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President William J. Clinton State ofthe Union Address, 2 pm draft
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President William J. Clinton State ofthe Union Address, 9 pm draft
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President William J. Clinton State ofthe Union Address, 9 pm draft
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President William J.Clinton State ofthe Union Address (23 pages)
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1998 SOTU [State of the Union] - Drafts with Corrections [1]
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�-X PA*
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
UNITED STATES CAPITOL
January 27,1998
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members ofthe 105 th Congress, distinguished guests,
and my fellow Americans:
Since the last time we met in this chamber, America has lost two great patriots and-flSfe.
public servants. Though they stood on opposite sides of the aisle, Representatives Walter
Capps and Sonny Bono shared a deep love for this House and an unshakeable commitment to
improving the lives of all our people. They represented the best of America and they will be
sorely missed.
For 209 years, it has been the President's duty to report to you on the State of the
Union: Tonight, it is < duly any citizen would-ehertsh. Because of the hard work and high
4
purpose of the American people, these are good times for America. Our economy is
prospering. Our incomes are rising. Our social fabric is mending. Our leadership in the world
is unrivaled. The state of our union is strong.
But with barely 700 days left in the 20th Century, this is not a time to rest; it is a time
to build, to build the America within our reach. An America where scientists find cures for
diseases from Alzheimers to AIDS. An America where every child can stretch a hand across a
keyboard and reach every book ever written, every painting ever painted, every symphony
ever composed. Let us reach toward a time when a confident i^u^ica, which sawd " ' '
civilization in this century, leads civilization to new heights of peace and prosperity,
environmental preservation and scientific discovery in the next one.
Let us strengthen our nation for the 21st Century.
This unique moment of promise did not come upon us with the roar of guns or sudden
crisis. Quietly but with gathering force, the ground has shifted beneath our feet, as we moved
into an information age, a global economy, a truly new world. Perhaps never before has one
generation seen so much change, in so short a time, in so many areas.
The changes have upset old arrangements, decided new winners and losers, opened
new possibilities and raised new perils.
But for five years now, with renewed spirit and energy, our people have risen as one
nation to meet these challenges -- as we have at every turning point -- by renewing the idea of
America, widening the circle of opportunity deepening the meaning of our freedom, forging a
;
�more perfect union.
We have shaped a new kind of government for the Information Age. Leaner. More
flexible. Focused on giving the American people the tools they need to make the most of
their own lives. Functioning as a catalyst for new ideas. A government that replaces a sense
of entitlement with a philosophy of empowerment.
Our success in this effort is due in large measure to the leadership of the Vice President
in giving us not only the smallest government in 35 years, but one even better able to propel
us forward.
We have moved past the sterile debate between those who say government is the enemy
and those who say government is the answer. My fellow Americans, we have found a third
way. We have a smaller government, but a more progressive one. We have a smaller
government, but a stronger nation.
At every step, we have aspired to three goals for 21st Century America. An economy
that offers opportunity. A society rooted in responsibility. And a nation that lives as a
community.
Let's take each one of these and see what they will mean in the 21st Century.
AN ECONOMY THAT OFFERS OPPORTUNITY
First, to build an economy that offers opportunity, we are embracing a new strategy for
prosperity: Fiscal discipline to cut interest rates and spur growth. Investing in our people, in
science and technology, education and skills, to prepare them for the new economy. Tearing
down trade barriers to open new markets for American products and American workers, and
new pathways to peace and freedom.
In this chamber and across this country, Americans have worked to give our nation a
new economy for a new century.
We have over 14 million new jobs. The lowest unemployment in 24 years. The
lowest core inflation in 30 years. The highest homeownership rate in history.
When I took office, the deficit for 1998 was projected to be $357 billion, and heading
higher. Today, our deficit is $22 Billion, and heading lower.
For three decades, six presidents have come before you to warn of the damage deficits
posed to the nation and the economy. Tonight, I come before you to announce that the federal
deficit - once so incomprehensibly large that it had eleven zeroes -- will be, simply . . . zero.
�I will submit to Congress for 1999 the first balanced budget in 30 years.
And if we hold fast to fiscal discipline, we may balance the budget this year - four
years ahead of schedule.
Turning a sea of red ink into black is no miracle. It is the product of hard work by the
American people and of two visionary actions - the courageous vote in 1993 that cut the
deficit by 90% ... and the historic bipartisan balanced budget agreement passed by this
Congress. And if we maintain our resolve, it will produce balanced budgets as far as the eye
can see.
Yet the prospect of a budget surplus was only minutes old when some old, bad habits
began to reappear. We must not go back to unwise spending, or untargeted tax cuts, that risk
reopening the deficit. Last year, we enacted targeted tax cuts, so that middle class families
now have the lowest tax rate in 20 years.
My plan to balance the budget next year includes new investments and new tax cuts
targeted to the needs of working families: for education, for child care, for the environment.
Whether the issue is tax cuts or spending, I ask all of you to meet this test: approve
only those priorities that can actually be accomplished without adding a dime to the deficit.
If we balance the budget for next year, it is projected that we will have a sizeable
surplus over the next five years. What then, should we do with this projected surplus?
I have a simple four word answer: Save Social Security first.
Tonight, I propose that we reserve 100% of the surplus until we strengthen Social
Security for the 21st Century. Let us reserve every penny of any surplus until we have saved
the Social Security system. Let us reserve every penny of any surplus until we have taken all
the measures necessary to preserve Social Security for the next 75 years.
Let us make this fundamental promise to all Americans watching tonight - whether
you are 70 . . . or 50 . . . or 30 years old -- that Social Security win be there when you need
it. Let us, tonight, make this commitment: Social Security first.
Investing in people
In an economy that honors opportunity, all Americans must be able to reap the rewards
of prosperity.
Because these times are good, we can clearly afford to take one simple, sensible step
that can make all the difference to millions of workers struggling to provide for their families:
�We should raise the minimum wage.
The information age is first and foremost an education age . . . in which education
must start at birth and continue through a lifetime.
Last year, from this podium, I said education was our highest priority, laid out a ten
point plan to move us forward, and urged us all to make sure that politics ends at the
schoolhouse door.
Since then, this Congress and the American people have responded, in the most
important year for education in a generation . . . expanding public school choice and creating
3,000 charter schools . . . working to connect every classroom to the information
superhighway . . . committing to expand Head Start to 1 million children . . . launching
America Reads, which has sent thousands of college students and other volunteers into our
schools to make sure every 8 year old child can read.
Last year I proposed, and you passed, a lifetime learning tax credit for college,
graduate school and training . . . 1 million work study jobs for college students . . . 220,000
new Pell Grant scholarships for deserving students. Student loans are already less expensive
and easier to repay, and now you can deduct the interest. Families all over America now can
put savings into our new, tax free education IRAs. And this year, for the first 2 years of
college, students will get a tax cut - a $1500 Hope Scholarship that will cover the cost of most
community college tuition.
So tell your neighbors, and tell your friends: their kids can go to college. If you know
a child from a poor family, tell her not to give up. She can go to college. If you know
struggling young parents who are worried they won't be able to save for their child's college
education, you tell them not to give up. Their child can go to college. If you know somebody
caught in a dead-end job, afraid he can't afford the classes that will get him better jobs for the
rest of his life, tell him not to give up. He can go to college. We can make college as
universal as high school is today.
My friends, this will change the face of 21st Century America.
We cheer tonight because we know we have opened wide the doors of the world's best
system of higher education. Now we must make our public elementary and secondary schools
the best in the world ~ by raising standards, raising expectations, and raising accountability.
Thanks to the action of this Congress last year, we will soon have, for the first time, a
voluntary national test based on national standards in 4th grade reading and 8th grade math.
Parents have a right to know whether their children are mastering the basics.
And every parent already knows the key: good teachers and small classes. Tonight I
propose the first ever national effort to reduce class size in the early grades. My balanced
�budget will help hire 100,000 teachers -- teachers who must pass a state competency test.
With these teachers, we will reduce class size in first, second, and third grades to an average
of 18 nationwide.
More teachers teaching smaller classes means smaller classrooms. So our school
construction tax cut will help communities modernize old schools and build [#] new ones.
Increasing standards, expectations, and opportunity are important, but we must also
demand accountability. When we promote a child from grade to grade who hasn't mastered the
work, we do that child no favors. It is time to end social promotion in America's schools.
Last year, in Chicago, they made that decision — not to hold children back, but to lift
them up. Chicago stopped social promotion, and offered mandatory summer school to help
students who are behind catch up. I propose an effort to help other communtiies follow
Chicago's lead. Stop promoting children who don't learn, and we will give you the tools you
need to make sure they do learn.
Leading the global economy
As we enter the 21st Century, the global economy requires us to seek opportunity not
just at home, but in all the markets ofthe world. We must shape the global economy, not
shrink from it.
In the last five years, we have led the way in opening new markets, negotiating 240
trade agreements. Our policy is to remove foreign barriers to products that bear the proud
stamp, "Made in the USA."
In the coming decade, we have the opportunity to create millions of Americans jobs
and sell billions of dollars more of American goods, in areas ranging form agriculture to
medical equipment. If we lead, we can make this global economy work for our own people,
lift the fortunes of millions around the world, and strengthen our children's chances for
prosperity and peace.
Today, record high exports account for ftilly one third of our economic growth - and I
want to keep them going, because that's the way to keep America growing.
This year, we will forge new partnerships in Africa and Latin America.
This year, I am renewing my request for the necessary fast track negotiating authority
to open more new markets abroad.
Should we also seek to maintain and enhance worker and environmental standards
around the world? Of course we should. But we can't have influence if we send a message to
our trading partners that we're backing away.
�This year, I will send to Congress legislation, and I will ask every other nation to join
in a new effort to fight the most abusive and exploitative practices of all - forced child labor.
Should we offer help and hope to those Americans temporarily left behind by the global
marketplace or the march of technology?
Of course we should. But we can't help them by cutting off a major engine of our
economic growth. Instead, we must do more to put our people in the driver's seat.
That is why we have doubled the funding for training dislocated workers.
That is why we must do more, more quickly, to help workers who lose their jobs for
any reason. We help communities when their military base closes. We should help them in
the same way when their factory closes, too.
And that is why, again, I ask this Congress to pass the GI Bill for Workers to
consolidate the tangle of training programs into a simple grant so they can move quickly to
new jobs and higher incomes.
Today, an economic crisis anywhere can affect trading partners everywhere. Recent
months have brought serious problems in the economies and financial markets of Thailand,
Indonesia and South Korea.
These nations are our customers, our competitors, and our allies. If our customers in
Asia sink into recession, they won't be able to buy the goods we want to sell them. As
competitors, if their currencies lose their value, the prices of their goods will drop, flooding
our market and others with lower-cost products. And as our strategic partners, their national
security affects our own.
The American economy remains sound and strong - and I want to keep it that way.
But make no mistake: The turmoil in Asia will have an impact on all the world's economies,
including ours. Our job is to make the negative impact as small as possible.
Our policy is clear. NQ nation can recover if it does not reform itself. But when
nations are willing to undertake serious economic reform, it is in our interest to enable them to
try, and it's the right thing to do. So I call on Congress to renew America's commitment to
the International Monetary Fund. Preparing for a far-off storm that may reach our shores is
far wiser than ignoring the thunder until the clouds are overhead.
A SOCIETY ROOTED IN RESPONSIBILITY
A strong nation rests on the rock of responsibility.
First, a society rooted in responsibility must promote the value of work, not welfare.
�We can be proud that after decades of finger pointing and failure, we ended the old welfare
system.
Now we are replacing welfare checks with paychecks.
Last year, after a record four year decline in welfare rolls, I challenged our nation to
move two million more Americans off welfare by the year 2000. Well, I am pleased to report
that we have also met that goal - two years ahead of schedule.
Now I ask thousands more businesses to accept their responsibility and join the 3000
companies already in our welfare-to-work partnership, committed to hire, train, and retain
people who are willing to work. We must all do more - providing child care, helping families
move closer to available jobs, increasing child support collections from deadbeat parents who
have a duty to support their own children.
Second, we must make it possible fpr hardworking families to meet their most
important responsibilities.
Two years ago, we guaranteed that Americans won't lose health insurance when they
change jobs. Last year, we extended health care to up to 5 million children. This year, I
challenge Congress to take the next historic steps.
160 million Americans are in managed care plans. These plans can save money and can
improve care. But medical decisions should be made by medical doctors, not insurance
company accountants. So I urge the Congress to write into law a Consumer Bill of Rights that
says this:
You have the right to know all your medical options -- all of them, not just the cheapest. You
have the right to choose the doctor you want for the care you need. You have the right to
keep your medical records confidential. Traditional care or managed care, every American
deserves quality care.
Millions of Americans betwen the ages of 55 and 65 are losing their health insurance.
Some are retired; some are laid off; some lose their coverage when their spouses stop
working. After a lifetime of work, they are left with nowhere to turn.
So I ask the Congress: let these hardworking Americans buy into the Medicare system. It
won't add a dime to the deficit - but the peace of mind it will provide will be priceless.
Next, we must help parents protect their children from the gravest health threat they
face: an epidemic of teen smoking, spread by multimillion dollar marketing campaigns.
So I challenge Congress: let's pass bipartisan, comprehensive legislation that will
change the way tobacco companies do business forever. Let's raise the price of a pack of
cigarettes by up to $1.50 over the next ten years if that's what it takes to bring teen smoking J
down. Every day, 3000 children start smoking, and 1000 of them will die early as a result.
Let this be remembered as the Congress that saved their lives.
�In the new economy, most parents work, harder than ever. They face a constant
struggle to balance their obligations to be good workers - and their even more important
obligations to be good parents.
The Family and Medical Leave Act, the very first bill I signed into law, has given [15]
million Americans time off from work to care for a child or a family member. Last year, I
asked you to extend this law so parents can take time off for parent-teacher conferences and
doctor's appointments. It is still a good idea - and I ask you to pass it.
Child care is the next frontier. Governments don't raise children; parents do. Last
year, the First Lady hosted two very important White House conferences — one on the
development of children's brains, the other on child care. It's clear that we as a nation must
make child care better, safer and more affordable.
Here is my plan: Help for hundreds of thousands of low-income families to pay for
child care. Scholarships and background checks for child care workers. Tax credits for
businesses that provide child care for their employees. And tax cuts for working families. If
you pass my plan, a family of four with an income of $35,000 and high child care costs will
no longer pay a penny of federal income tax.
Third, a society rooted in responsibilitv must provide safe streets, safe schools and safe
neighborhoods.
We undertook a strategy of more police, tougher punishment and smarter prevention,
and formed a crimefighting partnership with local law enforcement and citizen groups.
I can report to you tonight that murder is down, robbery is down, assault is down,
burglary is down . . . forfiveyears in a row, all across America.
We need to finish the job of putting 100,000 police on the streets.
I again ask Congress to pass a juvenile crime bill that provides more prosecutors and
probation officers to crack down on gangs, guns and drugs, and bars violent juveniles from
buying guns for life.
And I ask you to expand before- and after-school programs. Most violent juvenile
crime is committed between the hours of 3 in the afternoon and 7 at night. We can keep a lot
of our kids out of trouble in the first place if we give them someplace to go other than the
streets.
Drug use is on the decline. I thank General Barry McCaffrey for his leadership, and I
thank Congress for passing the biggest anti-drug budget in history. Now we must do more to
stop drugs at the border. I ask for the resources to hire 1,000 new border patrol agents, and to
deploy sophisticated new technologies that will improve service but close the door to drugs.
But police, prosecutors, and prevention programs can't work if the court system
�doesn't work. Today, there large numbers of vacancies in the federal courts. Here is what the
Chief Justice of the United States wrote: "[Judicial] vacancies cannot remain at such high
levels indefinitely without eroding the quality of justice." I ask the United States Senate to
heed this plea, and vote on these highly qualified judicial nominees, up or down.
Fourth, we must exercise responsibilitv not only at home but abroad.
On the eve of a new century, we have the power and the duty to build a new era of
peace and security. But today's possibilities are not tomorrow's guarantees.
America must stand up for its interests and stand against the poisoned appeals of
extreme nationalism, and combat an unholy axis of new threats with no respect for borders:
terrorists, international criminals and drug traffickers. These 21st Century predators feed on a
bounty we otherwise cherish: the inventions of technology and the free flow of information,
ideas and people. The predators will be all the more lethal if weapons of mass destruction fall
into their hands.
To meet these challenges, we are adapting old institutions, forging new partnerships,
and modernizing the instruments of our influence, military and diplomatic.
We are helping to write international rules of the road for the 21st Century, protecting
those who join the family of nations, isolating those who do not.
Within days, I will ask the Senate for its advice and consent to make Hungary, Poland
and the Czech Republic the newest members of NATO. For fifty years, NATO contained
Communism and kept America and Europe secure.
Now, by taking in new members and working closely with new partners, including
Russia and Ukraine, NATO can extend the frontiers of security - and help to assure that
Europe, the bloodiest battleground of the 20th century, becomes a stronghold for peace in the
21st. These three formerly Communist countries have said "yes" to democracy. I ask the
Senate to say yes to them.
Next, I will ask Congress to continue its support for our troops in Bosnia. This
Christmas, Hillary and I traveled to Sarajevo with Senator and Mrs. Dole and a bipartisan
Congressional delegation. We saw children playing on the streets, where two years ago they
were hiding from snipers and shells. Shops are filled with food, cafes alive with conversation
The progress is unmistakable — but it is not yet irreversible. To take firm root,
Bosnia's fragile peace still needs the support of American and allied troops when the current
NATO mission ends in June. Senator Dole said it best: this is like being ahead in the fourth
quarter of a football game. Now is not the time to walk off the field and forfeit the victory.
I wish all of you could have been with us to visit our troops in Tuzla. Our wonderful
men and women in uniform are very proud of what they are doing in Bosnia, and around the
world. They always do their mission well. Our mission must be to keep our troops well-
�trained and ready . . . to improve their quality of life . . . and to pay for the 21st century
weapons they need to defeat any enemy.
I also ask Congress to join me in pursuing the most ambitious agenda to reduce the
threat of weapons of mass destruction since the invention of the atom bomb.
This year, four decades after it was first proposed by President Eisenhower, a
comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty is within our reach. By ending nuclear testing, we can
help prevent the development of new and more dangerous weapons and make it more difficult
for non-nuclear states to build these devices of destruction. I am pleased to announce that four
former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - General John Shalikashvili, General Colin
Powell, Admiral William Crowe, and General David Jones - have endorsed this treaty. I ask
the Senate to approve it -- this year.
Together, we also must confront a new hazard: outlaw states, terrorists and organized
criminals armed with chemical and biological warfare.
Saddam Hussein has spent the better part of this decade and much of the wealth of his
nation not on providing for the Iraqi people but on developing nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons - and the missiles to deliver them. The United Nations weapons inspectors have
done a remarkable job, finding and destroying more of Iraq's arsenal than was destroyed
during the Gulf War itself. Now, Saddam Hussein wants to stop them from completing their
mission. I say to him: you cannot defy the will of the world. You have used weapons of
mass destruction before. We are determined to deny you the capacity to use them again.
Last year, the Senate ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention to protect our soldiers
and citizens from poison gas. Now, we must act to prevent an even more lethal threat: the
use of disease as a weapon of war and terror. The Biological Weapons Convention has been
in effect for almost 25 years now. The rules are good, but the enforcement is weak. This
year, we must strengthen that treaty with an international inspection system to help detect and
deter cheating.
In the months ahead, I will pursue our security strategy with old allies in Asia and
Europe and new partners from Africa to India and Pakistan . . . from South America to China.
And from Belfast, to Korea to the ancient lands of the Middle East, America will continue to
stand with those who stand for peace.
In this new era, our freedom and independence are actually enriched, not
impoverished, by our increasing interdependence with other nations. As we see so clearly in
Bosnia, allies who share our goals can share our burdens. But our partnerships will be weak
�and our leadership in doubt if we fail to set the example.
It's long past time to make good on our debt to the United Nations. When we give our word,
we should keep our word. America pays its bills.
In the century we have a truly historic opportunity to shape a future more peaceful,
prosperous and secure than the past. It is our chance and our challenge. We must seize it.
A NATION THAT LIVES BY COMMUNITY
Our Founders set America on a permanent jourey towad "a more perfect union." It is
a trip we can only make together - as one nation living as one community.
Political reform & reinventing government
First of all, our government -- the instrument of our national community - must earn
the confidence of the American people.
Everyone knows elections have become too expensive, fueling a fundraising arms race.
For years, good campaign finance reform bills have been brought to the floor of Congress.
And for years, special interests and their allies have smothered those bills by filibuster.
But not this year. This year, on March 11, the Senate will vote on real, bipartisan
reform proposed by Senators McCain and Feingold. Let's be clear: a vote against McCain
Feingold is a vote for soft money, for the status quo. So I ask you to strengthen our
democracy and pass campaign finance reform.
Even more, we must address the reason for the explosion in campaign costs: the rising
cost of campaigning on television. The airwaves are a public trust, and broadcasters have a
responsibility to act in the public interest. Tonight, I formally request the Federal
Communications Commission to act to provide free television and radio time for candidates.
Free time can help free our democracy from the grip of big money.
We must do to make government work better. Under the Vice President's reinventing
government initiative, we have already slashed 16,000 pages of regulations, transformed HUD
and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, reduced the federal payroll by 300,000
workers. Yet there is more to do.
Like every taxpayer, I am outraged by the reports of abuses by the IRS. We need new
citizen advocacy panels, a stronger taxpayer advocate, phone lines open 24 hours a day, relief
for innocent spouses. Last year, by an overwhelming bipartisan margin, the House passed
sweeping IRS reforms. Let's not allow that bill to languish in the Senate. Tonight I challenge
the Senate: as your first order of business, pass our bipartisan package of IRS reforms. Do it
now.
�Empowering communities
A nation that lives as a community must value its communities.
For the past five years, we have witnessed an urban renaissance all across America.
Neighborhoods once haunted by crime and despair have been transformed into strong, safe,
vibrant communities.
Our strategy has been to bring the spark of private enterprise into the inner city and
poor rural areas - with empowerment zones, community development banks, more loans from
commercial banks, restoring polluted sites for development. Under the continued leadership
of the Vice-President, we should expand the number of empowerment zones. We should give
poor families more opportunities to move into homes of their own. We should use tax cuts to
spur the construction of more low income housing. We should establish a Community
Empowerment Fund to spur the creation of private sector jobs.
So many of America's great cities, which rose and fell in the 20th Century, are rising
again as we approach the 21st Cenmry. Let's keep them going, leaving no one behind.
Environmental protection
Our communities are only as healthy as the air our children breathe, the water they
drink, and the Earth they will inherit.
Last year, we put in place the toughest-ever controls on smog and soot. We moved to
protect Yellowstone, the Everglades and the magnificent redwoods of Headwaters Forest.
We expanded every community's right to know about the toxics that threaten their children.
Yesterday, our new plan to protect our meat and poultry took effect, using cutting-edge
science to protect consumers from e-coli and salmonella.
