    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book I)]
    [April 26, 2004]
    [Pages 667-679]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the American Association of Community Colleges Convention in
    Minneapolis, Minnesota
    April 26, 2004

        Thanks for the warm welcome. Jessie, thanks for letting me come by and share some
    thoughts. You picked a great place to have a convention. What a great
    city Minneapolis is.
        I--Jessie's right. I spend a lot
    of time at the community colleges around the country because I see the
    community college system in America as such a hopeful place, a place
    where people can gain the skills necessary to become employable, a place
    where people can gain the skills necessary to realize dreams. The
    community college system is accessible, and it's affordable, and it's
    flexible. It's a major asset of our country, and I want to thank those
    of you who are here who are leaders in the community college system
    around the country. I want to thank you for your dedication. I want to
    thank you for your spirit. I want to thank you for your vision, and I'm
    here to say thanks on behalf of all of America.

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        Not only do I want to talk about the role of community colleges in
    our society today, but I want to talk about the role of community
    colleges in the out-years as we promote a new generation of American
    innovation. I'm going to talk about the need for us to develop an energy
    policy that is based upon new technologies, new hopes, that will enable
    us to become less reliant upon foreign sources of energy and, at the
    same time, continue to improve our environment. I want to talk about the
    use of information technology to improve medicine and to make sure we
    keep the patients at the heart of the health care system. And I want to
    talk about affordable broadband technology so that America can stay on
    the leading edge of technological change.
        First, Jess, thanks for leading
    this august group. He's Tejano. Nothing better to be in the presence of
    a Tejano. Jess told me coming in here that--I asked him where he was
    raised. He said, ``Southern California.'' He said he didn't speak
    English when he came to America at age five. His dad had big dreams for
    him, and here he is, years later, introducing the President of the
    United States in perfect English. It speaks to the great hope of
    America, doesn't it? It speaks to our great society that says to Jess'
    dad, ``You can realize your dream here. You can raise your son. Your son
    can be educated and rise to an important position in making sure America
    is an educated society.'' Jess, I appreciate your determination, but I
    really appreciate the determination of your good father to see that you
    have a chance to succeed in the greatest Nation on the face of the
    Earth.
        I want to thank George Boggs, the
    president and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges, for
    hosting us. I know you're going to honor my friend Rich
    Carmona, who is the U.S. Surgeon General.
    Rich is a graduate of the community college system. He's an interesting
    guy. He's doing a heck of a good job for us. I'm proud that he has
    agreed to serve our Nation, and I'm proud of the fact that you're
    honoring him. You've made a really wise choice. And whoever the judges
    are to decide that Rich was the right person, congratulations on such
    good judgment. [Laughter]
        I want to thank the Governor, who has
    joined us today. The Governor is a backer of the community college
    system here in Minnesota. Governor Pawlenty is doing a great job for the
    people of this State, and I'm proud you're here, Governor. Thank you for
    coming.
        I also want to thank Norm Coleman, the
    United States Senator. He flew down with me today on Air Force One. I'm
    not suggesting he was looking for a comfortable ride--[laughter]--but he
    got one. [Laughter] He's a good fellow who's serving the State of
    Minnesota well, as are Jim Ramstad and Mark
    Kennedy, Members of the United States
    Congress. I really appreciate you all taking your time to come and honor
    the crowd here today with your presence.
        I want to thank the speaker of the house,
    the majority leader of the statehouse here in
    Minnesota for coming. I want to thank all the State and local officials
    who are here. It's awfully nice for you to come out and spend a little
    quality time with your President. [Laughter]
        I want to congratulate the 2004 New Century Scholars who are with us
    today. Thanks for aiming high. Thanks for working hard. Thanks for
    setting standards. And congratulations on achieving one goal in what I
    hope is a productive and happy life.
        I also met a woman--lady today named Melissa DuBose. She is a high school student. She showed up at the
    airport, and she's there because I love to herald soldiers in the army
    of compassion. I love to point out to people these heroic stories of
    citizens who are trying to make the community and world a better place.
        You know, oftentimes we talk about the strength of America, and one
    of our strengths is our military. I intend to keep it strong. Another
    strength is the fact that

