    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
    [February 3, 2006]
    [Pages 182-192]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in a Discussion on American Competitiveness in Rio Rancho, New
    Mexico
    February 3, 2006

        The President. Thank you all. Thanks for the warm welcome. Thanks
    for the Mexican food last night, Pete. [Laughter] I hope you picked up
    the tab. [Laughter] Laura and I are thrilled to
    be here. This is going to be an interesting discussion. What you're
    watching--what you'll watch is a way to talk about how to put good
    policy in place, not only through my voice but through the voices of
    many who are living exactly the strategy that we want to implement for
    the rest of the country.
        So I first want to welcome my wife, Laura. We
    don't get to travel that much----
        The First Lady. Together.
        The President. Together. We both were raised in west Texas and
    occasionally slipped across the border there to go to New Mexico. And
    every time we did, we

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    were better for it. [Laughter] It's a great State.
        Do you want to have a few words?
        The First Lady. Well, I'm going to just speak and, as they say in
    the political business, step off the message a little bit. George is
    going to be talking today about what we can do to make sure our children
    are educated and our economy is competitive. But I also just want to
    remind everyone that earlier this week, he signed a proclamation to make
    February American Heart Month. And a lot of people are wearing their red
    tie or their red dress. I'm wearing my Red Dress pin today to remind the
    American people that heart disease is the number-one killer; it's the
    number-one killer among women in the United States.
        A lot of women don't know that, and if they start to suffer the
    signs of a heart attack or the symptoms of a heart attack, they wait.
    They don't go to the emergency room like they might rush their husbands
    to the emergency room, but they don't go themselves as fast.
        So I want to encourage Americans to remember that heart disease is
    the number-one killer, to talk to people about all the ways we can
    prevent heart disease through exercise, healthy eating, not smoking,
    seeing your doctor on a regular basis so you can find out if you have
    any early signs of heart disease.
        The other thing that fits into the message that George is going to
    talk about is, we know that if our children have the chance to study
    more math and science, we'll have even more doctors, we can produce even
    more doctors, and many, many more medical breakthroughs.
        So, remember that February is National Heart Month and take good
    care of your heart.
        The President. Before we get started, I do want to recognize some
    folks. Obviously, Senator Domenici is
    here. I know you are very proud of his service in the United States
    Senate. What a good man he is. And with him is Senator
    Bingaman, who is also doing
    a fine job.
        What happened the other day was, I got a phone call from
    Domenici, and generally when someone of
    that--with that much power calls you, you say, ``Yes, sir, Mr.
    Senator.'' [Laughter] And he said, ``I want to come by, and I want to
    bring Jeff Bingaman with me
    and Senator Alexander.'' And I said, ``Fine,
    come on over.'' And they come over the Oval Office and sit down and say,
    ``Look, at your State of the Union, we want you to seriously consider
    announcing an agenda that we think is important to make this country
    competitive.'' And I said, ``I'll consider it.'' One of the things you
    want to do when you're the President is kind of keep your cards close to
    your vest. [Laughter] I said, ``I'll give that serious consideration,
    Senator.''
        But I knew prior to him coming in
    that he had looked at the same report I had seen, which is called the
    Augustine report. Craig Barrett, who I'm
    going to talk about here in a second, was on that committee. Chuck
    Vest--I don't know if Chuck is with us or
    not. We had dinner with Chuck last night, as well as Augustine--Norm
    Augustine, himself. But they're a group
    of distinguished citizens and scholars and businesspeople who started
    looking out beyond the immediate and asking the question, what does
    America need to do to remain the preeminent economy in the world so our
    people can have a good life? And they made some suggestions. And
    Jeff and Pete looked at it, fine-tuned it, brought me some ideas. And
    at the State of the Union, I talked about how to keep this country
    strong.
        And want to give credit to the Senators. I also want to give credit
    to the Senators after they get the deal done too, see. [Laughter] And so
    I want to thank both Senators for being here.
        I also want to thank the Congressman from this district, Tom
    Udall. Thank you, Mr. Congressman, for joining
    us. Proud you're here. Two other Congresspeople--

