[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 21 (Monday, May 29, 2006)]
[Pages 965-975]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on American Competitiveness in Highland Heights, Kentucky

May 19, 2006

    The President. Thanks. Please be seated. Geoff, thanks for the 
introduction. He said I was the last sitting President--the last sitting 
President to be here before me was a Texan. [Laughter] I don't know what 
took the other ones so long to get here--[laughter]--but I'm proud to be 
here; particularly proud to be in NKU, Northern Kentucky University. 
Thank you very much for letting me come by.
    It's a good place to come to, to make sure that America understands 
we don't need to fear the future, because we can shape it. That's what I 
want to talk to you about today, is the need for the United States of 
America to remain the leader of the world. And one way you remain the 
leader is, you have places like excellence--centers like Northern 
Kentucky University, where you've got innovative curriculum, high 
standards, the willingness to work in your community--all aimed at 
making sure our kids have got the skills necessary to compete. And 
that's why I'm here.
    So I want to thank the president--Mr. President, thanks for having 
me. [Laughter] He'd probably rather be called ``Doctor.'' But, Jim, 
thank you for having us. Thank the faculty for letting me come. I 
appreciate you teaching; teaching is a noble profession. For the 
students who are here, one career path you ought to think about is being 
a teacher. And one thing you've always got to remember is, the child's 
first teacher is a mother and a father.
    I bring my RSVP's from Laura. She is giving a graduation speech 
tomorrow--she just didn't get the invitation to come to NKU to give the 
graduation speech here. [Laughter] If you had been wise, you would have 
had her and not me. [Laughter] She sends her best. She is really, really 
a good person, and I'm proud to--[applause]--I'm proud to call her wife. 
She's got to be the most patient woman in America. [Laughter] She's 
doing great; she sends her best.
    I appreciate very much Congressman Geoff Davis. He's an interesting 
person. He served his country in the United States military. He didn't 
have to run for the United States Congress; chose to do so--I think sets 
a good example for people to understand, public service is a noble 
calling. And I want to thank you for inviting me here, Geoff.

[[Page 966]]

    I appreciate Senator Jim Bunning being here as well. So I was asking 
him what it was like to face the Cincinnati Reds. [Laughter] You might 
remember those days--[laughter]--at least I do. He's not only a fine 
Senator, he's a wonderful person. And his wife, Mary, reminded me, she 
came here to NKU just a couple of years ago. [Laughter] She had the same 
kind of career my mother did. Got in; got out without a degree, but 
nevertheless loved the experience. [Laughter]
    I appreciate very much State Senator David Williams, president of 
the State senate. Thanks for coming. Make sure they got plenty of money 
to run this university, senator. I've known Williams long enough where I 
can tell him that, see. [Laughter] It's great to see you. It's good to 
see the Judge as well. I appreciate Katie Stine--is with us today. 
Senator Stine, thanks for coming.
    I want to thank the mayor--I want to thank Mayor Roettger, who is 
the mayor of Highland--the city of Highland Heights. Thanks for being 
here, Mr. Mayor. I want to thank all the local and State officials here. 
I want to thank Gary Toebben who is the president of the Northern 
Kentucky Chamber. Thanks for having me here. I met Dr. Ed Hughes. If you 
don't know Ed, Ed is the founding president and CEO of Gateway Community 
and Technical College.
    I want to say a quick word about community colleges. They're a 
really important part of making sure the United States is able to 
compete. People around here, if you've got a growing economy and are 
looking for labor, you need to support your community colleges. They're 
one of the really important institutions of the United States. And so 
for the community college students who are here, welcome; thanks for 
coming. Appreciate you taking advantage of the opportunities available 
to you.
    We're living in historic times. They are exciting times. If you're a 
student getting ready to graduate from NKU, you've got a job available 
for you that's paying better than a lot of other college graduates have 
ever been able to get. This is a good time to be getting out of college.
    On the other hand, these are difficult times in some ways, when you 
think about it. I mean, we're at war. And war is unsettling to people. 
War puts a strain on the United States of America. War causes people to 
think about the future in different ways.
    These are times of globalization. In other words, we're all 
connected now. Competition is coming at the United States from different 
places around the world. These are times of change. Technology changes 
so rapidly that it can create a sense of concern amongst our citizens.
    I don't know if you know this or not, but by the time somebody gets 
30 in this job market, people have changed jobs several times. That 
stands in stark contrast to the days when previous generations would go 
to work and stay at the job all their life. Pension funds are different 
now. We've got 401(k), defined contribution plans as opposed to defined 
benefit plans. These are changing times. And the fundamental question 
facing any nation, but particularly ours, is how do we adjust to those 
times? What do we do about it?
    The temptation during changing times and unsettling times, for some, 
is to retreat and say, you know, it's really not worth it. We've been 
through this period in our Nation's history, a time when people would 
look abroad or look afar and say, ``Well, these just seem such difficult 
problems that it's probably best that we don't take them on,'' or that, 
``Competition in the economic sphere is such that the best way to deal 
with that kind of competition is just to wall ourselves off.''
    Those two tendencies, which have happened in our Nation's history--
tenants of thought--would be called isolationism and protectionism. And 
I'm here to talk today about why it is really important for us to reject 
those two notions--that the United States of America must not wall 
ourselves off from the world and must not forget our duty to help lead 
the world to be a better place.
    Now there's a practical reason why we shouldn't isolate ourselves, 
and that is, there's an enemy that still wants to hurt us. And it's 
important for you all to know that everyday that I wake up I think about 
the war on terror. I knew that after September the 11th--and many of the 
decisions I make are based upon what happened on that day,

