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SOTU [State of the Union] 1999 Speech Drafts 1/15/99 - 1/16/99 [Binder] [4]
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�Draft 1/16/99 2:30pm
sotu99.14
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: [intro 4 minutes]
Tonight, we begin anew our work together for the people of America. Let me start by
saluting the new Speaker of the House. At your swearing 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 of reporting on the State of our Union.
^t5
I stafl^gbffiB^s'ysp to report that we have created the longest peacetime economic
expansion in American history — with wagps-rising at twice the rate of inflation and nearl>^18
million new jobs.
I stand bcfurc you to report that homeownership is the highest in history -- welfare
rolls are the smallest in 29 years - and peacetime unemployment is the lowest it has been
since 1957.
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I stand before you , the first prfeient in three decades to rtpeit tht* the budget is
balanced. From a budget deficit of $290Jf)iillion in 1992, we now have a budget surplus of
$70 billion this year. And we will see a surplus each year for the next 20 years.
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I stcllid bcfoio-yeu-t© report that violent crime is at its lowest point in a quarter century
I stand-befogg-yeu^to report that the environment is the cleanest in a quarter century,
ceven-as^ffl* f ronom)i.-has-trotgBi§&: ,
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I srdiitMJefOre^DtHo report that America stands strong - a peacemaker ift4an<is
pnpirnt hitrrrdr, from Northern Ireland, to Bosnia, to the Middle East.
I stand before you to report that thanks to the pioneering leadership of Vice President
Gore, once again our government is a progressive instrument of the common good, devoted to
fiscal responsibility and determined to give the American people the tools they need to make
�the most of their own lives. A 21st Century go\|ernment for 21st Century America.
My fellow Americans, I gtanSfrefore yet^te report that the State of our Union is
strong. America is working again, [ui: Wc havc-meied dira-l'd uf new American progtess^f-^
The promise of our future is limitless. But we cannot realize our promise if we allow the hum
of our prosperity to lull us into complacency.
How we fare as a nation far into the 21st Century depends(oiynot what we enjoy today, but
what we do today. So with our budget surplus growing, our economy expanding, and our
confidence rising, let's get to work.
AGING OF AMERICA [7 minutes]
Our fiscal discipline gives us an unsurpassed opportunity to address a remarkable new
challenge: the aging of America.
With the number of elderly Americans set to double by 2030, the Baby Boom will
become a Senior Boom.
/
So first and above all, we must save Social Security for the 21st Century. Early in this
century, being old meant being poor. When President 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 be forced into poverty.
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.
The best way to keep Social Security a rock-solid guarantee is 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. ^
Instead, I propose that we make the historic decision to invest the surplus to save Social
Security. "^C
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Specifically, UJropose that we commit half the budget surplus for the next 15 years to
Social Security,-aiTs invest^a small portion of the Ti WA^umblstif plus'/]in the private sector as
any private or state government pension would do. That will earn4 higher return and we^keep
Social Security sound for 50 years without benefit cuts or tax ratfe increases.
We need to make other changes, too: We should reduceAoverty among elderly widows,
who are twice as likely to be poor as other seniors. Wc ihouk? eliminate the earnings test which
limits what senior citizens on Social Security can earn/And Ave shjpSTd put Social Security on a
sound footing for the next 75 years. Thesexhaft««s^iiL readire difficult but achievable choices.
�T^ey must be made on a bipartisafl'basis. They should be made this year. Tonight, together, let
ialUas^dyeji'iH-save Social ^/curity fnr the 71^ rpptnrv |sjp
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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 tie life of Medicare by 10 years ~ but it should be extended for at
least another decade. Tonight 1 propose that we use one out of every five dollars in the surplus ^ ^ T ^ J U ^
over the next 15 years to guarantee the soundness of Medicare, until .grteast -the year 2020.
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But v<gxan^ecS^e.^Aft^caiefc^yTevrewtttg liu. ftifimt^tf Uiiffcledicare panel chaired ^ " ^ 0 ^
by Sen. John Byafrnx and Rep. Bill Thomas4TyMarch,.Mfliiieon take ateps to improve the quality uf •
Medicare bv^overing seniors' greatest and glowing need, affordable prescription drugs^
'Third, we must help all Americans, from theirfirsAdavon the iob. to save, to invefet. to
create wealth. Today, tens of millions of people retire with little to live on other than Social
S/curity. Americans living longer than ever must save more than ever.
Tonight I ppopoae a new> initiative for retirement iWaFity in the 21st Century. VprOpose
that we use lO^mthe sVplus t© establish Universal Savings Accounts - USA Aec5u(nts.
Americans'^™ set uiWhcii OMinWisUHftL^a^en accounts, investing as they^nooseVwill
receive^xinds to majrch a portion t»f their savings, with^aaert help forj
least able o save.
USA Accounts will give al\ Americans the mean: to save, to share in the natibn's wealth,
and enjoy a mcfre secure retiremenA
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Fourth, we must invest in long-term care. I prodbse a tax credit of $1,000 for those who
care for-ai^mg, aged or disabled lovecKpnes. The care oijr families can provide at home is
; let us show that we value it\
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With these four measures ~ saving Social Secui ity, strengthening Medicare, establishing
Accounts, and providing the long-term care tax ci ;dit ~ we can begin to meet our historic
ponsibility to establish true security for 21st Century seniors.
I was born in 1946, in the first year of the Baby ioom. Our generation is determined not
to let our growing old place an intolerable burden on ou • children and their ability to raise our
^children. There is no better use for our surplus tha)n lifting that burden.
STRONG SCHOOLS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
[9 minutes]
There are more children, from more diverse bickgrounds, in our public schools than at
any time in our history. Their education must provid^ the knowledge and nurture the
creativity prized by the new economy.
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�Today we can say something about their future we could not say six years ago: with
more affordable student loans, more Pell grant^ffirdeserving -students, 1 million new workstudy jobs, education IRAs, and the new HOPE scholarship tax cut that more than 5 million
Americans will receive this year, we have opened the doors of college to all.
Nearly every state has set has set higher academic standards for public schools, and we
will soon have a voluntary national test to measure the progress of our students. Schools are
cracking down on drugs and gangs and guns and violence.
Many are improving learning and discipline with school uniforms, teaching values, and finding
a proper place for religious faith. We are supporting these development^^s^
ith the leadership of Vice President Gore, we have helped 9 times as many
cla^sfooms connect to the Internet as there were six years ago. This year, with over onj
Million additional dollars to make Internet connections affordable, we can meet our
classroom and every library connected to the Internet by the dawn-eftft new cerr
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We are marshaling a volunteer army of college students to teach young children to read)
and to mentor middle school children and prepare them for college.
Last fall, wereachefr^crossparty^incs MR! 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.
Our children are doing better. SAT scores are up. Math scores have risen in nearly all
grades. But there is a problem: 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.
We must do better. Each year the national government invests over $20 billion in our
public schools. I believe we must change the way we invest that money, to support what
works and stop supporting what doesn't.
Later this year, I will send Congress a plan that for the first time holds states and
�school districts accountable for progress and rewards them for results. The plan would require
every school district receiving federal help to take the following four steps.
First, aU schools/must end social promotion.
Beeatrse wecan't just hold students back when the system fails them, my balanced
budget triples the funding for summer school and after school programs. We can keep one
million students learning beyond regular school, when parents work and juvenile crime soars.
Three years ago, Cls(krMayor Daley's leadership, Chicago ended social promotion.
Students who fail to master thejbasics go to summer school and get special tutoring until they
do pass. It's working. Math an^rgading scores are up three years running. Some of the
biggest gains have come in ^Hat wei^ some of the worst schools in the toughest
neighborhoods.
Second, aU states and school districts must turn around their worst-performing schools
or shut them down. That is the policy established by Gov. Jim Hunt in North Carolina, where
test scores made the biggest gains in the nation last year. My budget includes $200 million to
help states adopt this policy and turn around their failing schools. WcfiTust do
Third, aU states and school districts must be held responsible for the quality of their
teachers. The great majority of teachers do a fine job. But in too many schools, teachers don't
have college majors-or even minors-in the subjects they teach. All teachers should be
required to know the subjects they are teaching, [you had a question re: the policy]
To attract talented young teachers to the toughest assignments, I recomme a five-fold
increase in scholarships for college students who commit to teach in the inner
in isolated
rural areas and on Indian reservations.
Fourth, we must empower parents, with more information and more choices. In too
many communities, it is easier to get information on the quality of local restaurants than the
quality of local public schools. Every sd^ol district should issue report cards on every
school.
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Parents and students should have more choice in selecting their public schools. When I
became President, there wa/one independent, public charter school in all of America. With
our support, there are 900 today. My budget assures that early in the next century, there will
be 3000. <r. f J f a ^r^^oJUl
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If we do these few things - end social promotion, turn around failing schools, demand
and support qualified teachers, and promote accountability, innovation^ai'$d_£C>mpetition - we
will begin to meet our generation's historic responsibility to create 21'St Ce
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�Let's do one more thing for our children. Today, too many of our schools are so old
that they're falling apart, or so overcrowded students must 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.
BUILDING STRONG FAMILIES FOR THE 21st CENTURY [8 minutes]
We must do more to help the millions of working American parents who give their all
every day at home and at work.
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The most basic tool of all is a decent income. "So ITi'st^dEt's raise the minimum wage byone dollar over the next two years.
One of the biggest needs working parents face is quality child care/Again, I ask the
C o n g r e s s t o m n l r p q i n l j t y r h i l H n r e t n n r p j f f n i - H a h l p anri m n i Y n f T m i l p l r * M . T b i l l 'I I i n li l u i i l r i I
^ - y i M ^_jirajiiMlf"s tax credits for working families, child care subsidies for small business, and high
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standards and training for child care providers. Our ehiidTafs plan also includes a new tax credit
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for stay-at-home mothers. They need help too.
^—*
The Family Medical Leave Act - the first bill I signed into law — has helped nearly 20
million Americans care for a new baby or an ailing-rertefiVe without risking their jobs, at minimal
p. cost to employers . We should extend Family Leave to [0 million more Americans working in
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Parents should never face discrimination in the workplace. I will ask Congress to
prohibit companies from refusing to hire or promote workers simply because they have children.
America's families deserve the world's best medical care.
We have begun testing the first drugs to prevent or reduce risk of cancer. Medical
researchers have introduced the first effective drugs to treat AIDS.
They have made new discoveries about the process of aging itself - increasing the odds of
developing new treatments to prevent or delay diseases from Parkinsons to Alzheimers to
arthritis. We must continue our cutting-edge research ancPpathbiPakifig innovation, i-ask—^
T-Caogress-keep-up on track to increase the budget for the National Institutes of Health by fifty
percent.
�As science advances, we cannot let our health care system lag behind.
Managed care has transformed medicine in America -- dri/ing down costs, but
threatening to drive down quality as well. Let's make all Americans a promise: This year, we
-rrrast pass a strong and enforceable patient's bill of rights ... sc/every American can have the right
to the best care, not just the cheapest. The right to see a speylalist. And the right to emergency
care.
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By executive authority, I am extending these rightsfoTthe 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.
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<~Zs cAs more ot our medical records are stored electronically, the threats to our privacy
increase. If Congress does not act to protect the privacy of medical records by this August,
have the authorityjodoj^ -- and I will use it.
Two years ago, we^tended health insurance to up to 5 million children. Now, we
hould give people 55 i<5o5 who lose their health insurance the chance to buy in to Medicare.
We should make it/easier for small businesses to offer health insurance to their employees.
And we should pass the historic bipartisan legislation, introduced by Senators Jeffords, Kennedy,
Roth and Moynihan, to allow people with disabilities to keep Medicaid health insurance when
they go to work. No one should have to choose between keeping health care and taking a job.
We should increase support for the community health centers providing basic care for
families who lack health coverage altogether.
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We must step up our efforts to treat and prevent an illness that brings pain to millions of
families - mental illness/No American should ever be afraid to recognize and treat this disease.
This year, we will host./first-ever White House Conference on Mental Health. With sensitivity
and commitment. Tipper Gore is leading our efforts here ~ and I thank her.
As everyone knows, our children - whom the tobacco industry has called "replacement
smokers" ~ are targets of a massive media campaign to hook them on cigarettes. I ask this
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�We already have an Overseas Private Investment Corporation, to help develop untapped markets
abroad. I propose an American Private Investment Corporation to develop untapped markets at
home.
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And we must bring prosperity back to rural America.^Farmers - 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 to craft a better
farm safety net for rural America, with crop insurance reform and income assistance. I am ready
to work with Members of Congress of both parties to get it done.
We must strengthen our lead in technology.
Government investment in computers led to the creation of the Internet. I propose a 30%
increase in long-term computer research.
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We must be ready for the 21st Century from its very first moment, by solving the Y2K"
computer problem. We have already made sure Social Security checks will keep coming on time.
But every government department, every business, every city and county, every university must
be ready, so the "Y2K problem" will be remembered as the last headache of the 20st Century, not
the first crisis of the 21st.
Economic growth at home also depends upon economic growth abroad.
Until recently, one third of our economic growth came from exports. But over the past
year and a half,financialturmoil overseas 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
plunged into poverty.
This is the most critical financial crisis in a half century. To meet it, America has
reduced interest rates, met our obligations to the International Monetary Fund, and worked with
other nations to keep the crisis from spreading.
The turmoil is not over, but thanks to lawmakers of both parties, we have a chance to contain it.
Now we must build a global financial system for the 21st Century that tames the cycles of
boom and bust. This spring, I will meet with other world leaders to lay plans for a modern world
financial system — with clear, open accounting; stronger international bank regulations; an
aggressive response to prevent regional problems from becoming global crises; and a strong
social safety net for the most vulnerable victims offinancialturmoil.
To maintain our prosperity in the global economy, we must also build a freer and fairer
trading system for the 21st Century - one that spurs growth, expands opportunity for ordinary
�citizens, and supports basic labor and environmental standards. Trade has divided Americans for
too long. 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 present crisis. I ask the
Congress to provide the funds to spur $2 billion in new credit to promote U.S. manufacturing
exports abroad.
When imports unlawfully flood into our nation, we must enforce our trade laws. Free Trade
must be fair trade. 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.
