Vice President Biden, Dr. Jill Biden Travel to Italy

Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden have departed en route Rome, Italy, to lead the Presidential Delegation to the Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy on Thursday, June 2nd.

While in Rome, Vice President Biden will meet with Italian President  Giorgio Napolitano and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to discuss the full range of bilateral and regional issues, as well as how the United States and Europe can work together to help meet the global challenges we face. Vice President Biden and Prime Minister Berlusconi will also participate in a trilateral lunch meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. In addition, Vice President Biden will meet with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

The Bidens will also visit with tri-mission staff from the U.S. Embassy to Italy, U.S. Embassy to the Holy See, and U.S. Mission to the United Nations Agencies in Rome.

On Saturday, the Vice President and Dr. Biden will visit with U.S. service members and their families in Naples, Italy, and deliver remarks at an event with U.S. and NATO forces and their families. Afterwards, the Bidens will return to Washington, DC.

Remarks by Vice President Biden Marking the 50th Anniversary of President Kennedy’s “Moon Shot” Speech, As Prepared For Delivery

President John F. Kennedy Library & Museum, Boston, Massachusetts

I want you to imagine—I want you to imagine the benefits to the first country that develops smart anti-cancer therapies that kill cancer cells and leave ordinary cells untouched.
 
Imagine the first country that develops regenerative medicines that can re-grow damaged organs, eliminating the agonizing wait for an organ transplant, allowing patients to recover from spinal cord injuries, and curing diseases like diabetes.  
 
Imagine the first country that makes solar power as cheap as fossil fuels, and builds the first buildings that are able to produce all the energy they consume.
 
Imagine the first country to build a supercomputer capable of performing a million-trillion calculations a second – a computer fast enough to not only sequence every gene in the human body, but to test every combination of genes – giving us a new ability to fundamentally decode the complex interactions between genetics and disease.
 
Imagine the first country that creates a car battery that’s even lighter and cheaper than the new lithium ion batteries of today – able to store enough energy from one charge to take a car 1,000 miles.
 
Of one thing I am convinced:  If President Kennedy were standing here today, this is what he would imagine, this is what he would envision – and then he would challenge America to accomplish all of these goals and more.  He would challenge us to push the boundaries of our own knowledge and our present capacity.  To bridge the gap between the possible and the unimaginable.  
 
For it would have been beyond his comprehension that the United States would fail to invest in visionary new ideas. Ideas needed to make the 21st century livable.
 
I don’t believe he could have imagined the United States continuing to rely on fossil fuels.  I don’t believe he could have imagined the United States failing to cultivate new brilliant young scientists, and to challenge them to end the diseases that have plagued humanity for generations.  
 
In an ever-more complicated and interconnected world, Ladies and gentlemen, I believe if he were standing here today, he would tell us, as he did 50 years ago, that we have a choice about what kind of country we are going to be. That vision should not be a hard sell today, in 2011.  For because of President Kennedy’s vision, leadership, and confidence, we’ve already met such a challenge – by relying on all the resources and talents America possesses today.  
 
50 years ago, President Kennedy said, “I believe we possess all the resources and talents necessary.  But the facts of the matter are that we have never made the national decisions or marshaled the national resources required for such leadership.  We have never specified long-range goals on an urgent time schedule, or managed our resources and our time so as to insure their fulfillment…”
 
He said that we needed,  “a degree of dedication, organization, and discipline which have not always characterized our research and development efforts.”But because of him, we don’t have to say that.  
 
We have made national decisions on this scale and of this magnitude.  We have marshaled the national resources required for such leadership.  We have specified long range goals on an urgent time schedule. Because of the visionary leadership of a young president, we know it can be done. We know we can mobilize to meet the challenges of the moment.
 
I was 18 years old when President Kennedy gave his moon shot speech.  An 18 year old kid from Scranton, who never dreamed that he would one day be standing here to pay tribute to the power and vision and achievement that grew out of President Kennedy’s words that day – and to urge a new generation to honor his actions with our own.  What a great honor.
 
