    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book I)]
    [June 24, 2004]
    [Pages 1121-1128]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Department of Commerce
    June 24, 2004

        Thanks for the warm welcome. And it's good to be here at the
    Commerce Department. Today I want to talk about how to make sure America
    is the best place to do business in the world. How do we make sure that
    we're always on the leading edge of change? And how do we utilize
    technology to improve the lives of our fellow citizens? That's what
    we're here to talk about.
        Our economy is strong today. People are getting back to work.
    There's an excitement amongst the risktakers, and capital is moving. I'm
    confident it's going to get stronger as the days go on.
        The fundamental question is, what do we need to do to make sure
    we're not only strong today and tomorrow but for the decades to come?
    That's the real challenge that those of us in Government face. One of
    the things that's important for us to always remember, that the proper
    role of Government is not to try to be the generator of wealth. The
    proper role of Government is to create the environment so that the
    entrepreneurial spirit is strong and vibrant and alive and well in
    America. That's the proper role for those of us who have been given the
    high honor of serving the American people.

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        If you have an environment in which the entrepreneurial spirit is
    strong, innovation will follow. I equate innovation with
    entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs are innovative people. They have to
    compete in order to stay in business, and in order to stay in business,
    in order to stay ahead of the competition, you've got to innovate. But
    Government can help. We can encourage innovation in smart ways. We're
    going to talk about some specific measures in which we can encourage and
    help the innovators succeed.
        One thing we've got to do as we think about how to make sure America
    stays on the cutting edge of technology is always remember, good tax
    policy helps innovation. See, if we want to be a nation of innovators,
    we don't want to over-tax industry and commerce and the entrepreneurial
    spirit. It's very important for Congress to understand this. It's
    important for Congress to make sure that the tax relief we passed stays
    in place and not raise taxes on the American people.
        Secondly, if we're going to have an innovative society, we've got to
    have good legal policy. Frivolous and junk lawsuits make it awfully hard
    for people to feel comfortable risking capital. It's one thing to have
    good and fair justice, which we all support, but the legal system must
    be balanced and fair. We don't want to run capital away from the United
    States. We don't want to discourage the innovators and those who take
    risk because they're afraid of getting sued by a lawsuit.
        We need tort reform. And Washington, DC, is a good place to start
    with tort reform. We need class-action reform, asbestos reform, and
    medical liability reform now.
        But we've also got to be competent in our trade policy. In order to
    be a nation of innovation, we've got to be willing to keep our markets
    open and insist that others open their markets to us. It's that free
    flow of goods and services and ideas that will make sure America stays
    on the leading edge of technological change.
        So here are some ways that we can work with Congress through good
    legislative policy to make sure the environment is such that people are
    willing to take risk. Fortunately, we've got some Members of Congress
    who understand exactly what I'm talking about. One would be Senator John
    Ensign from Wyoming. I appreciate you coming,
    Senator. And the other would be my friend from the great State of Texas,
    Lamar Smith. Congressman, it's good to see
    you. Thank you for coming. He's a rancher. [Laughter] He's got
    innovative cows. [Laughter]
        I'm sorry the Secretary is not here. He
    is a--he knows what I'm talking about. He understands the proper
    relationship of Government and risktakers. I understand he's in China.
    Good. Glad he's working. [Laughter]
        I want to thank Ted Kassinger for
    welcoming us here. I appreciate Ann Veneman,
    Secretary of Agriculture. She's here for a reason, which you'll hear
    about in a second. Plus, she wanted to hear the speech. [Laughter] Sam
    Bodman is the Deputy Secretary of Treasury,
    is here. You might remember him from the Commerce Department. He was the
    Deputy Secretary of Commerce. Sam, I'm sure they gave you a--welcomed
    you back here.
        I announced some measures that will keep our economy on the leading
    edge of innovation. I want to share some of those with you. The reason I
    want to share them with you is I want people to understand we're serious
    about these proposals we have made. We expect and will continue to have
    good cooperation with the Congress on these measures.
        First, long-term growth depends upon energy. You know, we need
    Congress to pass the energy plan I submitted. It's a plan that says loud
    and clear, for the sake of economic security and for the sake of
    national security, we must be less dependent on foreign sources of
    energy. And we can find energy at home in environmentally friendly ways.
