mr. speaker , as we talk about the economy and talk about the need to have an economic renaissance , to see this continue .  as i said earlier , we have had 40 consecutive months of economic growth .  a lot of times women do not look forward to that 40th birthday , but when we talk about the 40th month of economic growth , that is certainly a date that we want to celebrate .  the gentleman from iowa ( mr. king ) mentioned tax reform and the cost of 22 cents of every dollar of manufactured good in this nation being eaten up by compliance , and the importance of us having a wonderful debate about how we lower that cost so that every sector of our economy is going to see greater productivity and is going to see growth .  we know that working on our tax reform issues , working on tort reform issues to eliminate frivolous lawsuits , are going to be a way that we can begin to benefit , that we can see the products that are manufactured here be more competitive in a global marketplace .  as we look at the opportunities for trade in tennessee , for example , where our exports have increased every year for the past 5 years , and we know that does equal jobs .  over the past 2 years , as the gentleman from iowa ( mr. king ) said , we created about 2.7 million new jobs , and that will soon in a couple of months be 1.5 million new jobs per year .  there are a couple of industries that have seen good growth in the past couple of months : apparel , textiles , transportation and equipment , electronic components and equipment , chemicals , industrial and commercial equipment and computers , instruments , photographic equipment , metals , food , wood and wood products .  virtually every state in the union can claim at least one of these industrial sectors .  in fact , one of the things that we have seen about job creation is that in 48 of our 50 states we have seen jobs growth .  that is impressive .  over the past year , 48 of our 50 states have seen jobs growth .  that is why we are beginning to see this 40 months of overall economic growth , 21 straight months where we are seeing increases in the manufacturing sector , and we know all of this means jobs .  it all means jobs that are being created .  we know that there is a lot of work ahead that we need to do to be certain that this economy keeps growing .  mr. speaker , much of our focus this session is going to be on economic growth , economic competitiveness , doing the things that encourage , that create the right environment .  our government does not create jobs , it is this free enterprise system that creates jobs , and doing things so we help create the right investment , focusing on tax reform and trade issues , on regulatory reform and on energy independence .  these are the areas that are going to have a tremendous impact on our economy as it expands .  we will continue to see growth in those sectors .  mr. speaker , i yield to the gentlewoman from north carolina ( ms. foxx )  who is new to us this congress .  the gentlewoman from north carolina ( ms. foxx )  has come to our congress this year and is serving on the committee on education and the workforce .  and much of her focus , even though her ph.d .  is in education , she understands the importance of an educated workforce and lifelong learning and developing the skills that are so necessary to be productive in your job , to be satisfied in your job .  the gentlewoman from north carolina ( ms. foxx )  has some thoughts she would like to share with us tonight on economic competitiveness .  