Text 572, 840 rader
Skriven 2005-03-02 23:33:56 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0503024) for Wed, 2005 Mar 2
===================================================
===========================================================================
President Participates in Job Training and Education Conversation
===========================================================================

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 2, 2005

President Participates in Job Training and Education Conversation
Anne Arundel Community College
Arnold, Maryland

President's Remarks
"); //--> view


10:00 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming. (Applause.) I appreciate the warm
welcome. (Applause.) Thanks for coming. Please be seated. Thank you all. Go
ahead and be seated. We've got some work to do. We're here to talk about an
important issue, and that is how to make sure people get the skills
necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st century. That's what we're here to
talk about. No better place to talk about that than at a community college
which is working. And we're here at a good community college. (Applause.)

I want to thank Marty Smith. She is one of our panelists. As you can see,
we've got a distinguished panel. You're about to hear some interesting
stories that I think will pertain to -- will make why I believe the
community college system is vital to the future of our country real evident
to you. The Governor is here. How about that? Governor Ehrlich, appreciate
you coming. (Applause.) And we've got Kendel, First Lady. (Applause.) And
we've got Drew. Mom and Dad here? Mom and Dad -- still listening to Mom,
aren't you?

GOVERNOR EHRLICH: Absolutely.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, so am I. (Laughter.) Laura sends her best. She's back
at the White House. She wants to say hello to her friends in Maryland.
She's doing great. (Applause.) She and I are going to go Pittsburgh next
week to talk about her initiative, which I embrace whole-heartedly, and
that is how to help young men realize the great promise of this country,
how to fight off the temptation to join gangs and instead join society as a
productive citizen. Part of that is to make sure the education system works
well. So we're here on an education mission, really, to make sure education
is relevant.

I want to thank Jim Fielder, who's the Secretary of Labor for the state of
Maryland. I appreciate you being here, Jim. (Applause.)

A couple of things I want to say. First of all, freedom is on the march.
It's a profound period of time. (Applause.) Our Secretary of State is
returning from her trip to Europe. I will visit with her tomorrow
afternoon. I talked to her on the phone yesterday. I applauded the press
conference she held with the Foreign Minister from France, where both of
them stood up and said loud and clear to Syria, you get your troops and
your secret services out of Lebanon so that good democracy has a chance to
flourish. (Applause.)

The world is working together for the sake of freedom and peace. The world
is speaking with one voice when it comes to making sure that democracy has
a chance to flourish in Lebanon and throughout the greater Middle East. And
when democracies take hold, the world becomes more peaceful; the world
becomes a better place for our children and our grandchildren. So I look
forward to continuing to work with friends and allies to advance freedom --
not America's freedom, but universal freedom, freedom granted by a Higher
Being. (Applause.)

I also appreciate the good growth of our economy in places like Maryland.
Governor, you get -- should -- deserve a lot of credit for creating
conditions where the entrepreneurial spirit is strong. (Applause.)

GOVERNOR EHRLICH: Thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: You've got an unemployment rate of 4 percent in the state of
Maryland. That speaks volumes about good leadership. (Applause.) We've got
a national unemployment rate of 5.2 percent. The fundamental question is,
how do we keep growing? And so I look forward to working with Congress to
continue to advance common-sensical lawsuit reform.

We did something on class-action lawsuits. Republicans and Democrats got
together and said, wait a minute, we've got a problem. The scales of
justice are not balanced, so let's balance them with reasonable reform. We
got a good class-action bill to my desk, which I signed. Now it's time for
Congress to do something on asbestos, to get good reform to make sure that
job creators and people who are harmed -- job creators are able to create
jobs and people who are actually harmed by asbestos get -- get the
settlements they're due.

Congress needs to continue to work on legal reform, including legal reform
to make sure good doctors aren't run out of practice. We need medical
liability reform. (Applause.)