    We can do a better job of

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    conservation. We can come up with alternative sources of energy. I
    constantly say to people, ``Gosh, wouldn't it be wonderful to be the
    President and say, `How good is the corn crop, Madam Secretary? Oh, it's really good. Well, that means we're going to
    have more ethanol to take the place of' ''--[applause]--I mean, I'd like
    to grow our way out of dependence. Seems to make a lot of sense to be
    able to try to do that. And we're working toward that end.
        As well I talked about a 1.2 billion, 5 dollar--5-year project on
    research into hydrogen fuel cell technology for cars and trucks. I want
    to thank the Members of Congress for working together on that. This is
    the kind of project where Government can spur innovation. It seems like
    a good use of taxpayers' money to encourage this kind of new innovation.
    Imagine what hydrogen fuel cell technology will mean for our dependence
    upon foreign sources of energy. Imagine how--what a positive effect such
    technology will have on our environment. This is a very important
    technology. And I look forward to working with the Congress to make sure
    it's well-funded and members of my administration to move the project
    forward.
        We also talked about an interesting way to make sure health care
    costs are contained. In order to be a competitive environment, in order
    to be a place where people can do business here, in order to be a place
    where small businesses can flourish, we need to do a better job of
    controlling health care costs. There are some smart things we can do
    with association health plans, health savings accounts.
        But one of the things we can do is use our technology in a better
    way to promote cost savings and quality of health care by the
    utilization of personal electronic medical records. It seems to make a
    lot of sense, doesn't it, that instead of having people walking around
    with--not necessarily proverbially walking around with--[laughter]--but
    imagine a patient who has been to a hospital a lot of times, and there's
    paperwork for every time the person goes. And if they were to have to
    carry their own files around, it would be kind of a cumbersome task,
    wouldn't it.
        Think about the overhead if you multiplied the task of filling out
    paper to satisfy information requirements at a hospital. Think about the
    overhead nationwide because our health system doesn't use information
    technology properly, and think about how bad a doctor's handwriting--
    [laughter]--and there's no wonder sometimes there's medical errors.
        And so therefore, I laid out a plan to ensure that most Americans
    have got electronic health records within the next 10 years so that our
    system is more cost effective, so we take out needless overhead costs
    and, at the same time, promote better quality medicine in America.
        To achieve the goal of Tommy Thompson's outfit, the Health and Human Services has developed a
    language, a common language, so that health care providers can now speak
    more clearly across the Internet. We've developed new standards. We're
    funding demonstration projects. We're using programs such as Medicare
    and the veterans health--the veterans hospitals to promote a better use
    of information technology to make sure that health care is a--adopts the
    habits of the 21st century.
        Today I want to talk about the need as well to make sure that
    leading technology is available all across the country. Sometimes the
    problem we face here in America is that technology is available in maybe
    just the big cities, and you get out to rural Wyoming or rural Texas,
    and people try to figure out what you're talking about when it comes to
    new technologies. What we're interested in is to make sure broadband
    technology is available in every corner of America by the year 2007--I
    mean, all over the Nation is what we're interested in.

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        Broadband, or what they call high-speed Internet, is critical in
    making our high-speed economy even more productive. That's what people
    have got to understand. You see, some people say, ``What do you mean
    when you say `broadband'?'' Well, broadband is the capacity to move
    information a lot quicker and to move more information a lot quicker. As
    a matter of fact, broadband is 4 to 100 times faster than dial-up
    access. So in other words, if you--if you have your--if you're on a--
    just a dial-up phone for your computer, imagine information getting to
    you a hundred times quicker. That means more information can move
    quicker.
        And that's important in order to make sure the economy and our
    citizens are more productive. Broadband saves costs throughout the
    economy. In other words, it makes the economy more efficient. Imagine
    how efficient businesses will be when they're that far away from their
    customer. That's what broadband technology will enable us to do.
        Listen, we've been a very productive economy, a very productive
    society. What I'm telling you is we can be more productive for the good
    of our citizens. And the more productive a worker is, the more
    productive a person is, the higher standard of living they will achieve.
    It's essential for our citizens to know, when you hear the economists
    say, ``We're productive,'' or, ``This worker is more productive,'' that
    means better pay, and when you cut their taxes, it means better after-
    tax pay.
        And we're seeing the spread of broadband throughout the country.
