[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 122 (Tuesday, September 26, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10126-S10134]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS INVESTMENT ACT
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, while we in the Senate have been busy
doing many things and our minds have been all over the world,
literally, with the war in Iraq and all kinds of things that have come
before us and to us for consideration, we have been confronted with a
very exciting opportunity for America and America's future.
We have been listening to and acting on a rather remarkable effort
involving three Senate committees, with valuable contributions from a
number of other committees and a number of Senators from many
committees. All of these Senators and all of these committees have
worked to write this legislation and are deeply concerned about
maintaining our Nation's ability to compete in the high-tech global
marketplace.
Today I join a bipartisan group of Senators in speaking about
legislation that will be introduced later tonight by the distinguished
majority leader and the minority leader. They will introduce the
legislation later this evening. Its name will be the National
Competitiveness Investment Act, and its number is S. 3936.
All of us worked on this legislation because we are deeply concerned
about America maintaining its ability to compete in the high-tech
global marketplace.
One year ago, the National Academy of Sciences released a report that
highlighted the urgency of the challenge. It was called ``Rising Above
the Gathering Storm'' report, which was written by a distinguished
committee chaired by Norm Augustine, former chairman of Lockheed
Martin. His committee included three Nobel laureates, presidents of
leading universities, and chief executive officers of multinational
corporations.
The charge to Mr. Augustine and his committee was to develop a
specific list of policy recommendations to bolster U.S.
competitiveness. After an intensive 10 weeks of effort, the committee
produced and recommended an impressive report with a list of 20
recommendations.
The recommendations all address a central problem; that is, we are
not doing enough to harness and develop our national brainpower. The
report recommends significant increases in
[[Page S10127]]
our investments in science and mathematics education at all levels--
kindergarten through high school, college and graduate school.
The bill that will be introduced later tonight, as I have indicated,
contains provisions to address nearly every one of the recommendations
of the Augustine report. Many of these provisions were included in the
Protecting America's Competitiveness Edge, or PACE, legislation, which
I introduced in January along with Senators Bingaman, Alexander,
Mikulski, and an additional 61 cosponsors.
Through this new legislation, we are going to put the Augustine
report's recommendations into action. We will authorize a doubling of
research dollars to each research agency, including the Department of
Energy, Office of Science, National Science Foundation, and the
National Institute of Standards and Technology.
As chairman of the Energy and Water Appropriations Committee, I was
pleased I was able to slightly exceed the President's request for a 14-
percent increase in the Office of Science in fiscal year 2007, putting
it on a track to double in a decade, which is the goal and objective of
the Norm Augustine report. The NCIA, which it will be called, also
includes provisions that will build on the educational program
sponsored by the Department of Energy, by engaging the facilities and
scientific workforce of the national laboratories, and these
educational programs will help ensure that we are preparing today's
young people for the demands of tomorrow's high-tech workplace. The
NCIA is a good partner to the President's initiative. I applaud the
President for his bold vision which he expressed to us in his State of
the Union Address, and which we have built upon in the legislation we
are talking about today.
I applaud the President for his bold vision and leadership in the
issue of U.S. competitiveness, which is so serious and about which many
of us worry, because we know that without our remaining competitive,
America has no chance in a world which is built on competitiveness. We
need to take action to support our standard of living and to ensure
that we continue to grow and prosper. If we do not, we can expect other
nations to rival our global competitiveness and one day to surpass us
without a doubt.
I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a chart I have
prepared which examines and compares side by side the National
Competitiveness Investment Act to the Augustine National Academies
report and the administration's American Competitive Initiative to show
how this bill compares with each of those.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
BIPARTISAN SENATE, NATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS INVESTMENT ACT, COMPARISON TO THE AUGUSTINE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
REPORT AND ADMINISTRATION'S AMERICAN COMPETITIVENESS INITIATIVE, SEPTEMBER 2006
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
National
Category Rising above the Competitiveness Administration ACI
gathering storm Investment Act
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Increase talent pool by improving K- Recruit 10,000 science .......................
12 science/math Education. & math teachers w/4 Robert Noyce
year scholarships. Scholarship Program to
recruit and train math/
science teachers $700
million/5 years.
Train 250,000 teachers .......................
via summer institutes, NSF Teachers
masters programs to Institutes, DOE Lab
teach AP/IB. Teacher Institutes,
$400 million/5 years.
Noyce Scholarship
Teacher Masters
Program (DoEd), $165
million/5 years.
NSF Graduate Research
Fellowship, $180
million/5 years.
Increase # of students ....................... ``Math Now'' $147
who take AP and IB AP and IP Grants $58 million/year-FY 2007
science and math million/2 years. and 2008.
courses.
Strengthen the nation's traditional Increase Federal ....................... 8%/year over 10 years
commitment to research. investment in DOE/NIST/NSF NASA/NOAA, DOE/NIST/NSF only.
fundamental research 9.8%/year over 5 years.
by 10% a year for 7
years.
Provide $500K/year over ....................... X
5 years to each of 200 $100 K/year............
top early-career
researchers.
Create Coordination X...................... X
Office to manage $500m
research-
infrastructure fund.
Allocate 8% of the ....................... X
budgets of Federal
research agencies to
discretionary funds.
Create within DOE an ....................... X
organization like
DARPA.
Institute a ....................... X
Presidential
Innovation Award
program.
Increase talent pool by improving Provide 25,000, 4-year X......................
higher education. competitive
undergraduate
scholarships.
Fund 5,000 graduate .......................
fellowships for U.S. PACE Fellows, $98
citizens in ``areas of million/5 years.
national need''. Fellows + IGERT, $91
million/year.
Provide tax credit to Not Applicable, Finance
employers for employee Committee jurisdiction.
S&T continuing
education.
Continue improving visa Passed as part of
processing for Senate Immigration
international students Bill.
and scholars.
Extend stay of intl. Passed as part of
students with PhDs in Senate Immigration
science/math to remain Bill.
and seek employment.
Institute a new skills- Passed as part of
based, preferential Senate Immigration
immigration option. Bill.
Reform current system Issue has been resolved
of ``deemed exports'' through administrative
so foreign researchers procedures in
have same access as consultation with
non-cleared U.S. Committees.
citizens.
Improve incentives and infrastructure Enhance and reform X......................
for innovation. intellectual-property
protection system.
Enact a stronger R&D Not Applicable. Finance
tax credit. Committee jurisdiction.
Provide tax incentives Not Applicable. Finance
for U.S. based- Committee jurisdiction.
innovation.
Ensure ubiquitous X......................
broadband Internet
access.
Five Total Authorizations............ ....................... $72.8 billion.......... $71.4 billion \2\
Five Year Net additional ....................... $20.3 billion \3\...... NA
authorizations.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Unofficial CBO draft bill estimate, September 15, 2006.
