WRITTEN STATEMENT ON OVERSIGHT OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

BY COMMERCE SECRETARY CARLOS GUTIERREZ

SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE & TRANSPORTATION

AUGUST 1, 2007

Chairman Inouye, Vice Chairman Stevens, distinguished Members...it is my
pleasure to come before you today to talk about the Department of
Commerce, an agency which I have proudly led for more than
two-and-a-half years.

Above the doors of the Department is President Thomas Jefferson's
mandate to "Cultivate peace and commerce with all." This mission has
been at the forefront of our nation's consciousness since the earliest
days of our democracy, even before the Department's founding, and is
indeed the foundation for America's system of free enterprise.

More than a century after the Department's creation, we continue to
pursue Jefferson's vision. The roots of the Department are firmly
grounded in promoting commerce and economic growth, and exercising
stewardship over our oceans and waterways.

Over the course of the past six years our economy has faced a series of
challenges, from a recession to the attacks of 9/11. But America's
resiliency has shown through and our economy has overcome seemingly
insurmountable obstacles. We are now in a strong economic position and
the values of democracy and open markets which have given us a position
of global leadership have again carried us through.

*Environment Stewardship while assisting Economic Development*

Today I would like to start by discussing our role as stewards of our
nation's environment. Nearly 60 percent of the Department's budget
*(FY08)* is dedicated to increasing knowledge and rational use of the
natural environment. Through the **National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration** (NOAA) the Department holds crucial responsibility for
our nation's oceans and waterways, our marine fisheries, our weather
service, and a host of other resources aimed at utilizing our national
geographic and geophysical attributes to strengthen our economy while
protecting our valuable resources.

This Administration has demonstrated a clear commitment to our
environment, dedicating unprecedented resources toward stewardship of
our oceans and waterways.

The U.S. Ocean Action Plan, which President Bush announced in late 2004,
has resulted in a number of significant accomplishments that have served
to advance our understanding of oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes; enhance
the use and conservation of our ocean, coastal and Great Lakes
resources; manage coasts and their watersheds; support maritime
transportation; and advance international ocean science and policy.

As part of that coordinated effort, we have established the
Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, the largest fully protected
marine conservation area in the world; introduced the Coral Reef
Conservation Amendment Act of 2007; worked with Congress to reauthorize
the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which requires an end to overfishing by 2010;
and worked with scientists, resource managers, and other interested
parties across the country to prioritize ocean science efforts to ensure
that future actions continue to be based on sound science.

Aquaculture is an innovative response to the projected global shortage
of 40 million tons of seafood by 2030. Of the 4.9 billion pounds of
seafood consumed in the United States in 2006, roughly 83 percent was
imported. We need both a strong commercial fishing industry and a robust
aquaculture industry to meet growing demands for a safe, reliable source
of seafood, to reduce U.S. dependence on seafood imports, and to
strengthen the economies of some of our coastal communities. We are
pleased that Chairman Inouye and Vice Chairman Stevens introduced the
National Offshore Aquaculture Act of 2007 to address this economic
growth opportunity, and we look forward to working with the Committee
and Congress to ensure passage.

Beyond the conservation and stewardship missions that NOAA carries out,
the Department, through NOAA's **National Weather Service**, touches the
daily lives of every American by providing up-to-the-minute weather
information, which helps protect people and property through the
dissemination of forecasts, observations and climate data.

Additionally, through NOAA, the Department serves the vast needs of our
nation's oceans and waterways -- a vital part of our economic and
transportation infrastructure. Earlier this year, we proposed the
reauthorization of the Hydrographic Services Improvement Act, a bill to
promote safe, efficient and environmentally sound maritime commerce in
U.S. waters with accurate nautical charts and other navigational tools.
This bill coincides with the 200^th^ anniversary of the Coast Survey,
another of President Thomas Jefferson's great gifts to this country.
Waterborne commerce contributes \$1 trillion to our nation's GDP and
supports more than 13 million jobs. We thank the Commerce Committee for
passing this important legislation in July.

The scientific understanding gained through NOAA's renowned researchers,
coupled with the broader scope of this Department's mandate, have placed
Commerce at the forefront of this Administration's efforts to tackle the
long-term challenges and opportunities brought by climate change. The
Department plays a central role in measuring and understanding changes
in our climate as well as crafting international and domestic policies
that will help the American people and the global community mitigate and
adapt to a changing planet. As President Bush said, "My Administration's
climate change policy will be science-based, encourage research
breakthroughs that lead to technological innovation, and take advantage
of the power of markets. It will encourage global participation and will
pursue actions that will help ensure continued economic growth and
prosperity for our citizens and for citizens throughout the world."