Tonight, I ask you to join me in launching a new Clean Water Initiative, a far-reaching
new effort to clean our rivers, lakes and streams.
Our overriding environmental challenge is a worldwide problem requiring worldwide
action: the gathering crisis of global warming. The vast majority of scientists have concluded
unequivocally that if we do not reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, at some point in the
next century we will disrupt our climate and put our children and grandchildren at risk. This
�past December, America led the world to reach a historic agreement committing nations to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions through market forces, new technology and energy
efficiency.
We have it in our power to act right here, right now. I propose $6 Billion in tax cuts
and research and development to spur innovation, cleaner factories, fuel efficient cars, and
energy efficient homes.
Every time we have acted to heal our environment, the pessimists have said it would
hurt our economy. Well, today our economy is the strongest in a generation -- and our air and
water are the cleanest in a generation. Americans have always found a way to grow the
economy and clean the environment at the same time. And we'll do it again.
Just this month, thanks in part to an innovative partnership between our administration
and the Big Three, America's automakers unveiled prototypes of high-performance cars that
get three times the gas mileage of typical models today. This innovative spirit must spread to
every industry in America.
It was on this date - January 27, way back in 1880 - that Thomas Edison received his
first patent for the lightbulb. I am confident that the nation that produced the genius for the
lightbulb and the telephone, the airplane and the semiconductor, can invent an economy that
uses less energy while continuing to grow at high levels.
One America in the 21st Centurv
Finally, community means fulfilling, at long last, the defining American value - the
ideal heard round the world - that all men and all women are created equal.
What can we do in our day and generation to make sure that America becomes truly
ne nation, even as we become more diverse?
I have launched an initiative on race, not to dwell on our differences, but to underscore
our shared strengths.
We must begin by acknowledging what we still must overcome. Discrimination against
any American is un-American. We must vigorously enforce the laws that make it illegal. I
ask you to provide the necessary resources to end the backlog at the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission. 60,000 of our fellow citizens are waiting in line for justice^___
9
Then, we must shine a light on those in our communities who are coming togethe
through open talk and honest labor to fight old prejudices and forge new friendships.
0(1%C&V»K
,
�Beyond that, we know America can overcomes its divisions only when we offer the
same opportunity to all who are willing to work for it - when we close the opportunity gap.
That will be the primary focus of our race initiative for the next six months. For we know
when people work together, learn together and serve together, they get along together. Onl^
on the forge of common enterprise have Americans of all backgrounds hammered out a
common identity.
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There is no finer example of that than the American military, where working togethec^u..^ \
has closed the opportunity gap, raised the world's finest fighting force, and created the
^^^.^
nation's greatest proving ground for racial progress. We must summon that spirit of common *
service -- whether through AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps, the effort of the President's Summit
on Service, or our new initiative to enlist universities to adopt middle schools so all our ^ o ^ ^ c ^
children are ready to go to college.
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With shared values, honest communication, and citizen service, we can unite a diverse
people in freedom and mutual respect. flSWJmibuiiUitiaii. We are many. We must be one.
THE MILLENNIUM
-- GIFTS TO THE FUTURE
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In that spirit, let us lift our eyes toward the new millennium. How will we mark thaT^ Ji**
passage?
This year, Hillary and I launched the White House Millennium Program to promote
American creativity and innovation, and to preserve the culture we share so we can carry it
with us into the 21st Century. The greatest of projects often begins with the simplest of gihs
- so we will work to preserve the gift of our heritage in every community.
To honor what we have been, and imagine what we can become, let us invoke the
wonders of science and the richness of our culture — our arts and humanities — to bestow ou
gifts to the millennium.
What are the real advances we can look forward to seeing in our lifetimes?
The entire store of human knowledge now doubles every five years. In the 1980s,
scientists identified the gene causing cystic fibrosis - and it took 9 years. Last year, we
located the gene that causes Parkinsons' Disease - in only 9 days. Within a decade, "gene
chips" will offer a roadmap for prevention of illness throughout a lifetime. Soon, people with
severe spinal cord injuries will be able to rise from their wheelchairs and walk. We will be
able to carry all the phone calls on Mother's Day on a single strand of fiber the width of a
human hair. A typical child born in 1998 may well live to see the 22nd Century.
^
�Tonight, as part of our gift to the next millennium, I propose a 21st Century Research
Fund for pathbreaking research at our nation's premiere scientific institutions.
This will be the largest funding increase in history for the National Institutes of Health,
the National Science Foundation, and the National Cancer Institute. In the past year, we have
already discovered genes for breast cancer and diabetes. I ask you to support this initiative,
so that ours will be the generation that finally wins the war against cancer.
As important as rapid scientific progress is, science must continue to serve humanity,
never the other way around.
We must prevent the misuse of genetic tests to discriminate against any American.
And we must ratify the ethical consensus of the scientific and religious communities, and ban
the cloning of human beings.
In our next gift to the new millennium, we will enable all people of the world to
explore the far reaches of cyberspace.
The first time I reported to you on the State of the Union, only physicists used the
World Wide Web. Now, hundreds of thousands of web pages are created each and every
day. The Internet is an exploding global marketplace of ideas as well as commerce. And I call
on all the nations of the world to join us in making the Internet a global free-trade zone: no
discriminatory taxes, no unfair tariffs. I ask the Congress to step up support for building the
next generation Internet, which will operate up to a thousand times faster than today.
But the Internet must not be a values-free zone. We will continue to work with the
computer industry to give parents tools to protect their children from inappropriate material on
the Net.
And even as we explore innerspace, in the new millennium we will open new frontiers
in outer space.
Throughout history, humankind has had only one place to call home - the planet
Earth. Yet beginning this year, 1998, for the very first time, men and women will build a
permanent foothold in the heavens - the international space station. Within its vast expanses,
scientists and engineers will set sail on this uncharted sea of limitless mystery and unlimited
potential.
And this October, a true American hero, a veteran pilot of 149 combat missions, and
one five hour space flight that changed the world, will return to the heavens.
Godspeed, John Glenn.
You will carry with you America's hopes, and on your uniform you will carry
America's flag, marking the unbroken connection between the deeds of America's past and the
�daring of America's future.
Nearly two hundred years ago, a tattered flag, its broad stripes and bright stars still
gleaming through the smoke of a fierce battle, moved Francis Scott Key to scribble a few
words on the back of an envelope. Those words that became our national anthem. Today,
that Star Spangled Banner, along with the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and
the Bill of Rights, are on display just a short walk from here. They are America's treasures,
and we must save and preserve them for the ages. I ask all Americans to support a state-ofthe-art project to restore them so that the generations of 21st Century America can see for
themselves the image and the words that are the old and continuing glory of America.
An America that has continued to rise through every age, against every challenge,
because we have always found the wisdom and strength to come together as one nation - to
widen the circle of opportunity and to deepen the meaning of our freedom.
At the beginning of our first century, George Washington asked our people to move
beyond separate states, to become, as he put it, "an indissoluble community of interest as one
nation." Abraham Lincoln gave his life to move beyond division and slavery to one nation.
Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson pushed us to reap the benefits and curb the abuses
of the Industrial Revolution - so that we could prosper as one nation. Franklin Roosevelt
battled Depression, tyranny and fear, and the triumph was won by America as one nation.
Fifty years of national leadership stood resolute through the Cold War, while we built the
world's greatest middle class at home, lifting America to new heights as one nation.
We have always been a people of great works and great possibilities. And now, my
fellow Americans, with barely 700 days to the new millennium, it falls to us to ensure that we
continue to advance as "one nation — under God — indivisible — with liberty and justice for
all."
We have always been a people of great works and great possibilities. And now, my
fellow Americans, with barely 700 days to the new millennium, it falls to us to ensure that we
continue to advance as one nation - a stronger nation - prepared for the 21st Century - One
America.
God Bless You, and God Bless the United States of America.
�1/25/98 9pm
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
UNITED STATES CAPITOL
January 27,1998
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of the 105th Congress, distinguished guests,
and my fellow Americans:
[Tribute to Rep. Walter Capps and Rep. Sonny Bono]
For 209 years, it has been the President's duty to report to you on the State of the Union:
Tonight, it is a duty any citizen would cherish. Because of the hard work and high purpose of the
American people, these are good times for America. Our economy is prospering. Our incomes
are rising. Our social fabric is mending. Our leadership in the world is unrivaled. The state of our
union is strong.
But with barely 700 days left in the 20th Century, this is not a time to rest; it is a time to
build, to build the America within our reach. An America where scientists find cures for
diseases from Alzheimers to AIDS. An America where every child can stretch a hand across a
keyboard and reach every book ever written, every painting ever painted, every symphony ever
composed. Let us reach toward a time when a confident America, which saved civilization in
this century, leads civilization to new heights of peace, prosperity and environmental
preservation in the next one.
Let us rise to the challenge of our unique moment of promise, and strengthen our nation
for the 21st Century.
For we now confront another decisive moment in our destiny.ljt did not come upon us
with the roar of guns or sudden crisis) Quietly but with gathering force, the ground has shifted
beneath our feet, as we moved into an information age, a global economy, a truly new world.
Perhaps never before has one generation seen so much change, in so short a time, in so many
areas.
The changes upset old arrangements, decided new winners and losers, opened new
possibilities and raised new perils.
But for five years now, with renewed spirit and energy, our people have risen as one
nation to meet the challenge of change — to imagine t||gHjftv future and frame a plan to reach it.
We are a people born in the greatest revolution in human history, and at every turning
point we have extended the American revolution by renewing the idea of America, forging a
more perfect union, deepening the meaning of our freedom.
In these five years, we have shaped a new kind of government for the Information Age.
Leaner. More flexible. Focused on giving the American people the tools they need to make the
most of their own lives. Functioning as a catalyst for new ideas. A government that replaces a
�sense of entitlement with a philosophy of empowerment.
Our success in this effort is due in large measure to the leadership of the Vice President in
giving us not only the smallest government in 35 years, but one even better able to propel us
forward.
We have moved past the sterile debate between those who say government is the enemy
and those who say government is the answer. My fellow Americans, we have found a third way.
We have a smaller government, but a more progressive one. We have a smaller government, but
a stronger nation.
At every step, we have aspired to three goals for 21st Century America. An economy that
offers opportunity. A society rooted in responsibility. And a nation that lives as a community.
Let's take each one of these and see what they will mean in the 21st Century.
AN ECONOMY THAT OFFERS OPPORTUNITY
First, to build an economy that offers opportunity, we are embracing a new strategy for
prosperity: Fiscal discipline to cut interest rates and spur growth. Investing in our people, in
technology and skilly"to prepare them for the new economy. Tearing down trade barriers to
open new markets for American products and American workers, and new pathways to peace and
freedom.
What we did, in this chamber, across this country, in these years, was nothing less than to
give Americ^iew economy for a new century. With our native spirit of enterprise and
invention, we acted faster than any other nation to seize and master the potential of this time.
We have nearly 15 million new jobs. The lowest unemployment in 24 years. The lowest
core inflation in 30 years. The highest homeownership rate in history.
When I took office, the deficit for 1998 was projected to be $357 billion, and heading
higher. Today, our deficit is $22 Billion, and heading lower.
For three decades, six presidents came before you to warn of the damage deficits posed to
the nation, the economy, and our credibility. Tonight, I come before you to announce that the
federal deficit — once so incomprehensibly large that it had eleven zeroes ~ will be, simply . . .
zero.
I will submit to Congress for 1999 the first balanced budget in 30 years.
And if we hold fast to fiscal discipline, we may balance the budget this year — four years
ahead of schedule.
Turning a sea of red ink into black is no miracle. It is the product of hard work by the
�American people. It is also the product of two visionary actions - the courageous vote in 1993
to cut the deficit by 90% ... and the historic bipartisan balanced budget agreement passed by this
Congress. And if we maintain our resolve, it will produce balanced budgets as far as the eye can
see.
Yet the prospect of a budget surplus was only minutes old when some old, bad habits
began to reappear. We must not go back to unwise spending, or untargeted tax cuts, that risk
reopening the deficit. Last year, we enacted targeted tax cuts for the American people.
My plan to balance the budget next year includes new tax cuts targeted to the needs of
working families: for education, for child care, for the environment. Middle class families then
would have the lowest tax rate in 20 years. I ask you to enact those tax cuts now.
Whether the issue is tax cuts or spending, I ask all of you to meet this test: approve only
those priorities that can actually be accomplished without adding a dime to the deficit.
If we balance the budget for next year, it is projected that we will have a sizeable surplus
over the next five years. What then, should we do with this projected surplus?
I have a simple four word answer: Save Social Security first.
Tonight, I propose that we reserve 100% of the surplus until we strengthen Social
Security for the 21st Century. Let us reserve every penny of any surplus until we have saved the
Social Security system. Let us reserve every penny of any surplus until we have taken all the
measures necessary to preserve Social Security for the next 75 years.
Let us make this fundamental promise to all Americans watching tonight - whether you
are 70 . . . or 50 . . . or 30 years old — that Social Security will be there when you need it. Let us,
tonight, make this commitment: Social Security firstInvesting in people
In an economy that honors opportunity, all Americans must be able to reap the rewards of
prosperity.
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Many wtorwork'hard and earn less, are still way behind. Because these times are good,
we can clearly afford to take one simple, sensible step that can make all the difference to millions
of workers struggling to provide for their families: We should raise the minimum wage.
The information age is also an education age . . . an age in which education must start at
birth and continue through a lifetime.
Last year, from this podium, I said education was our highest priority^laid out a ten point
plan to move us forward, and urged us all to make sure that politics ends at the schoolhouse door.
�Since then, tliis Congress and the American people have responded, in the most important
year for education in a generation . . . expanding public school choice and creating 3,000 charter
schools . . . working to connect every classroom to the information superhighway . . . committing
to expand Head Start to 1 million children.
Last year I proposed, and you passed, a lifetime learning tax credit for college, graduate
school and training . . . 1 million wo^studyjobs for college students . . . 230,000 new Pell
Grant scholarships for deservin^stiidents.) Forlhe first time, you can now deduct the interest on
your student loan. Families all over America now can put savings into our new, tax-free
education IRAs. And this year, for the first 2 years of college, students will get a tax cut -- a
$1500 Hope Scholarship that will cover the cost of most community college tuition.
So tell your neighbors, and tell your friends: their kids can go to college. If you know a
child from a poor family, tell her not to give up. She can go to college. If you know struggling
young parents who are worried they won't be able to save for their child's college education, you
tell them not to give up. Their child can go to college. If you know somebody caughtina_dead^
end job, afraid he can't afford the classes that will get him better jobs for the rest ofjtfipTifeTteU
him not to give up. He can go to college. We are making college as universal as high school is
today.
My friends, this will change the face of 21st Century America.
We cheer tonight because we know we have opened wide the doors of the world's best
system of higher education. Now we must make our public elementary and secondary schools
the best in the world - by raising standards, raising expectations, and raising accountability.
Thanks to the action of this Congress last year, we will soon have, for the first time, a
voluntary national test based on national standards in 4th grade reading and 8th grade math.
Parents have a right to know whether students are mastering the basics.
And every parent already knows the key: good teachers and small classes. Tonight I
propose the first ever national effort to reduce class size in the early grades. My balanced budget
will help hire 100,000 teachers — teachers who must pass a state competency test. With these
teachers, we will reduce class size in first, second, and third grades to an average bf 18
nationwide.
We must also help communities to repair old schools and build new ones. Our school
construction tax cut will help communities build [#] new schools.
Increasing standards and expectations are important, but we must also demand
accountability. When we promote a child from grade to grade who hasn't mastered the work, we
do that child no favors. It is time to end social promotion in America's schools.
Last year, in Chicago, they made that decision — not to hold children back, but to lift
them up. Chicago stopped social promotion, and offered mandatory summer school to help
�students who are behind catch up. I propose an effort to help other communtiies loi low
Chicago's lead. Stop promoting children who don't learn, and we will give you the tools you
need to make sure they do learn.
Leading the global economy
As we enter the 21st Century, the global economy requires us to seek opportunity not just
at home, but in all the markets ofthe world. We must use all our power and prosperity (girt
this new economy, not to be left on the sidelines. Increasingly, our trading partners cannofafftfrd
to be our adversaries. We must break down economic barriers among all nations, so that the
global economy cat^fead^o a safer and more stable world.
In the last five years, we havejedjhejv^in opening new markets, negotiating 240 trade
agreements. Our policy is to remove foreign barriers to products that bear the proud stamp,
"Made in the USA."
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In the coming decade, we have the opportunity to create millionsflfAmericaftsjoj^ ^ ^
sell billions of dollars/morelaf American goods, m areas ranging ffi&n agmmftirfe fo medical
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equipment/if we^ajfT^e can make this global economy work for our peopled ~
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^^This year, I am renewing my request for the necessary fast track negotiating authority to
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We must contimre-uUhe next Y£ar-to-expand oppoitunity by foi^lngTiew^ftefkcts-in^—
C Africa and Latin America.
Today, record high exports account for fully one third of our economic growth - and I
want to keep them going, because that's the way to keep America growing.
I believe entering into new economic ties, including the right kind of trade agreements,
will increase, not diminish, our ability to raise worker and environmental standards around the
world.
This year, I will send to Congress legislation, and I will ask every other nation to join
IS^Eh us in a new effort to fight the most abusive and exploitative practices of all - forced child
labor.
An economy that offers opportunity must also offer help and hope to those Americans
temporarily left behind by the global marketplace or the march of technology.
That is why we have doubled the funding for training dislocated workers.
That is why we must do more, more quickly, to help workers who lose their jobs for any
reason. We help communities when their military base closes. We should help them in the same
way when their factory closes, too.
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And that is why, again, I ask thig Coq^ress to pass the GlUi^ tor J ^ ^ t ^ t Q x o n ^ ^ a t e /
the tangle of training programs an^^e^^^^^rs a simple grant ^mey' can mw^cjmcldyto
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newer and higher jobs.
Today, an economic crisis anywhere can affect trading partners everywhere. Recent
months have brought serious problems in the economies and financial markets of Thailand,
Indonesia and South Korea.
These nations are our customers, our competitors, and our allies. Let me say to the
American people: If our customers in Asia sink into recession, they won't be able to buy the
goods we want to sell them. As competitors, if their currencies lose their value, the_prices_of^.|_^ ^/.
their goods will drop, flooding our market and others with lower-cost products/^nd as our
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strategic partners, their national security affects our own.
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The American economy remains sound and strong — and I want to keep it that way. But
no one should be mistaken. The turmoil in Asia will have an impact on all the world's
economies, including ours. Our job is to make the negative impact as small as possible.
Our policy is clear. No nation can recover if it^ftfT not reform itself. But when nations
are willing to undertake serious economic reform, it is in our interest to enable them to try, and
it's the right thing to do. So I call on Congress to renew America's commitment to the
International Monetary Fund. Preparing for a far-off storm that may reach our shores is far
wiser than ignoring the thunder until the clouds are overhead. I thank Speaker Gingrich and Sen.
Lott, Rep. Gephardt and Sen. Daschle, for their bipartisan leadership in support of essential
action sa^eaSa.protect our prosperity.
A SOCIETY ROOTED IN RESPONSIBILITY
A strong nation rests on the rock of responsibility.
First, a society rooted in responsibility must promote the value of work, not welfare. We
can be proud that after decades of finger pointing and failure, we ended ttie'bld welfare system.
Wr rnHni^aaiitem that trapped generations in a cycle of dependency. We are replacing welfare
checks with paychecks.
Last year, after a record four year decline in welfare rolls, I challenged our nation to go
even further - to move two million more Americans off welfare by the year 2000. Well, I am
pleased to report that we have also met that goal - two years ahead of schedule.
We must do more — increasing child support collections from deadbeat parents, providing
child care, helping families move closer to available jobs. And above all, I ask thousands more
businesses to acce^tjieir rgsjponsibility and join the 3000 companies already in our welfare-towork partnership, cnmniillnl'tn liire^train^nd retainiyeople who are willing to work. QVe have a
duty to replace the despair of dependency with the dignity of work.
�Second, we must make it possible for hardworking 1'amilies to meet their most important
responsibilities.
Two years ago, we guaranteed that Americans won't lose health insurance when they
change jobs. Last year, we extended health care to up to 5 million children. This year, I
challenge Congress to take the next historic steps.
160 million Americans are in managed care plans. These plans can save money and can
improve care. But medical decisions should be made by medical doctors, not insurance company
accountants. So 1 urge the Congress to write into law a Consumer Bill of Rights that says this:
You have the right to know all your medical options -- all of them, not just the cheapest. You
have the right to choose the doctor you want for the care you need. You have the right to keep
your medical records confidential. And nobody should be turned away from an emergency
room. Traditional care or managed care, every American deserves quality care.
Millions of Americans between the ages of 55 and 65 are losing their health insurance
after a lifetime of work. Some are retired; some are laid off; some lose their coverage when their
spouses retire. After a lifetime of work, they are left with nowhere to turn. So I challenge
Congress: let these hardworking Americans buy into the Medicare system. It won't add a dime
to the deficit — but the peace of mind it will provide will be priceless.
Next, we must help parents protect their children from the gravest health threat they face:
an epidemic of teen smoking, spread by multimillion dollar marketing campaigns.
So I challenge Congress: let's pass bipartisan, comprehensive legislation that will change
the way tobacco companies do business forever. Let's raise the price of a pack of cigarettes by
up to $1.50 over the next ten years if that's what it takes to bring teen smoking down. Every day,
3000 children start smoking, and 1000 of them will die early as a result. Let this be remembered
as the Congress that saved their lives.
In the new economy, most parents work, harder than ever. They face a constant struggle
to balance their obligations to be good workers — and their even more important obligations to
be good parents.
The Family and Medical Leave Act, the very first bill I signed into law, has given [15]
million Americans time off from work to care for a child or a family member. Last year, I asked
you to extend this law to allow parents to take time off for parent-teacher conferences and doctor ^J)
appointments. It is still a good idea — and I ask you to pass it.
Child care is the next frontier. Now, I learned a long time ago that governments don't
raise children; parents do. Last year, the First Lady hosted two very important White House
conferences - one on the development of children's brains, the other on child care. Experts from
around the country made it clear that if we are going to help parent^ucceed at work and at home,
Congress must respond by passing a plan to make child care better, safer and more affordable.
�Here is my plan: First, help for hundreds of thousands oflow-income families to pay for
child care. Second, scholarships and background checks for child care workers, so parents know
their children are getting good care. Third, tax credits for businesses that provide child care for
their employees. Fourth, tax cuts for working families. If you pass my plan, a family of four
with an income of $35,000 and high child care costs will no longer pay a penny of federal
income tax.
Third, a society rooted in responsibility must provide safe streets, safe schools and safe
neighborhoods.
We/embraced a strategy of more police, tougher punishment and smarter prevention, and
formed a crimefighting partnership with local law enforcement and citizen groups. -AroTjhis
strategy is working.
I can report to you tonight that murder is down, robbery is down, assault is down,
burglary is down . . . for five years in a row, all across America.
We need to finish the job of putting 100,000 police on the streets and focus more sharply
on preventing juvenile crime.