\2\ OMB ``Comparison of PACE Administration's Budget,'' July 2006.
\3\ Majority Staff estimate--assumes no inflation adjustment to FY 2007 authorizations.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I think it is good to summarize by
saying that S. 3936 contains all but one of the provisions that are
contained in the 20 suggestions made to us by the Augustine report,
which has been heralded by so many to be such a vital piece of
legislation which we ought to adopt and implement so as to keep our
country free and competitive in a very changing world.
Mr. President, I yield the floor to Senator Bingaman.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico is recognized.
Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I thank my colleague, Senator Domenici,
for his comments, and I join him and Senator Alexander and many other
colleagues who have cosponsored this legislation and congratulate our
majority leader, Senator Frist, and our minority leader, Senator Reid,
for their leadership in getting this issue introduced into the Senate.
I hope very much this bipartisan effort can succeed and that before the
end of the 109th Congress, we can see this legislation on the
President's desk for signature.
This bill is the result, as Senator Domenici said, of a close,
cooperative effort by three of our Senate committees: the Energy and
Natural Resources Committee, which Senator Domenici chairs and of which
I am the ranking member, and Senator Alexander is on that committee as
well; the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; and the
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. I commend the staffs
of those committees
[[Page S10128]]
for their hard work in producing this legislation, as well as the
personal staffs of all Senators involved.
As Senator Domenici pointed out, this is a major piece of legislation
which arises out of the good work that was done by the National
Academies. This report which was done there made a series of
recommendations which are clearly specific which will intend to put the
country on a track to reverse some of the unfortunate trends we have
seen in connection with our ability to compete with other countries in
the world.
Senator Domenici, Senator Alexander, Senator Mikulski, and I
introduced three bills in January of this year in order to put into
legislative form the recommendations of the National Academies report.
Each of these bills went to a different committee.
Since all three of us on the Senate floor today are members of the
Energy Committee and since Senator Domenici chairs that committee, we
were able to move more quickly in the Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee with the legislation that was assigned to that
committee, S. 2197, which authorizes a number of programs to strengthen
the Department of Energy's role in promoting stronger math and science
education from kindergarten through graduate school. It creates a
Director for Math and Science Education in the Department of Energy.
The bill strengthens the role of our national laboratories in this K-12
math and science education. It authorizes a program whereby national
laboratories adopt a nearby school to increase its math and science
proficiency.
The bill goes on and on with other initiatives which are taken
directly from the recommendations of the Augustine commission that was
referred to earlier. These provisions that are in S. 2197 have remained
largely intact in the legislation that is being introduced today. In
some cases, we had to reduce the authorization levels so that the
increases to particular programs were ramped up over a period of time
instead of suddenly doubling existing programs as had been recommended.
In the education area, the National Academies report assigned highest
priorities to this need to strengthen K-12 math and science education,
and this legislation does so in a variety of ways. Senator Domenici
elaborated on some of those. I will not go into great detail about
them, but they are directly taken from the National Academies report.
We are all aware here in the Senate that we operate on two different
tracks: we operate on the track of authorizing legislation and the
track of appropriating legislation. The legislation we are talking
about today and introducing today is authorizing legislation, so it is
only one of the steps needed in order to get action accomplished here
in the Congress. But it is an important step, and it is particularly
important when you are setting a long-term goal.
That is what this legislation attempts to do: It tries to look long
term. It tries to say that we need to ramp up our investment in these
critical areas of concern so that 5 years from now, 10 years from now,
we will see a change in these trend lines which have so concerned the
National Academy of Sciences as well as many of us here in the
Congress.
This bill authorizes $73 billion to be spent over 5 years to maintain
our Nation's competitive edge. Of that, about $20 billion is considered
new funding; that is, it is funding above the 2006 level at which we
are today. These are only authorizations. It is not an appropriation.
It is going to be our job, and it is not an easy job, but it is going
to be the job of the Congress not only to appropriate these new moneys
we are here authorizing but also to make sure those moneys are not
appropriated at the expense of other important programs in the
Department of Education or in the National Science Foundation or in the
Department of Energy. I think we are all aware that this has to be new
money in a genuine sense of that term.
Again, I thank my colleagues for joining in this bipartisan effort. I
believe this is a very good piece of legislation. It is an important
piece of legislation. Often we allow the urgent to crowd out adequate
consideration for the important items that ought to be on our agenda.
This is an exception to that. This is a case where we are giving
attention to the important issues.
Let me particularly single out for praise Senator Alexander. He has,
at every step in this process, been pushing to get this initiative one
step closer to the goal line. I compliment him for doing that. I
compliment him for the introduction of this legislation today, and I
compliment all my other colleagues who have been so cooperative in
seeing that happen as well.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee is recognized.
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from New Mexico and
the senior Senator from New Mexico for their leadership and their
comments. This is important legislation.
It is worth pausing today to notice that this is legislation which
will be introduced tonight by the majority leader of the Senate,
Senator Frist, and by the Democratic leader of the Senate, Senator
Reid. There are not very many things this year in this Congress that
have been introduced by our distinguished two leaders. They do that for
a reason. They usually don't even cosponsor legislation. But they have
decided that in this case, this issue is so important that they wanted
to send a signal to our country, to the rest of us in the Senate, to
the Members of the House of Representatives, to all of us.
The Presiding Officer and I deeply believe it is urgently important
for our country to do what it takes to keep our edge in science and
technology so we can keep our share of good-paying jobs in the United
States of America and not see them go overseas to China and India and
other places. This is the way to do that, and this is an important
beginning. It would not have happened but for Senator Domenici and
Senator Bingaman and a variety of other Senators--so many, it is hard
to mention them all. In fact, the reason I think the bill is having
such success as it moves through the Senate is that it has so many
fathers and mothers, it is not possible to tell who they are because
this is a subject matter which many Senators have been working on for a
long time.
This bill is about growing our economy, creating as many good new
jobs as we can, so that in 20 years we don't wake up and wonder how
countries such as China and India passed us by. This is a pro-growth
investment. This $20 billion of new spending over 5 years is as much a
pro-growth investment as a tax cut is.
In my experience as a Governor of a State, we had low taxes, and that
helped to create new jobs. But we also needed to make investments in
centers of excellence and good teaching and distinguished scientists
because we knew what most of the world now is learning: most of our
good new jobs come from brainpower, from our advantage in science and
technology. We are in a constant state of losing jobs every day as most
healthy economies are. So the key to our success is how many good new
jobs we can create, and the key to that is our brainpower advantage.
We are not the only ones in the world who understand this. We have a
Democratic leader who understands it. We have a Republican leader who
understands it. We have a President of the United States, President
Bush, who understands it and who made it a central part of his State of
the Union Address. But let me mention just one other President who
understands it.