In the 10 years since the Kyoto Protocol was negotiated, there has been
a false premise among some that countries must be committed to Kyoto to
be taken seriously in discussions on climate change. The President does
not subscribe to this view, and instead has led with actions and
results. This Administration has devoted \$37 billion to climate change
research and technology since 2001 and has requested an additional \$7.4
billion for FY 2008.

The President recognizes technological advances, more than anything
else, are needed to truly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, which is
why this Administration launched the Climate Change Technology Program,
led by the Department of Energy and supported by Commerce. In his most
recent State of the Union Address, the President set aggressive goals to
reduce our dependence on gasoline by 20 percent over the next 10 years
through a series of mandatory, voluntary and incentive-based programs.
This Administration is also fully committed to deploying technologies
domestically and internationally through programs such as FutureGen and
the Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate, where
Commerce plays a leading role in promoting exports of clean technology.
By implementing an aggressive yet practical strategy, we are on track to
meet the President's goal to reduce greenhouse gas intensity

18 percent by 2012, while continuing to grow the American economy.
Indeed, preliminary data from the Energy Information Administration show
that in 2006 energy-related carbon dioxide emissions fell 1.3 percent
while the economy grew 3.3 percent.

On May 31, 2007, the President called upon the world's major economies
to work together to develop a post-2012 framework and identify a global
goal on long-term greenhouse gas reductions. The United States will host
the first of a series of meetings with other countries---including
rapidly growing economies like India and China---to establish a new
framework, which will recognize that economic growth, energy security
and climate change must be addressed in an integrated way. Our progress
towards a global emissions reduction goal will be underpinned by midterm
national targets and programs that are tailored towards each
participant's current and future energy needs and that will be subject
to a robust review process. In addition, participants will work on
sectoral approaches to energy intensive industries and concrete steps to
promote the development and deployment of clean energy technologies. As
part of his international initiative, the President also proposed
strengthening climate-related initiatives at the UN that benefit all
countries, including adaptation to climate change, deforestation and
technology. Finally, the President's initiative addresses practical
action necessary to advance the global development and deployment of
clean energy technologies. This could include low-cost capital sources
to finance investment in clean energy, mechanisms to share
government-developed technology at low cost, or in some cases, no cost
at all, and elimination of market barriers.

At Commerce, we play a role in all aspects of the policy solutions to
climate change. NOAA plays a central role in measuring changes in our
atmosphere and in our climate. We are extremely proud of our scientists,
and their research and modeling formed the basis for much of the science
encapsulated in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fourth
Assessment, that has been released this year. Through a number of
research programs, the agency is focused on providing decision makers
with a clear understanding of the global climate system. At the
direction of the President, NOAA is leading U.S. efforts to implement a
truly global-observing system. Building off of the data provided by our
observation systems, NOAA is focusing research to understand key climate
processes, improving our modeling capabilities and developing and
delivering climate information services. NOAA is working to improve our
understanding of global climate change and develop tools to enable
regional and local leaders to make effective planning decisions. These
tools could also one day be used to monitor and verify that claimed
emissions reductions are also taking place.

The **International Trade Administration** **(ITA)** is leading U.S.
Government efforts to spur the deployment of clean energy technologies
and the **National Institute of Standards and Technology** **(NIST)** is
leading efforts to create international standards for biofuels as well
as for improving energy efficiency. Ultimately, the solutions to the
challenges of climate change will rest with strong and vibrant economies
that can make the investments necessary to transform our energy
infrastructures.

*A Strong and Vibrant U.S. Economy*

This Administration's pro-growth policies of lower taxes and a less
restrictive government, coupled with the hard work and ingenuity of
American workers, has put our economy on solid footing. We have
experienced sustained economic growth and enhanced job creation,
resulting in increased revenues and a reduced deficit.

The U.S. economy has experienced 23 consecutive quarters of growth, over
which time growth has averaged 2.7 percent annually. When adjusted for
inflation, our economy is 17 percent larger than it was in 2001. Our
unemployment rate is a low 4.5 percent, which is below the average of
each of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and payroll jobs have
increased by more than eight million since August 2003. And, because of
President Bush's tax cuts, the average American taxpayer will keep an
additional \$2,200 of their hard-earned money this year.

While we are weathering a correction in the market, we remain near
historic levels of home ownership, with 75 million American families
owning their own homes.