I again ask Congress to pass a juvenile crime bill that provides more prosecutors and
probation officers to crack down on gangs, guns and drugs.
We should also bar violent juveniles from buying guns for life.
And I ask you to expand before- and after-school programs. Most violent juvenile crime
is committed between the hours of 3 in the afternoon and 7 at night. We can keep a lot of our
kids out of trouble in the first place if we give them someplace to go other than the streets.
Drug use is on the decline. I thank General Barry McCaffrey for his leadership, and I
thank Congress for passing the biggest anti-drug budget in history - including a public education
campaign to warn young people that drugs are deadly, dangerous, and wrong. Now we must do
more to stop drugs at the border. I ask for the resources to hire 1,000 new border patrol agents,
and deploy sophisticated new technologies that will improve service but close the door to drugs.
But police, prosecutors, and prevention programs can't work if the court system doesn't
work. Today, there large numbers of vacancies in the federal courts. Here is what the Chief
Justice ofthe United States wrote: "[Judicial] vacancies cannot remain at such high levels
indefinitely without eroding the quality of justice." I ask the United States Senate to heed this
plea, and vote on these highly qualified judicial nominees, up or down.
Fourth, we must exercise responsibility not only at home but abroad.
On the eve of a new century, we have the power and the duty to build a new era of peace
and security. But today's possibilities are not tomorrow's guarantees.
�America must stand against the poisoned appeals of extreme nationalism, and combat an
unholy axis of new threats with no respect fbr borders: terrorists, international criminals and drug
traffickers. These 21 century predators feed on a bounty we otherwise cherish: the inventions of
technology and the free flow of information, ideas and people. The predators will be all the more
lethal if weapons of mass destruction fall into their hands.
s1
To meet these challenges, we are adapting old institutions, forging new partnerships, and
modernizing the instruments of our influence, military and diplomatic.
s1
We are helping to write international rules ofthe road for the 21 Century, protecting
those who join the family of nations, isolating those who do not.
Some ofthe elements of this security strategy, we must put in place together — this year.
First, within days, I will ask the Senate for its advice and consent to make Hungary,
Poland and the Czech Republic the newest members of NATO. For fifty years, NATO contained
Communism and kept America and Europe secure.
Now, by taking in new members, working with new partners, and cooperating closely
with Russia and Ukraine, NATO can extend the frontiers of security — and help to assure that
Europe, the bloodiest battleground of the 20 century, becomes a stronghold for peace in the 21 .
These three formerly Communist countries have said "yes" to democracy. I ask the Senate to say
yes to them.
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Next, I will ask Congress to continue its support for our troops in Bosnia. This
Christmas, Hillary and I traveled to Sarajevo with Senator and Mrs. Dole and a bipartisan
Congressional delegation. We saw children playing on the streets, where two years ago they
were hiding from snipers and shells. Shops are filled with food, cafes alive with conversation.
The progress is unmistakable ~ but it is not yet irreversible. To take firm root, Bosnia's
fragile peace still needs the support of American and allied troops when the current NATO
mission ends in June. Senator Dole said it best: this is like being ahead in the fourth quarter of a
football game. Now is not the time to walk off the field and forfeit the victory.
I wish all of you could have been with us to visit our troops in Tuzla. Our wonderful men
and women in uniform are very proud of what they are doing in Bosnia, and around the world.
They always do their mission well. Our mission must be to keep our troops well-trained and
ready . . . improve their quality of life . . . and pay for the 21 century weapons they need to
defeat any enemy.
sl
1 also ask Congress to join me in pursuing the most ambitious agenda to reduce the threat
of weapons of mass destruction since the invention of the atom bomb.
This year, four decades after it was first proposed by President Eisenhower, a
comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty is within our reach. By ending nuclear testing, we can
�help prevent a new arms race and make il more dillicull for non-nuclear slates to develop these
devices of destruction. [Endorsement announcement to come]. This treaty has strong bipartisan
support and I ask the Senate to ratify it — this year.
Together, we also must confront a new hazard: outlaw states, terrorists and organized
criminals plotting to wage chemical and biological warfare.
Saddam Hussein has spent the better part of this decade and much of the wealth of his
nation not on providing for the Iraqi people but on developing the most terrible weapons ever
created — nuclear, chemical and biological ~ and the missiles to deliver them. The United
Nations weapons inspectors have done a remarkable job, finding and destroying more of Iraq's
arsenal than was destroyed during the Gulf War itself. Now, Saddam Hussein wants to stop
them from completing their mission. I say to him: you cannot defy the will of the world. You
have used chemical weapons before, we will do everything we can to destroy your capacity to
use weapons of mass destruction again.
Last year, the Senate ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention to protect our soldiers
and citizens from poison gas. Now, we must act to prevent an even more lethal threat: the use
of disease as a weapon of war and terror. The Biological Weapons Convention has been in effect
for 25 years now. The rules are good, but the enforcement is weak. This year, we must
strengthen that treaty with an international inspection system to detect and deter cheating.
In the months ahead, I will pursue our security strategy with old allies in Asia and Europe
and new partners from Africa to India and Pakistan... from South America to China. And from
Belfast, to Korea to the ancient lands of the Middle East, America will continue to stand with
those who stand for peace.
In this new era, our freedom and independence are actually enriched, not impoverished,
by our increasing interdependence with other nations. As we see so clearly in Bosnia, those who
share our goals can share our burdens. But our partnerships will be weak and our leadership in
doubt i f we fail to set the example. It's long past time to make good on our debt to the United
Nations. When we give our word, we should keep oiir word. I ask the Congress to help America
pay its bills.
In the century we have a remarkable opportunity to shape a future more peaceful,
prosperous and secure than the past. It is our chance and our challenge. We must not shrink
from it; we must seize it.
A NATION T H A T L I V E S BY COMMUNITY
Two centuries ago, we proclaimed to the world that we had come together to form not
just a new nation, but "a more perfect union." Americans are on an eternal mission together.
Therefore we as a nation must live together as a community.
Political reform & reinventing government
�First of all, our government - the instrument of our national community - must earn the
confidence ofthe American people.
Everyone knows elections have become too expensive, fueling a fundraising arms race.
For years, good campaign finance reform bills have been brought to the floor of Congress. And
for years, special interests and their allies have smothered those bills by filibuster.
But not this year. This year, on March 11, the Senate will vote on real, bipartisan reform
proposed by Senators McCain and Feingold. Letla_be clear: a vote against McCairr^Feingold is a
vote for soft money, for the status quo^forthfToss of trust.J^So I ask you to strengthen our
democracy and pass campaign finance reform.
^
Even more, we must address the reason for the explosion in campaign costs: the rising
cost of campaigning on television. The airwaves are a public trust, and broadcasters have a
responsibility to act in the public interest. Tonight, I formally request the Federal
Communications Commission to act to provide free television and radio time for candidates.
Free time can help free our democracy from the grip of big money.
We must JCTMlPliM) make government work better. Under the Vice-President's
reinventing government initiative, we have already slashed 16,000 pages of regulations,
transformed HUD and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, reduced the federal payroll
by 300,000 workers. Yet there is more to do.
Like every taxpayer, I am outraged by the reports of abuses by the IRS. Wemeed rt^v
citizen advocacy panels, a stronger taxpayer advocate, phone lines open 24 hours a day, relief for
innocent spouses. Last yeaj^b^an overwhelming bipartisan margin, the House passed sweeping
IRS reforms. Let's not lifit that bill ^anguish in the Senate. Tonight I challenge the Senate: as
your first order of business, pass our bipartisan package of IRS reforms. Do it now.
Empowering communities
A nation that lives as a community must value its communities.
For the past five years, we have witnessed an urban renaissance all across America.
Neighborhoods^once haunted by crime and despair have been transformed into strong, safe,
vibrant communities.
The best poverty program, the best jobs program, the best community development
program, is a growing economy.
Our mission has been to bring the spark of private enterprise into the inner city — with
empowerment zones, community development banks, more loans from commercial banks,
restoring polluted sites for development. Now we must press forward with our opportunity
agenda for America's cities. Under the continued leadership of the Vice-President, we should
expand the number of empowerment zones. We should give poor families more opportunities to
1
1
�move into homes of their own. Wc should use tax cuts to spur the construction of more low
income housing. We should establish a Community Empowerment Fund to spur the creation of
private sector jobs.
So many of America's great cities, which rose and fell in the 20th Century, are rising
again as we approach the 21st Century. We cannot leave any person, any family, or any
neighborhood, or any community behind.
Environmental protection
Our community, indeed, our national community, is only as healthy as the air our
children breathe, the water they drink, and the Earth they will inherit.
Last year, we put in place the toughest-ever controls on smog and soot. We moved to
protect Yellowstone, the Everglades and the magnificent redwoods of Headwaters Forest. We
expanded every community's right to know about the toxics that threaten their children.
Yesterday,^m- n j w plan to use cutting edge science to protect our meat and poultry took
effect, using Piittiatnrtrr technolog^fc? protect consumers from e-coli and salmonella.
Tonight, I ask you to join me in launching a new Clean Water Initiative, a far-reaching
new effort to clean our rivers, lakes and streams.
But our overriding environmental challenge is a worldwide problem requiring worldwide
action: the ggfe^ng crisis of global warming. The vast majority of scientists have concluded
unequivocally that if we_do not reducethe emissionsjiLgreenhauseLgases, at someppint in the
next c e n t u r / ^ ^ n T d i s r u p t our climate in potentially dangerous ways^^d put/ou/children and
grandchildren at risETTtTis-past December, Amenca led theworld toreach a historic agreement
committing nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through market forces, new technology
and energy efficiency.
We have it in our power to act right here, right now. I propose $6 Billion in tax cuts and
research and development to spur innovation, cleaner factories, fuel efficient cars, and energy
efficient homes.
Every time we have acted to heal our environment, the pessimists have said it would hurt
our economy. Well, today our economy is the strongest in a generation - and our air and water
are the cleanest in a generation. Americans have always found ^way$,to grow the economy and
clean the environment at the same time. And we'll do it again.
Just this month, thanks in part to an innovative partnership between our administration
and the Big Three, America's automakers unveiled prototypes of ItrgT^Sj^ffiB^nte cars that get
three times the gas mileage of typtral moricjs today. This innovative spirit must spread to every
industry in America.
12
�i.V
i
.• -,V, .-..i.t4i».
J
It was on this date - January 27, way back in 1880 - that Thomas Edison received his
first patent for the lightbulb. I am confident that the nation that produced the genius for the
lightbulb and the telephone, the airplane and the semiconductor, can invent an epomrmythatjases
less energy, provides more environmental protection, and continues to grow(at high levels. J)
One America in the 21st Centurv
Finally, community means fulfilling, at long last, the defining American value ~ the ideal
heard round the world — that all men and all women are created equal.
What can we do in our day and generation to make sure that America becomes truly one
nation, even as we become more diverse?
I have launched an initiative on race, not to dwell on our differences, but to underscore
our shared strengths.
We must begin by acknowledging what we still must overcome. Discrimination against
any American is un-American. Wo muot viguiutu,ly mifuni llTl!
Lhal mulli; it illugul. I ask
you to provide the necessary resources to end the backlog at the Equal Opportunity Employment
Commission. 60,000 of our fellow citizens are waiting in line for justice.
Then, we must shine a light on those in our communities who are coming together
through open talk and honest labor to fight old prejudices and forge new friendships.
Beyond that, we know America only overcomes its divisions when we offer the same
opportunity to all who are willing to work for it — when we close the opportunity gap. That will
be the primary focus of our race initiative for the next six months. For we know when people
work together, leam together and serve together, they get along together. Only on the forge of
common enterprise have Americans of all backgrounds hammered out a common identity.
There is no finer example of that than the American military, where working together has
closed the opportunity gap^^^m^world's finest fighting force^ai^^g^he nation's greatest
proving ground for racial progress. We must summon that spirit of GSfa&m service — whether
through AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps, tho America Reads iniUaJi\i3^:our new initiative to
enlist universities to adopt middle schools so all our children are ready to go to colleg^/ Our /
commitment at the President's Summit on Service — a commitment to a new ethic of active J
citizenship — must also be our commitment to building one America.
—•—
We are torchbearers ofthe most shining idea in history — the belief that shared values can
unite a diverse people in freedom and mutual respect. E Pluribus Unum. We are many. We must
be one.
THE MILLENNIUM - GIFTS TO THE FUTURE
In that spirit, let us lift our eyes toward the new millennium. How will we mark that
.13
�passage?
This year, Hillary and 1 launched the White House Millennium Program to promote
American creativity and innovation, and to preserve the culture we share so we can carry it wrttr
J ^ j n t o the 21st Century.
Let us honor what we have been; and let us imagine what we can become. Let us invoke
the wonders of science and the richness of our culture ^--^nr nrtc^anH hnmaniti^-^tr. bestow our
gifts to the millennium.
^—"
What are the real advances we can look forward to seeing in our lifetimes?
The entire store of human knowledge now doubles every five years^-Jn the 1980s,
scientists identified the gene causing cystic fibrosis — and it took 9 years. Last year, we located
the gene that causes Parkinsons' Disease — in only 9 days^^Vithin a decade, "gene chips" will
offer a roadmap for prevention of illness throughout a lifetime. Soon, people with severe spinal
cord injuries will be able to rise from their wheelchairs and walk. We will be able to carry all the
phone calls on Mother's Day on a single strand of fiber the width of a human hair. A typical
child born ii?=f=f98 may well live to see the 22nd Century.
Tonight, as part of our gift to the next millennium, I propose a 21st Century Research
Fund for patljhreakifig research at our nation's premiere scientific institutions. This will be the
largest increase in+flstePM&r the National In.§titu|es of Health, the National Science
Foundation, and the National Cancer Institute^n^the past year, we have already discovered
genes for breast cancer and diabetes. I ask you to support this initiative, so that ours will be
the generation that finally wins the war against cancer.
As important as rapid scientific progress is, science must continue to serve humanity,
never the other way around
We must prevent the misuse of genetic tests to discriminate against any American.
And we must ratify the ethical consensus of the scientific and religious communities, and ban
the cloning of human beings.
In our next gift to the new millennium, we will enable all people of the world to
explore the far reaches of cyberspace.
The first time I reported to you on the State of the Union, only physicists used the
World Wide Web. Now, hundreds of thousands of web pages are created each ;md even£l^_
day. The Internet is an exploding global marketplace of ideas as well as commerce. And I
call on all the nations of the world to join us in making the Internet a global free-trade zone:
no discriminatory taxes, no unfair tariffs, ^ta^ I ask the Congress to step up support for
building the next generation Internet, which will operate up to a thousand times faster than
today.
�But the Internet must not be a values-free zone. We will continue to work with the
computer industry to give parents tools to protect their children from inappropriate material on
the Net.
And even as we explore innerspace, in the new millennium we will open new frontiers
in outer space.
Throughout history, humankind has had only one place to call home - the planet
Earth. Yet beginning this year, 1998, for the very first time, men and women will build a
permanent foothold in the heavens - the international space station. Within its vast expanses,
scientists and engineers will set sail on this uncharted sea of limitless mystery and unlimited
potential.
And this October, a true American hero, a veteran pilot of 141 combat missions, and
one five/hour space flight that changed the world, will return to the heavens.
Godspeed, John Glenn.
You will carry with you America's hopes, and on your uniform you will carry
America's flag, marking the unbroken connection between the deeds of America's past and the
daring of America's future.
Nearljfctmajjimdred years ago, a tattered flag, its broad strjofis-and bright stars still
gleaming through thesi1 Tbke4j£afierce battle,moyed^FraflclTScott Key to scribble a few
words on the back of an envelope^Jjjw^^CrSsbecame our national anthem. Today, that
Star Spangled Barmer^dflug-'ttfltlfthe PrrhrwITr of Jjidrprndrnrr, the Constitution, and the
Bill of Rights^^errTfiaisplay just a short walk from here.
l
Nearly two hundred years ago, a tattered flag, its broad stripes and bright stars still
gleaming through the smoke of a fierce battle, moved Francis Scott Key to scribble a few words
on the back of an envelope. Those worc^g^p became our national anthem. Today, that Star
Spangled Banner, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, are
on display just a short walk from here. And all across America, communities have their own
pieces of America's past.
Whether on our national mall or the village green, they are America's treasures, and we
must save and preserve them for theages. lagk Jpetr-ill Ikis-Congress to support a public private
partnership to restore them, so that the generations of 21 HI Curtmy-Amuie-fltjan see for
themselves the image and the words that are the old and continuing glory ot Awertca.
An America that has continued to rise through every age, against every challenge,
because we have always found the wisdom and strength to come together as one nation - to
widen the circle of opportunity and to deepen the meaning of our freedom.
At the beginning of our first century, George Washington asked our people to move
15
�beyond separate states, to become, as he put it, "an indissoluble community of interest as one
nation." Abraham Lincoln gave his life to move beyond division and slavery to one nation.
Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson pushed us to reap the benefits and curb the abuses
of the Industrial Revolution - so that we could prosper as one nation. Franklin Roosevelt
battled Depression, tyranny and fear, and the triumph was won by America as one nation.
Fifty years of national leadership stood resolute through the Cold War, while we built the
world's greatest middle class at home, lifting America to new heights as one nation.
We have always been a people of great works and great possibilities. And now, my
fellow Americans, with barely 700 days to the new millennium, it falls to us to ensure that we
continue to advance as "one nation - under God - indivisible - with liberty and justice for
all."
God Bless You, and God Bless the United States of America.
one
16
�1/25/98 9pm
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
UNITED STATES CAPITOL
January 27, 1998
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of the 105th Congress, distinguished guests,
and my fellow Americans:
[Tribute to Rep. Walter Capps and Rep. Sonny Bono]
For 209 years, it has been the President's duty to report to you on the State ofthe Union:
Tonight, it is a duty any citizen would cherish. Because of the hard work and high purpose ofthe
American people, these are good times for America. Our economy is ptospering. Our incomes
are rismg. Our social fabric is mending. Our leadership in the world is unrivaled. The state of our
union is strong.
But with barely 700 days left in the 20th Century, this is not a time to rest; it is a time to
build, to build the America within our reach. An America where scientists find cures for
diseases from Alzheimers to AIDS. An America where every child can stretch a hand across a
keyboard and reach every book ever written, every painting ever painted, every symphony ever
composed. Let us reach toward a time when a confident America, which saved civilization in
this century, leads civilization to new heights of peace, prosperity and environmental
preservation in the next one.
Let us rise to the challenge of our unique moment of promise, and strengthen our nation
for the 21st Century.
For we now confront another decisive moment in our destiny. It did not come upon us
with the roar of guns or sudden^crisis. Quietly but with gathering force, the ground has shifted
beneath our feet, as we moved into an information age, a global economy, a truly new world.
Perhaps never before has one generation seen so much change, in so short a time, in so many
areas.
The changes upset old arrangements, decided new winners and losers, opened new
possibilities and raised new perils.
But for five years now, with renewed spirit and energy, our people have risen as one
nation to meet the challenge of change — to imagine the new future and frame a plan to reach it.
We are a people bom in the greatest revolution in human history, and at every turning
point we have extended the American revolution by renewing the idea of America, forging a
more perfect union, deepening the meaning of our freedom.
In these five years, we have shaped a new kind of government for the Information Age.
{Leaner. More flexibleT] Focused on giving the American people the tools they need to make the
most of their own lives. Functioning as a catalyst for new ideas. A government that replaces a
�sense of entitlement with a philosophy of empowerment.
Our success in this effort is due in large measure to the leadership ofthe Vice President in
giving us not only the smallest government in 35 years, but one even better able to propel us
forward.
We have moved past the sterile debate between those who say government is the enemy
aadIthosewho say government is the answer. My fellow Americans, we have found a third way.
[We have a smaller government, but a more progressive one. We have a smaller government, but
a stronger nation.
At every step, we have aspired to three goals for 21st Century America. An economy that
offers opportunity. A society rooted in responsibility. And a nation that lives as a community.
I/ji4|^ta)^^
AN ECONOMY THAT OFFERS OPPORTUNITY
First, to build an economy that offers opportunity, we are embracing a new strategy for
prosperity: Fiscal discipline to cut interest rates and spur growth. Investing in our people, in
technology and skills, to prepare them for the new economy. Tearing down trade barriers to
open new markets for American products and American workers, and new pathways to peace and
freedom.
What we did, in this chamber, across this country, in these years, was nothing less than to
give America^hew economy for a new century. With our native spirit of enterprise and
invention, we acted faster than any other nation to seize and master the potential of this time.
We have nearly 15 million new jobs. The lowest unemployment in 24 years. The lowest
core inflation in 30 years. The highest homeownership rate in history.
When I took office, the deficit for 1998 was projected to be $357 billion, and heading
higher. Today, our deficit is $22 Billion, and heading lower.
For three decades, six presidents came before you to warn of the damage deficits posed to
the nation, the economy, and our credibility. Tonight, I come before you to announce that the
federal deficit — once so incomprehensibly large that it had eleven zeroes ~ will be, simply . . .
zero.
I will submit to Congress for 1999 the first balanced budget in 30 years.
And if we hold fast to fiscal discipline, we may balance the budget this year ~ four years
ahead of schedule.
Turning a sea of red ink into black is no miracle. It is the product of hard work by the
�American people. It is also the product of two visionary actions ~ the courageous vote in 1993
to cut the deficit by 90% ... and the historic bipartisan balanced budget agreement passed by this
Congress. And if we maintain our resolve, it will produce balanced budgets as far as the eye can
see.
Yet the prospect of a budget surplus was only minutes old when some old, bad habits
began to reappear. We must not go back to unwise spending, or untargeted tax cuts, that risk
reopening the deficit. Last year, we enacted targeted tax cuts for the American people.
My plan to balance the budget next year includes new tax cuts targeted to the needs of
working families: for education, for child care, for the environment. Middle class families then
would have the lowest tax rate in 20 years. I ask you to enact those tax cuts now.
Whether the issue is tax cuts or spending, I ask all of you to meet this test: approve only
those priorities that can actually be accomplished without adding a dime to the deficit.
If we balance the budget for next year, it is projected that we will have a sizeable surplus
over the next five years. What then, should we do with this projected surplus?
I have a simple four word answer: Save Social Security first.
Tonight, I propose that we reserve 100% of the surplus until we strengthen Social
Security for the 21 st Century. Let us reserve every penny of any surplus until we have saved the
Social Security system. Let us reserve every penny of any surplus until we have taken all the
measures necessary to preserve Social Security for the next 75 years.
Let us make this fundamental promise to all Americans watching tonight - whether you
are 70 . . . or 50 .. . or 30 years old ~ that Social Security will be there when you need it. Let us,
tonight, make this commitment: Social Security firstInvesting in people
In an economy that honors opportunity, all Americans must be able to reap the rewards of
prosperity.
Many who work hard and earn less, are still way behind. Because these times are good,
we can clearly afford to take one simple, sensible step that can make all the difference to millions
of workers struggling to provide for their families: We should raise the minimum wage.
The information age is also an education age . . . an age in which education must start at
birth and continue through a lifetime.