    Access has gone from 7 million subscriber lines in 2000 to 28 million
    last year. That's rapid growth. Yet, on a per capita basis, America
    ranks 10th amongst the industrialized world. That's not good enough. We
    don't like to be ranked 10th in anything. The goal is to be ranked first
    when it comes to per capita use of broadband technology. It's in our
    Nation's interest. It's good for our economy.
        The spread of broadband will not only help industry; it'll help the
    quality of life of our citizens. We saw some really interesting
    projects. I want to thank those who came to show me some demonstration
    projects today. We saw a--I met a--where's the doc? Doc, there you are. Good. He's a heart doc--cardiologist, I
    think, is a more sophisticated way of putting it. [Laughter] Probably
    liked it when I talked about medical liability reform too. [Laughter] He
    works at Washington's Children's Hospital. And so he had a patient in--
    Maryland? Yes. And he was able to--they put a little scan on the little
    guy's heart, and he was able to assure the mom that this person who had
    a heart operation when he was a young child is doing well.
        This healer was able to spread his compassion and talents and assure
    a mom across broadband technology. It's amazing, when you think about
    it. Imagine what's going to happen in Texas when in Alpine or somewhere
    down there, they're looking for a specialist, and a parent is panicked
    about whether or not their loved one is going to receive the care
    needed, and they don't have--they can't drive 600 miles to a local
    hospital. So they call up this guy via broadband technology, and he is
    able to analyze the child from afar with very sophisticated software and
    give the reassuring words to the parent, ``Everything is okay.'' And
    whether it be cardiology or ear infection or any other aspect of
    medicine, we'll be able to make sure health care is available throughout
    the country by using this technology. The quality of life for our
    citizens is going to improve dramatically as we spread this technology
    all across America.
        I saw what broadband technology can mean for education. I mean, if
    you've ever been a Governor of a State, you understand the vast
    potential of broadband technology. You understand how hard it is to make
    sure that physics, for example, is taught in every classroom in the
    State. It's difficult to do. It's, like, cost-prohibitive. But it's

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    not cost-prohibitive when you can wire your classrooms and have a
    physics professor from the University of Texas-San Antonio give a
    lecture in a real-time basis to kids out in rural Texas or anywhere else
    in America. It's a fantastic way to take information and spread it on a
    real-time basis.
        We saw a project there today in northern Pennsylvania, a school in
    northern Pennsylvania, and it's exciting. Think of the vast potential
    this will mean for the public school systems of America. It means that
    some who go without certain subjects can now gain access to those
    subjects. It will mean we've got a more educated population when we get
    broadband technology spread throughout the entire country.
        This effort, by the way--the reason Ann is here, Ann
    Veneman is here is because the effort was
    launched by the Department of Agriculture. That may be a hard one to
    explain at home. [Laughter] But the reason why is, is because her job is
    to give grant and loan programs for rural development. And it makes
    sense to--and she's cranked out $2.5 billion of loans and grants for
    rural development.
        A lot of people in rural America like living there. [Laughter] The
    quality of life is really good. You can walk down your street and know
    who you're looking at, and generally, they'll say, ``How are you doing?
    It's good to see you. I hope you're having a wonderful day. What can we
    do to help you?'' And it makes sense to be able to take the potential of
    broadband to rural America. People are going to be able to find work
    there and be able to live in their--where they're raised or where they
    want to raise their kids in a rural setting.
        I also saw what broadband technology can do for our borders. I know
    this is a particular concern for Lamar.
    He's--your district doesn't go all the way down to the border now, does
    it? Well, it has. He's had about five different configurations of his
    district. [Laughter] But we've got a big border in Texas, with Mexico,
    obviously--and we've got a big border with Canada--Arizona is affected.
    And this is a good chance to have broadband technology deliver
    information to those who are responsible for guarding borders, guarding
    plants and equipment. It's amazing with the software that has been
    developed these days that enable a camera to distinguish the difference
    between a squirrel and a bomb. And yet, I saw some software today that
    is very sophisticated and at the same time will enable people to better
    do their duty in securing that which needs to be secured.
        Remember, we're still in a battle against ideological extremists who
    use terrorism as a tool to frighten, scare, kill people such as us who
    love freedom. And therefore, what I'm telling you is as broadband
    expands, it's going to enable us better to protect our homeland, which
    is a vital concern of any of us in our Government.
        We're going to--so somebody says, ``That's great. It sounds good.
