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SOTU [State of the Union] 1999 Speech Drafts 1/13/99 - 1/14/99 [Binder] [5]
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sotu99.9
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
UNITED STATES CAPITOL
January 19,1999
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, honored guests, my fellow
Americans:
On your behalf, let me acknowledge the presence in the box with Mrs. Hastert of Wei Ling
Chestnut and Lyn Gibson, the widows of the two Capitol Police officers who were struck down in
this house, the heart of this democracy. As much as any soldiers in our history, they were defending
our freedom. I ask us all now to bow our heads in silent prayer in honor of JJ Chestnut and John
Gibson, [moment of silence]
Tonight, we begin again our work together for the people of America. And let me begin by
saluting the new Speaker of the House. On the day you were sworn in, you asked us to work in a
spirit of civility and bipartisanship. Mr. Speaker, let's do exactly that.
Tonight, I have the honor and of reporting on the State of our Union.
I stand before you to report that we have created the longest peacetime economic expansion
in American history -with wages rising at twice the rate of inflation and nearly 18 million new jobs.
I stand before you to report that more Americans are living in their own homes than at any
time in our history -that the welfare rolls are the smallest in 29 years -and that the peacetime
unemployment rate is the lowest it has been since 1957.
I stand before you, the first president in three decades to report, not just that the budget is
balanced, but that we have a $70 billion surplus -the highest in American history. And I can now
report that there will be a surplus year after year for the next 20 years, a total surplus of $2 trillion.
I stand before you to report that violent crime is at its lowest point in a quarter century.
I stand before you to report that the environment is the cleanest in a quarter century, and that
in six years —even as our economy has boomed —we have cut pollution from factories in half.
I stand before you to report that America stands strong - a force for peace and reconciliation
1
�With our help, there are 9 times as many classrooms connected to the Internet as there were
six years ago. With $2 billion additional dollars coming this year, we can meet our goal of
connecting every classroom and every library in America to the Internet by the Year 2000.
We have begun to marshall a volunteer army of students from 1000 colleges to teach young
children to read, and mentors in thousands of communities to prepare young people prepare for
college.
To bring more discipline, more attention, and more learning to every young child, we reached
across party lines last fall and began to hire 100,000 new highly-trained teachers to reduce class size
in the early grades. I ask this Congress to finish our mission of hiring 100,000 new teachers.
SAT scores are up. Math scores have risen in nearly all grades nationwide. But there is a
problem. While while our fourth graders outperform their peers in other developed countries in math
and science, our eighth graders are around average, and our twelfth graders rank near the bottom.
Clearly, American students have the capacity to leam. They fall behind because the system fails
them.
Each year the national government invests over $13 billion [ck] in our public schools. I
believe we must change the way we invest that money. We know what works -so we have no
excuse for continuing to invest in what doesn't. We have a moral responsibility to our children to
invest in what does.
Later this year, I will send Congress a plan that for the first time will hold states and school
districts accountable for progress and reward them for results. I propose that every community
receiving federal help for their schools must take the following four steps.
First, all schools must end social promotion. Too many students move from grade to grade
,—
without mastering the basics
Because we must help young people to meet higher standards, my new balanced budget
triples the funding for summer school and after school programs. We can keep one million students
learning in the hours after regular school lets out, when parents work and juvenile crime soars. Our
children should leam their lessons in the classroom, not on the streets.
Three years ago, Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley ended social promotion. If students fail
to master the basics, they go to summer school and get special tutoring until they do pass -and most
do. [Today, Chicago's summer school is the sixth largest school district in the nation.] [we all feel
this is afrighteningstatistic] Citywide math and reading scores are up three years in a row.
�Last Spring in Chicago, [x] got a letter saying she would have to repeat [x] grade unless she
raised her grades, [x] buckled down, and in six weeks of summer school boosted her reading level
by [#] months and her math by [#].
She passed her test, went on to the next grade with her friends, and now she's planning to college.
[X] is with us tonight, sitting with the First Lady. We're proud of you, [x].
Second, aH states and school districts turn around their worst-performing schools or shut
them down. That is the policy established by Gov. Jim Hunt in North Carolina -and last year, that
state's test scores made the biggest gains in the nation. We can no longer tolerate schools anywhere
in America that deny any young Americans the opportunity to leam their way out of poverty.
Third, aU states and school districts must be held responsible for the quality of their teachers.
None of us would be here tonight if not for our teachers. We must lift them up, not tear them down.
But in too many schools, teachers don't have college majors-or even minors-in the subjects they
teach. All new teachers must pass skills tests, and all teachers must be required to know the subject
they are teaching.
To attract talented teachers to the toughest teaching assignments, my balanced budget calls
for a five-fold increase in scholarships for college students who commit to teach in the inner city,
in isolated rural areas and on Indian reservations.
Fourth, we must empower parents by creating more charter schools and giving them better
information on their children's education. In too many communities, it is easier to get information
on the quality of local restaurants than the quality of local public schools. From now on, every
school district must issue report cards on every school.
We are creating a public school system driven by more information, more competition, more
chioice.
There was one independent, public charter school in all of America when I became President. There
are 900 today. My budget assures that by early in the next century, there will be 3000.
If we do these four things -end social promotion, turn around failing schools, demand
qualified teachers, and promote innovation and competition --we will begin to meet our generation's
historic responsibility to create 21st Century schools for our children.
Tonight, let's make our children one more promise. In some of our cities, the average age
of school buildings is 65 years old. Too many of our schools are falling apart. Many others are so
overcrowded that students leam in trailers. Last fall, Congress missed an opportunity to create a tax
break to modernize or build 5000 schools. This year, for the sake of our 53 million schoolchildren,
Congress must not miss that opportunity again.
BUILDING STRONG FAMILIES FOR THE 21st CENTURY
We must also strengthen the American familiy for the 21st Century. No government can
raise or love a child. Mothers and fathers do. But government can empower parents with the tools
they need to meet their most vital responsibilities.
�The most basic tool of all is a decent income. So first, let's agree to raise the minimum wage
by $1 over the next two years.
Strong families depend on strong parents.
Next fall, the First Lady and I will host a White House conference to explore new ways to
help Americans balance work and family as we enter the new millennium. I am proud of the First
Lady's work here and in so many other areas at home and abroad. She has played an historic role
in serving this nation and advancing our best ideals.
We must do more to help the millions of working American parents who give their all every
day to succeed at home and at work.
I ask the Congress once again to enact a comprehensive plan to make quality child care more
affordable and more accessible than ever. My balanced budget provides tax credits for working
families, child care subsidies for small business, and high standards and training for child care
providers. Our child care plan includes a new tax credit for stay-at-home mothers. They need help
too. No job is more important than the job of raising a child.
I am proud that the Family Medical Leave Act was the first bill I signed into law. Since then,
it has helped nearly [20 million] Americans care for a new baby or an ailing relative without risking
their jobs. Now let's extend this to workers in smaller companies, and guarantee Family Leave to
10 million more Americans.
And parents who work to support their families should never face discrimination in the
workplace. I will send legislation to Congress that prohibits companies from refusing to hire or
promote workers simply because they have children.
Strong families need strong health care.
Our families deserve the world's most advanced medical care -and we must continue our
commitment to cutting-edge research and pathbreaking innovation.
We have begun testing the first drugs to prevent or reduce risk of cancer. In just the past six
years, medical researchers introduced the first effective drugs to treat AIDS. They have discovered
the process of aging itself - raising the prospect of new treatments to prevent or delay diseases from
Parkinsons to Alzheimers to arthritis.
�My balanced budget will keep us on track to increase the budget for the National Institutes
of Health by fifty percent. I ask Congress to fund this scientific research, and commit our nation to
finding a cure for cancer and AIDS early in the new century.
And as our medicinal advance race ahead, we cannot let our health care system lag behind.
Managed care has transformed medicine in America —driving down costs, but threatening
to drive down quality as well.
Here's a true story told by an emergency room physician from Dearborn, Michigan. A
patient was rushed into the emergency room; he had died. The doctor revived him. And he
recovered. But the man's health plan said they would not pay. He hadn't called the 800 number to
get prior approval. Being dead, apparently, was not "an emergency"!
Despite his HMO, he is here with us tonight. Let's make him and all Americans a promise:
This year, we will pass the patient's bill of rights ... so every American can have the right to the best
care, not just the cheapest. The right to see a specialist. And the right to emergency care.
Within my power as President, I have acted, extending these rights to the 85 million
Americans served by Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health plans. But only Congress can
enact the Patients Bill of Rights for all Americans. Last year. Congress missed that opportunity.
This year, for the sake of our families. Congress must not miss that opportunity again.
And as more of our medical records are stored electronically, the threats to our privacy
increase. If Congress does not act this year, as provided by law, I will act —issuing an executive
order to protect the privacy of medical records online.
Two years ago, we extended health insurance to up to 5 million children. Now, we should
give people 55 to 65 the chance to buy in to Medicare. We should make it easier for small
businesses to offer health insurance to their employees. We should pass the bipartisan legislation,
introduced by Senators Kennedy, Jeffords, Roth and Moynihan to allow people with disabilities to
buy Medicaid health insurance so they can go back to work.
Next, we must must step up our efforts to treat and prevent an illness that brings pain to
millions of American families -mental illness. With sensitivity and commitment, Tipper Gore has
led our efforts here. This year, we will host a [first-ever] White House Conference on Mental
Health. No American should ever be afraid to recognize and treat this disease. And every American
should have equal opportunity to thrive.]
�21st Century economy
But we cannot meet any of our other challenges if we do not succeed in building a new
economy for that new century.
Today, America is without dispute the most dynamic, innovative, competitive, job creating,
wealth creating economy in the history of the world. And America will continue to lead because
the qualities that mean success in the global economy are at the core of the American character.
We must make a place for all our people in the new economy.
Today, there is not so much an income gap as a skills gap. At a time when skills matter more
9
�than ever, one out of four working people reads at less than a sixth grade level.
This past year I was proud to sign bipartisan legislation to transform our worker training system.
With a simple voucher, Americans can now choose the skills they need. My balanced budget will
build on that momentum, with a national campaign to improve adult literacy and a commitment that
every American who needs training will get training.
We have made great strides in moving from a system of welfare to a system of work. Two
years ago, from this podium, I asked five companies to lead a national effort to move people from
welfare to work. As of tonight, our Welfare to Work Partnership includes 10,000 companies.
My budget provides funds to create jobs to move another [TK,000] people from welfare to work.
[We have a new and urgent priority. The farmers who are the backbone of our country are
in trouble. Dropping prices and the loss of foreign markets have led to dire economic conditions for
too many of our hardworking family farmers. I pledge to work with members of Congress of both
parties to craft a better farm safety net for rural America, with crop insurance reform and income
assistance. ]
And we must spur and strengthen our new technological economy.
Government investment in computers led to the creation of the Internet. Now I propose a
30% increase in long-term computer research.
Today's consumers need 21st Century protections. We will continue our aggressive but
prudent record of enforcing our antitrust laws. I will propose a new financial right to know law to
protect them and their investments.
We must be ready for the 21 st Century at the very first moment of that century. We have
already fixed the millennium bug for the Social Security system, and the checks will keep coming
on time. But every business, every city and county, every university must be ready. But if we work
hard and work together, the millennium bug can be remembered as the last headache of the 21st
Century and not the first crisis of the 21st Century.
It is plain that economic growth at home also depends upon economic growth around the
world.
Until recently, a full one third of our economic growth came from trade. But over the past
year and a half, the financial turmoil that began in Asia has put that growth at risk. Today, much of
10
�the world is in recession. Across Asia, an entire generation that worked its way into the middle class
has been plunged into poverty.
This is the most critical financial crisis in a half century. Last September, I set out a new
strategy to spur global growth, to stabilize the global economy and keep the world trading system
open, free, and fair.
Together with other nations, the United States acted -lowering interest rates, and meeting
our obligations to the International Monetary Fund, preventing crisis from spreading.
The turmoil is not over. But because of America's leadership, the world's economy is
sounder than it otherwise would have been —and our economy continues to grow, steady and strong.
I thank lawmakers of both parties for your support.
Now we must build a financial system for the 21st Century that tames the cycles of boom and
bust in the world economy. This spring, I will meet with the leaders of the world's most important
economies to lay plans for a world financial system as modem as the markets. [Every nation must
open its books. We must strengthen international bank regulations. We must build a rapid response
system to prevent problems from becoming global crises. And we must make sure that the poorest
citizens in the poorest nations do not become the victims of financial turmoil.] [we are working with
Treasury to improve these policies]
We must build a trading system for the 21st Century one that spurs growth, expands
opportunity, and honors the values of hard work and fair return.