Last year, from this podium, I said education was our highest priority, laid out a ten point
plan to move us forward, and urged us all to make sure that politics ends at the schoolhouse door.
�Since then, this Congress and the American people have responded, in the most important
year for education in a generation . . . expanding public school choice and creating 3,000 charter
schools . . . working to connect every classroom to the information superhighway . . . committing
to expand Head Start to 1 million children.
Last year I proposed, and you passed, a lifetime learning tax credit for college, graduate
school and training . . . 1 million work study jobs for college students . . . 230,000 new Pell
Grant scholarships for deserving students. For the first time, you can now deduct the interest on
your student loan. Families all over America now can put savings into our new, tax free
education IRAs. And this year, for the first 2 years of college, students will get a tax cut -- a
$1500 Hope Scholarship that will cover the cost of most community college tuition.
So tell your neighbors, and tell your friends: their kids can go to college^ If you know a
child from a poor tamily, tell her not to give up. She can go to college. If you know struggling
young parents who are worried they won't be able to save for their child's college education, you
tell them not to give up. Their child can go to college. If you know somebody caught in a dead- Y V O * ^ M ^
end job, afraid he can't afford the classes that will get him better jobs for the rest o(fher)life, tell
him not to give up. He can go to college. We are making college as universal as high school is
today.
My friends, this will change the face of 21st Century America.
We cheer tonight because we know we have opened wide the doors of the world's best
system of higher education. Now we must make our public elementary and secondary schools
the best in the world — by raising standards, raising expectations, and raising accountability.
Thanks to the action of this Congress last year, we will soon have, for the first time, a
voluntary national test based on national standards in 4th grade reading and 8th grade math.
Parents have a right to know whether students are mastering the basics.
And every parent already knows the key: good teachers and small classes. Tonight I
propose the first ever national effort to reduce class size in the early grades. My balanced budget
will help hire 100,000 teachers ~ teachers who must pass a state competency test. With these
teachers, we will reduce class size in first, second, and third grades to an average of 18
nationwide.
We must also help communities to repair old schools and build new ones. Our school
construction tax cut will help communities build [#] new schools.
Increasing standards and expectations are important, but we must also demand
accountability. When we promote a child from grade to grade who hasn't mastered the work, we
do that child no favors. It is time to end social promotion in America's schools.
Last year, in Chicago, they made that decision - not to hold children back, but to lift
them up. Chicago stopped social promotion, and offered mandatory summer school to help
�students who are behind catch up. I propose an effort to help other communtiies follow
Chicago's lead. Stop promoting children who don't learn, and we will give you the tools you
need to make sure they do learn.
Leading the global economy
As we enter the 21st Century, the global economy requires us to seek opportunity not just
at home, but in all the markets of the world. We must use all our power and prosperity to lead in
this new economy, not to be left on the sidelines. Increasingly, our trading partners cannot afford
to be our adversaries. We must break down economic barriers among all nations, so that the
global economy can lead to a safer and more stable world.
In the last five years, we have led the way in opening new markets, negotiating 240 trade
agreements. Our policy is to remove foreign barriers to products that bear the proud stamp,
"Made in the USA."
In the coming decade, we have the opportunity to create millions of Americans jobs and
sell billions of dollars more of American goods, in areas ranging form agriculture to medical
equipment. If we lead, we can make this global economy work for our people.
This year, I am renewing my request for the necessary fast track negotiating authority to
open more new markets abroad.
We must continue in the next year to expand opportunity by forging new markets in
Africa and Latin America.
Today, record high exports account for fully one third of our economic growth - and I
want to keep them going, because that's the way to keep America growing.
I believe entering into new economic ties, including the right kind of trade agreements,
will increase, not diminish, our ability to raise worker and environmental standards around the
world.
This year, I will send to Congress legislation, and I will ask every other nation to join
with us in a new effort to fight the most abusive and exploitative practices of all - forced child
labor.
An economy that offers opportunity must also offer help and hope to those Americans
temporarily left behind by the global marketplace or the march of technology.
That is why we have doubled the funding for training dislocated workers.
That is why we must do more, more quickly, to help workers who lose their jobs for any
reason. We help communities when their military base closes. We should help them in the same
way when their factory closes, too.
�And that is why, again, I ask this Congress to pass the GI Bill for Workers to consolidate
the tangle of training programs and give workers a simple grant so they can move quickly to
newer and higher jobs.
Today, an economic crisis anywhere can affect trading partners everywhere. Recent
months have brought serious problems in the economies and financial markets of Thailand,
Indonesia and South Korea.
These nations are our customers, our competitors, and our allies. Let me say to the
American people: If our customers in Asia sink into recession, they won't be able to buy the
goods we want to sell them. As competitors, if their currencies lose their value, the prices of
their goods will drop, flooding our market and others with lower-cost products. And as our
strategic partners, their national security affects our own.
The American economy remains sound and strong ~ and I want to keep it that way. But
no one should be mistaken. The turmoil in Asia wiU have an impact on all the world's
economies, including ours. Our job is to make the negative impact as small as possible. \
Our policy is clear. No nation can recover if it will not reform itself. But when nations
are willing to undertake serious economic reform, it is in our interest to enable them to try, and
it's the right thing to do. So I call on Congress to renew America's commitment to the
International Monetary Fund. Preparing for a far-off storm that may reach our shores is far
wiser than ignoring the thunder until the clouds are overhead. I thank Speaker Gingrich and Sen.
Lott, Rep. Gephardt and Sen. Daschle, for their bipartisan leadership in support of essential
action so we can protect our prosperity.
A SOCIETY ROOTED IN RESPONSIBILITY
A strong nation rests on the rock of responsibility.
First, a society rooted in responsibility must promote the value of work, not welfare. We
can be proud that after decades of finger pointing and failure, we ended the old welfare system.
We ended a system that trapped generations in a cycle of dependency. We are replacing welfare
checks with paychecks.
Last year, after a record four year decline in welfare rolls, I challenged our nation to go
even further — to move two million more Americans off welfare by the year 2000. Well, I am
pleased to report that we have also met that goal - two years ahead of schedule.
We must do more ~ increasing child support collections from deadbeat parents, providing
child care, helping families move closer to available jobs. And above all, I ask thousands more
businesses to accept their responsibility and join the 3000 companies already in our welfare-towork partnership, committed to hire, train, and retain people who are willing to work. We have a
duty to replace the despair of dependency with the dignity of work.
�Second, we must make it possible for hardworking families to meet their most important
responsibilitiesTwo years ago. we guaranteed that Americans won't lose health insurance when they
change jobs. Last year, we extended health care to up to 5 million children. This year, I
challenge Congress to take the next historic steps.
160 million Americans are in managed care plans. These plans can save money and can
improve care. But medical decisions should be made by medical doctors, not insurance company
accountants. So I urge the Congress to write into law a Consumer Bill of Rights that says this:
You have the right to know all your medical options -- all of them, not just the cheapest. You
have the right to choose the doctor you want for the care you need. You have the right to keep
your medical records confidential. And nobody should be turned away from an emergency
room. Traditional care or managed^are, every American deserves quality care.
Millions of Americans between the ages of 55 and 65 are losing their health insurance
after a lifetime of work. Some are retired; some are laid off; some lose their coverage when their
sjouses retire. After a lifetime of work, they are left with nowhere to turn. So I challenge
Congress: let these hardworking Americans buy into the Medicare system. It won't add a dime
to the deficit — but the peace of mind it will provide will be priceless.
Next, we must help parents protect their children from the gravest health threat they face:
an epidemic of teen smoking, spread by multimillion dollar marketing campaigns.
So I challenge Congress: let's pass bipartisan, comprehensive legislation that will change
the way tobacco companies do business forever. Let's raise the price of a pack of cigarettes by
up to $1.50 over the next ten years if that's what it takes to bring teen smoking down. Every day,
3000 children start smoking, and 1000 of them will die early as a result. Let this be remembered
as the Congress that saved their lives.
In the new economy, most parents work, harder than ever. They face a constant struggle
to balance their obligations to be good workers ~ and their even more important obligations to
be good parents.
The Family and Medical Leave Act, the very first bill I signed into law, has given [15]
million Americans time off from work to care for a child or a family member. Last year, I asked
you to extend this law to allow parents to take time off for parent-teacher conferences and doctor
appointments. It is still a good idea ~ and I ask you to pass it.
Child care is the next frontier. Now, I learndfanSng time ago that governments don't
raise children; parents do. Last year, the First Lady hosted two very important White House
conferences ~ one on the development of children's brains, the other on child care. Experts from
around the country made it clear that if we are going to help parent succeed at work and at home.
Congress must respond by passing a plan to make child care better, safer and more affordable.
�Here is my plan: First, help for hundreds of thousands of low-income families to pay for
child care. Second, scholarships and background checks for child care workers, so parents know
their children are getting good care. Third, tax credits for businesses that provide child care for
their employees. Fourth, tax cuts for working families. If you pass my plan, a family of four
with an income of $35,000 and high child care costs will no longer pay a penny of federal
income tax.
Third, a society rooted in responsibility must provide safe streets, safe schools and safe
neighborhoods.
We embraced a strategy of more police, tougher punishment and smarter prevention, and
formed a crimefighting partnership with local law enforcement and citizen groups. And this
strategy is working.
I can report to you tonight that murder is down, robbery is down, assault is down,
burglary is down . . . for five years in a row, all across America.
We need to finish the job of putting 100,000 police on the streets and focus more sharply
on preventing juvenile crime.
I again ask Congress to pass a juvenile crime bill that provides more prosecutors and
probation officers to crack down on gangs, guns and drugs.
We should also bar violent juveniles from buying guns for life.
And I ask you to expand before- and after-school programs. Most violent juvenile crime
is committed between the hours of 3 in the afternoon and 7 at night. We can keep a lot of our
kids out of trouble in the first place if we give them someplace to go other than the streets.
Drug use is on the decline. I thank General Barry McCaffrey for his leadership, and I
thank Congress for passing the biggest anti-drug budget in history - including a public education
campaign to warn young people that drugs are deadly, dangerous, and wrong. Now we must do
more to stop drugs at the border. I ask for the resources to hire 1,000 new border patrol agents,
and deploy sophisticated new technologies that will improve service but close the door to drugs.
But police, prosecutors, and prevention programs can't work if the court system doesn't
work. Today, there large numbers of vacancies in the federal courts. Here is what the Chief
Justice of the United States wrote: "[Judicial] vacancies cannot remain at such high levels
indefinitely without eroding the quality of justice." I ask the United States Senate to heed this
plea, and vote on these highly qualified judicial nominees, up or down.
Fourth, we must exercise responsibilitv not onlv at home but abroad.
On the eve of a new century, we have the power and the duty to build a new era of peace
and security. But today's possibilities are not tomorrow's guarantees.
�America must stand against the poisoned appeals of extreme nationalism, and combat an
unholy axis of new threats with no respect for borders: terrorists, international criminals and drug
traffickers. These 21 ' century predators feed on a bounty we otherwise cherish: the inventions of
technology and the free flow of information, ideas and people. The predators will be all the more
lethal if weapons of mass destruction fall into their hands.
s
To meet these challenges, we are adapting old institutions, forging new partnerships, and
modernizing the instruments of our influence, military and diplomatic.
s1
We are helping to write international rules of the road for the 21 Century, protecting
those who join the family of nations, isolating those who do not.
Some of the elements of this security strategy, we must put in place together — this year.
First, within days, I will ask the Senate for its advice and consent to make Hungary,
Poland and the Czech Re£ublic the newest members of NATOTToFTifty years, NATO contained
Communism and kept America and Europe secure.
Now, by taking in new members, working with new partners, and cooperating closely
with Russia and Ukraine, NATO can extend the frontiers of security ~ and help to assure that
Europe, the bloodiest battleground of the 20 century, becomes a stronghold for peace in the 21 .
These three formerly Communist countries have said "yes" to democracy. I ask the Senate to say
yes to t h ^ . c f c ^ /Oe«-Oeu££x€_-^,
,h
st
Next, I will ask Congress to continue its support for our troops in Bosnia. This
Christmas, Hillary and I traveled to Sarajevo with Senator and Mrs. Dole and a bipartisan
Congressional delegation. We saw children playing on the streets, where two years ago they
were hiding from snipers, and shells. Shops are filled with food, cafes alive with conversation.
The progress is unmistakable — but it is not yet irreversible. To take firm root, Bosnia's
fragile peace still needs the support of American and allied troops when the current NATO
mission ends in June, Senator Dole said it beat: thia is-like. being ahead in the fourth quarter of a
football game: Now is not the time to walk off the field and forfeit the victory.
I wish all of you could have been with us to visit our troops in Tuzla. Our wonderful men
and women in uniform are very proud of what they are doing in Bosnia, and around the world.
They always do their mission well. Our mission must be to keep our troops well-trained and
ready . . . improve their quality of life . .. and pay for the 21 century weapons they need to
defeat any enemy.
st
I also ask Congress to join me in pursuing the most ambitious agenda to reduce the threat
of weapons of mass destruction since the invention of the atom bomb.
This year, four decades after it was first proposed by President Eisenhower, a
comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty is within our reach. By ending nuclear testing, we can
�help prevent a new arms race and make it more difficult for non-nuclear states to develop these
devices of destruction. [Endorsement announcement to come]. This treaty has strong bipartisan
support and I ask the Senate to ratify it — this year.
Together, we also must confront a new hazard: outlaw states, terrorists and organized
criminals plotting to wage chemical and biological warfare.
Saddam Hussein has spent the better part of this decade and much of the wealth of his
nation not on providing for the Iraqi people but on developing_the most terrible weapons ever
created — nuclear, chemical and biological — and the missiles to deliver them. The United
Nations weapons inspectors have done a remarkable job, finding and destroying more of Iraq's
arsenal than was destroyed during the Gulf W ^ ^ l f ^ J M o w , Saddam Hussein wants to stop
them from completing their mission. I say to jtfm^youcannot defy the will ofthe world. You
have used chemical weapons before, we will do everything we can to destroy your capacity to
use weapons of mass destruction again.
Last year, the Senate ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention to protect our soldiers
and citizens from poison gas. Now, we must act to prevent an even more lethal threat: the use
of disease as a weapon of war and terror. The Biological Weapons Convention has been in effect
for 25 years now. The rules are good, but the enforcement is weak. This year, we must
strengthen that treaty with an international inspection system to detect and deter cheating.
In the months ahead, I will pursue our security strategy with old allies in Asia and Europe
and new partners from Africa to India and Pakistan... from South America to China. And from
Belfast, to Korea to the ancient lands ofthe Middle East, America will continue to stand with
those who stand for peace.
In this new era, our freedom and independence are actually enriched, not impoverished,
by our increasing interdependence with other nations. As we see so clearly in Bosnia, those who
share our goals can share our burdens. But our partnerships will be weak and our leadership in
doubt if we fail to set the example. It's long past time to make good on our debt to the United
Nations. When we give our word, we should keep our word. I ask the Congress to help America
pay its bills.
In the century we have a remarkable opportunity to shape a future more peaceful,
prosperous and secure than the past. It is our chance and our challenge. We must not shrink
from it; we must seize it.
A NATION THAT LIVES BY COMMUNITY
Two centuries ago, we proclaimed to the world that we had come together to form not
just a new nation, but "a more perfect union." Americans are on an eternal mission together.
Therefore we as a nation must live together as a coinmunity.
Political reform & reinventing government
10
�First of all, our government -- the instrument of our national community -- must earn the
confidence of the American people.
Everyone knows elections have become too expensive, fueling a fundraising arms race.
For years, good campaign finance reform bills have been brought to the floor of Congress. A n d / "
for years, special interests and their allies have smothered those bills by filibuster.
But not this year. This year, on March 11, the Senate will vote on real, bipartisan reform
proposed by Senators McCain and Feingold. Let's be clear: a vote against McCain Feingold is a
vote for soft money, for the status quo, for the loss of trust. So I ask you to strengthen our
democracy and pass campaign finance reform.
Even more, we musj^ddress the reason for the erosion in campaign/Josts: the rising
cost of campaigning on television. The airwaves ar^^public trust, and broadcasters have a
responsibility to act ipahe public interest. Tonight I formally request tjjeFederal
Communications Qommission to act to provideoree television and rpdio time for candidates.
Free time can hdp free our democracy from the grip of big money/
We must do more to make government work better. Under the Vice President's
reinventing government initiative, we have already slashed 16,000 pages of regulations,
transformed HUD and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, reduced the federal payroll
by 300,000 workers. Yet there is more to do.
Like every taxpayer, I am outraged by the reports of abuses by the IRS. We need new
citizen advocacy panels, a stronger taxpayer advocate, phone lines open 24 hours a day, relief for
innocent spouses. Last year, by an overwhelming bipartisan margin, the House passed sweeping
IRS reforms. Let's not let that bill languish in the Senate. Tonight I challenge the Senate: as
your first order of business, pass our bipartisan package of IRS reforms. Do it now.
Empowering communities
A nation that lives as a community must value its communities.
For the past five years, we have witnessed an urban renaissance all across America.
Neighborhoods, once haunted by crime and despair have been transformed into strong, safe,
vibrant communities.
The besj/poverty program, the best jobs program, the best commtmity development
program, is ^growing economy.
'
Our mission has been to bring the spark of private enterprise into the inner city - with
empowerment zones, community development banks, more loans from commercial banks,
restoring polluted sites for development. Now we must press forward with our opportunity
agenda for America's cities. Under the continued leadership of the Vice-President, we should
expand the number of empowerment zones. We should give poor families more opportunities to
�move into homes of their own. We should use tax cuts to spur the construction of more low
income housing. We should establish a Community Empowerment Fund to spur the creation of
private sector jobs.
So many of America's great cities, which rose and fell in the 20th Century, are rising
again as we approach the 21st Century. We cannot leave any person, any family, or any
neighborhood, or any community behind.
Environmental protection
Our community, indeed, our national community, is only as healthy as the air our
children breathe, the water they drink, and the Earth they will inherit.
Last year, we put in place the toughest-ever controls on smog and soot. We moved to
protect Yellowstone, the Everglades and the magnificent redwoods of Headwaters Forest. We
expanded every community's right to know about the toxics that threaten their children.
Yesterday, our new plan to use cutting edge science to protect our meat and poultry took
effect, using cutting-edge technology to protect consumers from e-coli and salmonella.
Tonight, I ask you to join me in launching a new Clean Water Initiative, a far-reaching
new effort to clean our rivers, lakes and streams.
But our overriding environmental challenge is a worldwide problem requiring worldwide
action: the gathering crisis ofglobal warming. The vast majority of scientists have concluded
unequivocally that if we do not reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, at some point in the
next century we will disrupt our climate in potentially dangerous ways, and put our children and
grandchildren at risk. This past December, America led the world to reach a historic agreement
committing nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through market forces, new technology
and energy efficiency.
We have it in our power to act right here, right now. I propose $6 Billion in tax cuts and
research and development to spur innovation, cleaner factories, fiiel efficient cars, and energy
efficient homes.
Every time we have acted to heal our environment, the pessimists have said it would hurt
our economy. Well, today our economy is the strongest in a generation — and our air and water
are the cleanest in a generation. Americans have always found a way to grow the economy and
clean the environment at the same time. And we'll do it again.
Just this month, thanks in part to an innovative partnership between our administration
and the Big Three, America's automakers unveiled prototypes of high-performance cars that get
three times the gas mileage of typical models today. This innovative spirit must spread to every
industry in America.
12
�It was on this date -- January 27, way back in 1880 -- that Thomas Edison received his
first patent for the lightbulb. I am confident that the nation that produced the genius for the
lightbulb and the telephone, the airplane and the semiconductor, can invent an economy that uses
less energy, provides more environmental protection, and continues to grow at high levels.
One America in the 21st Century
Finally, community means fulfilling, at long last, the defining American value -- the ideal
heard round the world ~ that all men and all women are created equal.
What can we do in our day and generation to make sure that America becomes truly one
nation, even as we become more diverse?
I have launched an initiative on race, not to dwell on our differences, but to underscore
our shared strengths.
?
We must begin by acknowledging what we still must overcome: Discrimination against
any American is un-American. We must vigorously enforce the laws that make it illegal. I ask
you to provide the necessary resources to end the backlog at the Equal Opportunity Employment
Commission. 60,000 of our fellow citizens are waiting in line for justice^
Then, we must shine a light on those in our communities who are coming together
through open talk and honest labor to fight old prejudices and forge new friendships.
Beyond that, we know America only overcomes its divisions when we offer the same
opportunity to all who are willing to work for it ~ when we close the opportunity gap. That will
be the primary focus of our race initiative for the next six months. For we know when people
work together, leam together and serve together, they get along together. Only on the forge of
common enterprise have Americans of all backgrounds hammered out a common identity.
There is nofinerexample of that than the American military, where working together has
closed the opportunity gap, raised the world's finest fighting force, and been the nation's greatest
proving ground for racial progress. We must summon that spirit of common service ~ whether
through AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps, the America Reads initiative, or our new initiative to
enlist universities to adopt middle schools so all our children are ready to go to college. Our
commitment at the President's Summit on Service — a commitment to a new ethic of active
citizenship ~ must also be our commitment to building one America.
We are torchbearers of the most shining idea in history - the belief that shared values can
unite a diverse people in freedom and mutual respect. E Pluribus Unum. We are many. We must
be one.
THE MILLENNIUM -- GIFTS TO THE FUTURE
In that spirit, let us lift our eyes toward the new millennium. How will we mark that
13
�passage/
This year, Hillary and I launched the White House Millennium Program to promote
American creativity and innovation, and to preserve the culture we share so we can carry it with
us into the 21st Century.
Let us honor what we have been; and let us imagine what we can become. Let us invoke
the wonders of science and the richness of our culture — our arts and humanities ~ to bestow our
gifts to the millennium.
What are the real advances we can look forward to seeing in our lifetimes?
The entire store of human knowledge now doubles every five years. In the 1980s,
scientists identified the gene causing cysticfibrosis- and it took 9 years. Last year, we located
the gene that causes Parkinsons' Disease -- in only 9 days. Within a decade, "gene chips" will
offer a roadmap for prevention of illness throughout a lifetime. Soon, people with severe spinal
cord injuries will be able to rise from their wheelchairs and walk. We will be able to carry all the
phone calls on Mother's Day on a single strand offiberthe width of a human hair. A typical
child born in 1998 may well live to see the 22nd Century.
Tonight, as part of our gift to the next millennium, I propose a 21 st Century Research
Fund for pathbreaking research at our nation's premiere scientific institutions. This will be the
largest increase in history for the National Institutes of Health, the National Science
Foundation, and the National Cancer Institute. In the past year, we have already discovered
genes for breast cancer and diabetes. I ask you to support this initiative, so that ours will be
the generation that finally wins the war against cancer.
As important as rapid scientific progress is, science must continue to serve humanity,
never the other way around
We must prevent the misuse of genetic tests to discriminate against any American.
And we must ratify the ethical consensus of the scientific and religious communities, and ban
the cloning of human beings.
In our next gift to the new millennium, we will enable all people of the world to
explore the far reaches of cyberspace.