[[Page 967]]

September the 11, 2001. My job is to do everything I can to protect the 
American people. And I knew that after the attacks there would be a 
tendency by people to say, well, maybe there's not a war, maybe that's 
just an isolated incident. Part of my job, by the way, was to say to the 
American people, ``Go about your business; create jobs; go to school; 
raise your families--let us worry about it in Washington, DC.''
    But I think about this all the time. I know that in order for us to 
be able to defend ourselves, we have got to be active in the world. 
Another way to put it is, we will stay on the offense and bring the 
terrorists to justice before they hurt us again.
    What's unsettling about these times for some is that we face a 
determined enemy. Let me tell you what I think about the enemy. The 
enemy is--they're coldblooded killers, the best way to describe them. 
They will take innocent life to achieve a tactical and strategic 
objective. These are people that are bound by an ideology. See, they're 
driven by an ideological fervor. In other words, they're not just 
isolated angry people; they're people that have got a point of view.
    Perhaps the best way to describe the point of view is to remind 
people what life was like under the Taliban in Afghanistan: There's no 
freedom to dissent, no freedom to worship; if you're a woman, you were a 
second class citizen; if you were a young girl, you had no chance, very 
little chance to be educated. In other words, they had a view of the 
world which is 100 percent opposite of us. And that's the ideology of 
these people. And they believe it. They strongly believe that they 
should distort a great religion and convert it to meet their means. It's 
totalitarian in nature. It's something akin to dealing with fascism and 
communism but with a different flavor to it.
    Now, I recognize some in our country don't believe that, and that's 
okay. The great thing about our country is, we all have different views. 
But I believe it. And I know that if we were ever to retreat and isolate 
and say it's just too difficult to get involved, that ideology would 
flourish. After all, they've told us what their ambitions are, through 
intercepted communications and the different ways of finding out 
information. They have made it clear in their communications with each 
other that democracies are soft, capitalism is a failed system, and that 
it's just a matter of time before the United States of America were to 
lose its nerve.
    That's what they believe. They believe if they can make life painful 
enough that we will retreat from the battlefield, that we will give them 
safe haven--allow them to get safe haven. They want to reestablish roots 
in a country like they did in Afghanistan so they can help topple 
moderate governments in the Middle East as well as launch attacks 
against the United States of America. That's what they have said. As 
your Commander--as your President and as the Commander in Chief, it's 
probably pretty wise that I take the words of the enemy seriously, which 
I do.
    And so therefore, for those who think it's probably best to let the 
world kind of drift off without American leadership or American 
involvement, they really don't see the world the way--at least the way I 
see it. And I understand some would like to see the world the way they 
hope it would be. But you've got to have a President who sees the world 
the way it is. And the way it is, is a dangerous place that requires the 
United States of America to be on the offense. And so we're waging the 
global war on terror.
    And the global war on terror has a variety of fronts. The two most 
notable fronts, of course, are Afghanistan and Iraq. In Afghanistan, I 
said if you harbor a terrorist, you're as guilty as a terrorist. I know 
full well that when the President says something, he better mean it. I 
meant it. And when the Taliban didn't believe us, we liberated the 
country. And today, there's a new democracy in the world, and that's 
important, particularly for the students to understand, because 
eventually I'm going to tie in democracy and peace. But there is a new 
democracy, and we're helping that democracy survive and grow.
    Secondly, I said if you see a threat, you've got to take threats 
seriously. I saw a threat. Now, I don't want to rehash the history of 
the decisionmaking that went on in the runup to the war of Iraq; I would 
just remind people that people in both political parties and people all 
around the world saw a threat. And I feel strongly that the world is 
better off without Saddam Hussein in power.