For too long, trade has divided Americans, across lines of party and philosophy. We must
find the common ground on which business, workers, environmentalists and government can stand
together.
We must do more to help American manufacturers hit hard by the global financial crisis. I
ask the Congress to provide $2 billion in new credit to promote U.S. manufacturing exports abroad.
We must resist a protectionism that could start a chain reaction, hurting our exports and triggering
11
�a global recession. Where imports are unfairly flooding into our nation, we will act. I have already
informed the government of Japan that [if Japan's sudden surge of cheap steel imports into our
country is not reversed, I will respond under our trade laws.]
Five times in the past half century, we have negotiated worldwide agreements that have
opened markets and lifted prosperity. Tonight I propose to launch a new round of negotiations in
the World Trade Organization to expand our exports of farm products, services and manufactures.
We will seek to expand trade with Africa and with the Central American nations devastated by the
recent hurricane, and to pursue a Free Trade Area of the Americas.
But as we press for open trade, we must also press for trade that promotes the dignity of work
and the rights of workers. We must insist that international trade organizations be open to the
sunlight of public scrutiny. We must insist that trade rules never be used as a pretext to destroy
environmental protections. We must never let vigorous international economic competition become
a race to the bottom among nations.
I ask Congress to move forward with me based on this common approach and pass legislation
granting the President traditional trade authority so we can advance our prosperity.
We will work with the International Labor Organization on a new initiative to lift labor
standards around the world. And we must act, once and for all, to end the most exploitative trade
practices of all: I will sign a new international agreement to ban child labor everywhere in the world.
A STRONG AMERICA IN A NEW WORLD
Section to come
ONE AMERICA IN THE 21ST CENTURY
If we want to exert influence in the world, we must set an example here at home. We must
come together as One American community -and we begin by strengthening our communities.
Strong communities, first, are communities where hope and opportunity flourish.
Last Friday I travelled to Wall Street to speak to the leaders of many of America's biggest
corporations. I challenged them to invest in poor urban and rural neighborhoods. My balanced
budget includes tax credits for new investment, 100,000 housing vouchers to help poor people move
out of public housing. And we should create a new American Private Investment Corporation,
modeled after our Overseas Private Investment Corporation. The most important untapped markets
are here at home.
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�And strong communities are safe communities.
This year, we will reach our goal of putting 100,000 community police officers on the street.
The Brady Bill has stopped a quarter million felons, fugitives, and stalkers from buying guns
-enough guns to fill this chamber shoulder high. Last year, the nation's crime rate dropped for the
sixth straight year, and the murder rate is the lowest in [30] years.
But too many neighborhoods still are not safe. Tonight, I propose a 21st Century crime bill
to marshall the latest tools, technologies and tactics in the fight against crime.
My budget provides funds to put up to 50,000 more police on the beat in the areas hardest
hit by crime. Our crime bill will give law enforcement 21st Century tools, from crime-mapping
computers to digital mug shots. It's time we gave the police of America better technology than the
criminals.
We must do more to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. Congress should restore the
mandatory 5-day waiting period for buying a handgun that expired last year, and extend the Brady
Bill so that juveniles who commit violent crimes won't be able to buy handguns for life.
[And we should follow the lead of South Carolina, Maryland and Virginia and say, nobody needs
to buy more than one handgun a month.]
We must finally begin to break the deadly cycle of drugs and crime. Too many prisoners go
back on the street addicted to the drugs that made them commit crimes in the first place. My budget
strengthens support for drug testing and treatment. It says to prisoners: If you stay on drugs, you
must stay behind bars. And it says to those out on parole: If you want to keep your freedom, you
have to keep free of drugs.
And for all the progress we have made to restore discipline and order in our schools by
imposing a zero-tolerance policy for guns in schools and getting districts to adopt school uniforms,
I ask Congress to pass my plan to strengthen the Safe and Drug-Free School Act this year. And we
should hire and train 2,000 new community police and school resource officers to keep kids safe in
our classrooms and playgrounds. No child should go to school feeling terrorized by classmates. No
parent should worry that his child become the target of deadly violence. Our schools ought to be the
safest place in every community.
Strong communities are livable communities.
A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt set our nation on the course of conservation.
He defined our nation's "great, central task" as "leaving this land even a better land for our
descendants than it is for us."
This is the vision we are fulfilling today, protecting California's ancient redwoods, the
Florida Everglades, and Yellowstone, the world's first National Park. At a time when our economy
13
�is the strongest in a generation, our air and water are the cleanest in a generation —and the American
bald eagle, the symbol of our national strength, soars once again. But there are new environmental
challenges we must come together to meet.
The most profound challenge is the threat of global warming. The deadly heat waves,
crippling ice storms, and near-biblical floods of the past year are but a hint of what future
generations may endure if we don't act now.
So tonight, I propose a clean air fund to help communities reduce both greenhouse pollution
and smog; new grants for developing clean energy sources; tax cuts for buying energy-efficient cars,
homes, and appliances; rewards for companies that take early action to reduce greenhouse pollution;
and vigorous new diplomatic efforts to meet this global threat with a global response.
Another new challenge is, quite literally, in our very neighborhoods. At a time when so
many more citizens are buying new homes and sharing in the American Dream, our communities
are losing about 7,000 acres of farms and open space every day.
So Vice President Gore and I propose an unprecedented $2 billion initiative to help
communities save open space, enhance city parks, ease traffic congestion, and grow in ways that
enhance every citizen's quality of life. We must keep our growing communities livable and green.
AmeriCorps
From our earliest days, the ethic of service —the belief that all Americans have a duty to give
something back to our communities and to each other — a been the hallmark of American
hs
citizenship. Six years ago, I fought to create AmeriCorps to give today's generation a new chance
to serve America, earn money for college and work side by side with peers from all walks of life.
In just four years, AmeriCorps have built thousands of low-income homes with Habitat for
Humanity. They have helped churches in Dallas tutor children and raise reading scores by more than
half. They have worked with the American Red Cross to comfort families hit hard by Hurricane
Georges.
Nothing in my time as President gives me greater pride than this: as of today, 100,000 young
people now have served our nation through AmeriCorps -more than served in the Peace Corps
during its entire first two decades. Some of them are with us tonight, and we should thank them for
their service.
14
�I ask this Congress to thank these young people as only you can: by increasing support for
AmeriCorps. And to all the young people in America, I want you to know that you can make a
difference in your community.
Democracy
And as we work to strengthen our communities, we must work to renew our democracy.
Our campaign finance system is broken -our laws overwhelmed by an out of control fundraising
arms race. Last year, a strong bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives passed strong
campaign finance reform. But obstruction by a partisan minority blocked reform and preserved the
status quo.
Today, Reps. Chris Shays and Marty Meehan introduced their bill again. I ask the House to pass it
quickly once again -and I ask the Senate to say no to big money and yes to a strong democracy in
the Year 2000.
[free TV]
ONE AMERICA
The greatest opportunity facing our nation is also our oldest challenge: building One
America. What can we do to build one nation for the 21st Century?
For the past year and a half, our Initiative on Race has sought to bridge the divides between
our people. What we discovered was that the will to bring our people together across all racial lines
is strong in America.
But there is much more we can and must do to close the opportunity gaps that deepen the
divides between the races.
We believe that all citizens should have the chance to rise as far as their God-given talents
will take them. No arbitrary distinctions should bar the way.
Denying opportunity because of ancestry or religion, race or gender, disability or sexual orientation,
is wrong. It is un-American. And it should be illegal. I call upon the Congress to make the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act the law of the land.
[REFERENCE TO BYRD & SLEPIAN] [With us tonight are Judy and Dennis Shepard of
Casper, Wyoming. Dennis is an oil rig inspector. Judy [stayed at home and raised two fine sons].
This fall, they were proud when their elder son Matthew enrolled in his Dad's alma mater, the
University of Wyoming.
But barely a few months into his freshman year, Matthew was beaten, tied to a fence, and left for
15
�dead on a deserted country road. He was killed, police say, because he was gay. My fellow
Americans, this should never have happened to the Shepards and their son -and it should never
happen to any family in America.]
I call on Congress to pass the Hate Crimes Prevention Act this year and declare
unequivocally that America will never tolerate violent intolerance in this great land of freedom and
equality.
The face of America will change immeasurably in the next century. Today, one in ten people
in America was bom in another country. By the end of next year, California will have no majority
race.
I believe our newest immigrants are good for America. They are revitalizing our cities,
energizing our culture, building our new economy, just as they settled the frontier and powered the
Industrial Revolution.
My fellow Americans, just look at our immigrants and you will see yourselves, your parents,
your grandparents.
We say to our newest immigrants: You are welcome here, to share and enlarge the bounty
of America. But you must take responsibility —to leam English, to enter the mainstream of
American life and to make America's heroes your own. That is why my balanced budget will
enhance our efforts to teach immigrants English, our laws, and our system of government.
Whether our ancestors came here on the Mayflower or on slave ships, whether they landed
on Ellis Island or Los Angeles International Airport, whether they arrived yesterday or have been
here thousands of years, if you believe in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, if
you accept the responsibilities as well as the rights embedded in them, then you are an American.
PERORATION: THE MILLENNIUM
Barely 300 days from now, we will cross that bridge into a new millennium. This is a
moment, as the First Lady has said, to honor the past and imagine the future.
I thank the Congress for its support of our efforts to restore the Star Spangled Banner and
other national treasures that are known to every schooolchild.
Last year, Hillary traveled across our country to inspire more communities to work together to Save
America's Treasures. By preserving the places in which our forbears lived and worked, from
Thomas Edison's laboratory to Louis Armstrong's house in Queens, we ensure that children today
16
�and in the next century can better understand who we are and where we came from. So I call on
cities and towns to strive to become "Millennium Communities" -working to mark the millennium
through one shared endeavor, whether by restoring historic places, cleaning up a river or a park,
recruiting a volunteers to help children.
I came to this office six years ago tomorrow in a time of doubt for America. Our economy
was troubled; our deficit was high; many, even among our own people, wondered whether America's
best days were behind us. But a year earlier, traveling across this country through a thousand cities
and neighborhoods, in living rooms, churches, and community centers, I had seen, even in the pain
and uncertainty of recession, the strength, the idealism, the bold, big hearted character of America.
I had no doubt of what we, together, could do for our country.
Tonight, as I deliver the last State of the Union message of the 20th Century, that work goes
on.
So I ask all of us who hold office to work as hard every day as do the American people, who
sent us here to do a job for them.
This is no ordinary time. We are in the final months of a century when generations of
Americans answered the call to greatness, overcoming Depression, lifting up the dispossessed,
bringing down barriers of racial prejudice, opening up opportunity and the most widely shared
prosperity in human history, winning two world wars and "a long twilight struggle" against the most
vicious forms of tyranny ever known.
Perhaps in the daily press of events, in the clash of controversy, we do not see our time for what it
truly is - a new dawn for America.
A hundred years from tonight, another American President will stand in this place to report
on the State of our Union. He - or she - will look back on a 21st Century shaped in so many ways
by the decisions we make here and now.
Let it be said of us then that we were thinking not only of our time, but of their time; that we
reached as high as our ideals; that we put aside our divisions and found a new hour of healing and
hopefulness; that in these next two years, with pride in our purpose and the grace of our God, we
joined together to serve and strengthen the country we love.
Let us lift our eyes as one nation, and from the mountaintop of the American century, look
forward to the next one.
17
�Let us go to work together for the American people.
And, in this high endeavor, may God watch over the United States of America.
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�Record Type:
To:
Record
Michael Waldman/WHO/EOP
cc:
Jeffrey A. Shesol/WHO/EOP, Lowell A. Weiss/WHO/EOP, Joshua S. Gottheimer/WHO/EOP
Subject: jeff & lowell rewrite of NSC section
A STRONG AMERICA IN A NEW WORLD
Today, as the world's indispensable nation, we have an unparalleled
opportunity to shape a more democratic, peaceful, and prosperous world. Because
of our unique position, we also bear a deep responsibility -- to act where we can
make a difference... to act when our values are at stake and our interests are clear.
The United States must continue to help the extended hand of reconciliation
take hold in lands divided by violence and war. At the center of Europe, so recently
torn asunder by the bloodiest conflict since World War II, America's leadership and
NATO's resolve have put Bosnia on a path to peace and prevented catastrophe in
Kosovo. We will continue to help the Bosnian people rebuild their nation -- even as
we continue to bring American troops back home. In Kosovo, we will press for a
settlement that gives its people the self-government they so strongly deserve.
All Americans should be proud that we stood with Protestants and Catholics
in Northern Ireland as they put an end to 30 years of heartbreak in the Good Friday
Accord. Now that they have chosen a future of peace, America will help them
build it.