The first time I reported to you on the State of the Union, only physicists used the
World Wide Web. Now, hundreds of thousands of web pages are created each and every
day. The Internet is an exploding global marketplace of ideas as well as commerce. And I
call on all the nations of the world to join us in making the Internet a global free-trade zone:
no discriminatory taxes, no unfair tariffs. And I ask the Congress to step up support for
building the next generation Internet, which will operate up to a thousand times faster than
today.
14
��But the Internet must not be a values-free zone. We will continue to work with the
computer industry to give parents tools to protect their children from inappropriate material on
the Net.
And even as we explore innerspace, in the new millennium we will open new frontiers
in outer space.
Throughout history, humankind has had only one place to call home — the planet
Earth. Yet beginning this year, 1998, for the very first time, men and women will build a
permanent foothold in the heavens — the international space station. Within its vast expanses,
scientists and engineers will set sail on this uncharted sea of limitless mystery and unlimited
potential.
And this October, a true American hero, a veteran pilot of 141 combat missions, and
one five hour space flight that changed the world, will return to the heavens.
Godspeed, John Glenn.
You will carry with you America's hopes, and on your uniform you will carry
America's flag, marking the unbroken connection between the deeds of America's past and the
daring of America's future.
K
H
N-irlrl'irn J w r l n i years ago, a tattered flag, its r™ "trjppT twr) bright stars still
gleaming through thesitfcte^i^afierce battle,moyed-f-rdl 1 is Scott Key to scribble a few
6
words on the back of an envelope! 'IJitw^L^fCrds became our national anthem. Today, that
Star Spangled Banne^alpjig'-tfTfrf the PrrhnTTrnr of Jfldrprnrlrnrr the Constitution, and the
Bill of RightSj^etJTTaisplay just a short walk from here.
1
Nearly two hundred years ago, a tattered flag, its broad stripes and bright stars still
gleaming through the smoke of afiercebattle, moved Francis Scott Key to scribble a few words
on the back of an envelope. Those words that became our national anthem. Today, that Star
Spangled Banner, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, are
on display just a short walk from here. And all across America, communities have their own
pieces of America's past.
Whether on our national mall or the village green, they are America's treasures, and we
must save and preserve them for the ages. I ask you in this Congress to support a public private
partnership to restore them, so that the generations of 21 st Century America can see for
themselves the image and the words that are the old and continuing glory of America.
An America that has continued to rise through every age, against every challenge,
because we have always found the wisdom and strength to come together as one nation - to
widen the circle of opportunity and to deepen the meaning of our freedom.
At the beginning of our first century, George Washington asked our people to move
15
��beyond separate states, to become, as he put it, "an indissoluble community of interest as one
nation." Abraham Lincoln gave his life to move beyond division and slavery to one nation.
Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson pushed us to reap the benefits and curb the abuses
of the Industrial Revolution -- so that we could prosper as one nation. Franklin Roosevelt
battled Depression, tyranny and fear, and the triumph was won by America as one nation.
Fifty years of national leadership stood resolute through the Cold War, while we built the
world's greatest middle class at home, lifting America to new heights as one nation.
We have always been a people of great works and great possibilities. And now, my
fellow Americans, with barely 700 days to the new millennium, it falls to us to ensure that we
continue to advance as "one nation -- under God - indivisible - with liberty and justice for
all."
God Bless You, and God Bless the United States of America.
16
�(D
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^ 2 ^ -
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�1/25/98 12AM
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
UNITED STATES CAPITOL
January 27, 1998
ia*3^
�Mr. Speaker. Mr. Vice President, members of the 105th Congress, distinguished guests,
and my fellow Americans:
For 209 years, it has been the President's duty to report to you on the State ofthe Union:
Tonight, it is a duty any citizen would cherish Because of the hard work and high purpose ofthe
American peop 1 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ s ^ 6 j ^ M ^ n ^ Our economy is prospering. Our incomes
are rising. Our social fabric is mending. Our leadership in the world is unrivaled. The state of our
union is strong.
But with barely 700 days left in the 20th Century, this is not a time to rest; it is a time to
build, to build the America within our reach. An America where scientists find cures for
diseases from Alzheimers to AIDS. An America where every child can stretch a hand across a
keyboard and reach every book ever written, every painting ever painted, every symphony ever
composed. Let us reach toward a time when a confident America, which saved civilization in
this century, leads civilization to new heights of peace, prosperity and environmental
preservation in the next one.
Let us rise to the challenge of our unique moment of promise, and strengthen our nation
for the 21st Century.
<^tlg^,>3©.aE5C)(f^gtos
'berie^h^6ur3[eet, as we moved into an information age, a global economy, a truly new world.
Perhaps never before has one generation seen so much change, in so short a time, in so many
areas.
The changes upset old arrangements, decided new winners and losers, opened new
possibilities and raised new perils.
But for five years now, with renewed spirit and energy, our people have risen as one
nation to meet the challenge of change ~ to imagine the new future and frame a plan to reach it.
We are a people bom in the greatest revolution in human history, and at every turning
point we have extended the American revolution by renewing the idea of America, forging a
more perfect union, deepening the meaning of our freedom.
In these five years, we have shaped a new kind of government for the Information Age.
Leaner. More flexible. Focused on giving the American people the tools they need to make the
most of their own lives. Functioning as a catalyst for new ideas. A government that replaces a
sense of entitlement with a philosophy of empowerment.
�Our success in this effort is due in large measure to the leadership ofthe Vice President in
giving us not only the smallest government in 35 years, but one even better able to propel us
forward.
We have moved past the sterile debate between those who say government is the enemy
and those who say government is the answer. My fellow Americans, we have found a third wav^
We have a smaller government, but a more progressive one. We have a smaller government.J
a stronger nation.
At every step, we have aspired to three goals for 21st Century America. An economy that
offers opportunity. A society rooted in responsibility. And a nation that lives as a community.
Let's take each one of these and see what they will mean in the 21st Century.
AN ECONOMY THAT OFFERS OPPORTUNITY
First, to build an economy that offers opportunity, we are embracing a new strategy for
prosperity: Fiscal discipline to cut interest rates and spur growth. Investing in our people to
prepare them for the new economy. Tearing down trade barriers to open new markets for
American products and American workers, and new pathways to peace and freedom.
,..,.What we did, in this chamber, across this country, in these years, was nothing less than to
rve America new economy for a new century.
"C?
We have nearly 15 million new jobs. The lowest unemployment in 24 years. The lowest
core inflation in 30 years. The highest homeownership rate in history.
When I took office, the deficit for 1998 was projected to be $357 billion..and heading
higher. Today, our deficit is $22 Billion, and heading lower.
For three decades, six presidents came before you to warn of the damage deficits posed to
the nation, the economy, and our credibility. Tonight, I come before you to announce that the
federal deficit — once so incomprehensibly large that it had eleven zeroes ~ will be, simply . . .
zero.
I will submit to Congress for 1999 the first balanced budget in 30 years.
And if we hold fast to fiscal discipline, we may balance the budget this year ~ four years
ahead of schedule.
Turning a sea of red ink into black is no miracle. It is the product of hard work by the
American people. It is also the product of two visionary actions ~ the courageous vote in 1993
to cut the deficit by 90% ... and the historic bipartisan balanced budget agreement passed by this
Congress. And if we maintain our resolve, it will produce balanced budgets as far as the eye can
^5
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�see.
Yet the prospect of a budget surplus was only minutes old when some old, bad habits
began to reappear. We must not go back to unwise spending, or untargeted tax cuts, that risk
reopening the deficit. Last year, we enacted targeted tax cuts for the American people.
My plan to balance the budget next year includes new tax cuts targeted to the needs of
working families: for education, for child care, for the environment. Middle class families then
would have the "lowest tax rate in 20 years. I ask you to enact those ta\ cuts now.
^Wl¥etfeiB^tlie4s'MeM's4ik^Mts or sge^r^J^asj^^
those prioritiesJhat^ansactOldfi&te^
adding a dime to the deficits
^^^m^^^^
.
— —
•
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If we balance the budget for next year, it is projected that we will have a sizeable surplus
over the next five years. What then, should we do with this projected surplus?
I have a simply four word answer: Save Social Security first.
Tonight, 1 propose that we reserve 100% of the surplus until we strengthen Social
Security for the 21st Century. Let us reserve every penny of any surplus until we have saved the
Social Security system. Let us reserve every penny of any surplus until we have taken all the
measures necessary to preserve Social Security for the next 75 years.
Let us make this fundamental promise to all Americans watching tonight -- whether you
are 70 . . . or 50 .. . or 30 years old ~ that Social Security will be there when you need it. Let us,
tonight, make this commitment: Social Security firstInvesting in people
In an economy that honors opportunity, all Americans must be able to reap the rewards of
prosperity.
Many who work hard and earn less, are still way behind. Because these times are good,
we can clearly afford to take one simple, sensible step that can make all the difference to millions
of workers struggling to provide for their families: We should raise the minimum wage.
The information age is also an education age . . . an age in which education must start at
birth and continue through a lifetime.
Last year, from this podium, I said education was our highest priority, laid out a ten point
�plan to move us forward, and urged us all to make sure that politics ends at the schoolhouse door.
Since then, this Congress and the American people have responded, in the most important
year for education in a generation . . . expanding public school choice and creating 3,000 charter
schools . . . working to connect every classroom to the information superhighway . . . adding M
children to Head Start.
Last year I proposed, and you passed, a lifetime learning tax credit for college, graduate
school and training . . . 1 million work study jobs for college students . . . 230,000 new Pel!
Grant scholarships for deserving students. For the first time, you can now deduct the interest on
your student loan. Families all over America now can put savings into our new. tax free
education IRAs. And this year, for the first 2 years of college, students will get a tax cut -- a
$1500 Hope Scholarship that will cover the cost of most community college tuition.
So tell your neighbors, and tell your friends: their kids can go to college. If you know a
child from a poor family, tell her not to give up. She can go to college.
If you know struggling young parents who are worried they won't be able to save for their
child's college education, you tell them not to give up. Their child can go to college. If you
know somebody caught in a dead-end job, afraid he can't afford the classes that will get him
better jobs for the rest of her life, tell him not to give up. He can go to college. We are making
college as universal as high school is today.
My friends, this will change the face of 21 st Century America.
We cheer tonight because we know we have opened wide the doors of the world's best
system of higher education. Now we must make our public elementary and secondary schools
the best in the world ~ by raising standards, raising expectations, and raising accountability.
Thanks to the action of this Congress last year, we will soon have, for the first time, a
voluntary national test based on national standards in 4th grade reading and 8th grade math.
Parents have a right to know whether students are mastering the basics.
And every parent already knows the key: good teachers and small classes. Tonight I
propose the first ever national effort to reduce class size in the early grades. My balanced budget
will help hire 100,000 teachers ~ teachers who must pass a state competency test. With these
teachers, we will reduce class size in first, second, and third grades to an average of 18
nationwide.
We must also help communities to repair old schools and build new ones. Our school
construction tax cut will help communities build [#] new schools.
Increasing standards and expectations are important, but we must also demand
accountability. When we promote a child from grade to grade who hasn't mastered the work, we
�do that child no favors. It is time to end social promotion in America's schools.
Last year, in Chicago, they made that decision - not to hold children hack, but to lift
them up. Chicago stopped social promotion, and offered mandatory summer school to help
students who are behind catch up. I propose an effort to help other communtiies follow
Chicago's lead. Stop promoting children who don't learn, and we will give you the tools you
need to make sure they do learn.
Leading the global economy
As we enter the 21st Century, the global economy requires us to seek opportunity not just
at home, but in all the markets of the world. We must use all our power and prosperity to lead in
this new economy, not to be left on the sidelines. Increasingly, our trading partners cannot afford
to be our adversaries. We must break down economic barriers among all nations, so that the
global economy can lead to a safer and more stable world.
In the last five years, we have led the way in opening new markets, negotiating [220]
trade agreements. Our policy is to remove foreign barriers to products that bear the proud stamp,
"Made in the USA."
In the coming decade, we have the opportunity to create millions of Americans jobs and
sell billions of dollars more of American goods, in areas ranging form agriculture to medical
equipment. If we lead, we can make this global economy work for our people.
This year, I am renewing my request for the necessary fast track negotiating authority to
open more new markets abroad.
We must continue in the next year to expand opportunity by forging new markets in
Africa and Latin America.
Today, record high exports account for fully one third of our economic growth ~ and I
want to keep them going, because that's the way to keep America growing.
I believe entering into new economic ties, including the right kind of trade agreements,
will increase, not diminish, our ability to raise worker and environmental standards around the
world.
This year, I will send to Congress legislation, and I will ask every other nation to join
with us in a new effort to fight the most abusive and exploitative practices of all - forced child
labor.
An economy that offers opportunity must also offer help and hope to those Americans
�temporarily left behind by the global marketplace or the march of technology.
That is why we have doubled the funding for training dislocated workers.
That is why we must do more, more quickly, to help workers who lose their jobs for anv
reason. We help communities when their military base closes. We should, help them in the same
way when their factory closes, too.
And that is why, again, I ask this Congress to pass the GI Bill for Workers to consolidate
the tangle of training programs and give workers a simple grant so they can move quickly to
newer and higher jobs.
Today, an economic crisis anywhere can affect trading partners everywhere. Recent
months have brought serious problems in the economies and financial markets of Thailand,
Indonesia and South Korea.
These nations are our customers, our competitors, and our allies. Let me say to the
American people: If our customers in Asia sink into recession, they won't be able to buy the
goods we want to sell them. As competitors, if their currencies lose their value, the prices of
their goods will drop, flooding our market and others with lower-cost products. And as our
strategic partners, their national security affects our own.
The American economy remains sound and strong ~ and I want to keep it that way. But
no one should be mistaken. The turmoil in Asia will have an impact on all the world's
economies, including ours. Our job is to make the negative impact as small as possible.
Our policy is clear. No nation can recover if it will not reform itself. But when nations
are willing to undertake serious economic reform, it is in our interest to enable them to try, and
it's the right thing to do. So I call on Congress to renew America's commitment to the
International Monetary Fund. Preparing for a far-off storm that may reach our shores is far
wiser than ignoring the thunder until the clouds are overhead.
I thank Speaker Gingrich and Sen. Lott, Rep. Gephardt and Sen. Daschle, for their bipartisan
leadership in support of essential action so we can protect our prosperity.
A SOCIETY ROOTED IN RESPONSIBILITY
A strong nation rests on the rock of responsibility.
First, a society rooted in responsibility must promote the value of work, not welfare. We
can be proud that after decades of finger pointing and failure, we ended the old welfare system.
�We ended a system that trapped generations in a cycle of dependency. We are replacing welfare
checks with paychecks.
Last year, after a record four year decline in welfare rolls. I challenged our nation to go
even further - to move two million more Americans off welfare by the year 2000. Well, 1 am
pleased to report that we have also met that goal - two years ahead of schedule.
We must do more — increasing child support collections from deadbeat parents, providing
child care, helping families move closer to available jobs. And above all. I ask thousands more
businesses to accept their responsibility and join the 3000 companies already in our welfare-towork partnership, committed to hire, train, and retain people who are willing to work. We have a
duty to replace the despair of dependency with the dignity of work.
Second, we must make it possible for hardworking families to meet their most important
responsibilities.
Two years ago, we guaranteed that Americans won't lose health insurance when they
change jobs. Last year, we extended health care to up to 5 million children. This year. I
challenge Congress to take the next historic steps.
Qj^y
^IAV
160 million Americans are in managed care plans. These plans-earfSave money and
improve care. But medical decisions should be made by medical doctors, not insurance Company
accountants. I challenge Congress to write into law a Consumer Bill of Rights that saysf. You
have the right to know all your medical options ~ not just the cheapest. You have the right to
choose the doctor you want for the care you need. You have the right to keep your medical
records confidential. And nobody, should be turned away from an emergency room. Traditional
care or managed care, every Amencan deserves quality care.
Millions of Americans between the ages of 55 and 65 are losing their health insurance
after a lifetime of work. Some are retired; some are laid off; some lose their coverage when their
spouses retire. After a lifetime of work, they are left with nowhere to turn. So I challenge
Congress: let these hardworking Americans buy into the Medicare system. It won't cost the
taxpayers a penny ~ but the peace of mind it will provide will be priceless.^^^ ^
we must help parents protect their children from the gravest health threat they face:
an epidemic of teen smoking, spread by multimillion dollar marketing campaigns.
Soil 'Imll-n^' ^iin^r^Pfr- ietr^ pass bipartisan^comprehensive legislation that will change
the way tobacco companies do busir ess forever^t^antrraise the price of a pack of cigarettes by up
to $1.50 over the next ten years if th it's what it takes to bring teen smoking down. Every day,
3000 children start smoking, and 10(310 of them will die early as a result. Let this be remembered
as the Congress that saved their lives.
r -JY.
In the new economy, most parents work, harder than ever. They face a constant struggle
to balance their obligations to be good workers — and their even more important obligations to
be good parents.
9
��r
The Family and Medical Leave Act, the very first bill I signed into lav4 has given [15]
million Americans time off from work to care for a child or a family member. \ ask you to
extend this law so that
mnthprc ^nH fibers can take six months of unpaid leave when they._
have a hahv.
. - '
n O A
I
Child care is the next frontier. Now, I learned a long time ago that governments don't
raise children; parents do. There ia no mere, iniportaftt-g^ample'of the First-fcady's wdrtroveT
-the pact 25 years—nermore im-portam exai^te-of hei adage lhaliLdQes-takeTvillage to rafeiTa:
^ i K a l i u u t^gi^paren^heiielfahevT^a-tff-rar^
:hild •• the
f j f r ^ i t I call upon Congress to pass a comprehensive and fiscally-responsible plan to make child
^ " j ^ / J / care better, safer, And more affordable, with tax cuts for businesses and millions of working
Q / "
families. If yourfassmy plan, a family of four with an income of $35,000 and high child care
. Q
costs should not nave to pay a penny of federal income tax.
^rtA^^Pdss this plan tu|liclp parents of six milliu^ diildiui affuid qualiiy child idii.
-bfeat
the fii'at ptacg:
society rooted in responsibility must' Kl*«HlMt'JW»BIMiratIMIK1IU»yiiTSr
punishing crime severely wnen it occufsTan
Q
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l
,
ned aa if riainp, incrcanmplv violent crim wfr^'l^ pf:rm ? it y p"-"™
•oui neighborhoods, our great cities, our entire nation. "Wmv, Wth 100,000 new police headed for
the streets, tougher punishment, and smarter prevention, we have a crime fighting strategy that
works.
I can report to you tonight that murder is down, robbery is down, assault is down, burglary is
down . . . for five years in a row, all across America.
«
•
)
&
I again ask Congress to pass a juvenile crime bill thatproyides more prosecutors and
probation officers to crack down on gangs, guns and drugs.
And I ask you to expand before- and after-school programs. Most violent crime is
Jcommitted between the hours of 3 in the afternoon and 7 at night. We must give our children
BO me where to go other than the streets.
lljld^so'bj^
And let me speak plainly about a solemn responsibility that restsyn^ith 100 of the men and
women in this chamber. WTien the courts are clogged, erirrrinaliJ go free. The Senate has Ibe^
Constitutional duty to ™nfirm jiHc"" J^rnfriiT r thr Invr nnrl v n f n r " •ffiF*! y-hrrilrETTr Here is
what the Chief Justice of the United States wrote, and I quote: "[Judicial] vacancies cannot
remain at such high levels indefinitely without eroding the quality of justice." I ask the United
States Senate to heed this plea, and vote on these highly qualified judicial nominees, up or down.
��J2J
Fourth, we musfcd
responsibility not only at home but abroad^KTvve'rmTst ~r
xildcr our great and-h MHIJfi.H >le resportMnnTlv uf woild 1 iiifiriihifl
1
in this ^«»^eaj7r'Ami'ii. ^11 [u^uMi- li'^mffl thf1j_0 'i^»ation has a naiqne role^ad
-hn ^ livpd up t" it, irtfj^mngt pvtranrrTt^ry^pfpnt i i if fi i|>r ilnn i in liurmTTTii ii'irXLN^
eve of a new century, we have both the power and the duty to build a new era of peace. 4—
Cfrf
1
on the
J
-r
But today's possibilities are not tomorrow's guarantees. ^ m r r i r ^ mint i t i n d nirnin'ft itSV
nnd the poisoned appeals uf e.Mieiue liaiiouallijlu:
We must combat an unholy axis of new threats with no respect for borders: terrorists,
international criminals and drug traffickers. These 21 century predators feed on a bounty we
otherwise cherish: theinyentions oftechnology andjhe free flow of information, ideas and
people. (TK&y wiH^Tailthe mOfi^thafn^ve^^s^fma5s-destruction fall into their hands.
s1
To meeHfeese^hallenges, we are adapting oldjnsiUtttrtJns Urnew demands ... forging
strong partnerships to liieelaMFntyuM^^riiijP^rTTTnodernizing the instruments of our influence,
military and diplomatic.
HnOUgh-lhis new sccuiily sttatgg^^y&^are helping to write international rules of the road for the
21 century, protecting those who join #the family of nations, isolating those who do not.
st
Someeiements of this strategy we must put in place together - this year.
/ithin days, I will ask the Senate for its advice and consent to make Hungary,
ie Czech Republic the newest members of NATO. For fifty years, NATO contained
(Communism and kept America and Europe secure.
Now, by taking in new members, working with new partners, and cooperating closely with
Russia and Ukraine, NATO can extend the frontiers of security — and help assure that Europe,
the bloodiest battleground of the 20 century, becomes a stronghold for peace in the 21 . These
three formerly Communist countries have said "yes" to democracy. I ask the Senate to say yes to
th
st
{
-Seewtd, I \^11 ask Congress to continue its support for our troops in Bosnia. This
Chrisimas, Fliljary and I traveled to Sarajevo with Senator and Mrs. Dole and a bipartisan
Congressional delegation. The progress we saw there is unmistakable ~ butJiot yet irreversible.
0
•^rrtake film foot and to pieveul Hhuther bloody wai in the hcaifcof Eopeptr^Bocnia'c fragile—
* peace stiltneeds the secure environment only an inteuialiuiial military fnrre raiLpifl^de. That is
^(H L why American troops should take part in a follow-on security force when the current NATO
C^i 0 mission ends in June. Senator Dole said it best: this is like being ahead in the fourth quarter of a
football game. Now is not the time to walk off the field and forfeit the victory.
�I wish all of you could have been with us to visit with our troops in Tuzla. They are thev
pride of our nation.
•^
t£SL^-
We must make it our mission to keep our troops well-trained and ready . . . improve their quality
of life . . . and pay for the 21 century weapons they need to defeat any enemy. Help me give
America's soldiers our support. They earn it every day.
51
Third, Lcj^k Congress to join me in pursuing the most ambitious agenda to reduce the
' threat of-wcapops of mass destruction since the invention ofthe atom bomb.