Just about a month ago, a group of Senators, led by Senator Stevens
and Senator Inouye, traveled to China. We met with the President of
China, President Hu Jintao. We also met with the Chairman of the
National People's Congress, the No. 2 person in China, Mr. Wu. Just 2
months earlier, in July, President Hu went to the Chinese Academy of
Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering to outline a new 15-
year plan to make China the technology leader in the world. In his
speech, the President of China said China must:
Promote a huge leap forward of science and technology; we
shall put strengthening independent innovation capability at
the core of economic structure adjustment.
His plan included reforming China's universities and massively
investing in new research.
The President of China concluded his speech this way:
We all bear the time-honored mission to provide strong
scientific support for the construction of a well-off society
by improving
[[Page S10129]]
our independent innovation capability and building an
innovative country. I hope that our scientists and
technicians will strive hard to make brilliant achievements
and constantly contribute to our country and the people.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the complete remarks of
President Hu to the Chinese Academies of Science and Engineering in
July be printed in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See Exhibit 1.)
Mr. ALEXANDER. We met with President Hu for about an hour, those of
us from the Senate. We talked about a variety of issues with him: North
Korea, Iran, Iraq. He was more animated about this subject than any
other subject, which is why I suppose we had 70 Senators--35 Democrats,
35 Republicans--who cosponsored the Domenici-Bingaman bill that was the
Augustine report. We all understand it is very important.
We have seen what is happening in India. India is another great
country with a distinguished group of scientists, and they now
recognize if they want a bigger share of the world's economic pie, the
way to do that is through science and innovation.
The challenge America faces today is really a challenge about brain
power and jobs. I appreciate the way the Augustine report especially
put this into perspective. It didn't say the United States of America
is about to fall off a cliff or that China and India are going to catch
us tomorrow. It said we face a gathering storm.
We need to realize how fortunate we are in the United States of
America when it comes to our standard of living. We constitute between
4 percent and 5 percent of the world's population. Last year we had 28
percent of the world's wealth. The International Monetary Fund says the
gross domestic product of the United States last year was 28 percent of
the global total for just 4 to 5 percent of the people.
The average Chinese person probably has a share of the gross domestic
product that is one-twentieth of the average American. By some
estimates, China may be moving fast enough to have a gross domestic
product as big as that of the United States by the year 2040. But even
then, the average American's share of that amount of wealth will be
four to five times as much as that of the average Chinese person. So we
are not about to fall off the cliff.
But at the same time, we know if we want to keep our high standard of
living for all Americans, we have to constantly create a large number
of good new jobs. And the way we do that is brain power. Our good
fortune comes from that advantage in brain power. We have the finest
system of colleges and universities. We attract 500,000 of the
brightest foreign students. They come here because these are the best
institutions. Many stay here, creating good new jobs for us. Many go
home. Many are going back to China and India to help their countries
succeed. No country has national research laboratories to match ours.
Americans have won the most Nobel Prizes in science. We have registered
the most patents. That innovation has been responsible for at least
half of our good new jobs.
That is why we introduced this bill today. That is why we went,
together, the Democratic side, the Republican side, to the National
Academy of Sciences and said: We see this coming. Tell us what we
should do. Tell us specifically what we should do, 1 through 10 in
priority order. If you tell us, if you are specific about it, I bet we
will do it.
Some who watch Congress might think that is a little bit naive
because we disagree about a lot and there are a lot of politics here.
But the National Academies came back with 20 recommendations. The
Council on Competitiveness already had a very good report. The
President made his own proposal, which was very substantial. Lo and
behold, we have worked together for 18 months and came up with an even
better piece of legislation than any of us introduced to begin with.
And we have virtually a unanimous agreement about it, among three of
the largest and most important committees here, and the majority leader
and the Democratic leader are sponsoring the bill themselves.
We should pass this legislation this year. We should not go home
without doing it. We can't do it this week. But by introducing the
legislation today, Senator Frist and Senator Reid give our country a
chance, while we all are at home in the next 4 weeks, to tell us what
they think about it.
There are a lot of people running for the Senate. I hope in every
single Senate race this year someone asks the question, Are you in
favor of the Frist-Reid competitiveness legislation, and do you believe
it ought to pass the Senate before the end of the year? I hope that
question is asked. I believe the answer will be yes.
Our friends in the House of Representatives have been working hard on
this issue, too. Again, it is not just a Republican initiative, not
just a Democratic initiative, they have plenty of bipartisan effort
there, too. It would be my hope that we can take what they have done
and what we have done and do it before the end of the year. This is
just the beginning of what we are able to do.
Senator Domenici and Senator Bingaman did a good job of suggesting
what the bill includes, so I will not belabor that. But I would simply
like to conclude my remarks to try to bring these lofty words down to
Earth a little bit in terms of how this legislation might actually
affect one State.
For example, if this legislation is enacted, many bright Tennesseans
could receive 4-year scholarships to earn bachelor's degrees in
science, technology, engineering, or math while concurrently earning
teacher certification. The new teachers would be expected to teach in
poorer schools for at least the first few years after graduation. That
would be available in every State.
There could be summer academies for math and science teachers in
Tennessee. In our case, it could be at the Oak Ridge National
Laboratory, providing opportunities for those teachers to work with
distinguished scientists and go back to the classrooms and inspire
their students.
There would be more advanced placement training for 400 Tennessee
math and science teachers so more students could learn math and
science, we could have more home-grown scientists. There would be
support for a proposed math and science specialty high school. Our
Governor has recommended that. North Carolina has had one for 20 years.
We never felt we could afford it in Tennessee, but this would give some
help to our State in terms of having a specialty high school in math
and science.
There would be high-tech internships for middle and high school
students across our State, and there would be growing support
Tennessee-based researchers that would lead to new high-tech jobs. This
is in addition to the increases in funding for the physical sciences
authorized in this legislation, which would especially affect our
research universities and our National Laboratories.
So I am delighted to have had the opportunity to be a part of this. I
look forward to advancing it. I certainly intend, as I go across
Tennessee, to let our citizens know what the Frist-Reid competitiveness
legislation offers our country. I intend to let them know that this is
the way we keep our high standard of living and that we should be
expected to act on it before the end of the year.
I congratulate all those Senators who have worked on it, and I invite
every single Member of this body to be a cosponsor
Exhibit 1
Address by Hu Jintao at 13th Academician Conference of the Chinese
Academy of Sciences (CAS) and 8th Academician Conference of the Chinese
Academy of Engineering (CAE), Beijing, June 5, 2006
Dear academicians and comrades, Today witnesses the opening
of 13th CAS academician conference and 8th CAE academician
conference. First of all, on behalf of the CPC Central
Committee and the State Council, I would like to extend my
warm congratulations to the conferences, and my sincere
greetings to the academicians of CAS and CAE and all
scientists and technicians in China!