We need to get an energy bill to my desk. In order to make sure people can
find work here in Maryland, this country needs to have an energy bill,
something that makes us -- that recognizes we can do a better job of
conserving energy, we can spend money on renewable sources of energy. I
like the idea of using corn and soybeans to help produce energy. I mean,
after all, it would be neat, someday, Governor, if somebody walked in and
said, we're growing more crop, and therefore, we're less dependent on
foreign sources of energy. (Applause.) We need to modernize the electricity
grid. And I put this in front of the Congress three years ago, or four
years ago. They need to get it together. They need to come together, stop
debating about an energy plan, and pass one, for the sake of jobs and job
creation. (Applause.)

We've got to do something about the deficit. I submitted a good, lean
budget to Congress. Some of them get carried away when it comes to spending
and we have -- we want to make sure that we meet priorities and cut this
deficit of ours in half by the year 2009. It's important. It's an important
signal to capital markets, it's an important signal to the world that we're
serious about deficits.

And we're serious about long-term deficits, and we have a long-term deficit
when it comes to Social Security. There's a lot of baby-boomers like me
getting ready to retire. (Laughter.) Fortunately, in my case, later rather
than sooner. And baby-boomers are living longer than the generation before
us, and baby-boomers have been promised more benefits than the generation
before us. And yet, there are fewer workers paying for the baby-boomers
when they retire. And if you add up the math, it's a problem. In the year
2018, the Social Security system goes into the red. In other words, more
money is going out than is coming in. Just catch this statistic: In 2027,
the government will be $200 billion short -- $200 billion -- short. That's
money going out more than coming in on payroll taxes.

So if you're a young person going to school here, you ought to be asking --
you ought to be asking the question to public officials, what you going to
do about the problem? Now, older Americans have nothing to worry about;
nothing changes. I don't care what the propaganda says, you're taken care
of and will be taken care of. But younger Americans need to worry, because
when you think about a system that goes in the red $200 billion one year,
more the next year, more the next year, and more the next year, you need to
be asking people like me and members of the United States Congress, you
better fix it before it becomes a crisis. Don't be passing on problems to
future generations. You were elected -- members of Congress were elected to
solve problems now. And so I intend to work with members of both parties to
get this problem fixed. (Applause.)

And I'm going to travel this country a lot talking about the issue of
Social Security. Friday, I'm off to New Jersey and Indiana. Every week I'm
going to be out talking about the problem, assuring seniors that nothing
will change, and reminding young Americans that they need to write the
Congress, the senators and the House of Representatives and demand action,
so that we don't stick a young generation with serious problems that will
wreck our economy and wreck their lives.

Today, I want to talk about education. Education, making sure we've got an
educated work force, is a vital part of making sure this economy of ours
continues to grow. I've talked to a lot of employers around and say, what
is the biggest concern you have? And one of the biggest concerns they have
is the fact that they don't have workers with the skill sets necessary to
fill the jobs of the 21st century. So that's the challenge we face. And
what we're going to talk about today is a common-sense solution of how to
do address that challenge and solve that problem.

First thing is we've got to make sure our kids can read and write and add
and subtract. The No Child Left Behind Act is working. (Applause.) The No
Child Left Behind Act says states get to control the curriculum and decide
what to do, but it says in return for increased federal money, we want to
see whether or not a child can read. In other words, we believe in
accountability and measuring.

There's an achievement gap closing in America, and that's important. But
how do we know? Because we measure. You don't know if you don't measure.
You can't solve a problem until you diagnose the problem. And for too long,
too many children were just shuffled through the system -- too many
minority children, too many inner-city children were just moved through in
the hopes that somebody got educated. But that didn't work.

So now we're measuring early so we can solve problems early. And No Child
Left Behind is paying off. And we need to extend those high standards to
high schools. I appreciate the national governors coming together to talk
about how to build on the reform -- not weaken the reforms of No Child Left
Behind, how to build on the reforms -- so that a high school degree means
something.

Then the next fundamental question is, what do we do with people coming out
of high school, or people who have been in high school and have gone in the
workplace, but realized they want to continue to advance by gaining a new
set of skills. That's what we're here to talk about.

