THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
(Nashville, Tennessee)

__________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release                    February 1, 2006

PRESS BRIEFING BY
SECRETARY OF COMMERCE CARLOS GUTIERREZ,
SECRETARY OF LABOR ELAINE CHAO,
SECRETARY OF ENERGY SAMUEL BODMAN,
SECRETARY OF EDUCATION MARGARET SPELLINGS,
AND OSTP DIRECTOR DR. JOHN MARBURGER

ON
THE AMERICAN COMPETITIVENESS INITIATIVE

Room 450
Eisenhower Executive Office Building
 

     SECRETARY SPELLINGS:  Good morning, everybody.  I'm Margaret
Spellings.  I'm the Secretary of Education.  And my fellow Cabinet
colleagues and I are thrilled to have the opportunity to talk with you
all this morning about the American Competitiveness Initiative that the
President laid out last night.  It is a bold plan that speaks to the
needs of Americans throughout their lifetimes.  And addressing these
issues will be my friend, Carlos Gutierrez at Commerce; Jack Marburger
at the Office of Science and Technology Policy; Secretary Chao at the
Department of Labor; and Secretary Bodman at the Department of Energy.

      So I'm going to lead off and talk a little bit about the first
aspect of the plan, dealing with education.  As you heard the President
say last night, if we ensure that America's children succeed in life,
they will ensure that America succeeds in the world.  He gave us a bold
and, I would say, a historic plan to how we're going to do that,
starting with education, but continuing through an American's life.

      We have a government-wide plan that involves my fellow Cabinet
colleagues, as I said.  And keeping America competitive, of course,
starts with an educated citizenry, an educated workforce.  And that
begins as early as kindergarten.  We need to make sure that we have
citizens in our country that can do the research work and innovation and
so forth.  So that's why I'm leading off today.

      Wherever I go around the country -- I talk with governors, business
leaders, policymakers -- and I hear one thing, and that is that we must
improve our K-12 pipeline if we are to be successful as a country, as
our world gets flatter and flatter.  And obviously there's a wide and
growing consensus about that.  Everyone from the National Academy to the
Council on Competitiveness, the National Governors Association, wide
agreement that this is something that we need to get about the business
of. 

      The keys to innovation, which has been the heart of our country's
success, is creativity and problem solving.  And that is what is learned
and taught when students study math and science.  We must encourage
students to take more math and science, more rigorous course work, and
they must do so with high-quality curriculum early in their schooling.
Whether students are going to end up as auto mechanics or cancer
researchers, we know that ever increasingly, technical skills are
critical to their success.

      Last week, Business Week did a great piece and I think it sums it
up well -- it says, "Math will rock your world."  And that's more and
more true.  Whether you're a policymaker or a media consultant, or a
mom, or a demographer, statistical analysis, the ability to use numbers
to inform your work, is ever more critical.  So, in this fast-changing
landscape, our education system must keep pace.  And the President, last
night, laid out a comprehensive strategy for ensuring that our system
remains competitive in this world.

      We want to give early help to students.  We need to work on our
elementary school curriculum, to make sure that while they have strong
arithmetic skills, that we also plant the seeds of higher order
thinking, so that they can go on to high school and be successful there.

     We need to bring a research base, as we've done so effectively in
reading instruction.  We have many, many programs.  We spent $2.8
billion in our government in 13 agencies, 207 programs pointed at math
and science education.  And we have a thousand flowers blooming in maybe
a few weeks.  So it's important that we establish for educators a best
practice base, a research base, to make sure that all students are
successful in math and science.

     The way we're going to do this, of course, is to train and recruit
and improve teaching in America.  We all know you can't teach what you
don't know, and unfortunately, many teachers are teaching in these
subjects without the necessary expertise.  Out-of-field teaching occurs
often, especially in those classrooms that serve our neediest students
in low-income communities, Title I schools and the like. 

     That's why the President called for an additional 70,000 teachers
who can teach rigorous courses, Advanced Placement international
baccalaureate college-level work that not only prepares young people for
the workplace or for college, but also saves moms and dads money as
those students do this more rigorous work in their high schools.