The conferences of CAS and CAE are held in this crucial
moment of turning on the 11th Five-Year Plan. The success of
the conferences will have great significance in giving play
to the leading role of academicians of CAS and CAE in China's
scientific and technological development, and encouraging
scientists and technicians to build China
[[Page S10130]]
into an innovative, well-off society in an all-around way.
Today I would like to talk about three issues.
i. Current Situation and Science and Technology Tasks of China
China has maintained a sound momentum of economic growth in
the 28 years since reform and opening up. The process of
industrialization, urbanization, marketization and
globalization has been accelerated, social productivity,
technological strength and overall national strength have
been significantly enhanced, and people's living standard has
been improved. Socialist political and spiritual civilization
construction has been fully strengthened, China's standing
has been elevated and its international influence has
expanded. We have successfully completed the 10th Five-Year
Plan, and are striving for goals of the 11th Five-Year Plan
on a new starting point. At the beginning of this year, the
State Council issued China National Mid- and Long-Term
Science and Technology Development Plan. Meanwhile, CPC
Central Committee and the State Council decided to implement
the Plan and enhance independent innovation capability, while
holding a National Conference for Science and Technology,
calling for building our country into an innovative country
within 15 years. The scientists and technicians around the
country are striving vigorously for the strategic task.
The more achievements we have made and the more promising
outlook we are facing, the calmer shall we remain. While
affirming the achievements, we shall analyze correctly the
opportunities and challenges we are facing.
Seen from an international perspective, peace, development
and cooperation is the irresistible trend of the times, world
multipolarization and economic globalization are progressing,
science and technology are advancing rapidly,
international industry and technology transfer is
accelerating, and there is a growing tendency of foreign
countries to cooperate with China. Meanwhile,
international situation is experiencing profound and
complicated changes, instabilities and uncertainties that
affect peace and development are increasing, international
competition is being intensified, and our country is still
pressed by economic and technological advantages of
developed countries.
As for domestic development, our economic strength has been
notably strengthened, and socialist market economic system is
improving. Abundant labor resources, huge market and stable
social politics lay solid foundation for the economic
development of our country and promise us a bright future.
However, China, the large developing country with over 1.3
billion people, is now in the primary stage of socialism and
will remain so for a long time to come. For the time being,
we are challenged by such acute problems: low productivity,
unbalanced development, low living standard, weak
agricultural foundation, extensive economic growth mode,
growing limitation by energy resources, worsening
environmental pollution and ecology contamination. We shall
make long-term efforts to tackle such problems and achieve
the goal of modernization.
Now turn our eyes to the world's scientific and
technological development. Science and technology, especially
strategic hi-tech has become an increasingly decisive factor
of economic and social development, as well as the focus of
overall national strength competition. Science and technology
are advancing rapidly, creating many new cross-subject fields
through overlapping and penetration between subjects, between
science and technology, and between science and humanities.
Scientific discoveries are providing more favorable
conditions for technical innovation and productivity
development, leading to shortened S&T result
industrialization cycle, faster technological updating, and
rapid development of hi-tech and industries represented by
information technology and biotechnology. New scientific
breakthroughs and economic growth points have been created to
mark scientific innovation and advanced productivity, while
driving economic and social development. A nation's core
competition increasingly reflected in cultivation,
configuration and controlling capability of intelligence
resource and scientific results, as well as ownership and
utilization of intellectual property. In the surging waves of
world scientific development, it is clear that whoever
masters the new features and trends, grasps opportunities and
constantly improves scientific strength especially
independent innovation capability will hold priority in
overall national strength competition. Now, major countries
are accelerating their steps of scientific R&D. Rapid
scientific progress and its impelling influence have posed
inevitable challenges before us. The only way out for us is
to catch up with the developed countries with persistent
spirit and independent innovation capability, enhancing our
core competitiveness and boosting our productivity in order
to win in the fierce international competition.
Through long-term efforts, we have made brilliant
achievements in science and technology, formed a complete
subject layout, and fostered a team of scientific scholars
who are in scientific innovation. Our R&D ability in some
crucial fields has ranked top in the world. However, compared
with the world's advanced level, we still have a long way to
go. There are problems that hamper economic and social
development, including weak independent innovation
capability, few invention patents, high dependence on key
technologies abroad, low proportion of hi-tech industry,
enterprises not truly becoming the mainbody of
technological innovation, scientific results not
industrialized yet, and lack of excellent talents etc. We
have to make great efforts to tackle them.
In a word, seen from any angle, we are facing both
opportunities and challenges. Under the circumstance of
intensified international competition and complicated tasks
on domestic reform, development and stability, we must be
prepared for any eventualities, facing, meeting and defeating
challenges while recognizing, seizing and taking
opportunities. Furthermore, we should put more attention to
varied challenges that may affect current or long-term
development of our country, focus on vital contradictions and
problems, and promote the better, swifter economic and social
development based on technological development.
To build an innovative country is a strategic decision made
by CPC Central Committee and the State Council based on the
consideration of building a well-off society in an all-round
way and creating a new situation in building socialism with
Chinese characteristics. To realize this objective, we shall
raise strengthening independent innovation capability to a
strategic position, create a new way for independent
innovation with Chinese characteristics, and promote a huge
leap forward of science and technology; we shall put
strengthening independent innovation capability at the core
of economic structure adjustment and economic growth mode
transformation, build a resource-efficient, environment-
friendly society, and push forward swifter and better
development of national economy; we shall take strengthening
independent innovation capability to be our national strategy
and implement the strategy throughout modernization
construction; we shall inspire the nation's innovative
spirit, cultivate high-level innovative talents, form a
system or mechanism favorable for independent innovation,
promote innovations in theory, system and technology, and
continuously consolidate and develop socialism with Chinese
characteristics. With strong sense of historical
responsibility and worldwide vision, and under the guideline
of ``independent innovation, key breakthrough, sustainable
development and leading the future'', we shall persistently
take science and technology as primary productive force,
implement strategies of Invigorating China through Science
and Education and Reinvigorating China through Human Resource
Development, stick to the principle of ``rely economic
construction & social development on science & technology,
and science & technology progress serves economic
construction & social development''; develop major policies
and relevant measures for scientific development, push
forward national innovation system construction, strengthen
studies on basic science, hi-tech field and sustainable
development, quicken the transformation of knowledge and
technology to actual productivity in order to provide strong
technological support to economic and social development, and
make science and technology modernization the true drive
forces for rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
ii. Build a Large-scaled Team of Innovative Technical Talents
Talents, especially innovative technical talents, play a
key role in building an innovative country. It is impossible
to realize this goal without the support of a powerful team
of innovative technical talents. The worldwide competition of
overall national strength is actually a competition for
talents especially for innovative talents. Only those who
cultivate, attract, and make good use of the talents
especially innovative talents can hold priority in the
fierce international competition, and realize the
development goals as well. Here, I would like to talk
about how to intensify the cultivation of innovative
talents.