[Rep. King, Sens. Kennedy & Dodd?]
And in the Middle East - birthplace of three great religions - we have helped
bring the parties closer to a lasting peace.
Two months ago, through difficult negotiations on the Maryland shore, we
helped put the peace process back on track. Last month, in Israel, we kept it
moving forward. I was proud to address the Palestinian National Council on the
day it renounced its call for the destruction of Israel. We can now see our way
toward a just and secure peace that is good for Israelis, for Palestinians, and for the
world.
[aid to Israel, Palestinian Authority & Jordan?]
We must also stand ready to meet the new threats to our nation and the
security of the world. Today, outlaw nations and terrorists can acquire poison gas,
biological weapons, even nuclear arms to wreak havoc through fear. Let me be
�clear: We stand ready to defend our security when it is threatened in any part of
the world.
We stand ready on the Korean Peninsula, where 37,000 American troops
help guard the last front line of the Cold War. We must continue to deter
aggression and prevent North Korea from developing nuclear materials.
We stand ready to defend our nation against emerging threats here at home.
My balanced budget includes a 50% increase in funding to protect the computers
that keep our armed forces...our financial markets...our communications,
transportation, and power systems up and running. It will help prepare the police,
fire departments, and hospitals to deal with chemical and biological emergencies.
And it will support new research into vaccines, treatments and monitoring devices
to keep our people safe from these deadly new threats.
We stand ready to halt the spread of nuclear weapons. Nearly two years
ago, I was the first world leader to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty - to
end all nuclear testing, to prevent a new arms race, to make it harder for nations
without nuclear weapons to develop them. I ask the Senate to approve this vital
treaty - without further delay.
And I ask Congress to help Russia, Ukraine, and the other nations of the
former Soviet Union keep a tight grip on their nuclear stockpiles, use their
remarkable scientific potential for peaceful purposes, and accelerate destruction of
thousands of weapons. This is one of the best investments for peace that we can
possibly make.
[urge Duma to ratify START II?]
And we stand ready - and stand firm - against the threat posed by Saddam
Hussein. For nearly a decade, Iraq has defied its obligation to destroy its nuclear,
chemical, and biological weapons. Saddam has used such weapons before. I have
no doubt that he has the will to use them again. America, leading the world, has
held Saddam in check -- with diplomacy and sanctions whenever possible, with
force when necessary. And we will work for the day when Iraq has a government
worthy of its people.
In all these efforts, we rely on our armed forces to defend America's
interests in a dangerous world. We are proud of them. They are the best in the
world. Every American should be proud of the men and women of our military who
last month struck at the arsenal of terror in Iraq. Our troops performed
magnificently; their weapons were powerful and precise. Their mission was a
success - so flawlessly executed that we risk taking for granted the bravery and
skill they brought to the job. X flew X missions, destroying X. He is here with us
tonight. Let us honor him and the other 10,00 men and women of Desert Fox.
As Commander-in-Chief, I have no greater obligation to our troops than to give them
�the tools and training they need to succeed. In the past nine months, I have asked for and
Congress has appropriated $6 billion to keep our forces ready for action. Now, we must get
them ready for the new century. Our Armed Forces must remain the quickest, best equipped,
and best rewarded fighting force in the world. My balanced budget calls for an increase of
$12 billion for defense readiness and modernization -- the start of a sustained, six-year reversal
of the decline in defense spending that began in 1985, and a pay raise of 4.4 percent. Our
troops are taking on more missions overseas. They are missing their families; they are passing
up the opportunities of our strong economy. Yet they serve proudly, and whatever mission
they are given, they always deliver for America. We must deliver for them.
[de-mining ?]
A new century also demands new partnerships for peace and security.
In Europe, NATO has helped keep the peace and defend democracy for half a century.
This year, we mark that anniversary not only by welcoming Hungary, Poland, and the Czech
Republic into the alliance, but also by updating its capabilities — to help keep the peace for the
next 50 years and beyond.
We are a nation that spans a continent, embracing two oceans. More than ever, we
know that the security of America is linked to the security of Asia. As President, I have
strengthened our relationships with Japan and Korea, America's partners in peace and in trade.
Last year, the First Lady and I also traveled to China — home to one in five of the world's
people - to see first-hand the ways an ancient culture is making the transition to a new
millennium. We spoke candidly about our shared interests as well as our differences. I said
then to the leaders of China - and I will say again tonight - that there is no contradiction
between national security and personal liberty.
Economic freedoms, political freedoms, a respect for human rights - these are the
basic rights of people everywhere; and, as our Founders wrote, they are rights endowed by
our Creator. "The cause of America," said Thomas Paine, "is the cause of mankind." On
every continent, democracy has flowered in the final years of this century. We must make
sure, in the years to come, that it takes hold, and is not uprooted by prevailing winds of crisis,
financial or political. The friends of freedom will always find an ally in America.
Last spring in Africa, Hillary and I saw a continent transformed by political and market
reform. We also saw the scars of violence and the scourge of disease. We must intensify our
efforts to fortify the foundations of African democracy, and to promote the progress so many
nations have made. And because trade and investment are the ties that bind, Congress should
pass the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act.
In our own hemisphere, every government but one is freely chosen by its people. We
should strengthen our support of our neighbors in the Americas - rebuilding roads and homes
and lives in the wake of Hurricane Mitch, and renewing our determination that the people of
Cuba should know the blessings of freedom.
[Cuba initiative?]
�Jeffrey A. Shesol
01/14/99 03:06:15 AM
Record Type:
To:
Record
Michael Waldman/WHO/EOP
cc:
Jeffrey A. Shesol/WHO/EOP, Lowell A. Weiss/WHO/EOP, Joshua S. Gottheimer/WHO/EOP
Subject: jeff & lowell rewrite of NSC section
A STRONG AMERICA IN A NEW WORLD
Today, as the world's indispensable nation, we have an unparalleled
opportunity to shape a more democratic, peaceful, and prosperous world. Because
of our unique position, we also bear a deep responsibility - to act where we can
make a difference... to act when our values are at stake and our interests are clear.
The United States must continue to help the extended hand of reconciliation
take hold in lands divided by violence and war. At the center of Europe, so recently
torn asunder by the bloodiest conflict since World War II, America's leadership and
NATO's resolve have put Bosnia on a path to peace and prevented catastrophe in
Kosovo. We will continue to help the Bosnian people rebuild their nation -- even as
we continue to bring American troops back home. In Kosovo, we will press for a
settlement that gives its people the self-government they so strongly deserve.
All Americans should be proud that we stood with Protestants and Catholics
in Northern Ireland as they put an end to 30 years of heartbreak in the Good Friday
Accord. Now that they have chosen a future of peace, America will help them
build it.
[Rep. King, Sens. Kennedy & Dodd?]
And in the Middle East - birthplace of three great religions - we have helped
bring the parties closer to a lasting peace.
T w o months ago, through difficult negotiations on the Maryland shore, we
helped put the peace process back on track. Last month, in Israel, we kept it
moving forward. I was proud to address the Palestinian National Council on the
day it renounced its call for the destruction of Israel. We can now see our way
toward a just and secure peace that is good for Israelis, for Palestinians, and for the
world.
[aid to Israel, Palestinian Authority & Jordan?]
We must also stand ready to meet the new threats to our nation and the
security of the world. Today, outlaw nations and terrorists can acquire poison gas,
biological weapons, even nuclear arms to wreak havoc through fear. Let me be
�clear: We stand ready to defend our security when it is threatened in any part of
the world.
We stand ready on the Korean Peninsula, where 37,000 American troops
help guard the last front line of the Cold War. We must continue to deter
aggression and prevent North Korea from developing nuclear materials.
We stand ready to defend our nation against emerging threats here at home.
My balanced budget includes a 50% increase in funding to protect the computers
that keep our armed forces...our financial markets...our communications,
transportation, and power systems up and running. It will help prepare the police,
fire departments, and hospitals to deal with chemical and biological emergencies.
And it will support new research into vaccines, treatments and monitoring devices
to keep our people safe from these deadly new threats.
We stand ready to halt the spread of nuclear weapons. Nearly two years
ago, I was the first world leader to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty -- to
end all nuclear testing, to prevent a new arms race, to make it harder for nations
without nuclear weapons to develop them. I ask the Senate to approve this vital
treaty - without further delay.
And I ask Congress to help Russia, Ukraine, and the other nations of the
former Soviet Union keep a tight grip on their nuclear stockpiles, use their
remarkable scientific potential for peaceful purposes, and accelerate destruction of
thousands of weapons. This is one of the best investments for peace that we can
possibly make.
[urge Duma to ratify START //?]
And we stand ready -- and stand firm -- against the threat posed by Saddam
Hussein. For nearly a decade, Iraq has defied its obligation to destroy its nuclear,
chemical, and biological weapons. Saddam has used such weapons before. I have
no doubt that he has the will to use them again. America, leading the world, has
held Saddam in check -- with diplomacy and sanctions whenever possible, with
force when necessary. And we will work for the day when Iraq has a government
worthy of its people.
In all these efforts, we rely on our armed forces to defend America's
interests in a dangerous world. We are proud of them. They are the best in the
world. Every American should be proud of the men and women of our military who
last month struck at the arsenal of terror in Iraq. Our troops performed
magnificently; their weapons were powerful and precise. Their mission was a
success - so flawlessly executed that we risk taking for granted the bravery and
skill they brought to the job. X flew X missions, destroying X. He is here with us
tonight. Let us honor him and the other 10,00 men and women of Desert Fox.
As Commander-in-Chief, I have no greater obligation to our troops than to give them
�the tools and training they need to succeed. In the past nine months, I have asked for and
Congress has appropriated $6 billion to keep our forces ready for action. Now, we must get
them ready for the new century. Quf^medJEorces musta^main the quickest,-besfr^quippetfr'
and-best-rewarded fighting force in llie wuild. 'My balanced budget calls for an increase of
$12 billion for defense readiness and modernization - the start of a sustained, six-year reversal
of the decline in defense spending that began in 1985, and a pay raise of 4.4 percent. Our
troops are taking on more missions overseas. They are missing their families; they are passing
up the opportunities of our strong economy. Yet they serve proudly, and whatever mission
they are given, they always deliver for America. We must deliver for them.
[de-mining ?]
A new century also demands new partnerships for peace and security.
In Europe, NATO has helped keep the peace and defend democracy for half a century.
This year, we mark that anniversary not only by welcoming Hungary, Poland, and the Czech
Republic into the alliance, but also by updating its capabilities - to help keep the peace for the
next 50 years and beyond.
We are a nation that spans a continent, embracing two oceans. More than ever, we
know that the security of America is linked to the security of Asia. As President, I have
strengthened our relationships with Japan and Korea, America's partners in peace and in trade..
Last year, the First Lady and I also traveled to China - home to one in five of the world's
people - to see first-hand the ways an ancient culture is making the transition to a new
millennium. We spoke candidly about our shared interests as well as our differences. I said
then to the leaders of China - and I will say again tonight - that there is no contradiction
between national security and personal liberty.
Economic freedoms, political freedoms, a respect for human rights - these are the
basic rights of people everywhere; and, as our Founders wrote, they are rights endowed by
our Creator. "The cause of America," said Thomas Paine, "is the cause of mankind." On
every continent, democracy has flowered in the final years of this century. We must make
sure, in the years to come, that it takes hold, and is not uprooted by prevailing winds of crisis,
financial or political. The friends of freedom will always find an ally in America.
Last spring in Africa, Hillary and I saw a continent transformed by political and market
reform. We also saw the scars of violence and the scourge of disease. We must intensify our
efforts to fortify the foundations of African democracy, and to promote the progress so many
nations have made. And because trade and investment are the ties that bind, Congress should
pass the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act.
In our own hemisphere, every government but one is freely chosen by its people. We
should strengthen our support of our neighbors in the Americas - rebuilding roads and homes
and lives in the wake of Hurricane Mitch, and renewing our determination that the people of
Cuba should know the blessings of freedom.
[Cuba initiative?]
�Draft 1/14/99 3:30am
sotu99.9
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
UNITED STATES CAPITOL
January 19,1999
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, honored guests, my fellow
Americans:
On your behalf, let me acknowledge the presence in the box with Mrs. Hastert of Wei Ling
Chestnut and Lyn Gibson, the widows of the two Capitol Police officers who were struck down in
this house, the heart of this democracy. As much as any soldiers in our history, they were defending
our freedom. I ask us all now to bow our heads in silent prayer in honor of JJ Chestnut and John
Gibson, [moment of silence]
Tonight, we begin again our work together for the people of America. And let me begin by
saluting the new Speaker of the House. On the day you were sworn in, you asked us to work in a
spirit of civility and bipartisanship. Mr. Speaker, let's do exactly that.