Let me tell you something about the community college system. When I was
the governor of Texas, I realized what a valuable asset the community
college system was to my state, just like your Governor recognizes what an
asset it is to Maryland. Community colleges are available, they are
affordable, and they are flexible. And that's important. It's important to
have a place of higher education that has got the capacity to adjust its
curriculum to meet the needs of an employer base, for example. I mean, if
all of a sudden, somebody pops up and says, we need more nurses, it makes
sense to have a community college system that says, we'll help you put the
curriculum in place to train people for nursing. And we're going to talk a
little bit about that here in a minute.

When you've got a growing economy in the 21st century, there's a certain
skill set that's needed to fill the jobs. And what we're talking about
today is how to fill those jobs. One of the things we've done in the last
couple of years through the Department of Labor was to encourage
public-private partnerships. And we'll continue -- going to do that over
the next four years. That's -- those are fancy words for saying, look,
we're going to help employers and community colleges match up needs --
demands with supply. That's what that means.

Last year, I called upon Congress to pass a $250-million initiative to
support our community colleges and to fund partnerships between community
colleges and local employers. They funded it. And now, the money is going
to start heading out. And that's an important part of the initiative I'm
talking about. We're going to hear from an employer in a community college
on how they work together and how the system functions best when it's
flexible.

The second thing that I want to talk to you about is -- Congress is now
going to debate what's called the -- reforms to the Workforce Investment
Act. We spend about $16 billion a year on work force training, except only
about 200,000 people got trained. It's not a very good record. See, part of
my job as the President and part of people whose job it is to watch your
taxpayers' money, is to say, is the program actually working? It sounds
good, doesn't it? Let's spend money for work force training. It's just when
you train 200,000 people with $16 billion, I think we can do a better job
than that. (Laughter.) And one way to do so -- (applause) -- one way to do
so is to recognize the problems, the bottlenecks.

The system is very complex and complicated. There's a lot of programs in
Washington with all sorts of different rules across, I think, 10 different
jurisdictions. A bureaucratic nightmare may be the appropriate way to
describe it -- kind of, mandates coming out of Washington, D.C. tend to
complicate the issue of the Workforce Investment boards and make the
governor's job more complicated. And people at the very end of the system
kind of wonder what the heck is going on between the intent of Washington
and money actually making it down into the trenches.

And so I've called upon Congress to add -- to put these monies together,
reduce the bureaucracies, the strings, and to let states -- gives states
the flexibility to focus on work force training that meets the best needs
of each state. The best reform possible, it seems like to me, is to kind of
bundle up the programs in a flexible way that says, Governor Ehrlich,
elected by the people, ought to work with the local jurisdictions to figure
out how best to spend the money to meet the needs of the Maryland citizens.
In other words, more flexibility, in my judgment, will mean more people
will be trained for the jobs at hand. (Applause.)

A little problem for some in Washington -- why trust the Governor?
(Laughter.) I encountered that when I was a governor. Good news is, I was a
governor. I trust local people. It's a fundamental part of my political
philosophy, the closer decision-making is to the people, the better the
decision-making will be. And so Washington ought to be flexible.
(Applause.) We at least ought to shoot for 400,000 people trained a year.
(Laughter.) And it's important.

The other thing is, is when I've mentioned higher ed -- community colleges
being affordable, they are affordable. We've got to recognize people still
need help coming to a community college. We spend $80 billion a year at the
federal level in student loans and Pell grants. I've submitted a budget to
the Congress that increases Pell grants from $12.4 billion to $18 billion.
And the reason why is -- that's a year, by the way -- because Pell grants
are important. I love Pell grants because they help folks that need help.
They really reinforce dreams, don't they? You got a society that says aim
big, dream big, and what a Pell grant does, it says, for those who can't
afford higher education, the rightful role of government is to help you
realize your dreams.

And so Congress, I'm confident, will act on the Pell Grant increase. The
Pell grant increase really talked about increasing the maximum grant award.
It increases the amount each recipient of a Pell grant can get, and that's
good. It needs to be adjusted up, which we want.