And, by asserting fiscal discipline and reigning in discretionary
spending, the President's goal to balance the budget by 2012 is on
track. An Office of Management and Budget (OMB) report issued in
mid-July forecasts a \$43 billion decrease in the deficit this year. For
three years in a row the federal deficit has declined and OMB now
projects that the budget deficit has fallen to 1.5 percent of GDP, well
below the 40-year average of 2.4 percent of GDP. We have also held the
growth of annual domestic spending close to one percent, which is well
below the rate of inflation. And tax relief we have implemented since
2001 has allowed the American people to keep \$1.1 trillion of their
hard-earned dollars, which they can determine how best to allocate.

One important way in which we are strengthening our overall economic
position is by creating an export culture in our country. Last year, the
growth rate of exports outpaced the growth rate of imports, 13 percent
to 10 percent, with a record \$1.4 trillion in exports. And exports
year-to-date are up by 10.8 percent over the same period in 2006 to
\$644 billion---more than twice the rate of imports.

.Increased exports to markets around the world benefit our country
enormously by supporting higher paying jobs for our workers here in
America and by boosting productivity, which drives our national
prosperity. Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) also help our companies,
farmers and manufacturers by leveling the playing field and helping them
sell American goods and services to millions of consumers in new global
markets.

Truly, America is embracing the global marketplace and taking advantage
of the markets that this Administration has sought to open. Yet, while
we are taking advantage of the opportunities of the global marketplace,
we know we are not alone in those efforts. Nations around the world have
awakened to the possibilities of international trade. And with the
addition of three billion consumers in China, India and Russia, which
have opened their previously shuttered economies, we have experienced a
wave of new customers, new consumers, and new competitors.

Trade accounted for 17 percent of world GDP in 1986. Last year it
accounted for 29 percent. We are trading and engaging more---but so is
everyone else. That is why we must be focused on the growth and
competitiveness of the U.S. economy.

*Expanding the Global Marketplace and Boosting U.S. Exports*

The Department of Commerce has a tremendous role to play in expanding
the global marketplace and boosting U.S. exports. Our recently released
National Export Strategy, produced by the ITA in conjunction with other
trade agencies, details how the combination of declining trade barriers
and advancing technologies has made exporting easier than ever.

Since President Bush took office, Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with 11
countries have entered into force, bringing the total number of
countries that we have FTAs with to 14. Exports to the countries with
FTAs that entered into force between 2001 and 2006 grew faster than U.S.
exports to the rest of the world. And while the FTA countries make up
only 7.5 percent of the world's GDP (*excluding the USA*), more than 42
percent of all U.S. exports go to our FTA partners. Clearly, free trade
agreements are directly linked to the expansion of our exports.

In Chile, two-way trade over the first three years of our free trade
agreement rose by more than 150 percent, including 22 percent so far
this year. And the FTA with our CAFTA-DR partners is already showing
positive results, with exports up to the five countries up 16 percent
last year.

These agreements serve to open markets for U.S. goods, support good jobs
for Americans at home and abroad, and importantly, help export good
governance, create stable markets and reduce poverty in emerging
economies.

After more than three years of negotiations, Congress will consider FTAs
with Peru, Colombia, Panama and South Korea. These agreements, if
approved, would provide further access to 126 million consumers with a
combined GDP of \$1.1 trillion. Each holds important geopolitical
significance in strategic regions of the globe---here in our own region,
the Western Hemisphere, and in the rapidly rising Pacific Rim.

In order to continue an aggressive agenda of opening foreign markets and
leveling the playing field to boost U.S. exports, this President and
future presidents must have Trade Promotion Authority, an essential tool
to ensure our continued export success. Many of our trading partners,
including Asia and the European Union, are acting bilaterally to engage
with each other. The United States cannot afford to sit on the
sidelines.

Renewed Trade Promotion Authority will help the United States continue
to play a leadership role in multilateral and bilateral trade
negotiations. A successful conclusion to the Doha Development Agenda
will result in economic growth and development, especially in the
world's poorer countries, by creating new trade flows and disciplining
subsidies.

The Department, through ITA, also takes a direct approach to boosting
U.S. exports by helping American companies succeed in the international
marketplace.

We have conducted a number of successful trade missions bringing U.S.
businesses face-to-face with potential customers, business partners and
government officials. Last fall I led a business development mission to
China, a vital and growing market for U.S. exports. And ITA led the
largest-ever U.S. Government business development mission to India.