[[Page 968]]

    And no matter what your position was on the issue of war in Iraq--
and I can understand why good people differ about my decision--but we've 
got to make sure we don't retreat from the world and allow the good work 
that has gone on to collapse, so that the enemy is able to gain a safe 
haven from which to create havoc and launch attacks. And so therefore, 
we have developed a plan for victory. It's not a plan for retreat; it's 
a plan for victory.
    And the definition of victory is to support the Iraqis so they can 
sustain themselves, govern themselves, defend themselves, be an ally in 
the war on terror, and deny safe haven to Al Qaida. That's the goal.
    The work is difficult work. It's hard to help a society go from a 
tyranny to a democracy. You see, the people who lived under the thumb of 
Saddam Hussein were terrorized by him. He divided the society up. He 
pitted groups of people against each other. He was ruthless in his 
administration of his so-called justice, and as a result, there's a lot 
of scarred emotions and distrust.
    And yet something amazing happened in December of last year--
admittedly it seems like an eternity ago--but 12 million Iraqis defied 
car bombers, killers, and terrorists and declared in unity, ``We want to 
be free.'' It's an amazing moment in the history of freedom. They've 
said to their Government and said to the people, ``Look, we want to live 
in a free society. We want to be able to express ourselves. We want to 
be able to elect our officials.'' And so the political process is one 
that's now moving forward to honor that request, to honor the 12 million 
who voted.
    There's a government forming in Iraq. This is a new process for 
them. You might remember, we had a little trouble getting our own 
Constitution up and running; we weren't a perfect democracy in our 
beginnings either. But, nevertheless, what particularly the students now 
are seeing is, as a result of active involvement--not only to defend 
ourselves--but adherence to some basic beliefs, a new democracy in the 
heart of the Middle East is emerging. We're training these Iraqis so 
they can take the fight to the enemy. I have said clearly to the 
American people, as the Iraqi forces step up, we will step down.
    But it's really important for us to understand that if we leave too 
early, the new democracy will falter. It's in the Nation's interest that 
democracy prevail, because democracies help yield the peace.
    A nation that becomes isolationist will be one that doesn't 
understand that democracy can change the world; is one that says, well, 
let's just get out of there before we complete the mission; let's just 
not worry about what takes place in parts of the world other than, 
perhaps, our own neighborhood. But to me, that's a bad choice, because, 
you see, during a period of time when we thought everything was calm, 
there was resentment and bitterness growing, which enabled an enemy to 
recruit suiciders who were willing to launch an attack on our Nation, 
which has caused more people to lose their life than in Pearl Harbor.
    And so therefore, I really think it's important for the American 
Government to work with allies to stay on the leading edge of change, to 
not lose our nerve, and to remember the lessons of history.
    One of the interesting lessons of history is to look at Europe. We 
had World War I and World War II in a pretty quick period of time, and 
we lost a lot of troops there. And today, Europe is whole and at peace. 
So what happened? What caused the world to change? What caused the world 
to change was, Europe established democracies, and history has proven 
democracies don't war with each other.
    I love to tell the story about my relationship with Prime Minister 
Koizumi. You know, my dad was a young guy; right before he went to 
college, he joined up in the United States Navy just like a lot of 
others did--and I'm sure some of your relatives did the same thing--to 
fight the Japanese. Yet today, I sit down at the peace table with 
Koizumi. We talk about North Korea; we talk about Iraq; we talk about 
how allies can work to keep the peace.
    I find it really interesting that that's taking place. And what 
happened was, was that between the time that the United States fought 
the Japanese and the time old George W. sitting down there at the table 
with the Prime Minister, Harry Truman said, let's help the

[[Page 969]]

