WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today Congressman David Wu released the following statement in response to President Barack Obama’s plan to invest $12 billion in community colleges:

“Community colleges are a crucial foundation of our nation’s higher education system.  They provide the vital training and retraining that students of all ages need to prepare for jobs in essential fields like nursing, construction, and website development, or to go on to a four-year school.  As the co-chair of the congressional Community College Caucus, I am pleased to see President Obama commit to helping students get the education they need to succeed in our changing global economy.

Here in Oregon, our community colleges are already increasing their capacity to train our current and future workforce.  As I travel around my district, I have seen schools like Clatsop Community College invest in new facilities to better train our workforce, a forward-thinking approach that’s needed more than ever during these hard times.  I have seen schools like Portland Community College commit to collaborating with local businesses so that they can develop new degrees in growing fields like heath information technology and solar energy.  And I have seen the federal government partner in these efforts by providing funds such as those that were allocated to retrain workers affected by layoffs at Boise Cascade, LLC, in St. Helens.

Community colleges are essential to our economy’s short-term recovery and long-term growth.  Working with the Obama administration, I will continue to help the federal government serve as a partner in that effort.”