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    we're a wealthy nation, and that's good. That's important. But the true
    strength of the country is the hearts and souls of our citizens. That's
    the real strength of America. Our real strength is because we're a
    compassionate nation where people have heard a universal call to love a
    neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself.
        Melissa DuBose is such a person. She
    travels to Honduras to help people in orphanages. What a lovely spirit
    that is, isn't it, a high school student here in Minnesota spreading
    love and compassion for those who need it in Honduras. Melissa is just
    one example of many in this community who help feed the hungry, find
    shelter for the homeless, mentor a child, or helping to change our
    country and our world one soul at a time. I don't know where Melissa is.
    Where are you, Melissa? There you are. Why don't you stand up. Thanks
    for coming, and God bless your work.
        We have the strongest economy of any major industrialized nation in
    the world. And that is--it's an amazing statement, when you think about
    what this economy and our country has been through. And the reason I
    bring that up is because I know how important the entrepreneurial spirit
    is. I know how important education is to the future of this country, and
    I believe it was the spirit of America and our education system, in
    part, that helped us overcome the challenges we face.
        We faced a recession. And those are tough times, obviously. They're
    tough times for workers looking for work. They're a tough time for
    small-business owners who are worried about whether or not there will be
    capital available to expand. It was a very difficult period.
        There will be an argument as about why the recession was shallow. Of
    course, I believe it was shallow because people had more money in their
    pocket to spend, which made the recession one of the most shallow in
    American history.
        And then, as we were recovering from that recession and a stock
    market decline, the enemy hit us, and that obviously affected us. Our
    economy lost nearly one million jobs in just 3 months after the attacks.
    Remember, the stock market shut down, airplanes weren't flying. It was a
    very difficult period. It was also difficult for our psychology because
    it was the first time we realized that we were a battlefield.
        For years, when we grew up--at least us baby boomers grew up--we
    thought that oceans would protect us from harm's way. And then we
    learned a solemn lesson on that day. We learned the lesson that there is
    an enemy which hates us because of what we stand for. Because we love
    freedom, because we value freedom, because we work for free societies,
    there's an enemy which is willing to inflict harm. The enemy also is the
    kind of enemy we've really never faced before because they're willing to
    kill innocent women and children and men of all religions in order to
    affect our psychology.
        So September the 11th was a tough hurdle to overcome. We will
    overcome it because we're a strong, resolute nation, and we will
    overcome it by staying on the offensive and bringing these killers to
    justice before they harm America again.
        And as we were recovering from that, we faced corporate scandal. I
    don't know if you remember the period--I clearly do--that we were
    beginning to recover, and CEOs in corporate America didn't tell the
    truth, which shook the confidence of this country. In other words, these
    people weren't responsible citizens. They didn't tell the truth to
    shareholders. They didn't tell the truth to employees, and it hurt. We
    passed tough laws. We said, ``There will be a consequence if you're not
    a responsible CEO in corporate America.'' We made it clear that we're
    not going to tolerate dishonesty in the boardrooms of America, and the
    people in America are now beginning to see justice being done.
        But we've overcome that hurdle. And then, as you know, I made a
    decision to protect the country against further harm.

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    One of the lessons of September the 11th is, is that when we see
    threats, we must deal with them before they fully materialize. That's
    one of the lessons that our country must never forget about September
    the 11th. We can't hope a problem goes away anymore. We must deal with
    it.
        See, my most important job is to protect the country. That's my most
    solemn duty, to make sure as best as we possibly can that the harm done
    to our citizens doesn't happen again. I saw a threat in Iraq. The
    Congress looked at the same intelligence and saw a threat. The United
    Nations Security Council looked at the same intelligence, and they said,
    ``There's a threat.''
        So I went in front of the U.N. and said, ``Why don't we do something
    about it now? The man has ignored you for 10
    years. For the sake of world peace, why don't we do something about
    it?'' People felt that way, of course, because he had used weapons of
    mass destruction on his own people. They remembered that. They
    remembered he invaded his neighborhood. They remembered he paid
    suiciders to go kill Jewish people. They knew that he had relations with
    terrorists. We all saw a threat, and he hid. He said, ``No, I'm not
    going to listen to the demands of the free world.'' So faced with
    trusting a madman and hoping for the best or working to make sure
    America's more secure, I will always make the decision to keep America
    secure.
        And that's what we're doing today. We're acting to make sure the
    country is secure, and it's hard work. Our military is performing
    brilliantly. We must defeat enemy there so we don't have to face them
    here. But we're working for something bigger than just security, short-
    term security. We're working for free society in Iraq. You see, a free
    society is a peaceful society. A free society in the midst of a region
    of the world where there's hatred and intolerance will be a historic
    moment for change for the better.
        I shared a story the other day during a press conference where I
    talked about a dinner I had with Prime Minister Koizumi of Japan, and we're eating Kobe beef. I don't know
    whether it's grown here in Minnesota or not--real good. And it dawned on
    me in the course of our conversation that had we not gotten the peace
    right after World War II that I don't think I--it's possible I wouldn't
    have been sitting with the Prime Minister of Japan talking about how to
    make the Korean Peninsula more peaceful. See, we're talking about North
    Korea. We're talking about the dangers of the North Korean dictator having a nuclear weapon, what it would mean for
    world peace. And then it dawned on me in the course of the conversation
    that one of these days, an American President will sit down with a duly
    elected leader in Iraq--from Iraq, to talk about how to bring peace to
    that troubled part of the world.
        These are historic times. It's a historic opportunity to spread
    peace and freedom. I believe that freedom is not America's gift to the
    world; freedom is the almighty God's gift to each man and woman in this
    world, and free societies will be peaceful societies.
        The reason I brought that up is I want to put it in perspective, put
    these statistics in perspective. The economy is strong, and it's getting
    stronger. We've overcome a lot. I happen to believe it's because of
    progrowth economic issues, but I also know it's because the
    entrepreneurial spirit is strong, the small-business sector of America
    is strong, and there's great opportunities in this country. Retail sales
    are strong. Interest rates are low. Homeownership is at the highest rate
    ever, which is a fantastic statistic, when you think about it.
        I mean, ours is a society in which we encourage people to own
    something. When you own something, you have a vital stake in the future
    of the country. We want more people owning their own home. The minority
    homeownership gap, while it still exists, is getting better. We want
    everybody to own a home, not just a few, not just those who live in
    suburban America. We want

