[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

[[Page 183]]

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--

[[Page 184]]

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.

[[Page 185]]

    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

[[Page 186]]

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

[[Page 187]]

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

[[Page 188]]

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

[[Page 189]]

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

[[Page 190]]

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.