Transmission & Distribution World

A: President Bush: Ensuring that America's workers receive high-level technical skills will keep our workforce competitive and will help to strengthen our economy. Professions that require strong math and science skills tend to be good, high-paying jobs, and creating an interest for these skills at home is essential to preparing our workers for the jobs of the 21st century. I believe that a sound economic policy begins first with comprehensive education reform. We must ensure that we are preparing the next generation of workers with the math and science skills needed to maintain America's leadership in innovation. The No Child Left Behind Act I signed into law in January 2002 holds schools accountable for ensuring every child is able to read and do math at grade level with science being added shortly. Including my 2005 budget, these reforms have seen an unprecedented $12 billion (49%) increase in funding for elementary and secondary schools since 2001. I have proposed major reforms to the major federal worker training grant programs so we can double the number of workers who receive job training. We will train twice as many workers by giving governors more flexibility to direct training dollars and by trimming needless bureaucracy to ensure that training dollars are going to help workers gain new skills. Earlier, I mentioned my Jobs for the 21st Century initiative. One portion of this initiative proposes strengthening and modernizing vocational education by spending $1 billion a year on a new Secondary and Technical Education program-"Sec Tech"-that would provide traditional vocational education combined with a stronger focus on academic achievement. High schools participating in the program would offer four years of English, three years of math and science, and three-and-a-half years of social studies as part of their vocational education curriculum. I understand the importance of R&D in driving American innovation and supporting the technology industry, which is why I increased federal R&D funding by 44% to $132 billion in 2005, including an all-time high of $26.8 billion for basic research representing a 26% increase from 2001. We have also doubled the budget for the National Institute of Health, increased funding for NSF by 30% and increased support for nanotechnology research by 88%. Finally, I have consistently called upon Congress to make the R&D tax credit permanent.

A: Senator Kerry: We support Jobs in America through Buy American Guidelines. We believe that American workers should perform possible federal contracts. We will support stronger Buy American Guidelines for defense and homeland security, which will help retain and strengthen domestic manufacturing capabilities in strategic manufacturing industries. We will fight to expand training and lifelong learning by expanding training as part of the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program, supporting regional skills alliances, and protecting training conducted at community colleges. We will plan on funding the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). America's 350,000 small manufacturers account for over half of the total value of U.S. industrial production. They employ 1.1 million people in high-skill, high-wage jobs, with production employees earning 50% more than retail employees. In 2003, the MEP helped small manufacturers create or retain 35,000 jobs and $2.8 billion in sales. I will double the funding for the MEP based on its 2000 level, speeding adoption of new technology by small and medium-sized manufacturers. We will plan on moving to universal broadband access and a national broadband policy that will speed the deployment of essential infrastructure, including broadband. The widespread adoption of broadband could add $500 billion to the U.S. economy, generate more than 1.2 million jobs, and transform the way we learn, work and deliver digital opportunity throughout the country. I will restore funding for the Advanced Technology Program so that it supports the growth of high-technology clusters that spring up around research institutions and funds the university-industry consortia that benefit broad sectors of our economy. We will expand TAA programs to provide immediate relief for manufacturers, workers and communities hurt by manufacturing imports, and integrate these programs with the workforce training programs. I support expanding TAA to service sector workers who lose their jobs due to outsourcing. In addition, we will develop 21st century manufacturing technologies at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). In the past, investments in defense research have helped America's armed forces achieve their current superiority. Investments resulted in innovations like stealth technology, precision-guided munitions and night-vision goggles. We will increase investment in long-term, high-risk defense research through agencies like DARPA and the Office of Naval Research. Some of the increase will be targeted to advanced manufacturing technologies, such as flexible manufacturing, that can provide custom products in low volumes at competitive costs. This will benefit U.S. manufacturing as a whole, not just Defense Department suppliers.