[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book II)]
[August 9, 2007]
[Pages 1064-1065]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Statement on Signing the America COMPETES Act
August 9, 2007

    Today I signed into law H.R. 2272, the ``America Creating 
Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, 
Education, and Science Act.'' This legislation shares many of the goals 
of my American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI). ACI is one of my most 
important domestic priorities because it provides a comprehensive 
strategy to help keep America the most innovative nation in the world by 
strengthening our scientific education and research, improving our 
technological enterprise, and providing 21st-century job training.
    Since I announced ACI in January 2006, Congress has risen to the 
competitiveness challenge in a bipartisan way. House and Senate 
appropriators started the funding for ACI basic research programs in 
fiscal year 2007, and so far in this year's appropriations process, they 
are fully funding my fiscal year 2008 budget request for the National 
Science Foundation, the Office of Science in the Department of Energy, 
and the National Institute of Standards and Technology at the Department 
of Commerce.
    This bipartisan spirit of cooperation continues with the legislation 
I signed. This legislation supports our efforts to double funding for 
basic research in the physical sciences. And the bill authorizes most of 
the education programs I called for in ACI, including the Math Now 
proposal that improves instruction in mathematics and the Advanced 
Placement program that increases the number of teachers and students 
participating in AP and International Baccalaureate classes.
    I am, however, disappointed that Congress failed to authorize my 
Adjunct Teacher Corps program to encourage math and science 
professionals to teach in our schools. I am also disappointed that the 
legislation includes excessive authorizations and expansion of 
Government. In total, the bill creates over 30 new programs that are 
mostly duplicative or counterproductive--including a new Department of 
Energy agency to fund late-stage technology development more 
appropriately left to the private sector--and also provides excessive 
authorizations for existing programs. These new programs, additional 
requirements and reports, and excessive authorizations will divert 
resources and focus from priority activities aimed at strengthening the 
basic research that has given our Nation such a competitive advantage in 
the world economy. Accordingly, I will request funding in my 2009 budget 
for those authorizations that support the focused priorities of the ACI, 
but will not propose excessive or duplicative funding based on 
authorizations in this bill.
    While this legislation includes many unnecessary and misguided 
programs, in many

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important ways it heeds my call to action of nearly 2 years ago to take 
steps to ensure the ongoing competitiveness of our Nation. Congress, 
however, still has more work to do to improve our Nation's 
competitiveness. In addition to giving priority to full ACI funding in 
this year's appropriations bills, I call on Congress to complete work on 
the remaining components of ACI, including modernizing and making 
permanent the research and development tax credit, authorizing the 
Adjunct Teacher Corps program, and increasing our ability to attract and 
retain the best and brightest high-skilled workers from around the 
world.
    I thank members of both parties in Congress who worked on this 
legislation, and I appreciate the willingness of members to remove or 
otherwise address several of the administration's serious concerns 
associated with this legislation. I will continue to work with the 
Congress to ensure that we keep America competitive through appropriate 
and strong support for science and technology.

Note: H.R. 2272, approved August 9, was assigned Public Law No. 110-69.