National Academy of Engineering President Charles Vest said stakeholders must ask themselves: "How can we garner the national will to take the essential step of funding the America Competes Act?" "The time for action is now," he warned, saying America faces numerous challenges and "the enemy I fear most is complacency." "If we ignore the obvious task at hand while others beat us at our own game, our children and grandchildren will pay the price," he said.

Lockheed Martin Chairman Emeritus Norm Augustine said the "cruel outcome" of the widely cited 2006 report on U.S. competitiveness that he and others authored called "Rising Above The Gathering Storm," was that other countries have been faster to implement its recommendations than his own. The paper "motivated others while we did very little." Meanwhile, businesses have found a solution to challenge they face -- moving factories and labs abroad. "That’s not a solution that anyone in American industry likes," Augustine said.