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Skriven 2007-08-09 23:30:52 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (070809a) for Thu, 2007 Aug 9
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Statement by the President
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary August 9, 2007

Statement by the President

˙˙White House News


STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

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 important ways it heeds my call to action of nearly two 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.

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