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    Heather Wilson--thank you for coming,
    Heather; appreciate you and Steve Pearce from
    eastern New Mexico. Is it Hobbs? Yes, Hobbs, that's right. [Laughter]
    Flying Eagles--that's the name of the basketball team.
        I do want to thank the mayor, Jim Owen. Mr.
    Mayor, thank you for being here. I appreciate you coming. You're kind to
    take time out of your day.
        Before I talk about the Intel family, I do want to recognize the
    vice president of the Navajo Nation, and
    his wife, Virginia--and that would be Frank
    Dayish. Frank is here. Good to see you again, Frank. The reason I want
    to bring up Frank and Virginia is that their daughter, Staff Sergeant
    Felissa Dayish, is with us. She has been
    to Iraq twice. Thank you for serving. God bless. I remember the pride
    that Frank had when he described his daughter's service to me. And I
    know you're doubly proud, Frank. Thanks for being here; proud you're
    here.
        And finally, the Governor of the great State of New Mexico has
    joined us, Governor Bill Richardson.
    Governor, thank you for being here. Good to see you. I appreciate you
    coming. I know you're proud of the Intel facility and the Intel family,
    as you should be.
        One of the things we're going to talk about is the importance of
    research and development and technology. And the people here in this
    part of the world understand that when you have a research and
    development facility that promotes modern technology, it improves the
    quality of the life of the community in which the facility exists. And
    that has been, really, Craig Barrett's
    credo as the CEO of this company. He wants to provide a product that
    people want to buy, obviously; otherwise, you're not going to be in
    business. [Laughter]
        But he also understands there's
    something called corporate responsibility. It's in his interest that
    there be corporate responsibility in Intel. In other words, Intel can
    only be strong if it has a workforce that's capable of making sure this
    company is competitive in a global economy. And so I really want to say
    thanks to Craig and all the employees here for doing the following
    things--besides making a good product and providing jobs--to provide
    people from this company to teach in local schools.
        And if corporate CEO is paying attention to this little seminar, I
    strongly urge you to follow the Intel example of making employees
    available to make sure math and science becomes an important part of the
    curriculum of the local schools. They provide internships for young
    students here to encourage them to become involved with math and
    science. They help train teachers. And we're going to talk a little bit
    about teacher training. And then they provide scholarships.
        And so for those of you who work here, thanks for being such--so
    generous with your knowledge and your talent. And Craig, thanks for having us. It's not easy to host the President
    here. It kind of disrupts--[laughter]--disrupt--yes, I know. [Laughter]
        A couple of points I want to make--and the reason why this subject
    is relevant, first, we've got a strong economy. Today you're going to
    see that in January, we added 193,000 new jobs, 81,000 new jobs--extra
    jobs were added as a result of upgrading the November and December
    numbers. And we got steady growth. And that's important. We want our
    people working. We want people to be able to realize opportunity and
    hope. And in order to do that, you got to have a growing economy,
    obviously.
        And we've overcome a lot. I really ascribe that to, mainly, the
    entrepreneurial spirit of America is strong; the small-business sector
    is strong. I do happen to think good tax policy helped. I think keeping
    taxes low is an important way to make sure this economy continues to
    grow.