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    homeownership to be a vital part of the future of our country.
        Durable good orders are up. Industrial production in the first
    quarter rose at the fastest pace in nearly 4 years. In other words,
    things are getting better. There's renewed confidence. When people
    invest in equipment, it makes--it means it's more likely somebody is
    going to find work, and that's what's happening. There are new jobs
    available.
        But the problem we face in the short term in America is some workers
    do not have the skills necessary to fill the new jobs. There are jobs
    being created during this period of economic transition. And yet, there
    are willing workers who don't have the skill set necessary to fill those
    jobs. And I think you'll find in different communities around the
    country, there are people looking for nurses or teaching or different
    technology fields of technology.
        And you know who knows this best? The community college system
    understands it best. You know, the people closest to the situation in
    each community are those who can best devise a strategy to meet the
    growing demand for workers and the need to make sure the workers have
    the appropriate skill sets.
        I was in Forsyth County Community College in North Carolina, where
    former textile workers are now getting the skills to work in
    biotechnology. There's these people, worked in one industry; the
    industry became noncompetitive; and the Government stepped in and
    helped. As you know, there's ample programs for worker displacement
    monies to help pay for community college.
        But the most important thing that happened was that the community
    college administrators went to the local employers and said, ``What do
    you need? If you're looking for workers, what do you need?'' And they
    changed curriculum to meet the needs of the employers in that community,
    and people are now getting the skills necessary to work.
        The River Community College in Florida is opening a new center next
    May to provide cutting-edge training in robotics, in lasers, and
    phototonic technology. In other words, there's a demand for these kind
    of workers, and what the community college system does is it provides a
    fantastic opportunity for job training, for new educational
    opportunities. In Illinois and Ohio, community colleges have joined
    efforts to train workers to fill high-tech jobs in the manufacturing
    sector.
        So the first thing I want to say is, thanks for what you're doing to
    make America a more hopeful place. Thanks for providing an opportunity
    for somebody who says, ``The job I used to work in is beginning to be
    transitioned out as our economy changes,'' and ``Help me get the skill
    sets necessary to be employable.''
        I'll never forget meeting a lady in the Mesa Community College. And
    she was a graphic design artist, and she wanted to gain skills necessary
    to get--make more money. She understood that with education, you become
    a more productive worker. She also said--understood that productivity
    increases means higher pay. And so she went to the community college.
    She got an associate's degree. She got out. She got employed by a high-
    tech company. And she made more in her first year in her new job than
    she had made in her last year as a graphic artist.
        See, not only does the community college system help somebody get
    employed, they help somebody to become a more productive worker. And
    there's a lot of talk about productivity in our society. Productivity
    provides interesting and important challenges. First of all, the more
    productive your workforce is, the faster your economy has to grow. See,
    if you've got--if a worker can produce more goods and services per hour
    than in the past, in order to add new workers, the economy has to grow
    faster than productivity. And it's a challenge.
        And that's why we can't become isolated from the rest of the world.
    We've got to