Earlier this year ITA also led a clean energy trade mission to India and
China to promote U.S. export of technologies which will help address
environmental concerns in those countries, while boosting U.S. exports.
We also announced recently a trade mission to Vietnam which will take
place this fall.

In addition to enhancing competitiveness through a successful export
strategy, the Commerce Department has recently launched the "Invest in
America Initiative" to encourage foreign firms to invest directly in the
U.S. economy. U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies employ more than
five million American workers in jobs that pay 32 percent higher wages
than the national average. And while we have historically been the
world's most attractive destination for foreign direct investment (FDI),
it again is another area of the economy in which we are facing stepped
up competition and therefore must take on a more aggressive, proactive
posture.

While promoting exports, the Department also advances U.S. national
security and foreign policy objectives. Our **Bureau of Industry and
Security (BIS)** accomplishes this work by implementing an effective
export control and treaty compliance system, while promoting continued
U.S. strategic technological leadership. BIS ensures that U.S. exports
of certain sensitive items are kept away from dangerous countries,
organizations and individuals in a manner that preserves the innovative
and productive capacity of American industry.

Importantly, we believe the Export Administration Act of 1979, which
expired in 2001, must be renewed to ensure a streamlined and
strengthened export control system, particularly in light of modern
threats.

*Ensuring a Level Playing Field for U.S. Workers and Industry*

As global trade barriers come down and international economies become
more integrated, it is critical that our companies compete on a level
playing field.

We welcome the innovation and efficiencies that result when our
companies and industries compete. However, we must insist that our
trading partners play by the rules. When they have not, we have taken an
aggressive stance in safeguarding our companies from unfair practices,
while preserving the benefits of open, market-driven economics.

From day one, this Administration has demonstrated it will use every
tool at its disposal to enforce our trade laws. We play by the rules and
it is only fair to expect others to do the same. . That is why, in March
of this year, I announced the Commerce Department's preliminary decision
to apply the U.S. anti-subsidy law to imports of glossy paper from
China.

China is a rising economic power---our second largest trading
partner---and represents a tremendous opportunity for U.S. businesses.
But when we find unfair trading practices, as we did with the glossy
paper case, we will work to ensure an equitable, level playing field.
These actions also serve to encourage important reforms in China,
spurring its government to hasten change and keep pace with
international standards and practices.

To that end, ITA has initiated more anti-dumping cases against China
than any other Administration. The Administration has also filed five
WTO cases. These actions show our continued commitment to create an
environment of true competition for American manufacturers, workers and
farmers.

The responsibility for change is in the hands of the Chinese. We have
communicated that the safety of our food, medicines and other products
from our trading partners is of paramount importance. This is a
watershed moment for China. China must address U.S. safety concerns. It
is in the interest of all parties for China to be part of the
international trade community and be fair and open in its economic
dealings.

One of this Administration's top priorities is to ensure that our
trading partners fully comply with their trade agreements with us, and
that our businesses, workers, and farmers get the full benefits of the
agreements we negotiate on their behalf. The most timely and effective
way to achieve compliance goals is often through prompt diplomatic
efforts.

To that end, Commerce's Trade Agreements Compliance program draws on the
joint expertise of all Commerce Department resources to help U.S.
exporters, particularly small and medium-sized businesses that face
foreign trade barriers. Beginning in FY 2001, we have initiated over 620
compliance cases and closed over 450.

A final way by which we help keep the playing field level for American
companies and workers, is by ensuring the protection of their
intellectual property (IP). IP industries represent 40 percent of U.S.
economic growth and employ 18 million Americans in good, high-paying
jobs. Intellectual property accounts for over one-third of the value of
all publicly traded U.S. corporations, an amount equal to almost half of
the U.S. GDP. In fiscal year 2006, the **U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO),** a Commerce agency, granted 183,187 patents.

Protecting those patents is an economic and national security objective,
which is why we have a coordinated effort which includes USPTO, the
**National Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordination Council**
and ITA. That effort is the **Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy
(STOP!)** which holds the ambitious goal of ending trade in counterfeit
goods. We have also placed Intellectual Property Rights attachés in
strategic markets around the world such as India, China and Russia to
promote intellectual property enforcement.

Innovative and creative people in this country and around the globe are
producing new products, medicines, and art. As a result, our lives are
safer, healthier, more productive and richer. We know that losses to our
economy due to IP theft are enormous, harming workers, threatening
consumers and striking at our most competitive industries. Through STOP!
we are working to end this scourge, and we will continue working with
our trading partners around the world to ensure that the protection of
intellectual property is a vital part of our bilateral and multilateral
relationships.