The whole technical innovation history has proved that
innovative technical talents are creators of new knowledge,
inventors of new subjects, leaders of technical breakthroughs
and development approaches, and strategic treasures for a
nation's development. Cultivation of innovative technical
talents with no hesitation is essential for improving
independent innovation capability and building an innovative
nation, and is also indispensable for realizing the state's
development goals and rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. We
should persist in the strategy that considers talents to be
primary resources, take cultivation of innovative technical
talents as a strategic measure to build an innovative nation,
and quicken our steps of building a large-scaled team of
innovative technical talents.
To cultivate innovative technical talents, we should
thoroughly carry out the strategy of paying respect to labor,
knowledge, talent and creation, follow the requirements of
building an innovative nation and the rules of talent
development. We should attract the talents with business,
shape the talents with practices, spirit up the talents with
our system and protect the talents with our laws so as to
enlarge the team of the technical talents.
The cultivation of innovative technical talents is complex
program that requires joint efforts from all party
committees, governments, relevant departments, universities,
scientific institutions and the whole society. We should
highlight the following aspects in our work:
[[Page S10131]]
First, improve the cultivation system. The cultivation of
innovative technical talents is a long comprehensive process,
and we must begin from education. We should further enhance
education reform and the education for all-round development
according to China's economic and social development
especially technological development, in order to establish
an education system favoring for innovative technical
talents. We should take systematic control of primary
schools, middle schools, universities and employment in order
to establish an effective mechanism to cultivate innovative
technical talents. In addition, we should change the
traditional indoctrinatory way of education into a new
innovative manner, paying more attention to students'
initiative and creative thinking mode while respecting the
guiding role of teachers. We should reduce the homework
burden of primary and middle school students, inspire their
curiosity and exploration enthusiasm so that they will make
all-round development based on their interest and potential.
We should reform the course arrangement of colleges and
universities, update teaching materials, and pay more
attention to the combination of theory and practice, in order
to cultivate the students' innovation spirit and capability.
We should lay great emphasis on the cultivation of technical
development and practice capability, and improve the ability
to turn scientific achievements into project application.
Moreover, we should provide continuing education for on-the-
job technicians at different layers through multiple
channels, and accelerate the establishment of an open,
independent networking life-long education system, so that
the technicians will learn new knowledge and skills
continuously to improve their capabilities of
technological innovation.
Second, use talents without prejudice. We should establish
and complete a targeted management system and method to
distinguish and cultivate talents on an equal competition
basis. Instead of paying sole attention to one's educational
background, qualification or status, we should provide more
opportunities for excellent talents, especially young
innovative technical talents. We should carry out the state's
and industry's plan for technical talent cultivation,
actively push the building of the innovation team, and create
a good environment for cultivation and development of
innovative technical talents under the support of the state's
talent cultivation programs, important researches and
projects, major industry projects, key subjects and research
bases and international academic exchange projects. We should
carry forward the innovation culture, build harmonic
interrelationship, keep a free working environment, create a
solidaric organization system, understand the personalities
of the innovative talents, allow them to express their new
academic thoughts and ideas, encourage and cultivate their
innovation spirit, inspire their enthusiasm in innovation,
and ensure that they make innovations dedicatedly. The
technological innovation is risky and unpredictable, which
requires tolerance of failure during innovation. Therefore,
we should take good care of the talents facing frustrations,
and support their future work based on past experiences. In
addition, the leaders and managers of the technical team
should improve their leading and management capability, make
every effort to be the talent scout, and make good use of the
talents.
Third, improve the system and policy support. We should
continue deepening the science & technology system reform to
give full play to the leading role of the government and the
fundamental role of market in the distribution of
technological resources. A comprehensive system pertaining to
talent training, utilization, appraisal, assignment and flow
should be established. By changing attitudes, practices and
systems that block the growth and accomplishment of talent,
we should guarantee the successful implementation of systems
and policies that encourage technological innovation in
scientific research institutions. Considering one's moral
character, performance, knowledge and capability, a
comprehensive appraisal system should be established to
realize management by objectives (MBO) for the innovative
talent's contributions and further curb the usual practice of
ignoring capability and performance while focusing on
educational background and seniority during appraisal.
Improve the mechanism of encouraging enterprises to increase
scientific investment in order to give play to their leading
role in technological innovation and diversify the pattern of
scientific investment. Establish an enterprise-centered,
market-oriented scientific innovation system that combines
production, education and research; encourage innovative
talents to gather in enterprises. Improve the intellectual
property system to inspire people's zest for innovation,
safeguard their rights and interests, and provide legal
protection for technological innovation and utilization of
innovative achievements. The title evaluation should be
restructured to encourage all kinds of talents to engage in
knowledge-based and technological innovation. More attention
should be put on key industries and human resource-intensive
organizations, technology extension in remote and poor
areas, industrial and agricultural production bases,
various enterprises and institutions that have brought
significant social and economical benefits, as well as
young and middle-aged technicians. Income distribution and
incentive systems that encourage innovation should be
established; priority shall be given to key positions and
distinguished talents, and talents with remarkable
contributions will get rewards. In this way, we can form a
mechanism in which posts are obtained by competition,
salaries depend on contributions, and eminent talents have
enviable income. The talent flow system and talent
information management system should be improved to wipe
out institutional obstacles in talent flow, promote the
orderly and rational flow of talents, let rare talents and
professionals demonstrate their full capabilities, and
ensure the reserve of talents for the state's major
scientific and technological projects.
Fourth, adopt open cultivation. No innovative technical
talent, especially the pioneers, can be cultivated without
going deep into the reality. Under the critical situation
that international scientific and technological level
surpasses ours, it's hard to cultivate a group of innovative
talents in a short time without adopting an open manner.
Improving independent innovation capability based on
introduction and assimilation is an effective way to catch up
with international advanced level, while open cultivation is
the right method of bringing up internationally recognized,
top-notch talents and pioneers in science and technology.
Having studied abroad and communicated with the foreign
companions, most academicians in CAS and CAE and outstanding
technical workers have demonstrated their talents in
international exchange and cooperation, while learning
advanced innovation concept and latest technologies. By
sticking to the opening-up policy and communicating with
international scientific institutions in various forms, we
can benefit from global technological resources and learn
from all civilizations that human beings have created.