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    reject economic isolationism. That's why we've got to have good legal
    policy. That's how we've got to make sure that the small-business sector
    is vibrant. That's why we've got to make sure the entrepreneurial spirit
    is strong.
        But it also is the reason why the community colleges are important
    for the future. Because if productivity is necessary for employment, it
    is the community college which helps the citizen become more productive.
    But it's also the community college which helps a citizen make more
    money. Productivity increases lift the standard of living for citizens
    in our country. After all, since 2001, the after-tax income of Americans
    has climbed by 10 percent--over 10 percent. Part of it has to do--is our
    workforce is more productive and the people of the community college
    system are making a vital contribution.
        Now, as we encourage innovation and change--and I'm going to talk
    about three ways to do so--but as we do so, as we make sure America can
    compete in the world by fostering new technologies, it is always
    important to remember the vital role education plays in our society. I
    mean, technologies change, but the vital role of education never
    changes.
        And it starts with making sure that when somebody goes to a
    community college, they can actually read and write and add and
    subtract, which is why we've got to get it right in the early grades in
    America. The No Child Left Behind Act is a vital, important piece of
    legislation, and I'll tell you why. For the first time, in return for
    Federal money, we have asked this fundamental question: Can you read and
    write and add and subtract? Are you teaching our children the basics?
    We've increased Federal spending by 49 percent for public schools since
    I got sworn in. And what's changed is, we're now saying, ``Show us
    whether or not a child can read, and show us early.''
        Now, if you believe every child can read, then you're willing to ask
    the question, ``Show us if they can read.'' If you believe they can't,
    then you're willing to accept a system that just quits on kids early and
    shuffles them through. And guess who gets hurt--parents who may not
    speak English as a first language, inner-city black kids. It's easy to
    walk into a classroom full of kids--``difficult to educate,'' they call
    them--and say, ``Let's don't measure. Let's just move them through and
    hope we get it right.''
        See, I think that's backwards. I think our society has got to
    challenge what I call the soft bigotry of low expectations. I think
    we've got to raise the bar for every single child. And the best way to
    determine whether or not we are succeeding is to insist that States
    measure, to show us whether or not a child is literate.
        I've heard every excuse in the book about not measuring. ``Oh, you
    can't teach the test.'' You can teach a child to read, and they can pass
    a literacy test. ``Oh, you know, we're testing too much.'' How do you
    know whether or not a child is moving through the system and can't read
    if you're not willing to say, ``Let's be accountable''?
        Now, I think accountability is the cornerstone for making sure that
    we have a literate society. In the No Child Left Behind Act, there's
    money available to help students early, before it's too late. We have
    got to stop this business about social promotion. We've got to be able
    to say, ``Here's a problem. Let's solve it early. Let's make sure
    there's additional money to focus on the kids so we don't have a
    pipeline full of illiterate children.'' No, the No Child Left Behind Act
    is raising the bar and raising the standards, because I believe and I
    know you believe every child has the potential to learn.
        Now, you've got to recognize there are some kids who have been
    shuffled through, and that's why we need intensive intervention in
    middle schools and high schools. And so I'm working with Congress to
    pass the Striving Reader and Math Initiative program, and that's a fancy
    word for saying