Tonight, I have the honor and of reporting on the State of our Union.
I stand before you to report that we have created the longest peacetime economic expansion
in American history --with wages rising at twice the rate of inflation and nearly 18 million new jobs.
I stand before you to report that more Americans are living in their own homes than at any
time in our history -that the welfare rolls are the smallest in 29 years -and that the peacetime
unemployment rate is the lowest it has been since 1957.
I stand before you, the first president in three decades to report, not just that the budget is
balanced, but that we have a $70 billion surplus —the highest in American history. And I can now
report that there will be a surplus year after year for the next 20 years, a total surplus of $2 trillion.
I stand before you to report that violent crime is at its lowest point in a quarter century.
I stand before you to report that the environment is the cleanest in a quarter century, and that
in six years —even as our economy has boomed —we have cut pollution from factories in half.
I stand before you to report that America stands strong - a force for peace and reconciliation
1
�in lands torn by ancient hatreds, from Northern Ireland, to Bosnia, to the Middle East.
I stand before you to report that once again our government is a progressive instrument of
the common good. Thanks to the pioneering leadership of Vice President Gore, America has a
government for the Information Age that lives within its means. The smallest government since
-well, since John Glennfirstorbited the Earth. A flexible, creative government driven not by rigid
ideology, but by ideas that work; devoted to giving the American people the tools they need to solve
their own problems. A 21st Century government for 21st Century America.
Now we are on the eve of great possibilities. Stunning scientific discoveries; remarkable
advances in the health of our people; a time when cancer will be cured; when new technologies will
make it easier for parents to succeed both at work and at home; when children will acquire new
knowledge in new ways that keep us together —all moving us into a new time of longer, healthier,
more rewarding lives.
The State of our Union is strong.
The promise of our future is limitless.
But we cannot realize it if we allow the hum of our prosperity to lull us into complacency.
Yes, America is working again. But we now face challenges that will face who we are as a people,
and how we fare as a nation, far into the 21st Century. So with our budget surplus growing, our
economy expanding, and our confidence rising, let's get to work.
AGING OF AMERICA
Our fiscal discipline gives us an unsurpassed opportunity to address remarkable new
challenge: the aging of America.
We are blessed with the longest life expectancy we have ever known. With the number of
elderly Americans set to double by 2030, the Baby Boom will become a Senior Boom.
First and above all, we must save Social Security. Early in this century, being old meant
being poor. When President Franklin Roosevelt created Social Security, thousands wrote to thank
him for eliminating what one woman called the "stark terror of penniless, helpless old age." Even
today, without Social Security, half our nation's elderly would forced into poverty.
Today, Social Security is strong. But by 2013, payroll taxes will not cover retirement
2
�obligations. And by 2032 the Trust Fund will be exhausted, and Social Security will be unable to
pay out the full benefits older Americans have been promised.
We must keep that promise. Last year, from this podium, I said we must set aside the surplus
until we save Social Security. Tonight, I propose to you that we invest the surplus to save Social
Security.
The best way to keep Social Security a rock-solid guarantee is to invest its resources wisely
—not to make drastic cuts in benefits; not to raise payroll tax rates; and not to drain resources from
Social Security in the name of saving it.
Specifically, I propose that we take half the budget surplus for the next 15 years and invest
it to save Social Security. Just by investing a small a small portion of the Trust Fund in the private
sector -like any private or state government pension would --we will earn a higher return and we
will keep Social Security strong for 50 years without benefit cuts or tax rate increases.
Beyond that, I look forward to working with you to achieve, sensible, tough-minded changes
to assure that the system will be on sound footing for at least the next 75 years.
Second, once we have set aside sufficient funds from the surplus to save Social Security, we
must fulfill our obligation to save and improve Medicare. Already, we have extended the life of
Medicare by 10 years -but for the health care of our seniors to be on solid ground, it must be
extended for at least another decade beyond that.
So tonight I propose that we use one out of every five dollars in the surplus to guarantee the
soundness of Medicare until at least the year 2020. And, if we work together across party lines and
review the work of the panel chaired by Sen. John Breaux and Rep. Bill Thomas that will report in
March, we can not only add to the life of Medicare --we can improve the lives of our seniors by
covering the greatest growing need, access to affordable prescription drugs.
Third, we must help all Americans, from their first day on the job, to save, to invest, to create
wealth. Today, tens of millions of people still retire with little to live on other than Social Security.
And ever even if we save Social Security, Americans living longer than ever must save more than
ever. Tonight I propose a new initiative for retirement security in the 21 st Century. I propose that
�we use 10% of the surplus to establish Universal Savings Accounts -USA Accounts. Every
American will be able to save in their own personal account, investing as they see fit, with the
United States government matching their savings —and with the most help for those least able to
save.
The USA Account will give all Americans a greater stake in our prosperity... a greater hand
in the creation of wealth. . . a greater chance to retire in comfort, security, and dignity.
Fourth, we must help Americans provide long-term care for ailing seniors. Today, millions
of working people are caring for elderly relatives and even neighbors, often at great cost. In my
balanced budget, I will propose a tax credit of $1,000 to help keep families together as they provide
for aging mothers and fathers or disabled people with long term care needs. The care our families
can provide at home is invaluable; let us begin to show how much we value it.
With these four measures -savings Social Security, strengthening Medicare, establishing
USA accounts, and the long-term care tax credit —we can begin to meet the historic responsibility
of our generation to establish true security for 21st Century seniors. Their hard work over a lifetime
has created the budget surplus -and there is no better use for it.
I was born in 1946. I am one of the oldest of the Baby Boomers. And I know that I speak
for my generation: None of us wants our growing old to place an intolerable burden on our children
and their ability to raise our grandchildren.
Education
Today, there are more children in our public schools than at any time in our history, and their
education is more important than ever, for the new economy prizes knowledge, creativity and skills
as never before.
Today we can say what we could not say six years ago: Together, we have opened the doors
of college to all -with more affordable student loans, more Pell grants for deserving students, 1
million new work study jobs, education IRAs, and the HOPE scholarship tax cut that nearly 6
million Americans will receive this year.
We have also made progress in renewing our public schools. Nearly every state has set
higher academic standards, we will soon have a voluntary national test to measure the progress of
our students. Thousands of schools have cracked down on drugs, gangs, and violence, and improved
learning and discipline with school uniforms. We have supported teaching values and finding a
proper place for religious faith in our public schools.
�With our help, there are 9 times as many classrooms connected to the Internet as there were
six years ago. With $2 billion additional dollars coming this year, we can meet our goal of
connecting every classroom and every library in America to the Internet by the Year 2000.
We have begun to marshall a volunteer army of students from 1000 colleges to teach young
children to read, and mentors in thousands of communities to prepare young people prepare for
college.
To bring more discipline, more attention, and more learning to every young child, we reached
across party lines last fall and began to hire 100,000 new highly-trained teachers to reduce class size
in the early grades. I ask this Congress to finish our mission of hiring 100,000 new teachers.
SAT scores are up. Math scores have risen in nearly all grades nationwide. But there is a
problem. While while our fourth graders outperform their peers in other developed countries in math
and science, our eighth graders are around average, and our twelfth graders rank near the bottom.
Clearly, American students have the capacity to learn. They fall behind because the system fails
them.
Each year the national government invests over $13 billion [ck] in our public schools. I
believe we must change the way we invest that money. We know what works -so we have no
excuse for continuing to invest in what doesn't. We have a moral responsibility to our children to
invest in what does.
Later this year, I will send Congress a plan that for the first time will hold states and school
districts accountable for progress and reward them for results. I propose that every community
receiving federal help for their schools must take the following four steps.
First, aU schools must end social promotion. Too many students move from grade to grade
without mastering the basics.
Because we must help young people to meet higher standards, my new balanced budget
triples the funding for summer school and after school programs. We can keep one million students
learning in the hours after regular school lets out, when parents work and juvenile crime soars. Our
children should learn their lessons in the classroom, not on the streets.
Three years ago, Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley ended social promotion. If students fail
to master the basics, they go to summer school and get special tutoring until they do pass -and most
do. [Today, Chicago's summer school is the sixth largest school district in the nation.] [we all feel
this is a frightening statistic] Citywide math and reading scores are up three years in a row.
�Last Spring in Chicago, [x] got a letter saying she would have to repeat [x] grade unless she
raised her grades, [x] buckled down, and in six weeks of summer school boosted her reading level
by [#] months and her math by [#].
She passed her test, went on to the next grade with her friends, and now she's planning to college.
[X] is with us tonight, sitting with the First Lady. We're proud of you, [x].
Second, aU states and school districts turn around their worst-performing schools or shut
them down. That is the policy established by Gov. Jim Hunt in North Carolina —and last year, that
state's test scores made the biggest gains in the nation. We can no longer tolerate schools anywhere
in America that deny any young Americans the opportunity to learn their way out of poverty.
Third, aU states and school districts must be held responsible for the quality of their teachers.
None of us would be here tonight if not for our teachers. We must lift them up, not tear them down.
But in too many schools, teachers don't have college majors—or even minors—in the subjects they
teach. All new teachers must pass skills tests, and all teachers must be required to know the subject
they are teaching.
To attract talented teachers to the toughest teaching assignments, my balanced budget calls
for a five-fold increase in scholarships for college students who commit to teach in the inner city,
in isolated rural areas and on Indian reservations.
Fourth, we must empower parents by creating more charter schools and giving them better
information on their children's education. In too many communities, it is easier to get information
on the quality of local restaurants than the quality of local public schools. From now on, every
school district must issue report cards on every school.
We are creating a public school system driven by more information, more competition, more
chioice.
There was one independent, public charter school in all of America when I became President. There
are 900 today. My budget assures that by early in the next century, there will be 3000.
If we do these four things -end social promotion, turn around failing schools, demand
qualified teachers, and promote innovation and competition --we will begin to meet our generation's
historic responsibility to create 21st Century schools for our children.
Tonight, let's make our children one more promise. In some of our cities, the average age
of school buildings is 65 years old. Too many of our schools are falling apart. Many others are so
overcrowded that students leam in trailers. Last fall, Congress missed an opportunity to create a tax
break to modernize or build 5000 schools. This year, for the sake of our 53 million schoolchildren.
Congress must not miss that opportunity again.
BUILDING STRONG FAMILIES FOR THE 21st CENTURY
We must also strengthen the American familiy for the 21st Century. No government can
raise or love a child. Mothers and fathers do. But government can empower parents with the tools
they need to meet their most vital responsibilities.
�The most basic tool of all is a decent income. So first, let's agree to raise the minimum wage
by $1 over the next two years.
Strong families depend on strong parents.
Next fall, the First Lady and I will host a White House conference to explore new ways to
help Americans balance work and family as we enter the new millennium. I am proud of the First
Lady's work here and in so many other areas at home and abroad. She has played an historic role
in serving this nation and advancing our best ideals.
We must do more to help the millions of working American parents who give their all every
day to succeed at home and at work.
I ask the Congress once again to enact a comprehensive plan to make quality child care more
affordable and more accessible than ever. My balanced budget provides tax credits for working
families, child care subsidies for small business, and high standards and training for child care
providers. Our child care plan includes a new tax credit for stay-at-home mothers. They need help
too. No job is more important than the job of raising a child.
I am proud that the Family Medical Leave Act was the first bill I signed into law. Since then,
it has helped nearly [20 million] Americans care for a new baby or an ailing relative without risking
their jobs. Now let's extend this to workers in smaller companies, and guarantee Family Leave to
10 million more Americans.
And parents who work to support their families should never face discrimination in the
workplace. I will send legislation to Congress that prohibits companies from refusing to hire or
promote workers simply because they have children.
Strong families need strong health care.
Our families deserve the world's most advanced medical care —and we must continue our
commitment to cutting-edge research and pathbreaking innovation.
We have begun testing the first drugs to prevent or reduce risk of cancer. In just the past six
years, medical researchers introduced the first effective drugs to treat AIDS. They have discovered
the process of aging itself - raising the prospect of new treatments to prevent or delay diseases from
Parkinsons to Alzheimers to arthritis.
�My balanced budget will keep us on track to increase the budget for the National Institutes
of Health by fifty percent. I ask Congress to fund this scientific research, and commit our nation to
finding a cure for cancer and AIDS early in the new century.
And as our medicinal advance race ahead, we cannot let our health care system lag behind.
Managed care has transformed medicine in America —driving down costs, but threatening
to drive down quality as well.
Here's a true story told by an emergency room physician from Dearborn, Michigan. A
patient was rushed into the emergency room; he had died. The doctor revived him. And he
recovered. But the man's health plan said they would not pay. He hadn't called the 800 number to
get prior approval. Being dead, apparently, was not "an emergency"!
