Latest News > Business Roundtable Chairman Urges Congress to Act This Year on a U.S. Innovation Agenda

March 13, 2007

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Business Roundtable Chairman Urges Congress to Act This Year on a U.S. Innovation Agenda

In Testimony Before the House Science and Technology Committee, Harold McGraw III Cites Importance of Innovation Leadership to U.S. Competitiveness

Washington, D.C. - In testimony today before the House Science and Technology Committee, Harold McGraw III, Chairman, President and CEO of The McGraw-Hill Companies and Chairman of Business Roundtable, urged Congress to act quickly on an innovation agenda to sustain U.S. competitiveness and economic leadership. In prepared remarks, Mr. McGraw stated:

"The key to America's competitiveness challenge is innovation. Technological innovation drives productivity growth. It creates new products and processes - even whole new industries - thereby generating high-wage employment and a higher standard of living for Americans. Productivity gains have enabled the U.S. economy to grow in recent years at rates that previously had been considered likely to trigger inflation. The recent strong growth, low inflation environment is attributable to the extraordinary gains in productivity that the U.S. economy has enjoyed since the mid 1990s. .

"The wellsprings of innovation require constant nurturing, and maintaining U.S. innovation leadership demands hard work and investment. We can meet this challenge."

Before the hearing, Mr. McGraw participated in a press conference to unveil "The American Innovation Proclamation," which was signed by more than 270 American business and higher education leaders, including Mr. McGraw and Business Roundtable. The proclamation outlined the following necessary components of an innovation agenda:

Double the basic research budgets at the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Energy's Office of Science, and the Department of Defense;

Improve student achievement in math and science through increased funding of proven programs and incentives for science and math teacher recruitment and professional development;

Welcome highly educated foreign professionals, particularly those holding advanced science, technology, engineering, or mathematics degrees, especially from U.S. universities, by reforming U.S. visa policies; and

Make permanent a strengthened R&D Tax Credit to encourage continued private-sector innovation investment.

"I am proud to be a signatory on this proclamation.. I believe that it embodies the right agenda for America. It is a positive agenda, which, if enacted, would open up new opportunities for America and her citizens," Mr. McGraw stated.

Other Roundtable member CEOS who signed the proclamation include: Charles O. Holliday, Jr., Chairman and CEO of DuPont; Arthur F. Ryan, Chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, Inc.; and Richard K. Templeton, President and CEO of Texas Instruments. Numerous Roundtable member companies also signed the proclamation.

Business Roundtable continues to lead the U.S. business community's efforts to promote enhanced U.S. competitiveness. In July 2005, the Roundtable joined with 15 other leading business associations to form "Tapping America's Potential" and has, since that time, met with policymakers at all levels of government to urge for full funding of programs designed to boost U.S. innovation leadership.

For live Web casts of the press conference and hearing, visit the House Science and Technology Committee Web site at www.science.house.gov.

For more information on Business Roundtable and this and other initiatives, visit www.businessroundtable.org.

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Business Roundtable (www.businessroundtable.org) is an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with $4.5 trillion in annual revenues and more than 10 million employees. Member companies comprise nearly a third of the total value of the U.S. stock markets and represent over 40 percent of all corporate income taxes paid. Collectively, they returned $112 billion in dividends to shareholders and the economy in 2005.

Roundtable companies give more than $7 billion a year in combined charitable contributions, representing nearly 60 percent of total corporate giving. They are technology innovation leaders, with $90 billion in annual research and development spending - nearly half of the total private R&D spending in the U.S.