     Additionally, the President believes that we ought to recruit
individuals from the community, broadly -- the NASA scientists who ought
to be able to teach part-time in our schools -- a lot of work and a lot
of commitment from industry that can be brought to bear in our
classrooms by asking for 30,000 adjunct teachers who can help us spread
the information, spread the wealth around these technical areas of math
and science.

     As a mother who's living this every day -- I have an eighth-grader
who's struggling with algebra even as we speak -- and as someone who
talks to my fellow soccer moms about this, I know there's a lot of math
anxiety out there.  But I think that it's our responsibility to let
parents know that the world that they grew up in, the world that we grew
up in is not the same world that their children are going to be expected
to be successful and competitive in.  And it requires more math/science
capability.  And that's why it's most critical that we provide these
opportunities and these skills to our children, so that, as the
President says, we'll ensure that they'll succeed in life, so they can
help our country succeed in the world.

     Now, it's my pleasure to introduce Secretary Gutierrez, who
absolutely understands the importance of cultivating innovation so that
these highly trained students will have places to work and prosper.

     Carlos.

     SECRETARY GUTIERREZ:  Thank you, Madam Secretary.

     Thank you, good morning.  Last night, the President made a truly
historic speech.  He laid out a vision not just for the next year or for
his second term, but really a vision that can influence the direction of
our country for many, many years to come.  He recognized that we live in
a global economy, and that economy has been developing for many years
and it will continue to get more and more global.  And the way to deal
with that is not to retreat; the way to win and to grow and to prosper
in this global economy is to compete and to lead the world.

     The first thing the President called for was increasing our
research and development.  And as it refers to what we have in the
Commerce Department, which is the National Institute of Standards and
Technology, we'll be adding 600 new scientists.  And I should tell you
that in the National Institute of Standards and Technology, we have had
three Nobel prize winners.  So this is truly a gem within the federal
government. 

     And what we have is the ability to create public, private sector,
and university partnerships.  And that teamwork between the public
sector, the private sector, and our universities is truly a competitive
advantage.  One-third of all of the R&D that we do in the country is
done as the private sector level, but two-thirds is done by -- I'm
sorry, at the public sector level.  Two-thirds is done by the private
sector.  And an advantage for us will be our ability to link those two
together with our universities to come out with the truly best
innovative products that will enable us to continue to lead the world.

     We have 3 billion new consumers that we can now access, that have
surfaced over the past 20 years.  But we also have 3 billion new
competitors.  And the President mentioned last night that the best way
to compete and win is to open up markets, to continue to have free trade
agreements, to continue to access new consumers.  This is not a time to
withdraw.  It is not a time for protectionism.  This is a time to
compete and to show the world that America can compete with the best of
them and win.

     The President talked last night, as well, about attracting the best
and the brightest, and the role that immigration has played in our
country, and the role that immigration will continue to play in our
country.  We have the advantage over many other countries that we know
how to assimilate immigrants.  And we understand that throughout our
history, immigration has brought new ideas, new innovation, new energy,
and today should be no different. 

     So the President has called for a historic national focus on
competitiveness and innovation; a national movement that should be taken
up by every company in the country, by every community in the country.
And he knows, as he mentioned last night, that we are well up to the
challenge. 

     Thank you.  And I'll turn it over to Secretary Bodman.

     SECRETARY BODMAN:  Thank you, sir.  You already heard about our
collective view about the importance of last night's remarks by the
President.  I would like to take this opportunity to discuss the role
that the Department of Energy will play in this competitiveness
initiative. 

     To maintain our country's competitive edge we simply have to
generate not just new technologies, but transformational technologies --
technologies that change the very nature of products.  And that -- it's
that act that will continue to provide for the dominance of our economic
activities, for our science and for our technologists.  Out of that will
come the development of alternative sources of energy that, in fact,
will lead to the decrease of our dependence on foreign sources of
energy.  And that is why the President has committed himself to doubling
the federal spending in the combined offices of the National Science
Foundation, the NIST activity in the Department of Commerce that you
just heard about, and the Office of Science in the Department of Energy.
That doubling will occur over the next 10 years.

