Obama Emphasizes American Competitiveness in State of the Union Address

President Barack Obama called for a renewed commitment to American innovation, education and infrastructure to restore the country's competitive edge in his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday. The administration's "plan to win the future" includes stronger support for research and high-tech businesses in order to maintain leadership in a global economy dominated by technology-intensive industries. In order to encourage innovation, the president set the goal of providing high-speed wireless coverage to 98 percent of Americans in five years, preparing 100,000 STEM educators over the next ten years and producing 80 percent of the country's electricity from clean energy sources by 2035. Other major proposals include a five-year spending freeze for many domestic programs, which could reduce the federal deficit by an estimated $400 billion over the next ten years, and an end to congressional earmarks.

President Obama made innovation the centerpiece of his speech, calling this a "Sputnik moment" for the nation, requiring both ingenuity and additional federal investment in research. In particular, he emphasized the need for federal investment in basic research to plant the seeds for future growth. Though he cautioned that we cannot know which industries will produce the next generation of American jobs, the president highlighted the important role of biomedical technology, information technology and clean energy in the current economy. President Obama's budget, which he plans to release in the next few weeks, will continue toward a return to "space race-level" research funding and redirect support for petroleum-based technologies to clean energy research. This funding, together with the new clean energy standard, would be used to help stimulate the market for clean energy technologies and increase the demand for workers with green tech skills.

The president set the ambitious goal of doubling American exports by 2014. He cited the administration's recent work in securing trade agreements in South Korea, India and China as integral to creating jobs and increasing the flow of U.S. exports. Noting that there are currently twelve different federal agencies with oversight over exported goods, the president pledged to streamline the bureaucratic obstacles facing export businesses and to do more to reduce unnecessary governmental burdens on business owners. This streamlining effort would be part of a larger administration initiative to reorganize the federal government to make governance more open and accessible.

Education also played a major role in the address, with the president calling for a new generation of STEM educators, the passage of the DREAM Act and a permanent tuition tax credit. Several high school, community college and university student inventors were invited to join First Lady Michelle Obama during the speech to recognize their efforts and draw attention to science and technology programs for young people around the country. The president positioned the DREAM Act, a bill which would allow some students who arrived in this country illegally but finished high school and enrolled in college or the military to earn permanent residency, as a competitiveness initiative. By not deporting these students, the U.S. would keep skilled workers who were educated in this country and wish to remain citizens. He also asked that the current tuition tax credits, worth up to $10,000 over four years of college, be made permanent.

The president reiterated the need for a restored American infrastructure, echoing his message from the debates over the Recovery Act two years ago. Obama tied the need for high-speed rail and high-speed broadband to U.S. competitiveness, citing the need for low-cost, high-quality transportation and data to attract international businesses. He noted that the U.S. lags far behind its international competitors in both areas, and that high-speed data is a necessary ingredient for prosperity in a global, digital economy.

Though the speech itself included few particulars on the administration's strategy, more details should be available in the coming weeks.

Read the full speech at : http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/25/remarks-president-state-union-address.