Government sales program. And saturday on cspan3, on lectures in history john turner on the early mormons and their attempts to create a new zion in the american west. Sunday afternoon at 4 00, nine from little rock. About the forced desegregation of the allwhite high school. Find our complete schedule on cspan. Org and let us know what you think about the programs you are watching. Email us. Send us a tweet at cspan comments. President obama was in here falls, iowa to outline his plan to increase access to affordable broadband service. He chose cedar falls because it is the first city in iowa where fast Gigabit Service is available. It is a preview of what he will announce in his state of the Union Address next tuesday. Hello cedar falls. Thank you. It is good to be back. Give mark a big round of applause for the introduction and the great work he is doing. [applause] i also want to thank mayor john cruz and the whole team here at cedar falls utilities for hosting us here today. A big round of applause. We have our commerce secretary here as well as iowa congressman Dave Lobesack and attorney general tom miller. And i was reminded by the president that we have to give a shout out to a top 25 basketball team. [applause] the president was lobbying me about putting them in my bracket. I said, it is a little early. I have to see what happens in the 2nd half of the season. [laughter] you know, the panthers are putting together a heck of a season again. I think i think most folks find a few years ago, that when march rolls around, you do not bet against uni. It is great to be back. I have seen a lot of good friends. Unfortunately they are not giving me time to grab a beer i understand the mayor said he brought a bud light for me. He is trying to sneak it around the secret service. Obviously, it is wonderful coming back to iowa, even during the winter. Especially in the cold. These folks in washington cannot handle the cold. We know how to handle it in the midwest. Here in iowa on a cold january caucus night we talked about change and said that it was time for us to move this country in a new direction. Obviously a lot has changed. I am much grayer, for example. [laughter] as a country we fought through the worst financial crisis and recession in our lifetimes. The American People showed a lot of resilience and resolve and there is no doubt about it thanks to the steps that we took early to rescue the economy, to rebuild it on a new Foundation America is coming back. Last year was the strongest year for job growth since the 1990s. Unemployment [applause] unemployment fell in 2014 faster in any year since 1984. Businesses have created more than 11 million jobs in the last 58 straight months. That is the longest stretch of job growth in american history. Since 2010 americans put more people back to work than europe, japan, and every and every other advanced economy combined. And [applause] you know [applause] a lot of folks talk about some of the jobs are being created in the service sector, not paying as much. The truth is, American Manufacturing is in its best stretch of job growth since the 1990s. Manufacturing is growing faster than the rest of the economy. Meanwhile, america is now the number one producer of oil and gas in the world. [applause] and by the way youre saving about 1. 20 a gallon at the pump over this time last year. So these past six years we are trying. It has demanded a lot of hard work and sacrifice, but as a country, we have a right to be proud about what we have to show for it. The american resurgence is real, and we are better positioned to succeed. Now on tuesday i will deliver my state of the Union Address, and i will focus on how we can build on the progress we have made and help more americans feel that resurgence in their daily lives with higher wages and rising incomes and growing our middle class. Since i only have two years in office left, i am kind of in a rush. I have been traveling across the country, rolling out these ideas. Plans to make more students be able to attend community college, plans to make more workers find good jobs in high tech manufacturing and in the 21st century, in this age of innovation and technology, so much of the prosperity that we are striving for, so many of the jobs we want to create depend upon our digital economy. Depends on our ability to connect and shop and do business and discover and learn online in cyberspace. This week i have been laying out new proposals on how we can keep seizing his opportunities these seizing these opportunities in this digital age, while at the same time protecting security and privacy and prosperity and values. On monday i announced new steps to protect American Consumers from identity theft. To make sure your privacy is protected. Yesterday, i spoke at the department of Homeland Security about how we can work with the private sector to better defend American Companies against cyber attacks. Today, i am in cedar falls to talk about how we can get faster, cheaper broadband. So they can succeed in the digital economy. And i am not telling you anything you do not already no. Know. Today, highspeed broadband is not a luxury but a necessity. This is not just about making it easier to stream netflix, to scroll through your Facebook News feed, although that is fun. It is frustrating if you are waiting for a long time before it finally comes up. This is about helping local businesses grow and prosper and compete in a global economy. Getting the entrepreneur, the Small Business