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    we're going to intervene quickly with struggling middle-class--middle
    grade and high school students. Listen, you can't, in a community
    college system, expect to be able to do your job if you spend a lot of
    time on remedial reading programs. We've got to get it right early, and
    we will get it right early.
        And at the same time, in order to make sure that we've got the skill
    sets necessary for what is a changing world and a changing economy, we
    need to focus on math and science in our public schools. And we've got a
    shortage of teachers in the public schools, and so we've laid out a
    program to encourage scientists and engineers from the private sector to
    teach in the public school.
        We've got to reform the Perkins Act, which is a vocational training
    program, which didn't emphasize the skills necessary to fill the jobs of
    the 21st century; it emphasized one aspect of job training. But there
    needs to be math and science as a part of the Perkins Act of the
    vocational training, so that the citizens who are coming out of high
    school can be worked with to make them available for the jobs of the
    21st century.
        The Pell grant program is a vital part of making sure that people
    have the skill set necessary for the jobs of the 21st century. My budget
    increases the number of students receiving Pell grants. We've increased
    the number by a million since I took office. Four hundred thousand of
    those, 40 percent of those, are for the community college system here in
    America. Pell grants are a vital aspect of making sure that we meet our
    fundamental obligations to provide people the skills necessary for the
    jobs that will be available. I proposed an extra $1,000 per year in
    enhanced Pell grant scholarships for students who take a rigorous high
    school curriculum. In other words, there ought to be incentives for
    people to do better. We ought to be raising that bar, not lowering the
    bar.
        We ought to be increasing standards. We ought to be expecting the
    best of every student in America. I proposed a Presidential Math and
    Science Scholarship Fund to give scholarships in those fields to low-
    income students. In other words, what I'm telling you is, is that in
    order for us to be a society which is able to compete, in elementary
    school and in high school, we must raise the standards.
        As well we must support our community college systems. The community
    college systems provide great opportunity for people to go from high
    school to community college to a higher education. That's important. The
    community college system also provides great opportunity for people who
    never went to college, who have worked, to go back and get a degree in
    order to help make themselves more productive.
        And so, as Jessie mentioned, I
    proposed to Congress a $250-million program to help community colleges
    form partnerships with local businesses. This is a practical way to help
    people find work. It's a practical way to make sure the skill set
    matches the jobs of the 21st century. I think this will help train
    100,000 more people a year. It's a way to keep America on the leading
    edge of change. You can't change as a society if you don't have a
    workforce that is capable of working in the new jobs of the 21st
    century. That's what I'm telling you, and the community college system
    provides the capacity for us to have the skill sets necessary in our
    workers.
        I know many of you have been involved with the Workforce Investment
    Act. It needs to be changed. Listen to this statistic. We spend $4
    billion a year on the Workforce Investment Act and pay--that money paid
    for about--training for about 200,000 adults. It doesn't seem like we're
    getting--something may be wrong there. [Laughter] We can do a better job
    with the money we're spending.
        So I laid out a reform package, that we've got to give States more
    flexibility. You see, flexibility means you're more able

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    to match--you hear me say that; I'm going to keep saying it until we get
    it right here in America, until you match the willing worker with the
    skill sets necessary to be employed. That's what flexibility means. If
    you're inflexible in your system, it means you miss opportunity; it
    means you're not able to design a curriculum that meets the needs of the
    local community. It means that opportunity goes by. There needs to be a
    strict cap on overhead costs. If you're spending $4 billion and 200,000
    are trained, some of it is not going for the worker. It may be going to
    pay administrative costs. And there needs to be a strict cap.
        We need to make sure there are clear results. You've heard me talk
    about results in the public school system. I think people need to be
    measured. I think we need to say, ``What are the results?'' If it's
    200,000 for $4 billion, the results aren't good.
        Right now, there are so many goals, there are no goals. If you're
    involved with the Workforce Investment Act, you know what I'm talking
    about. There's all kind of measurement standards. The primary
    measurement standard is: Are you using taxpayers' dollars in a good way
    to train people for jobs. That ought to be the standard. See, that's
    where our focus is.
        America leads the world because of our system of private enterprise
    and a system that encourages innovation, and it's important that we keep
    it that way. See, I think the proper role for Government is not to try
    to create wealth but to create an environment in which the
    entrepreneurial spirit flourishes. That's what I love about the country,
    the entrepreneurial spirit.
        I'm sure you've met in your communities small-business owners who
    had the big dream, started out with an idea in a garage, and now, are
    employing people. That's what we ought to encourage, and the proper role
    of Government is to foster that kind of environment. You've heard me
    talk about ways to do so, make sure that we're--we reject economic
    isolation and make sure tax policy encourages innovation and growth, and
    to make sure the legal system is fair--listen, frivolous lawsuits make
    it awfully difficult for people to expand their businesses and people to
    find work--make sure the health care system is vibrant and patient-
    oriented. I'll talk about that in a minute.
        The Government can help as well, though, by providing research
    scholars. I mean, one of the things we've got to recognize is that if we
    want to be competitive in the future, that we've got to encourage
    research and development so that the next wave of technology is
    America's wave of technology. In other words, if we want the people to
    be working here at home, this country's got to stay the leader in
    innovation and change, and the Government can help.
        I proposed raising Federal spending on research and development to
    $132 billion since I--from--it's a 44-percent increase since I came in
    office. Look, that's a big number, but what I'm telling you is, is that
    the Government can be a vital part of providing the research that will
    allow for America to stay on the leading edge of technology.
        I think we ought to encourage private sector companies to do the
    same, to invest in research. And therefore, I believe the tax credits
    that are critical for encouraging of research ought to be a permanent
    part of Tax Code. They're set to expire. Congress ought to make tax cuts
    permanent.
        But what I'm telling you is, there is a vital role for our country
    to make sure that we put investment in place that will make it easier
    for the country to compete in a worldwide economy and, therefore, make
    it more likely our citizens will find work so long as they have the
    skill set necessary to match the jobs.
        Now, I also want to talk about three other goals of ways to make
    sure that we're the innovative society of the world. First, you know, we
    need a different energy strategy than the one we have today, a strategy