We also believe students attending college year-round ought to receive Pell
grants year-round. This will help create flexibility for the students.
(Applause.) And we've got the loans out there. People say to me, do I have
to repay my loan? (Laughter.) Yes. (Laughter and applause.) It's part of a
responsible society, isn't it? We said, we want the loans to be more
reasonable in repayment schedule, and the interest rates to be more
reasonable. In other words, I look forward to working with Congress to help
higher ed become more affordable for people from all walks of life. It's a
good use of your money. It really is. And it makes sense, particularly, in
a changing world, where the job base is changing and the skill sets for
those jobs are changing dramatically.

You know, technology changes, but labor lags behind when it comes to
change. And, therefore, we have a duty and a responsibility to use our
assets, like the community college system, to enable people to get the
skills to work. And as that happens, this economy is going to continue to
grow. One of the bottlenecks for economic expansion and vitality is to make
sure we match jobs that exist with skill sets of willing workers.

Somebody who understands that is the Governor. Governor, thanks for joining
us. I'm honored you're here.

GOVERNOR EHRLICH: Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Why don't you share with the good folks, the C-SPAN watchers
what -- (laughter.)

GOVERNOR EHRLICH: Hi, everybody.

THE PRESIDENT: -- like my mother. Hi, Mom. How are you doing? (Laughter and
applause.)

GOVERNOR EHRLICH: And my mom is here, too.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, well, why don't you tell us what you're doing in
Maryland. People are interested to know. Just give us where you are.

GOVERNOR EHRLICH: First of all, I want some extra credit for wearing my "W"
tie today.

THE PRESIDENT: Very good, yes. (Applause.) Hot item.

GOVERNOR EHRLICH: He didn't even charge me.

THE PRESIDENT: I don't know about the pink. (Laughter.)

GOVERNOR EHRLICH: Mr. President, we've been joined today by my Cabinet. And
if I can just take one second -- and former Governor Marvin Mandel. Would
my Cabinet please stand up? These are the folks that implement your
policies, your programs. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT: Let me -- it's important for people to understand what he's
saying there, if you don't mind. See, in order for the way the rules are
written, in order for the state of Maryland to implement a work force
training program that meets your needs, oftentimes, the governor has to
come and ask for a waiver. Think about that kind of system, right? We want
to do something, we want to help the country meet an objective, but we need
a waiver, we need permission.

And so, I think there's like -- I forgot how many waivers have been granted
over the last year, but it's a system that says -- it begs for reform. You
know, the more time you ask for waivers, the less time you're focused on
what you're doing. (Applause.)

GOVERNOR EHRLICH: The more time you take up with asking for waivers, the
less time you have to put money into the workplace to train and retrain. At
3.8, 3.9 percent unemployment, retraining is really part of our focus here.
Secretary Fielder, Secretary Melissaratos, they're living this. So we thank
you, very much.

THE PRESIDENT: What are you doing different?

GOVERNOR EHRLICH: Well, as I said, we're ahead of the curve. We have begun
one-stop shops. We've consolidated programs, basically among the line of
what you're advocating.

THE PRESIDENT: Nobody knows what a one-stop shop is.

GOVERNOR EHRLICH: You're a worker, you go online; you're an employer, you
go online, you match it up. A one-stop shop. That's taking advantage of
technology. Obviously, by the way, you are one of the best here. Marty is
one of the best. You're one of the best community colleges in the state of
Maryland. We'll work with our community colleges. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Let me ask you something. Somebody out there listening who's
looking for a job in the state of Maryland, one-stop shop online. In other
words, they -- you've got this all --

GOVERNOR EHRLICH: Call Secretary Fielder's department, his agency, and
we'll put you in touch with -- if you have a resume, you have a job waiting
for you in the state of Maryland today. That's the message that needs to go
out -- not just in Maryland, but around the country. We're at 3.8, 3.9
percent. We want to go to 0.0, Mr. President. I want to report to you 0.0.
How about that for a goal? (Applause.) I told you we set high benchmarks
around here.