Despite his HMO, he is here with us tonight. Let's make him and all Americans a promise:
This year, we will pass the patient's bill of rights ... so every American can have the right to the best
care, not just the cheapest. The right to see a specialist. And the right to emergency care.
Within my power as President, I have acted, extending these rights to the 85 million
Americans served by Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health plans. But only Congress can
enact the Patients Bill of Rights for all Americans. Last year, Congress missed that opportunity.
This year, for the sake of our families, Congress must not miss that opportunity again.
And as more of our medical records are stored electronically, the threats to our privacy
increase. If Congress does not act this year, as provided by law, I will act —issuing an executive
order to protect the privacy of medical records online.
Two years ago, we extended health insurance to up to 5 million children. Now, we should
give people 55 to 65 the chance to buy in to Medicare. We should make it easier for small
businesses to offer health insurance to their employees. We should pass the bipartisan legislation,
introduced by Senators Kennedy, Jeffords, Roth and Moynihan to allow people with disabilities to
buy Medicaid health insurance so they can go back to work.
Next, we must must step up our efforts to treat and prevent an illness that brings pain to
millions of American families -mental illness. With sensitivity and commitment, Tipper Gore has
led our efforts here. This year, we will host a [first-ever] White House Conference on Mental
Health. No American should ever be afraid to recognize and treat this disease. And every American
should have equal opportunity to thrive.]
�Next, we must protect our children from the drunk drivers who kill nearly 3000 of them every
year. I ask the Congress to write tough new blood alcohol standards into law to protect every
American, on every roadway. Last year, Congress missed the opportunity to do this last year. This
year. Congress should not miss that opportunity.
Tobacco
As everyone in this chamber knows, our children - the children the tobacco industry has
called "replacement smokers" --are the target of a massive media campaign to hook them on
cigarettes. I ask this Congress to resist the awesome power of the tobacco lobby and pass a bipartisan
bill that will safeguard our children while protecting farmers.
For decades the tobacco industry deceived America. They passed the real costs of smoking
-medical care for illnessese from cancer to emphyzema -onto you, the taxpayers. It is time to
recover those costs.
Tonight, I am directing the Department of Justice to prepare and bring a lawsuit against the
tobacco companies for the costs to Medicare of tobacco related illnesses. The funds we recover
should be used to strengthen Medicare.
In all these areas -minimum wage, child care, health care, family leave and tobacco -this
generation has a historic responsibility to strengthen our families for the 21st Century.
21st Century economy
But we cannot meet any of our other challenges if we do not succeed in building a new
economy for that new century.
Today, America is without dispute the most dynamic, innovative, competitive, job creating,
wealth creating economy in the history of the world. And America will continue to lead because
the qualities that mean success in the global economy are at the core of the American character.
We must make a place for all our people in the new economy.
Today, there is not so much an income gap as a skills gap. At a time when skills matter more
9
�than ever, one out of four working people reads at less than a sixth grade level.
This past year I was proud to sign bipartisan legislation to transform our worker training system.
With a simple voucher, Americans can now choose the skills they need. My balanced budget will
build on that momentum, with a national campaign to improve adult literacy and a commitment that
every American who needs training will get training.
We have made great strides in moving from a system of welfare to a system of work. Two
years ago, from this podium, I asked five companies to lead a national effort to move people from
welfare to work. As of tonight, our Welfare to Work Partnership includes 10,000 companies.
My budget provides funds to create jobs to move another [TK,000] people from welfare to work.
We have a new and urgent priority. The farmers who are the backbone of our country are
in trouble. Dropping prices and the loss of foreign markets have led to dire economic conditions for
too many of our hardworking family farmers. We need a better farm safety net for rural America,
with crop insurance reform and income assistance. I pledge to work with members of both parties
to get it done.
And we must spur and strengthen our new technological economy.
Government investment in computers led to the creation of the Internet. Now I propose a
30% increase in long-term computer research.
Today's consumers need 21st Century protections. We will continue our aggressive but
prudent record of enforcing our antitrust laws. I will propose a newfinancialright to know law to
protect them and their investments.
We must be ready for the 21st Century at the very first moment of that century. We have
already fixed the millennium bug for the Social Security system, and the checks will keep coming
on time. But every business, every city and county, every university must be ready. But if we work
hard and work together, the millennium bug can be remembered as the last headache of the 21st
Century and not the first crisis of the 21st Century.
It is plain that economic growth at home also depends upon economic growth around the
world.
Until recently, a full one third of our economic growth came from trade. But over the past
year and a half, the financial turmoil that began in Asia has put that growth at risk. Today, much of
10
�the world is in recession. Across Asia, an entire generation that worked its way into the middle class
has been plunged into poverty.
This is the most critical financial crisis in a half century. Last September, I set out a new
strategy to spur global growth, to stabilize the global economy and keep the world trading system
open, free, and fair.
Together with other nations, the United States acted -lowering interest rates, and meeting
our obligations to the International Monetary Fund, preventing crisis from spreading.
The turmoil is not over. But because of America's leadership, the world's economy is
sounder than it otherwise would have been —and our economy continues to grow, steady and strong.
I thank lawmakers of both parties for your support.
Now we must build a financial system for the 21st Century that tames the cycles of boom and
bust in the world economy. This spring, I will meet with the leaders of the world's most important
economies to lay plans for a world financial system as modern as the markets. [Every nation must
open its books. We must strengthen international bank regulations. We must build a rapid response
system to prevent problems from becoming global crises. And we must make sure that the poorest
citizens in the poorest nations do not become the victims of financial turmoil.][we are working with
Treasury to improve these policies]
We must build a trading system for the 21st Century one that spurs growth, expands
opportunity, and honors the values of hard work and fair return.
For too long, trade has divided Americans, across lines of party and philosophy. We must
find the common ground on which business, workers, environmentalists and government can stand
together.
We must do more to help American manufacturers hit hard by the global financial crisis. I
ask the Congress to provide $2 billion in new credit to promote U.S. manufacturing exports abroad.
We must resist a protectionism that could start a chain reaction, hurting our exports and triggering
11
�a global recession. Where imports are unfairly flooding into our nation, we will act. I have already
informed the government of Japan that [if Japan's sudden surge of cheap steel imports into our
country is not reversed, I will respond under our trade laws.]
Five times in the past half century, we have negotiated worldwide agreements that have
opened markets and lifted prosperity. Tonight I propose to launch a new round of negotiations in
the World Trade Organization to expand our exports of farm products, services and manufactures.
We will seek to expand trade with Africa and with the Central American nations devastated by the
recent hurricane, and to pursue a Free Trade Area of the Americas.
But as we press for open trade, we must also press for trade that promotes the dignity of work
and the rights of workers. We must insist that international trade organizations be open to the
sunlight of public scrutiny. We must insist that trade rules never be used as a pretext to destroy
environmental protections. We must never let vigorous international economic competition become
a race to the bottom among nations.
I ask Congress to move forward with me based on this common approach and pass legislation
granting the President traditional trade authority so we can advance our prosperity.
We will work with the International Labor Organization on a new initiative to lift labor
standards around the world. And we must act, once and for all, to end the most exploitative trade
practices of all: I will sign a new international agreement to ban child labor everywhere in the world.
A STRONG AMERICA IN A NEW WORLD
Section to come
ONE AMERICA IN THE 21ST CENTURY
If we want to exert influence in the world, we must set an example here at home. We must
come together as One American community -and we begin by strengthening our communities.
Strong communities, first, are communities where hope and opportunity flourish.
Last Friday I travelled to Wall Street to speak to the leaders of many of America's biggest
corporations. I challenged them to invest in poor urban and rural neighborhoods. My balanced
budget includes tax credits for new investment, 100,000 housing vouchers to help poor people move
out of public housing. And we should create a new American Private Investment Corporation,
modeled after our Overseas Private Investment Corporation. The most important untapped markets
are here at home.
12
�And strong communities are safe communities.
This year, we will reach our goal of putting 100,000 community police officers on the street.
The Brady Bill has stopped a quarter million felons, fugitives, and stalkers from buying guns
-enough guns to fill this chamber shoulder high. Last year, the nation's crime rate dropped for the
sixth straight year, and the murder rate is the lowest in [30] years.
But too many neighborhoods still are not safe. Tonight, I propose a 21st Century crime bill
to marshall the latest tools, technologies and tactics in the fight against crime.
My budget provides funds to put up to 50,000 more police on the beat in the areas hardest
hit by crime. Our crime bill will give law enforcement 21st Century tools, from crime-mapping
computers to digital mug shots. It's time we gave the police of America better technology than the
criminals.
We must do more to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. Congress should restore the
mandatory 5-day waiting period for buying a handgun that expired last year, and extend the Brady
Bill so that juveniles who commit violent crimes won't be able to buy handguns for life.
[And we should follow the lead of South Carolina, Maryland and Virginia and say, nobody needs
to buy more than one handgun a month.]
We must finally begin to break the deadly cycle of drugs and crime. Too many prisoners go
back on the street addicted to the drugs that made them commit crimes in the first place. My budget
strengthens support for drug testing and treatment. It says to prisoners: If you stay on drugs, you
must stay behind bars. And it says to those out on parole: If you want to keep your freedom, you
have to keep free of drugs.
And for all the progress we have made to restore discipline and order in our schools by
imposing a zero-tolerance policy for guns in schools and getting districts to adopt school uniforms,
I ask Congress to pass my plan to strengthen the Safe and Drug-Free School Act this year. And we
should hire and train 2,000 new community police and school resource officers to keep kids safe in
our classrooms and playgrounds. No child should go to school feeling terrorized by classmates. No
parent should worry that his child become the target of deadly violence. Our schools ought to be the
safest place in every community.
Strong communities are livable communities.
A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt set our nation on the course of conservation.
He defined our nation's "great, central task" as "leaving this land even a better land for our
descendants than it is for us."
This is the vision we are fulfilling today, protecting California's ancient redwoods, the
Florida Everglades, and Yellowstone, the world's first National Park. At a time when our economy
13
�is the strongest in a generation, our air and water are the cleanest in a generation -and the American
bald eagle, the symbol of our national strength, soars once again. But there are new environmental
challenges we must come together to meet.
The most profound challenge is the threat of global warming. The deadly heat waves,
crippling ice storms, and near-biblical floods of the past year are but a hint of what future
generations may endure if we don't act now.
So tonight, I propose a clean air fund to help communities reduce both greenhouse pollution
and smog; new grants for developing clean energy sources; tax cuts for buying energy-efficient cars,
homes, and appliances; rewards for companies that take early action to reduce greenhouse pollution;
and vigorous new diplomatic efforts to meet this global threat with a global response.
Another new challenge is, quite literally, in our very neighborhoods. At a time when so
many more citizens are buying new homes and sharing in the American Dream, our communities
are losing about 7,000 acres of farms and open space every day.
So Vice President Gore and I propose an unprecedented $2 billion initiative to help
communities save open space, enhance city parks, ease traffic congestion, and grow in ways that
enhance every citizen's quality of life. We must keep our growing communities livable and green.
AmeriCorps
From our earliest days, the ethic of service -the belief that all Americans have a duty to give
something back to our communities and to each other -has been the hallmark of American
citizenship. Six years ago, I fought to create AmeriCorps to give today's generation a new chance
to serve America, earn money for college and work side by side with peers from all walks of life.
In just four years, AmeriCorps have built thousands of low-income homes with Habitat for
Humanity. They have helped churches in Dallas tutor children and raise reading scores by more than
half. They have worked with the American Red Cross to comfort families hit hard by Hurricane
Georges.
Nothing in my time as President gives me greater pride than this: as of today, 100,000 young
people now have served our nation through AmeriCorps -more than served in the Peace Corps
during its entire first two decades. Some of them are with us tonight, and we should thank them for
their service.
14
�I ask this Congress to thank these young people as only you can: by increasing support for
AmeriCorps. And to all the young people in America, I want you to know that you can make a
difference in your community.
Democracy
And as we work to strengthen our communities, we must work to renew our democracy.
Our campaign finance system is broken -our laws overwhelmed by an out of control fundraising
arms race. Last year, a strong bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives passed strong
campaign finance reform. But obstruction by a partisan minority blocked reform and preserved the
status quo.
Today, Reps. Chris Shays and Marty Meehan introduced their bill again. I ask the House to pass it
quickly once again -and I ask the Senate to say no to big money and yes to a strong democracy in
the Year 2000.
[free TV]
ONE AMERICA
The greatest opportunity facing our nation is also our oldest challenge: building One
America. What can we do to build one nation for the 21 st Century?