Scientific institutions and universities are encouraged to
cooperate with overseas R&D institutions to build joint
laboratories or R&D centers. International programs shall be
promoted under the protocol of bilateral and multilateral
scientific cooperation. National enterprises are encouraged
to establish R&D institutions or industrial bases in foreign
countries and multinationals are also encouraged to set up
R&D institutions in China. We should actively participate in
large international scientific projects and academic
organizations. Chinese scientists and scientific institutions
are encouraged to join or organize large international or
regional scientific projects. Utilize human resources from
both home and abroad by combining domestic talent cultivation
with introducing overseas talents. While developing human
resources at home and training talent independently, we
should step up efforts to introduce foreign talents as well
as new and high technologies. Various measures can be taken
to attract talents studying abroad to come back and start
their own business; highly-qualified overseas talents or
talents urgently needed for our social and economic
development are warmly welcomed.
Fifth, create a social environment that fosters
technological innovation. Innovation culture and
technological innovation promote and encourage the
development of each other. The Chinese culture has long been
advocating innovation and our ancestors emphasized, ``A
gentlemen shall strive along with perseverance''. We shall
encourage the spirit of innovation so as to provide a
powerful cultural support to building an innovative talent
team and an innovative nation. Innovation awareness should
be raised in the whole society. We encourage people to
think innovatively, act initiatively and take risks in the
hope of creating a favorable social environment that
supports talents to start business and succeed. Scientific
knowledge, methods, ideas and spirit should be widely
spread to equip more common people with scientific
knowledge, which in turn will lead a trend of doing things
scientifically, loving science, studying science and
applying scientific findings. Publicize exemplary stories
and figures in technological innovation to make people
realize the role of innovation in driving economic and
social development. The value that ``innovation is
glorious'' should be emphasized, enabling technological
innovation to be a kind of work and activity respected by
the whole society. Science popularization should be
strengthened to foster a notion of technological
innovation in teenagers' minds and inspire them to become
the main force in technological innovation and scientific
development in the future.
It is proved that innovative technical talents, especially
the pioneers, are all endowed with basic qualities and
characteristics necessary for their development and
technological innovation. In sum, there are six qualities to
become an innovative scientific talent in China today. First,
you must have high ideals for life, love the country, the
people, and science and technology, be qualified in both
ability and moral integrity, and realize your values of life
in making scientific contributions. Second, you shall have
enough aspiration and courage to seek truth, emancipate your
mind, draw conclusions from facts, keep pace with the times,
keep strong desire for innovation and exploration, have sharp
eyes on new things and knowledge, dare to challenge authority
and traditional concepts, and run forward without fear to
seek truth and innovation. Third, you must be competent in
precise and scientific thinking, master the thinking method
of dialectic materialism, and keep lifelong studying by using
scientific methods to constantly update your knowledge and
theories, build a wide, profound knowledge structure, and
foster comprehensive scientific and cultural
[[Page S10132]]
quality. Fourth, you must have solid professional knowledge,
international vision and keen insight to grasp the trend of
scientific development and innovation, and be adept at
providing key solutions for major scientific problems. Fifth,
you must have strong team spirit to lead the innovative team
in implementing major scientific programs or tackling front-
line science difficulties by organizing multi-subject experts
and collecting knowledge on all fronts. Sixth, you must be
honest and serious about your work, indifferent to fame and
wealth, have strong ambition and high ideals, hardbitten and
determined, unafraid of hardships and frustration. You must
have the courage to defeat difficulties in technological
innovation in order to make great achievements continuously.
These qualities can be found in successful scientists of any
country, as well as our academicians, excellent scientists
and technicians. We shall inherit and carry forward the fine
traditions and styles of Chinese scientists and technicians,
which will play a very important role in cultivating a large
group of innovative scientific talents.
There is a Chinese saying, ``It is easy to recruit
thousands of soldiers, but it is not so easy to find a
general.'' A leading scientific elite, an international
scientific master or pioneer can lead a team of excellent
innovative scientific talents to make world-leading
scientific achievements, giving birth to competitive
enterprises and new industries. There are many such leaders
among our academicians, but there's shortage of such
talents in our whole country. So our work of cultivating
innovative talents shall focus on such talents esp. youth
or middle-aged leaders. Meanwhile, we shall cultivate
innovative talents at different levels, who will act as
backbone of academic and technical innovation and form a
talent structure suitable for scientific innovation, thus
promoting innovation practices in each field and at
different layers.
The scientific and technological development in China is
now facing many opportunities for huge leap forward. Under
the background of reform, opening up and modernization
construction, it is urgent to develop science and technology,
and the scientists and technicians are able to exhibit their
brilliancy. The aspirant scientists or technicians shall
seize the opportunity to contribute to the construction of an
innovative country while realizing their own dream in this
course.
III. Academicians of CAS and CAE Display their Talents in Building an
Innovative Country
Academicians of CAS and CAE represent our country's highest
academic level in science and engineering technology. They
enjoy highest honor and are respected by the whole society.
As leaders of national science and technology, academicians
of CAS and CAE has long been committed to our country's
scientific and technological development as well as economic
and social development. Thanks to their painstaking efforts,
we have made all these achievements from drawing of The 1956-
1967 Science and Technology Development Plan to successful
development of ``two bombs and one satellite'' in hard times,
from drawing and implementation of ``863 Program'' and ``973
Program'' that play a key role in our scientific development
to the launch of manned spaceship of Shenzhou V and Shenzhou
VI, from a series of discoveries including hybrid rice,
nonmarine oilgeneration theory and application and high
performance computer to the great projects of Three Gorges,
south-to-north water diversion, west-to-east electricity and
gas transmission, Qinghai-Tibet Railway, and high speed
railway transportation. Mr. Wang Xuan who passed away
recently is just one of the most outstanding academicians. He
devoted all his life to science, and becomes the model of all
scholars with the spirit of pioneering, earnest aid to young
generation, and utter devotion. Academicians of CAS and CAE
are truly the pride of our nation and people!
It has been proved that the academician system with Chinese
characteristics fits the real situation of our country. It is
very effective in gathering scientific elites to contribute
their ideas and tackle difficulties in economic and social
development, organizing innovative team for national major
scientific projects, and stimulating the scientists and
technicians to work for our country's flourishing and
prosperity. But after all, academician system has existed in
China for only decades. To give better play to its functions,
we shall continue improving the system based on real
situation and experiences.
The Central Committee of CCP, State Council and Chinese
people have high expectations towards academicians of CAS and
CAE. We hope that, with the advantages of cross-subject,
cross-department and high academic level, CAS and CAE will
carry out macroscopic, strategic, proactive and comprehensive
decision consultancy on such major issues as promoting
economic and social development, improving people's living
standard and ensuring national defense. Meanwhile, they
shall organize scientific research team to play a leading
role in professional fields, provide the Party and
government with valuable opinions, and make major
decisions more scientific and democratic through real
efforts.
