U.S. President Barack Obama delivered good news for green technology companies, and especially startups, in a speech before a joint meeting of Congress and a national TV audience yesterday, during which he emphasized that he is

Making America more competitive for the long haul

Echoing his January 2011 State of the Union Address, in which he said,

We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world

Obama outlined his new USD$447 billion American Jobs Act.

With six million long-term unemployed Americans – and 86 percent of the U.S. public “frustrated” or “angry” with the federal government, according to a recent poll – Obama took a feisty tone in addressing a Congress that has virtually been deadlocked for the past six months.

You should pass this now,

he insisted repeatedly during the half-hour address.

Although he made no direct reference to the “five million green jobs over 10 years” he had promised the U.S. electorate during his campaign, Obama directly targeted the need to provide public and private sector support to technology companies.

We now live in a world where technology has made it possible for companies to take their business anywhere, he noted. If we want them to start here and stay here and hire here … that’s a job for all of us. For government and for private companies. For states and for local communities – and for every American citizen. All of us will have to up our game. All of us will have to change the way we do business.

The president made the following commitments that would support green technology, including photovoltaic energy generation, saying that his economic plan has the elements to:

•Mobilize business leaders to train 10,000 American engineers a year, by providing company internships and training;

•Cover tuition for workers who learn more skills at community colleges;

•Provide incentives and support to ensure that “the next generation of manufacturing takes root, not in China or Europe, “but in the United States”;

•Cut away the red tape that prevents too many rapidly growing startup companies from raising capital and going public;

•Provide a 50 percent payroll tax cut for small businesses;

•Give small business owners a tax credit when they hire new workers – and give all companies a $4,000 tax credit if they hire anyone who has spent more than six months looking for a job;

•Offer a tax credit to anyone who hires a military veteran;

•Pay small business owners who have contracts with the federal government “in half the time” that it takes now;

•Allow all businesses to continue writing off the investments they make in 2012; and

•Clear the way for a series of trade agreements that will make it easier for U.S. companies to sell their products in Panama, Colombia and South Korea, while also helping the workers whose jobs have been affected by global competition.

With support from Congress, Obama said that his plan would be a game-changer, noting,

It will provide a jolt to an economy that has stalled, and give companies confidence that if they invest and if they hire, there will be customers for their products and services.

As was to be expected, Democrats largely praised the plan.

Hit From: Energyprofessionalnetwork.com