Japanese develop a Japanese-style democracy. See, it's really important 
for the students here to understand, that liberty and freedom have got 
the--have proven the capacity to convert enemies into allies. And if 
you're interested in keeping the peace, it's important for the United 
States of America to lead.
    There's something universal about freedom. I believe in the 
universality of freedom. I believe everybody desires to be free. I don't 
believe freedom is only owned by America; I don't believe only 
Methodists can be free. I believe everybody desires to be free, and the 
United States of America must lead the world to be more free.
    But our concern shouldn't just be in winning the war on terror and 
changing the conditions that enable folks to recruit--in other words, 
battling the ideology of hatred with the ideology of hope. An active 
nation is one that also works hard in places like the Sudan, where ours 
is the only nation in the world that has condemned what's going on in 
Darfur as genocide. The United States must lead to make sure--
[applause]. A confident nation that does it's duty in the international 
community is one that does what we're doing now in Darfur. We provide 
over 85 percent of the food aid to help the refugees in this area. We're 
taking the lead in the United Nations to call the world to account.
    I believe to whom much is given, much is required. And therefore, 
it's important for the United States to continue to lead in the fight 
against HIV/AIDS in places like the continent of Africa. I believe that 
when we see starvation, this great Nation of ours should lead the world 
to help feed the hungry. I believe when we see devastation, the United 
States must continue to be willing to use assets to help people such as 
those whose lives were turned upside down by the tsunamis or the 
earthquakes in Pakistan. You see, a confident nation--a nation confident 
in its ideals and confident in its capacity must continue to lead and 
not isolate ourselves from the world.
    We've got a good economy right now. And that's good news. 
Unemployment rate is 4.7 percent nationwide. We've got--productivity is 
up; home ownership is up; after-tax--real after-tax income is up by over 
8 percent since 2001. Things are rocking along. The entrepreneurial 
spirit is strong. And yet when you think about it--when some think about 
it, they look at our economic future, and they're very worried. They're 
troubled. See, they're troubled by competition from places like China 
and India. And I can understand that. These are vast labor markets that 
are just beginning to grow.
    And the response, in some instances, is to say, ``Let's just don't--
let's don't take them on; let us kind of pull back and wall ourselves 
off through protectionist policy.'' For those of you who've studied 
history, you might remember we've had this kind of--we've had these 
decisions before in our Nation's history.
    How about the 1920s? You might remember the 1920s, at least through 
your history books, at least--and that is, is that we were an 
isolationist nation. We said, ``Let them figure it out in Europe; we'll 
let them work out their differences over there. We don't need to be 
involved.'' And we had high protective tariffs--and, by the way, really 
high taxes. And as a result, there's a worldwide depression. I'm not 
saying all of it was caused by those tendencies; I'm saying some of it 
was caused by those tendencies. So we've been through a period of time 
where we said let's--we lose our confidence; let's not be bold in our 
willingness to do the right things at home so that we can compete.
    My attitude is this about America: We shouldn't fear the future, I 
told you. And I want to talk to you about some ways that we can shape 
the future in order to make sure America remains the leader. I'm not 
only talking about the leader for peace but I'm also talking about the 
economic leader of the world. It's in our interests that that be the 
case. When our Nation leads and remains the most productive place in the 
world, it means a higher standard of living for our people. It means 
better wages, better quality of life. It means you're more likely to 
realize your dream. If we wall ourselves off and stagnate as an economy, 
it's going to be harder for this great American Dream to continue to 
renew itself.
    And so here are some ideas for you as to how to make sure we 
continue to shape the future. One is to keep taxes low. The reason