While we work to ensure a level playing field, we continue to
acknowledge that isolationism won't protect people or protect jobs. Our
strategy is to grow exports, not limit imports. Protectionism doesn't
protect the economy or jobs. Only innovation, entrepreneurship,
competition and investment will protect and grow jobs.

*Providing the Data Needed to Keep our Economy Growing*

Another important channel through which the Department of Commerce
actively helps promote U.S. economic competitiveness is by providing an
information infrastructure that supplies businesses, government entities
and private citizens with the information they need to make informed
decisions.

Through the **Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA),** which is
home to the **Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)** and the **Census
Bureau**, the Commerce Department provides the information
infrastructure for vital economic and demographic data ranging from
retail sales and quarterly gross domestic product calculations to
housing and population figures. The Commerce Department heightens our
nation's competitive position by providing an accurate, timely portrait
of our people and the economy, thereby helping to support effective
investment decision-making, maintain macro-economic stability and guide
public policy decisions. Most importantly, I can report that the 2010
Census is on track. The Census Bureau has re-engineered this decennial
count of U.S. residents using technology---like GPS and handheld
computers---to make the enumeration ever-more accurate.

The decennial census is the largest non-military mobilization the
Federal government conducts. It directly affects how many seats each
state has in the House of Representatives and how those district lines
are drawn. An accurate census count is also vital in determining how
over \$200 billion in federal funds are allocated to local and state
governments. The goal of the Census Bureau, the Administration, and of
this Congress is to count every resident of the United States once, only
once, and in the right place. To do that, we have had the support of
Congress over the decade to fund a re-engineered census that uses
improved technology and methodology to deliver a good count and enhanced
data about the characteristics of our people. We need your support this
year and throughout the funding cycle.

The President's Budget for 2008 continues the re-engineering and funds
two critical components. The first I want to mention is the dress
rehearsal next April. Already, Census is preparing for the dress
rehearsal in Stockton, CA, and Fayetteville, NC, by checking household
addresses and noting new construction. A census dress rehearsal is just
like one on stage. This is the time to check the lighting and tweak a
line or two. It is not the time to rewrite the plot. Given the scope and
complexity of a decennial census, new operations cannot be added that
are not tested in the dress rehearsal. I would note that we are getting
good feedback from Stockton and Fayetteville about the handheld
computers that will be used in 2010.

In addition, the President's Budget includes money to kick off the
integrated decennial communications plan. It is critical to the census
that we reach out to communities that are more difficult to count.
Communities may be harder to enumerate because of language barriers,
mistrust of government, or simply because people are busier and it is a
challenge to find them at home. For these reasons, we need to educate
the public about the importance of the census and enlist local leaders
and neighbors to support our efforts. The integrated communications plan
will do just that.

*Encouraging and Enhancing Innovation and Competitiveness*

Innovation is the engine that fuels our nation's economy. The United
States is home to the most highly skilled, creative and motivated
workforce in the world. That human capital coupled with the pro-business
environment we have cultivated, which encourages risk-taking and
entrepreneurship, have kept us on the cutting edge of global innovation.

However, to maintain that leadership position we must not be complacent.
That is why the President created the American Competitiveness
Initiative (ACI), in which the Department of Commerce plays an important
role. The ACI commits \$136 billion over 10 years to increase investment
in R&D, strengthen education and encourage innovation. The sum total of
these efforts will contribute to strengthening our ability to stay
competitive.

NIST, which is part of Commerce, promotes basic research funded by the
Federal Government, an essential component of the ACI. And while we
encourage R&D at the governmental level, we also must promote the
involvement of the private sector, which is why the ACI aims to make
permanent the R&D tax credit.

Smart business and investment decisions are made with predictability and
visibility into the future. By providing a long-term outlook for R&D,
the Federal Government can help bring the private sector more actively
into the business of basic science, sharpening our Nation's competitive
edge.

To further support innovation, we continue working with this Committee
as the NIST reauthorization legislation (HR 2272 and S. 761) makes its
way through the conference process.

Both of these bills recognize the importance of NIST\'s research to our
Nation's global competitiveness, and authorize much-needed increases in
the NIST core (laboratory and construction) funding accounts. We
encourage Congress to authorize levels for the NIST core that meet the
Administration's request.