     Our people who deal in this area -- and they are the professional
scientists and administrators of scientists -- truly believe that this
is a historic opportunity for them and for our department.  It is, in
effect, a renaissance for United States science and global
competitiveness.  Our department's science -- or Office of Science is
the major supporter of research and development in the physical sciences
-- mathematics, physics and chemistry -- in the federal government; in
fact, in the country.  And we have had a growth under the President's
leadership in overall research, but a large part of that has been in the
life sciences.  And if you look at the physical sciences and support for
research in the physical sciences, it has been much closer to flat that
increasing. 

     Our department maintains large-scale facilities and instruments
that we build and operate, and out of that -- this is in our group of
national laboratories that we manage -- from that, we have helped
contribute to America's leadership in the key scientific fields that
have dominated the last century, and that we believe will dominate the
century that has just started.  In this new century, those are the
fields of biotechnology, nanotechnology, material science, and
high-speed computation.

     Now, to support this research, the Office of Science develops and
nurtures a highly trained scientific workforce for the civilian economy
and for national security, because there is a link, obviously, between
energy availability, new sources of energy, and our national security.
And this linkage between the private sector and the public sector that
Secretary Gutierrez just talked about is also something that we find
very compelling and an important part of what we do.

     So I'm particularly pleased to take note that the competitiveness
initiative that the President announced last night will allow us to
support about 2,600 more researchers in fiscal year '07 than it will in
'06.  So it will translate itself into a material change in our ability
to provide resources for supporting the scientific endeavor of our
country.

     Keeping America competitive also requires abundant and affordable
energy.  The President spoke about that last evening.  Affordable energy
requires technologies that will provide clean, reliable and economic
solutions to the energy problems that confront us.

     For example, sunlight provides, by far, the largest of all
carbon-neutral energy sources that we have to work with.  More energy
from sunlight strikes the Earth in one hour than all the energy consumed
on our planet in one year.  So we have a lot to work with.  Now, we're
exploring a number of novel technologies in the Energy Department --
solar to electric; solar to fuels -- directly using solar energy to go
directly to fuels; as well as solar to thermal conversions.  And that's
part of what we're endeavoring to do.

     Fusion energy -- fusion energy on Earth can mimic the processes
that power our sun.  Fusion energy promises unlimited, safe and clean
electricity for the world.  It's a long way off, but we are starting
that process, and have started the process over the last couple of
years.

     Other energy sources hold the promise of reshaping our
transportation sector.  Biofuels that are derived from plant cells,
plant cell walls -- they're otherwise known as cellulosic ethanol --
could lead us from our current reliance on fossil fuels to clean, new
domestic energy sources that we believe over time will transform our
entire economy.

     Now, these are breathtaking prospects.  They really are -- I guess,
overused the word historic -- we really believe that.  They are very
doable, but they're very difficult undertakings, these various
initiatives that I've mentioned.  Our department is committed to their
success, and the President is committed to providing the resources that
we need to accomplish our goals.

     Science is inextricably linked to our country's economy.  It has
been for the last 50 years, and I dare say it will be for the next 50 or
hundred years.  The United States has the best scientific resources on
the globe.  This initiative will mean that we will maintain that
leadership position with respect to the facilities and resources -- both
the people and the equipment that's available. 

     I might mention here that we are very mindful of the question of
congressionally mandated projects and support.  Our department is
challenged by that.  And I would hope that our Congress would take to
heart the President's request that we focus on those areas that we
believe, after a lot of thought and a lot of attention, really will lead
us in this direction, and that we not be hampered by individual projects
and programs that have become all to great a part of our budgets.

     The President's American Competitiveness Initiative will continue
the dominance that our country has shown in the past -- will continue
into the foreseeable future.  I believe that that future will be a very
bright one for science, and it will be a very bright one for the
American people. 

     I thank you for your time, and I would ask my colleague, Elaine
Chao, the Secretary of Labor, to finish up.

     Elaine.

     SECRETARY CHAO:  One more. 

     SECRETARY BODMAN:  Oh, two more, sorry.

     SECRETARY CHAO:  Thank you all so much for being here today, and
I'm really so pleased to have the opportunity to discuss the importance
of the President's competitiveness initiative to our nation's workers.
And our nation's workers are our nation's greatest asset.