This year, four decades after it was first proposed by President Eisenhower, a
comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty is within our reach. By ending all nuclear testing, we can
help prevent a new arms race and make it more difficult for non-nuclear states to develop these
devices of destruction. [Endorsement announcement to come]. This treaty has strong bipartisan
support and I ask the Senate to ratify it ~ this year.
Together, we also must confront a new hazard: outlaw states, terrorists and organized
criminals plotting to wage chemical and biological warfare.
Saddam Hussein has spent the better part of this decade and much of the wealth of his
nation not on providing for the Iraqi people but on developing the most terrible weapons ever
created — nuclear, chemical and biological — and the missiles to deliver them. The United
Nations weapons inspectors have done a remarkable job, finding and destroying more of Iraq's
arsenal than during the Gulf War itself. Now, Saddam Hussein wants to stop them from
completing their mission. I say to him, on behalf of the American people and the international
community: we cailflOl aiul-we will not let you defy the will of the world. Ny lis, 1O ands and—
1
c- nu buts jbuu44c~~
.
I
. .
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Last year, tKe Senate ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention to protect our soldiers
and citizens frorn poison gas. Now, we must act to prevent an even more lethal threat: the use
of disease as a/weapon of war and terror. The Biological Weapons Convention has been in force
for 25 years^nut franUyV it lacks tough enforcement measures. This year, we must strengthen
that treaty with an international inspection system to detect and deter cheating.
In the months ahead, I will pursue our security strategy with old allies in Asia and Europe"
and new partners from Africa to India and Pakistan... from South America to China.
In this new era, our freedom and independence are enriched, not impoverished, by our
11
�interdependence with other nations. Those who share our goals can alstfshare our burdens. But
our partnerships will be weak and our leadership in doubt if we fail to set the example. I ask
Congress: isn't it long past time to make good on our debt to the United Nations? When we
give our word, we should keep our word. America pays its bills.
mthe century we areTSaving, Ainetica lias made the diffueilUe between tyranny and
-frcodom... ilidUi> and stability... war alld peaces Now, in a new century, we have a remarkable
opportunity to shape a future more peaceful, prosperous and secure than the past. Thai is um—
vjL^/chance and our challenge. ^We must seize it.
cv^^ f ~jb
(
D
A NATION THAT LIVES BY COMMUNITY
"
Two centuries ago, we proclaimed to the world that we had come together to form not
just a new nation, but "a more perfect union." More than ever, we must recognize that we are
inextricably linked by the idea of America itself. We are on a mission together. We as a nation
must live together as a community.
Political reform & reinventing government
^ ^irst-QfaU,-Our,,goy,emment ~ the instrument of our national community prrmslPiySStbg
' trust otithe; Amencan-peOpierJ-^"
m
;
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!
Elections have become too expensive, fueling a fundraising arms race. For years, good
campaign finance reform bills have been brought to the floor of Congress. And for years, the
special interests and their allies have smothered those bills by filibuster. ( y ^ J ^ J ^ ^ ^
But not this year. This year, on March'SL the Senate wil^votTon real, bipartisan reform
proposed by Senator McCain and Senator FeingokbLet's be clear: a vote against McCain
Feingold is a voteforsoft money, for the status quo, for the loss of trust. So I ask you to
strengthen our democracy and pass campaign finance reform.
^^-Strt-we mustjpo more to make government work better. We have already slashed 16,000
pages of regulations, transformed HUD and the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
reduced the federal payroll by 300,000 workers, ret there is more to do.
Like every taxpayer, I am outraged by the reports of abuses by the IRS. We need new
citizen advocacy panels, a stronger taxpayer advocate, phone lines open 24 hours a day, relief for
innocent spouses. Last year, by an overwhelming bipartisan margin, the House passed sweeping
IRS reforms. Months later, that bill still languishes in the Senate. Tonight I challenge the Senate:
as your first order of business, pass our bipartisan package of IRS reforms. Do it now.
Empowering communities
A nation that lives as a community must value its communities.
For the past five years, we have witnessed an urban renaissance all across America.
Neighborhoods, once haunted by crime and despair have been transformed into strong, safe.
12
�vibrant communities.
The best poverty program, the best jobs program, the best community development
program, is a growing economy.
Our mission has been to bring the spark of private enterprise into the inner city -- with
empowerment zones, community development banks, more loans from commercial banks,
clearing toxic waste sites for development. Now we should press forward with our opportunity
agenda for America's cities. Under the continued leadership of the Vice-President, we should
strengthen and expand the number of empowerment zones. We should give poor families the
opportunity to move into homes of their own. We should use tax^uts to spur die construction of
more low income housing.
j.
^V^C-^X^
So many of America's great cities, which rose and fell in the 20th Century, are risin
again as we approach the 21st Century. We cannot leave any person, or anjLcomrnumt^tfl^nd.
Environmental protection
( V ^ ^
LO"^
fr^S
And our national community is only as healthy as the air our children breathe, the water
they drink, and the Earth they will inherit.
Last year, we put in place the toughest-ever controls on smog and soot. We moved to
protect Yellowstone, the Everglades and the magnificent redwoods of Headwaters Forest. And
we expanded every community's right to know about the toxics that threaten their children.
Yesterday, our new plan to use cutting edge science to protect our food supply took
effect.
Tonight, I launch a new Clean Water Initiative, a far-reaching new effort to clean our
rivers, lakes and streams.
Our overriding environmental challenge is a worldwide problem requiring worldwide
action: the gathering crisis of global warming.
The vast majority of scientists have
concluded unequivocally that if we do not reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, at some
point in the next century we will disrupt our climate in potentially dangerous ways, and put our
children and grandchildren at risk. This past December, America led the world to reach a
historic agreement committing nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through market
forces, new technology and energy efficiency.
13
/
�We have it in our power to act right here, right now. I propose $6 Billion in tax cuts and
research and development to spur innovation, cleaner factories, fuel efficient cars, and energy
efficient homes.
Now, whenever we act to heal our environment, the pessimists say it will hurt our
economy. Well, today our economy is the strongest in a generation - and our air and water are
the cleanest in a generation. Americans have always found a way to grow the economy and
clean the environment at the same time.
Just this month, the Big Three unveiled prototypes of high-performance cars that get tliree
times the gas mileage of typical models today. This innovative spirit must spread to every
industry in America. [We are checking into the government's involvement]
\^ LLA^ ^
ljL/r<
J
It was on this date ~ January 27, way back in 1880 — that Thomas Ejdison received his
''7y first patent for the lightbulb. I am confident that the nation that produced t»e genius foi the
^ ^v/'^^ r \lightbulb and the telephone, the airplane and the semiconductor, can invent an economy that uses
f^^/less energy, provides more environmental protection, and continues to grow at high levels.
>
<
/
One America in the 21st Century
Finally community means fulfilling, at long last, the defining American value - the ideal
heard round the world — that all men and all women are created equal.
What can we do in our day and generation to make sure that America becomes truly one
nation, even as we become more diverse?
I have launched an initiative on race, not to dwell on our differences, but to underscore
our strengths.
^
We must begin by acknowledging -what we still must overcome. Discrimination against
any American is un-American. We must vigorously enforce the laws that make it illegal. I ask
you to provide the necessary resources to end the backlog at the Equal Opportunity Employment
Commission. 60,000 of our fellow citizens are waiting in line for justice.
Then, we must shine a light on those in our communities who are coming together
through open talk and honest labor to fight old prejudices and forge new friendships.
And above all, we must recognize that the most fundamental way for people to
14
/)
�understand each other, trust each other, and depend on each olhe^s-Sy-working wilh each other
toward a common goal. Only on the forge of common enterprise have Americans of ail
backgrounds-^sr hammered out a common identity.
That is why the United States military, the world's strongest and most skilled fighting
force, has become a proving ground for racial progress and unity. That is the lesson learned in
the Peace Corps, which harnesses our highest ideals to help better lives of ordinary people
around the world ~ and I ask the Congress to increase the number young people in the Peace
Corps by more than 50% by the Year 2000.
And that is one reason why I am so committed to AmeriCorps, our national service corps
which has given 100,000 young people the chance to earn money for college by serving their
community. Americorps members come from all races and backgrounds. They learn that what
matters is not the color of your skin, but whether you get the job done.
Service can transform the lives of our people. Last year, I called up a volunteer army to
teach every 3rd grader to read independently. I'm pleased that over 800 colleges and universities
have already joined this effort -- over X,000 work study students and volunteers, already
teaching all over America.
Now, I will send Congress a proposal to enlist colleges send mentors into middle schools and
junior high schools, to help students start early to think about plan for, and prepare themselves
for college.
Tonight I challenge every religious organization in America to take up the standard of
service. I ask you to join with other of different races through their churches and synagogues and
mosques, doing the Lord's work of building a more perfect union.
We are torchbearers of the most shining idea in history ~ the belief that shared values can
unite a diverse people in freedom and mutual respect. E Pluribus Unum. We are many. We must
be one.
GIFTS TO THE FUTURE
In that spirit, let us lift our eyes toward the new millennium. How will we mark that
passage?
Let us honor what we have been; «ra let us imagine what we can become. Let us invoke
the wonders of science and the richness of our culture — our arts and humanities — to bestow our
gifts to the future.
What are the real advances we can look forward to seeing in our lifetimes?
The entire store of human knowledge now doubles every five years. In the 1980s, it took
15
�scientists 9 year^fo identify the gene causing cystic fibrosis. Last year, we isolated the gene that
causes Parkn^ons' Disease in only 9 days. Soon, people with severe spinal cord injuries will be
able to rise^rom their wheelchairs and walk. Within a decade, ''gene chips"' will offer a roadmap
for prevention of illness throughout a lifetime. We will be able to carry all the phone calls on
Mother's Day on a single strand of fiber the width of a human hair. A typical child born in 1998
may well live to see the 22d Century, (ck)
Tonight, I propose a 21st Century Research Fund -- an ambitious new initiative for
pathbreaking research at our nation's premiere scientific institutions.
In tbe pas t year, we have
breast cancer anc diabete
cancer.
the dark secrets ofj&seSsil discovering genej
;e ours the generation in which we wii>ritewar aghinst
As important as rapid scientific progress is, science cannot proceed in a moral vacuum.
We must prevent the misuse of genetic tests to discriminate against any American.
And we must ratify the ethical consensus of the scientific and religious communities, and
ban the cloning of humans.
In our next gift to the new millennium, we asirpeupl^ will explore the far reaches of
cyberspace.
The first time I reported to you on the State of the Union, there was no such thing as a
web page on the Internet. Now, [#] web pages are created each and every day. The Internet is an
exploding global marketplace of ideas as well as commerce. I call on all the nations of the world
to make the Internet a global free-trade zone: no discriminatory taxes, no unfair tariffs.
But Ihe IlUeiliei UlUSl nut be a values-ffeB-iWTie. We will continue to work with the
computer industry to give parents tools to protect their children from inappropriate material on
the Net.
S)
Alld evfiH. as we explore innerspace\ln the new millennium we will open new frontiers in
outer space.
/\
A/
TnrrrH-:inhuman history, humankind has had only one place to call home ~ the planet
^Earth. Yet beginning this year, 1998, for the first time, men and women will build a permanent
foothold in the heavens ~ the international space station. With its vast compartments, scientists
and engineers will set sail on this uncharted >ea of limitless mystery and unlimited potential.
And this October, a true American h ro, a veteran pilot of 141 combat missions, and one
five hour space flight that changed the worlijl, will return to the heavens.
Godspeed, John Glenn.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
^Serratof- GlennXjyou will carry with you America's hopes, and on your uniform you will
16
�carry America's flag, marking the unbroken connection between the deeds of America's past and
the daring of America's future.
Nearly two h dred years ago, a tattered flaof its broad stripes and bright stars still
gleaming through
smoke of a fierce battle, mpved Francis Scott Key to scribble a few words <ft
on the back of an velope. Those words-that^ecame our national anthem. Today, that Star
)
Spangled Banner, the
:laration of Independence J:he^
the Billj-f Rr}it
on display just a prt walk from here. AThey a r e ^ ^ M j ^ ^ ^ j ^ j j g r *
them for the ages? I ask you in this Congress to support a st^e^^^j^pr^Ject to fi
re them
so that the generations of 21 st Ce'ntuir America can ss for
Selves the image and the
that are_the-old and continuing_glorv/of America.
g
threshold of a
cross America, local communities have theS
, treasureor
s main
new century, we must help those communities save America's treasures. That is one
reasons why Hillary and I launched the White House Millennium Program this year ~ to
preserve the culture we share so we can carry it with us-into the 21st Century. "
We nut only restore documents, monuments, symbols. Most of all, we seek to give new
life to the ideas at the heart of America. We can and must continue to be the last best hope of
Earth in the new millennium.
At the beginning af our first century, George Washing ton asked our people to move
beyond separate states, ta become, as he put it, "an indissolul le community of interest as one
nation." Abraham Lincoln gave his life to move beyond divis on and slavery to one nation.
Theodore Roosevelt an wr
Woodrow Wilson pushed us to reap he benefits and curb the abuses of
the Industrial Revoluth n -.- so that we could prosper as one nation. Franklin Roosevelt battled
Depression, tyranny an 1 fear, and the triumph was won by Ar rerica as one nation. Fifty years of
national leadership sto( d resolute through the-Cfold War, whil; we built the world's greatest
middle class at hoine, lifting America torlew heights as one n ition.
We have 4lwa^ been ap^ople of great works and p^t possibilities. And now, my
fellow AmericansV witl barely 700 days to the new mill
left^t falls to us to ensure that
divisible -we advance as^onanai . -- midei God
ty nnrl jnitititf ftTHfti"^God Bless You, and God Bless the United States of America.
��1/23/98 noon
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
UNITED STATES CAPITOL
January 27,1998
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of the 105th Congress, distinguished guests,
and my fellow Americans:
For 209 years, it has been the President's duty to report to you on the State of the Union:
Tonight, it is a duty any citizen would cherish. Because of the hard work and high purpose of the
American people, I can report to you tonight that these are good times for America. Our
economy is prospering. Our incomes are rising. Our social fabric is mending. Our leadership in
the world is unrivaled. The state of our union is strong.
But with barely 700 days left in the 20th Century, this is not a time to rest; this is a time
to build. With faith, daring, and energy, let us achieve the America within reach. Let us achieve
an America where scientists find cures for diseases from Alzheimers to AIDS. Let us achieve an
America where every child can stretch a hand across a keyboard and reach every book ever
written, every painting ever painted, and every symphony ever composed. Let us reach toward a
time when a confident America, which saved civilization in this century, will make partnerships
for the peace of the new century.
Let us count our blessings. Let us summon our resolve. This is a season of promise. We
do not fear the future; we welcome it. Let us rise to the challenge of our unique moment, and
strengthen our nation for the 21st Century.
We are a people bom in the greatest revolution in human history, and at every turning
point we have extended the American revolution by renewing the idea of America.
DwtSy 1992, America confronted another decisive moment in its destiny. It did not come
upon us with the roar of guns or a sudden crisis. Quietly but with gathering force, the ground
shifted beneath our feet, as we moved into an information age, a global economy, a truly new
world. Perhaps never before has one generation seen so much change, in so short a time, in so
many areas.
The changes upset old arrangements, decided new winners and losers, opened new
possibilities while raising new perils. We lacked a framework for the future, and a path and a
plan to master it. Our economy was in recession; our political system was paralyzed; too many
hardworking Americans had to struggle to make ends meet and to make sense of a world moving
beyond their control.
But for five years now, with renewed spirix and energy, our people have risen as one
nation to meet the challenge of change - tofe*g4a more perfect union, to redeem the promise of
opportunity, deepen the meaning of our freedom. Once again we have taken the path of "bold
�persistent experimentation."
At every step, we have aopirad to three goals for the 21st Century. An economy that
offers opportunity. A society that demands responsibility. And a nation that lives as a
community.
In pursuit of all this, we have moved past the sterile debate between those who say
government is the enemy and those who say government is the answer. We have shaped a new
kind of government for the Information Age. Leaner. More flexible. Focused on giving the
American people the tools to make the most of their own lives. Functioning as a catalyst for new
ideas. A government that replaces a sense of entitlement with a philosophy of empowerment.
In this we have had unparalleled success, thanks in large measure to the guiding work of
the Vice President in giving us the smallest government in 35 years, but one even better designed
to serve the American people.
My fellow Americans, we have a smaller government — but we have a stronger nation.
AN ECONOMY THAT OFFERS OPPORTUNITY
We achieved this by honestly facing and addressing our central economic challenges
with a new strategy for prosperity: Fiscal discipline to cut interest rates and spur growth.
Investing in our people to prepare them for the new economy. Tearing down trade barriers
because we believe American workers can outcompete anyone in the world.
When I took office, the deficit for 1998 was projected to be $357 billion, and heading
higher. Today, our deficit is $22 Billion, and heading lower.
For three decades, eight presidents came before you to warn of the damage deficits posed
to the nation, the economy, and our credibility. Tonight, I come before you to announce that the
federal deficit — once so incomprehensibly large that it had eleven zeroes — will be, simply, zero.
I will submit to Congress for 1999 the first balanced budget in 30 years.
And if we hold fast to our fiscal discipline, we may well balance the budget this year —
four years ahead of schedule.
Turning a sea of red ink into black is no miracle. It is the product of hard work by the
American people. It is the product of courageous votes by Members of Congress in 1993, some
of whom sacrificed their political lives so that we might reach this historic achievement. This
nation owes them our thanks.
What we did, in this chamber, across this country, in these years, was nothing less than to
make America an economy of opportunity for the 21st Century.
�oo R
e
We have nearly 15 million new jobs. The lowest unemployment in 25 years. The lowest
inflation in 30 years.
Yet the prospect of a budget surplus was only minutes old when some old, bad habits
began to reappear. We must not go back to unwise spending, or untargeted tax cuts, that risk
reopening the deficit. My balanced budget plan includes 30 tax cuts targeted to the needs of
working families: ian oute for education, for child care, for the environment. Middle class
families would pay the lowest taxes in 20 years. I ask you to enact those tax cuts now. And
whether the issue is tax cuts or spending, I ask all of you here to meet this test: approve only
those priorities that can be accomplished without adding a dime to the deficit.
What, then, should be done with any budget surplus? I believe the answer is clear.
An economy that offers opportunity mustfonor those who have built our prosperity over
a lifetime. We now have the power and the obligation tojfulfill, for new generations yet to come,
the ancient command to 'honor thy father and thy mother.'
When he proposed retirement security for the elderly. President Franklin Roosevelt called
it a "cornerstone" of our nation. We must build on that cornerstone, to make sure that security is
as strong for our children as it has been for our parents.
So tonight, I propose that we reserve 100% ofthe surplus until we strengthen Social
Security. Let us reserve every penny of any surplus until we have saved the Social Security
system. Let us reserve every penny of any surplus until we have taken all the measures necessary
to preserve Social Security for the next 75 years. Let us make this fundamental promise to all
Americans watching tonight — whether you are 70 . . . or 50 . . . or 20 years old — that Social
Security will be there when you need it. Let us, tonight, make this commitment: Social Security
first
This must be only the beginning of a determined national effort to extend Social Security
into the 21st Century. [Social Security reform process]
These are the principles that I believe must guide such reform, [reform principles]
>
Investing in people
In an economy that honors opportunity, all Americans must be able to reap the rewards of
prosperity.
[After three decades of stagnation, wages have at long last begun to increase. Now, one
simple, sensible, proven step can make a difference for millions of workers: We must raise the
minimum wage to [x] an hour.]
Five years ago, we recognized that more than an information age, we are moving into an
education age . . . an age where education starts at birth and goes on for a lifetime. An age when
A
�yje most -ttadu-
standards of knowledge will raise standards of living.
Last year, from this rostrum, I said education was our highest priority. Since then, this
Congress and the American people have responded, in the most important year for education in a
generation ...expanding choice and creating 3,000 independent charter schools ... working to
connect every classroom to the information superhighway ... beginning to build an army of tutors
to teach every 8 year old to read ... and the honor roll of education reform goes on and on.
We are waging and winning a quiet revolution. We are making at least two years of
college education as universal as high school is today. As of 1998, when parents write a tuition
check, they get a tax cut. Due to the most significant investment in higher education since the GI
Bill, today, for the first time in our history, we can say to every American, regardless of income:
if you work hard, you can go to college.
Let us extend that revolution of opportunity to every grade of our nation's public schools.
We must make sure all our children master the basics. Soon, for the first time, we will
have a voluntary national test based on national standards in 4th grade reading and 8th grade
math. Parents have a right to know whether students and schools measure up.
And every parent already knows the key to mastering these basics: small classes and good
teachers. Tonight I propose a national effort to reduce class size in the early grades. My
balanced budget will enable schools across the country to hire an additional 100,000 teachers to
reduce class size in first, second, and third grade to an average of 18 nationwide. We will insist
that every one of these new teachers passes a rigorous state competency test before they are
hired. When parents take a child to the first day of school, they should know that the class is
small enough for learning and the teacher is qualified to teach.
We must also assist communities as they seek to repair old schools and build new ones.
Let me do the math: to reduce class size, you have to build more classrooms'^
uAnd I will send Congress a proposal to enlist thousands of colleges to send mentors into
middle schools and junior high schools to help students there start planning and preparing for
college.
Let us say to all our schools: Social promotion is destructive. No child in America should
graduate if they can't read their diploma. And if schools stop promoting children who don't
leam, we will give you the resources you need to make sure they do. It is time to declare an end
to social promotion in America's schools.
Leading the global economy
As we enter the 21st Century, an economy that offers opportunity must seek it not just at
home, but in all the markets of the world. We are living in an era of great and global change.
Economic interdependence can and should lead to greater peace and stability. Nations cannot
�afford to be adversaries with their trading partners. America must use its preeminent place as a
world leader to break down trade barriers among all nations so that the global economy will lead
to a safer world for our nation.
In the last five years, we have led the way in opening up new markets. We have
negotiated 220 trade agreements, and every single one of them removes foreign barriers to
products that bear the proud label, "MADE IN THE USA."
Today, exports are at a record high, accounting for fully one third of our economic
growth. This year, I will renew my request for the necessary negotiating authority to open
markets abroad. If WL fail lu JUHW the opportiinitioo of cMpandod trade, oui' eompotitora ouroly
wiH". We can tear down the $60 billion in barriers to our agriculture, environmental technologies,
medical equipment, and other goods and products. We can make history by forging ties with
new markets in Africa and Latin America.
And we must insist that our trading partners enforce basic labor and environmental
standards. And tonight, I ask every nation to join with us in a new effort to fight the most
abusive and exploitative practices of all - forced child labor.
Opportunity in the new economy demands new steps to safeguard overall economic
growth. America will only prosper if the whole world prospers.
Today, an economic crisis anywhere can affect trading partners everywhere. Recent
months have brought serious problems in the economies and financial markets of Thailand,
Indonesia and South Korea. These nations are our customers, our competitors, and our allies. If
our customers in Asia sink into recession, they won't be able to buy the goods we want to sell
them. As competitors, as their currencies lose their value, the prices of their goods will drop,
flooding our market with low-cost products. And as our allies, their national security affects our
own. Having fought 3 wars in the Pacific during this century, we know that the stability of Asia
is a vital interest for America.
