Bush: US must compete with India, China
(AP)
Updated: 2006-04-20 08:54
President Bush said Wednesday the nation needs to keep on the cutting edge in
research in the face of growing competition over jobs and natural resources from
India and China.
President Bush delivers remarks on the
American Competitiveness Initiative, Wednesday April 19, 2006, at Tuskegee
University in Tuskegee, Ala., as Alabama Gov. Bob Riley listens at left.
[AP] |
Bush singled out the world's two most
populous nations one day before Chinese President Hu Jintao's scheduled visit to
the White House. Bush noted that event and his recent trip to India.
"These countries are emerging nations," Bush said in a speech at Tuskegee
University. "They are growing rapidly and they provide competition for jobs and
natural resources.
"As these new jobs of the 21st century come into being, people are going to
hire people with the skills set," he said. "And if our folks don't have the
skill set, those jobs are going to go somewhere else."
Before his speech, Bush visited a lab at Tuskegee where students were
researching nanotechnology. The science involves the manufacture and
manipulation of materials at the molecular or atomic level.
The president also urged Congress to make permanent a popular tax credit for
businesses that invest in research and development.
"It's research that will keep the United States on the cutting edge," Bush
said.
Bush remarked that government-funded research contributed to the development
of the iPod music player.
"I tune into the iPod occasionally," the president said to laughter from the
audience.
Critics said the president's actions do not match his rhetoric on keeping
America competitive. Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass.,
said Bush has cut critical education and research programs.
"China, India and the rest of the world are playing for keeps, and we need
more than half measures to keep up," Kennedy said in a statement.
Before heading back to Washington, Bush met privately with the families of
four members of the military who were killed in Iraq.
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