     As the President said last night at his State of the Union address,
the global economy is an opportunity for our nation to take steps to
ensure our continued economic leadership.  Helping our nation's workers
succeed and feel more secure in this rapidly changing environment are
among this administration's top priorities.

     We can help by giving workers more confidence, choice and control
over their skills, their health care, and also their pensions.  And the
President's competitiveness initiative addresses our nation's workforce
challenges directly.

     First, it makes a priority the reform of our nation's publicly
funded workforce training system so that it can better serve workers.
Second, the initiative would more -- would aim to more than triple the
number of workers trained with public resources.  And the goal is not
just to process them through some system, but rather to actually train
them for real jobs that exist in the 21st century workforce. 

     And this is so timely because 90 percent of the fastest growing
jobs require some kind of post-secondary education and training.  And
over the next 10 years, there will be more than six million new and
replacement job openings in engineering, in science, in technology, in
computers, in health care, and other technical occupations that's going
to really require a very strong foundation in math and science.  And as
you also heard from Secretary Bodman, we're going to see increased job
creation in nanotechnology, spacial technology, life sciences, biotech.
So we have to train workers, help train workers for these new jobs that
are developing and that are desperately seeking workers.

     And finally, the President's proposal for career advancement
accounts will empower workers by providing them with self-managed
accounts to choose the kind of job training that they're interested in
and that they want.  So this will replace the old one-size-fits-all kind
of training approach that really doesn't take into account individual
preferences and also local economic conditions.

     This is a worker-centered strategy that's going to hold systems
accountable for achieving concrete, measurable results for workers.  And
you might be interested to know also that I've just returned, along with
several of my colleagues in the Cabinet, from a meeting of world
economic leaders.  And you might be interested to know that one of the
greatest areas of concern is job creation, and how to match the skills
of workers with the emerging opportunities. 

     Now, fortunately, our country is leading the way among major
industrialized nations in terms of job creation.  Germany and France
have permanent unemployment rate in excess of 10 percent.  And job
creation in Europe has basically been stagnant over the last 10 years.
In contrast, our country has produced 4.6 million new jobs since May of
2003; in 2005 alone, our economy has produced over 2.1 million new jobs.
And our unemployment rate is 4.9 percent.

     So the President's emphasis on job creation and worker training are
once again right on target.  And if his proposals are enacted, there
going to ensure that our nation's workers will continue to be among the
most competitive, creative, and productive in the world.

     And so, with that, I'm going to introduce you to our last speaker,
and that's Jack Marburger, who is the Director of the White House Office
of Science and Technology.  Thanks so much. 

     DR. MARBURGER:  Thank you, Madam Secretary.  I will end up with a
few more details, particularly on the science side.  But I want to
emphasize that this vision that the President portrayed last night in
his speech integrates to an unusual, and I think, unprecedented extent
the concept of an adequately prepared workforce with the role of
leadership in science and technology that we have to have to maintain
the vitality of our economy.

     The vitality of our economy in the 21st century really demands that
we manage as a federal government the investment in workforce and an
adequately prepared workforce, and the tools that that workforce needs
to maintain American preeminence in science and technology.

     And we are preeminent.  This year the President will request a
record $137 billion for the R&D budget, which is substantially greater
than any other nation.  With 5 percent of the world's population, the
U.S. employs about a third of all the scientists and engineers in the
world.  With 5 percent of the world's population, the U.S. funds in
public and private sector together, about a third of all the research
and development that is performed in the world.  So we're ahead, but we
know that we have to work to keep up, and to keep up our leadership.

     So the President made a strong commitment last night to double
within 10 years the budgets of the agencies that have the greatest
impact on physical science, which is the infrastructure for all the
sciences.  The cost of this program over 10 years is $50 billion for the
R&D part, but that's augmented by another program to make it possible
for more companies to participate in the R&D tax credit.  The President
has called for years to make this tax credit permanent, and we hope that
Congress will see fit to recognize the value of doing that and also
improving it so that it's more accessible to more countries.

     The major cost of this program for the first year will be in the
cost of the tax credits, $4.6 billion.  The cost of the doubling of the
physical science research agencies, priority agencies is $910 billion in
the first year, and extending out over 10 years, that amounts to $50
billion over 10 years -- a major investment in the research
infrastructure of our nation.