THE PRESIDENT: That's right. I like the fact that the state has got a
system, a kind of a virtual work force agency where people can get on the
Internet and find out what's available, I presume, where the closest
one-stop shop is, if they want to go in in person. At a one-stop shop
people can find all kinds of advice on how to get a scholarship, what's
available, the closest community college, what the curriculum looks like in
your community college. It is a place all designed to help somebody who
wants to advance receive the help necessary to advance.

GOVERNOR EHRLICH: And our ability, by the way, to do what we've been able
to do and get some waivers, although it is time-consuming, has allowed us
to put additional dollars where it belongs, what you're talking about. More
bang for the buck for the taxpayer -- in this case, the federal taxpayer
and the Maryland taxpayer; dollars into the field so that employers can
truly find the employees they need, and particularly given this economy and
how quickly we turn over, post-industrial Maryland, post-industrial
America, retrain our workers.

THE PRESIDENT: Good job, Bobby.

GOVERNOR EHRLICH: Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: They call you Bobby?

Q Absolutely, Mr. President. You can call me anything you want, Mr.
President. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Marty Smith. She is the -- (applause.) She's not going
to give you an A just because you're cheering loud. (Laughter.) You have
been here how long?

DR. SMITH: I'm in year 11.

THE PRESIDENT: As the President.

DR. SMITH: Yes, sir, I am.

THE PRESIDENT: And so, is this your only community college experience?

DR. SMITH: Actually, I was president of Dundalk Community College, just up
the road, for about seven years.

THE PRESIDENT: Good, good. Give us a sense of how the community college
system -- what's changed and what hasn't changed, just over the last 18
years.

DR. SMITH: Sure. First of all, I have to say, on behalf of all of us, we
are so honored to have you at Anne Arundel Community College.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.

DR. SMITH: Thank you so much for selecting Anne Arundel Community College.
(Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.

DR. SMITH: You're welcome.

THE PRESIDENT: Appreciate you putting up with the entourage.

DR. SMITH: Oh, they were wonderful. They were wonderful.

THE PRESIDENT: That's good. That's the way they should be.

DR. SMITH: And I also want to thank you for our outstanding support and
understanding for our country's community colleges. You really get it, as
we just heard, related to job training --

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.

DR. SMITH: -- so thank you so much.

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT: For those of you who are, like, market advocates, who
believe the market is a powerful way to have an efficient delivery of
service, listen to what she just said. We respond; we respond to demand. We
adjust -- we don't adjust because government said adjust. We adjust because
our customers, the students and the employers have said adjust, stay
relevant. Otherwise, if you don't adjust, you become irrelevant. Great
statement. I think it's very important for people to understand the great
assets. (Applause.) These are tremendous assets you have in your state.

So, anyway, the reason I ask what has changed over 18 years is because it
was a way for me to lead the witness to say -- (laughter) -- a lot has
changed. (Laughter.) Because community colleges have got the capacity to
change. Seriously, I mean, I presume the emphasis has shifted quite
dramatically.

DR. SMITH: Well, it has. Traditionally, we have talked about associate
degrees and certificates and the credit program, but what we understand now
is that students don't necessarily, when they're looking for a job that's
going to pay them an appropriate salary, they don't care whether it's
credit or non-credit. They want it now. They want the skill set and the
knowledge set that's going to help them get into that work force quickly
and be successful and advance in that profession. So it's changed
incredibly. Every year, we are developing 20 new short-term programs to
really try to meet the specific needs of the industry, and as you know,
things are changing so quickly in every industry that it's imperative that
we change.

THE PRESIDENT: So how do you know? How do you -- what do you -- how are you
structured so that information is able to get to you and your curriculum
designers?

DR. SMITH: Well, we have a number of program advisory committees where we
have business leaders and employers who give their time and energy to meet
with us on a regular basis to say, this is what we see is coming down the
pike for our industry. We have a wonderful Governor's Workforce Investment
board that is investing incredible amounts of time and energy, analyzing
each and every one of the high-growth industries so that they can say,
these are the levels of employees that we are going to need in the next
five years; community colleges, we look to you to make it happen.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, interesting, isn't it? Fascinating, I think. It's such
a hopeful system, and it's working.