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    that uses technology and innovation to diversify our supplies, to make
    us less dependent on foreign sources of energy, and to improve the
    environment.
        The debate in America on energy policy has been almost zero-sum,
    when you think about it. It's like, they say that we must protect the
    environment and therefore have less energy, or they say that pollution
    is the price of progress. See, I disagree with either of those extremes.
    I think that we can use our technology and innovation to get beyond the
    false choices of the past and that we can have an energy policy that
    is--meets our national objectives, which, by the way, is an innovative
    society. You can't be an innovative society if you're stuck on foreign
    sources of oil. You may be short term, but long term, I don't see how we
    can be the world leader if we're constantly dependent on foreign sources
    of oil.
        So research and development is necessary to change the energy policy
    of the country. And you say, ``What do you mean?'' Well, I believe it's
    possible to grow our way out of some dependence on foreign sources of
    energy. I mean, I can't wait to see the day when Minnesota farmers are
    out there harvesting corn that becomes an integral mix of the energy
    supply of the country. So we've got research and development to
    encourage biomass and effective ethanol--the use of ethanol as a part of
    the new supplies of the American economy.
        I think we have to have safe nuclear energy. I think we ought to be
    continuing to research and spend research dollars to make sure that
    we're able to properly harness nuclear energy without harming the
    environment. I think it's possible we do so.
        I also know that we've got a plentiful supply of coal in our
    country, and that's why it's important for us to continue to explore
    clean coal technologies, so we can use the energy supply here at home in
    a way that is--achieves, in a national objective, diversifying away from
    foreign sources of energy and protecting our environment. Technology and
    research will enable us to do so.
        I want to talk about one other aspect of promising technologies, and
    that is the hydrogen fuel cell, which captures energy from chemical
    reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. See, it captures energy from a
    chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. That's positive because
    the exhaust of that engine is water. It's--and I'm confident we can
    achieve this technological breakthrough to the point where I've asked
    Congress to spend $1.2 billion, which they have, in research into
    developing clean hydrogen powered cars.
        We are making progress on hydrogen fuel cells, and that's positive.
    Private companies, including automakers--see, automakers are beginning
    to see what the future is going to be like. They're beginning to see the
    need for diversification away from the current energy policy. They've
    already spent a billion dollars of their own money to develop hydrogen
    fuel powered cars and the infrastructure necessary to deliver hydrogen
    fuel.
        See, one of the challenges is not only developing a car that works
    but imagine the infrastructure changes necessary to fuel cars 10 years
    from now. One of the things consumers like is they like to go to their
    neighborhood gas station. When you hear talk about development of
    infrastructures like go to your neighborhood hydrogen station--and
    that's going to be a difficult hurdle in order to make sure that we've
    changed behavior here in America, but it's a hurdle that we've got to
    overcome. It's a necessary hurdle.
        Today the Department of Energy has selected recipients for $350
    million of research grants. In other words, the administration is now
    acting upon the Congress' appropriations. They're funding research into
    practical hydrogen fuel storage--so not only how you distribute it, how
    do you store hydrogen. They're encouraging the construction of hydrogen
    refueling stations

    [[Page 676]]