     I do want to say a word about these priority agencies.  You've
already heard about the Department of Energy and the NIST research
program.  The National Science Foundation is a major player in this
program, the American Competitiveness Initiative.  The National Science
Foundation is the lead agency for two of the major physical science
research programs in the nation, the National Nanotechnology Initiative,
and the Networking and Information Technology R&D Initiative, both of
which are interagency programs that are vital to the economic
competitiveness of the future.

     And I do want to support the call for the responsible management
not only of these new funds, but of all funds that are identified for
research and development for science and for those areas where we really
know to make our investments in the wisest possible way.  We understand
the process of identifying priority programs -- peer review, merit-based
reviews and assessments of proposals that come in from investigators
across the nation with responsible panels and well-planned programs.
That's the way to do it.  The United States excels in the productivity
of its research because it has excellent mechanisms for identifying the
priority areas.

     When Congress designates programs, sometimes those programs fit
within those parameters, and sometimes they don't.  The only way that we
can assure the best possible application of these funds is by sticking
to the peer review process and making sure that congressionally
designated programs satisfy the requirements that we have for best
practices.  So the President made a strong call last night for Congress
to avoid earmarking this program, and I think it's essential that we
support him on this.

     So thanks very much for your interest.  We've had a lot of interest
shown over the past year from numerous organizations.  There's a great
deal of unanimity in what the response needs to be.  And I'm just
absolutely pleased that the President has had the vision to bring us all
together to produce an American Competitiveness Initiative that will
respond to the needs of America and keep us strong into the future.

     So thanks very much.  I will turn it back to Secretary Spellings
for questions.

     SECRETARY SPELLINGS:  We'll be glad to answer questions, any or all
of us.  So anyway, I'm the first one up, so any education questions?
Yes, sir.

     Q    I didn't hear you talk about -- or at least in detail -- about
the immigration aspects that he described last night.  Can you tell us
what exactly he's proposing as far as immigration changes?

     SECRETARY SPELLINGS:  Carlos, do you want to speak to some of that?
For my part, I will say that, obviously, student visas are an issue for
higher education institutions very much.  And last -- a few weeks ago at
the language -- Strategic Language Initiative, which actually is also
part of the competitiveness initiative, in a way -- our need to be able
to have more speakers of other languages around the world -- the
President made a commitment to the higher education community to address
the issue of student visas so that we make sure that we are encouraging
talented young Americans to stay here and work in this country. 

     And, Carlos, beyond that, I'll --

     SECRETARY GUTIERREZ:  On the high-skilled immigration, the
President has mentioned that we bring the best and the brightest to our
country, we give them the best education that money can buy, and then we
send them home so they can compete with another company.  And what we're
saying now is once they get the degree and once they get the best
education in the world, let's find a way of keeping them here.  So
that's one aspect of it.

     The President also mentioned last night low-skilled immigration,
the need to enforce our laws, the need to have tighter control over our
borders, and also the need to recognize that when there is a willing
employer and a willing employee, a job that an American does not want to
take, that we should be willing to issue a guest worker permit so that
these folks don't have to come in, in the dark of night and hide.  And
it's just a matter of recognizing our reality that we are creating more
jobs than what Americans can fill and what they want to fill.  So it's
actually a great testament to our economy.

     Q    If you look at the FY '07 numbers that were in the fact sheet,
you've got $5.9 billion, okay?  And then from what you all have said,
I'm thinking that breaks down -- and I just want to double-check -- that
that breaks down into the $4.6 billion on the tax credit for the R&D,
and the $910 million for the education.

     SECRETARY GUTIERREZ:  -- $910 million for research.

     Q    I'm sorry, research.  And then $380 million for education.

     SECRETARY SPELLINGS:  For education, yes.

     Q    So the money is education and the R&D and --
     SECRETARY SPELLINGS:  Tax credit, research and education.

     Q    Okay.  Now, do you guys have those numbers for the 10-year
thing, because it was $136 billion over 10 years.  The R&D part of that
is $86 billion.  What about the education and --

     DR. MARBURGER:  The R&D part of that will be $50 billion for -- the
research part of the $136 billion is $50 billion.  And the difference
between $136 billion and $50 billion is the amount associated with the
tax credit and the first year of the education program.

