Business Roundtable Issues Statement on State of the Union Address.

WASHINGTON -- Business Roundtable, an association of 160 CEOs of leading U.S. companies, commended President Bush on an ambitious and necessary legislative agenda that will help U.S. workers and companies prosper in the ever-growing international economy.

Business Roundtable advocates for public policies that ensure vigorous and sustained economic growth. We believe that the President's priorities will help achieve this.

The policy initiatives outlined this evening, including the economic growth package, permanent tax cuts, health care options, opening new markets and expanding opportunities with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, increasing our energy security, confronting climate change, and the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind, are all fundamental to the continued economic health of U.S. workers and companies.

"We support the President's forward-looking, bipartisan agenda as the right path forward for our country's prosperity," said John J. Castellani, President of Business Roundtable. "Now it is up to the House, Senate and Administration to work together to pass these ambitious legislative items immediately and set our economy on a strong path for growth."

Business Roundtable (www.businessroundtable.org) is an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with $4.5 trillion in annual revenues and nearly 10 million employees. Member companies comprise nearly a third of the total value of the U.S. stock markets and represent over 40 percent of all corporate income taxes paid. Collectively, they returned $112 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 $90 billion in annual research and development spending - nearly half of the total private R&D spending in the U.S.