The American economy remains sound and strong ~ and I want to keep it that way. But
no one should be mistaken. The turmoil in Asia will have an impact on our economy. Preparing
for a far-off storm that may reach our shores is far wiser than ignoring the thunder until the
clouds are overhead. We can and must take common sense steps to minimize any damage to us.
No nation can or should be helped if it won't help itself by putting its own house in order . But
when nations are willing to undertake serious economic reform, it is in our interest to enable
them to do so. I call on Congress to renew America's commitment to the International
Monetary Fund - the financial firefighters that keep the world economy safe. And I thank
Speaker Gingrich and Sen. Lott, Rep. Gephardt and Sen. Daschle, for their bipartisan leadership
in support of essential action to protect the American economy.
An economy that offers opportunity must also offer help and hope to those Americans
temporarily left behind in the global marketplace or the march of technology.
�That is why we have doubled the funding for dislocated workers.
That is why we must act to help workers whose plants have closed for any reason. We
help people when their military base closes. We should help them when their factory closes.
And that is why the Congress should act this year to pass the GI Bill for Workers to
consolidate the tangle of training programs and give workers a simple grant for the training they
need.
A SOCIETY THAT DEMANDS RESPONSIBILITY
A strong nation rests on the rock of responsibility.
First, a society that demands responsibility must promote the value of work, not welfare.
We can be proud that in 1996, after decades offingerpointing and failure, we ended a welfare
system that trapped generations in a cycle of dependency. Last year, from this podium, I
challenged our nation to go further -- to move two million more Americans off of welfare by the
year 2000. Well, I am pleased to report that we've met that goal - two years ahead of schedule.
We must do more — increasing child support collections from deadbeat parents, providing
child care, helping families move closer to available jobs. And above all, I ask thousands more
businesses to join the 3000 companies already in our welfare-to-work partnership. Let us replace
the despair of dependency with the dignity of work.
Second, we must make it possible for hardworking families to meet their most important
responsibilities.
Two years ago, we guaranteed Americans won't lose health insurance when they change
jobs. Last year, we extended health care to up to 5 million children. This year, I challenge
Congress to take the next historic steps.
160 million Americans are in managed care plans. I challenge Congress to write into
law a Consumer Bill of Rights that says: You have the right to know all your medical options ~
not just the cheapest. You have the right to choose the doctor you want for the care you need.
Traditional care or managed care, every American deserves quality care.
Millions of Americans between the ages of 55 and 65 are losing their health insurance
after a lifetime of work. I challenge Congress: let these hardworking Americans buy into the
Medicare system. It won't cost the taxpayers a penny — but the peace of mind it will provide is
priceless.
And we must help parents protect their children from the gravest health threat they face:
an epidemic of teen smoking, spread by multimillion dollar marketing campaigns.
�I challenge Congress: let's pass bipartisan, comprehensive legislation that will change the
way tobacco companies do business, and raise the price of a pack of cigarettes by up to $1.50
over the next ten years if teen smoking does not go down. Today, like every day, 3000 children
start smoking, and 1000 of them will die early as a result. Let this be remembered as the
Congress that saved their lives.
In the new economy, most parents work, harder than ever - and they need more time with
their children.
The Family and Medical Leave Act has given [15] million Americans time off from work
to care for a child or a family member. I ask you to extend this law so that new mothers and
fathers can take six months of unpaid leave when they have a baby.
Child care is the next frontier. Governments don't raise children; parents do.
[acknowledge First Lady] But we can and must give parents the help they need to raise their
families right. I call upon Congress to pass a comprehensive andfiscally-responsibleplan to
make child care more affordable and accessible, with new incentives for care givers, and tax cuts
for businesses and millions of working families.
Third, a society that demands responsibility must hold individuals responsible when they
break the law — punishing crime severely when it occurs, and preventing it from happening in
the first place.
For decades, it seemed as if rising, increasingly vicious crime was the permanent poison
of our neighborhoods, our great cities, our entire nation. Now, with 100,000 new police headed
for the streets, tougher punishment, and smarter prevention, we have a crime fighting strategy
that works. I can report to you tonight that for five years in a row, murder is down, robbery is
down, assault is down, burglary is down . . . for five years in a row, all across America.
I again ask Congress to pass a juvenile crime bill that provides more prosecutors and
probation officers to crack down on gangs, guns and drugs.
We must expand before and after school programs. We must give our children
somewhere to go other than the streets.
We should bar violent juveniles from buying guns once they turn 21.
And let me speak plainly about a solemn responsibility that rests with 100 men and
women in this chamber. When the courts are clogged, criminals go free. The Senate has the
Constitutional duty to confirm judges to enforce the law and sentence the lawbreakers. Here is
what the Chief Justice ofthe United States wrote, and I quote: "[Judicial] vacancies cannot
remain at such high levels indefinitely without eroding the quality of justice." I ask the United
States Senate to heed this plea, and vote on these highly qualified judges, up or down.
Fourth, we must demand responsibility not only at home but abroad, and we must
�shoulder our great and honorable responsibility of world leadership.
In this century, the American people learned that our nation has a unique role, and we
have lived up to it, in the most extraordinary and selfless defense of freedom in human history.
We defeated the two greatest totalitarian threats of all time. We are more secure and prosperous
than ever before. Now, in a new day, at the eve of a new century, we have both the power and
the duty to shape a new era of peace.
But today's possibilities are not tomorrow's guarantees. America must stand against war
and the poisoned appeals of extreme nationalism. We must combat an unholy axis of new threats
that respect no borders: terrorists, international criminals and drug traffickers. These predators
feed on a bounty we otherwise cherish: the inventions of technology, and the free flow of
information, ideas and people. The predators will even more lethal if weapons of mass
destruction fall into their hands.
So we are writing international rules of the road for the 21st century, protecting those
who join in the family of nations, and isolating outlaw regimes.
Here are key elements of a new strategy of security for a new world.
I will ask the Senate for its advice and consent to make Hungary, Poland and the Czech
Republic the newest members of NATO. These formerly Communist countries have said "yes"
to democracy. I ask the Senate to say yes to them. For fifty years, the alliance has kept America
and Western Europe secure. By taking in new members, working with new partners, and
cooperating closely with Russia and Ukraine, we will extend the frontiers of security so Europe
never again becomes a theater of war.
This Christmas, I traveled to Bosnia with Senator Dole and a bipartisan Congressional
delegation. The progress is unmistakable. But it is not irreversible. Bosnia's fragile peace still
demands the presence of an international military force. That is why American troops should
take part in a follow-on security force when the current NATO mission ends in June. Senator
Dole said it best: this is like being ahead in the fourth quarter of a football game. Now is not the
time to walk off the field and forfeit the game.
I wish you could have all been with us to visit our troops in Tuzla. They are the pride of
our nation. After five years as President, there is one thing I know with certainty: give our men
and women in uniform a clear and purposeful mission and they deliver. We must make it our
mission to deliver for them. Together, we must keep our troops well-trained and ready improve their quality of life — and equip them with the 21st Century weapons they need to defeat
any enemy. Help me give America's soldiers our full support. They earn it every day.
Next, I ask Congress to pursue the most ambitious agenda to reduce the threat of weapons
of mass destruction since the invention of the atom bomb.
This year, four decades years after it was first proposed by President Eisenhower, a
�comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty is within our reach. By ending all nuclear testing, we can
help prevent a new arms race and make it harder for non-nuclear states to develop the deadliest
of all weapons. [Endorsement announcement to come]. I ask the Senate: before the end of this
session, ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and lift the nuclear cloud that has shadowed
our lives for fifty years.
For the next fifty years, we must confront the new hazards of outlaw states, terrorists and
organized criminals plotting to wage chemical and biological warfare.
The United Nations weapons inspectors have destroyed more of Iraq's nuclear, chemical
and biological weapons potential than during the Gulf War itself. Now, Saddam Hussein wants
to stop them from carrrying our their mission. I say to him, on behalf of all Americans: we
cannot, and we will, not let you do that. The inspectors will stay on the job until Iraq dismantles
its weapons program. Period. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. [Update TK]
At the very moment the UN inspectors are working to protect our children, Congress'
failure to pass bipartisan legislation to pay our UN debt threatens to diminish our influence
within the UN — and our credibility around the world. When we give our word, we should keep
our word. America pays its bills.
Last year, the Senate ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention to protect our soldiers
and citizens from poison gas. Now, we must act to prevent an even more lethal threat: the use
of disease as a weapon of war and terror. The Biological Weapons Convention has been in force
for 25 years, but it lacks tough enforcement measures. This year, we must strengthen that treaty
with an international inspection system to detect and deter cheating.
In the months ahead, I will pursue our security strategy with old allies in Europe and
Asia, and forge new ties with new partners around the world — from Africa to India and Pakistan,
from South America to China. Whenever I represent our nation abroad, one thing is clear:
In the century we are leaving, one nation rose up from isolation, to save the world — again
and again. That nation was America. And America must continue to lead the world. For our moral
strength and military might are often the only things that stand between war and peace, chaos and
stability, tyranny and freedom. Now, for the century we are entering, we are waging a long sunlit
struggle. That is our heritage, our hope, and our responsibility.
A NATION THAT LIVES BY COMMUNITY
Two centuries ago, we proclaimed to the world that we had come together to form not just
a new nation, but "a more perfect union." More than ever, we must recognize that we are
inextricably linked by the idea of America itself. We are on a mission together. We as a nation must
live together as a community.
�Political reform & reinventing government
First of all, our government ~ the instrument of our national community -- must earn the trust
of the American people.
Elections have become too expensive, fueling a fundraising arms race. For years, good
campaignfinancereform bills have been brought to the floor of Congress. And for years, the special
interests and their allies have smothered those bills by filibuster. But not this year. This year, on
March 11, the Senate will vote on real, bipartisan reform proposed by Senator McCain and Senator
Feingold. Let's be clear: a vote against McCain Feingold is a voteforsoft money, for the status quo,
for the loss of trust. I ask you to strengthen our democracy and pass campaign finance reform.
But we must do more to make government work better. Under Vice President Gore's
leadership, we have already slashed 16,000 pages of regulations, transformed HUD and the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, and reduced the federal payroll by 300,000 workers.
Like every taxpayer, I am outraged by the reports of abuses by the IRS. Last year, by an
overwhelming bipartisan margin, the House passed our sweeping IRS reforms. Months later, that
bill still languishes in the Senate. Tonight I challenge the Senate: as your first order of business, pass
our bipartisan package of IRS reforms. Do it now. Professionalize the IRS — don't politicize it.
Empowering communities
Community is not just an ideal. It can and must become and everyday reality wherever our
people live.
Today, homeownership is at record levels. Instead of big government programs, our smaller
government has brought the spark of private enterprise into the hardest pressed communities. My
balanced budget will build on this progress, with a record commitment to economic development,
housing, and help for the homeless. I ask you to double our Empowerment Zones, which have
revitalized central cities and rural areas alike.
Environmental protection
And our national community is only as healthy as the air our children breathe, the water they
drink, and the Earth they will inherit.
Last year, we toughened controls on smog and soot. We moved to protect Yellowstone, the
Everglades and the magnificent redwoods of Headwaters Forest. And we expanded every
community's right to know about the toxics that threaten their children.
Tonight, I launch a new Clean Water Initiative, a far-reaching new effort to clean our rivers,
lakes and streams. I am also proposing a new plan to use cutting edge science to protect our food
supply.
10
�Our overriding environmental challenge is a worldwide problem requiring worldwide action:
the gathering crisis of global warming. The vast majority of scientists have concluded unequivocally
that if we do not improve energy efficiency, we will disrupt our climate, undermine our economy,
and put our children and grandchildren at risk. This past December, America led the world to sign
a historic treaty that invokes market forces to reduce greenhouse gases.
We have it in our power to act right here, right now. I propose $6 Billion in tax cuts and
research and development to spur innovation, cleaner factories, fuel efficient cars, and energy
efficient homes.
Whenever we act to heal our environment, the pessimists say it will hurt our economy. Well,
today our economy is the strongest in a generation — and our air and water are the cleanest in a
generation. Just this month, Ford, GM, and Chrysler unveiled high-performance cars that get three
times the gas mileage of typical models today. This innovative spirit must spread to every industry
in America.
It was on this date - January 27, in 1880 ~ that Thomas Edison received his first patent for
the lightbulb. I am confident that the nation that invented the telephone and television, the airplane
and the semiconductor, can invent an economy that uses less energy, provides more environmental
protection, and continues to grow at record levels.
One America in the 21st Century
Finally community means fulfilling, at long last, the defining American value - the ideal
heard round the world — that all men and all women are created equal.
It is more than two centuries since we proclaimed that truth to be self evident... 135 years
since we wiped the stain of slavery from our soil... 30 years, this April, since the crack of a rifle
ended the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., America's patriot and prophet.
We are still beset by racial division, by the crime of discrimination, by the sin of hate.
What can we do in our day and generation to build an America that is truly one nation?
We must begin by acknowledging what we still must overcome. Discrimination is unAmerican. We must vigorously enforce the laws that make it illegal. I ask you to provide the
necessary resources to end the backlog at the antidiscrimination agency that ensures all Americans
an equal opportunity to work. 60,000 of our fellow citizens are waiting line for justice.
We should also acknowledge that while we have torn down the walls in our laws, but we
have not torn down the walls in our hearts. I believe that an honest and open dialogue among people
of different races, backgrounds and religions can bring us closer together.
Above all, let us acknowledge that the greatest progress we can make toward building one
America lies in the progress we make for all Americans. When we open the doors of college to all
11
�Americans, that builds one nation. When we cleanse our streets of crime, that builds one nation.
When we make sure that every parent has the child care they need, that builds one nation.
Let us go forward, as Dr. King said, with "an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith
in the future of mankind." We are torchbearers of the most shining idea in history — the belief that
shared values can unite a diverse people infreedomand mutual respect. E Pluribus Unum. We are
many. We must be one, with a sense of connection to a great and common enterprise of hope.
GIFTS TO THE FUTURE
In that spirit, let us look forward toward the new millennium. How will we mark that
passage, which comes just once in a thousand years.
Let us honor what we have been; let us imagine what we can become; let us invoke the
wonders of science and the richness of our culture to endow the gifts of the future.
Tonight, I propose a 21st Century Research Fund — an ambitious new initiative for
pathbreaking research at our nation's premiere scientific institutions. We have unlocked the dark
secrets of disease, discovering genes for breast cancer and diabetes. Now, let's make ours the
generation in which we win the war against cancer.
Science cannot proceed in a moral vacuum. We must prevent the misuse of genetic tests to
discriminate against any American. And we must ratify the ethical consensus ofthe scientific and
religious communities, and ban human cloning.
In our next gift to the new millennium, we as a people will explore the far reaches of
cyberspace.
The first time I reported to you on the State of the Union, there was no such thing as a web
page on the Internet. Now, [#] web pages are created each and every day. The Internet is an
exploding global marketplace of ideas as well as commerce. I call on all the nations of the world
to make the Internet a global free-trade zone: no discriminatory taxes, no unfair tariffs. But the
Internet must not be a valuefreezone. We will continue to work with the computer industry to give
parents tools to protect their children from inappropriate material on the Net.
And even as we explore innerspace, in the new millennium we will open new frontiers in
outer space.
For all of human history, humankind has had only one place to call home ~ the planet Earth.
Beginning this year, 1998, for the first time, men and women will build a permanent foothold in the
heavens — the international space station. With its vast compartments, scientists and engineers will
set sail on this uncharted sea of limitless mystery and unlimited potential.
And this October, a true American hero, a veteran pilot of 141 combat missions, and one five
hour space flight that changed the world at midcentury, will soar above the world again.
12
�Godspeed, John Glenn.
Senator Glenn, you will carry with you America's hopes, and on your uniform you will carry
America's flag. For there is an unbroken connection between the deeds of America's past and the
daring of America's future.
Nearly two hundred years ago, a tattered flag, its broad stripes and bright stars still gleaming
the smoke of a fierce battle, moved Francis Scott Key to scribble a few words on the back of an
envelope — words that became our national anthem. Today, that Star Spangled Banner, the
Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, are on display just a mile from
here. They are America's crown jewels, and we must preserve them for the ages. I ask you this
Congress to support a state-of-the-art project to restore them so that the generations ofthe 21st
Century can see for themselves the image and the words that are the old and continuing glory of
America.
Local communities everywhere in this land have their own treasures. At the threshold of a
new century, the White House Millennium Program will help those communities save those
treasures.
We not only restore documents, monuments, symbols. Our ideals are more than words
scratched on parchment. Most of all, we seek to give new life to the ideas at the heart of America.
We can and must continue to be the last best hope of Earth in the new millennium.
At the beginning of our first century, George Washington asked our people to move beyond
separate states, to become, as he put it, "an indissoluble community of interest as one nation." Our
new nation, little more than a string of outposts along one coast, even then was struggling to live
up to its proclaimed ideals. But George Washington saw that the "great experiment" launched by
his generation would endure if the revolutionary values and timeless virtues of our founding were
given new life through new means and methods in each new era.
Abraham Lincoln gave his life to move beyond division and slavery to one nation. Theodore
Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson pushed us to reap the benefits and curb the abuses of the Industrial
Revolution - so that we could prosper as one nation. Franklin Roosevelt battled Depression,
tyranny and fear, and the triumph was won by America as one nation. Fifty years of national
leadership stood resolute through the Cold War, while we built the world's greatest middle class at
home, lifting America to new heights as one nation.
We have always been a people of great works and great possibilities. And now, my fellow
Americans, the test and the work come to us. It falls to us to ensure that America advances as one
nation. We have 700 days left before the dawn's early light shines on the new millennium. Let us
"rise up and build, and strengthen our hand for the good work ahead." Let us imagine the American
future, and go into it, proud and unafraid, as "one nation — under God — indivisible — with liberty
and justice for all."
God Bless You, and God Bless the United States of America.
13
�01/21/98
13:38
©
I2]003
uf Uiii. muujBii^-strpngthemng our nation for the Slat Century. •
" l ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ i ^ ^ ^
We are a people born in the greatest revolution in human history, and at every turning
point in our destiny we have extended the American revolution by renewing the idea of America.
This, I am convinced, is what our founders meant when they committed themselves and
their descendants down to the present generation to form a more perfect unionGeorge Washington asked our people to move beyond separate states, to become, as he
put it, "an indissoluble community of interest as one nation." Abraham Lincoln gave his life to
move beyond division and slavery to one nation. Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson
pushed us to reap the benefits, yet curb the abuses, of the Industrial Revolution — so that we
could remain one nation. FDl^
battled Depression, tyranny and fear , ^triumph wefe-by America
as one nation. Fifty years of Democratic and Republican leaders from President Truman to
President Bush stood resolute throughout the Cold War, and built the world's greatest middle
class at home, lifting America to new heights as one nation.
But by 1992, America confronted another decisive moment in its destiny. Slowly but
with gathering force, the ground shifted beneath our feet, as we moved into an information age, a
global economy, a world in which the collapse of communism spawned new nations and let
loose old hatreds. These changes upended old arrangements, declared new winners and losers,
�01/21/98
0^
13:38
©
111004
opened new possibilities as it raised new perils.(We lacked a framework for underDtQiiding it.
and a^plan to master it. Our economy was in recession, our political system was paralyzed, and
A
*
our problems mounted,
^
because our leadership drifted, too many hardworking honest
Americans bad to struggle to survive and make sense of a world moving beyond their control.
Tt has been our challenge and our blessing to live and to lead at the historic convergence
of great and global change. The moment did not come upon us with the roar of guns or any other
sudden crisis that usually signals a decisive time. But seldom in our two centuries and more has
one generation seen so much change, in so short a time, in so many areas.
We are Americans. We do not fear change; we embrace it. ^ r five yearSi our people
. v^Jt
*
^
have -Hsefl-t^ the challenge of change -- acting to redeem the promise of America, to forge a
more perfect union, to widen and deepen the meaning of our freedom. Wc have moved with new
confidence, in a renewed spirit of hope, once again taking the path of "bold persistent
experimentation."
And at every step, our actions have been grounded in three principles: Opportunity for all
Americans. Responsibility from all Americans. A community of all Americans.
To make these principles real, we have moved past the sterile debate between those who
say government is the enemy and those who say government is the answer. We recognized that
�01/21/98
13:38
®
IgOOS
government is but one instrument by which a free people fashions its future. We have forged a
new kind of government. Smaller. More flexible. Focused on giving tlie American people the
,
tools to make the most of this new era. O n - b a ^ a catalyst for new ideas. -Qi^protcetmg_thc
dcfcmelt;.ss, and Linpuwerii^fhe dicadvaatagcd^A government that replaces a sense of
entitlement with a philosophy of empowerment.
In this we have had'gre^ success, thanks in large measure to tlie guiding work ofthe Vice
President in giving us the smallest government in 35 years, but one even better designed to move
us forward.
My fellow Americans, we have a smaller government ~ but we have a stronger nation.
• Wc idniiot sluiuk fjum diis world of change - WS nmsl masltr it. Yet we cannot tell our
^^•^-peepkrtcrtend tor themselves ~ we must act to make sure all Americans can reap Ihcmwaidj uf
-change.
A n d Wa ttannnt s h r i n k f r o m ihe. w m l t l — Uii' nmO m i
nmy ^mi-rirp! hflS acted at its
^_mo^aelll<l ot greatness, one nation among many, leading the world toward new heights of
J
- FffE-EJmEsflVAY
- -THE-rmjClZED
TO BRING THE DEFICIT TRIUMPH UP HIGHER IS TO
MA 'lERlAl
.
DELETEltttr
�0^/21/98
13:39
Igooe
tJ
We musl recognize that in this new era, a strongnation
requires robust leadership
ofthe
world— our jieedo\n and independence enriched, not dimihished, by our interdependence
with
the people of other nations. That is why I hm>e sought to persuade Congress and the American
people that what happens beyond our borders affects our sec urity, our well being, and our
children's future.
In lhe\21st Century, a central fact nf our world is this: in advancing trade, in
keeping the peace and preventing war, combating climate cnange and the spread of disease,
stabilizing the global financial system -- American leadership matters . . . not only to the world,
but to America.
And we must recognize that in the 21st Century, America will be challenged, as we have
always been, by the divisions of rac&and ethnicity, hy the challenge of living out the true
meaning of our creed. If we are to bund one nation, then we must indy be one nation. If we are
io deepen the meaning of our freedom, then wi must live by our ideals.
So tonight, with the slate of OIL/ unioh so strong, with our prospects so bright, let us
embrace with optimism and vigor/the remaining challenges to building our bridge to the 21st
Century.
Let us debateour differences in a spirit, of goodwill and civility. And let us determine tn
do whatever it/akes lo build an economy that offers oppcMunity - a society that demands
responsibility — a. nation rooted in community, here and around the world.
�01/21/98
13:39
121007
tT
AN ECONOMTKTHAT O F F E R S OPPORTUNITY
A stiong nation begmsVitfi the economy, our engine of opportunity. First, that means
honoring those who built our rtrospentv Second, that means preparing the next generation to
earn a better life in this new century. And thrid^recognizing that the best way to achieve
opportunity i ^ to reach beyond our borders.