Five times in the past half century, we have negotiated worldwide agreements that have
opened markets and lifted prosperity. I will launch a new round of negotiations in the World
Trade Organization to expand our exports of farm products, services and manufactures. And wc
wdi'll i ^ k trrpvpanfTtfaHp w i t h A f n p ^ v t r i v f t i i r r a r i h h p a n a r ^ Central AnQfrirnn n p i g h h r f ^
devastated bv-the lecent liuii icgnes. and with the creation of a Free Tradg-Ajea_a£the Americas.
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 public scrutiny, and that trade
rules never be used as a pretext to destroy environmental protections. We must never let
vigorous international competition become a race to the bottom among nations.
I ask Congress to join me in this common approach and pass legislation granting the
President traditional trade authority to 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 to end the most exploitative trade practice^ of all: :
will sign a new international agreement to ban child labor everywhere in the world.
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If we do these things, then we can begin to meet the historic responsibility of this
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generation to build a 21st Century prosperity for America in a moro otable affg-gfQwingJW^Hd
A STRONG AMERICA IN A NEW WORLD
[11 minutes]
No nation in history has had the opportunity and the responsibility we now have to help
shape a world more secure, peaceful and free.
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�All Americans should be proud that our leadership helped bring peace ^ Northern
Ireland, frfowthat Proteslantsfl"HTathnlirg thprp hyp nhnrsn pprvpn Amftrin^ w^l help them
All Americans can be proud that our leadership has put Bosnia on the path to peace. This
year, we will help that peace take deeper root -*&m continue to bring our troops home. In
Kosovo we will work to stop the bloody repression and find a peaceful path to self government.
All Americans can be proud that our leadership renewed hope for a lasting peace in the
Middle East. Some of you were with me in December as we watched the Palestinian National
Council completely renounce its call for the destruction of Israel. I ask the Congress to act now
to provide resources to support the Wye Agreement . . . to protect Israel's security, stimulate the
Palestinian economy, and support our friends in Jordan. We must not, we cannot, let them
down.
As we work for peace, we must also meet threats to our nation's security - including
increased dangers from outlaw nations and terrorism. We will fight this plague of terror
wherever it arises, and defend our security wherever it is threatened ~ as we did this summer
when we struck at Osama bin Laden's network of terro^in-Afgliaiii^iatl and Sudarr The
bombing of our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania reminded us of the risks faced every day by
those who represent America to the world. They deserve p/otection, recognition and support.
Let's give them the resources they need so America can continue to lead.
We will work to keep terrorists from disrupting computer networks, to prepare local
communities for biological and chemical emergencies, and to support research into vaccines and
treatments.
We will work to restrain the spread of nuclear weapons, from North Korea to India and
Pakistan.
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My balanced budget will expand our-wtmewith Russia, Ukraine, and the other former
Soviet nations to safeguard their weapons and technology so they never fall into wrong hands.
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^Fhcrc is another vital step Congress can take, -hi 1963T the Senate appiuved the jJiuhed-fwelaar-TiSl Dan Tuaty just two months after Preoidont Kennedy aigncd itr It's been two years
since I signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. By acting now, the Senate can make it
harder for new nations to develop nuclear arms, and end nuclear testing forever.
—-fIXtpe tfie Russian k^islature, the Duma. I askyotrtg^^emptty ratity tne S I'ARl n
• tieaty, fot lliL'^akt of Russia'efs^cuiily-ak well a^ our own^We ha^ already agreecb
�frameworkforSTART iTTfo'cnnHir arsenals B Sftporccnt from their Cold War heights
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Together, om iiatiuiis call lift tlie Uuud of nuslg^onnihilation from our children. We must do
so.l -—
For nearly a decade, Iraq has defied its obligation to destroy its weapons of terror and the
missiles to deliver them. America will continue to contain Saddam -- with diplomacyanH
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-sanrtinns when Biassi^rwrtfc^gerwRgTrnecgSstffv. And we will work for the day when Iraq has
a government worthy of its people.
Last month, when America struck at Saddam's war machine, our troops were superb.
Their mission w^as soflawlesslyexecuted that we risk taking for granted the bravery and skill it
required, [x] flew [x] missions, destroying [x] that made [chemical weapons or whatever]. He is
here with us tonight. Let us all honor the 10,000 men and women of Desert Fox.
It is time to reverse the decline in defense spending that began in 1985. In the last nine
months, I have asked and Congress has agreed to add nearly $6 billion to maintain our readiness.
My balanced budget calls for an increase of $12 billion for readiness and modernization. It will
ensure that our troops can deploy rapidly, with the best training and weapons in the world. And
it will provide for them and their families.
America's defenders stand ready at a moment's notice to go where comforts are few and
dangers are many, doing what needs to be done as no one else can. They always come through
for America. We must come through for them.
The new century demands new partnerships for peace and security.
This spring, I will convene the leaders of NATO in Washington for its 50th anniversary
summit, to prepare for the mission of the next 50 years. We will welcome Hungary, Poland and
the Czech Republic as our first new allies from Central Europe. And we will reaffirm our
determination that Europe must never again be divided by concrete and barbed wire.
More than ever, we knowthafthe security of America is also linked to the stability of
Asia. I have worked to strengthen our relationships with our allies Japan and Korea. Last year, I
also traveled to China because our relationship with the world's largest country will-help- ^
determine prospects for peace and prosperity across Asia. I spoke candidly about our shared
interests as well as our differences. I said to the leaders of China -- and I wrti say again tonight -i h i t injhr InfnrmntinnYrrrr stability canrot be bought at the expense of liber y.
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�But we must remember that it-ts-irofiortaiUnnt tn isfliat^ehtoa. The more we bring
China into the world, the more the world will bring change and iteedom to China.
Last spring, with some of you, I traveled to Africa, where I^aw democracy and reform
rising, but still held back, by the scars of violence and scourge of disease. We must strive to en
conflict and to fortify African democracy, including in Nigeria. And because trade and
investment are the keys to African prosperity - we must finally pass Nje Africa Growth and
Opportunity Act.
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feuiwent but Mne is^goly chouun ljVit^|TLuple.
^ ^ ^ ^ g g c w c e we are determined thatGub^,^©^,^/!!! know the blessings of liberty,
have taken new
steps to help the Cuban people without helping the regime.
We are strengthening ties to the Americas ~ to educate children, fight drugs,\leepen
democracy and increase shared prosperity. In the wake of Hurricanes Mitch and George in
Central America, more than 5000 American troops have helped rebuild roads and homeland
lives. Many are there still. I am proud of them - and proud of the generosity of the American
people to our friends and neighbors.
In so many of these efforts I have mentioned, the United Nations plays a crucial role.
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Unless we want America to take all the risks and pay all the bills in solving the world's
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problems, we need a strong relationship with an effective UN. I want to work in this new year y
with this new Congress to pay our dues and our debts.
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21ST CENTURY COMMUNITIES [10 minutes]
As the world has changed, so have our own communities — we must continue to
strengthen them for this new time.
Strong communities are safer communities.
[Chestnut & Gibson tribute]
This year, we will reach our goal of putting 100,000 community potfctrofftcerson the
street -- ahead of schedule and under budget. The Brady Bill has stopped a quarter million
felons, fugitives, and stalkers from buying guns. Last year, the crime rate dropped for the sixth
straight year, and the murder rate is the lowest in 30 years.
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�Tonight, I propose a 21st Century crime bill to marshall the latest technologies and tactics
to make our communities even safer.
My budget provides funds to put up to 50,000 more police on the beat in the areas hardest
hit by crime, and gives them 21st Century tools, from crime-mapping computers to digital mug
shots.
We must break the deadly cycle of drugs and crime. 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.
Congress should restore the mandatory 5-day waiting period for buying a handgun that
expired last year, and extend the Brady Bill to prevent juveniles who commit violent crimes from
buying handguns for life.
And we must make our schools the safest places in our communities. Last year, our
nation was horrified and heartbroken by the tragic killings in our schools — in Jonesboro,
Arkansas, in Paducah, Kentucky, in Pearl, Mississippi, in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, in
Springfield, Oregon. We will never forget the courage of the parents who have dedicated
themselves to keeping guns out of the hands of children ~ so no parent ever has to live through
their loss.
Suzann Wilson lost her daughter, Brittheny, when a student opened fire on his classmates
in Jonesboro. When came to visit me at the White House, she issued a powerful plea to us all.
She said, "Please, please, for the sake of your children, lock up your guns. Don't let your gun
become an instrument of murder. Don't let what happened in Jonesboro happen in your town."
Suzann is here with us in the First Lady's box. In her presence, and in memory of aU the
children who lost their lives this year to school violence, let us pledge tonight to redouble our
efforts to make our schools safe. I ask Congress to pass my plan to strengthen the Safe and
Drug-Free School Act, and to hire and train 2,000 new community police and school resource
officers to keep our kids safe.
Strong communities are livable communities.
A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt defined our "great, central task" as
"leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us." Today, we are
restoring the Florida Everglades, saving Yellowstone, preserving the red-rock canyons of
Utah, protecting California's redwoods and our precious coasts.
But our most fateful new challenge is the threat of global warming. Last year's heat
waves, ice storms, and floods are but a hint of what future generations may endure if we don't
act now.
14
�So tonight, I propose a clean air fund to help communities reduce both greenhouse
pollution and smog; new funds for clean energy sources; tax cuts for energy-efficient cars,
homes, and appliances; rewards for companies that take early voluntary action to reduce
greenhouse pollution; and vigorous new diplomatic efforts to meet this global threat with a
global response, [query re: Oceans?]
Another new challenge is one in every neighborhood. As 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.
In response, Vice President Gore and I propose two major initiatives: first, a
Livability Agenda to help communities save open space, ease traffic congestion, and grow in
ways that enhance every citizen's quality of life; second, a historic one billion dollar Lands
Legacy Initiative to preserve places of natural beauty across America - from remote
wilderness to city parks.
To get the most out of your community, you have to give something back to it. That's
why I fought to create AmeriCorps - our national service program that gives today's
generation a chance to serve their community and earn money for college.
So far, in just five years, 100,000 young people have built low-income homes with
Habitat for Humanity ... helped churches tutor children ... worked with the American Red
Cross to ease the burden of natural disasters ... and performed countless other acts of service
that have made America better.
Some of them are with us tonight. I ask this Congress to thank these young people as
only you can: by increasing support for AmeriCorps.
As we work to strengthen our communities, we must work to renew our democracy.
Last year, the House passed the bipartisan campaign finance reform legislation
sponsored by Reps. Shays and Meehan and Sens. McCain and Feingold. But a partisan
minority in the Senate blocked reform. To the House I say: Pass reform again, quickly. I ask
the Senate: say no to big money and yes to a strong democracy in the Year 2000.
Family^adrtnost important, we must be truly One America.
Since 1997, our Initiative on Race has sought to bridge the divides between our people.
In its report, issued last September, the Initiative's Advisory Board found that Americans want
15
�^|
i to bring our people together across racial lines - but that we-mns
opportunity gaps that deepen the divides between the races. The eognomic
education initiatives in my balanced budget will do a lot to close -the
We have more to do.
V,
Discrimination or violence because of ancestry or religion, race or gender, disability or
sexual orientation, is wrong. It should be illegal. Therefore I call upon the Congress to make
the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the Hate Crimes Prevention Act the law of the
land.
1
The fact uf Amuica will change immeuaumbl.y in the next tentuiy. Today, one-in ten
pmpir iii Amnrim M/QC hnm i nnnfhfr r n i y Our newest immigrants afe-guud fui'
America. They are revitalizing our cities, energizing our culture, building our new economy.
infr
n
4
We must make them welcome here. And they must take responsibility to learn English
and to enter the mainstream of American life. My balanced budget will enhance oureffims to
teach.immigrants English, our laws, and our system of government.
Whether our ancestors came here on the Mayflower or on slave shins, whether they ( j * * ^ ^
landed oi/Ellis Island or at Los Angeles International Airport, whether the)\arrived yesterday^
these lands for thousands of years — we ^can be, and we must be,
or-
cXO-r
A»>l
PEROR
THE MILLENNIUM [5 minutes]
Barely more than 300 days from now, we will crbss 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 honor her - for leading our Millennium Projec - for all she has done to represent
j ^ f ^ ^ } our country at home and abroad --arftTfor all she has d( ne for our children -- for her historic
role in serving this nation and advancing our best ideals
Last year, I called on the Congress and every citizen to mark the millennium by saving
America's Treasures. Hillary has traveled across the country to inspire recognition and support
for places like Thomas Edison's Invention Factory and Harriet Tubman's Home.
AS
#5%
�The response has been remarkable, and I thank the Congress and our private sector
partners for their support. Because ofyou, the Star Spangled Banner r'aHb^rmthsoaiaiL^
J j ^ f e t i e q will be preserved for the ages.
We must preserve the treasures in every conmiunity. I invite every/American town, city, and
county to become nationally recognized '^Millennium CommunLries" by launching projects that
save our history and prepare our children for the 21st Century/fium luiAuiiug laiigmarRrttr~ dfflP' C- r-^ rivpr-TTnagrttiiM nr •j-pnfrf-inTiT^^
rr, help i^ur "hildrffn We must keep alive,
in ways large and small, what George Washington called "the sacred fire of liberty."
n
L
1
Six years ago tomorrow, I came to office in a time of doubt for America, with our
economy troubled, our deficit high, our people divided. Some even wondered whether
's best days were behind us.
But across this nation, in a thousand neighborhoods, I had seen, even amid the pain and
uncertainty of recession, the heart and character of America.
I had no doubt then of what we Americans could do for our country.
Tonight, as I deliver the last State of the Union message of the 20th Century, no one can
doubt the enduring resolve of Americans to work for that "more perfect union" of our founders'
dreams.
We are near the end of a century when generations of Americans answered the call to
greatness, overcoming Depression, lifting up the dispossessed, bringing down barriers of racial
prejudice, building up the largest middle class in history, winning two world wars, and the "long
twilight struggle" of the Cold War.
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, an American President will stand in this placed 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.
17
�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 ilu.'Tr-nr.Yt twrrrmri. with pride irrffuTpurpose an J the grace ofemr.^.
^itsi-] we joined together to serve and strengthen the country we love.
Let us lift our eyes as one nation, and from the mountaintop of this American century,
lookferwardto the next one.
/ Let us join our spirit and will for the work ahead, and ask God's blessing on our
endeavors and our beloved country.
18
�Draft 1/16/99 2:30pm
sotu99.14
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: [intro 4 minutes]
Tonight, we begin anew our work together for the people of America. Let me start by
saluting the new Speaker. At your swearing 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 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 nearly 18 million new jobs and wages rising at twice
the rate of inflation.