person on main street a a chance to compete with the folks out in Silicon Valley or across the globe about helping a a Student AccessEmployment Opportunities that can help her pursue her dreams. That is why through the recovery act when i 1st came into office and we were trying to make sure we prevented the Great Depression we built or improved more than 113 miles of network infrastructure, and up to circle globe more than four times. We offer tax credits to help spur businesses. We hooked up tens of thousands of schools and libraries and medical facilities and Community Organizations and then launched something we call connect and which trains teachers and spurs private Sector Innovation and disconnecting 99 percent of American Students to highspeed internet. But and this is why i i am here, we still have a lot of work to do. 98 of americans have access to the most basic levels of broadband which is a good thing, but that does not look quite as good when you look at the speed that we need for the apps and video and data and new software that is constantly coming on the market. We have to keep pace and be up to speed. Right now about 45 million americans cannot purchase next generation broadband, and those that creates connections that are six or seven times faster than todays basic feeds. Only about half of rural americans can log on. If folks do have good and fast internet chances are they only have one provider to pick from. Today tens of millions of americans have only one choice for the next generation of broadband. Were pretty much at the whim of whatever Internet Provider is around. When there is no competition you are stuck on hold waiting and waiting and waiting. Meanwhile, you are wondering why your rates keep getting jacked up when your rates dont service does not seem to be improving. In cedar pauls, things are different. Not 20 years ago in a visionary move ahead of its time, this city voted to add another option to the market and invest in a Community Broadband network. A smart thing you guys did. [laughter] [applause] it was a smart thing you guys did. You have managed it right here in cedar falls. A few years ago, you realize customers were demanding more and more speed. All the movies, all the increased data, instagram, all this stuff. Suddenly being loaded up and basically you guys were like the captain in jaws and said, we will need a bigger boat. Having already made the smart investment 20 years ago, five years ago you said we have to upgrade to a Fiber Network throughout the city. Eventually, with the help of federal funding, the surrounding rural areas as well. Today, cedar falls is iowas first gigabit city. [applause] that sounds like something out of us out of a star wars movie. Gigabit city. There is hong kong, tokyo, paris, cedar falls. [laughter] [applause] that is the company you are keeping. You are almost 100 times faster than the national average. One hundred times faster. [applause] and you can log on for about the same price as some folks paid for a fully loaded cable bundle. Today you have small possesses that are serving clients worldwide. Google named you the best city in iowa for ecommerce. What you are showing is, here in america, you do you do not have to be the Biggest Community to do big things. You just have to to have some vision and you have to Work Together, and we are seeing that elevation and energy and innovation and energy and foresight in communities across the country. In lafayette, Louisiana Companies are bringing jobs to the city in part because of their fast, nextgeneration rock band network. The people of yuma county colorado voted overwhelmingly in favor of a Community Broadband network. That is in the same election where 85 of the folks just voted for a Republican Senate candidate. This is not a partisan issue not a red issue or a blue issue. Folks just want to know that they are at the cutting edge of this new economy. Folks around the nation want these broadband networks. They promote efficiency and competition. Here in cedar falls, if you do not want the highest speed package you can choose between the utilities for options like mediacom or century link. It is not like you do not have choices. That is how free market and capitalism are supposed to work. Here is the catch. In too many places across america Big Companies are doing everything they can to keep out competitors. Today, in 19 states, we have laws on the books that stamp out competition and make it difficult for communities to provide there own broadband the way that you do. In some states it is virtually impossible. Today i am saying, we have have we are going to change that. Enough is enough. [applause] we will change that so every community can do the smart things you will guys are doing. Not long ago i made my position clear on what is called that net neutrality. We have to maintain a free and open internet. Today, i am making my administrations position clear on Community Broadband i am on the side of competition and Small Business owners like mark. I am on the side ofs ruins and his schools. The side of students and schools. I believe a community has the right to make its own choices. No one will force you, but if you want to, to, if the want to do it, if the community decides that this is something that we want to do they should be able to do it. If there are laws in place that prohibit or restrict these communitybased efforts all of all of us, should do everything we can to push back. I believe that is what stands out about america, this