For the past year and a half, our Initiative on Race has sought to bridge the divides between
our people. What we discovered was that the will to bring our people together across all racial lines
is strong in America.
But there is much more we can and must do to close the opportunity gaps that deepen the
divides between the races.
We believe that all citizens should have the chance to rise as far as their God-given talents
will take them. No arbitrary distinctions should bar the way.
Denying opportunity because of ancestry or religion, race or gender, disability or sexual orientation,
is wrong. It is un-American. And it should be illegal. I call upon the Congress to make the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act the law of the land.
[REFERENCE TO BYRD & SLEPIAN] [With us tonight are Judy and Dennis Shepard of
Casper, Wyoming. Dennis is an oil rig inspector. Judy [stayed at home and raised two fine sons].
This fall, they were proud when their elder son Matthew enrolled in his Dad's alma mater, the
University of Wyoming.
But barely a few months into his freshman year, Matthew was beaten, tied to a fence, and left for
15
�dead on a deserted country road. He was killed, police say, because he was gay. My fellow
Americans, this should never have happened to the Shepards and their son -and it should never
happen to any family in America.]
I call on Congress to pass the Hate Crimes Prevention Act this year and declare
unequivocally that America will never tolerate violent intolerance in this great land of freedom and
equality.
The face of America will change immeasurably in the next century. Today, one in ten people
in America was born in another country. By the end of next year, California will have no majority
race.
I believe our newest immigrants are good for America. They are revitalizing our cities,
energizing our culture, building our new economy, just as they settled the frontier and powered the
Industrial Revolution.
My fellow Americans, just look at our immigrants and you will see yourselves, your parents,
your grandparents.
We say to our newest immigrants: You are welcome here, to share and enlarge the bounty
of America. But you must take responsibility -to learn English, to enter the mainstream of
American life and to make America's heroes your own. That is why my balanced budget will
enhance our efforts to teach immigrants English, our laws, and our system of government.
Whether our ancestors came here on the Mayflower or on slave ships, whether they landed
on Ellis Island or Los Angeles International Airport, whether they arrived yesterday or have been
here thousands of years, if you believe in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, if
you accept the responsibilities as well as the rights embedded in them, then you are an American.
PERORATION: THE MILLENNIUM
Barely 300 days from now, we will cross that bridge into a new millennium. This is a
moment, as the First Lady has said, to honor the past and imagine the future.
I thank the Congress for its support of our efforts to restore the Star Spangled Banner and
other national treasures that are known to every schooolchild.
Last year, Hillary traveled across our country to inspire more communities to work together to Save
America's Treasures. By preserving the places in which our forbears lived and worked, from
Thomas Edison's laboratory to Louis Armstrong's house in Queens, we ensure that children today
16
�and in the next century can better understand who we are and where we came from. So I call on
cities and towns to strive to become "Millennium Communities" -working to mark the millennium
through one shared endeavor, whether by restoring historic places, cleaning up a river or a park,
recruiting a volunteers to help children.
I came to this office six years ago tomorrow in a time of doubt for America. Our economy
was troubled; our deficit was high; many, even among our own people, wondered whether America's
best days were behind us. But a year earlier, traveling across this country through a thousand cities
and neighborhoods, in living rooms, churches, and community centers, I had seen, even in the pain
and uncertainty of recession, the strength, the idealism, the bold, big hearted character of America.
I had no doubt of what we, together, could do for our country.
Tonight, as I deliver the last State of the Union message of the 20th Century, that work goes
on.
So I ask all of us who hold office to work as hard every day as do the American people, who
sent us here to do a job for them.
This is no ordinary time. We are in the final months of a century when generations of
Americans answered the call to greatness, overcoming Depression, lifting up the dispossessed,
bringing down barriers of racial prejudice, opening up opportunity and the most widely shared
prosperity in human history, winning two world wars and "a long twilight struggle" against the most
vicious forms of tyranny ever known.
Perhaps in the daily press of events, in the clash of controversy, we do not see our time for what it
truly is - a new dawn for America.
A hundred years from tonight, another American President will stand in this place to report
on the State of our Union. He - or she - will look back on a 21 st Century shaped in so many ways
by the decisions we make here and now.
Let it be said of us then that we were thinking not only of our time, but of their time; that we
reached as high as our ideals; that we put aside our divisions and found a new hour of healing and
hopefulness; that in these next two years, with pride in our purpose and the grace of our God, we
joined together to serve and strengthen the country we love.
Let us lift our eyes as one nation, and from the mountaintop of the American century, look
forward to the next one.
17
�Let us go to work together for the American people.
•
And, in this high endeavor, may God watch over the United States of America.
18
�Draft 1/14/99 3:30am
sotu99.9
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
UNITED STATES CAPITOL
January 19,1999
�Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of
Congress, honored guests, my fellow Americans:
On your behalf, let me acknowledge the presence in
the box with Mrs. Hastert of Wei Ling Chestnut and Lyn
Gibson, the widows of the two Capitol Police officers
who were struck down in this house, the heart of this
democracy. As much as any soldiers in our history, they
were defending our freedom. I ask us all now to bow our
heads in silent prayer in honor of JJ Chestnut and John
Gibson, [moment of silence
�Tonight, we begin again our work together for the
people of America. And let me begin by saluting the new
Speaker of the House. On the day you were sworn in,
you asked us to work in a spirit of civility and
bipartisanship. Mr. Speaker, let's do exactly that.
Tonight, I have the honor and of reporting on the
State of our Union.
I stand before you to report that we have created the
longest peacetime economic expansion in American
history ~ with wages rising at twice the rate of inflation
and nearly 18 million new jobs.
�I stand before you to report that more Americans are
living in their own homes than at any time in our history
-- that the welfare rolls are the smallest in 29 years and that the peacetime unemployment rate is the lowest it
has been since 1957.
I stand before you, the first president in three
decades to report, not just that the budget is balanced,
but that we have a $70 billion surplus - the highest in
American history. And I can now report that there will
be a surplus year after year for the next 20 years, a total
surplus of $2 trillion.
�I stand before you to report that violent crime is at
its lowest point in a quarter century.
I stand before you to report that the environment is
the cleanest in a quarter century, and that in six years even as our economy has boomed — we have cut
pollution from factories in half.
I stand before you to report that America stands
strong - a force for peace and reconciliation in lands
torn by ancient hatreds, from Northern Ireland, to
Bosnia, to the Middle East.
�I stand before you to report that once again our
government is a progressive instrument of the common
good. Thanks to the pioneering leadership of Vice
President Gore, America has a government for the
Information Age that lives within its means. The
smallest government since — well, since John Glenn first
orbited the Earth. Aflexible,creative government
driven not by rigid ideology, but by ideas that work;
devoted to giving the American people the tools they
need to solve their own problems. A 21st Century
government for 21st Century America.
�Now we are on the eve of great possibilities.
Stunning scientific discoveries; remarkable advances in
the health of our people; a time when cancer will be
cured; when new technologies will make it easier for
parents to succeed both at work and at home; when
children will acquire new knowledge in new ways that
keep us together - all moving us into a new time of
longer, healthier, more rewarding lives.
The State of our Union is strong.
The promise of our future is limitless.
�But we cannot realize it if we allow the hum of our
prosperity to lull us into complacency. Yes, America is
working again. But we now face challenges that will
face who we are as a people, and how we fare as a
nation, far into the 21st Century. So with our budget
surplus growing, our economy expanding, and our
confidence rising, let's get to work.
AGING OF AMERICA
Our fiscal discipline gives us an unsurpassed
opportunity to address remarkable new challenge: the
aging of America.
7
�We are blessed with the longest life expectancy we
have ever known. With the number of elderly Americans
set to double by 2030, the Baby Boom will become a
Senior Boom.
First and above all, we must save Social Security.
Early in this century, being old meant being poor. When
President Franklin Roosevelt created Social Security,
thousands wrote to thank him for eliminating what one
woman called the "stark terror of penniless, helpless old
age." Even today, without Social Security, half our
nation's elderly would forced into poverty.
8
�Today, Social Security is strong. But by 2013,
payroll taxes will not cover retirement obligations. And
by 2032 the Trust Fund will be exhausted, and Social
Security will be unable to pay out the full benefits older
Americans have been promised.
We must keep that promise. Last year,fromthis
podium, I said we must set aside the surplus until we save
Social Security. Tonight, I propose to you that we invest
the surplus to save Social Security.
�The best way to keep Social Security a rock-solid
guarantee is to invest its resources wisely ~ not to make
drastic cuts in benefits; not to raise payroll tax rates; and
not to drain resources from Social Security in the name of
saving it.
Specifically, I propose that we take half the budget
surplus for the next 15 years and invest it to save Social
Security. Just by investing a small a small portion of the
Trust Fund in the private sector — like any private or state
government pension would — we will earn a higher return
and we will keep Social Security strong for 50 years
without benefit cuts or tax rate increases.
10
�Beyond that, I look forward to working with you to
achieve, sensible, tough-minded changes to assure that the
system will be on sound footing for at least the next 75
years.
Second, once we have set aside sufficient funds from
the surplus to save Social Security, we must fulfill our
obligation to save and improve Medicare. Already, we
have extended the life of Medicare by 10 years — but for
the health care of our seniors to be on solid ground, it
must be extended for at least another decade beyond that.
ll
�So tonight I propose that we use one out of every five
dollars in the surplus to guarantee the soundness of
Medicare until at least the year 2020. And, if we work
together across party lines and review the work of the
panel chaired by Sen. John Breaux and Rep. Bill Thomas
that will report in March, we can not only add to the life
of Medicare ~ we can improve the lives of our seniors by
covering the greatest growing need, access to affordable
prescription drugs.
12
�Third, we must help all Americans,fromtheir first
day on the job, to save, to invest, to create wealth. Today,
tens of millions of people still retire with little to live on
other than Social Security. And ever even if we save
Social Security, Americans living longer than ever must
save more than ever. Tonight I propose a new initiative
for retirement security in the 21st Century. I propose that
we use 10% of the surplus to establish Universal Savings
Accounts - USA Accounts. Every American will be able
to save in their own personal account, investing as they
see fit, with the United States government matching their
savings ~ and with the most help for those least able to
save.
13
�The USA Account will give all Americans a greater
stake in our prosperity. . . a greater hand in the creation of
wealth. . . a greater chance to retire in comfort, security,
and dignity.
Fourth, we must help Americans provide long-term
care for ailing seniors. Today, millions of working people
are caring for elderly relatives and even neighbors, often
at great cost. In my balanced budget, I will propose a tax
credit of $1,000 to help keep families together as they
provide for aging mothers and fathers or disabled people
with long term care needs. The care our families can
provide at home is invaluable; let us begin to show how
much we value it.
14
�With these four measures « savings Social Security,
strengthening Medicare, establishing USA accounts, and
the long-term care tax credit ~ we can begin to meet the
historic responsibility of our generation to establish true
security for 21st Century seniors. Their hard work over a
lifetime has created the budget surplus « and there is no
better use for it.
I was bom in 1946. I am one of the oldest of the
Baby Boomers. And I know that I speak for my
generation: None of us wants our growing old to place an
intolerable burden on our children and their ability to raise
our grandchildren.
15
�Education
Today, there are more children in our public schools
than at any time in our history, and their education is
more important than ever, for the new economy prizes
knowledge, creativity and skills as never before.
Today we can say what we could not say six years
ago: Together, we have opened the doors of college to
all ~ with more affordable student loans, more Pell
grants for deserving students, 1 million new work study
jobs, education IRAs, and the HOPE scholarship tax cut
that nearly 6 million Americans will receive this year.
16
�We have also made progress in renewing our public
schools. Nearly every state has set higher academic
standards, we will soon have a voluntary national test to
measure the progress of our students. Thousands of
schools have cracked down on drugs, gangs, and
violence, and improved learning and discipline with
school uniforms. We have supported teaching values and
finding a proper place for religious faith in our public
schools.
17
�With our help, there are 9 times as many classrooms
connected to the Internet as there were six years ago.
With $2 billion additional dollars coming this year, we
can meet our goal of connecting every classroom and
every library in America to the Internet by the Year
2000.
We have begun to marshall a volunteer army of
students from 1000 colleges to teach young children to
read, and mentors in thousands of communities to
prepare young people prepare for college.
18
�To bring more discipline, more attention, and more
learning to every young child, we reached across party
lines last fall and began to hire 100,000 new highlytrained teachers to reduce class size in the early grades. I
ask this Congress to finish our mission of hiring 100,000
new teachers.
SAT scores are up. Math scores have risen in
nearly all grades nationwide. But there is a problem.
While while our fourth graders outperform their peers in
other developed countries in math and science, our
eighth graders are around average, and our twelfth
graders rank near the bottom. Clearly, American
students have the capacity to learn. They fall behind
because the system fails them.
