[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 691-692]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    APPOINTMENT OF JEFFREY R. IMMELT

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I would like to salute Jeffrey R. Immelt 
for agreeing to chair the President's new Council on Jobs and 
Competitiveness.
  Mr. Immelt knows quite a bit about creating jobs, promoting 
innovation, and competing in the marketplace. As the chairman and chief 
executive officer of General Electric, Mr. Immelt has led the company 
through a major expansion into growth markets overseas and made GE a 
leader in manufacturing a new generation of environmentally friendly 
technologies. Now, as we transition from stabilizing our economy to 
increasing employment and growth, Mr. Immelt's experience leading GE 
will help him counsel the President through our long-term recovery.
  Mr. Immelt knows that innovation is the key to America's economic 
growth. Consequently, GE relies heavily on the U.S. patent system. I 
have been very happy to work with Mr. Immelt and GE as strong 
proponents of bipartisan patent reform legislation.
  I recently met with Mr. Immelt and was impressed by his determination 
to make GE even more competitive in the future than it has been in the 
past. He has original ideas on investing in research and development 
and understands that reviving and updating America's manufacturing 
economy is critical to creating jobs in this country. I have always 
been impressed with his commitment to manufacturing in Rutland, VT, 
where GE Aviation has a major plant.
  In honor of his willingness to serve in this new capacity, I ask 
unanimous consent to have printed in the Record Mr. Immelt's recent op-
ed, ``A blueprint for keeping America competitive.''
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

               [From the Washington Post, Jan. 21, 2011]

              A blueprint for Keeping America Competitive

                         (By Jeffrey R. Immelt)

       President Obama has asked me to chair his new President's 
     Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. I have served for the 
     past two years on the President's Economic Recovery Advisory 
     Board, and I look forward to leading the next phase of this 
     effort as we transition from recovery to long-term growth. 
     The president and I are committed to a candid and full 
     dialogue among business, labor and government to help ensure 
     that the United States has the most competitive and 
     innovative economy in the world.
       Business leaders should provide expertise in service of our 
     country. My predecessors at GE have done so, as have leaders 
     of many other great American companies. There is always a 
     healthy tension between the public and private sectors. 
     However, we all share a responsibility to drive national 
     competitiveness, particularly during economic unrest. This is 
     one of those times.
       My hope is that the council will be a sounding board for 
     ideas and a catalyst for action on jobs and competitiveness. 
     It will include small and large businesses, labor, economists 
     and government. Areas that we will focus on include:
       Manufacturing and exports: We need a coordinated commitment 
     among business, labor and government to expand our 
     manufacturing base and increase exports. The assumption made 
     by many that the United States could transition from a 
     technology-based, export-oriented economic powerhouse to a 
     services-led, consumption-based economy without any serious 
     loss of jobs, prosperity or prestige was fundamentally wrong. 
     But there is nothing inevitable about America's declining 
     manufacturing competitiveness if we work together to reverse 
     it. For example, we have returned many GE appliance 
     manufacturing jobs to the States by collaborating with our 
     unions and making our operations more efficient.
       Working with Boeing CEO Jim McNerney, who leads the 
     President's Export Council, the Council on Jobs and 
     Competitiveness will look for ways to harness the power of 
     international markets--home to more than 95 percent of the 
     world's consumers. Currently, the United States ranks lowest 
     among the world's largest manufacturing nations in the ratio 
     of domestically produced goods sold overseas, or export 
     intensity. We must set as our highest economic priority not 
     just increasing our exports, as the president has pledged, 
     but also making the United States the world's leading 
     exporter in the 21st century.
        Free trade: America cannot expand its manufacturing base 
     without reatly increasing the volume of goods it sells 
     overseas. That is why I applaud the free-trade agreement 
     recently concluded between the United States and South Korea, 
     which will eliminate barriers to U.S. exports and support 
     export-oriented jobs. We should seek to conclude trade and 
     investment agreements with other fast-growing markets and 
     modernize our systems for export finance and trade control. 
     Those who advocate increasing domestic manufacturing jobs by 
     erecting trade barriers have it exactly wrong.
       Innovation: Businesses should invest more of their cash and 
     resources in advanced products and technologies that will 
     create jobs in the United States, and government should 
     incentivize this investment in innovation. Today, GE is 
     investing more than ever in research and development--about 6 
     percent of revenue--aimed at solving challenges in 
     transportation, energy and health care. As one of America's 
     largest exporters, GE remains committed to producing more 
     products in the United States, which is our home and largest 
     market. In the past two years, GE has created about 6,000 
     manufacturing jobs in the States, many resulting from 
     investments in innovations such as advanced batteries, which 
     we will make at our 100-year-old plant in Schenectady, N.Y.
       GE sells more than 96 percent of its products to the 
     private sector, where America's future must be built. But 
     government can help business invest in our shared future. A 
     sound and competitive tax system and a partnership between 
     business and government on education and innovation in areas 
     where America can lead, such as clean energy, are essential 
     to sustainable growth.
       It is possible to be a competitive global enterprise and 
     still care about your home. In fact, it is not just possible 
     but imperative. There is no easy solution to ``fix'' the 
     American economy. Persistent and high unemployment--and the 
     pessimism it breeds--should not be accepted. We must work 
     together to construct an economy that creates more 
     opportunity for more people.

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