President’s State of the Union Address Hits on Issues Key to U.S. Competitiveness

Lisa Hanna
Vice President, Communications
Council on Competitiveness
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Washington, D.C. –Council on Competitiveness, President & CEO Deborah Wince Smith issued the following statement in reaction to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address:

On jobs…

“America’s most important strength is that of our workforce. In order to boost employment and remain globally competitive, we must ensure easy access to high-quality education and training for all Americans; maintain long-term federal investments in science, engineering and technology leadership; and reform and simplify the tax code to stimulate investment and global capital to the United States, which will in turn create many more good-paying jobs for Americans.”

“The Council has outlined a roadmap for meeting these goals in our recent Clarion Call for Competitiveness—a national pro-growth strategy coupled with significant fiscal discipline and focused on the necessity for Congress and the Administration to work across party lines. Today, innovation and strategic public-private partnerships coupled with federal investments in energy is foundational to job growth and U.S. prosperity.”

On manufacturing & clean energy…

“We applaud the President for prioritizing manufacturing and for embracing the Council’s recommendations in our MAKE Report, which includes the creation and implementation of manufacturing hubs. Manufacturing remains a driver of innovation and job creation – and these technological hubs will bring together businesses and government to deploy the newest tools and facilities to create more jobs for Americans.
“The President is right to call for a boost in clean energy production. We need both a dedicated federal investment in energy, and strong public-private partnerships to leverage our nation’s massive energy shift. The Council’s robust energy initiative has long played a leadership role in the development of partnerships of this nature. In doing so, we will secure long term investments in clean energy manufacturing - which will not only create new jobs, but will ensure future prosperity for all Americans.”

On innovation…

“The growth and security of the United States is increasingly dependent on our nation’s enduring and evolving capacity to learn, create and innovate. We must increase awareness around the critical role engineers play in our economy and work to strengthen our nation’s investments in this arena. In doing so, we will secure America’s competitiveness and innovation enterprise—something we sincerely hope to accomplish through our National Engineering Forum (NEF), designed to address the engineering challenges and opportunities in the U.S.” “Innovation in today’s global economy cannot reach its potential without effective access to markets, protection of intellectual property, international approaches to standards development and transparent competition policy. There must be an international rule of law that supports global innovation or we will not be able to collaborate or compete in the global marketplace.”

On immigration reform…

“Our current patchwork system does nothing to attract and keep the world’s “best and brightest” students. Awarding a green card to immigrants who receive an advanced degree in science, technology engineering or math (STEM) from an American University is a solution we’ve looked to for years. It’s past time we work to implement new policies or face losing many of our future innovators to other countries.”

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ABOUT THE COUNCIL ON COMPETITIVENESS

The Council on Competitiveness is the only group of corporate CEOs, university presidents and labor leaders committed to the future prosperity of all Americans and enhanced U.S. competitiveness in the global economy through the creation of high-value economic activity in the United States. The Council is a non-partisan and non-governmental organization.