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why it's important to keep taxes low is because in a global economy, 
capital will tend to flow where taxes are low. And the other reason why 
is, is that you want money in the hands of the entrepreneurs.
    You might remember, we've been through a lot in the last 5 years: 
recession; stock market collapse; corporate scandals; attacks on the 
country; natural disasters; high energy prices--yet, we're growing; 
we're strong. And one of the reasons why is, is because we let the 
people keep more of their own money. See, the theory is, is that when 
somebody has more of their own money to spend, save, or invest, the 
economy grows. And so if we're going to be competitive, we've got to 
make sure that we keep money in the peoples' pockets. That's how the 
entrepreneurial spirit remains strong.
    It's really important for our citizens to remember that 70 percent 
of new jobs in America are created by small-business owners. And the 
more money they have in their coffers, the more likely it is they're 
going to create jobs for the American people.
    Secondly, we want this always to be the best place for 
entrepreneurship. We want people in our country saying, you know, ``If 
I've got a good idea and willing to work hard, I'm going to take a risk, 
because I want to own my own business.'' There's nothing better than 
meeting somebody who says, you know, ``I started my business recently, 
Mr. President, and I'm doing just fine--and by the way, thanks for the 
tax relief so I can keep some more money to expand.''
    You'll hear, in Washington, people saying, ``Well, we've got to 
raise the taxes in order to balance the budget.'' That's not the way 
Washington works. If we were to raise your taxes, Washington would 
figure out new ways to spend your money. And it might sound good; the 
titles of the programs will sound just fine, but we've got to make sure 
we set priorities with your money. My number one priority is this: So 
long as we've got a troop in harm's way, a man or woman in uniform who's 
risking their lives for the security of America, they're going to get 
whatever it takes to do their job. [Applause] Thank you all.
    But we can cut this deficit in half if we're wise about how we spend 
your money, by setting priorities. And we will. The interesting thing 
about progrowth economic policies, coupled with fiscal sanity in 
Washington, is that when the economy grows, it creates more revenues for 
the Treasury. Last year, we've got about $100 billion more revenues to 
our Treasury than anticipated. And this year, there's 11 percent ahead 
of where we were last year. And so if you hold your spending down by 
setting priorities and grow your economy, the deficit shrinks. And 
that's one way to control your budget.
    But the real budget problems we face beyond the current account is--
of the budget--is the unfunded liabilities inherent in Social Security 
and Medicare. If this Nation wants to be competitive, we have got to 
make sure that we reform Medicare and Social Security. And here's the 
problem, and this is--I'm addressing this particularly for the ones 
coming up, the people getting ready to get in the workplace--because the 
truth of the matter is, Social Security is fine for people who are 
eligible today. And Social Security is in pretty good shape for baby 
boomers. As a matter of fact, we're the problem. [Laughter] We're 
getting ready to retire--just so happens I turn 62 in 2008, which is a 
convenient age. [Laughter]
    But there's a lot of us, see, and we're living longer than anybody 
anticipated. I'm riding that mountain bike because I'm trying to retard 
the aging process. [Laughter] But a lot of my--baby boomers are more 
conscious of their health. In other words, we're mindful that if you 
smoke, it's going to shorten your lifetime, or if you're drinking too 
much, it will affect you. And so there's been a--there's a health 
consciousness among my generation. There's a lot of us, and there's 
fewer people paying into the system, and we've been promised greater 
benefits, which means we're on a collision course for our younger 
workers. And you're paying into this system that's going to be broke. 
And it's going to affect our ability to compete. That's what I'm telling 
you.
    And so Congress has got to listen to this. Let's get rid of all the 
politics once and for all up there, and come together and put a 
bipartisan solution to Social Security and Medicare so that we can say 
to a young generation of Americans, ``We did our duty.''