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        But what's interesting about the numbers is that beneath that,
    there's a certain amount of uncertainty amongst some in America; that,
    you know, we've got a lot of competition, and people begin to see an
    emerging China and India, and that makes people uncertain. It creates
    certain anxiety when they hear the stories about India and China
    beginning to grow robustly, or jobs going to India and China, or India
    and China consuming a lot of natural resources.
        Secondly, there's a lot of turnover in the job market. People are
    changing jobs, and that creates uncertainty. And during times of
    uncertainty, we're--we get faced with certain choices. And there's a
    tendency throughout our history, our economic history and foreign policy
    history, to withdraw. Times of uncertainty sometimes encourage folks to
    say, ``Well, why do we need to compete? Why don't we just come within
    ourselves? Why don't we protect ourselves off from the world? Why do we
    need to be trying to spread freedom when the world is a dangerous place?
    Why don't we just come home?''
        And I strongly reject that notion, and I want to explain to you why.
    First of all, with an enemy that lurks, if we were to withdraw, it would
    only embolden the enemy and make this country less secure. If we were to
    withdraw from the world, it would be a missed opportunity to lay the
    foundation of peace for generations to come by spreading liberty and
    freedom. See, part of my foreign policy is this: I believe that there is
    an Almighty, and I believe that the Almighty's gift to everybody on the
    face of the Earth, regardless of where they live, regardless of their
    religion, is freedom. And I believe deep in everybody's soul is the deep
    desire to live in freedom. And I believe that this country, if it were
    to retreat, would miss an opportunity to help others realize their
    dream. And I also know that history has proven that free societies yield
    the peace that we all want.
        Secondly, when it comes to competition, the world is going to be
    competitive whether we're in the mix or not. For example, this
    competitive world is going to demand a job skill set that is--that
    emphasizes math and science, which we'll talk about here in a second.
    And if our kids don't have the talents necessary to compete, those jobs
    won't go away; they'll just go to another country.
        I mean, we're in a global competition. Here's my attitude: With the
    right policy, we can compete with anybody, anytime, anywhere. This has
    been the history of America, and it's going to be the future of America.
    We should not fear the future because we intend to shape it.
        The American--this American economy leads the world, and we're going
    to continue to lead it. And here's how: good fiscal policy out of
    Washington, DC, making sure that this economy is flexible. In other
    words, when you say that, that means there's not a lot of rules and
    regulations that prohibit capital moving freely and people making
    investment.
        We've got to have an energy policy that gets us off this dependence
    on Middle Eastern oil. I spent a lot of time on that before; I'm going
    to spend a little more time on it next week. But I'm going to tell you
    something: With research and development and technology, we can change
    the fuels we put in our cars, and we can become less dependent on
    unstable sources of energy overseas. And if we intend to be the leader
    of the world, we've got to do that. It's a goal that can be achieved,
    and it's a goal that's necessary.
        I've talked about health care--and will continue--in the past. I
    want to talk about trade real quick, and then we're going to talk about
    the education initiative. Our panelists are beginning to wonder what,
    you know--[laughter]. It's called a filibuster. [Laughter] First, let us
    talk about trade. The first sign that the country is becoming
    protectionist is when we refuse to ratify