19
�Each year the national government invests over $13
billion [ck] in our public schools. I believe we must
change the way we invest that money. We know what
works - so we have no excuse for continuing to invest in
what doesn't. We have a moral responsibility to our
children to invest in what does.
Later this year, I will send Congress a plan that for
the first time will hold states and school districts
accountable for progress and reward them for results. I
propose that every community receiving federal help for
their schools must take the following four steps.
20
�First, all schools must end social promotion. Too
many students move from grade to grade without
mastering the basics.
Because we must help young people to meet higher
standards, my new balanced budget triples the funding
for summer school and after school programs. We can
keep one million students learning in the hours after
regular school lets out, when parents work and juvenile
crime soars. Our children should learn their lessons in
the classroom, not on the streets.
21
�Three years ago, Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley
ended social promotion. If students fail to master the
basics, they go to summer school and get special tutoring
until they do pass — and most do. [Today, Chicago's
summer school is the sixth largest school district in the
nation.] [we all feel this is a frightening statistic]
Citywide math and reading scores are up three years in a
row.
Last Spring in Chicago, [x] got a letter saying she
would have to repeat [x] grade unless she raised her
grades, [x] buckled down, and in six weeks of summer
school boosted her reading level by [#] months and her
math by [#].
22
�r
She passed her test, went on to the next grade with her
friends, and now she's planning to college. [X] is with
us tonight, sitting with the First Lady. We're proud of
you, [x].
Second, all states and school districts turn around
their worst-performing schools or shut them down. That
is the policy established by Gov. Jim Hunt in North
Carolina - and last year, that state's test scores made the
biggest gains in the nation. We can no longer tolerate
schools anywhere in America that deny any young
Americans the opportunity to learn their way out of
poverty.
23
�Third, all states and school districts must be held
responsible for the quality of their teachers. None of us
would be here tonight if not for our teachers. We must
lift them up, not tear them down. But in too many
schools, teachers don't have college majors-or even
minors-in the subjects they teach. All new teachers
must pass skills tests, and all teachers must be required
to know the subject they are teaching.
To attract talented teachers to the toughest teaching
assignments, my balanced budget calls for a five-fold
increase in scholarships for college students who commit
to teach in the inner city, in isolated rural areas and on
Indian reservations.
24
�Fourth, we must empower parents by creating more
charter schools and giving them better information on
their children's education. In too many communities, it
is easier to get information on the quality of local
restaurants than the quality of local public schools.
From now on, every school district must issue report
cards on every school.
We are creating a public school system driven by
more information, more competition, more chioice.
There was one independent, public charter school in all
of America when I became President. There are 900
today. My budget assures that by early in the next
century, there will be 3000.
25
�If we do these four things - end social promotion,
turn around failing schools, demand qualified teachers,
and promote innovation and competition - we will begin
to meet our generation's historic responsibility to create
21st Century schools for our children.
Tonight, let's make our children one more promise.
In some of our cities, the average age of school buildings
is 65 years old. Too many of our schools are falling
apart. Many others are so overcrowded that students
learn in trailers. Last fall, Congress missed an
opportunity to create a tax break to modernize or build
5000 schools. This year, for the sake of our 53 million
schoolchildren, Congress must not miss that opportunity
again.
26
�BUILDING STRONG FAMILIES FOR THE 21st
CENTURY
We must also strengthen the American familiy for the
21st Century. No government can raise or love a child.
Mothers and fathers do. But government can empower
parents with the tools they need to meet their most vital
responsibilities.
The most basic tool of all is a decent income. So
first, let's agree to raise the minimum wage by $1 over the
next two years.
27
�Strong families depend on strong parents.
Next fall, the First Lady and I will host a White
House conference to explore new ways to help Americans
balance work and family as we enter the new millennium.
I am proud of the First Lady's work here and in so many
other areas at home and abroad. She has played an
historic role in serving this nation and advancing our best
ideals.
We must do more to help the millions of working
American parents who give their all every day to succeed
at home and at work.
28
�I ask the Congress once again to enact a
comprehensive plan to make quality child care more
affordable and more accessible than ever. My balanced
budget provides tax credits for working families, child
care subsidies for small business, and high standards and
training for child care providers. Our child care plan
includes a new tax credit for stay-at-home mothers. They
need help too. No job is more important than the job of
raising a child.
29
�I am proud that the Family Medical Leave Act was
the first bill I signed into law. Since then, it has helped
nearly [20 million] Americans care for a new baby or an
ailing relative without risking their jobs. Now let's
extend this to workers in smaller companies, and
guarantee Family Leave to 10 million more Americans.
And parents who work to support their families
should never face discrimination in the workplace. I will
send legislation to Congress that prohibits companies
from refusing to hire or promote workers simply because
they have children.
Strong families need strong health care.
30
�Our families deserve the world's most advanced
medical care « and we must continue our commitment to
cutting-edge research and pathbreaking innovation.
We have begun testing the first drugs to prevent or
reduce risk of cancer. In just the past six years, medical
researchers introduced the first effective drugs to treat
AIDS. They have discovered the process of aging itselfraising the prospect of new treatments to prevent or delay
diseases from Parkinsons to Alzheimers to arthritis.
31
�My balanced budget will keep us on track to increase
the budget for the National Institutes of Health by fifty
percent. I ask Congress to fund this scientific research,
and commit our nation to finding a cure for cancer and
AIDS early in the new century.
And as our medicinal advance race ahead, we cannot
let our health care system lag behind.
Managed care has transformed medicine in America
— driving down costs, but threatening to drive down
quality as well.
32
�Here's a true story told by an emergency room
physician from Dearborn, Michigan. A patient was
rushed into the emergency room; he had died. The
doctor revived him. And he recovered. But the man's
health plan said they would not pay. He hadn't called the
800 number to get prior approval. Being dead,
apparently, was not "an emergency"!
Despite his HMO, he is here with us tonight. Let's
make him and all Americans a promise: This year, we
will pass the patient's bill of rights ... so every American
can have the right to the best care, not just the cheapest.
The right to see a specialist. And the right to emergency
care.
33
�Within my power as President, I have acted,
extending these rights to the 85 million Americans served
by Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health plans.
But only Congress can enact the Patients Bill of Rights
for all Americans. Last year, Congress missed that
opportunity. This year, for the sake of our families,
Congress must not miss that opportunity again.
And as more of our medical records are stored
electronically, the threats to our privacy increase. If
Congress does not act this year, as provided by law, I will
act — issuing an executive order to protect the privacy of
medical records online.
34
�Two years ago, we extended health insurance to up to
5 million children. Now, we should give people 55 to 65
the chance to buy in to Medicare. We should make it
easier for small businesses to offer health insurance to
their employees. We should pass the bipartisan
legislation, introduced by Senators Kennedy, Jeffords,
Roth and Moynihan to allow people with disabilities to
buy Medicaid health insurance so they can go back to
work.
35
�Next, we must must step up our efforts to treat and
prevent an illness that brings pain to millions of American
families ~ mental illness. With sensitivity and
commitment, Tipper Gore has led our efforts here. This
year, we will host a [first-ever] White House Conference
on Mental Health. No American should ever be afraid to
recognize and treat this disease. And every American
should have equal opportunity to thrive.
36
�Next, we must protect our children from the drunk
drivers who kill nearly 3000 of them every year. I ask the
Congress to write tough new blood alcohol standards into
law to protect every American, on every roadway. Last
year, Congress missed the opportunity to do this last year.
This year, Congress should not miss that opportunity.
Tobacco
As everyone in this chamber knows, our children the children the tobacco industry has called "replacement
smokers" — are the target of a massive media campaign to
hook them on cigarettes. I ask this Congress to resist the
awesome power of the tobacco lobby and pass a
37
�bipartisan bill that will safeguard our children while
protecting farmers.
For decades the tobacco industry deceived America.
They passed the real costs of smoking — medical care for
illnessese from cancer to emphyzema ~ onto you, the
taxpayers. It is time to recover those costs.
Tonight, I am directing the Department of Justice to
prepare and bring a lawsuit against the tobacco companies
for the costs to Medicare of tobacco related illnesses. The
funds we recover should be used to strengthen Medicare.
38
�In all these areas ~ minimum wage, child care, health
care, family leave and tobacco ~ this generation has a
historic responsibility to strengthen our families for the
21st Century.
21st Century economy
But we cannot meet any of our other challenges if we
do not succeed in building a new economy for that new
century.
39
�Today, America is without dispute the most dynamic,
innovative, competitive, job creating, wealth creating
economy in the history of the world. And America will
continue to lead because the qualities that mean success in
the global economy are at the core of the American
character.
We must make a place for all our people in the new
economy.
Today, there is not so much an income gap as a skills
gap. At a time when skills matter more than ever, one out
of four working people reads at less than a sixth grade
level.
40
�This past year I was proud to sign bipartisan legislation to
transform our worker training system. With a simple
voucher, Americans can now choose the skills they need.
My balanced budget will build on that momentum, with a
national campaign to improve adult literacy and a
commitment that every American who needs training will
get training.
We have made great strides in moving from a system
of welfare to a system of work. Two years ago, from this
podium, I asked five companies to lead a national effort to
move people from welfare to work. As of tonight, our
Welfare to Work Partnership includes 10,000 companies.
41
�My budget provides funds to create jobs to move another
TK,000] people from welfare to work.
"We have a new and urgent priority. The farmers
who are the backbone of our country are in trouble.
Dropping prices and the loss of foreign markets have led
to dire economic conditions for too many of our
hardworking family farmers. I pledge to work with
members of Congress of both parties to craft a better farm
safety net for rural America, with crop insurance reform
and income assistance.
And we must spur and strengthen our new
technological economy.
42
�Government investment in computers led to the
creation of the Internet. Now I propose a 30% increase in
long-term computer research.
Today's consumers need 21st Century protections.
We will continue our aggressive but prudent record of
enforcing our antitrust laws. I will propose a new
financial right to know law to protect them and their
investments.
43
�We must be ready for the 21 st Century at the very
first moment of that century. We have already fixed the
millennium bug for the Social Security system, and the
checks will keep coming on time. But every business,
every city and county, every university must be ready.
But if we work hard and work together, the millennium
bug can be remembered as the last headache of the 21 st
Century and not the first crisis of the 21st Century.
It is plain that economic growth at home also depends
upon economic growth around the world.
44
�Until recently, a full one third of our economic
growth came from trade. But over the past year and a half,
the financial turmoil that began in Asia has put that
growth at risk. Today, much of the world is in recession.
Across Asia, an entire generation that worked its way into
the middle class has been plunged into poverty.
This is the most critical financial crisis in a half
century. Last September, I set out a new strategy to spur
global growth, to stabilize the global economy and keep
the world trading system open, free, and fair.
45
�Together with other nations, the United States acted - lowering interest rates, and meeting our obligations to
the International Monetary Fund, preventing crisis from
spreading.
The turmoil is not over. But because of America's
leadership, the world's economy is sounder than it
otherwise would have been ~ and our economy continues
to grow, steady and strong. I thank lawmakers of both
parties for your support.
46
�Now we must build a financial system for the 21st
Century that tames the cycles of boom and bust in the
world economy. This spring, I will meet with the leaders
of the world's most important economies to lay plans for
a world financial system as modem as the markets. [Every
nation must open its books. We must strengthen
international bank regulations. We must build a rapid
response system to prevent problems from becoming
global crises. And we must make sure that the poorest
citizens in the poorest nations do not become the victims
of financial turmoil.] [we are working with Treasury to
improve these policies
47
�We must build a trading system for the 21 st Century
one that spurs growth, expands opportunity, and honors
the values of hard work and fair return.
For too long, trade has divided Americans, across
lines of party and philosophy. We must find the common
ground on which business, workers, environmentalists
and government can stand together.
48
�We must do more to help American manufacturers
hit hard by the global financial crisis. I ask the Congress
to provide $2 billion in new credit to promote U.S.
manufacturing exports abroad. We must resist a
protectionism that could start a chain reaction, hurting our
exports and triggering a global recession. Where imports
are unfairly flooding into our nation, we will act. I have
already informed the government of Japan that [if Japan's
sudden surge of cheap steel imports into our country is
not reversed, I will respond under our trade laws.
49
�Five times in the past half century, we have
negotiated worldwide agreements that have opened
markets and lifted prosperity. Tonight I propose to launch
a new round of negotiations in the World Trade
Organization to expand our exports of farm products,
services and manufactures. We will seek to expand trade
with Africa and with the Central American nations
devastated by the recent hurricane, and to pursue a Free
Trade Area of the Americas.