I stand before you to report that homeownership is the highest in history ~ welfare
rolls are the smallest in 29 years ~ and peacetime unemployment is the lowest it has been
since 1957.
I can report to youthat for the first time in three decades,the budget is balanced. From
a budget deficit of $290 billion in 1992, we now have a budget surplus of $70 billion this year.
We are on course for a budget surplus over the next 25 years.
Violent crime is at its lowest point in a quarter century - and the environment is the
cleanest in a quarter century.
America stands strong - a peacemaker from Northern Ireland, to Bosnia, to the Middle
East.
I stand before you to report that thanks to the pioneering leadership of Vice President
Gore, once again our government is a progressive instrument of the common good, devoted to
fiscal responsibility and determined to give the American people the tools they need to make
the most of their own lives. A 21st Century government for 21st Century America.
RESTORE A BIT
My fellow Americans, I can report that the state of our union is strong. America is
working again. The promise of our future is limitless. But we cannot realize our promise if
we allow the hum of our prosperity to lull us into complacency.
How we fare as a nation far into the 21st Century depends on not what we enjoy today,
but on what we do today. So with our budget surplus growing, our economy expanding, and
�our confidence rising, let's get to work.
AGING OF AMERICA [7 minutes]
Our fiscal discipline gives us an unsurpassed opportunity to address a remarkable new
challenge: the aging of America.
With the number of elderly Americans set to double by 2030, the Baby Boom will
become a Senior Boom.
So first and above all, we must save Social Security for the 21st Century. Early in this
century, being old meant being poor. When President 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 be forced into poverty.
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.
The best way to keep Social Security a rock-solid guarantee is 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.
Instead, I propose that we make the historic decision to invest the surplus to save Social
Security.
Specifically, I propose that we commit half the budget surplus for the next 15 years to
Social Security, investing a small portion of the surplus in the private sector as any private or
state government pension would do. That will eam a higher return and keep Social Security
sound for 50 years without benefit cuts or tax rate increases.
We must aim higher. We should put Social Security on a sound footing for the next 75
years. And we should reduce poverty among elderly widows, who are twice as likely to be poor
as other seniors ~ and eliminate the earnings test which limits what senior citizens on Social
Security can eam.
These changes will require difficult but achievable choices. They must be made on a
bipartisan basis. They should be made this year. Tonight, together, let us say: we will Save
Social Security Now.
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 it should be extended for at least another decade. Tonight I
�propose that we use one out of every five dollars in the surplus over the next 15 years to
guarantee the soundness of Medicare, until the year 2020.
But again, we should aim higher. If we are willing to work in a bipart way and look at
new ideas, including the Medicare panel chaired by Sen. John Breaux and Rep. Bill Thomas in
March, we can then take steps to to improve the quality of Medicare by covering seniors' greatest
and growing need, affordable prescription drugs ~ and still secure Medicare for two decades.
Third, we must help all Americans, from their first dav on the job, to save, to invest, to
create wealth. From its beginning, Social Security has been joined by private pensions and
savings. Today, tens of millions of people retire with little to live on other than Social Security.
Americans living longer than ever must save more than ever.
Tonight, in addition to saving Social Security and Medicare, 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. Americans can set up these new accounts, can
invest as they choose, and receive funds to match a portion of their savings, with extra help for
those least able to save.
USA Accounts will give all Americans the means to save, to share in the nation's wealth,
and enjoy a more secure retirement.
Fourth, we must invest in long-term care. I propose a tax credit of $1,000 for those who
care for aged, ailing, or disabled loved ones. The care our families can provide at home is
invaluable, and we should support the families that give it.
I was bom in 1946, in the first year of the Baby Boom. Our generation is determined not
to let our growing old place an intolerable burden on our children and their ability to raise our
grandchildren. There is no better use for our surplus than lifting that burden.
With these four measures ~ saving Social Security, strengthening Medicare, establishing
USA Accounts, and providing the long-term care tax credit ~ we can begin to meet our historic
responsibility to establish true security for 21st Century seniors.
STRONG SCHOOLS FOR THE 21 ST CENTURY
[9 minutes]
There are more children, from more diverse backgrounds, in our public schools than at
any time in our history. Their education must provide the knowledge and nurture the
creativity prized by the new economy.
Today we can say something about their future we could not say six years ago: with
more affordable student loans, more Pell grants, 1 million new work-study jobs, education
IRAs, and the new HOPE scholarship tax cut that more than 5 million Americans will receive
�this year, we have opened the doors of college to all.
Nearly every state has set has set higher academic standards for public schools, and we
will soon have a voluntary national test to measure the progress of our students. Schools are
cracking down on drugs and gangs and guns and violence.
Many are improving learning and discipline with school uniforms, teaching values, finding a
proper place for religious faith. We are supporting these developments. And we are
marshaling a volunteer army of college students to teach young children to read, and to mentor
middle school children and prepare them for college.
With the leadership of Vice President Gore, we have helped 9 times as many
classrooms connect to the Internet as there were just six years ago. This year, with over one
billion additional dollars to make Internet connections affordable, we can meet our goal: every
classroom and every library connected to the Internet by the dawn of the new century.
Last fall, we began to hire 100,000 new highly-trained teachers to reduce class size in
the early grades. We know this will improve learning. And we have to finisht the job.
Our children are doing better. SAT scores are up. Math scores have risen in nearly all
grades. But there is a problem: 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.
We must do better. Each year the national government invests over $20 billion in our
public schools. I believe we must change the way we invest that money, to support what
works and stop supporting what doesn't.
Later this year, I will send Congress a plan that for the first time holds states and
school districts accountable for progress and rewards them for results. The plan would require
every school district receiving federal help to take the following four steps.
NOTE - HS students read/add rahm
First, ail schools must end social promotion.
But we just can't hold students back when the system fails them. So my balanced
budget triples the funding for summer school and after school programs. We can keep one
million students learning beyond regular school hours, when parents work and juvenile crime
soars.
If you doubt this will work, look at Chicago, which ended social promotion and made
summer school mandatory for those whodon't master thebasics. Math and reading scores are
up ~ three years running — with some of the biggest gains in some of the poorest
neighborhoods. RAHM
�Second, all states and school disricts must turn around their worst-performing schools - or shut them down. That is the policy established by Gov. Jim Hunt in North Carolina,
where test scores made the biggest gains in the nation last year. My budget includes $200
million to help states adopt this policy and turn around their failing schools. We must do this.
Third, aU states and school districts must be held responsible for the quality of their
teachers. The great majority of teachers do a fine job. But in too many schools, teachers
don't have college majors - or even minors - in the subjects they teach. Our balanced budget
contains new resources to help make sure teachers know the subjects they are teaching. All
teachers should be required to know the subjects they are teaching - and all new teachers
should be required to pass a performance test.
To attract talented young teachers to the toughest assignments, I recommend a five-fold
increase in scholarships for college students who commit to teach in the inner cities, in isolated
rural areas and on Indian reservations.
Fourth, we must empower parents, with more information and more choices. In too
many communities, it is easier to get information on the quality of local restaurants than the
quality of local schools. Every school district should issue report cards on every school.
And parents and students should have more choice in selecting their public schools.
When I became President, there was one independent, public charter school in all of America.
With our support, there are 900 today. My budget assures that early in the next century,
there will be 3000.
Fifth, there can't be learning int he classroom if there is not order int he classroom.
School districts must xxxxx.
If we do these things ~ end social promotion, turn around failing schools, demand and
support qualified teachers, and promote accountability, innovation, competition and discipline
- we will begin to meet our generation's historic responsibility to create 21st Century schools.
Let's do one more thing for our children. Today, too many of our schools are so old
that they're falling apart, or so overcrowded students must 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.
BUILDING STRONG FAMILIES FOR THE 21st CENTURY [8 minutes]
We must do more to help the millions of working American parents who give their all
every day at home and at work.
The most basic tool of all is a decent income. Let's raise the minimum wage by one
�dollar an hour over the next two years.
One of the biggest needs working parents face is quality child care and after school
programs. Again, I ask the Congress to support our plan for tax credits for working families,
child care subsidies for small business, and high standards and training for child care providers.
Our plan also includes a new tax credit for stay-at-home mothers. They need help too.
The Family Medical Leave Act ~ the first bill I signed into law ~ has helped nearly 20
million Americans care for a new baby or an ailing relative without risking their jobs, at minimal
cost to employers. We should extend Family Leave to 10 million more Americans working in
smaller companies.
Parents should never face discrimination in the workplace. I will ask Congress to
prohibit companies from refusing to hire or promote workers simply because they have children.
America's families deserve the world's best medical care.
We have begun testing the first drugs to prevent or reduce risk of cancer. Medical
researchers have introduced the first effective drugs to treat AIDS.
They have made new discoveries about the process of aging itself - increasing the odds of
developing new treatments to prevent or delay diseases from Parkinsons to Alzheimers to
arthritis.
As we continue our advances in medical science, 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. Let's make all Americans a promise: This year, we
will pass a strong and enforceable 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.
I am now extending these rights by executive authority 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.
As more of our medical records are stored electronically, the threats to our privacy
increase. Either by an act of congress or by executive authority we will protect theprivacy of
medical records, this year.
Two years ago, we extended health insurance to up to 5 million children. Now, we
�should give people between the ages of 55 and 65 who lose their health insurance the chance to
buy in to Medicare. We should make it easier for small businesses to offer health insurance to
their employees.
And we should pass the historic bipartisan legislation, introduced by Senators Jeffords, Kennedy,
Roth and Moynihan, to allow people with disabilities to keep Medicaid health insurance when
they go to work. No one should have to choose between keeping health care and taking a job.
In the past six years, one of the few things thta's gone in the wrong direction
# of
uninsured ppl up - use existing networks... use the places getting fed $ to provide he to ppl who
don't have ins mybudg contians funds to begin to move us in that dir We should increase support
for the community health centers providing basic care for families who lack health coverage
altogether.
We must step up our efforts to treat and to prevent an illness that brings pain to millions
of families ~ mental illness. No American should ever be afraid to recognize and treat this
disease. This year, we will host a first-ever White House Conference on Mental Health. With
sensitivity and commitment, Tipper Gore is leading our efforts here - and I thank her.
As everyone knows, our children - whom the tobacco industry has called "replacement
smokers" ~ are targets of a massive media campaign to hook them on cigarettes. I ask this
Congress to resist the tobacco lobby and pass a bipartisan bill that safeguards our children while
protecting farmers.
For decades the tobacco industry has passed too much of the real cost of smoking ~
medical care for illnesses from cancer to emphysema — onto you, the taxpayers. It is time to
recover those costs, as the states have done.
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.
In all these areas — minimum wage, child care, health care, family leave and the safety of
our children — we can begin to meet our historic responsibility to strengthen our families for the
21st Century.
A 21st CENTURY ECONOMY [10 minutes - 6 minutes of which is international]
Next, we must build a 21st Century economy for all Americans.
Today, America is the most dynamic, competitive, job creating economy in history.
�But we can do better.
We must make a place for all our people in the new economy.
Today's income gap is largely a skills gap. Last year, I signed bipartisan legislation to
transform our worker training system. With a simple skills grant, Americans eligible for training
assistance can choose the training they need. This year, I recommend a five year investment in
this new system so that we can provide that training for all Americans who lose their jobs. And
let us launch a national campaign to increase adult literacy for the millions of working people
who read at less than a fifth grade level.
In the last six years, we have cut the welfare rolls nearly in half. Two years ago, from
this podium, I asked five companies to lead a national effort to hire people off the welfare rolls.
Tonight, our Welfare to Work Partnership includes 10,000 companies who have hired hundreds
of thousands of people. My budget provides funds to help another 200,000 people move from
welfare to work.
We also must bring the spark of private enterprise into inner cities and remote rural areas.
My balanced budget provides supports community banks, and provides tax credits to create
venture capital funds, and 100,000 vouchers so people can find affordable housing. We already
have an Overseas Private Investment Corporation, to help develop untapped markets abroad. I
propose an American Private Investment Corporation to develop untapped markets at home,
[together these initiatives 15 billion private sector dollars ] investing in jobs abroad - now invest
in jobs at home
And we must bring prosperity back to rural America. Farmers ~ 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 to craft a better
farm safety net for rural America, with crop insurance reform and income assistance. I am ready
to work with lawmakers of both parties to get it done.
We must strengthen our lead in technology.
Government investment in computers led to the creation of the Internet. I propose a 30%
increase in long-term computer research.
We must be ready for the 21st Century from its very first moment, by solving the "Y2K"
computer problem. We have already made sure Social Security checks will keep coming on time.
But every government department, every business, every city and county, every university must
be ready, so the "Y2K problem" will be remembered as the last headache of the 20st Century, not
the first crisis of the 21st.
Economic growth at home also depends upon economic growth abroad.
8
�Until recently, one third of our economic growth came from exports. But over the past
year and a half, financial turmoil overseas 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
plunged into poverty.
This is the most critical financial crisis in a half century. To meet it, America has
reduced interest rates, met our obligations to the International Monetary Fund, and worked with
other nations to keep the crisis from spreading. The turmoil is not over, but thanks to lawmakers
of both parties, we have a chance to contain it.
Now we must build a globalfinancialsystem for the 21st Century that tames the cycles of
boom and bust. This spring, I will meet with other world leaders to lay plans for a system with
clear, open accounting; stronger international bank regulations; an aggressive response to prevent
regional problems from becoming global crises; and a strong social safety net for the most
vulnerable victims of financial turmoil.
We must also build afreerand fairer trading system for the 21 st Century ~ one that spurs
growth, expands opportunity for ordinary citizens, and supports basic labor and environmental
standards. Trade has divided Americans for too long. 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 present crisis. I ask
Congress to provide the funds to spur $2 billion in new credit to promote U.S. manufacturing
exports. When imports unlawfiilly flood into our nation, we must enforce our trade laws. Free
trade must be fair trade. I have already informed the government of Japan that if Japan's sudden
surge of steel imports into our country is not reversed, I will respond.
But let me make clear: the best course for the United States and the world is increased
trade. Therefore, I calif or a new round of global negotiations to exports of farm products,
services and manufactures.
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 public scrutiny, and that trade
rules never be used as a pretext to destroy environmental protections. We must never let
vigorous international competition become a race to the bottom among nations.