    around the country. We're beginning to change behavior. And they're
    helping scientists develop hydrogen fuel cells that can be used in heavy
    trucks and farm equipment and other industrialized vehicles.
        See, when we get it right here, when we get the hydrogen car up and
    running, not only will it make America a better place, we'll become the
    innovator of the world. That's what we want to be. We want to be the
    leader in the world. We want to be the country that leads the world in
    innovation and technological change.
        Another way we can do so is to make sure the health care system
    leads the world in innovation and quality and safety, always
    remembering, however, that the patient needs to be at the center of
    every medical decision. That's an important part of the--[applause].
        Many of you have seen the advances of--close hand of medical
    research. Just think of some of the advances that are coming. We're
    using a gene chip technology to help for cancer treatments. The world is
    changing dramatically in the field of medicine in many exciting ways.
    We're using brain imaging to discover the physical causes of mental
    illness. We're using tissue engineering to restore damaged or diseased
    tissues. And these are all incredible changes, and America is on the
    leading edge of change in medicines. And we need to keep us that way.
        But one of the things that hasn't changed very much is the way
    doctors and hospitals do business. The 21st-century health care system
    is using a 19th-century paperwork system. Doctors use paper files to
    keep tracks of their patients. Pharmacists have to figure out the
    handwriting of a doctor. [Laughter] Vital medical information is
    scattered in many places. X-rays get misplaced. Problems with drug
    interaction are not systematically checked. See, these old methods of
    keeping records are real threats to patients and their safety and are
    incredibly costly. Modern technology hasn't caught up with a major
    aspect of health care, and we've got to change that. We've got to change
    it.
        Catch the story of a fellow name Bob Brown
    from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Maybe this will help people better understand
    why we need to change. Bob's daughter Elizabeth developed a rare form of leukemia. She had a
    complicated case, and she had to see a lot of doctors. All told,
    Elizabeth--that's the daughter's name--regularly visited three hospitals
    and saw more than 50 specialists. Here's what Bob said about the
    paperwork that he had to deal with: ``Every time we saw a specialist, we
    answered the same questions.'' He got fed up, and he started getting
    copies of every note that a doctor added to Elizabeth's medical file.
    Eventually, he filled up two big binders with her medical records, which
    he carried everywhere he went so she didn't face delays or mistakes when
    she saw a new specialist. He says that fortunately, carrying those files
    around helped in his case. It helped get Elizabeth the treatment she
    needed in a faster way.
        The problem is, is that he shouldn't be having
    to carry around the binders. The system is antiquated. It is old. They
    should have personal electronic medical files available that accurately
    and securely keep a patient's medical history and, in Elizabeth's case, her treatments. In other words, medicine
    ought to be using modern technologies in order to better share
    information, in order to reduce medical errors, in order to reduce cost
    to our health care system by billions of dollars. To protect patients
    and improve care and reduce cost, we need a system where everyone has
    their own personal electronic medical record that they control and they
    can give a doctor when they need to.
        And so you say, ``How do we do this?'' Well, first you set a goal:
    Within 10 years, every American must have a personal electronic medical
    record. That's a good goal for the country to achieve. The Federal
    Government has got to take the lead in order to make this happen by
    developing

    [[Page 677]]

    what's called technical standards. In other words, there needs to be
    standards. As you know, docs talk, like, different languages in
    different offices, and there needs to be--in order to have uniformity,
    there needs to be standards available, and it's a good role for the
    Federal Government. That will allow medical records such as x-rays and
    lab tests to be stored and sent electronically.
        So step one is to set the standards. And we've done good work, and
    we'll try to finish the standards by the end of this year. I say
    ``we''--it's the Department of Health and Human Services that are
    involved with this important project. We've set out money to encourage
    demonstration projects that will show to health care providers the need
    to use electronics to make their records system more modern.
        As well there's the senior department that we've announced today at
    the Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate these efforts
    with hospitals and medical groups. In other words, a proper role for the
    Government is to take the lead in this case, and after all, we should.
    We spend enormous amounts of money in the health care field. I mean,
    we're a large provider--spender for health care, Medicare, Medicaid,
    veterans' benefits, employee benefits. And so the Federal Government
    must create the incentives for health care providers involved with the
    Federal Government to use medical records and, in doing so, will go a
    long way toward introducing IT, information technology, into a part of
    medicine that desperately needs it.
        As we do so, I want to repeat what I said earlier. Patients will
    have control over their privacy. I fully understand there's a issue of
    privacy, and the people who ought to determine the extent of privacy,
    their privacy, of course, is the patient, the consumer.
        The third goal is to make sure that we have access to the
    information that is transforming our economy through broadband
    technology. I'm talking about broadband technology in every part of our
    country. I was the Governor of Texas for a while. I remember talking
    about access to information, and there was always a group of people
    saying, ``That's fine. Big cities get it, but rural people don't.'' I'm
    talking about broadband technology to every corner of our country by the
    year 2007 with competition shortly thereafter.
        Educators understand the great value of broadband technology. I
    mean, the--I'm not surprised that people involved in the community
    college system, when you mention broadband technology, nod their heads.
    It's the flow of information and the flow of knowledge which will help
    transform America and keep us on the leading edge of change. And we've
    got to make sure that flow is strong and modern and vibrant. And by the
    way, we've got to make sure that there's competition for your demand. We
    need more than just one provider available for not only community
    colleges but also for consumers. In our society, the more providers
    there are, the better the quality will be and the better the pricing
    mechanism will be.
        Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte is using broadband
    to conduct classes for students all across their State. You know, one of
    the interesting opportunities for the community college system is to
    provide education opportunities for people who work out of their home,
    for example. And the expansion of broadband technology will mean
    education literally will head into the living rooms of students. That
    will even make the system more flexible and more available and more
    affordable.
        Same with health care. Again, if you're from a State where there's a
    lot of rural people, there's nothing better than to be able to transfer
    information quickly from a rural doc to a hospital for analysis in order
    to save lives. It's happening all around our country. The ability to
    send an