I remember President Kennedy saying it was up to us—up to the nation—to decide whether to commit ourselves to the challenge of sending a man to the moon and bringing him safely back to earth. That if we weren’t going to go for it full tilt, we might as well not go for it at all.
 
In 1961, President Kennedy’s character and makeup was a reflection not only of his generation, but of America’s character. Well, I am confident my generation and yours is not only up to the task – but even better position to meet the daunting challenges of this young century.
 
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Society is like a wave….”America has not changed, it’s gotten better. Nothing incremental.  He had, as I do, an unlimited faith in the character and the aspirations of the American people.  He knew that the American people had never failed to rise to a challenge, never failed to overcome adversity,  and never let their country down.    
 
From a revolution for independence, to a war to keep us united, the throes of a Great Depression, to building and deploying an arsenal of democracy and expanding democracy at home through Civil Rights and civil justice American has always been at its best when challenged.  That’s when you see our national grit.  Determination.  Ingenuity.
 
That’s why President Kennedy said, speaking of the challenge to go to the moon, that if we came together and took up the challenge, then “in a very real sense, it [would] not be one man going to the moon…for all of us must work to put him there.” I knew, as a young man, how bold it was.  How exciting it was. It appealed to America’s essential exceptionalism, the idea that we were a special nation, meant to do extraordinary things.  Even then, my friends,  I sensed that this challenge was about more than landing on the moon.  
 
It was bigger than that.  It was about a truly new frontier.
 
You just knew in your gut that the process of getting there, the pursuit of the moon, would open whole new vistas to humanity.  It would be a new measure of possibility—a new mark of human achievement.
 
President Kennedy knew that going to the moon would change the way we lived on earth.  That it wasn’t about going to a distant world, but bringing the United States into the modern world, and making sure we didn’t lose our place in it. And he was right.
 
The pursuit of the moon inspired thousands in my generation to pursue careers in engineering, science and technology.  It unleashed one of the most significant expansions of scientific capacity the world had ever known.   And my impression was that he never had a doubt that it would.  Because he knew our history.   He knew the equation of America:  challenge plus investment equals progress.
 
A half century later, President Obama and I share that same conviction, that same faith, and that same certitude. For the new frontiers here on earth are equally as challenging, and equally capable of being conquered. A new energy policy that will save the planet from global warming, increase our independence, and renew our economy.  
 
Advances in science and health that will increase the quality of life for millions of Americans and tens of millions of people the world over. This is an incredible time in which we live, a time of extraordinary possibilities.   We are a nation of people who are always about – possibilities.
 
What is truly unique about America is that we have the political system, the economic system, the education system, and, most importantly, the will to turn those possibilities into realities.
 
But like President Kennedy we understand that it takes a national vision, it takes a leader to set the goal, and if he does, investment and innovation, and ultimately, commercialization will follow.  Over and over again, that’s been the American model of innovation, allowing us to lead the world in technological advancement the past 250 years.  It’s part of our nation’s DNA; it’s embedded in our nation’s history.
 
But the goals are not America’s alone. Other nations are seeking to win the future as well. You see it in China and India and Brazil, countries that are making massive investments in research, development, infrastructure, education.  
 
If we shrink from President Kennedy’s bold approach, we run the risk of being left behind.  We and the world are at a critical juncture, and the United States needs to reassert its commitment to competitiveness – competitiveness that puts us in a position to be the global economic leader of the 21st century.
 
That is why President Obama has set such bold goals to meet the challenges of this generation. Think about it:  We know we can be generating 80% of America’s electricity from clean sources by 2035.   We launched what we call a “SunShot” to make solar energy as affordable as traditional forms of energy.  And I assure you, just as in the moonshot – in pursuit of that goal – we will develop new technologies that will leapfrog anything we’re thinking about right now.  
 