So Joyce Phillip is with us. You work with Joyce, right?

DR. SMITH: I do.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, okay. Joyce, tell us, everybody, what you do.

MS. PHILLIP: I'm vice president of human resources as Anne Arundel Medical
Center --

THE PRESIDENT: Good.

MS. PHILLIP: -- which is a 260-bed not-for-profit regional medical center,
a wonderful place to work.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you, yes. (Applause.) So why are you -- besides
being invited -- (laughter) -- why is this conversation relevant to you and
your hospital?

MS. PHILLIP: This conversation is so relevant to me and to our hospital and
to all the industries in Anne Arundel County. We work very closely with the
community college. For instance, you know that there are great shortages in
our health field. Last year, we were able to hire 97 applicants from -- who
had attended Anne Arundel Community College. Thirteen of them were nursing
students. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, it's interesting, isn't it? So the health care field,
it's changing.

MS. PHILLIP: Oh, it is changing tremendously.

THE PRESIDENT: Skill sets -- new skill sets are required.

MS. PHILLIP: Yes. And when there are new skill sets that are required,
we're able to go to our community college, which is right there, tell them
what we need, ask them how can we do it, and they come up with creative
ways to do it and they make it happen.

THE PRESIDENT: Isn't that interesting? So the hospital system says, we need
-- how many people did you hire last year?

MS. PHILLIP: Ninety-seven.

THE PRESIDENT: Ninety-seven.

MS. PHILLIP: Thirteen nurses.

THE PRESIDENT: Thirteen nurses. So somebody says -- well, you say to the
community college, in order for us to hire these people, they've got to be
able to do X, Y, and Z.

MS. PHILLIP: That is correct.

THE PRESIDENT: The community college then says, okay, fine, we will provide
professors, teachers, to teach people --

MS. PHILLIP: Develop the curriculum.

THE PRESIDENT: Develop the curriculum for X, Y and Z, and then the people
are able to get work. That's -- it's as simple as that.

MS. PHILLIP: They are. It sounds simple --

THE PRESIDENT: It's not. (Laughter.)

MS. PHILLIP: It's not.

THE PRESIDENT: I read your mind.

MS. PHILLIP: When you are able to partner -- when you're able to partner
with the community college, and when you're able to partner with an
employer and put some of our money together, some of your Pell grant and
federal money together, we can do it.

THE PRESIDENT: Right. Yes, it's good, interesting. And so, is this a field
that has got a -- constantly in need for new workers?

MS. PHILLIP: It's definitely going to be a need for new workers. All you
need to do is look at the population as we age. We're going to need people
who are going to be able to meet the needs and take care of those people
who have served America and take care of those people who are there.

THE PRESIDENT: Do you have programs within your hospitals where you take
people who already have a job and enhance their skill set at the community
college?

MS. PHILLIP: I want to say something. That makes me more excited, because
we have a program that the community college and the Department of Labor
work on, and it's called School at Work.

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT: There's something we're about to talk about here. There's a
-- the term of art these days is productivity and how does the worker
become more productive. Well, there's one way a worker becomes more
productive, and that is to enhance skills through education, additional
education. And when you hear the word, productivity, you think about -- you
need to think about higher wages. A more productive society is one in which
a worker makes more money. That's just a fact of life. (Applause.) So you
need to look at the community college system as a way to enhance an
individual's productivity. Or another way to look at it is, one way to
increase your wage is to come back to school and gain a new skill set. This
is a wage-increasing institution.

And it's a -- somebody who knows that and understands that is Jeannetta
Smith. She's with us today. Thanks for coming.

MS. SMITH: Thank you for having me. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: It's an interesting story. So where were you raised?

MS. SMITH: I'm from North Carolina -- Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

THE PRESIDENT: There you go. If you've never been there, it's a beautiful
part of the world. And so what were you doing there?

MS. SMITH: Shortly after high school, I started working in a textile plant,
textile factory. North Carolina had lots of textile plants, and the textile
industry was leaving.

THE PRESIDENT: The textile industry was leaving is right. A lot of people
were getting laid off. So what did you do?

