[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 28 (Monday, July 17, 2006)]
[Pages 1301-1302]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

July 8, 2006

    Good morning. This week I visited the city of Chicago. In that great 
city and across America, our strong and growing economy is creating jobs 
and delivering prosperity to more of our people.
    In the Chicago area, businesses have added more than 74,000 new jobs 
over the past 2 years. And in Illinois, the unemployment rate has fallen 
to 4.6 percent, the lowest rate there in over 5\1/2\ years.
    We have good news about our national economy as well. On Friday, we 
learned that the American economy created 121,000 new jobs in June, and 
it has created over 5.4 million jobs since August 2003. We now have 
added jobs for 34 straight months, and the unemployment rate is 4.6 
percent.
    In the first quarter of 2006, our economy grew at an impressive 
annual rate of 5.6 percent. This follows our economic growth of 3.5 
percent in 2005, the fastest rate of any major industrialized nation. 
And because taxes are low, our workers are keeping more of the money 
they earn.
    Behind each of these positive statistics are countless stories--
stories of workers who start each day with hope because they have a job 
that will help them build a better life, stories of families with more 
money in the bank for college tuition or a downpayment on a home, 
stories of small-business owners who know they can hire more workers and 
grow with confidence.
    Our economic expansion is lifting the lives of millions of 
Americans, and to keep this expansion going, we must maintain the 
progrowth, low-tax policies that helped to launch it in the first place. 
The tax relief we delivered has helped unleash the entrepreneurial 
spirit of America and kept our economy the envy of the world. So I will 
continue to work with Congress to make that tax relief permanent.
    Our economy is also thriving because America remains the world's 
most innovative nation. During my trip to Illinois, I visited a company 
called Cabot Microelectronics, which makes products for manufacturing 
semiconductor chips and other high-tech components. Cutting-edge firms 
like Cabot are creating good jobs for our workers and helping to keep 
America competitive in the global economy.

    To help companies like Cabot maintain our Nation's competitive edge, 
I proposed my American Competitiveness Initiative. This initiative will 
double Federal funding for research in promising areas such as 
nanotechnology, supercomputing, and alternative energy sources. The 
initiative will also encourage bolder private sector investment in 
technology and help ensure that every American child has the math and 
science skills needed for the jobs of tomorrow.

    Last month, the House of Representatives approved full funding for 
the basic research component of this initiative. I urge the Senate to 
follow the House's lead, so America can remain an innovative nation that 
competes with confidence.

    Americans are living in times of great hope and great opportunity. 
By keeping our taxes low, keeping our country competitive, and keeping 
this a welcoming nation, we will add to our prosperity, and we will 
create a better America for future generations.

    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at approximately 10:06 a.m. on July 7 at 
the InterContinental Hotel in Chicago, IL, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. 
on July 8. The transcript was made available by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on July 7 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. 
The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language 
transcript of this address.

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