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    trade agreements. That's a sign. It's an indication that the elected
    officials are beginning to get worried about the capacity of this
    country to compete. It's hard to get trade agreements through Congress,
    and I'm worried that that is an indication that we're losing our
    confidence.
        But if you're working at Intel, you better be for open trade,
    because 80 percent of the products this company makes are sold overseas.
    Yesterday we were at 3M in Minnesota. It's a great United States
    company, very much like Intel. Sixty percent of the products they
    manufacture are overseas--or get sold overseas. We're 5 percent of the
    world's population, which means the rest of the 95 percent could be, and
    should be, customers to United States products, either grown or
    manufactured.
        Now, the role of the government, it seems like to me, is to not only
    open up markets for our products but, at the same time, say to our
    competitors and/or other markets, ``Treat us the way we treat you.''
    That's all we ask. In other words, level the playing field. It is very
    important if this country is to remain competitive that we do not lose
    our nerve, that we open up markets for our products, that we level the
    playing field--because nobody can outcompete us when the rules are fair.
        Now, let me talk about education. That's kind of the--that's part of
    the cornerstone of making us competitive, shaping our destiny, refusing
    to lose our great desire to continue to lead. But perhaps the most
    important thing of all is to make sure that we lead the world in
    innovation and technological development and make sure we have a
    workforce that has the skill sets necessary to do so. And that's really
    the heart of the American Competitive Initiative. And that's why we're
    here at Intel.
        Again, I want to repeat to you: All the people who understand the
    connection between technology and jobs ought to be the people in this
    part of the world. I remember when this plant didn't exist--and neither
    did much of the neighborhood around it. I mean, one of the most exciting
    things that's happened to the Albuquerque area is the arrival of Intel,
    not only because it's provided good jobs, but the spinoff of those jobs,
    the small businesses that have occurred as a result of--when this
    amazing center of brilliance came here.
        I want to talk about three things, and then we'll start visiting.
    Here's some things, practical things the Government can do. First of
    all, the Government can't do everything. The Government is a partner.
    For those of you who think the Government can solve all problems, this
    is not the way it works. Most problems are solved locally. First--one
    thing the Government can do is to spend money on research. In other
    words, we can be a partner with enterprise.
        Do you realize that the Internet came to be as a result of Federal
    Government research into basic sciences? In other words, research yields
    practical applications that improve people's live, is what I'm trying to
    say. And so I proposed to Congress that we double basic research
    programs in physical sciences over the next 10 years.
        They tell me that by doing so, we'll be the leader in nanotechnology
    research. I'm just beginning to understand what that means. [Laughter]
    But the smart people tell you, if you're the leader in nanotechnology
    research, you'll be the leader in quality jobs and quality of life.
        The second thing that the Congress needs to do is to encourage
    private investment in research and development. As a matter of fact,
    this makes sense. Most of the research done in the United States is done
    through the private sector. About two-thirds of it is done through
    private sector research; 15,000 companies take advantage of what's
    called the research and development tax credit. It's part of our Tax
    Code. It says, if you spend money on research, you'll be rewarded
    through the Tax Code.
        Seems to make sense, if we're trying to encourage people to spend
    private sector dollars. The problem is, is that the research

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    and development tax credit is only a temporary measure. And so you're a
    CEO of a major company like Intel or a CEO of a small company that's
    thinking about spending research dollars, and you're uncertain as to
    whether or not that research and development tax credit will be
    available.
        People don't plan big amounts of money to invest on a short-term
    basis. It's important to provide stability in the Tax Code so that the
    planners and thinkers and investors have confidence that if they make an
    investment 5 years from now, the reason they made the investment in the
    first place--besides trying to improve product lines--the reason they
    made the tax--the reason they made the investment because of tax
    incentive will still exist. And so Congress needs to make the research
    and development tax credit a permanent part of our Tax Code to encourage
    more private sector research to keep America on the leading edge of
    innovation.
        Finally--you'll be happy to hear--[laughter]--how do we make sure
    the folks who are going to be running this economy, our workers and
    entrepreneurs, have the skill set necessary to do so? How do we
    encourage people to stay focused on math and science? And that's really
    an important subject. I--here's what the Government can and should do.
        First of all, we passed the No Child Left Behind Act. It's a great
    piece of legislation. It basically says, let's raise standards and
    measure. I can remember people said, ``Why would you want the Government
    to cause people to measure?'' I said, ``Because we're spending a lot of
    money.'' If you're running a business and you're spending money, you
    want to measure. You want to look at results. People in America want to
    know, you see? And if a child can't read at the third grade, we want to
    know why. And we also want to be able to analyze curriculum to determine
    if that's one of the reasons why. And equally importantly, by
    diagnosing, you're able to say, this child deserves extra help.
        I strongly believe all government is locally controlled. However, I
    believe that it's the responsibility of government that spends money to
    say to those who designed the curriculum, ``Please, show us whether or
    not you're achieving results; and if not, correct what you're doing, and
    solve problems early, before they're too late.'' We need to send that
    same spirit into--that we've got in reading in the No Child Left Behind
    Act into math.
        Now, the positive news is that we're doing fine, relative to the
    rest of the world, in math in the early grades. And you know why we
    know? We measure. I can remember when I was Governor of Texas and we
    didn't measure, people would say, ``Gosh, my schools are doing great''--
    until the kids graduated from school, and they couldn't read very well
    and then had to be re-educated at college. Measuring lets you know.
    Measuring lets you compare. And measuring lets us know how we're doing
    with the rest of the world. If we're in a competitive world, we want to
    make sure our students can compete.
        And we're doing fine in the fourth grade. We're doing lousy in
    junior high. Something happens between elementary school, where our
    teachers are able to get the kids interested in math and they test well,
    to junior high. And that's where we ought to emphasize focus. In the
    early--in the initiative--in the reading initiative in No Child Left
    Behind, we say that if you're not up to grade level, there's extra money
    for you. It's called supplemental services. There's extra money to
    correct problems early, before they're too late.
        We're now going to ask Congress to apply that same supplemental
    service to junior high kids in math. If the kids aren't testing well in
    math in junior high, in other words, if they're part of the falloff,
    let's intervene. Let's make sure there's tutorials