     Q    So the education is one year?

     DR. MARBURGER:  The education program funding in this -- in the
fact sheet numbers, has not been included in the out-years.  That
doesn't mean it will go back to zero, but that is part of the number
that's in your fact sheet.  I'm telling you where that number actually
comes from, so it will add up.

     SECRETARY SPELLINGS:  In fact, let me say that the 70,000 number is
a five-year commitment to get more advanced placement teachers in our
classrooms; the 30,000 number to try to get additional folks with
expertise into our classrooms is an eight-year number.  So the President
envisions a long-term commitment.  The way we budget in education is on
an annual basis, and the investment this year will be $380 million.

     Q    Can you tell me how you're going to spend the $380 million?

     SECRETARY SPELLINGS:  That information will be unveiled as part of
the President's budget on Monday. 

     Q    Following on that, are there going to be any incentives for
people to join this adjunct teacher corps?  And if not, how are they
going to -- why would they sign up to teach?

     SECRETARY SPELLINGS:  Yes.  There will be resources that will be
revealed, maybe in the President's speech tomorrow, or on Monday.  It's
certainly part of the President's budget -- that will speak to the need
to incent folks, baby boomers who are alive and kicking and in good
health with a lot of expertise, to want to come and enter our
classrooms, and that we would envision incentive programs to do that.

     Q    And likewise, for the advanced placement -- is that following
the Academy recommendation to add $2,000 for advanced training, $100 per
student for every successful --

     SECRETARY SPELLINGS:  We envision, actually, with the resources for
advanced placement, that we would leverage those with state dollars, as
well as private sector dollars.  We think there's a way to get a real
critical mass around those and bring advanced placement and
international baccalaureate programs to scale.  Unfortunately, now we
have some of our high flyer best schools in America that offer a full
complement of advanced placement, but those opportunities tend to be
less available in inner-city schools.  And we must change that.

     And so we envision -- and certainly this is in keeping with No
Child Left Behind's commitment, requirement to have a highly qualified
teacher in every classroom, to offer more rigor, more broadly, and that
we would provide resources and incentives to do that.  In fact, later
today I'll be going to Florida; I'll talk with Governor Bush tomorrow --
they are a very AP-friendly state and we envision states will very much
be receptive to this notion.

     Q    Secretary Bodman, are those 2,600 researchers going to be
mainly at the labs?  And also, there are a number of things that were in
the National Academy's report and in the PACE Act now sponsored by 69
senators that are not in this initiative.  They wanted to double the R&D
tax credit, as well as extend it, and also -- agency within the
Department of Energy.  Can you comment on why those were not included?
And then the labs --

     SECRETARY BODMAN:  The employees will be both in the labs, as well
as universities.  So there will be support -- we not only support the
laboratories, but also provide support for universities.  So we'll be in
both places. 

     There are a number of people that have stepped forward -- various
legislators -- you mentioned the PACE legislation.  There was a
competitiveness initiative that various private sector organizations
here in Washington sponsored.  All of these were very welcome.  They
were -- they're initiatives, they're programs that we encourage.  And
we've made use, we believe, of the best inputs from all sources.  The
President has been very adamant on this subject since the day he took
office.  And the goal here has been to try to put resources to work in
the best possible way. 

     So what has been presented to you and has been presented to the
country last night by the President is an initiative that seeks to pick
the best from a number of alternatives.  There are some things that,
frankly, we would like to do -- looking at it from a parochial
standpoint -- but tradeoffs have to be made.  These have been very tough
times, as you know, from a budgetary standpoint.  And I can just tell
you that speaking for the Energy Department, but I also know for the
National Science Foundation, and I think I can speak for Secretary
Gutierrez on this, that we're thrilled with this emphasis on the
physical sciences and on research in the physical sciences.  And then we
will work on this over time and see what additional components might be
brought and made available.

     Q    Margaret, on the 30,000, are you talking about them as getting
them certified as teachers, or bringing them into the classroom on some
alternative certification?  And if so, are there state-by-state hurdles
to getting people like that into classrooms?