I ask Congress to join me in this common approach and pass legislation granting the
President traditional trade authority to 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 to end the most abusive trade practice of all: This
year I will sign a new international agreement to ban child labor everywhere in the world.
�If we do these things, then we can begin to meet the historic responsibility of this
generation to build a 21st Century prosperity for America.
A STRONG AMERICA IN A NEW WORLD
[11 minutes]
No nation in history has had the opportunity and the responsibility we now have to help
shape a world more peaceful, secure, and free.
All Americans should be proud that our leadership helped to bring peace in Northern
Ireland ~ and America should help them build it.
All Americans can be proud that our leadership has put Bosnia on the path to peace. This
year, we will help that peace to take deeper root - as we continue to bring our troops home. And
in Kosovo we will work to stop the bloody repression and find a peaceful path to self
government.
All Americans can be proud that our leadership renewed hope for lasting peace in the
Middle East. Some of you were with me in December as we watched the Palestinian National
Council completely renounce its call for the destruction of Israel. I ask Congress to act now to
provide resources to support the Wye Agreement . . . to protect Israel's security, stimulate the
Palestinian economy, and support our friends in Jordan. We must not, we cannot, let them
down.
As we work for peace, we must also meet threats to our nation's security - including
increased dangers from outlaw nations and terrorism. We will fight this plague of terror
wherever it arises, and defend our security wherever it is threatened -- as we did this summer
when we struck at Osama bin Laden's network of terror. The bombing of our embassies in Kenya
and Tanzania reminded us of the risks faced every day by those who represent America to the
world. They deserve protection, recognition and support. Let's give them the resources they
need so America can continue to lead.
We will work to keep terrorists from disrupting computer networks, to prepare local
communities for biological and chemical emergencies, and to support research into vaccines and
treatments.
We will work to restrain the spread of nuclear weapons, from North Korea to India and
Pakistan.
My balanced budget will expand our work with Russia, Ukraine, and the other former
Soviet nations to safeguard their weapons and technology so they never fall into the wrong
hands.
There is another vital step Congress can take. In 1963, the Senate approved the Limited
10
�nuclear Test Ban Treaty just two months after President Kennedy signed it. It's been two years
since I signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. By acting now, the Senate can make it
harder for new nations to develop nuclear arms, and we can end nuclear testing forever.
For nearly a decade, Iraq has defied its obligation to destroy its weapons of terror and the
missiles to deliver them. America will continue to contain Saddam ~ and we will work for the
day when Iraq has a government worthy of its people.
Last month, when America struck at Saddam's war machine, our troops were superb.
Their mission was so flawlessly executed that we risk taking for granted the bravery and skill it
required, [x] flew [x] missions, destroying [x] that made [chemical weapons or whatever]. He is
here with us tonight. Let us all honor the 10,000 men and women of Desert Fox.
It is time to reverse the decline in defense spending that began in 1985. Last year, I asked
and Congress agreed to add nearly $6 billion to maintain our readiness. My balanced budget
calls for an increase of $12 billion for readiness and modernization. It will ensure that our troops
can deploy rapidly, with the best training and weapons in the world. And it will provide for them
and their families.
America's defenders stand ready at a moment's notice to go where comforts are few and dangers
are many, doing what needs to be done as no one else can. They always come through for
America. We must come through for them.
The new century demands new partnerships for peace and security.
This spring, I will convene the leaders of NATO in Washington for its 50th anniversary summit,
to prepare for the mission of the next 50 years. We will welcome Hungary, Poland and the
Czech Republic as our first new allies from Central Europe. And we will reaffirm our
determination that Europe must never again be divided by concrete and barbed wire.
More than ever, we know that the security of America is also linked to the stability of
Asia. I have worked to strengthen relationships with our allies Japan and Korea. Last year, I
also traveled to China because our relationship with the world's largest country will help
determine prospects for peace and security all across Asia. I spoke candidly about our shared
interests as well as our differences. I said to the leaders of China, and I say again tonight:
Stability can no longer be bought at the expense of liberty.
But we must reaffirm that it is important not to isolate China. The more we bring China
into the world, the more the world will bring change andfreedomto China.
Last spring, with some of you, I traveled to Africa, where I saw democracy and reform rising, but
11
�still held back by the scars of violence and scourge of disease. We must strive to end conflict
and to fortify African democracy, especially in Nigeria. And because trade and investment are
the keys to African prosperity — we must finally pass the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act.
We are strengthening ties to the Americas ~ to educate children, fight drugs, deepen
democracy and increase shared prosperity, through increased trade with our neighbors in Central
America and the Carribbean, and through the establishment of a Free Trade Area of the
Americas.
In our own hemisphere, every government but one is freely chosen byour people. We are
determined that Cuba, too, will know the blessings of liberty. We have taken new steps to help
the Cuban people without helping the regime.
The American people have opened their hearts and their hands to our neighbors in Central
America and the Carribbean in the wake of devasting hurricanes. More than 5000 American
troops have helped rebuild roads and homes and lives. Many are still at work. I am proud of
them ~ and proud of the generosity of the American people. I will do my best to work with
Members of Congress of both parties to help our neighbors rebuild.
The United Nations plays a crucial role in so many of the areas I have mentioned tonight.
America needs a strong relationship with an effective UN. I want to work in this new year with
this new Congress to pay our dues and our debts.
And if we do all these things, then we can meet the historic responsibility of our
generation to build a safer and mores ecure 21st Century America in afreerand more peaceful
world.
21ST CENTURY COMMUNITIES [10 minutes]
As the world has changed, so have our own communities ~ we must continue to
strengthen them for this new time.
Strong communities are safer communities.
[Chestnut & Gibson tribute]
This year, we will reach our goal of putting 100,000 community police officers on the
street — ahead of schedule and under budget. The Brady Bill has stopped a quarter million
felons, fugitives, and stalkers from buying guns. The murder rate is the lowest in 30 years, and
last year, the crime rate dropped for the sixth straight year.
Tonight, I propose a 21st Century crime bill to marshall the latest technologies and tactics
to make our communities even safer.
12
�My budget provides funds to put up to 50,000 more police on the beat in the areas hardest
hit by crime, and gives them 21st Century tools, from crime-mapping computers to digital mug
shots.
We must break the deadly cycle of drugs and crime. 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.
Congress should restore the mandatory 5-day waiting period for buying a handgun that
expired last year, and extend the Brady Bill to prevent juveniles who commit violent crimes from
ever buying handguns.
And we must make our schools the safest places in our communities. Last year, our
nation was horrified and heartbroken by the tragic killings in our schools - in Jonesboro,
Arkansas, Paducah, Kentucky, Pearl, Mississippi, in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, Springfield,
Oregon. We will never forget the courage of the parents who have dedicated themselves to
keeping guns out of the hands of children ~ so no parent ever has to live through their loss.
Suzann Wilson lost her daughter, Brittheny, when a student opened fire on his classmates
in Jonesboro. When she came to visit me at the White House, she issued a powerful plea to us
all. "Please, please, for the sake of your children, lock up your guns. Don't let your gun become
an instrument of murder. Don't let what happened in Jonesboro happen in your town." Suzann
is here with us in the First Lady's box. In her presence, and in memory of all the children who
lost their lives this year to school violence, let us pledge tonight to redouble our efforts to make
our schools safe. I ask Congress to pass my plan to strengthen the Safe and Drug-Free School
Act, and to hire and train 2,000 new community police and school resource officers to keep our
kids safe.
Strong communities are livable communities.
A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt defined our "great, central task" as
"leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us." Today, we are
restoring the Florida Everglades, saving Yellowstone, preserving the red-rock canyons of
Utah, protecting California's redwoods and our precious coasts.
But our most fateful new challenge is the threat of global warming. Last year's heat
waves, ice storms, and floods 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 funds for clean energy sources; tax cuts for energy-efficient cars,
homes, and appliances; and vigorous diplomatic efforts to involve other countries. I want to
work with Congress to rewarad companies that take early voluntary action to reduce
greenhouse pollution.
13
�Our next challenge is visible today in every community. As more citizens buy new
homes and share in the American Dream, communities are losing about 7,000 acres of farms
and open space every day.
In response, Vice President Gore and I propose two major initiatives: first, a
Livability Agenda to help communities save open space, ease traffic congestion, and grow in
ways that enhance every citizen's quality of life; second, a historic one billion dollar Lands
Legacy Initiative to preserve places of natural beauty across America ~ from remote
wilderness to city parks.
To get the most out of your community, you have to give something back to it. That's
why I fought to create AmeriCorps - our national service program that gives today's
generation a chance to serve their community and eam money for college.
So far, in just four years, 100,000 young people have built low-income homes with
Habitat for Humanity ... helped churches tutor children ... worked with FEMA to ease the
burden of natural disasters ... and performed countless other acts of service that have made
America better.
Some of them are with us tonight. I thank them for their service - and I ask Congress
to give more young Americans the chance to follow their lead.
As we work to strengthen our communities, we must work to renew our democracy.
Last year, the House passed the bipartisan campaign finance reform legislation
sponsored by Reps. Shays and Meehan and Sens. McCain and Feingold. But a partisan
minority in the Senate blocked reform. To the House I say: Pass reform again, quickly. I ask
the Senate: say no to big money and yes to a strong democracy in the Year 2000.
Most important, to build strong communities, we must be truly One America.
Since 1997, our Initiative on Race has sought to bridge the divides between our people.
In its report, issued last September, the Initiative's Advisory Board found that Americans want
to bring our people together across racial lines ~ but that we must do more to close the
opportunity gap that deepens the divides between the races. The economic, health care, and
education initiatives in my balanced budget will do a lot to close those gaps.
But we have more to do.
Discrimination or violence because of race or religion ancestry or gender, disability or
sexual orientation, is wrong. It should be illegal. Therefore I call upon the Congress to make
the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the Hate Crimes Prevention Act the law of the
land.
14
�Our newest immigrants must be part of One America. They are revitalizing our cities,
energizing our culture, building our new economy.
have a responsibility to make them
welcome here. And they have a responsibility to enter the mainstream of American life. My
balanced budget will help many more immigrants learn English and to learn about our
democratic system.
There are long waiting lists of immigrants waiting to learn English.
Whether our ancestors came here on the Mayflower or on slave ships, whether they
landed on Ellis Island or at Los Angeles International Airport, whether they arrived yesterday
or walked to our land thousands of years ~ we can be, and we must be One America. We
have no greater obligation to the 21st Century.
PERORATION: THE MILLENNIUM [5 minutes]
Barely more than 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 honor her ~ for leading our Millennium Project - for all she has done to represent
our country at home and abroad ~ and for all she has done for our children ~ for her historic
role in serving this nation and advancing our best ideals.
Last year, I called on the Congress and every citizen to mark the millennium by saving
America's Treasures. Hillary has traveled across the country to inspire recognition and support
for saving places like Thomas Edison's Invention Factory and Harriet Tubman's Home.
The response has been remarkable, and I thank Congress and our private sector partners
for their support. Because of you, the Star Spangled Banner will be preserved for the ages. We
must preserve the treasures in every community. I invite every American town, city, and county
to become nationally recognized "Millennium Communities" by launching projects that save our
history and prepare our children for the 21st Century. We must keep alive, in ways large and
small, what George Washington called "the sacred fire of liberty."
Six years ago tomorrow, I came to office in a time of doubt for America, with our
economy troubled, our deficit high, our people divided. Some even wondered whether
America's best days were behind us. But across this nation, in a thousand neighborhoods, I had
seen, even amid the pain and uncertainty of recession, the heart and character of America.
I had no doubt then of what we Americans could do for our country.
Tonight, as I deliver the last State of the Union message of the 20th Century, no one can
doubt the enduring resolve of Americans to work for that "more perfect union" of our founders'
dreams.
15
�We are near the end of a century when generations of Americans answered the call to
greatness, overcoming Depression, lifting up the dispossessed, bringing down barriers of racial
prejudice, building up the largest middle class in history, winning two world wars, and the "long
twilight struggle" of the Cold War.
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, an 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 we joined together to serve and strengthen the country we love.
Let us lift our eyes as one nation, and from the mountaintop of this American century,
look ahead to the next one.
Let us join our spirits and wills for the work ahead, and ask God's blessing on our
endeavors and our beloved country.
16
�Let me begin by congr the new speaker. First mr speaker I thankyou for puting in your
box x & y - the widows of the officers who gave their lives to defend freedom's house Second, I
thank you for
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�Draft 1/16/99 2:30pm
sotu99.14
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: [intro 4 minutes]
Tonight, we begin anew our work together for the people of America. Let me start by
saluting the new Speaker of the House. At your swearing 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 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 homeownership is the highest in history — welfare
rolls are the smallest in 29 years - and peacetime unemployment is the lowest it has been
since 1957.
I stand before you, the first president in three decades to report that the budget is
balanced. From a budget deficit of $290 million in 1992, we now have a budget surplus of
$70 billion this year. And we will see a surplus each year for the next 20 years.
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,
even as our economy has boomed.
I stand before you to report that America stands strong - a peacemaker in lands torn by
ancient hatreds, from Northern Ireland, to Bosnia, to the Middle East.
I stand before you to report that thanks to the pioneering leadership of Vice President
Gore, once again our government is a progressive instrument of the common good, devoted to
fiscal responsibility and determined to give the American people the tools they need to make
�They must be made on a bipartisan basis. They should be made this year. Tonight, together, let
us all say: we will save Social Security for the 21st Century. Now.
Second, once we have set aside sufficient funds from the surplus to save Social Securitv.
we must fulfill our obligation to save and improve Medicare.
Already, we have extended the life of Medicare by 10 years -- but it should be extended for at
least another decade. Tonight I propose that we use one out of every five dollars in the surplus
over the next 15 years to guarantee the soundness of Medicare, until at least the year 2020.
But we can do more. After carefully reviewing the report of the Medicare panel chaired
by Sen. John Breaux and Rep. Bill Thomas in March, we can take steps to improve the quality of
Medicare by covering seniors' greatest and growing need, 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 retire with little to live on other than 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.
Americans who set up their own personal pension accounts, investing as they choose, will
receive funds to match a portion of their savings, with more help for those least able to save.
USA Accounts will give all Americans the means to save, to share in the nation's wealth,
and enjoy a more secure retirement.
Fourth, we must invest in long-term care. I propose a tax credit of $1,000 for those who
care for ailing, aged or disabled loved ones. The care our families can provide at home is
invaluable; let us show that we value it.