We hope that academicians of CAS and CAE will endeavor to
become pioneers standing at the frontier of scientific
innovation with the patriotic spirit of love for our homeland
and conscientious devotion, scientific spirit of being
practical and innovative, exploration spirit of being
unafraid of hardships, and team spirit of being cooperative
and indifferent to fame and wealth. They shall bear in mind
the major scientific problems in economic and social
development, combine national demand and micro-deployment
with free exploration, continue to drive original innovation
and R&D of core technology and integrated technology, promote
introduction, assimilation and re-innovation, industry-
academy-research integration, and work hard for huge leaps of
independent innovation capability as well as construction of
an innovative country.
We also hope that academicians of CAS and CAE can take lead
in all-out efforts of building an innovative country; carry
forward the scientific spirit of seeking truth from facts,
foster socialist concept of honor and disgrace--Eight Honors
and Eight Disgraces; bear the responsibility of demonstrating
innovative behavior and achievements to the public and
promoting innovative culture; develop the people's interests
in science and technology, deepen their knowledge about
scientific innovation, and build innovative culture together.
Meanwhile, I sincerely hope you will shoulder the heavy task
of cultivating talents especially innovative scientific
talents, develop academic echelon, and make every effort to
support the innovation and rapid growth of youths.
Dear academicians and comrades!
We all bear the time-honored mission to provide strong
scientific support for the construction of a well-off society
by improving our independent innovation capability and
building an innovative country. I hope that our scientists
and technicians will strive hard to make brilliant
achievements and constantly contribute to our country and the
people.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
Mr. ENSIGN. I ask unanimous consent to speak in morning business.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. ENSIGN. Mr. President, I join Senators Alexander, Bingaman, and
others in talking about a topic that I personally have spent a great
deal of time on over the past two years: how to improve the ability of
the United States to compete in an increasingly global marketplace.
We have held many hearings in the Commerce Committee and in the
Commerce Subcommittee that I chair on technology, innovation, and
competitiveness issues. I know that both the HELP Committee and the
Energy Committee have also examined related issues of competitiveness
and innovation within the scope of their jurisdiction. A major focus of
these hearings has been to consider how we keep America on the cutting
edge.
We have learned some startling statistics. First of all, we find out
that America will graduate somewhere around 60,000 to 70,000 engineers
this year. China and India together will graduate a much larger number
of engineers in that same time period.
In the 21st century, we need to encourage more people to go into the
technology fields, into science, math, and engineering. We need more
students to pursue advanced degrees in these fields. We need to inspire
more of our young people to go into these fields.
One interesting fact that came out is that if our kids become
disinterested in science and math in elementary school, the chances of
them ever becoming interested in these fields later on in life are
virtually nil. So we have to focus on inspiring our young kids to go
into science, technology, engineering, and math from a very young age.
We had a fascinating hearing with the Director of the Museum of
Science in Boston--Dr. Ioannis Miaoulis--who put it very simply. He
said: When we started our curriculum in the United States for
elementary school, we started it back in the late 1800s. Engineering
was not a big field back then, so it didn't get a lot of attention then
and that has carried over into our current curriculum. Now when we
teach about science, we learn a lot about nature. Those are good things
to learn. As a matter of fact, I have kids in school now, and one of
the things we all learn about is how a volcano functions. Dr. Miaoulis
talked about this when he testified before my Subcommittee. We all
build our model volcanos with our kids and see how a volcano works.
Dr. Miaoulis posed this question. He said: Have you ever noticed how
everybody in America learns how a volcano functions, but nobody really
learns how a car functions?
Then he asked this question: Where do you spend more time, in a car
or in a volcano?
[[Page S10133]]
As the story suggests, our children are not learning enough about
engineering concepts in our schools, and as a result they are not
becoming interested in those engineering concepts. The National
Competitiveness Investment Act that I am happy to join with my
colleagues in introducing today focuses on three primary areas of
importance to maintaining and improving the innovation of the United
States in the 21st century: research investment, increasing science and
technology talent, and developing an innovation infrastructure.
A tremendous amount of bipartisan cooperation has gone into the
development of the National Competitiveness Investment Act, going back
well over a year to when Senator Lieberman and I first started drafting
legislation to address key concerns, identified in ``Innovate
America,'' a report from the Council on Competitiveness.
Subsequent reports such as the National Academies' ``Rising Above the
Gathering Storm,'' have raised similar concerns and have led several
Senate committees to look at programs related to basic research,
education, and other areas of competitiveness within their respective
areas of jurisdiction.
As a matter of fact, Senators Alexander, Bingaman, and Domenici
introduced what they called their PACE bills that addressed a lot of
the problems that were identified in the National Academies, ``Rising
Above the Gathering Storm'' report. During the past several weeks we
have undertaken a bipartisan effort to combine the work products of the
Senate Commerce Committee, the Senate Energy Committee, and the Senate
HELP Committee. This effort has included the involvement of the
chairmen and ranking members, both Republicans and Democrats, from all
of these committees, as well as several other Members who have been
involved. This has been under the direction of the two leaders'
offices. This is the most bipartisan effort on any bill probably in the
last several years in the Senate.
This was no easy task, especially when we need to be ever vigilant
about growing deficits. We were forced to take a hard look at how to
best address pressing needs related to science, technology,
engineering, and math education, basic research and barriers that U.S.
companies are facing as they compete in this global economy.
I believe the legislation before us today is a good compromise, and
it reflects a good mix of spending on key priorities like basic
research and education, while being sensitive to avoiding the
duplication among various federal agencies. This legislation will
ensure these programs are being evaluated and are being responsive to
key needs, while at the same time being fiscally responsible.
Specifically, the National Competitiveness Investment Act would
increase authorization for the National Science Foundation, or the NSF,
from approximately $6 billion in fiscal year 2007 to more than $11
billion in 2011.
We doubled the funding for the National Institutes of Health, the
life sciences, and it is now time to do the same for basic research in
the physical sciences. This is an investment in our country.
I am a fiscal conservative. I am one of the most fiscally
conservative Members of the Senate. But every dollar we spend on basic
research is a dollar that will come back to us in spades in terms of
stimulating economic activity and helping to keep the United States at
the forefront of global innovation.
By the way, those who are concerned about tax revenues coming in, the
better our economy does, the more tax revenues come into the Federal
Government.
The bill also expands existing NSF graduate research fellowship and
traineeship programs. It requires NSF to work with institutions of
higher education to develop professional science master's degree
programs and strengthens the NSF's technology talent program.
It also helps to prioritize activities in NSF's research and related
activities account to meet critical national needs in the physical or
natural sciences--technology, engineering, mathematics; or to enhance
competitiveness or innovation in the United States. And there is
language to authorize the National Institutes of Standards and
Technology from approximately $640 million next year to $940 million 4
years later.