MS. SMITH: I thought about it, and I thought I should leave before I got
cut. (Laughter.)

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT: Good. By the way, this is -- Maryland has got a fantastic
community college system; so does North Carolina. And it's been a vital
part of helping people transition from what was once a viable industry to
the new viable industries within the state, including health care.

Anyway, so you did the seven-year deal. Then what happened?

MS. SMITH: I relocated, I did some travel nursing, and I ended up here in
Maryland.

THE PRESIDENT: I found that interesting -- travel nursing. It's kind of
like an itinerant preacher in the old days, you know. (Laughter.) What is
travel nursing? Explain that.

MS. SMITH: A travel nurse is a nurse that contracts with a hospital in
different states or different cities, or even in your hometown. You
contract for either three months or six months. Your company finds you an
apartment; they furnish it; they provide everything in your work. So you
get to be a tourist for free.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, that's interesting, isn't it? (Laughter.) Kind of an
interesting concept. It does say there's certainly an opportunity for
people. If you're having to -- if a hospital has to staff a hospital staff
with a travel nurse, I presume that they're looking for full-time nurses.
Not to say the travel nurse isn't important, but just goes to show there's
a demand for nursing.

And then, anyway, so you're a travel nurse, and you settle here?

MS. SMITH: Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: I don't blame you. (Laughter.) It's a beautiful part of the
world.

MS. SMITH: It's a wonderful state, also.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, it is. And so what are you doing?

MS. SMITH: I work at Northwest Hospital. I'm an LPN -- but I decided
because LPN positions are limited, I wanted to explore other options. I
decided to go to the community college here in Anne Arundel County because
it offered a flexible program, LPN to RN transition, which would take one
year, and it would increase my salary 50 percent.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, listen to that for a minute. (Applause.) Hold on for a
second. If you're out there listening as to whether or not somebody who had
a high school degree and has spent a few years working after the high
school, whether or not going back to a community college makes sense, just
listen to what Jeannetta said. By going back to school for a year, she
increases her pay by 50 percent. That's an important benefit for people.

Was it hard to go back to school?

MS. SMITH: It was very difficult. As most adults start working, they get
bills, mortgages, car payments. So to go back to school requires a
commitment of time, which usually means they can't work full-time.

THE PRESIDENT: Right. And did you get help?

MS. SMITH: Yes, I did. I was able to benefit, not from Pell grants, but
from federal student loans, which have been wonderful. I have a 3 percent
interest rate, which is a great investment. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: It's not exactly a grant, but 3 percent is pretty low.

MS. SMITH: Three percent is great.

THE PRESIDENT: Was it easy to get the loan?

MS. SMITH: Yes, yes. No credit check. (Laughter and applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: We don't need to go that far. Wait a minute. Of course, you
would have passed anyway. (Laughter.) Whew. (Laughter.)

MS. SMITH: But in addition to the federal -- (laughter) -- in addition to
the federal student loan, Northwest Hospital also offers tuition
reimbursement, which has been fabulous in helping me make my ends meet as I
work a part-time schedule there.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, smart employers all across the country are interested
in partnering with a potential employee, or current employee, by saying,
we'll help you. People should recognize there's a lot of help available if
you have the desire to go back to school. Government can't make you have
desire. The government can't say, be desirous. (Laughter.) But government
can say, if you are desirous, we want to help you. And that's what
Jeannetta found out.

So where are you in your course right now?

MS. SMITH: Well, I graduate in May -- May 26th.

THE PRESIDENT: There you go -- good. (Applause.)

MS. SMITH: And you're invited.

THE PRESIDENT: I'm invited? (Applause.) Thanks for the invitation.
(Laughter.) And so then what happens?

MS. SMITH: Well, I'll start working at least one year in Maryland as a
nurse at an area hospital to get my skills up and experience as a
registered nurse. And the sky is the limit after that.

THE PRESIDENT: You're going to be the travel thing, travel nurse?

