They will ensure a strong workforce that can handle 
the ever-changing world around it, and create more high tech job 
opportunities for this workforce by encouraging the development of 
science parks.
  We have, as a nation, a significant negative trend to reverse. The 
United

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States currently ranks fifteenth in the percentage of 18-to-24-year-
olds who earn science and engineering degrees in their respective 
countries. This places us behind Taiwan and South Korea, Ireland and 
Italy among others. Less than thirty years ago, in 1975, the United 
States ranked third in the world in this respect. According to a new 
National Science Foundation report entitled ``An Emerging and Critical 
Problem of the Science and Engineering Labor Force'', the average age 
of the science and engineering workforce is rising, and the children of 
the baby boom generation are not choosing these careers in the same 
numbers as their parents. The number of science and engineering 
doctoral degrees awarded to U.S. citizens dropped by 7 percent from 
1998 to 2001, while the number of jobs requiring science and 
engineering skills in the U.S. labor force is growing almost 5 percent 
per year. In a recent survey, the National Association of Manufacturers 
found that more than 80 percent of manufacturers report a shortage of 
qualified job candidates. Equally troubling, it is estimated that as 
many as 3.3 million jobs may be sent overseas in the next 15 years, 
causing American workers to lose $136 billion in wages.
  A recent trip to Taiwan brought to my attention some of these 
emerging opportunities in other countries, and specifically the major 
benefits of a science park. Initially developed by the Taiwanese 
government in the early 1980s, the Hsinchu Science Park meets many of 
the needs of growing high tech companies, which include access to a 
trained work force, financing, secondary supply chain companies, and 
quality of life services such as schools, roads and parks. Two 
companies spun out from this park now control 40 percent of the world's 
market for chip fabrication. And China is now adopting a similar model.
  What we need to take from countries like Taiwan is the role the 
government has to foster continued growth in key industries by 
supporting the necessary infrastructure, such as the science parks. It 
should also be pointed out that that support is not forever. While 
Taiwan had a very active role in chip R&D in the 70's and 80's, that is 
not true today. Industry, not the government, funds over 94 percent of 
chip R&D.
  In my own State of New Mexico, the 6-year-old Sandia Science and 
Technology Park has already demonstrated some of the benefits of this 
unique model. The Sandia park now has 19 entities employing almost 
1,000 people. The average annual salary is $55,000--well above the 
Albuquerque average. Since the Park's inception, more than $17 million 
in cooperative research and development agreements and licensing 
agreements have been made between Sandia National Laboratory and park 
tenants. In addition, Sandia has awarded more than $50 million in 
procurement contracts to park tenants. Both Sandia National Laboratory 
and the companies in the park have benefited immensely from the 
advantages of this business environment.
  With the new challenges we are facing as a competitor in the 
international marketplace, here are four things we can do to improve 
our Nation's position.
  First, we have to improve our high tech workforce. We need to 
increase the numbers of workers educated for employment in high 
technology industries, align the technical and vocational programs of 
educational institutions with the workforce needs of high growth 
industries, offer individuals expanded opportunities for rapid training 
and re-training needed to keep and change jobs in a volatile economy, 
and provide U.S. companies with adequate numbers of skilled technical 
workers. This is why I am introducing the Workforce Investment in Next 
Generation Technologies--WING--Act today.
  Drawing from the already very successful Advanced Technology 
Education Program at the National Science Foundation, the legislation 
will establish a consultation partnership between the National Science 
Foundation, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Education 
that creates flexible high-tech, high-wage career ladders. It would do 
this by funding cooperative partnerships between one-stop centers, 
business, community colleges, universities, and vocational programs at 
the local and regional level. These would be directed toward creating 
technology-based certification programs that would solidify common 
skill standards for industry. Schools would create a curriculum based 
on current industry needs, and individuals who leave the program would 
have a skill-set recognized by industry. Significantly, they could be 
used anywhere across the country.
  Over time, because individuals would be able to incrementally 
increase their skill set through additional training, they would be 
able to pursue higher level degrees in science and technology and 
obtain progressively higher-wage employment. Furthermore, by linking 
the public and private sector in a collaborative effort for high-
technology workforce training, it will encourage the sharing of 
information and ideas, increase cooperation between entities frequently 
having a reputation for not working together, and enhance cluster-
driven economic growth across the country. In my state of New Mexico, 
for example, you could easily envision a cluster being developed around 
key critical technologies for the future such as high temperature 
superconductors or next-generation lighting.
  Second, we need to ensure that individuals typically trapped in low-
wage jobs have a tangible chance to step onto career ladders to 
something better. To this end I previously introduced the Limited 
English Proficiency and Integrated Workforce Training Act, S. 1690. 
This legislation establishes a program under the Workforce Investment 
Act administered jointly by Departments of Labor and Education focused 
on preparing and placing individuals with limited English proficiency 
in growing industries with tangible high wage career paths. It is also 
designed to bypass lengthy prerequisites to entry into the workforce 
and allow individuals with limited proficiency to integrate 
occupational and English language training. Significantly, it 
recognizes that immigrants constitute close to 50 percent of the growth 
in the civilian workforce in the last decade and that these individuals 
can make a significant contribution to U.S. economic competitiveness.
  In combination, these bills will bring together workforce training 
and economic development to enhance opportunities for growth in 
communities around the country. Similar language was already accepted 
in the Workforce Investment Act legislation that passed the Senate.
  Focusing on high-school to postsecondary education, an important 
third component to meeting the demands of a competitive, 21st century 
workforce is the bill I am introducing today, the Preparing Students 
for a High-Tech World Act.
  Strong career and technical education programs are vital to 
addressing our shortage of highly-skilled workers and to preserving 
these jobs for Americans. These programs offer effective and proven 
links to positive educational and employment outcomes for students, 
including increased school attendance, reduced high school dropout 
rates, higher grades, increased entry into postsecondary education, and 
greater access to high-tech careers.
  In my home State of New Mexico, we have benefited greatly from 
federal support for career and technical education programs, which 
involve over 3,000 secondary and postsecondary teachers. These programs 
have a distinguished record of preparing young people and adults for 
further education and careers. For instance, in Gadsden, we have an 
innovative program in a rural border area that has been struggling to 
keep its jobs and its industry alive. The Gadsden program has directly 
linked the needs of area employers to the high school and postsecondary 
curriculum. The employers get a customized workforce, and have more 
incentive to stay and grow their business in the region. The students 
get preferred hiring status, as well as opportunities to enhance their 
skills and obtain certificates as they work.
  We also have an outstanding career and technical education program in 
Rio Rancho that was established through a unique community-business 
partnership with Intel Corporation. Rio Rancho High School offers a 
rigorous, integrated career and technical education program that was 
featured in Time magazine as one of the 10 most innovative career and 
technical schools in the nation.