We know that with the seed money we’ve already provided through the Recovery Act, that private industry can put a million advanced technology vehicles – electrics and plug-in hybrids – on the road by 2015.  But we also know, along the way, they will develop a whole new generation of batteries that will ultimately be able to carry a car father than 1,000 miles on a single charge – and batteries that can store the energy we harvest from the sun, not only from automobiles but for industrial use as well.  
 
We know that we must and will lead the world in the percentage of college graduates by the end of the decade, because we know our people.  We know America.  There is no reason why, in the 21st century, America cannot have the best educated, best trained population mankind has ever known.  We have the talent, resources, and know-how.
 
In the process of doing all this, your generation will be responsible for fundamental breakthroughs not only in the far reaches of space, or the depths of the sea, in the confines of our own bodies, and in the mysteries of the human brain.
 
A great deal has been written about the advances we’ve made in the last quarter century in understanding the brain functions and the potential that will come from further study.  There’s been a great of research in the last half decade, research that has attracted the interest not only of neuroscientists and surgeons, but gifted persons from other disciplines – psychologists, sociologists, and journalists.
 
One example that I recommend to you all is David Brooks’ new book, “The Social Animal” – that points out with greater understanding of the potential we have to affect social interaction in ways we haven’t ever thought of before.  
 
The promise in this area is unlimited, and the need for further research is immediate.  Thousands of our wounded warriors are retuning with Post Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injuries. For these and other reasons, our administration has made an unprecedented commitment to advancing understanding of the brain – through the NIH, through the National Science Foundation, through the Department of Defense, and through the VA.  
 
We’re supporting the Human Connectome Project – dedicated to discovering the “wiring diagram” for the human brain. The Human Connectome Project will lead to major advances in our understanding of how our brain circuitry changes as we age and how it differs in people with neurological or psychiatric illnesses.
 
We’re supporting a consortium of researchers to create stem cells from patients with Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, Lou Gehrig’s disease, and Alzheimer’s.  This allows researchers to better understand the progression of these diseases, and to screen potential drug candidates.
 
We’re supporting the development of “neural prosthesis,” which is in the nascent stages of allowing individuals with prosthesis to control them by their thought process.  
 
We’re also supporting Congressman Patrick Kennedy’s bold new campaign, called One Mind for Research.  
 
Many of you are here today as part of that effort.  Your work truly is a modern moonshot. There’s no question that President Kennedy’s spirit is alive today in this nation, in this audience, and in the DNA of Patrick Kennedy.  

The truth is, just as JFK couldn’t have known that shooting for the moon would create the semiconductor industry, which would give birth to the personal computer industry, which would give us IBM and Microsoft and Apple, who gave us the iPhone – and who knows where this goes next?
 
We cannot know with certainty what our fundamental recommitment to science, and research and development will yield.  But we do know, from experience that the results will be greater than the sum of the parts, and the rewards will be far greater than the original investment. And we also know that the march into the future will continue whether we lead it or not.
 
President Kennedy understood this 50 years ago.  Here’s what he said, “The exploration of space will go ahead whether we join in it or not…and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space.”
 
No nation that expects to be the leader of others can afford to be a follower on confronting the critical challenges of today. But just as there were naysayers in 1961, there are naysayers in 2011. They say our economy is too fragile for us to be so bold.  I say, our economy will stay fragile, unless we are bold. They say we cannot afford to invest in these endeavors.  I say, we cannot fail to invest.  
 
This argument is not new to America.  There are those in the political leadership who hold the view that government has no role, and should not be setting out a vision for America’s future. I would argue that at every juncture, they’ve been proven wrong.  
 
If we had listened to those voices in 1774, private enterprise and government would not have collaborated to build the rifles with interchangeable parts needed to win the Revolutionary War.
 
If we had listened to these voices in 1843, Congress never would have collaborated with Samuel Morse build a demonstration telegraph line, from Washington to Baltimore and unleashing a telecommunications revolution.  
 
If President Lincoln had listened to those voices in the middle of the Civil War, he wouldn’t have paid private railroad companies $16,000 dollars for every 40 miles of track on a transcontinental railroad they laid down.  
 