belief that more competition means better products and cheaper prices. We do that with every other product, we ought to do it with broadband. It is just common sense. That is why why leaders from 50 cities and towns across the have a coalition called next century cities, have pledged to bring nextgeneration broadband to their cities and towns and i am announcing additional efforts to encourage communities to follow your lead. I am directing federal agencies to get rid of unnecessary regulations that slow the expansion of broadband, limit competition. They will report back to me in six months. The department of commerce is here and will work to offer support and Technical Assistance to communities that want to follow your lead. Usda, the department of agriculture. This summer i will host mayors from across the country to chart the next steps we need to take. That that is what we we will be doing. We will clear away red tape, foster competition, help communities connect and help communities succeed in our digital economy. [applause] the good news is, we no that it know that it works because of you. You were the guinea pigs on this thing. You took a chance and made something happen. You are supporting the jobs of the future. I want to leave you with a story of another community that has as well. Chattanooga, tennessee was once called the dirtiest city in the nation. During the recession, they were hit harder than most places, but that did not stop them from building americas 1st citywide highspeed Fiber Network. Write down the middle of down right down the middle of downtown. Just as fast as what you have in cedar falls. A new generation has moved down to chattanooga, businesses have set up shop. Volkswagen built a billiondollar manufacturing plant. It is unleashing a tornado of innovation. The city is even testing out Futuristic Technology like 3d holograms. Here is what the former mayor said, it is like being the first city to have fire. [laughter] we dont know all the things we can do with it yet. Think about that. When you are first at something you may not no all of the applications right away, but that is the spirit of america, imagining what might come next. We may not always know what is around the corner, but we no we know that we will figure it out, as long as we are bold and go ahead and Work Together. We have been through hard times. We did not always know that they were coming. We pulled together, we worked together, we relied on each other, and we figured it out. We are blessed with the greatest Natural Resource in the world, not corn. [laughter] but the ingenuity and the willingness to take risks of the American People. I am confident if we give americans the tools that they need, help lay the foundation and allow them to access the amazing opportunities and technologies of this moment in World History they are not going to continue recovering from a bad recession, but ignite the next generation of american innovation, and it we will start right here in kaywun. In cedar falls, iowa. Thank you. God bless god bless you. God bless america. [applause] on the next washington journal Howard Schmidt will join us. He is a former Cyber Security officer and will talk about the white house effort to prevent cyber attacks. Then lee goodman talks about the future of political speech online. Then the president of the American Association of Community Colleges on the administrations plan to guarantee High School Graduate free tuition at Community Colleges. Washington journal live every morning. You can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Health and Human Services secretary Sylvia Burwell will speak tomorrow on the White House Health care priorities. That is live at 10 00 a. M. Eastern. The cspan cities to her takes book tv and u. S. History on the road. This weekend we partnered with comcast for a visit to West Virginia. There are two volumes, the reason i thought it was important to collect these histories is that wheeling transformed into an Industrial City in the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century and it is kind of uncommon in West Virginia in that it drew immigrants from various parts of europe here in search of jobs and opportunity. That immigrant generation is premuch done. I thought is pretty much gone. I thought it was important to record their story and the ethnic neighborhoods they had. Multiple focus on the frontier history and Civil War History those periods are important but of equal importance is the industrial. Industrial period that wheeling had. Wheeling starts as an outpost on the frontier. That river was the western extent of the United States in the 1770s. The first project funded by the federal government for road production was the National Road that extended from cumberland, maryland to wheeling, virginia. When it comes here to wheeling, that will give this community which is about 50 years old, the real spurt that it needs for growth. Over the next 25 years, the population of wheeling will almost triple. Watch all of our events from reeling wheeling saturday. A threejudge panel at the ninth Circuit Court of appeals in San Francisco heard oral argument monday on the constitutionality of an Arizona State law banning ethnic studies. It left to the banning of an American Ethnic Studies Program in the Tucson Unified School district. A group of students sued arguing it is overly broad discriminatory and violates free speech. This is 45 minutes. Good morning, may it leaves the court. May it please the