With these four measures — saving Social Security, strengthening Medicare, establishing
USA Accounts, and providing the long-term care tax credit ~ we can begin to meet our historic
responsibility to establish true security for 21st Century seniors.
I was bom in 1946, in the first year of the Baby Boom. Our generation is determined not
to let our growing old place an intolerable burden on our children and their ability to raise our
grandchildren. There is no better use for our surplus than lifting that burden.
STRONG SCHOOLS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
[9 minutes]
There are more children, from more diverse backgrounds, in our public schools than at
any time in our history. Their education must provide the knowledge and nurture the
creativity prized by the new economy.
�Today we can say something about their future we could not say six years ago: with
more affordable student loans, more Pell grants for deserving students, 1 million new workstudy jobs, education IRAs, and the new HOPE scholarship tax cut that more than 5 million
Americans will receive this year, we have opened the doors of college to all.
Nearly every state has set has set higher academic standards for public schools, and we
will soon have a voluntary national test to measure the progress of our students. Schools are
cracking down on drugs and gangs and guns and violence.
Many are improving learning and discipline with school uniforms, teaching values, and finding
a proper place for religious faith. We are supporting these developments.
With the leadership of Vice President Gore, we have helped 9 times as many
classrooms connect to the Internet as there were six years ago. This year, with over one
billion additional dollars to make Internet connections affordable, we can meet our goal: every
classroom and every library connected to the Internet by the dawn of the new century.
We are marshaling a volunteer army of college students to teach young children to read
and to mentor middle school children and prepare them for college.
Last fall, we reached across party lines 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.
Our children are doing better. SAT scores are up. Math scores have risen in nearly all
grades. But there is a problem: 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.
We must do better. Each year the national government invests over $20 billion in our
public schools. I believe we must change the way we invest that money, to support what
works and stop supporting what doesn't.
Later this year, I will send Congress a plan that for the first time holds states and
�school districts accountable for progress and rewards them for results. The plan would require
every school district receiving federal help to take the following four steps.
First, aU schools must end social promotion.
Because we can't just hold students back when the system fails them, my balanced
budget triples the funding for summer school and after school programs. We can keep one
million students learning beyond regular school, when parents work and juvenile crime soars.
Three years ago, under Mayor Daley's leadership, Chicago ended social promotion.
Students who fail to master the basics go to summer school and get special tutoring until they
do pass. It's working. Math and reading scores are up three years running. Some of the
biggest gains have come in what were some of the worst schools in the toughest
neighborhoods.
Second, aU states and school districts must turn around their worst-performing schools
or shut them down. That is the policy established by Gov. Jim Hunt in North Carolina, where
test scores made the biggest gains in the nation last year. My budget includes $200 million to
help states adopt this policy and turn around their failing schools. We must do this.
Third, all states and school districts must be held responsible for the quality of their
teachers. The great majority of teachers do a fine job. But in too many schools, teachers don't
have college majors-or even minors-in the subjects they teach. All teachers should be
required to know the subjects they are teaching, [you had a question re: the policy]
To attract talented young teachers to the toughest assignments, I recommend 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, with more information and more choices. In too
many communities, it is easier to get information on the quality of local restaurants than the
quality of local public schools. Every school district should issue report cards on every
school.
Parents and students should have more choice in selecting their public schools. When I
became President, there was one independent, public charter school in all of America. With
our support, there are 900 today. My budget assures that early in the next century, there will
be 3000.
If we do these four things - end social promotion, turn around failing schools, demand
and support qualified teachers, and promote accountability, innovation and competition - we
will begin to meet our generation's historic responsibility to create 21st Century schools.
�Let's do one more thing for our children. Today, too many of our schools are so old
that they're falling apart, or so overcrowded students must 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
oppormnity again.
BUILDING STRONG FAMILIES FOR THE 21st CENTURY [8 minutes]
We must do more to help the millions of working American parents who give their all
every day at home and at work.
The most basic tool of all is a decent income. So first, let's raise the minimum wage by
one dollar over the next two years.
One of the biggest needs working parents face is quality child care. Again, I ask the
Congress to make quality child care more affordable and more accessible. 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 also includes a new tax credit
for stay-at-home mothers. They need help too.
The Family Medical Leave Act ~ the first bill I signed into law - has helped nearly 20
million Americans care for a new baby or an ailing relative without risking their jobs, at minimal
cost to employers . We should extend Family Leave to 10 million more Americans working in
smaller companies.
Parents should never face discrimination in the workplace. I will ask Congress to
prohibit companies from refusing to hire or promote workers simply because they have children.
America's families deserve the world's best medical care.
We have begun testing the first drugs to prevent or reduce risk of cancer. Medical
researchers have introduced the first effective drugs to treat AIDS.
They have made new discoveries about the process of aging itself - increasing the odds of
developing new treatments to prevent or delay diseases from Parkinsons to Alzheimers to
arthritis. We must continue our cutting-edge research and pathbreaking innovation. I ask
Congress keep us on track to increase the budget for the National Institutes of Health by fifty
percent.
�As science advances, 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. Let's make all Americans a promise: This year, we
must pass a strong and enforceable 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.
By executive authority, I am 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.
As more of our medical records are stored electronically, the threats to our privacy
increase. If Congress does not act to protect the privacy of medical records by this August, I
have the authority to do so — and I will use it.
Two years ago, we extended health insurance to up to 5 million children. Now, we
should give people 55 to 65 who lose their health insurance the chance to buy in to Medicare.
We should make it easier for small businesses to offer health insurance to their employees.
And we should pass the historic bipartisan legislation, introduced by Senators Jeffords, Kennedy,
Roth and Moynihan, to allow people with disabilities to keep Medicaid health insurance when
they go to work. No one should have to choose between keeping health care and taking a job.
We should increase support for the community health centers providing basic care for
families who lack health coverage altogether.
We must step up our efforts to treat and prevent an illness that brings pain to millions of
families -- mental illness. No American should ever be afraid to recognize and treat this disease.
This year, we will host afirst-everWhite House Conference on Mental Health. With sensitivity
and commitment. Tipper Gore is leading our efforts here - and I thank her.
As everyone knows, our children - whom the tobacco industry has called "replacement
smokers" ~ are targets of a massive media campaign to hook them on cigarettes. I ask this
7
�We already have an Overseas Private Investment Corporation, to help develop untapped markets
abroad. I propose an American Private Investment Corporation to develop untapped markets at
home.
And we must bring prosperity back to rural America. Farmers — 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 to craft a better
farm safety net for rural America, with crop insurance reform and income assistance. I am ready
to work with Members of Congress of both parties to get it done.
We must strengthen our lead in technology.
Government investment in computers led to the creation of the Internet. I propose a 30%
increase in long-term computer research.
We must be ready for the 21st Century from its very first moment, by solving the "Y2K"
computer problem. We have already made sure Social Security checks will keep coming on time.
But every government department, every business, every city and county, every university must
be ready, so the "Y2K problem" will be remembered as the last headache of the 20st Century, not
the first crisis of the 21st.
Economic growth at home also depends upon economic growth abroad.
Until recently, one third of our economic growth came from exports. But over the past
year and a half,financialturmoil overseas 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
plunged into poverty.
This is the most critical financial crisis in a half century. To meet it, America has
reduced interest rates, met our obligations to the International Monetary Fund, and worked with
other nations to keep the crisis from spreading.
The turmoil is not over, but thanks to lawmakers of both parties, we have a chance to contain it.
Now we must build a global financial system for the 21st Century that tames the cycles of
boom and bust. This spring, I will meet with other world leaders to lay plans for a modem world
financial system ~ with clear, open accounting; stronger international bank regulations; an
aggressive response to prevent regional problems from becoming global crises; and a strong
social safety net for the most vulnerable victims of financial turmoil.
To maintain our prosperity in the global economy, we must also build a freer and fairer
trading system for the 21st Century ~ one that spurs growth, expands opportunity for ordinary
�citizens, and supports basic labor and environmental standards. Trade has divided Americans for
too long. 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 present crisis. I ask the
Congress to provide the funds to spur $2 billion in new credit to promote U.S. manufacturing
exports abroad.
When imports unlawfully flood into our nation, we must enforce our trade laws. Free Trade
must be fair trade. 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.
Five times in the past half century, we have negotiated worldwide agreements that have
opened markets and lifted prosperity. I will launch a new round of negotiations in the World
Trade Organization to expand our exports of farm products, services and manufactures. And we
will seek to expand trade with Africa, with our Caribbean and Central American neighbors
devastated by the recent hurricanes, and with the creation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas.
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 public scrutiny, and that trade
rules never be used as a pretext to destroy environmental protections. We must never let
vigorous international competition become a race to the bottom among nations.
I ask Congress to join me in this common approach and pass legislation granting the
President traditional trade authority to 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 to end the most exploitative trade practices of all:
will sign a new international agreement to ban child labor everywhere in the world.
If we do these things, then we can begin to meet the historic responsibility of this
generation to build a 21st Century prosperity for America in a more stable and growing world
economy.
A STRONG AMERICA IN A NEW WORLD
[11 minutes]
No nation in history has had the opportunity and the responsibility we now have to help
shape a world more secure, peaceful and free.
10
�All Americans should be proud that our leadership helped bring peace to Northern
Ireland. Now that Protestants and Catholics there have chosen peace, America will help them
build it.
All Americans can be proud that our leadership has put Bosnia on the path to peace. This
year, we will help that peace take deeper root - and continue to bring our troops home. In
Kosovo we will work to stop the bloody repression and find a peaceful path to self government.
All Americans can be proud that our leadership renewed hope for a lasting peace in the
Middle East. Some of you were with me in December as we watched the Palestinian National
Council completely renounce its call for the destruction of Israel. I ask the Congress to act now
to provide resources to support the Wye Agreement . . . to protect Israel's security, stimulate the
Palestinian economy, and support our friends in Jordan. We must not, we cannot, let them
down.
As we work for peace, we must also meet threats to our nation's security - including
increased dangers from outlaw nations and terrorism. We will tight this plague of terror
wherever it arises, and defend our security wherever it is threatened — as we did this summer
when we struck at Osama bin Laden's network of terror in Afghanistan and Sudan. The
bombing of our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania reminded us of the risks faced every day by
those who represent America to the world. They deserve protection, recognition and support.
Let's give them the resources they need so America can continue to lead.
We will work to keep terrorists from disrupting computer networks, to prepare local
communities for biological and chemical emergencies, and to support research into vaccines and
treatments.
We will work to restrain the spread of nuclear weapons, from North Korea to India and
Pakistan.
My balanced budget will expand our work with Russia, Ukraine, and the other former
Soviet nations to safeguard their weapons and technology so they never fall into wrong hands.
There is another vital step Congress can take. In 1963, the Senate approved the Limited
nuclear Test Ban Treaty just two months after President Kennedy signed it. It's been two years
since I signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. By acting now, the Senate can make it
harder for new nations to develop nuclear arms, and end nuclear testing forever.
[I hope the Russian legislature, the Duma. I ask you to promptly ratify the START II
treaty, for the sake of Russia's security as well as our own. We have already agreed on a
11
�framework for START III to cut our arsenals by 80 percent from their Cold War height.
Together, our nations can lift the cloud of nuclear annihilation from our children. We must do
so.]
For nearly a decade, Iraq has defied its obligation to destroy its weapons of terror and the
missiles to deliver them. America will continue to contain Saddam -- with diplomacy and
sanctions when possible, with force when necessary. And we will work for the day when Iraq has
a government worthy of its people.
Last month, when America struck at Saddam's war machine, our troops were superb.
Their mission was so flawlessly executed that we risk taking for granted the bravery and skill it
required, [x] flew [x] missions, destroying [x] that made [chemical weapons or whatever]. He is
here with us tonight. Let us all honor the 10,000 men and women of Desert Fox.
It is time to reverse the decline in defense spending that began in 1985. In the last nine
months, I have asked and Congress has agreed to add nearly $6 billion to maintain our readiness.
My balanced budget calls for an increase of $12 billion for readiness and modernization. It will
ensure that our troops can deploy rapidly, with the best training and weapons in the world. And
it will provide for them and their families.
America's defenders stand ready at a moment's notice to go where comforts are few and
dangers are many, doing what needs to be done as no one else can. They always come through
for America. We must come through for them.
The new century demands new partnerships for peace and security.
This spring, I will convene the leaders of NATO in Washington for its 50th anniversary
summit, to prepare for the mission of the next 50 years. We will welcome Hungary, Poland and
the Czech Republic as our first new allies from Central Europe. And we will reaffirm our
determination that Europe must never again be divided by concrete and barbed wire.
More than ever, we know that the security of America is also linked to the stability of
Asia. I have worked to strengthen our relationships with our allies Japan and Korea. Last year,
also traveled to China because our relationship with the world's largest country will help
determine prospects for peace and prosperity across Asia. I spoke candidly about our shared
interests as well as our differences. I said to the leaders of China ~ and I will say again tonight that in the Information Age, stability cannot be bought at the expense of liberty.
12
�But we must remember that it is important not to isolate China. The more we bring
China into the world, the more the world will bring change and freedom to China.
Last spring, with some of you, I traveled to Africa, where 1 saw democracy and reform
rising, but still held back by the scars of violence and scourge of disease. We must strive to end
conflict and to fortify African democracy, including in Nigeria. And because trade and
investment are the keys to African prosperity — we must finally pass the Africa Growth and
Opportunity Act.
In our own Hemisphere, every government but one is freely chosen by its people.
Because we are determined that Cuba, too, will know the blessings of liberty, we have taken new
steps to help the Cuban people without helping the regime.
We are strengthening ties to the Americas ~ to educate children, fight drugs, deepen
democracy and increase shared prosperity. In the wake of Hurricanes Mitch and George in
Central America, more than 5000 American troops have helped rebuild roads and homes and
lives. Many are there still. I am proud of them - and proud of the generosity of the American
people to our friends and neighbors.
In so many of these efforts I have mentioned, the United Nations plays a crucial role.
Unless we want America to take all the risks and pay all the bills in solving the world's
problems, we need a strong relationship with an effective UN. I want to work in this new year
with this new Congress to pay our dues and our debts.
21ST CENTURY COMMUNITIES [10 minutes]
As the world has changed, so have our own communities -- we must continue to
strengthen them for this new time.
Strong communities are safer communities.