     SECRETARY SPELLINGS:  We believe that there are ways to provide
part-time talent in our schools so that they have the necessary
pedagogical skills, as well as that expertise.  And we need to marry
those things together.  As I said earlier, we have many, many math and
science classes that are taught by teachers who are not certified and
out-of-field.  And so we ought to access additional resources from the
community. 

     We are seeing places around the country that are already
experimenting with this sort of things.  Yes, these are issues that are
going to have to be addressed in the context of local bargaining
agreements and state laws and rules.  But just as we have done
successfully with Troops to Teachers and Teach for America and other
alternative certification programs, we believe there's a way to get the
very best educational expertise coupled with a high degree of expertise
so that students can benefit from that expertise.

     Q    Do you anticipate teacher union opposition to this?

     SECRETARY SPELLINGS:  Well, I haven't heard from them yet, but what
I would say to them is that we have a crying need for math and science
teachers.  This has nothing -- this will not displace anyone.  We need
and will take all the certified math and science teachers we can get.
The point is if we're going to run faster and keep up, we're going to
have to access additional resources in the community.  And those with
expertise, whether they're at IBM and retiring, or a NASA scientist,
ought to be able to find ways into our classrooms where they can
contribute.

     Q    Is our Secretary of Education ill-equipped to help her own
daughter with algebra?  (Laughter.)

     SECRETARY SPELLINGS:  There's the point, Ken.  We need a math
initiative for grown-ups like me.  I'm going to see you like that,
Elaine.  (Laughter.)

     Q    Can you explain how you got the 70,000 figure -- the number of
70,000 teachers that are needed?  And how would that fit in with last
year's program, the $1.5 billion high school initiative that was
announced?

     SECRETARY SPELLINGS:  We believe -- the Nation at Risk, more than
20 years ago, called for the need to provide at least three years of
math and science in every high school in America.  And that is the
number that it will take for us to get there to meet that requirement to
have more math and science.

     Likewise, as I said, we have models in the advanced placement
program and international baccalaureate that are ways to do that quickly
and efficiently so that we can get those teachers in place as quickly as
possible, coupled with the adjunct teacher initiative.

     Q    I wonder if you could comment on what you see as the specific
competitive threat posed by both China and India, and also just give a
bit of context about why you're launching the initiative now.

     SECRETARY SPELLINGS:  Jack, you want to speak to that?

     DR. MARBURGER:  We're not responding to a threat; we're maintaining
a leadership role.  I believe the strength of this nation is such that
all other countries are trying do it the way we do it, and the only way
that we can maintain our leadership role is to do it better.  So these
initiatives that the President outlined last night are initiatives to
strengthen the foundations that we understand, that are in place, and
that can be more productive with additional resources.

     Getting them to work together, making a long-term commitment that's
based on a vision for a productive and leading role for the United
States among these world economies is what it's going to take -- to
galvanize the American people to pay attention to these things, study
math, get parents to understand the importance of taking action at home
to make these things work is what it's going to take.

     So this isn't a specific response to a specific threat.  We think
that it's important for the people of China and India to have improved
standards of living.  We want them to be able to make products for their
own society to consume, and we want to be part of that market, too.  So
this is not about going up against China and India.  This is about
leading the world with models and productivity that keep our society
strong.

     Q    I am with TASS, the Russian News Agency, and what I am hearing
here sounds to me like America against the world, which, as Mr.
Marburger has just pointed out, is not the case.  Many issues we are
facing are global, and the President was talking about global issues.
So my question to you, maybe to Secretary Bodman, Secretary Gutierrez,
will you be using the help of your international partners, will you be
coordinating with your international partners, especially maybe in the
G8, because the G8 this year has similar priorities, to the energy, to
health, to education, all of those?

     DR. MARBURGER:  In no sector of federal activities is international
collaboration stronger and with a longer history than in the sciences.
We have bilateral agreements with most of the G8 nations.  We have an
enormous collaboration on the facilities that Secretary Bodman's
laboratories operate.  We send our people back and forth from all
nations to do their graduate work on these facilities.  And we expect
that to continue and even grow stronger.  I personally meet twice a year
with the G8 science ministers to discuss these issues, and we expect
that this program will facilitate that.