If President Eisenhower had listened to those voices in 1957, he never would have invested millions of government dollars in a new research endeavor called ARPA, which invented the Arpanet, which became the Internet.
 
And if President Kennedy has listened to those voices, we never would have reached for the moon, and reaped the incredible benefits that flowed from that effort. And I assure you that neither President Obama and I are going to listen to those voices, and mortgage the future of your generation.
 
In his inaugural address, President Kennedy said, “In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course.  Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty.”
 
Today, we are summoned again. Let us have the strength, courage, and vision to answer that call.
 
For in the words of President Obama, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
 
Thank you.  May God bless America.  And may God protect our troops.

Joint Fact Sheet: U.S.-UK Higher Education, Science, and Innovation Collaboration

Prime Minister Cameron and President Obama agree that science and higher education are the foundation stones of their two nations’ 21st century economies and that the UK and U.S. have a responsibility to further their global leadership roles in these essential fields. The U.S. funds approximately one-third of the world’s scientific research and the UK is first among G-8 countries in scientific publications and citations as a fraction of GDP.  In higher education, the U.S. and UK are home to the world’s ten highest ranking universities.

Recognizing the great potential for productive cooperation in these domains, the Prime Minister and President reaffirmed during the State visit their mutual commitment to strong collaboration in science and higher education and agreed to work to increase the number of joint endeavours among individuals in cutting-edge laboratories, universities, scientific societies, think tanks, government agencies to develop human capital and ensure a strong and agile knowledge base. They expressed particular support for cooperation in fields that will create jobs and generate new economic opportunities in both countries while tackling some of the most pressing global challenges facing the world today. The leaders also expressed a determination to maintain research excellence that leads to economic growth and job creation.

The UK and the U.S. are world-leading knowledge economies and enjoy the most productive bilateral higher education relationship in the world, with each country being the other’s top destination for overseas study—a partnership worth more than $1 billion annually.  The Prime Minister and President welcomed the forthcoming meeting of the UK-U.S. Higher Education Policy Forum.  They also encouraged further strengthening of institutional higher education links including international internships and other modes of mutual mobility for students and faculty members—between the U.S. and UK and in cooperation with other global partners—to better equip American and British students with the skills needed to succeed in and bolster the global economy.

The leaders welcomed in particular the growing partnership between the UK Meteorological Office (Met Office) and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service, codified with the signing of an historic Memorandum of Agreement in February 2011. This agreement provides for a coordinated U.S.-UK partnership in the delivery of space weather alerts to help provide critical infrastructure protection around the globe. The two governments announced today that they will embark together on an ambitious program to create the world’s first combined space weather model capable of forecasting terrestrial weather with great accuracy and also indicating where, when, and for how long space weather effects will persist in our upper atmosphere and whether these anomalies are likely to disrupt and degrade GPS-enabled positioning, navigation, and timing capabilities.

In addition, the leaders announced a package of significant ongoing and future activities intended to deepen their partnership and commitment to meeting global challenges in the following areas: Space Science and Exploration, Clean Energy and Climate Science, Food Security, Health and Wellbeing, Innovation and Growth. Each of these is detailed on the corresponding Joint Statement Addendum on Higher Education, Science, and Innovation Collaboration.

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Addendum on Higher Education, Science, and Innovation Collaboration

The Prime Minister and President highlighted the long and distinguished tradition of bilateral collaboration in science and innovation, noting that some 30 percent of the UK’s internationally co-authored papers are with US partners and those papers produce an impact that is 50 percent higher than the UK research-base average. The leaders expressed their determination to maintain research excellence that leads to economic growth and job creation and asked their respective science advisers to advance strategic discussions on areas of mutual interest while also encouraging closer ties between the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology (CST). The leaders also agreed to work together in several specific research areas including:

Innovation, Jobs, and Growth:  The U.S. and the UK are two of the world’s most active investors in venture capital. The leaders agreed to work together to ensure that innovative, high-growth businesses have access to venture capital to fund their growth and create highly skilled jobs. The Prime Minister and President also noted their respective countries’ achievements in attracting research and development investment from overseas.  They welcomed the decision by Johnson & Johnson’s Corporate Office of Science and Technology and its company Janssen to partner with six leading British Universities to undertake cutting edge neuroscience research.

