Latest News > Business Roundtable Urges Congress to Bolster U.S. Competitiveness in Letters to Key House Committees

June 6, 2006

CONTACT: Tita Freeman
(202) 496-3269

Business Roundtable Urges Congress to Bolster U.S. Competitiveness in Letters to Key House Committees

Urges Full Funding of Key Math and Science Education Programs in the FY 2007 Labor/HHS Appropriations Bill and Support for House Science Committee Bills to Strengthen U.S. Talent Pipeline

WASHINGTON, DC - Business Roundtable President John J. Castellani today called for Congress to act now to take two important steps toward improving U.S. competitiveness. In a letter to members of the House Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations Subcommittee, the Roundtable urged full funding for effective science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs, including the education components in the President's American Competitiveness Initiative. In a second letter to House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), the Roundtable urged support for the committee's proposals that strengthen math and science programs. Both committees are marking up their bills tomorrow.

"Maintaining U.S. scientific and technological leadership is essential to U.S. economic growth, national security and a productive future for our children," wrote Castellani. "However, our nation is facing a critical talent gap in science, technology, engineering and math, and is not keeping pace with foreign competition. To reverse current trends, we need to increase both the quality and quantity of the U.S. talent pipeline."

Castellani noted that support for the STEM programs included in the appropriations bill, especially those from the President's American Competitiveness Initiative, is a necessary step toward ensuring that the nation's youth have the tools they need to excel in math, science and related fields. Full funding of these programs also helps to ensure the vitality of the U.S. economy and continued economic growth.

"Although our capabilities are strong today, we must make the strategic investments needed to keep pace with the rapidly improving capacity of our foreign competitors," wrote Castellani. "The President's American Competitiveness Initiative makes a compelling case for these high priority investments."

Castellani urged bipartisan support for three bills introduced by the House Science Committee - The Science and Mathematics Education for Competitiveness Act (H.R. 5358), The Research Competitiveness Act (H.R. 5357) and The Early Research Act (H.R. 5356) - which together address key components needed to strengthen the U.S. talent pipeline from kindergarten through graduate school.

"A world-class workforce is critical to our future success," wrote Castellani. "Especially important are the scientists and engineers who will develop the next generation of technologies, push the frontiers of new discoveries and make critical scientific breakthroughs."

Business Roundtable, an association of 160 chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies, has been at the forefront of the business community's efforts to address these issues and make improved math and science capabilities a national priority. In July 2005, the Roundtable, along with 14 other prominent business organizations, released its "Tapping America's Potential" report, which set the goal of doubling the number of U.S. science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates with bachelor's degrees by 2015. Since that time, the Roundtable has reached out to policymakers at all levels of government and other stakeholders in the public and private sectors to discuss the growing urgency of this problem and the increased need for solving it.

For more information on Business Roundtable and its education-related initiatives, visit www.businessroundtable.org.

# # #

Business Roundtable (www.businessroundtable.org) is an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with over $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 market and represent nearly a third of all corporate income taxes paid to the federal government. Collectively, they returned more than $110 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 $86 billion in annual research and development spending - nearly half of the total private R&D spending in the U.S.