TESTIMONY OF
SECRETARY CARLOS GUTIERREZ
FOR A HEARING ON
AGROWTH, OPPORTUNITY, COMPETITION@
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 29, 2006
Chairman Barton, Ranking
Member Dingell, Members of the Committee, I’m pleased to have this opportunity to
discuss the President’s pro-prosperity agenda.
As you know, the tax relief
the President proposed, and Congress passed, has helped spur growth by keeping
$880 billion in the hands of American businesses and workers.
The U.S. economy today is strong. Look at the numbers:
·
Our GDP per
capita is among the highest in the world, higher than that of Japan, the UK,
Germany, France, Italy and Canada.
·
Last year’s 3.5
percent economic growth rate was the fastest of any major industrialized
nation.
·
Over 5.3 million
new jobs have been created since August 2003.
·
Our unemployment rate
is 4.6 percent. That’s lower than Canada (6.1%), Italy (7.7%), Germany (8.2%)
and France (8.9%). And lower than the
average of the past four decades.
·
Since 2001,
productivity has been growing at the fastest rate in nearly four decades.
·
The United States
is the world’s leading exporter of goods and services.
We are competing with the
rest of the world, and we’re doing it successfully.
The challenge is this: How to sustain and advance the business
environment, innovation, and talent that’s driving today’s dynamic economy?
President Bush has an aggressive
strategy to further unleash the power of free enterprise and keep America the
most competitive economy in the world.
It focuses on three areas of
policy:
First, we need a business-friendly environment that
encourages entrepreneurship and innovation.
The President’s pro-growth
agenda includes:
·
Low taxes;
·
Open markets;
·
Responsible
regulation;
·
Affordable health
care;
·
Tort reform;
·
Alternative
sources of energy; and
·
Universal access
to broadband.
It also includes comprehensive
immigration reform that provides for secure borders, interior enforcement, and
a temporary worker program that allows jobs to be filled when there are no
available American workers.
Importantly, a well-executed
temporary worker program will be the most effective action we can take to
protect the border.
We need to recognize the
reality of having 12 million people in our country who don’t have the documents
they need to be able to work here, and who have three million children who are
American citizens by birth.
Comprehensive reform must
also enhance our ability to attract and retain the best and brightest
high-skilled workers from around the world.
We’re competing in a global
economy. Unlike some Western European
countries, our culture is a melting pot.
America is a nation of immigrants.
This provides us with a real competitive advantage.
We don’t need to choose
between being a welcoming nation and a nation of laws. With comprehensive immigration reform, we can
be both.
Second, we need to maintain America’s innovative leadership.
In January, the President
announced the American Competitiveness Initiative.
It calls for doubling funding
for vital, basic research in the physical sciences at three key Federal
agencies over the next ten years.
That includes $535 million dollars
for core laboratory programs at Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and
Technology in 2007.
NIST, with three Nobel Prize
winners, has long been a center for high-impact basic research.
Additionally, the ACI calls
for making the R&D tax credit permanent, strengthening math and science
skills at the
K- through-12 level, and
ensuring that we have a flexible worker re-training system.
Third, we need an open and level global playing field for
American companies and workers.
Ninety-five percent of the
world’s potential customers live outside of our borders. The opportunities for commercial engagement
are immense.
The Bush Administration has implemented
free trade agreements with 8 countries.
It has concluded negotiations
with 7 countries. And it’s negotiating
FTAs with 11 more.
Consider this: Our FTA partners make up just 7 percent of
world GDP. However, they account for 42
percent of U.S. goods exports.
Besides our ambitious FTA
agenda, the Administration is working aggressively to open markets globally for
our exporters through the Doha Round.
Free and fair trade supports
millions of American jobs, increases consumer choice, and is the foundation of
peace and prosperity.
We know that American companies
and workers are among the most competitive in the world if everybody is playing
by the same rules.
At the Commerce Department,
we are enforcing antidumping and countervailing duty laws that protect U.S.
companies from unfair trade practices.
We’re also working closely
with our colleagues across the Administration to enforce intellectual property
rights through the Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy Initiative.
According to one study, 75
percent of the value of publicly traded U.S. companies – some $5 trillion
dollars – comes from intangible assets such as brands, copyrights and patents.
We can’t condone a world
environment where the intellectual property rights of Americans don’t mean
anything.
Mr. Chairman, the President
has a bold agenda to keep America the best place in the world to live and to do
business, and the Commerce Department has an active role to play.
I want to thank you and the
Members of the Committee for your support of Commerce programs and for this
opportunity to appear before you today.
I would be pleased to answer
any questions you may have….