Clinton Urges Initiative for Universal Internet Access

WASHINGTON —  President Clinton unveiled a multibillion-dollar plan Wednesday to help poor Americans and minorities get access to the Internet and make it as universal as the telephone.

“It would be tragic if this instrument that has done more to break down barriers between people than anything in all human history built a new wall because not everybody had access to it,” Clinton told students, educators and high-tech executives gathered in the gymnasium of Ballou High School.

After a tour of the school’s computer lab with America Online Chief Executive Steve Case, the president outlined his plan for $2 billion in tax incentives over 10 years, as well as $380 million in expanded federal grants, to encourage the private sector to donate computers, sponsor community technology centers and train workers.

Late last year, Clinton set a goal of connecting all Americans to the Internet, not just classrooms and libraries. “We should start by making sure that every community has a technology center that serves not just young people, but adults as well,” he said.

The president also said he would lead a group of high-tech CEOs on a trip to impoverished areas in April as part of his “New Markets” initiative to direct investment to areas that haven’t shared in the nation’s good economic times.

“Now at a time when our country has the longest economic expansion in history,” Clinton said, “we must close the digital divide.”

The package included a request for $10 million to prepare Native Americans for careers in information technology and other technical fields. Members of the Oglala Sioux nation beseeched Clinton to boost job prospects in their community during a stop at South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation on his first New Markets tour last year.

A Commerce Department report in July found that black and Latino households are only 40% as likely to have Internet access as white families.

And households with incomes of $75,000 and above in urban areas are more than 20 times as likely to have Internet access as households at the lowest income levels.

The administration said more than 50% of America’s schools and more than 80% of its classrooms are wired for the Internet.