[Chestnut & Gibson tribute]
This year, we will reach our goal of putting 100,000 community police officers on the
street - ahead of schedule and under budget. The Brady Bill has stopped a quarter million
felons, fugitives, and stalkers from buying guns. Last year, the crime rate dropped for the sixth
straight year, and the murder rate is the lowest in 30 years.
13
�Tonight, I propose a 21st Century crime bill to marshall the latest technologies and tactics
to make our communities even safer.
My budget provides funds to put up to 50,000 more police on the beat in the areas hardest
hit by crime, and gives them 21st Century tools, from crime-mapping computers to digital mug
shots.
We must break the deadly cycle of drugs and crime. 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.
Congress should restore the mandatory 5-day waiting period for buying a handgun that
expired last year, and extend the Brady Bill to prevent juveniles who commit violent crimes from
buying handguns for life.
And we must make our schools the safest places in our communities. Last year, our
nation was horrified and heartbroken by the tragic killings in our schools ~ in Jonesboro,
Arkansas, in Paducah, Kentucky, in Pearl, Mississippi, in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, in
Springfield, Oregon. We will never forget the courage of the parents who have dedicated
themselves to keeping guns out of the hands of children ~ so no parent ever has to live through
their loss.
Suzann Wilson lost her daughter, Brittheny, when a student opened fire on his classmates
in Jonesboro. When came to visit me at the White House, she issued a powerful plea to us all.
She said, "Please, please, for the sake of your children, lock up your guns. Don't let your gun
become an instrument of murder. Don't let what happened in Jonesboro happen in your town."
Suzann is here with us in the First Lady's box. In her presence, and in memory of aU the
children who lost their lives this year to school violence, let us pledge tonight to redouble our
efforts to make our schools safe. I ask Congress to pass my plan to strengthen the Safe and
Drug-Free School Act, and to hire and train 2,000 new community police and school resource
officers to keep our kids safe.
Strong communities are livable communities.
A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt defined our "great, central task" as
"leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us." Today, we are
restoring the Florida Everglades, saving Yellowstone, preserving the red-rock canyons of
Utah, protecting California's redwoods and our precious coasts.
But our most fateful new challenge is the threat of global warming. Last year's heat
waves, ice storms, and floods are but a hint of what future generations may endure if we don't
act now.
14
�So tonight, I propose a clean air fund to help communities reduce both greenhouse
pollution and smog; new funds for clean energy sources; tax cuts for energy-efficient cars,
homes, and appliances; rewards for companies that take early voluntary action to reduce
greenhouse pollution; and vigorous new diplomatic efforts to meet this global threat with a
global response, [query re: Oceans?]
Another new challenge is one in every neighborhood. As 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.
In response, Vice President Gore and I propose two major initiatives: first, a
Livability Agenda to help communities save open space, ease traffic congestion, and grow in
ways that enhance every citizen's quality of life; second, a historic one billion dollar Lands
Legacy Initiative to preserve places of natural beauty across America - from remote
wilderness to city parks.
To get the most out of your community, you have to give something back to it. That's
why I fought to create AmeriCorps ~ our national service program that gives today's
generation a chance to serve their community and earn money for college.
So far, in just five years, 100,000 young people have built low-income homes with
Habitat for Humanity ... helped churches tutor children ... worked with the American Red
Cross to ease the burden of natural disasters ... and performed countless other acts of service
that have made America better.
Some of them are with us tonight. I ask this Congress to thank these young people as
only you can: by increasing support for AmeriCorps.
As we work to strengthen our communities, we must work to renew our democracy.
Last year, the House passed the bipartisan campaignfinancereform legislation
sponsored by Reps. Shays and Meehan and Sens. McCain and Feingold. But a partisan
minority in the Senate blocked reform. To the House I say: Pass reform again, quickly. I ask
the Senate: say no to big money and yes to a strong democracy in the Year 2000.
Finally, and most important, we must be truly One America.
Since 1997, our Initiative on Race has sought to bridge the divides between our people.
In its report, issued last September, the Initiative's Advisory Board found that Americans want
15
�to bring our people together across racial lines - but that we must do more to close the
opportunity gaps that deepen the divides between the races. The economic, health care, and
education initiatives in my balanced budget will do a lot to close them.
We have more to do.
Discrimination or violence because of ancestry or religion, race or gender, disability or
sexual orientation, is wrong. It should be illegal. Therefore I call upon the Congress to make
the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the Hate Crimes Prevention Act the law of the
land.
The face of America will change immeasurably in the next century. Today, one in ten
people in America was born in another country. Our newest immigrants are good for
America. They are revitalizing our cities, energizing our culture, building our new economy.
We must make them welcome here. And they must take responsibility to learn English
and to enter the mainstream of American life. 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 at Los Angeles International Airport, whether they arrived yesterday
or walked these lands for thousands of years - we can be, and we must be, one America.
PERORATION; THE MILLENNIUM [5 minutes]
Barely more than 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 honor her - for leading our Millennium Project - for all she has done to represent
our country at home and abroad - and for all she has done for our children - for her historic
role in serving this nation and advancing our best ideals.
Last year, I called on the Congress and every citizen to mark the millennium by saving
America's Treasures. Hillary has traveled across the country to inspire recognition and support
for places like Thomas Edison's Invention Factory and Harriet Tubman's Home.
16
�The response has been remarkable, and I thank the Congress and our private sector
partners for their support. Because ofyou, the Star Spangled Banner at the Smithsonian
Institution will be preserved for the ages.
We must preserve the treasures in every community. I invite every American town, city, and
county to become nationally recognized "Millennium Communities" by launching projects that
save our history and prepare our children for the 21st Century, from restoring landmarks to
cleaning up a river, a coastline or a park, volunteering to help our children. We must keep alive,
in ways large and small, what George Washington called "the sacred fire of liberty."
Six years ago tomorrow, I came to office in a time of doubt for America, with our
economy troubled, our deficit high, our people divided. Some even wondered whether
America's best days were behind us.
But across this nation, in a thousand neighborhoods, I had seen, even amid the pain and
uncertainty of recession, the heart and character of America.
I had no doubt then of what we Americans could do for our country.
Tonight, as I deliver the last State of the Union message of the 20th Century, no one can
doubt the enduring resolve of Americans to work for that "more perfect union" of our founders'
dreams.
We are near the end of a century when generations of Americans answered the call to
greatness, overcoming Depression, lifting up the dispossessed, bringing down barriers of racial
prejudice, building up the largest middle class in history, winning two world wars, and the "long
twilight struggle" of the Cold War.
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, an 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.
17
�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 this American century,
look forward to the next one.
Let us join our spirit and will for the work ahead, and ask God's blessing on our
endeavors and our beloved country.
18
�SUNTUM M @ A l
01/16/99 09:39:00 AM
ImMsj:^
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Subject: 1 999-1-1 5 remarks of the President at DNC dinner
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
January 15, 1999
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AT DNC DINNER
Corcoran Museum of Art
Washington. D.C.
10:30 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Robert left his
cards up here, so I'm going to take them home and put them in my
keepsake album. (Laughter.) If he ever gets mad at me, I'll call
him on the phone and read this speech back to him. (Laughter.)
I want to thank all of you for being here, and for being
there for Hillary, for me, for Al and Tipper, for our administration
over all these last years and especially during the last year. I'm
going to miss Steve Grossman and his team at the DNC. I thank Len
Barrack. I thank Carol Pensky - this is her last event. And I
thank Steve. They took the helm of a party that was troubled and
made it far from troubled in t w o years.
I want to thank all the staff members who have been
here. I have in some ways the most sympathy for this group of people
because they have to hear me give the same speech over and over and
over again. (Laughter.) And I want to thank the members of the
administration w h o are here, and Congressman Dingell and Debbie,
thank you for being here; Governor Ann Richards, who made some of my
campaign stops in the ' 9 8 campaign even more memorable than normal.
�(Laughter.)
I want to say a special word of thanks, as Hillary did,
to Sheryl Crow, who is a good friend, a good Democrat, and an
unbelievable artist. And she's getting better every single year -unbelievable. (Applause.)
Hillary said that we met Robert and Lynda in 1993,
actually just before they got married, at the Kentucky Derby. It was
an amazing event. I'd never been before and actually have never
gotten a chance to go back since. But it was the last year in office
of Governor John Wye Brown -- all of you will remember how sort of
staid and laid back John Wye Brown is. (Laughter.) He had Al Hirt
playing at the breakfast before the -- My Old Kentucky Home. And all
I remember about the Kentucky Derby is that I was perfectly sure what
horse would w i n , and the only person in this vast party John Wye
Brown had assembled who would bet on the horse I recommended was
Lynda Carter. And I have been for them ever since, whatever the
issue is. (Laughter.) Oh, and the horse won by three lengths.
(Applause.)
I really admire them both for so many reasons. It's not
easy to do this -- to sort of get out front, get your friends here.
Some of you came all the way across the country to be here because
they asked y o u . And I appreciate that and hope the weather is not so
bad you can't get back. Those of us who are in Washington don't want
anybody to be trapped here w h o doesn't want to be. (Laughter.) We
all came here voluntarily, but we want
you to be able to leave and come, to go as you please. (Laughter.)
Finally, let me say, you can't imagine -- you know, Al
and Tipper and Hillary and I, w e ' v e done a lot of campaigning
together, we did in ' 9 2 , we did in ' 9 6 , we do a few events together
now even though out lives are considerably busier and often w i t h
conflicting schedules. But I think that one of the real secrets of
whatever success w e ' v e had for the American people has been that we
have really tried to be a team; we've tried to be friends; we've
tried to be family; and we've tried to be frank with each other. And
each person has made a unique contribution. And then we've tried to
model that in dealing with the Democratic Party and the House and the
Senate groups and all of our friends around the country that are
involved in whatever initiative we're involved in. It seemp to me,
that's the way people ought to live, but it turns out it's a fairly
effective way to do business.
And I think it's fair to say that Tipper Gore has given
the mental health issue more visibility than it's ever had <jn the
national stage, and it will have an enduring, positive impact. I
think it's clear to anybody who has looked at it that whatever even
my harshest critics would have to say, that the Vice President has
been far and away -- not even close -- the most influential person in
his position over more issue, achieving more for the American people
��than anyone w h o has ever held his position in the entire history of
the republic. (Applause.) Not only that, as you will hear me say
increasingly in the months ahead, and any mistakes we made were my
fault. (Laughter.)
Of course, I don't even know how to talk about what I
believe Hillary has meant to the success of our endeavors. She's
been on every continent. She's gone to places more people in her
position don't go, both in America and beyond our borders, into
little villages in Africa and Asia and Latin America, and the Indian
Subcontinent, to talk to women and their children -- especially their
daughters - about what their lives can be and what we should do to
help t h e m . She's gone all over America to save the Star-Spangled
Banner and Thomas Edison's lab, and Harriet Tubman's home, and the
national treasures that we believe we should hold close to our hearts
as we move toward the millennium. And just a thousand other things.
And she has done it under circumstances I think are
probably more difficult than anyone who has ever done it before. I
love her for it, but our country should love her for it as well.
(Applause.)
/
You know, I keep hearing that books and books and books
will be written on how we w o n seats in the midterm election in 1998.
Since the Civil War the President's party has only w o n midterm
elections under Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, each in their first
midterm election -- and, as you heard, not since 1 8 2 2 , in the sixth
year. And I can save you a lot of reading - it is not complicated.
We showed up for work every day, and we remembered w h o we were
working for. And we wanted power not to just have it and exercise it
against anybody, but just to use it for a little while to advance the
American people's dreams.
It is not complicated. And we had people like you w h o
helped us raise enough money that even though we were outspent by
$ 1 0 0 million, we at least had enough to get our message out. And we
said, look, we will work for you; here's where our country is, here's
where we're going, here's what w e ' d like to do. It was not
complicated.
/
We're proud to be members of our party, but we believe
progress should take precedence over partisanship. We believe unity
should take precedence over division. We believe political power
should be used w i t h purpose to advance the lives of people only. And
if you give us a little help, we will, now that the country is
working again - and the economy is perhaps the best in history and
the welfare rolls are the lowest in 29 years, and the crime rate is
the lowest in 28 years, and we've got the lowest peacetime
unemployment since 1957 - now that the country is working again, we
would like to look to the long-term challenges of America.
�We would like to deal w i t h the aging of America by
saving Social Security and Medicare and thinking about other things
so that we baby boomers don't have to burden our children and our
grand children when we retire. We would like to look to the
flowering of our children, the largest and most diverse group of
schoolchildren w e ' v e ever had, and make sure that every one of them
has a chance to have a world-class education.
We would like to look to the strength of our families
and make sure that they have health care that is adequate,
affordable, and quality health care, which is w h y we want this
patients' bill of rights. We would like to continue to grow the
economy under increasingly competitive and difficult conditions. We
would like to remain the world's strongest force for peace and
freedom and prosperity. And we think we have the obligation to do
that, which is what our efforts in the Middle East and Northern
Ireland and Bosnia and Kosovo and other places in the world are all
about.
And if that's what you want us to do, we're ready to try
harder, but we need a little help. That's what we said. (Applause.)
Now, on Tuesday night I will be given the great honor
that comes to the President once a year to report on the State of the
Union, and then to amplify in greater detail what this agenda means
and what I hope we can accomplish in a bipartisan manner in the
Congress in the coming years. But when you go home tonight and you
ask yourselves w h y you came and what you believe in, I hope whether it was w o r t h your time and your money — I hope you will be
proud of w h a t has happened in these last six years. But I hope
you'll also be determined to make the most of the days ahead.
This six-year thing is arbitrary. It gets in people's
minds, gets in administration's minds and they think, oh, well, I'm
75 percent through. I think there's still 25 percent of the time
left. Just a question of how you look at it. And in the rhythm of
life, it seems to me that you get hired to show up every day. And I
get the same daily wage now I did on the first day I was President,
so it seems to me I ought to put in the same level of effort.
But if I could say in a more serious vein in closing,
there are many reasons that I am a member of this party, besides the
fact that my granddaddy would turn over in his grave if I weren't.
(Laughter.) And we could talk about that all night. But gn the eve
of the new millennium, when we're living in a new world economy and
an increasingly new world society, when you are communicating w i t h
each other in different ways and people are living and working in
different w a y s , when there are vast prospects for us corning together
w i t h different kinds of people, and also new threats because of our
increasing openness and
interconnection w i t h the rest of the world, there are three basic
things I'd like for you to remember, because I hope it says what
�we're about.