In addition, while the bill does make changes to the Malcolm Baldrige
National Quality Award program, the Administration requests that the
Congress amend the Stevenson-Wydler Act to change the name of the award
to the "Malcolm Baldrige Quality, Innovation and Performance Excellence
Award" to better reflect the award's updated criteria and greater
emphasis on innovation and performance excellence.

Another way in which Commerce is addressing America's economic
competitiveness is by looking at how we measure innovation. Last fall, I
announced the formation of the Measuring Innovation in the 21^st^
Century Economy Committee. The Committee will help develop metrics that
can correctly measure American ingenuity, which we know contributes to
our advances in productivity and our high standard of living.

We are currently gathering the input of experts from the business,
academic and policy arenas to help the Committee as it develops ideas
for innovation metrics. I look forward to reporting back on the progress
of their work and developing a better national understanding of the
impact innovation has on our economy.

An enormous contributor to America's innovative engine has been the
explosion of wireless communications in recent decades. Consequently,
the demands on the use of the radio frequency spectrum are rapidly
increasing at a rate that raises questions regarding the viability of
this natural resource to sustain these ever growing demands and to
provide additional services.

To address the need to better manage this resource, the **National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)** has launched
the Commerce Spectrum Advisory Committee, which is part of the
President's Spectrum Policy Initiative. The initiative was established
by President Bush in June 2003 to develop a policy for the 21st century
that meets the nation's needs and spurs economic growth. 

The transition to digital television broadcasts is a historic
opportunity to reclaim and reassign valuable broadcast television
spectrum to other important uses, including public safety and advanced
wireless services. The digital transition will have important benefits
to the economy, public safety, and the federal budget.

As part of our efforts to improve public safety through the digital
transition, in July we announced a \$1 billion Public Safety
Interoperable Communications Grant Program. These are one-time, targeted
federal grants with the purpose of helping state and local public safety
agencies improve their ability to communicate with each other when
responding to hazards.

An essential component of a pro-growth and pro-innovation agenda is
permanently extending the moratorium on Internet access taxes. The
Administration urges Congress to make permanent the current moratorium
which expires in November.

Under the leadership of the NTIA, Commerce is well underway with the
planning and preparation for the digital television transition which
will help consumers continue to receive free, over-the-air television
when full-power television stations cease analog broadcasting in 2009 as
authorized by Congress.

Another essential aspect of U.S. competitiveness is immigration. We must
acknowledge that the demographics are not on our side. We cannot grow
our economy at three percent a year while our population in the prime
working years will only grow 0.3 percent per year over the next seven
years. We will have to turn to immigration to help meet our economy's
needs. The issue of immigration reform---at the high and low skilled
ends---will not go away. It is a fundamental economic competitiveness
issue and something we must address.

Innovation and competitiveness are also promoted by the Department's
**Economic Development Administration** (EDA). EDA invests in locally
developed, regionally based economic development initiatives that
achieve the highest return on the taxpayers' investment and directly
contribute to regional and national economic growth. EDA places a strong
emphasis on making investments that (1) support innovation and
competitiveness, (2) encourage entrepreneurship, and (3) support
collaborative regional economic development approaches.

Minority-owned businesses represent a growing segment of the economic
landscape. Commerce's **Minority Business Development Agency** (MBDA)
and its nationwide network of business assistance centers promote
competitiveness by providing technical and managerial assistance, and
business consulting services designed to enhance the growth of the
minority business community.

And while I am on the subject of MBDA, I would like to take a moment to
specifically acknowledge the good work that agency has done in helping
restore the Gulf Coast.

Soon after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, MBDA established
five technical and managerial assistance business centers on behalf of
Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) in the Gulf region, (Louisiana,
Mississippi and Alabama). MBDA also hosted a series of Gulf Coast
Business-to-Business Linkage and Investment Forums designed to increase
MBE capacity in the region by encouraging joint ventures and teaming
arrangements between Gulf Coast 8(a) firms and MBDA clients from around
the country.  As a result, MBDA has provided consulting services and
educational outreach activities to thousands of MBEs.

These are just a few of the many areas in which the Department of
Commerce is actively working to encourage, enhance and support
innovation to build our economy.

The Department of Commerce plays a critical role in the growth,
competitiveness and long-term stability of our nation's economy. And, as
I said before this very Committee during my confirmation hearing in
January 2005, I strongly support the Department's mission of "creating
conditions for economic growth and opportunity by promoting innovation,
entrepreneurship, competitiveness and environmental stewardship."

It is my privilege to be at the helm of a Department with so many vital
roles to play. I look forward to continuing my role at the Department
and working every day to keep America leading in the global economy.