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And by doing our duty, by solving a problem that, admittedly, is down 
the road--but the longer we wait, the more acute the problem is going to 
be. Now is the time to fix it to make sure the United States of America 
remains the economic leader of the world. [Applause] Thank you all.
    I was just getting warmed up, and we're running out of oxygen in 
here. [Laughter]
    Trade is an interesting issue. One way to determine whether the 
Nation has lost its confidence is whether or not the Nation is willing 
to trade, be a free trading nation. And I can understand people's 
concerns about imports coming in from China and imports coming in from 
India. But I don't think we ought to allow those concerns to close down 
markets. As a matter of fact, I feel very strongly that the United 
States of America must do the right things internally and also open up 
markets so that we can keep competition in a global way.
    Here's the thing, my job is to make sure that we're treated fairly. 
That with opening markets--our own markets and getting other people to 
open their markets, that they treat us the way we treat them, because I 
strongly believe, one, trade is good for the world; two, it's a good way 
to alleviate poverty; three, it's important for creating jobs. Northern 
Kentucky, by the way, benefits from trade. One reason your job base is 
strong is because we're selling goods made here, elsewhere.
    The way I like to tell the American people: It's like China, for 
example. I was with President Hu. I said, ``Mr. President, it's fine for 
you, selling your goods here, but you've got to understand something 
about the American people: We just want to be treated fairly. So 
intellectual property rights, if you have a product here, we're not 
going to steal the patent--steal the intellectual property rights from 
you; don't steal it from us. If you--treat our manufacturers well; make 
sure your currency moves like our currency moves. That's all we want, 
Mr. President.'' The American people are fair. And the reason I'm 
confident in talking about why opening markets will be good for us, 
because I firmly believe we can compete with anybody, anytime, anywhere. 
And America must never, never lose that thought.
    So I know I shocked some people the other day when I got up and 
said, we're addicted to oil and that's a problem. But if we're really 
interested in being a competitive nation, we're going to have to do 
something about our reliance upon oil--now. So I'm working with Congress 
to promote what's called this Advanced Energy Initiative. And we're 
working on a variety of fronts. First, one thing we can do is make sure 
we promote clean coal technology. We've got a lot of coal--like, 250-
some odd years worth of coal. We also care about our environment here in 
America. And we've also got the capacity to make sure that we develop 
the technologies that will enable us to use this coal. One way to get 
off oil and hydrocarbons is to use our coal in an environmentally 
friendly way, and I believe we'll be able to do so. We're spending a lot 
of money in Washington, by the way, on clean coal technology, and I 
think it's a proper use of taxpayers' money to do so.
    We're also investigating coal-to-liquid technology. In other words, 
we'll be able to use our coals to be able to provide liquids that we'll 
be able to use, as well, as an energy source. But there's some other 
interesting ideas going on. For example, I like the idea of our farmers 
being able to provide energy to power automobiles; it's called ethanol.
    But there will be some technological breakthroughs that allow us to 
use switch grass. Somebody said, what is it? Well, it's grass that looks 
like a switch--[laughter]--that grows in dry climate. See, that makes 
sense, doesn't it, to be able to investigate whether or not we can 
convert that kind of material to energy? I think we'll be able to. Wood 
chips--now all of this sounds fanciful to some, which the Internet 
seemed fanciful at one point in time.
    And so we're spending money at the Federal level to investigate ways 
to be able to diversify. One of the interesting technologies that's now 
on the market is hybrid automobiles. But there's new battery technology 
being developed, and I'm told we're close to breakthroughs in this 
technology that will enable you to drive your first 40 miles on 
electricity alone. That's a pretty good deal, if we're able to achieve 
that kind of breakthrough. Particularly in big cities--a lot of

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people in big cities aren't going to drive 40 miles a day. They may not 
drive 40 miles a week. But nevertheless, when you start taking that 
amount of demand off the market, for gasoline, it starts to begin to 
affect our national and economic security.
    In terms of electricity, we have got to move forward with nuclear 
power. Nuclear power is clean--and we're spending money on solar energy 
and wind energy. There's not going to be a single breakthrough; there's 
going to be a variety of sources, of new renewable energy sources that 
are going to enable us to be able to say to the next generation coming, 
we're less reliant on oil. It's in our economic interests, and it's in 
our national security interests that we spend money now to develop the 
technologies that will get us off oil so we can leave behind an America 
that's competitive, that will be able to compete in the global economy.
    I'm now getting to the reason I came here--[laughter]--and that is 
that this country of ours, in order to be competitive, must always be on 
the leading edge of technological change and therefore must be always 
the best at research and development and, at the same time, must educate 
our children so they have the skills necessary to fill the jobs of the 
21st century.
    NKU has got some really innovative programs, kind of a seamless 
transition from high school to college. You've got math and science 
fairs. You're focusing a lot of your attention on making sure the skill 
sets that you teach your children are relevant, that will actually keep 
us competitive.
    Let me talk about research and development right quick. I believe 
there's a proper Federal role for basic research. The reason why is, 
there has been some Federal research projects which have made a 
difference in your lives. People here probably don't understand it, but 
at least understand this. But the Defense Department spent a lot of 
money on figuring out ways to communicate, out of which came the 
Internet. See, the Internet came to be as a result of Federal research 
dollars being spent. I like to mountain bike; I like to put a little 
country and western music on my iPod. [Laughter] The iPod came to be 
because of Federal research into microdrive storage and different 
technologies. And so therefore, in order to make sure America is 
competitive and that we're the leader of the world, I believe we ought 
to double the amount of money we spend in basic research at the Federal 
level.
    Secondly, what's interesting is, most research money is spent by the 
private sector. One of the great things about our system is it 
encourages people to--encourages corporations to invest so they can 
remain productive and be able to compete. One of the tools that we've 
used to encourage people to invest in research and development is the 
research and development tax credit. Curiously enough, it expires on a 
regular basis, which then causes uncertainty. If you're not sure the tax 
thing is going to be around, you may not want to invest. And so in order 
to make sure we continue to get the $200 billion a year we get from 
private sector into research and development, we need to make the 
research and development tax credit permanent.
    Thirdly, if our children don't have the skills necessary to fill the 
jobs of the 21st century, the jobs are going somewhere else; make no 
mistake about that. In a global economy, whether we like it or not, 
whether we're protectionists or confident, the jobs will go somewhere 
else. And so therefore, it's really important that the United States of 
America focus hard on the math and sciences. And by the way, we made a 
pretty good start with No Child Left Behind. And the reason why is, is 
that we're beginning to change the attitudes towards one of the real 
keys to success, and that is measurement.
    So I go to Washington, and I said, we'll be strongly committed to 
helping Title I students in particular with additional money, but I want 
the States and the local governments to show us whether or not the kids 
are learning. I didn't think that was too much of a request to ask.
    We didn't say, ``Here, you do this curriculum.'' We didn't say that. 
We didn't say, ``You've got to hire so-and-so or run your schools this 
way,'' because I believe in local control in schools. But we did say, 
``Why don't you show us--measure.'' Let's stop guessing in America. Let 
us know for certain whether or not our children are going to be able to 
compete in the 21st century, starting