50
�But as we press for open trade, we must also press for
trade that promotes the dignity of work and the rights of
workers. We must insist that international trade
organizations be open to the sunlight of public scrutiny.
We must insist that trade rules never be used as a pretext
to destroy environmental protections. We must never let
vigorous international economic competition become a
race to the bottom among nations.
I ask Congress to move forward with me based on
this common approach and pass legislation granting the
President traditional trade authority so we can advance
our prosperity.
51
�We will work with the International Labor
Organization on a new initiative to lift labor standards
around the world. And we must act, once and for all, to
end the most exploitative trade practices of all: I will sign
a new international agreement to ban child labor
everywhere in the world.
A STRONG AMERICA IN A NEW WORLD
Section to come
ONE AMERICA IN THE 21ST CENTURY
If we want to exert influence in the world, we must
set an example here at home. We must come together as
One American community — and we begin by
strengthening our communities.
52
�Strong communities, first, are communities where
hope and opportunity flourish.
Last Friday I travelled to Wall Street to speak to the
leaders of many of America's biggest corporations. I
challenged them to invest in poor urban and rural
neighborhoods. My balanced budget includes tax credits
for new investment, 100,000 housing vouchers to help
poor people move out of public housing. And we should
create a new American Private Investment Corporation,
modeled after our Overseas Private Investment
Corporation. The most important untapped markets are
here at home.
53
�And strong communities are safe communities.
This year, we will reach our goal of putting 100,000
community police officers on the street. The Brady Bill
has stopped a quarter million felons, fugitives, and
stalkers from buying guns ~ enough guns to fill this
chamber shoulder high. Last year, the nation's crime rate
dropped for the sixth straight year, and the murder rate is
the lowest in [30] years.
But too many neighborhoods still are not safe.
Tonight, I propose a 21 st Century crime bill to marshall
the latest tools, technologies and tactics in the fight
against crime.
54
�My budget provides funds to put up to 50,000 more
police on the beat in the areas hardest hit by crime. Our
crime bill will give law enforcement 21st Century tools,
from crime-mapping computers to digital mug shots. It's
time we gave the police of America better technology
than the criminals.
We must do more to keep guns out of the hands of
criminals. Congress should restore the mandatory 5-day
waiting period for buying a handgun that expired last
year, and extend the Brady Bill so that juveniles who
commit violent crimes won't be able to buy handguns for
life.
55
�And we should follow the lead of South Carolina,
Maryland and Virginia and say, nobody needs to buy
more than one handgun a month.
We must finally begin to break the deadly cycle of
drugs and crime. Too many prisoners go back on the
street addicted to the drugs that made them commit
crimes in the first place. My budget strengthens support
for drug testing and treatment. It says to prisoners: If you
stay on drugs, you must stay behind bars. And it says to
those out on parole: If you want to keep your freedom,
you have to keep free of drugs.
56
�And for all the progress we have made to restore
discipline and order in our schools by imposing a zerotolerance policy for guns in schools and getting districts to
adopt school uniforms, I ask Congress to pass my plan to
strengthen the Safe and Drug-Free School Act this year.
And we should hire and train 2,000 new community
police and school resource officers to keep kids safe in
our classrooms and playgrounds. No child should go to
school feeling terrorized by classmates. No parent should
worry that his child become the target of deadly violence.
Our schools ought to be the safest place in every
community.
Strong communities are livable communities.
57
�A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt set our
nation on the course of conservation. He defined our
nation's "great, central task" as "leaving this land even a
better land for our descendants than it is for us."
This is the vision we are fulfilling today, protecting
California's ancient redwoods, the Florida Everglades,
and Yellowstone, the world's first National Park. At a
time when our economy is the strongest in a generation,
our air and water are the cleanest in a generation — and
the American bald eagle, the symbol of our national
strength, soars once again. But there are new
environmental challenges we must come together to meet.
58
�The most profound challenge is the threat of global
warming. The deadly heat waves, crippling ice storms,
and near-biblical floods of the past year are but a hint of
what future generations may endure if we don't act now.
So tonight, I propose a clean air fund to help
communities reduce both greenhouse pollution and smog;
new grants for developing clean energy sources; tax cuts
for buying energy-efficient cars, homes, and appliances;
rewards for companies that take early action to reduce
greenhouse pollution; and vigorous new diplomatic
efforts to meet this global threat with a global response.
59
�Another new challenge is, quite literally, in our very
neighborhoods. At a time when so many more citizens
are buying new homes and sharing in the American
Dream, our communities are losing about 7,000 acres of
farms and open space every day.
So Vice President Gore and I propose an
unprecedented $2 billion initiative to help communities
save open space, enhance city parks, ease traffic
congestion, and grow in ways that enhance every citizen's
quality of life. We must keep our growing communities
livable and green.
60
�AmeriCorps
From our earliest days, the ethic of service - the
belief that all Americans have a duty to give something
back to our communities and to each other - has been
the hallmark of American citizenship. Six years ago, I
fought to create AmeriCorps to give today's generation a
new chance to serve America, earn money for college
and work side by side with peers from all walks of life.
61
�In just four years, AmeriCorps have built thousands
of low-income homes with Habitat for Humanity. They
have helped churches in Dallas tutor children and raise
reading scores by more than half. They have worked
with the American Red Cross to comfort families hit
hard by Hurricane Georges.
Nothing in my time as President gives me greater
pride than this: as of today, 100,000 young people now
have served our nation through AmeriCorps - more than
served in the Peace Corps during its entire first two
decades. Some of them are with us tonight, and we
should thank them for their service.
62
�I ask this Congress to thank these young people as
only you can: by increasing support for AmeriCorps.
And to all the young people in America, I want you to
know that you can make a difference in your
community.
Democracy
And as we work to strengthen our communities, we
must work to renew our democracy. Our campaign
finance system is broken - our laws overwhelmed by an
out of control fundraising arms race. Last year, a strong
bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives
passed strong campaign finance reform. But obstruction
by a partisan minority blocked reform and preserved the
status quo.
63
�Today, Reps. Chris Shays and Marty Meehan introduced
their bill again. I ask the House to pass it quickly once
again — and I ask the Senate to say no to big money and
yes to a strong democracy in the Year 2000.
[free TV]
ONE AMERICA
The greatest opportunity facing our nation is also
our oldest challenge: building One America. What can
we do to build one nation for the 21st Century?
64
�For the past year and a half, our Initiative on Race
has sought to bridge the divides between our people.
What we discovered was that the will to bring our people
together across all racial lines is strong in America.
But there is much more we can and must do to close
the opportunity gaps that deepen the divides between the
races.
We believe that all citizens should have the chance
to rise as far as their God-given talents will take them.
No arbitrary distinctions should bar the way.
65
�Denying opportunity because of ancestry or religion,
race or gender, disability or sexual orientation, is wrong.
It is un-American. And it should be illegal. I call upon
the Congress to make the Employment NonDiscrimination Act the law of the land.
[REFERENCE TO BYRD & SLEPIAN] [With us
tonight are Judy and Dennis Shepard of Casper,
Wyoming. Dennis is an oil rig inspector. Judy [stayed
at home and raised two fine sons]. This fall, they were
proud when their elder son Matthew enrolled in his
Dad's alma mater, the University of Wyoming.
66
�But barely a few months into his freshman year,
Matthew was beaten, tied to a fence, and left for dead on
a deserted country road. He was killed, police say,
because he was gay. My fellow Americans, this should
never have happened to the Shepards and their son - and
it should never happen to any family in America.]
I call on Congress to pass the Hate Crimes
Prevention Act this year and declare unequivocally that
America will never tolerate violent intolerance in this
great land of freedom and equality.
67
�The face of America will change immeasurably in
the next century. Today, one in ten people in America
was born in another country. By the end of next year,
California will have no majority race.
I believe our newest immigrants are good for
America. They are revitalizing our cities, energizing our
culture, building our new economy, just as they settled
the frontier and powered the Industrial Revolution.
My fellow Americans, just look at our immigrants
and you will see yourselves, your parents, your
grandparents.
68
�We say to our newest immigrants: You are
welcome here, to share and enlarge the bounty of
America. But you must take responsibility - to learn
English, to enter the mainstream of American life and to
make America's heroes your own. That is why my
balanced budget will enhance our efforts to teach
immigrants English, our laws, and our system of
government.
Whether our ancestors came here on the Mayflower
or on slave ships, whether they landed on Ellis Island or
Los Angeles International Airport, whether they arrived
yesterday or have been here thousands of years, if you
believe in the Declaration of Independence and the
69
�Constitution, if you accept the responsibilities as well as
the rights embedded in them, then you are an American.
PERORATION: THE MILLENNIUM
Barely 300 days from now, we will cross that bridge
into a new millennium. This is a moment, as the First
Lady has said, to honor the past and imagine the future.
I thank the Congress for its support of our efforts to
restore the Star Spangled Banner and other national
treasures that are known to every schooolchild.
70
�Last year, Hillary traveled across our country to inspire
more communities to work together to Save America's
Treasures. By preserving the places in which our
forbears lived and worked, from Thomas Edison's
laboratory to Louis Armstrong's house in Queens, we
ensure that children today and in the next century can
better understand who we are and where we came from.
So I call on cities and towns to strive to become
"Millennium Communities" - working to mark the
millennium through one shared endeavor, whether by
restoring historic places, cleaning up a river or a park,
recruiting a volunteers to help children.
71
�I came to this office six years ago tomorrow in a time
of doubt for America. Our economy was troubled; our
deficit was high; many, even among our own people,
wondered whether America's best days were behind us.
But a year earlier, traveling across this country through a
thousand cities and neighborhoods, in living rooms,
churches, and community centers, I had seen, even in the
pain and uncertainty of recession, the strength, the
idealism, the bold, big hearted character of America.
I had no doubt of what we, together, could do for our
country.
72
�Tonight, as I deliver the last State of the Union
message of the 20th Century, that work goes on.
So I ask all of us who hold office to work as hard
every day as do the American people, who sent us here to
do a job for them.
This is no ordinary time. We are in the final months
of a century when generations of Americans answered the
call to greatness, overcoming Depression, lifting up the
dispossessed, bringing down barriers of racial prejudice,
opening up opportunity and the most widely shared
prosperity in human history, winning two world wars and
"a long twilight struggle" against the most vicious forms
of tyranny ever known.
73
�Perhaps in the daily press of events, in the clash of
controversy, we do not see our time for what it truly is - a
new dawn for America.
A hundred years from tonight, another American
President will stand in this place to report on the State of
our Union. He - or she - will look back on a 21st
Century shaped in so many ways by the decisions we
make here and now.
74
�Let it be said of us then that we were thinking not
only of our time, but of their time; that we reached as high
as our ideals; that we put aside our divisions and found a
new hour of healing and hopefulness; that in these next
two years, with pride in our purpose and the grace of our
God, we joined together to serve and strengthen the
country we love.
Let us lift our eyes as one nation, and from the
mountaintop of the American century, look forward to the
next one.
Let us go to work together for the American people.
75
�And, in this high endeavor, may God watch over the
United States of America.
76
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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Michael Waldman
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Michael Waldman was Assistant to the President and Director of Speechwriting from 1995-1999. His responsibilities were writing and editing nearly 2,000 speeches, which included four State of the Union speeches and two Inaugural Addresses. From 1993 -1995 he served as Special Assistant to the President for Policy Coordination.</p>
<p>The collection generally consists of copies of speeches and speech drafts, talking points, memoranda, background material, correspondence, reports, handwritten notes, articles, clippings, and presidential schedules. A large volume of this collection was for the State of the Union speeches. Many of the speech drafts are heavily annotated with additions or deletions. There are a lot of articles and clippings in this collection.</p>
<p>Due to the size of this collection it has been divided into two segments. Use links below for access to the individual segments:<br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=43&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=2006-0469-F+Segment+1">Segment One</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=43&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=2006-0469-F+Segment+2">Segment Two</a></p>
Creator
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Michael Waldman
Office of Speechwriting
Date
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1993-1999
Identifier
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2006-0469-F
Extent
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Segment One contains 1071 folders in 72 boxes.
Segment Two contains 868 folders in 66 boxes.
Provenance
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Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
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William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
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Adobe Acrobat Document
Still Image
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paper
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Title
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SOTU [State of the Union] 1999 Speech Drafts 1/13/99 - 1/14/99 [Binder] [5]
Creator
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Office of Speechwriting
Michael Waldman
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Box 43
<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36403"> Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7763296">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Identifier
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2006-0469-F Segment 1
Provenance
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White House Staff and Office Files
Publisher
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William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
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Adobe Acrobat Document
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Preservation-Reproduction-Reference
Date Created
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6/3/2015
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7763296
42-t-7763296-20060469F-Seg1-043-004-2015