    [[Page 678]]

    x-ray image in 7 seconds and have a response back in 10 minutes with a
    preliminary analysis oftentimes will save lives. But you hear us talk
    about making sure health care is accessible and affordable. One way to
    do so is to hook up communities and homes to broadband. It's going to be
    a really good way for us to make sure the health care system works
    better and the education system works better. And it also is going to be
    an important way to make sure that we're an innovative society.
        Now, the use of broadband has tripled since 2000 from 7 million
    subscriber lines to 24 million. That's good, but that's way short of the
    goal for 2007. And so--by the way, we rank 10th amongst the
    industrialized world in broadband technology and its availability.
    That's not good enough for America. Tenth is 10 spots too low, as far as
    I'm concerned.
        Broadband technology must be affordable. In order to make sure it
    gets spread to all corners of the country, it must be affordable. We
    must not tax broadband access. If you want broadband access throughout
    the society, Congress must ban taxes on access.
        Secondly, a proper role for the Government is to clear regulatory
    hurdles so those who are going to make investments do so. Broadband is
    going to spread because it's going to make sense for private sector
    companies to spread it so long as the regulatory burden is reduced--in
    other words, so long as policy at the Government level encourages people
    to invest, not discourages investment.
        And so here are some smart things to do: One, increase access to
    Federal land for fiber-optic cables and transmission towers. That makes
    sense. As you're trying to get broadband spread throughout the country,
    make sure it's easy to build across Federal lands. One sure way to hold
    things up is that the Federal lands say, ``You can't build on us.'' So
    how is some guy in remote Wyoming going to get any broadband technology?
    Regulatory policy has got to be wise and smart as we encourage the
    spread of this important technology. There needs to be technical
    standards to make possible new broadband technologies, such as the use
    of high-speed communication directly over powerlines. Powerlines were
    for electricity; powerlines can be used for broadband technology. So the
    technical standards need to be changed to encourage that.
        And we need to open up more federally controlled wireless spectrum
    to auction in free public use, to make wireless broadband more
    accessible, reliable, and affordable. Listen, one of the technologies
    that's coming is wireless. And if you're living out in--I should--I was
    going to say Crawford, Texas, but it's not--maybe not nearly as remote.
    [Laughter] How about Terlingua, Texas? There's not a lot of wires out
    there. But wireless technology is going to change all that so long as
    Government policy makes sense.
        And we're going to continue to support the Federal Communications
    Commission, Michael Powell--Chairman Michael Powell, under his leadership, his decision to eliminate burdensome
    regulations on new broadband networks availability to homes. In other
    words, clearing out the underbrush of regulation, and we'll get the
    spread of broadband technology, and America will be better for it.
        I've come today to talk about practical ways to make sure we lead
    the world when it comes to innovation and change. And by leading the
    world when it comes to innovation and change, we'll make America a
    hopeful place for those who want to work and those who want to dream and
    those who want to start their own business.
        And the community college system is an integral part of that
    strategy. That's what I'm here to tell you. It's an integral part so
    long as you're willing to listen to the needs of those who are looking
    for workers. It's an integral part so long as you continue to be
    entrepreneurial in the delivery of education. The community college
    system

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    is a cornerstone of good economic policy. It's a cornerstone of sound
    educational policy. And it's one of the reasons why I'm optimistic that
    America will lead--continue to lead the world when it comes to
    innovation and change. And that will be good for our people. That will
    be good for the revitalization of what I call the American spirit and
    the American dream.
        I want to thank you for what you do. I appreciate your compassion. I
    appreciate your interest in the future of our country. May God continue
    to bless your work, and may God continue to bless our country. Thank you
    very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:29 a.m. at the Minneapolis Convention
    Center. In his remarks, he referred to Jesus ``Jess'' Carreon, chair of
    the board, and George R. Boggs, president and chief executive officer,
    American Association of Community Colleges; Gov. Tim Pawlenty of
    Minnesota; Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan; and Chairman Kim
    Chong-il of North Korea.