[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 5 (Monday, February 6, 2006)]
[Pages 177-186]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
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, first of all, I 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 were better for it. [Laughter] It's a great State.
    Do you want to have a few words?

[[Page 178]]

    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--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

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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.
    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 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

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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 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--
[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 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--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 out-compete 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

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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 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

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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 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

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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 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 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. 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 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

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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] 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 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--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.
    Really good job, by the way. Thanks for coming. Appreciate it.
    Chris Baca is with us. Chris, why don't you give everybody your job 
description.

[[Page 185]]

[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. 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 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?
    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.

[[Page 186]]

    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--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.