    How are you going to achieve the goal? It's one thing to set a goal; how
    do you achieve it?'' Here's some things we can do that make sense, to
    make sure that broadband is available to everyone by 2007 and that there
    is a choice shortly thereafter. It's one thing to make sure broadband is
    spread out in America, but we want consumers--in this country, we
    believe in giving consumers alternatives. If you have an alternative,
    you're likely to get a better price and a better quality. We like to
    respond to demand in a market-oriented economy, which is what we're
    going to do.
        First, we've got to make sure that broadband access is affordable
    and, therefore, it should not be taxed. It's essential that we not tax--
    there has been a Federal ban on Internet access taxes. I want to thank
    the Members who worked there on that issue. I think that's why these two
    guys are here, by the way. [Laughter] And States now, because the ban
    has expired, States have started taxing broadband access. And that's
    going to make access less affordable. If the goal is to spread
    broadband, it

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    doesn't make any sense to tax it as we're spreading it.
        And so therefore, I support--strongly support reestablishing the ban
    on Internet access taxes. The Congress needs to act on this. I know
    these two Members want to act. We look forward to working with you to
    make sure that the Internet access tax ban can be signed into law soon.
        Taxes can stop the spread of broadband, and so can burdensome
    regulations. And sometimes Government has a way of imposing burdensome
    regulations. And we look forward to working with industry, investors,
    and entrepreneurs as to how to get rid of those burdensome regulations
    that defeat the goal of spreading broadband.
        For example--well, one way to look at it is our regulations for the
    telephone were established years ago. And I don't think those
    regulations should apply to a 21st century technology. I thought the
    Federal Communications Commission did a smart thing in a recent decision
    by telling communications companies they don't have to give away use of
    their fiber-optic broadband lines. I thought that was a smart thing.
        In this case, the FCC provided regulatory certainty and by doing so
    created incentives for communication companies to build out their fiber-
    optic broadband lines to more homes. It's a good decision. I think the
    decision will benefit American consumers as well.
        Another issue we face is that broadband providers have trouble
    getting across Federal lands. And that's why I signed an order to reduce
    the regulatory redtape for laying fiber-optic cables and putting up
    transmission towers on Federal lands. You see, if you can't put up
    towers and lay cable, you can't get broadband to all corners of America
    by 2007. And so hopefully we've reduced that regulatory burden. If we
    haven't reduced the regulatory burden enough, we need to hear from those
    who are stymied. We want to meet the goal. There's a practical reason
    why we want to meet the goal: It'll improve the lives of our fellow
    citizens.
        Thirdly, we want to help consumers find more ways to obtain
    affordable broadband access. I just told you that. I told it to you
    again. [Laughter]
        Most people who have broadband access now obtain it through a cable
    wire or telephone wire. A small percentage obtain it through a
    satellite. But most of us who have got broadband go through the
    telephone or your cable.
        We need to get broadband to more Americans, and so therefore, I want
    to talk about two other ways to get broadband to the consumer. We need
    to use our power lines better. They go everywhere. It seems to make
    sense, doesn't it, if what you're looking for is avenues into the home.
    Well, electricity goes into the home. And so one great opportunity is to
    spread broadband throughout America via our power lines.
        And one of the problems we've got here is that there are some--there
    is--the Commerce Department has had to develop technical standards that
    will make sure that our broadband can go across power lines without
    unnecessary interference. So this is a technological problem. It's a
    technological issue. It turns out that sometimes the competition of
    broadband and electricity just doesn't go too good across one line. And
    so--if I could put it in simple vernacular--and so therefore, the
    Commerce Department is helping to sort through these issues so that
    broadband access will be available through--by our power companies.
        And as I understand it--as a matter of fact, was shown a little
    thing you plug in your wall that will give you broadband access at 30
    times, you told me? Sixty times--sixty times the current speed of a
    dial-up. And that's now available in Cincinnati and parts of Kentucky.
    There's a power company in that part of the world that has been
    innovative, has diversified the product to the home and now can provide

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    broadband across the electricity lines, which is a fantastic innovation.
        And so our job in Government is to help facilitate the use of
    electricity lines by helping with the technological standards that will
    make this more possible. And I want to thank those in the Commerce
    Department who have worked hard to do this.
        The other promising new broadband technology is wireless. The
    spectrum that allows for wireless technology is a limited resource. In
    other words, it's not endless spectrum. And we need to use it wisely.