It would require the same agency to set aside no less than 8 percent
of its annual funding for high-risk, high-reward innovation
acceleration research.
This is very important because this is different than what people do
today. We need to invest in high-risk, high-reward basic research and
setting that 8 percent as a minimum is very important.
This bill also requires the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a
study to identify the forms of risk that create barriers to innovation
1 year after enactment and 4 years after enactment. It establishes the
Innovation Acceleration Research Program to direct Federal agencies
funding research in science and technology to set a goal, once again,
of dedicating approximately 8 percent of the research and development
budget toward high-risk frontier research.
It also authorizes increased funding for the Department of Energy's
Office of Science over the next 5 years. We all know how important it
is for the Department of Energy to be involved in basic research.
There are other provisions to assist States in establishing specialty
schools in math and science to benefit high-need districts. The bill
also strengthens the skills of thousands of math and science teachers
by establishing training and educational programs at summer institutes
hosted at the National Laboratories.
The bill also establishes partnerships between the National
Laboratories and local, high-need high schools to create centers of
excellence in math and science education.
Finally, the bill authorizes competitive grants to States to promote
better alignment of elementary and secondary education with the
knowledge and skills that are needed to succeed at institutions of
higher education and in our marketplaces in the 21st century.
This is a comprehensive piece of legislation to address the key
recommendations in the two reports, ``Innovate America'' and ``Rising
Above the Gathering Storm.''
While I am sure there are many other well-intentioned ideas of other
provisions to add to this bill, I would plead with my colleagues to not
overload this bill. We have worked diligently together in a bipartisan
fashion over the last 2 years to remain absolutely disciplined and to
confine this effort to enacting the key provisions that relate to
innovation and competitiveness. We have worked hard to keep the cost of
this bill within a responsible budgetary framework.
I believe we have a solid work product that will help the United
States be competitive as we enter an increasingly difficult global
marketplace where our students and our U.S. companies need to be
prepared to meet an unprecedented global challenge.
I am pleased that Senators Frist and Reid have agreed to address an
issue of this tremendous importance to the United States on a
bipartisan basis.
I thank my colleagues from the Commerce Committee, Senator Stevens
and Senator Inouye; from the HELP Committee, Senator Enzi, Senator
Kennedy, and Senator Alexander; and, from the Energy Committee,
Senators Domenici and Bingaman and their staff for great bipartisan
work to pull this bill together.
I also would like to specifically recognize Senator Hutchison for her
great work, and all of the staff--my staff and all of the Senators'
staff--who have contributed a great deal of personal time and effort on
many of the key provisions of this legislation.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge the work of my colleague,
Senator Lieberman, who started in this endeavor with me many months
ago.
As Senator Alexander said a few moments ago, we encourage all of our
colleagues to join us in cosponsoring this important piece of
legislation. Now is the time to act. We have a rare opportunity to put
aside our party labels and to put our country first. In many other
areas, we should be not Republican, not Democrat, not Independent--we
should be Americans. This is such a bill. This piece of legislation is
critical for the future competitiveness of our country.
I urge all of our colleagues to join us in this bipartisan effort
I thank the Chair. I yield the floor.
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I would like to acknowledge the role of
[[Page S10134]]
Senator Ensign in this competitiveness piece of legislation.
It would not have gotten started without him and the work he did with
Senator Lieberman in the Council on Competitiveness, and it would not
have been finished without he and his staff taking a lead role in
helping to bring the Senators together.
It is important the way he characterized this as a progrowth
initiative. This is progrowth legislation. It is part of a progrowth
agenda. Sometimes we forget that.
It is a great pleasure to work with him on this legislation. I wanted
to acknowledge his leadership.
I want to say to the Senator from Massachusetts that I appreciate his
leadership on this legislation. He was already a veteran when I was a
Senate aide here many years ago. He has been deeply involved in these
issues for a long time. He and his staff made it possible for us to
bring this to a conclusion.
There are many ideas about how to do this. To have three committees
basically unanimously agree that this is how we should begin--there are
many other issues to be dealt with. Many of them may be dealt with in
amendments after the recess. But without Senator Kennedy's leadership
and without Senator Ensign, nothing would have happened.
After Senator Kennedy's remarks, I would like to say a word about
Secretary Spellings' speech today. I appreciate him allowing me to
speak now.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coleman). The Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I just want to say a few words on the
competitiveness legislation to which Senator Alexander and Senator
Ensign referred. My full statement will accompany the bill's
introduction later today, but I do want to mention that I am a very
strong supporter of the bill. As Senator Ensign and Senator Alexander
mentioned, it is the result of a strong bipartisan process.
Americans know how to rise to challenges and come out ahead. We've
done it before and we can do it again. We were called into action in
1957 when the Soviet Union sent Sputnik into space. We rose to the
challenge by passing the National Defense Education Act and inspiring
the nation to ensure that the first footprint on the moon was by an
American. We increased the commitment we made to math and science and
doubled the federal investment in education.
Money in itself may not be the answer to everything, but it is a very
clear indication of a nation's priorities.
Now we are faced with the challenges of globalization, and now we
must decide--are we going to get consumed by it, or are we going to
embrace the challenge and make sure that every individual, whether in
Tennessee or in Massachusetts, is going to be prepared to respond to
it; that our States are going to be prepared to respond to it; and that
our country is going to be prepared to respond to it? This is critical
not only for the sake of our economy, but for the sake of our national
security.
We need the same bold commitment today that we made four decades ago,
in order to help the current generation meet and master the global
challenges of today and tomorrow. The National Competitiveness
Investment Act is a strong first step in that effort.
I will not take the time here to review how America is slipping
behind in technology and engineering compared to what is happening in
India and in China and other countries. But one brutal fact is that the
jobs of the future are going to go to the societies and the economies
that are on the forefront of innovation. That is where the economic
strength is going to be, and it will directly impact our national
security. This legislative effort is a very important downpayment on
ensuring that the United States is that society at the forefront of
innovation. And the legislation is the result of a good deal of work.
The good work of the Senator from Tennessee, Mr. Alexander, of
Senator Bingaman from New Mexico, and the large bipartisan group the
Senator from Nevada mentioned. It stems from the work of the National
Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the
Institute of Medicine as well as some very important leaders in the
private sector who have played an extremely important role in our
efforts to keep America on the cutting edge.
We are also dealing with other important issues that are before the
Senate today. But I agree with my colleagues that these issues related
to America's competitiveness are issues that Congress needs to act on
as soon as possible. It is extremely important.
At a time in Washington when the debate seems to be dominated by
partisan politics, it should be reassuring to the American people that
we are united in recognizing the importance of investing in America's
competitiveness in the years to come. I look forward to working with my
colleagues as the bill moves forward to ensure that Congress provides
the new investments needed to fully support and build on these
important proposals.
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