[[Page 973]]

with making sure every child learns to read. I don't think that's too 
much to ask, to make sure every child can read. If you can't read, 
you're not going to be a scientist or an engineer. You won't be able to 
fill the jobs of the 21st century.
    And so we started No Child Left Behind, and I want to appreciate the 
State of Kentucky for implementing the No Child Left Behind standards. 
It says we're going to raise standards--we're not going to tell you how 
to run your schools, but you need to measure. And by the way, if you 
find that a child can't read at grade level, here's a little extra money 
to help. In other words, we use the accountability system to be able to 
diagnose problems early and solve them before it's too late.
    In the old days--you might remember those days--we just kind of 
shuffled the kids through. And guess who got shuffled through? Inner-
city African American kids, just move them through; it's so much more 
easy; just let them go. Kids whose parents don't speak English as a 
first language, they're too tough; just move them through. But that's 
not fair, and it's not right, and it's going to mean America will not be 
able to compete. And so we shut that practice down, and America is 
better for it.
    And so let me read you some interesting statistics--I'm able to read 
these to you because we measure. [Laughter] In 2005, America's fourth 
graders posted the best scores in reading and math in the history of the 
test. In other words, there's a norming test to determine whether or not 
the local accountability system--standards or systems are making a 
difference. African American fourth graders set records in reading and 
math. The Nation's Report Card showed eighth graders earned the best 
math scores recorded ever. Eighth grade Hispanic and African American 
students achieved the highest math scores ever.
    In other words, we've had an achievement gap in our country, and 
because we focus on each child and measure and insist that curriculum 
work, that achievement gap is growing--in order for this country--is 
shrinking. In order for this country to be competitive, all our students 
have got to get a good education. Everybody must be drilled in the 
basics. And now it's time to add. It's time to add math--focus on math 
and science. This college is going to--this university will benefit by 
making sure that we've got high school students--junior high and high 
school students coming out of our--these institutions with the capacity 
to be interested in math and the skill set necessary to be able to take 
on some of the really interesting courses being taught here.
    And so why am I concerned about math? Well, we also know that by the 
time a student gets to high school, most of our students have fallen 
behind the rest of the developed world in math and science. You're able 
to measure. And that's not good enough for America. It's a warning 
signal, it seems like to me. If we're going to be a confident nation 
that doesn't wall ourselves off from the world, that competes and leads, 
we better make sure the next generation of children coming up not only 
are good readers but have got the ability to be skillful in math and 
science and engineering and physics and chemistry.
    And here's some ideas for us. First, I believe we ought to expand 
Advanced Placement programs around the country by providing money to 
train 70,000 high school teachers over the next 5 years to teach AP. 
Now, AP is an interesting program. Some of you probably know what it is. 
Here's the way I like to describe it: We're going to set high standards, 
and we're going to expect the best. And we're going to have teachers 
with that skill set necessary to convince students it's in their 
interest to learn AP. I went to an interesting AP school in Dallas, 
Texas, and they said it's graduating more AP students than any other 
high school in the country. Of course, you know how Texans are. Anyway--
[laughter].
    But I walked into a classroom and had a young Latino--guy had a pony 
tail on, and he said, ``I want to be an astrophysicist, Mr. President.'' 
And it was child after child--because they had an AP teacher raise those 
standards--say, I want to be a chemist; I want to be a physicist. We can 
do this in America. And one way to start is to make sure that AP classes 
flourish.
    Secondly, we're going to have a program that has 30,000, what we 
call, adjunct professors. These will be math and science professionals 
who will go into classrooms--one way