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    available, after-school mathematics available, for these children so
    that they can remain competitive.
        And they'll go to high school. So how can we help in high school?
    Well, one thing that we've learned is that our teachers have got to have
    the skill set necessary to teach the skills in math and science. And one
    effective program--and Laura and I are fixing to
    go to Dallas after this to herald this program--is an Advanced Placement
    program. And the Federal Government can be a partner in helping teachers
    train to be AP teachers. Advanced Placement works. Advanced Placement
    raises standards. Advanced Placement gives teachers the tools to teach
    kids to take this Advanced Placement test, which is a measurement. It's
    a go-by to determine how competitive our workforce can be in the 21st
    century.
        And finally, we want to get 30,000 adjunct professors into
    classrooms. That's a fancy word for saying, we want engineers and
    chemists and physicists in places like Intel, or retired professionals,
    to go in the classroom and excite students about the possibility of math
    and science. That's what we need. We need role models. We need people
    walking into a classroom full of youngsters and say, ``You're not going
    to believe how cool this profession is. You're not going to believe the
    horizons that will be available to you.'' And one of the things
    Craig has encouraged Intel to do is do
    just that.
        And so here's an initiative that makes sense. Here's a chance for
    Republicans and Democrats to put aside all the foolishness that's going
    on in Washington and come together and get something done for the future
    of this country.
        And I want to thank you all for giving me a chance to lay out the
    strategy. And now I want to turn this over to Craig Barrett. He's the CEO of this company. He himself--he
    probably won't tell you this, but I will--is an engineer, highly
    qualified engineer. I asked him last night where he spent most of his
    youth. He said, ``On the Stanford campus.'' And here he is now the CEO
    of one of the great companies. He was able to take his degree--for those
    of you who are interested in whether or not a degree makes sense--he
    took his engineering degree, and now he runs one of the world's
    preeminent companies. And he's sitting right here.

    [At this point, Craig R. Barrett, chairman of the board, Intel Corp.,
    made brief remarks.]

        The President. I appreciate that. One of the good things about being
    the President is you tend to draw cameras. [Laughter] Good or bad,
    depending on your perspective. I hope people listening hear what
    Craig has just said, those particularly in
    CEO America, corporate America, that there is such a thing as corporate
    responsibility. He said, ``I take this responsibility serious.'' It's in
    your interest, by the way, to help train a teacher. It's in your
    interest to provide a scholarship. It's in your interest to help a young
    group of Americans learn math and science because, after all, if you
    intend to stay in business, you better have a workforce that's capable.
        And so thanks for setting such a good example. Thanks for joining
    us.
        We're also joined today by Tom Hunter.
    He's the president of Sandia. The last time I was with him, we were
    standing out kind of in a desert area, and he fired up one of these new
    solar research beams. [Laughter] All I can tell you is I was glad I
    wasn't at the other end of the beam. [Laughter] But they're doing some
    good stuff when it comes to research and development here at Sandia.
        Welcome. Thanks for being here. What's on your mind?