One is, we honestly believe that no person is better
than any other, and that every child in this country, without regard
to race or religion or station in life or circumstance, ought to have
the chance to live up to his or her God-given abilities. And the
role of government should be to create the conditions and give them
the tools, and give their parents the support, so that they have a
chance to do it.
T w o is, we honestly believe that none of those
individuals can make the most of their lives alone, and that our
membership in a community will enrich our o w n lives as it enriches
others.
Today was Martin Luther King's 70th birthday. Some of
the most brilliant things he ever said were about the importance of
community; about how, no matter how brilliant you are, no matter how
strong you are, no matter how rich you are, no matter how whatever
you are, your life can only take on full meaning and texture if you
are part of a community. And that's w h y I have worked so hard
against all the divisions of the country to make us one America.
And number three is that the essence of our democracy is
that the people rule, and those of us who are elected are literally
representatives of them ~ whether in a representative branch of
Congress, or in the executive branch of the President, the power we
exercise every day is not ours. We exercise it on behalf of the
country as a whole. And its only legitimate purpose is to advance
all those little children out there and living up to their God-given
abilities, and advance our efforts to come together as one America,
and to advance our efforts to meeting the challenges and seize the
opportunities of our time.
Our administration has been about that. Every day has
been a joy. Even the bad days have been an honor. And I believe
America is better off. And Tuesday night I'm going to ask the
country to go back to work, because we've still got a lot to do.
Thank you, and God bless you.
END
Message Sent To:
10:45 P.M. EST
�Joshua S. Gottheimer
01/16/99 11:45:55 PM
Record Type:
To:
Record
Michael Waldman/WHO/EOP
cc:
Subject:
136 years ago at a small
military cemetery in Pennsylvania, one of Illinois' most illustrious sons
asked a haunting question: Whether a nation conceived in liberty and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal can long
endure.
America is an experiment never finished. It's a work in progress.
And so that question has to be answered by each generation for itself
just as we will have to'answer whether this nation can long endure.
t
�Draft 1/16/99 2:30pm
v A
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i c
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(sot^l^
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: [intro 4 minutes]
Tonight, we begin anew our work together for the people of America. Let me start by
saluting the new Speaker of the House. At your swearing 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 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 homeownership is the highest in history ~ welfare
rolls are the smallest in 29 years - and peacetime unemployment is the lowest it has been
since 1957.
I stand before you, the first president in three decades to report that the budget is
balanced. From a budget deficit of $290 million in 1992, we now have a budget surplus of
$70 billion this year. And we will see a surplus each year for the next 20 years.
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,
even as our economy has boomed.
I stand before you to report that America stands strong - a peacemaker in lands torn by
ancient hatreds, from Northern Ireland, to Bosnia, to the Middle East.
I stand before you to report that thanks to the pioneering leadership of Vice President
Gore, once again our government is a progressive instrument of the common good, devoted to
fiscal responsibility and determined to give the American people the tools they need to make
�the most of their own lives. A 21st Century government for 21st Century America.
My fellow Americans, I stand before you to report that the State of our Union is
strong. America is working again, [or: We have entered an era of new American progress.]
The promise of our future is limitless. But we cannot realize our promise if we allow the hum
of our prosperity to lull us into complacency.
How we fare as a nation far into the 21st Century depends on not what we enjoy today, but
what we do today. So with our budget surplus growing, our economy expanding, and our
confidence rising, let's get to work.
AGING OF AMERICA [7 minutes]
Our fiscal discipline gives us an unsurpassed opportunity to address a remarkable new
challenge: the aging of America.
With the number of elderly Americans set to double by 2030, the Baby Boom will
become a Senior Boom.
So first and above all, we must save Social Security for the 21st Century. Early in this
century, being old meant being poor. When President 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 be forced into poverty.
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.
The best way to keep Social Security a rock-solid guarantee is 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.
Instead, I propose that we make the historic decision to invest the surplus to save Social
Security.
Specifically, I propose that we commit half the budget surplus for the next 15 years to
Social Security, and investing a small portion of the Trust Fund [surplus?] in the private sector as
any private or state government pension would do. That will eam a higher return and we keep
Social Security sound for 50 years without benefit cuts or tax rate increases.
We need to make other changes, too: We should reduce poverty among elderly widows,
who are twice as likely to be poor as other seniors. We should eliminate the earnings test which
limits what senior citizens on Social Security can eam. And we should put Social Security on a
sound footing for the next 75 years. These changes will require difficult but achievable choices.
�They must be made on a bipartisan basis. They should be made this year. Tonight, together, let
us all say: we will save Social Security for the 21st Century. Now.
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 it should be extended for at
least another decade. Tonight I propose that we use one out of every five dollars in the surplus
over the next 15 years to guarantee the soundness of Medicare, until at least the year 2020.
But we can do more. After carefully reviewing the report of the Medicare panel chaired
by Sen. John Breaux and Rep. Bill Thomas in March, we can take steps to improve the quality of
Medicare by covering seniors' greatest and growing need, affordable prescription drugs.
Third, we must help all Americans, from their first dav on the iob. to save, to invest, to
create wealth. Today, tens of millions of people retire with little to live on other than 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.
Americans who set up their own personal pension accounts, investing as they choose, will
receive funds to match a portion of their savings, with more help for those least able to save.
USA Accounts will give all Americans the means to save, to share in the nation's wealth,
and enjoy a more secure retirement.
Fourth, we must invest in long-term care. 1 propose a tax credit of $1,000 for those who
care for ailing, aged or disabled loved ones. The care our families can provide at home is
invaluable; let us show that we value it.
With these four measures — saving Social Security, strengthening Medicare, establishing
USA Accounts, and providing the long-term care tax credit ~ we can begin to meet our historic
responsibility to establish true security for 21st Century seniors.
I was bom in 1946, in the first year of the Baby Boom. Our generation is determined not
to let our growing old place an intolerable burden on our children and their ability to raise our
grandchildren. There is no better use for our surplus than lifting that burden.
STRONG SCHOOLS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
[9 minutes]
There are more children, from more diverse backgrounds, in our public schools than at
any time in our history. Their education must provide the knowledge and nurture the
creativity prized by the new economy.
�Today we can say something about their future we could not say six years ago: with
more affordable student loans, more Pell grants for deserving students, 1 million new workstudy jobs, education IRAs, and the new HOPE scholarship tax cut that more than 5 million
Americans will receive this year, we have opened the doors of college to all.
Nearly every state has set has set higher academic standards for public schools, and we
will soon have a voluntary national test to measure the progress of our students. Schools are
cracking down on drugs and gangs and guns and violence.
Many are improving learning and discipline with school uniforms, teaching values, and finding
a proper place for religious faith. We are supporting these developments.
With the leadership of Vice President Gore, we have helped 9 times as many
classrooms connect to the Internet as there were six years ago. This year, with over one
billion additional dollars to make Internet connections affordable, we can meet our goal: every
classroom and every library connected to the Internet by the dawn of the new century.
We are marshaling a volunteer army of college students to teach young children to read
and to mentor middle school children and prepare them for college.
Last fall, we reached across party lines 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.
Our children are doing better. SAT scores are up. Math scores have risen in nearly all
grades. But there is a problem: 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.
We must do better. Each year the national government invests over $20 billion in our
public schools. I believe we must change the way we invest that money, to support what
works and stop supporting what doesn't.
Later this year, I will send Congress a plan that for the first time holds states and
�school districts accountable for progress and rewards them for results. The plan would require
every school district receiving federal help to take the following four steps.
First, ail schools must end social promotion.
Because we can't just hold students back when the system fails them, my balanced
budget triples the funding for summer school and after school programs. We can keep one
million students learning beyond regular school, when parents work and juvenile crime soars.
Three years ago, under Mayor Daley's leadership, Chicago ended social promotion.
Students who fail to master the basics go to summer school and get special tutoring until they
do pass. It's working. Math and reading scores are up three years running. Some of the
biggest gains have come in what were some of the worst schools in the toughest
neighborhoods.
Second, all states and school districts must turn around their worst-performing schools
or shut them down. That is the policy established by Gov. Jim Hunt in North Carolina, where
test scores made the biggest gains in the nation last year. My budget includes $200 million to
help states adopt this policy and turn around their failing schools. We must do this.
Third, aU states and school districts must be held responsible for the quality of their
teachers. The great majority of teachers do a fine job. But in too many schools, teachers don't
have college majors-or even minors-in the subjects they teach. All teachers should be
required to know the subjects they are teaching. \you had a question re: the policy]
To attract talented young teachers to the toughest assignments, I recommend 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, with more information and more choices. In too
many communities, it is easier to get information on the quality of local restaurants than the
quality of local public schools. Every school district should issue report cards on every
school.
Parents and students should have more choice in selecting their public schools. When I
became President, there was one independent, public charter school in all of America. With
our support, there are 900 today. My budget assures that early in the next century, there will
be 3000.
If we do these four things - end social promotion, turn around failing schools, demand
and support qualified teachers, and promote accountability, innovation and competition - we
will begin to meet our generation's historic responsibility to create 21st Century schools.
�Let's do one more thing for our children. Today, too many of our schools are so old
that they're falling apart, or so overcrowded students must 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.
BUILDING STRONG FAMILIES FOR THE 21st CENTURY [8 minutes]
We must do more to help the millions of working American parents who give their all
every day at home and at work.
The most basic tool of all is a decent income. So first, let's raise the minimum wage by
one dollar over the next two years.
One of the biggest needs working parents face is quality child care. Again, I ask the
Congress to make quality child care more affordable and more accessible. 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 also includes a new tax credit
for stay-at-home mothers. They need help too.
The Family Medical Leave Act ~ the first bill I signed into law - has helped nearly 20
million Americans care for a new baby or an ailing relative without risking their jobs, at minimal
cost to employers . We should extend Family Leave to 10 million more Americans working in
smaller companies.
Parents should never face discrimination in the workplace. I will ask Congress to
prohibit companies from refusing to hire or promote workers simply because they have children.
America's families deserve the world's best medical care.
We have begun testing the first drugs to prevent or reduce risk of cancer. Medical
researchers have introduced the first effective drugs to treat AIDS.
They have made new discoveries about the process of aging itself - increasing the odds of
developing new treatments to prevent or delay diseases from Parkinsons to Alzheimers to
arthritis. We must continue our cutting-edge research and pathbreaking innovation. I ask
Congress keep us on track to increase the budget for the National Institutes of Health by fifty
percent.
�As science advances, 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. Let's make all Americans a promise: This year, we
must pass a strong and enforceable 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.
By executive authority, I am 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.
As more of our medical records are stored electronically, the threats to our privacy
increase. If Congress does not act to protect the privacy of medical records by this August, I
have the authority to do so ~ and I will use it.
Two years ago, we extended health insurance to up to 5 million children. Now, we
should give people 55 to 65 who lose their health insurance the chance to buy in to Medicare.
We should make it easier for small businesses to offer health insurance to their employees.
And we should pass the historic bipartisan legislation, introduced by Senators Jeffords, Kennedy,
Roth and Moynihan, to allow people with disabilities to keep Medicaid health insurance when
they go to work. No one should have to choose between keeping health care and taking a job.
We should increase support for the community health centers providing basic care for
families who lack health coverage altogether.
We must step up our efforts to treat and prevent an illness that brings pain to millions of
families ~ mental illness. No American should ever be afraid to recognize and treat this disease.
This year, we will host afirst-everWhite House Conference on Mental Health. With sensitivity
and commitment, Tipper Gore is leading our efforts here ~ and I thank her.
As everyone knows, our children - whom the tobacco industry has called "replacement
smokers" - are targets of a massive media campaign to hook them on cigarettes. I ask this
7
�Congress to resist the tobacco lobby and pass a bipartisan bill that safeguards our children while
protecting farmers.
For decades the tobacco industry has passed too much of the real cost of smoking ~
medical care for illnesses from cancer to emphysema ~ onto you, the taxpayers. It is time to
recover those costs, as the states have done.
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.
In all these areas ~ minimum wage, child care, health care, family leave and the safety of
our children — we can begin to meet our historic responsibility to strengthen our families for the
21st Century.
A 21st CENTURY ECONOMY [10 minutes - 6 minutes of which is international]
Next, we must build a 21st Century economy for all Americans.
Today, America is the most dynamic, competitive, job creating economy in history.
But we can do better.
We must make a place for all our people in the new economy.
Today, the income gap is largely a skills gap. Last year I signed bipartisan legislation to
transform our worker training system. With a simple skills grant, Americans eligible for training
assistance can now choose the skills they need. Now I recommend a national campaign to
increase adult literacy for the one in four working people who read at less than a sixth grade
level, and a commitment to provide all Americans who lose their jobs the training they need.
In the last six years, we have cut the welfare rolls nearly in half.
Two years ago, from this podium, I asked five companies to lead a national effort to hire people
off the welfare rolls. Tonight, our Welfare to Work Partnership includes 10,000 companies who
have hired hundreds of thousands of people. My budget provides funds to help another 200,000
people move from welfare to work.
We also must bring the spark of private enterprise into inner cities and remote rural areas.
My balanced budget provides tax credits to create venture capital funds, supports community
banks, and provides tax credits and 100,000 vouchers so people can find affordable housing.
8
�We already have an Overseas Private Investment Corporation, to help develop untapped markets
abroad. I propose an American Private Investment Corporation to develop untapped markets at
home.
And we must bring prosperity back to rural America. Farmers ~ 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 to craft a better
farm safety net for rural America, with crop insurance reform and income assistance. I am ready
to work with Members of Congress of both parties to get it done.
We must strengthen our lead in technology.
Government investment in computers led to the creation of the Internet. I propose a 30%
increase in long-term computer research.
We must be ready for the 21st Century from its very first moment, by solving the "Y2K"
computer problem. We have already made sure Social Security checks will keep coming on time.
But every government department, every business, every city and county, every university must
be ready, so the "Y2K problem" will be remembered as the last headache of the 20st Century, not
the first crisis of the 21st.
Economic growth at home also depends upon economic growth abroad.
Until recently, one third of our economic growth came from exports. But over the past
year and a half, financial turmoil overseas 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
plunged into poverty.
This is the most critical financial crisis in a half century. To meet it, America has
reduced interest rates, met our obligations to the International Monetary Fund, and worked with
other nations to keep the crisis from spreading.