     Q    And just if I could add one little thing, specifically the
fuel cycle, nuclear fuel cycle.  The idea of President Putin of creating
international nuclear fuel cycle centers for services to everyone on
equitable basis under strict international control.  Obviously, it has
very much relevance to what's happening in Iran.  It may be relevant to
what happens in the future in other parts of the world.

     SECRETARY BODMAN:  We will -- we have a great interest in advanced
fuel cycles in the Department of Energy, as do, as you mentioned, a
number of the G8 member nations.  We will have a more detailed -- there
are two things I might mention.  One, there will be a more detailed
discussion focusing on energy this afternoon, I believe at 2:00 p.m.,
where I will be along with the President's Economic Advisor, Al Hubbard.
The two of us will be dealing with the press that are particularly
interested in energy issues.  And then we will release the budget, as
will the other departments, on Monday morning, or Monday at noontime, I
believe.  And we will, therefore, be in a position to discuss in greater
detail at those times the energy component of it.

     But I will just comment that we have a great interest in it, and I
think the combined efforts of all nations will be very important in
order to make progress there.  It's a very large undertaking, and we're
very hopeful about it.
     Q    First, Secretary Bodman, are the 2,600 all at DOE or through
DOE?  And then, secondly, for Dr. Marburger, given the President's
commitment to controlling the deficit, did these increases in
discretionary spending come along with cuts elsewhere to pay for them?

     SECRETARY BODMAN:  First, in terms of the workers, as I mentioned
before, they will be -- the individuals will become employees of the
laboratories, the national laboratories, as well as students and faculty
in universities that will benefit from support from the Department of
Energy's Office of Science as a part of this.

     Q    -- as well as NIST?

     SECRETARY BODMAN:  No, that's just the Department of Energy.

     DR. MARBURGER:  Let me say that next week, when the budget comes
out, you'll have access to science numbers across the board.  But I do
want to emphasize this is a prioritization exercise.  This initiative
takes the recommendations and actual consensus on the actual need to
support physical science in these times as a foundation for future
economic competitiveness, identifies these three agencies and makes a
commitment to increase their budgets.  It does not make that commitment
for all of science.  Some areas of science are quite healthy.  Some
areas of science are in special situations -- National Institutes of
Health has received healthy increases and funding is maintained at a
very healthy level in that area.  NASA and other big science agencies
have their own programs, and you'll hear more about those next week.

     Q    Secretary Chao, do you have any goals for job creation out of
these various programs?  Is there any way to say how many jobs you think
would be created through the various initiatives that you're talking
about today?

     SECRETARY CHAO:  Well, first of all, the government doesn't create
jobs, the private sector does.  And so the government has to create the
environment in which job creation is optimized.  And making the
President's tax cut permanent is certainly one important factor in job
creation.  Reducing the volume of frivolous litigation is another.
Tapping the various programs that the President has proposed for
reducing the cost of health care is another.  So right now the economy
is producing about 200,000 jobs, on average, per month.  So the economy
is strong and it's growing stronger.  It's not too hot, it's not too
cold, it's just about right.

     Q    Dr. Marburger talks about how this is not designed to respond
to the threat from China and India, although I think there are many
Americans who do view that as a threat, or watch a Ford and a G.M. cut
30,000 jobs.  So what do these programs say to those people?

     SECRETARY CHAO:  Well, as a Chinese American, as an American of
Chinese descent, I have, perhaps, a special view about the
competitiveness in a situation.  As Carlos Gutierrez and I can both
attest, we're immigrants to this country.  I arrived at the age of
eight; Secretary Gutierrez I think arrived a bit earlier.  But our
parents suffered a great deal to come to this country, because this
country is the land of golden opportunity.  And it is a land of golden
opportunities, and we want to make sure that America remains the land of
opportunity.

     You know, we don't hear about people wanting to go to other
countries.  Rather, everywhere I go -- when I was Peace Corps Director,
when I was United Way of America president -- the one question I heard
is, "How do I come to America?"  And so we want to make sure that
America has opportunities.  And the President's program, again -- on
creating opportunity, on decreasing tax rates, decreasing litigious
lawsuits that are plaguing our society -- is to ensure that the role of
government is to, indeed, foster the environment in which job creation
can occur will prevail.

END