    [Thomas Hunter, president, Sandia Corp., made brief remarks.]

        The President. Tom, let me ask you
    something. I think it's very important for people listening to
    understand when you

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    say nanotechnology, that it's got an application to their life. In other
    words, when the Federal Government says, ``We're going to spend money on
    research,'' that the taxpayers got to understand that there's
    something--their life is going to improve. And the question is, how?
        The other day, I was talking about how research is--I mean, how
    technology has changed our society, and I ended with the example: I
    remember driving across Texas playing the license plate game, and now
    they're driving across Texas listening--watching a DVD. And it all
    happened in 20 years.
        But when you talk about supercomputing will have an application that
    could help somebody, or nanotechnology, share an example with people.

    [Mr. Hunter made further remarks.]

        The President. Yesterday we saw nanotechnology being applied to a
    fuel membrane that will go into a hydrogen-powered automobile at some
    point in time, which means we'll be using hydrogen as opposed to extract
    from oil, the byproduct of which will be water. And it's coming. And
    technology and research will help us achieve that. We want to be the
    ones with the hydrogen breakthrough. It means there will be jobs here
    for Americans that will improve your quality of life as well.
        Okay, thanks. Good job.
        Matt, welcome. Tell everybody what you
    do.

    [Matthias W. Pleil, faculty member, Albuquerque Technical Vocational
    Institute (TVI), made brief remarks.]

        The President. Wait, let me stop you a minute. NSF is the National
    Science Foundation. Don't speak in initials, because we're--[laughter].
        Mr. Pleil. I'm originally from industry, and everything was an
    acronym. [Laughter]
        The President. That's right. Imagine what it would be like if you
    were originally from government.
        Mr. Pleil. They have longer acronyms. [Laughter]
        The President. National Science Foundation. And you're doing what?
        Mr. Pleil. I'm working creating educational materials for college
    students and also for college and high school teachers so that we can
    teach the future technologists about microsystems, which a lot of people
    don't know much about.
        The President. Right. And microsystems are what?
        Mr. Pleil. Well, microsystems are here and now, and they include the
    circuitry that Intel produces, but also micromachines, as well. And
    we're collaborating with Sandia National Labs. They're on the cutting
    edge of making surface micromachines, it's called. And I've been
    fortunate enough to work there part-time, learn from Sandia, and help
    them create educational materials that they use in their University
    Alliance program.
        And we've also been able to train teachers at several workshops. So
    we're creating a group of folks now that are understanding microsystems
    and, hopefully, energizing the kids in school.
        The President. And is there an interest--I mean, I presume with
    Intel being here, it serves as a magnet for kids to say, ``Gosh, that's
    a good place to work. I need the skill set necessary, and TVI provides
    that skill set.''
        Mr. Pleil. Absolutely, Intel supported TVI over the years to create
    our semiconductor manufacturing technology program. We have a teaching
    clean room that was sponsored primarily by Intel, and many of our
    students go and work for Intel. In fact, one of my students is actually
    working in the lab, probably today.
        The President. We hope so. [Laughter]
        Mr. Pleil. He'd better be.
        The President. It's interesting, isn't it--I want to kind of take
    off on what Matt was talking about. One of
    the really great assets we have in America is the community college or
    technical school system. And