MS. SMITH: Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: Fantastic. I love the story. Think about it -- think about
this. Textile worker, hears the textile industry is laying off, which they
were in North Carolina, decides to do something about it. Community college
provides an opportunity to enhance the skill -- her skill set. The
government provides ways to help, and this person is living the American --
American Dream. I mean, this is -- I thank you for sharing that with us.

MS. SMITH: You're welcome. Thank you. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: All right, Elliott Ward. Glad you're here, Elliott.

MR. WARD: Glad to be here, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for coming, brother.

MR. WARD: Thanks for having me.

THE PRESIDENT: What are you doing?

MR. WARD: Working hard.

THE PRESIDENT: Me, too. (Laughter.) It's what you expect of me, though.
(Laughter.) Give me a little bit on your background. Went to high school --

MR. WARD: Went to high school, and immediately out of high school I went
into the military. I served four years in the U.S. Army. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: That's good. Thanks. What high school?

MR. WARD: -- in Baltimore City. Born and raised Baltimore City.

THE PRESIDENT: Are you a Ravens fan?

MR. WARD: I am a Ravens fan.

THE PRESIDENT: That's good. That's the right answer if you're from
Baltimore. (Applause.) Went to high school, went to the Army.

MR. WARD: Once I got out of the military I entered into a period of
security positions. And a while after that, I was blessed with a son, who
is here this morning.

THE PRESIDENT: Where is the man?

MR. WARD: Malcolm is right over there.

THE PRESIDENT: Hi, Malcolm. I'll see you afterwards. (Applause.)

As I understand, you're a single dad.

MR. WARD: Yes, I am.

THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for doing your duty. (Applause.)

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT: That's good. Good job. By the way, the Labor Department
entered into a contract with Johns Hopkins and the Baltimore Community
College in order to have one of these collaborative efforts, a little extra
funding to help employers and employees match up. Keep going.

MR. WARD: Well, upon completion, I was offered employment as a pharmacy
technician as Johns Hopkins Hospital, which I gladly accepted. I continued
to go to school as -- a part of the also added benefit is the
tuition-assistance program that Johns Hopkins offers, and after this
semester, I'll be 15 credits -- about 15 away from having enough credits --
65 credits to enter pharmacy school. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, see, that's interesting, isn't it? So then you get to
pharmacy school. How long does that take? MR. WARD: That will be four
intense years instead of four intense months.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, that's okay. (Laughter.)

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT: Are you getting any help to afford all this?

MR. WARD: Well, the tuition assistance through Johns Hopkins helps a great
deal.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Part of the grant, by the way, is to help pay for
tuition assistance.

MR. WARD: It's a wonderful thing. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: It sure is. What's even more wonderful is both your desires
to use what's available to improve your skill set so you can realize dreams
-- in your case, be as good a dad as you can be. That's wonderful. That is
what -- that is what is possible and is happening all across the country.
(Applause.)

So the reason we have people come and talk, other than me, is so, one,
you'll listen, and two -- (laughter) -- so the stories make sense. These
stories make sense to me. It makes sense to support the community college
system, a system that is able to adjust to meet the needs of the people
that we taxpayers expect the community college to serve: people wanting to
work, employers trying to find a skill set so the communities can stay
vibrant and whole and jobs are available.

I told you, one of the objectives of government is to set the conditions
right for job growth. And a lot of that always times -- a lot of times
focuses on tax policy. And obviously, good tax policy matters. And -- but
also what matters is to make sure people understand the relevance and
importance of education. We must never lose sight of the need to have an
education system which not only provides -- give people the basic skills
working their way through elementary and secondary and high school, but
equally importantly, an education system that's capable of keeping this
country competitive by adjusting to the workplace as it really is.

I've come to herald success and a Governor who's successful in implementing
a vision because he's got community colleges, and community college
presidents who are responsive to the needs of people. Again, I want to
thank you all for letting me come. I hope you have found this as
interesting as I have.

May God bless you all, and may God continue to bless our country. Thank
you. (Applause.)

END 10:50 A.M. EST
===========================================================================
Return to this article at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/03/20050302-4.html

 * Origin: (1:3634/12)