Sometimes, beneath the din of partisan rancor, the legislative process grinds out a product worthy of note and praise.  Such is the case with President Bush’s American Competitiveness Initiative, working its way through the House and Senate with bipartisan support.

The American Competitiveness Initiative is one presidential initiative announced in the State of the Union that remains alive and well today in Congress.  This is because of the leadership of a bipartisan group of legislators who have been willing to rise above the partisan fray in the nation’s interest.  The group includes Sens. John Ensign (R-Nev.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), and Reps. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), among others.

Congressional action on competitiveness is being butreessed by the engagement of business and academic leaders.  They are lobbying on behalf of the national interest at a level not seen since the 1980s when the Council on Competitiveness was created in the wake of Japan’s rise as an economic superpower.

The nation’s governors are also providing leadership at the state and regional levels.  The new chair of the National Governors’ Association, Ariz. Gov. Janet Napolitano (D), announced earlier this month that competitiveness and innovation will be the focus of her Chair’s Initiative during the coming year.

The American Competitiveness Initiative calls for vastly increased federal funding for the innovative research to jumpstart new industries and improve the way we live, work and play.  This is the kind of innovation that led to the development of MP3 players, laser eye surgery and the Internet.  Cultivating innovation and a knowledge-based workforce are the economic growth drivers America needs to compete with China and India — countries making unprecedented investments in their own people and ideas.

America’s place as the world’s economic superpower today is strong, but not guranteed.  And the globalization of the American economy and the American worker is difficult to overlook.  The bipartisan support for the American Competitiveness Initiative speaks to that recognition, and represents the willingness of lawmakers to make difficult, I dare say courageous, decisions in the national interest.

The fact that leaders from both parties have come together in support of the American Competitiveness Initiative merits public recognition and praise.  We are in the midst of what many political analysts believe to be a truly historic mid-term election.  And Congress is operating in a political environment that would argue against bipartisanship.

Members of Congress who are backing the American Competitiveness Initiative clearly recognize that their support runs counter to conventional political wisdom.  Thankfully, they also understand that the stakes are too high for delay.

They know that while our national economic position is strong, there is tremendous anxiety among many Americans.  Moreover, accelerated efforts by China and India to attract more foreign investment and jobs require a massive retooling of the American workforce in order to remain competitive.  And American high-school students are seriously underperforming their international peers in math and science.

There are few, if any, quick fixes to these challenges and one might question the capacity of Washington to respond to a long-term challenge like competitiveness given the apparent intractability of issues like Social Security, Medicare and the budget deficit.

Nonetheless, some 70 senators are supporting legislation to enhance math and science education, while Congress is poised to increase federal spending on long-term science research by as much as 18 percent this year.  Moreover, remaining high on the 2006 legislative agenda are efforts to extend research tax credits and to attract the best talent from around the world to study and work in the United States.

Even a politically charged town in the midst of a major election cycle must take a moment now and again to recognize true leadership and progress.  The bipartisan support for the American Competitiveness Initiative is just such an opportunity.

Deborah L. Wince-Smith is president of the Council on Competitiveness