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    the reason why is, is that these schools tend to be market-driven. And
    by that I mean the curriculum adjusts to the needs of the local folks.
    And what he just said was, is that here's a job provider, here's an
    education institute; they collaborated to design a curriculum that
    actually means something to the graduate.
        I'm not saying my history degree didn't mean anything. [Laughter] It
    did; it meant a lot. But nevertheless, if you're interested in work and
    you're getting out of school and you want to be trained in a job which
    actually exists, this collaboration is a vital part. And I urge
    communities all across the country to utilize their community college or
    their technical vocational schools to work with the local industry to
    design curriculum that matters.
        And so one of the ways to make sure that we're competitive in the
    21st century is to adequately utilize our community college system and
    make sure that they are incented to constantly adjust by working with
    the job providers.
        And so thanks for bringing that up. It's an interesting idea, and I
    bet a lot of people in Albuquerque didn't even know this is going on.
    And for people who are looking to find work, you ought to look at the
    TVI as an opportunity. And the other thing people ought to do--you may
    be 35 years old or so; there's money to help you upgrade your job
    skills. And what education does, it enables you to become a more
    productive worker. And as your ability to be a more productive worker
    increases, so do your wages. Education adds--it makes it more likely
    you're going to have a higher wage. And that's what Matt is doing--I think that's what you just said. [Laughter]
        Mr. Pleil. Yes, absolutely. Thank you.
        The President. Good job. Now, we've got an interesting person here,
    Nicole Lopez. Nicole, welcome. Tell people your
    story, if you don't mind.

    [Nicole Lopez, senior, Rio Rancho High School, made brief remarks.]

        The President. You have learned to communicate. [Laughter] That was
    fantastic. So what are your dreams?
        Ms. Lopez. I plan on going to the University of New Mexico and
    majoring in civil engineering.
        The President. Fantastic. This isn't exactly on the subject, but it
    is kind of--Laura is involved, leading what's
    called Helping America's Youth. The whole spirit of the program is a
    mentor can make a difference in a person's life; that we can change
    America one heart at a time. A person can, by just taking time out of
    his or her life and surrounding somebody with love and compassion, can
    make a significant contribution to the country.
        And so you just described the whole spirit of Helping America's
    Youth. You also just described the true strength of the country. Our
    country's strength is not our military or the size of our wallet; it's
    the fact that there are millions of people that have got great heart who
    want to improve somebody else's life, love a neighbor like they'd like
    to be loved themselves.
        Nicole, so you're interested in sciences,
    obviously.
        Ms. Lopez. Yes, I have found that math and science have become my
    niche. And it's my passion, and I want to continue it.
        The President. Awesome. You know, a lot of people probably think
    math and science isn't meant for me--it kind of seems a little hard,
    algebra. I can understand that, frankly, but--[laughter]. I'm looking
    for a mentor, by the way. [Laughter] Both in math and English.
    [Laughter] But I hope people listening hear Nicole's story that, you know, take a look at math and science.
    I'm sure there's some--kind of the ``nerd patrol.'' [Laughter] It's not;
    it's the future. That's what Nicole just said; she said the future is
    engineering and physics and chemistry and math.
        Chris Baca--really good job, by the way.
    Thanks for coming. Appreciate it.

    [[Page 191]]

        Chris Baca is with us. Chris, why don't you
    give everybody your job description.

    [Chris Baca, president and chief executive officer, Youth Development,
    Inc., made brief remarks.]

        The President. Clubhouses, go ahead and explain what that is.
        Mr. Baca Clubhouses are--Intel has provided both mentors and
    equipment and actually a design for a clubhouse that involves using
    state of the art technology.
        The President. You mean there's a physical plant that people go to
    where there's the latest technology?
        Mr. Baca. Exactly it. And that's located right in a neighborhood
    where you won't--you wouldn't expect it to be.
        The President. And you run the clubhouse?
        Mr. Baca. Yes, sir. My program runs the clubhouse.
        The President. I mean, the program. Good.
        Mr. Baca. And so the kids can walk from--after school, we get these
    little kids dropping in. They don't even go home. They stop by. We help
    them do their homework, and then they can play.

    [Mr. Baca made further remarks.]