    And a wise use of that spectrum is to help our economy grow and help
    with the quality of life of our people. And after all, that's why we're
    here. We're here because of the--we want to enhance the quality of life
    of the American people. We want them to live better lives. We want them
    to be healthier. We want them to be smarter. We want them to be able to
    find work easier. And so one of things we need to do is unlock the
    spectrum's value--economic value and entrepreneurial potential without,
    by the way, without crowding out important Government functions. And we
    can do both. That's what's important for our citizens to understand. And
    so we're helping to promote new wireless technologies without crowding
    out the Defense Department's capacity to defend America.
        There are two kinds of wireless technology. One is called wi-fi. It
    works with a regular broadband connection. If you use that kind of
    connection, someone from their home or their office can set up a
    wireless network that covers the home or the office. For example, I was
    shown a wi-fi hookup today that enables somebody to put a little system
    in their home that when their child comes home, if it's set up properly,
    they will be able come in; it'll trigger a noise; the person will look
    on their phone and see a picture of their kid coming in the home. It's
    pretty imaginative, isn't it? It's a--it's just an illustration of what
    is possible--of what is possible with this new broadband technology.
        And so the problem with this kind of technology is that we can
    actually interfere with Government uses like radar. We want to make sure
    our radars work well. [Laughter] And so we took the necessary steps to
    make sure these wireless broadband applications could work within the
    same spectrum as the Government functions without interference. It took
    some awfully smart people to figure that out. But you know something?
    Our Government employs awfully smart people. And for those of you who
    have been working on this project, I want to thank you very much. It
    took some innovation.
        And people are beginning to take advantage of this--like, cities
    are. Spokane, Washington, yesterday established a wi-fi hot zone that
    allows users within a hundred-block area of the city to obtain wireless
    broadband access. Imagine if you're the head of a chamber of commerce of
    a city, and you say, ``Gosh, our city is a great place to do business or
    to find work. We're setting up a wi-fi hot zone, which means our
    citizens are more likely to be more productive than the citizens from a
    neighboring community.'' It's a great opportunity.
        Another kind of wireless broadband would be more wide-ranging. It
    would be based on mobile wireless. It wouldn't depend on a physical
    connection to an existing cable or telephone modem as wi-fi does.
        This--to me, this is a very exciting opportunity for the country, if
    you think about it. The problem is, it requires a spectrum that is not
    now available. And so Congress needs to make the spectrum available. If
    we want to achieve the goal of broadband in every corner of the country
    by 2007, and shortly thereafter, people will have more options and more
    choice, we need to make more spectrum available.
        There's a bill called the ``Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act.''
    It is a bill where we can take spectrum that is currently allocated to
    the Government and

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    auction it off to the private sector without diminishing our
    responsibilities in Government. In other words, it will be an auction
    process. Taxpayers will not only benefit because broadband has been
    expanded, the taxpayers will benefit because we're not going to give the
    spectrum away. We'll let them pay.
        And so these are some of the policies that will help us achieve the
    goal. What I'm telling you is, there's a role for us here in Washington
    to help the entrepreneurs and innovators of the country succeed and
    thereby help make the quality of the life of our fellow citizens the
    best it can possibly be.
        I am here at the Commerce Department because a lot of the work to
    make sure the entrepreneurial spirit is strong is done here. And I'm
    here to thank those of you who work here for your hard work. I
    appreciate what you're doing. Keep doing it. We have a responsibility to
    fulfill our missions and our goals on behalf of the taxpayers of this
    country.
        There is no question in my mind, with the right policy and right
    incentives, that we will be the leader. Instead of being the 10th per
    capita in broadband use, we'll be the first. You know, we're the fastest
    growing major industrialized nation in the world today, and that's
    great. We want to be the fastest growing major industrialized nation in
    the world tomorrow and the next decade and the next decade. And one of
    the best ways we can do so is to always stay on the leading edge of
    technological change, and here are some practical ways--by working with
    the Congress, working with our regulators, working with our Commerce
    Department--that we can do so.
        Listen, thanks for your work. May God bless you all, and may God
    continue to bless our country.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:08 p.m. in the main lobby at the U.S.
    Department of Commerce. In his remarks, he referred to Theodore W.
    Kassinger, General Counsel, Department of Commerce, and nominee to be
    Deputy Secretary of Commerce; and Dr. Craig Sable, Children's National
    Medical Center.