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  The Preparing Students for a High-Tech World Act will extend the 
opportunity to benefit from exemplary programs like Rio Rancho to our 
nation's students by increasing the academic rigor and integration of 
career and technical education programs; developing pathways to 
postsecondary education and high-skill, high-wage careers; forging 
alliances among secondary schools, postsecondary institutions, and 
business and industry designed to address local and regional workforce 
needs; ensuring that teachers have the knowledge and skills to teach 
effectively in career and technical education programs; and encouraging 
the establishment of small, personalized, career-themed learning 
communities.
  These three bills will ensure that we develop the skilled workforce 
that is essential to building a strong and dynamic economy and to 
maintaining our country's ability to compete in a global marketplace. 
This legislation would have substantial spill-over benefits for the 
communities that adopted these strategies. It would improve science and 
technology education at the schools in the area. It would increase the 
employment opportunities for the students that participated in these 
programs. It would establish more cooperative linkages between the 
business, schools, and the one-stop shops, and it would enhance 
economic development in the region.
  Along with developing a better trained workforce, we must also create 
the jobs for them to fill. As I mentioned earlier, Taiwan and Sandia 
have done an excellent job in demonstrating the competitive advantages 
of a science park. Given that they act as a critical element in 
diffusing technology into our national industries, I think that a 
fourth element of our response to new S&T challenges would be for the 
Federal government to take a stronger and more coherent role in 
supporting such parks. Some science parks are locally supported by 
their states, while others may apply for grants from the Economic 
Development Administration within the Department of Commerce. These 
existing sources of support are helpful but it appears to me that it 
would make good sense to develop a more focused grant program to help 
jump-start the development of science parks, which is why I have 
introduced the Science Park Administration Act of 2004. If passed, the 
federal funds in this bill would be cost matched by States. A loan 
program to assist in land acquisition and infrastructure development 
for these parks would be established. And various tax incentives would 
be provided, including credits for employees trained locally, and 
adjustment of depreciation schedules for high-end equipment to reflect 
actual product life-cycles.
  I hope that I have provided some positive steps we can take to face 
the increasingly competitive world we live in. Congress and the 
administration need to find the will and the resolve to meet these 
challenges head-on. I look forward to working with my colleagues in 
doing so, and in helping to ensure the competitive strength of our 
Nation.

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