        The President. Great. Thanks, Chris. Chris
    just laid out the strategy, which is government, corporate, community
    involvement, all aiming at making sure that we save the lives of our
    children, and not only saves their lives but give them the skills
    necessary to be productive leaders into the 21st century.
        You're right; old guys like us, we'd better be--count on the next
    generation to--[laughter]--now we got to make sure they got the skills.
    Finally, we want to make sure that we're in entrepreneurial heaven, and
    by that I mean that if you've got the instinct and the drive to start
    your own business, that you'll be comfortable in doing so. Government
    can't guarantee your product is successful. We can guarantee you good
    legal policy, good tax policy, good regulator policy, and then go for
    it.
        And one of the things that I notice about our country when I travel
    the world is we really are entrepreneurial heaven. We got people from
    all walks of life saying, ``I want to realize my dream.'' One of them is
    Justin Sanchez.
        Welcome, Justin. Let her rip.

    [Justin Sanchez, director of Semiconductor Operations, Advent Solar,
    Inc., made brief remarks.]

        The President. I think it's going to happen. I think what you're
    talking about is that one of these days our homes are going to be little
    sources of power, and to the extent that we have excess power, we'll
    feed it back into the grid.
        Mr. Sanchez. That's right; that's absolutely correct.
        The President. How far away are we from that, in terms of your
    thinking?
        Mr. Sanchez. You know, solar is a technology that the time has come,
    and I think with some of the more recent innovations and some of the
    things that we're doing now, in the next 5 to 10 years, you could see
    that happen.
        The President. One reason why it makes sense for the taxpayers to
    have research and development into solar energy, which we're doing
    through the Energy Department in collaboration with Sandia Labs, is
    because he's just describing a product that's
    going to come as a result of the research money spent. And that is, it's
    conceivable that you'll have a little unit on top of your house that
    will power your own house, and that to the extent that you don't use the
    power generated from the unit, you actually sell it back to the grid, so
    you become a mini powerplant.
        Mr. Sanchez. Absolutely. A million mini powerplants.
        The President. And what's the average age of your team, would you
    say?

    [[Page 192]]

        Mr. Sanchez. Average age of the team? Well, that's a good question.
    Probably about thirty.
        The President. Management team. Thirty?
        Mr. Sanchez. Forty.
        The President. Forty? Old guys.
        Mr. Sanchez. Of the management team, or the team?
        The President. Management team.
        Mr. Sanchez. Management team, it's probably closer to 50.
        The President. Really?
        Mr. Sanchez. Yes.
        The President. So you're bringing down the average.
        Mr. Sanchez. Bringing down the average. [Laughter]
        The President. We want Justin Sanchezes
    of the country to dream big dreams and to think big. Look at the product
    they're thinking about. I mean, this is a big idea. And there's people
    willing to risk capital on the idea, and you're willing to risk time in
    it.
        Mr. Sanchez. Absolutely.
        The President. And it's going to happen, isn't it?
        Mr. Sanchez. It will happen.
        The President. Yes, and America will be better off for it. This is a
    good way to end, for our people to understand there's a direct
    connection between research and development, technology, and quality of
    life. This country has a chance--in other words, it needs to make a
    choice: Are we going to lead, or are we going to fear the future? I hope
    after this discussion, people sitting around here and listening ought to
    realize we ought not to fear the future but shape the future and
    continue to be the leader. And by leading, our people will realize a
    more peaceful world and a more prosperous world and a chance to realize
    dreams. And that's what America has been all about in the past and it
    should be about in the future.
        Listen, thank you all for the panel. It's been a great discussion.
    God bless.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:10 a.m. at Intel New Mexico. In his
    remarks, he referred to Charles M. Vest, president, Massachusetts
    Institute of Technology; Norman R. Augustine, chair, National Academies'
    Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century; and
    Mayor Jim Owen of Rio Rancho, NM.