[[Page 974]]

to say this strategy is to say, ``Look, it's okay to be a math and 
scientist; it's cool.'' But we need--I went to a classroom outside of 
Maryland, and there was a NASA engineer in there, and he could make 
science really seem interesting to these kids.
    Thirdly, we've got to make sure that we have the same rigorous 
examination of our math curriculum that we did with our reading 
curriculum. See, we went through a whole process of helping local 
districts determine whether or not the reading curriculum they were 
using was going to work. By the way, one way to determine is, you 
measure.
    And so Secretary of Education Spellings has established what's 
called the National Math--I signed, through Executive order, her 
recommendation--the National Math Panel. They met this week earlier; 
they're 17 expert panelists and 6 members from other Government 
agencies. They're going to help design standards and accountability, as 
well as teaching methods. In other words, we're going to get focused on 
this, and we expect our States to join us and to focus on math and 
science. It is really important that we start laying that skill set now 
for the next generation of Americans if we're going to be confident.
    And by the way, in the eighth grade, if you start falling behind in 
math, you ought to get that supplemental service money, that extra help, 
just like we provide for third and fourth graders in reading, when they 
begin to fall behind.
    Obviously, some are saying, ``Well, that sounds great, Mr. 
President, how about helping those of us who can't go to college, go to 
college.'' I'm a big believer in Pell grants. Pell grants are a very 
important part of making sure American education lays that foundation 
for excellence. We've increased the number of Pell grants since I've 
been your President by a million. We've got 5 million kids now getting 
Pell grants, and the maximum grant has gone from 3,750 to 4,050. If you 
qualify you get 4,050. But I think we ought to provide additional 
incentives to the Pell grant program. We call them enhanced Pell 
grants--and we're working with Congress--they've actually just passed 
the two ideas that I think make sense.
    One is that if you're a graduate with a 3.0, and you've taken a 
rigorous high school curriculum--if you take a rigorous high school 
curriculum and you go to college and maintain a 3.0 in college for your 
first 2 years, your Pell grant increases 750 for the first year, 1,300 
for the second year. The purpose of this is to say to high schools, keep 
raising that standard. Keep providing rigorous courses in math and 
science, and for the students that qualify, there will be a reward. And 
by the way, once you get into college, there will be an additional 
$4,000, on top of the Pell grant, for third and fourth year students who 
have maintained 3.0 and who major in math, science, or a critical 
foreign language.
    And so here are some incentives to build on this strategy to make 
sure America competes. So before you all pass out, I want to say one 
other thing--[laughter]. Laura said, whatever you do, don't go over to 
Kentucky and get a little long-winded. I obviously didn't listen. 
[Laughter]
    I feel passionately about our country's future. I am optimistic 
about America. I've got a unique perspective. I am able to see America 
in a different way from you all. I am able to see these unbelievable 
acts of kindness that take place on a regular basis here in our country, 
people willing to say, I want to serve my country by loving a neighbor. 
I also understand that our value system, our belief in human liberty is 
just a powerful motivator for good. And I know the entrepreneurial 
spirit is a way to make sure people are able to realize dreams.
    And so what I really want to share with you is, I understand that 
there's some uncertainty and worries because of circumstances today, but 
you've got a President whose--I've got no doubt in my mind that the 
world is headed toward peace and that this country is going to remain 
the economic leader of the world. We just can't lose our confidence. 
America shouldn't fear the future, because we're going to shape the 
future.
    Thanks for letting me come by.

Note: The President spoke at 3:30 p.m. at Northern Kentucky Univesity. 
In his remarks, he referred to James C. Votruba, president, Northern 
Kentucky University; Katie Kratz Stine, Kentucky State senator; Mayor 
Charles W. Roettger III of

[[Page 975]]

Highland Heights, KY; Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan; and 
President Hu Jintao of China. This item was not received in time for 
publication in the appropriate issue.