The turmoil is not over, but thanks to lawmakers of both parties, we have a chance to contain it.
Now we must build a global financial system for the 21 st Century that tames the cycles of
boom and bust. This spring, I will meet with other world leaders to lay plans for a modem world
financial system ~ with clear, open accounting; stronger international bank regulations; an
aggressive response to prevent regional problems from becoming global crises; and a strong
social safety net for the most vulnerable victims of financial turmoil.
To maintain our prosperity in the global economy, we must also build a freer and fairer
trading system for the 21 st Century — one that spurs growth, expands opportunity for ordinary
�citizens, and supports basic labor and environmental standards. Trade has divided Americans for
too long. 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 present crisis. I ask the
Congress to provide the funds to spur $2 billion in new credit to promote U.S. manufacturing
exports abroad.
When imports unlawfully flood into our nation, we must enforce our trade laws. Free Trade
must be fair trade. 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.
Five times in the past half century, we have negotiated worldwide agreements that have
opened markets and lifted prosperity. I will launch a new round of negotiations in the World
Trade Organization to expand our exports of farm products, services and manufactures. And we
will seek to expand trade with Africa, with our Caribbean and Central American neighbors
devastated by the recent hurricanes, and with the creation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas.
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 public scrutiny, and that trade
rules never be used as a pretext to destroy environmental protections. We must never let
vigorous international competition become a race to the bottom among nations.
I ask Congress to join me in this common approach and pass legislation granting the
President traditional trade authority to 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 to end the most exploitative trade practices of all: I
will sign a new international agreement to ban child labor everywhere in the world.
If we do these things, then we can begin to meet the historic responsibility of this
generation to build a 21st Century prosperity for America in a more stable and growing world
economy.
A STRONG AMERICA IN A NEW WORLD
[11 minutes]
No nation in history has had the opportunity and the responsibility we now have to help
shape a world more secure, peaceful and free.
10
�All Americans should be proud that our leadership helped bring peace to Northern
Ireland. Now that Protestants and Catholics there have chosen peace, America will help them
build it.
All Americans can be proud that our leadership has put Bosnia on the path to peace. This
year, we will help that peace take deeper root - and continue to bring our troops home. In
Kosovo we will work to stop the bloody repression and find a peaceful path to self government.
All Americans can be proud that our leadership renewed hope for a lasting peace in the
Middle East. Some of you were with me in December as we watched the Palestinian National
Council completely renounce its call for the destruction of Israel. I ask the Congress to act now
to provide resources to support the Wye Agreement . . . to protect Israel's security, stimulate the
Palestinian economy, and support our friends in Jordan. We must not, we cannot, let them
down.
As we work for peace, we must also meet threats to our nation's security - including
increased dangers from outlaw nations and terrorism. We will fight this plague of terror
wherever it arises, and defend our security wherever it is threatened - as we did this summer
when we struck at Osama bin Laden's network of terror in Afghanistan and Sudan. The
bombing of our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania reminded us of the risks faced every day by
those who represent America to the world. They deserve protection, recognition and support.
Let's give them the resources they need so America can continue to lead.
We will work to keep terrorists from disrupting computer networks, to prepare local
communities for biological and chemical emergencies, and to support research into vaccines and
treatments.
We will work to restrain the spread of nuclear weapons, from North Korea to India and
Pakistan.
My balanced budget will expand our work with Russia, Ukraine, and the other former
Soviet nations to safeguard their weapons and technology so they never fall into wrong hands.
There is another vital step Congress can take. In 1963, the Senate approved the Limited
nuclear Test Ban Treaty just two months after President Kennedy signed it. It's been two years
since I signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. By acting now, the Senate can make it
harder for new nations to develop nuclear arms, and end nuclear testing forever.
[I hope the Russian legislature, the Duma. I ask you to promptly ratify the START II
treaty, for the sake of Russia's security as well as our own. We have already agreed on a
11
�framework for START III to cut our arsenals by 80 percent from their Cold War height.
Together, our nations can lift the cloud of nuclear annihilation from our children. We must do
so.]
For nearly a decade, Iraq has defied its obligation to destroy its weapons of terror and the
missiles to deliver them. America will continue to contain Saddam ~ with diplomacy and
sanctions when possible, with force when necessary. And we will work for the day when Iraq has
a government worthy of its people.
Last month, when America struck at Saddam's war machine, our troops were superb.
Their mission was so flawlessly executed that we risk taking for granted the bravery and skill it
required, [x] flew [x] missions, destroying [x] that made [chemical weapons or whatever]. He is
here with us tonight. Let us all honor the 10,000 men and women of Desert Fox.
It is time to reverse the decline in defense spending that began in 1985. In the last nine
months, I have asked and Congress has agreed to add nearly $6 billion to maintain our readiness.
My balanced budget calls for an increase of $12 billion for readiness and modernization. It will
ensure that our troops can deploy rapidly, with the best training and weapons in the world. And
it will provide for them and their families.
America's defenders stand ready at a moment's notice to go where comforts are few and
dangers are many, doing what needs to be done as no one else can. They always come through
for America. We must come through for them.
The new century demands new partnerships for peace and security.
This spring, I will convene the leaders of NATO in Washington for its 50th anniversary
summit, to prepare for the mission of the next 50 years. We will welcome Hungary, Poland and
the Czech Republic as our first new allies from Central Europe. And we will reaffirm our
determination that Europe must never again be divided by concrete and barbed wire.
More than ever, we know that the security of America is also linked to the stability of
Asia. I have worked to strengthen our relationships with our allies Japan and Korea. Last year, I
also traveled to China because our relationship with the world's largest country will help
determine prospects for peace and prosperity across Asia. I spoke candidly about our shared
interests as well as our differences. I said to the leaders of China — and I will say again tonight —
that in the Information Age, stability cannot be bought at the expense of liberty.
12
�But we must remember that it is important not to isolate China. The more we bring
China into the world, the more the world will bring change and freedom to China.
Last spring, with some of you, I traveled to Africa, where I saw democracy and reform
rising, but still held back by the scars of violence and scourge of disease. We must strive to end
conflict and to fortify African democracy, including in Nigeria. And because trade and
investment are the keys to African prosperity ~ we must finally pass the Africa Growth and
Opportunity Act.
In our own Hemisphere, every government but one is freely chosen by its people.
Because we are determined that Cuba, too, will know the blessings of liberty, we have taken new
steps to help the Cuban people without helping the regime.
We are strengthening ties to the Americas ~ to educate children, fight drugs, deepen
democracy and increase shared prosperity. In the wake of Hurricanes Mitch and George in
Central America, more than 5000 American troops have helped rebuild roads and homes and
lives. Many are there still. I am proud of them - and proud of the generosity of the American
people to our friends and neighbors.
In so many of these efforts I have mentioned, the United Nations plays a crucial role.
Unless we want America to take all the risks and pay all the bills in solving the world's
problems, we need a strong relationship with an effective UN. I want to work in this new year
with this new Congress to pay our dues and our debts.
21ST CENTURY COMMUNITIES [10 minutes]
As the world has changed, so have our own communities ~ we must continue to
strengthen them for this new time.
Strong communities are safer communities.
[Chestnut & Gibson tribute]
This year, we will reach our goal of putting 100,000 community police officers on the
street ~ ahead of schedule and under budget. The Brady Bill has stopped a quarter million
felons, fugitives, and stalkers from buying guns. Last year, the crime rate dropped for the sixth
straight year, and the murder rate is the lowest in 30 years.
13
�Tonight, I propose a 21st Century crime bill to marshall the latest technologies and tactics
to make our communities even safer.
My budget provides funds to put up to 50,000 more police on the beat in the areas hardest
hit by crime, and gives them 21st Century tools, from crime-mapping computers to digital mug
shots.
We must break the deadly cycle of drugs and crime. 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.
Congress should restore the mandatory 5-day waiting period for buying a handgun that
expired last year, and extend the Brady Bill to prevent juveniles who commit violent crimes from
buying handguns for life.
And we must make our schools the safest places in our communities. Last year, our
nation was horrified and heartbroken by the tragic killings in our schools ~ in Jonesboro,
Arkansas, in Paducah, Kentucky, in Pearl, Mississippi, in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, in
Springfield, Oregon. We will never forget the courage of the parents who have dedicated
themselves to keeping guns out of the hands of children - so no parent ever has to live through
their loss.
Suzann Wilson lost her daughter, Brittheny, when a student opened fire on his classmates
in Jonesboro. When came to visit me at the White House, she issued a powerful plea to us all.
She said, "Please, please, for the sake of your children, lock up your guns. Don't let your gun
become an instrument of murder. Don't let what happened in Jonesboro happen in your town."
Suzann is here with us in the First Lady's box. In her presence, and in memory of aU the
children who lost their lives this year to school violence, let us pledge tonight to redouble our
efforts to make our schools safe. I ask Congress to pass my plan to strengthen the Safe and
Drug-Free School Act, and to hire and train 2,000 new community police and school resource
officers to keep our kids safe.
Strong communities are livable communities.
A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt defined our "great, central task" as
"leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us." Today, we are
restoring the Florida Everglades, saving Yellowstone, preserving the red-rock canyons of
Utah, protecting California's redwoods and our precious coasts.
But our most fateful new challenge is the threat of global warming. Last year's heat
waves, ice storms, and floods are but a hint of what future generations may endure if we don't
act now.
14
�So tonight, I propose a clean air fund to help communities reduce both greenhouse
pollution and smog; new funds for clean energy sources; tax cuts for energy-efficient cars,
homes, and appliances; rewards for companies that take early voluntary action to reduce
greenhouse pollution; and vigorous new diplomatic efforts to meet this global threat with a
global response, [query re: Oceans?]
Another new challenge is one in every neighborhood. As 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.
In response, Vice President Gore and I propose two major initiatives: first, a
Livability Agenda to help communities save open space, ease traffic congestion, and grow in
ways that enhance every citizen's quality of life; second, a historic one billion dollar Lands
Legacy Initiative to preserve places of natural beauty across America - from remote
wilderness to city parks.
To get the most out of your community, you have to give something back to it. That's
why I fought to create AmeriCorps — our national service program that gives today's
generation a chance to serve their community and earn money for college.
So far, in just five years, 100,000 young people have built low-income homes with
Habitat for Humanity ... helped churches tutor children ... worked with the American Red
Cross to ease the burden of natural disasters ... and performed countless other acts of service
that have made America better.
Some of them are with us tonight. I ask this Congress to thank these young people as
only you can: by increasing support for AmeriCorps.
As we work to strengthen our communities, we must work to renew our democracy.
Last year, the House passed the bipartisan campaign finance reform legislation
sponsored by Reps. Shays and Meehan and Sens. McCain and Feingold. But a partisan
minority in the Senate blocked reform. To the House I say: Pass reform again, quickly. I ask
the Senate: say no to big money and yes to a strong democracy in the Year 2000.
Finally, and most important, we must be truly One America.
Since 1997, our Initiative on Race has sought to bridge the divides between our people.
In its report, issued last September, the Initiative's Advisory Board found that Americans want
15
�to bring our people together across racial lines - but that we must do more to close the
opportunity gaps that deepen the divides between the races. The economic, health care, and
education initiatives in my balanced budget will do a lot to close them.
We have more to do.
Discrimination or violence because of ancestry or religion, race or gender, disability or
sexual orientation, is wrong. It should be illegal. Therefore I call upon the Congress to make
the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the Hate Crimes Prevention Act the law of the
land.
The face of America will change immeasurably in the next century. Today, one in ten
people in America was born in another country. Our newest immigrants are good for
America. They are revitalizing our cities, energizing our culture, building our new economy.
We must make them welcome here. And they must take responsibility to learn English
and to enter the mainstream of American life. 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 at Los Angeles International Airport, whether they arrived yesterday
or walked these lands for thousands of years ~ we can be, and we must be, one America.
PERORATION: THE MILLENNIUM [5 minutes]
Barely more than 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 fiiture.
I honor her - for leading our Millennium Project ~ for all she has done to represent
our country at home and abroad - and for all she has done for our children - for her historic
role in serving this nation and advancing our best ideals.
Last year, I called on the Congress and every citizen to mark the millennium by saving
America's Treasures. Hillary has traveled across the country to inspire recognition and support
for places like Thomas Edison's Invention Factory and Harriet Tubman's Home.
16
�The response has been remarkable, and I thank the Congress and our private sector
partners for their support. Because of you, the Star Spangled Banner at the Smithsonian
Institution will be preserved for the ages.
We must preserve the treasures in every community. I invite every American town, city, and
county to become nationally recognized "Millennium Communities" by launching projects that
save our history and prepare our children for the 21st Century, from restoring landmarks to
cleaning up a river, a coastline or a park, volunteering to help our children. We must keep alive,
in ways large and small, what George Washington called "the sacred fire of liberty."
Six years ago tomorrow, I came to office in a time of doubt for America, with our
economy troubled, our deficit high, our people divided. Some even wondered whether
America's best days were behind us.
But across this nation, in a thousand neighborhoods, I had seen, even amid the pain and
uncertainty of recession, the heart and character of America.
I had no doubt then of what we Americans could do for our country.
Tonight, as I deliver the last State of the Union message of the 20th Century, no one can
doubt the enduring resolve of Americans to work for that "more perfect union" of our founders'
dreams.
We are near the end of a century when generations of Americans answered the call to
greatness, overcoming Depression, lifting up the dispossessed, bringing down barriers of racial
prejudice, building up the largest middle class in history, winning two world wars, and the "long
twilight struggle" of the Cold War.
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, an 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.
17
�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 this American century,
look forward to the next one.
Let us join our spirit and will for the work ahead, and ask God's blessing on our
endeavors and our beloved country.
18
�>
7
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
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
The size or duration of the resource.
Segment One contains 1071 folders in 72 boxes.
Segment Two contains 868 folders in 66 boxes.
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Adobe Acrobat Document
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
paper
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
SOTU [State of the Union] 1999 Speech Drafts 1/15/99 - 1/16/99 [Binder] [4]
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Office of Speechwriting
Michael Waldman
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Box 47
<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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
2006-0469-F Segment 1
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
White House Staff and Office Files
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Adobe Acrobat Document
Medium
The material or physical carrier of the resource.
Preservation-Reproduction-Reference
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
6/3/2015
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
7763296
42-t-7763296-20060469F-Seg1-047-004-2015