Space Science and Exploration: The Prime Minister and President noted that the U.S. and the UK have enjoyed fruitful bilateral cooperation in earth and space science and look forward to new initiatives in these areas and in space exploration.  The leaders also acknowledged the significant contributions to understanding our own planet and noted the UK’s important contributions, through the European Space Agency and in collaborations with the U.S., relating to Mars exploration, astronomy, and space physics.

Terrestrial and Space Weather:  In addition to the collaborations detailed above, the Met Office and NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center will establish a second 24/7 space weather forecast office to complement and coordinate the dissemination of actionable space weather information. At this years’ World Meteorological Congress, the two countries have agreed to work together with other international partners to implement a fully operational global space weather warning system. This close engagement will reflect the increasingly international nature of space whilst respecting our separate national priorities.

Health and Wellbeing: The two leaders endorsed collaboration between world-class longitudinal studies in the U.S. and UK, with the potential to transform our understanding of issues such as childhood obesity, cancer, aging, and emotional wellbeing. The President and PM Cameron also welcomed the involvement of the Economic and Social Research Council in partnership with the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health in the development of a U.S. National Research Council Panel on Measuring Subjective Wellbeing, which has the potential to generate new insights that will directly inform social and economic policies. The two leaders also noted the new programme of joint research on the ecology of infectious diseases.

Clean Energy and Climate Science: The two leaders agreed on the importance of continued collaboration and concerted international effort in clean energy and climate science.  They expressed their strong support for the next Clean Energy Ministerial, which will take place in London in 2012. They endorsed the announcement of UK co-funding of the National Science Foundation’s Partnerships for International Research and Education program in the area of Sustainable Materials for Energy, agreeing that sustainability should be a key consideration when making choices among competing energy technology options. The U.S., through its Department of Agriculture (USDA), will continue working with the UK as a part of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases to address mitigation of greenhouse gases from croplands, livestock production systems, and paddy rice, while enhancing food security.  In addition, the UK and U.S. entities are engaging African and Asian developing countries in the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project to better understand the implications of climate change on food production and food security around the world and to develop adaption strategies.  They emphasized the importance of data sharing and open science data policies that support climate research and modelling.

Vice President Biden Announces Staff Changes

Washington, DC – The Vice President announced today that his longtime aide and Press Secretary Elizabeth Alexander will be leaving at the end of May to practice law.  She will be succeeded by Kendra Barkoff, who most recently served as Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar’s Deputy Communications Director and Press Secretary. 

Vice President Biden said:  “From the Senate to the White House, for the last five years, Elizabeth has been by my side as a trusted advisor. Together, we’ve logged a lot of miles, and through it all she’s been tough, determined and loyal. Her energy, intellect, and professionalism will be missed enormously, even as I’m excited for her to start the next chapter of her career.”

“We’re looking forward to Kendra joining the team,” added Vice President Biden.  “She has extensive communications and press experience and will be a tremendous asset to our office and the entire White House.” 

Kendra Barkoff comes to the White House from the Department of the Interior, where she served as the Deputy Communications Director and Press Secretary.  Prior to her tenure at Interior, she worked as Senator Bob Casey’s Press Secretary on Capitol Hill.  She has also worked for Senator Richard Durbin as the Democratic Media Coordinator and Press Assistant, as well as for Senator Maria Cantwell as a communications aide.  A native of Northern California, Barkoff graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science.  

Kendra Barkoff joins the Vice President’s communications office, which is led by Communications Director Shailagh Murray, Deputy Press Secretary Amy Dudley and Assistant Press Secretary Liz Allen.  Barkoff will begin working in the Vice President’s office in June.