Fi.scakrcsponsi bilitv
economic growth demands fiscaldjScipline
When T took office, the deficit for 1998 was projected to be $357 billion, and heading
higher. Today, our deficit is $22 Billion, and heading lower.
For three decades, eight presidents came before you to warn ofthe damage deficits posed
to the nation, the economy, and our credibility. Tonight, I come before you to announce that the
federal deficit — once so incomprehensibly large that it had eleven zeroes — will be, simply, zero.
I will submit to Congress for 1999 the first balanced budget in 30 years.
�01/21/98
Igloos
13:40
And i f we hold fast to our fiscal discipline, we may well balance the budget this year.
This year — four years ahead of schedule.
Turning a sea of red ink into black is no miracle. It is the product of hard work, discipline
and wise investment by the American people. It is the product of courageous votes by Members
)
of Congress in 1993, some of whom sacrificed their political lives so thcit we might i»»ijgct£2g
momenfr This nation owes them our thanks.
^
Now, the question we face is not merely one of fiscal policy but of fundamental direction.
Will we move forward with a new economic strategy that has brought new prosperity — or fall
backward to the failed policies of the past?
Tt seemed as i f the prospect of a budget surplus was only minutes old before some old,
bad habits began to reappear. We must not. go back to unwise spending, or shortsighted tax cuts,
that risk reopening the deficit. My balanced budget plan includes 30 tax cuts targeted to the
needs of working families: tax cuts for education, for child care, for the environment. Middle
class families would pay the lowest taxes in 20 year s. But every one of these priorities can and
must be accomplished without adding a dime to the deficit or a person to the federal payroll.
What should be done with our nation's hard-eamed budget surplus? I believe the answer 43> ^
> clear. We have acted, diiisi'v Jy and tiuoccaafully, to erase our budgot deficit. Now Hre must—
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�0,1/21/98
13:40
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fioe to -a-diity ao old oo the aeriptural afetnrnmijiiiui1ftir honorthy Ti
lather and thy mother^ and as
C t n r e f t ^ ' - , t h r ninrrl t n n u r t u r e n u r r l - n l r l v ^ n
When he proposed retirement security for the elderly. President Franklin Roosevelt called
it a "cornerstone" of our nation. We must build on that cornerstone, to protect our parents and
provide for our children.
So tonight, I propose that we reserve 100% of the surplus until we strengthen Social
Security. Let. us reserve every penny of any surplus until we have flavedu the Social Securty
system. Let us reserve every peimy of any surplus until we have taken all the measures necessary
to preserve thii piugidJ^for the next 75 years. We must make this crowning achievement ofthe
20th Century a continuing eornoratonc crfthe 21st Century. Let us commit that Social Security
will bether^lor thogqywho are 70, and 50, and 2d^Let us, tonight, make this commitment:
Social Securitv
-Thi^must
first.
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C*-HU-© ^ g ^ ^ ^ ^ T )
K>MLA;-
be only the beginning of a -detcnnin^i national effort to^extend Social Security
into the 21 st Century. [Social Security reform process]
-^RlESS ai-e the principles that 1 believe must guide such reform, [reform principles]
Ore^U)
�01/21/98
\
El 010
13:40
r g y ilJIIJUAing finenif d i
led the condliionyfbr auatalnaa growth. Bui
an e c o n o m y that honors o p p o r t u n i t v *£$&&£B$5£> A m e r i c a n s must-^
j the rewards o f p r o s p e r i t y .
i
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we will only
u
strengthen
>
our prosperity
c^Jecx^fP
if all Americans
reality, the i n c o m e gap is an o p p o r t u n i t y gap. I t ic a gap
share in creating
x
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it. Today,
in
£ \\j
fcuu-dJ
-tiilujiiife, and mUMl c m i l i i m e t u -
B v f a r the m o s t i m p o r t a n t w a v to close the o p p o r t u n i t v gap is to m a k e certain that every
A m e n c a n has access to the best education i n the w o r l d ,
F i v e years ago, w e recognized that —^more than an i n f o r m a t i o n age, w e are m o v i n g i n t o
_ girt
_
_
an education age __ w h i c h lenowlodgo d e t c f m y i e ^ h o w m u c h ^y o i ^ e a i a j i d a. d i p l o m a ia o n l y at
m
v
i
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i tlie jlcillc belxind i t ;
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Last year, i n afiS» State o f the U n i o n , I aaid thrft education was our n a t i o n ' s grcateet
, ,
•jA^-*-*
-challanKf: ~ a n d T proposed a t e n p o i n t p l a n for A m e r i c a n oduoationi D u r i n g the paat yocuy this
Congress and the A m e r i c a n people have -fiBan to thio c h a l l c i i g ^ , with^fhe m o s t i m p o r t a n t year f o r
education r e f o r m i n a generation ...expanding choice and creating 3,000 independent charter
schools ... w o r k i n g to connect every classroom to the i n f o r m a t i o n s u p e r h i g h w a y ... b e g i n n i n g to
b u i l d a n a r m y o f tutors to teach every 8 year o l d to read ... and more..
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CSLMKN LIBRARY PHOTOCOPY
�01/21/98
13:41
©
gjoil
-1997 wan mi hi^tuiic yeui fui A i m i i a i i nJLLCaUoii, 1998 can be even biUmn
L^v—C
We have waged and won a quiet revolution: a century after America made high school
available to all, we are making the first two years of college as universal as a high school degree
is today.
Beginning January 1 of this year, for tlie very first time, when parents write a tuition
check, they will get a tax cut. Today, for the first time in our history, we can say to eveiy
American, regardless of income: if you work bard, you can go to college. / *
if?? umu. o*. iu>f^>
^^ ' ^ ijjt^o
•We-eaacontinue our progress and extend that-revolution ta-OTu public schools as WCIIT—«-u.
We need a new ethic of education based on high standards, reaj^ competition, strict accountability
inournation'r. public schools
^
'i'Cajb-<-e^-^-u^ W
^
^roo many of our children suffer from a tyranny of low expectations; too many schools
promote students whether they learn somedm^or not.
We must make •sm^ all our children master the basics. This fall, for the first time, we will
have a voluntary national test based on national standards in 4th grade reading and 8th grade
math. Parents ratts^ know whether students and schools measure up.
^u9~¥(vsry parent knows the key to mastering-thcas basicy^small classes and good teachers.
(
Tonight I propose a national effort to reduce class size in the early grades. My balanced budget
10
Q ^ ^ ^
�01/21/98
13:41
©
[21012
•will enable schools across the country to hire an additional 100,000 teachers to reduce class size
in first, second, and third grade to an average of 18 nationwide. We will insist that these new
teachers pass rigorous state competency tests before they are hired. Wher^arents take a child to
the first day of school, they should know that (lie class is small enough to learn and the teacher is
qualified enough to teach.
We must also assist communities as they seek to repair old schools and build new ones.
You can't reduce class size if you don't have enough classrooms.
And we must recognize that tlie key to equal opportunity in higher education is equal
performance in the lower grades. I will send-^Congress a proposal to send thousands of mentors
into our schools to reach all our children and show them they can all go to college.
•And let ua finally say to our schools: Social promotion is destructive. No child in
America should graduate if he or she cannot read a diploma. And if you stop promoting children
who don't learn, we will give you the resources you need to make sure they do. It. is time to
declare an end to social promotion in America's schools.
Leading the global economv
11
11
�01/21/9
121013
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flem^nt
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-will live in a global ccunoittyja dynamic new marketplace that links billions of people-through
tie»-©fcommerce and comimmication*. There is no turning back. The only way to «%4end
opportunity is to make the international economy work for our people. Here's how we're doing
it.
4v\
- And in the last five years, America has reached 220 trade agreements, every single one of
4^r-o
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If
them tearing down foreign barriers to products that bear the proud label, "MADE IN
S il
~ > -n--
Aiyifc,.bLl(jAT^ Today, exports are at a record high. Fully one third of our economic growth comes
IVom expanding exports - from selling to the 96% ofthe world's consumers who live beyond our
borders.
But foreign nations still impose $60 billion in tariff taxes on the products and services we
export. Ameriea must continue to tear dowh thsBe barriers.fi very much regret that Congross
- failed to provide tlio power to tenr down these barriers laat year,-but T will ijeek that authoi ity
.again this year. If we fail to seize the opportunities of expanded trade, onr competitors surely
will. -And that would be-a-pokcy ofAm^a
- - ^VG9 ^
Jact. —
f
^
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We must ate^ insist that our trading partners enforce, basic labor and environmental
f( ^ , t \ y j
standards. And tonight, 1 aak every nation to join with us in a new effort to fight the most
abusive and exploitative practice^of all - forced child labor.
12
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�0^/21/98
f?
13:42
©
121014
6 e new global economy also demands new steps to continue overall economic growth.
Today, an economic crisis anywhere can affect trading partners everywhere. In recent
months^serious problems have oriaoyn tlic economies and financial markets of Thailand,
Indonesia and South Korea. These nations are our customers, our competitors, and our allies. I f
our customers in Asia sink into recession, they won't be able to buy the goods we want to sell
them - and our exports will diminish. Afl competitoro, aa their cuirenciesflose their value, the
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prices of Aeirgoods will drop, flooding our market with low-cost goods. And as our allies, -these—nations-' security affects our own. Having fought 3 wars the^ tliis centuiy, the American people
know we^that the stability of Asia affnts tire seuuily uf Ameiieth--^
O
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"^ —^
The American economy remains sound and strong — and I want to keep it that way. But
.
~J
«i\v one sliuuld be inistakon.yTtie turmoil in Asia will have aa impact WMHir economy. Preparing
for a far-off storm that may reach our shores is far wiser,ramH~di cheapen than ignoring 4hat •
T—stem*until the clouds are overhead.
We afeetikftake aeBSiM& steps to contain the effects of the current financial turmoil
overseas 4o minimi^g its impact on our economy—steps that reflect common sense principles.
r
First, no nation can be helped i f it won't help itself by putting its own house in order, -errt—
A
.Second, when
2££ willing to take rosponoibilityot is in our interest to enable them to do so.
Tonight, I renew my call to the Congress to renew /^merica's commitment to the International
13
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�01/21/98
13:42
©
121015
Sop?
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Monetary Fund - the financial firefighters that keep the world economy atron^ And I thank
Speaiker Gingrich and Senator Lott, R e ^ Gephardt and-Se^JDaschle,
v
f o r T i [ T ^
"Aawi-^he new global ooonomy plaeca new demands on our peopl^and raquiren new aetion •
iy our Ualiujial commtuittji lu help more Americans benefit - and to helpThusi; whu do it&tr-
P^^^^i
That ia vfSy my balanced budget will triple funding for dislocated workers.
Thnt ia why wc mujfact to help workers whose plants have closed for any reason, with a
rapid response plan modeled after our successful base closing efforts.
And that is why the Congress should act this year to pass the GI Bill for Workers — a
Careers Bill that will consolidate tlie tangle of training programs and give workers a simple grant
for the training they need.
A SOCIETY T H A T DEMANDS ESPONSIBTLITY
�01/21/98
1)016
13:43
A strong nation rests on the •TOej^of a strong society -- a society that demands
reSpnnSihility.
-C*rct
t h i t
mPCinc u m m n i l
-rrrrnn'l hntiV'IrtC i' Tin-r.ihlr fin li.ml
prr.iilr.t^^CS inlnr-r
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a
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rVint
rlring fnmilipg tn m^et. their mn«r|- jrnpnrt-rmt r^sr^nFiHylh'^
'Thrrd, that means huldmg people lesponsihlo when they break-thc-law^—Wc
'vhfn it nrrnrn nnH prn^py^ it frnm happeninj^Fpyith
nishijrinis.
'
.demandingreapono not only at
home but abioad — and bhuuldcfing wrreapgmBibility u f wiiild-leadtMiliip.-
Iii 1996, we ended a welTaie system that trapped generations of Americans in a^cycle of
dependencv^and roplaeed it witn a •am*- svstem based on work and responsibility ./Last year,
from this podium, I challenged our nation to move two million more AmericiUis off of welfare by
the year 2000. Well, I am pleased to report that we've met that goal ^two years ahead of
schedule.
y
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We must do more — increasing child support Collections ev«ii fui lllti^ providing child
care and help to move families closer to available jobs. And above all, thouciandn more~
$J
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businessesflstMtjoin the 3000 companies-'in our welfare-to-work partnership, to replace the
despair of dependency with the dignity of work.
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�01/21/98
13:43
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Wa IMVL made health care pmable Jjom juL> tu jt»k Last year,/we extended health care to
up to 5 million children. Toda^I challenge Congress to take two more jtopo that rogpond to the—- rapidly ch.mgifirwnrld of health omo.
v
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More than 160 million Americans now receive health care through managed care plans.
I challenge Congress to write into law a Consumer Bill of Rights that says: You have the right to
know all your medical options — not just the cheapest. You have the right to choose the doctor
you want for the care you need. Traditional care or managed care, every American deserves
quality care.
Millions of Americans between the ages of 55 and 65 are falling through the cracks uf thp
• lui'dlUiemi sysluu ancj art^losing thei^lnsurance after a lifetime of work. T challenge Congress:
^Jet these hardworking Americans buy into the Medicare system. It won't cost the taxpayers a
penny — but the peace of mind it will provide is priceless.
And we must help parents protect their children from the greatest health threat they f a c ^
an epidemic of teen smoking, spread by multimillion dollar marketing campaigns.
•"This is tho yoar we muo^pass bipartisan, landmark legislation that will change the way
tobacco companies do business, and raise the price of a pack of cigarettes by up to $1.50 over the
next ten years i f teen smoking does not go down. Let this Congress be remembered as the
16
16
^-
�01/21/98
13:43
12018
Congress that stopped 3,000 children a day from starting smoking and stopped 1,000 of them
from dying before their time.
^.
Tim third wav lo heln onr families Taky lesptjusihilitv ii^to help them nisgt iliftir^
• uhligatiiifis at home and at wnrfc^ In the new economy, most parents work, harder than ever - and
they need more time with their children.
The Family and Medical Leave Act has given. [15] million Americans time off from work
to care for a child or a family member. But. newborns need more. I ask you to extend Family
Leave so that new mothers and fathers can take six months off from work.
Child care is the next frontier for the American community. Governments don't raise
children; parents do. \acknn-wledge. Firsi Lady] But our new kind of government can give
they need to tak^recponaibility. I call upon Congress to pass a comprehensive
and fiscally-responsible plan to make child care more affordable and accessible, improving pay
and raising Standards for care givers, and giving incentives tp businesses and tax cuts4e-millions
of working tamilies.
Fdnrth. wc have Wuiked to put Ihese Vt-lluas of re^juinsibility ajid fainily. " ' ^
v
YMA^ LuuitP ^xj^&S3£%&3> ivA^v (iW^
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,-—fbrtew:ftidie centei ufum effort to fight cjims. [/J-^CAJ-. A-CO^ Jtrc-rd&z- '^rKj)
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�0,1/21/98
13:44
11019
For decades, it seemed as i f rising, increasingly -vici ou crime was a permanent blot on our
I•
53
strategy that works./^br live years in a row, crime is down, all across America. Now wc must
{
press on,.
O
^ ^ - O <S -<A lU5-eA/
4
Congress slioidd finally pass a juvenile crime bill that provides more prosecutors and/
(28Si3B?L)
probation officers to crack down on gangs, guns and drugs^jWe should bar violent juveniles^-—.
from buying guns once they turn 21. And I will ask Congress to pass a new federal law to
sentence repeat child sex offenders tn life in prison without possibility of parole.
0@31m law IIILL.".! bt. aufuiLLd -- SLtUllgly, swiftly, cfftiaiimly-! When the courts are
clogged, criminals go free. The Senate has the Constitutional duty to confirm judges to uphold
•justice. The Chief Justice of the United States was right when he wrote, and I quote, "[Judicial]
vacancies cannot remain at such high levels indefinitely without eroding the quality of justice." 1
ask tliis Congress to heed this plea, and vote on these highly qualified judges, up or down.
•Am^h'e must expand before- and after-school programs. We must give our children
somewhere to go oilier than the streets.
rnrnrifrrTtiTrffhe ahrnart America rmKract^ciadvance
18
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18
OLJUJI
UtMjLC VOM-tsi
�its .^.c.nrn^ni1ili .uiim oW realities alifl ncy/ Lhreiflgr
L
In this century, the American people-have agreed that oui' nation has a unique
^r**-^
fcapumibility tu lead. As a result we aie more secure and prosperous than ever. Awkwe have
<P>
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^ ^ ^ ^
J
buLiigin-u an txtiJordinnrj- nppnrtumty and gorrespondmg reeponBibihty to build a n< w era of
<
peace and security.
Wp ^^ S_/'
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But today's possibilities are not tomorrow's guarantees. Wc J I L making the i i c ^
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~t5eai- its burdens WilllOUt reaping ith buiifils. We arc helping age-old enemies make peace. But
the poisoned appeals of extreme nationalism and racial and religious hatreds still summon
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humanity's capacity for evil. We prevailed in the superpower stand-off. But dangerous conflicts \ ^ 1
between nations persist. And we remain vulnerable to an unholy ftxi^ of new threats: terrorism,
international crime and drug trafficking. These 21 * century predators feed on thei poyei of
technology and the free flow of information, ideas and people wc ehcrish
.-ror.poot Ibr bordora.
aiidf they have au
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To mcct tticse challcngciTwe are pursuing a new "secwity strategy - adapting old
institutions to new demands, forging new alliances and backing them where necessaiy witli
America's military might. Brick by brick, we are building a solid structure for America's
security in the 21- century.
19
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�Here are some uf lild y i e i c / o f this strateg/we u s t put in place together • y h i s year.
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First, m a few d a y ^ l will ask the Senate for its advice and consent to make tliree of
Europe's new democracies -- Hungary, Poland and tlie Czech Republic — the newest members of
NATO. For fifty years, the alliance kept America and Western Europe secure. Now, America is
leading the way in transforming NATO for the 21" century. By taking in new members, working
with new partners, and cooperating closely with Russia and Ukraine, we can extend the
frontiers
.
of peace and security - and build a future in which Europe never again wilcsnah^i the horrors we
have seen in this century. 1 ask the Senate to say yes to NATO's historic enlargement.
Second, I will ask tliis Congress to continue its support for our troops in Bosnia. For four
years, Bosnia was mired in the deep freeze of destruction. Now, it has begun to grow again in
the sunlight of peace.
This Christmas, I traveled to Bosnia witli Senator Dole and a bipartisan Congressional
delegation. We agreed that progress is unmistakable. But it is not yet irreversible. To take firm
root, Bosnia's fragile peace still needs the secure environment only an international military
force can provide. That is why 1 believe that American troops should take part in a follow-on
security force when (he current NATO mission ends in June. Senator Dole said it best: Ihis is
like being in a football game, we're ahead and it's the fourlh quarter. Who wants to walk off the
field and forfeit the game? We should stay , finish the game and take home the win for thjf world p-^o-dJ?
20
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�aTnHbr peacfit.
All of us on that tup were especially proudto visit with our troops in Tuzla. After five
years as President, there is one thing I know with certainty ; give our men and women in uniform
a clear and purposeful mission and they deliver. We must make it our mission to deliver foi
them. My balanced budget will allow us to keep our troops well-trained and ready... improve
their quality of life... and pay tor the 21" century technology they need to defeat any enemy. By
giving the budget your support, you will give America's soldiers our support. They earn it every
day.
lost
Third, i ask Congress to join me in pursuing the most ambitious agenda to fi
ftgl^thc threat
of weapons of mass destruction since the atom was split.
This year, the longest sought prize in arms control history, first proposed by President
Eisenhower, is within our reacl^the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty. By banning all
nuclear tests, we can help prevent a new nuclear arms race and make it more difficult for nonnuclear states to develop these devices of destruction. [Endorsement announcement to come]. I
ask the Senate: before this session of Congress ends, ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
and help prevent tlie spread of nuclear weapons..
Even as we lift tlie nuclear thfearfnat has htmgyovor our heads for fifty years, we are
21
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meeting a new hazardi rogue states, terrorists and organized criminals armed with chemical and
biological weapons.
Over the past six-and-half years, international weapons inspectors in Iraq have been the
eyes and cars ofthe international community. They have destroyed more of Iraq's nuclear,
chemical and biological weapons potential than during the Gulf War itself. Saddam Hussein
evicted the inspectors because they were doing their job too well. That's why tlie international
community insisted that they return to Baghdad. That i ^ where thc^ w i l l j t a y u M i l Iraq
dismantles its weapons program - no ifs, no ands, no buts.
f ^ f ^ Z p rf ^ J ^ l A d ^ ^ ^
At the very moment the UN inspectors are working to protect om- children, Congress'
failure to pass bipartisan legislation to pay our UN debt threatens to pull the rug out from under
our influence witli the U N — and our credibility around the world. When America gives its
word, America should keep its word. Let's pay our bills.
Last year, the Senate ratified tlie Chemical Weapons Convention. This year, I call on you
to pass legislation that will put tliis treaty into force. We made a commitment to protect our
soldiers and citizens from poison gas attack. We should make good on it.
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We also must act to prevent an even more lethal threap the use of disease as a weapon of
^ - w a f and terror. Our first priority should be to stop countries from acquiring biological weapons.
22
�01/21/98
13:46
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The Biological Weapons Convention, in force for 25 years, lacks tough enforcement measures.
This year, I am determined to secure, as part of that treaty, an international inspection system to
deter cheating. We must act so that, the-21" ocntury"3oes not go- forward under a new cloud of
(JUOM
fear. The safety of our children depends on it.
There are times when only America's moral strength and military might make the
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• diffcrent^etween war and peace... chaos and security... tyranny and freedom. I f we forget this
inescapable lesson of the 2 0 century, then we will pay a price for our indifference in the 2^
,
CC^MjAxy^j ,
-America hag the w i ^ tu ..ulvuuce prugiesb JUJ thu power to got the job don&^ We chould embratiB thki awe^rjnur rcspcinaibility for the opportunity it bringc .fTtoshape a future more peaceful, ( p ^ ^ prosperous and secure than the past. That is our chance an^ our challenge^-We must acisgo it.
" ^ ^ ^
A N A T I O N T H A T M V K S B Y COMMUNTTY
Two centuries ago, we proclaimed to the world that we had come together to form not
just a new nation, but "a more perfect union." More than ever, we must recognize that we are
G-u UX> i&ru. « - ^ Cv-On" -fes^g^ t h t
inextricably linked['mmm%bo^muniiilitj^ bound by duty to strengthen our communities - and
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our national community. Tfr.w.'^ whnt thnt mpans First a gnvemmftnt that earns the trust ofthe
—Amorictm people. Second, it means protactitng the moat basie eommuntiy wu all nhtue — the air
t
' ~We-all breathe, the water we all diink, tlic Cartli wc all share. Third, wc will atrcngthen tho - •
" harlohal community bV biltLiigllicfiinp thn tit^, that bind us together. ^ -
23
23
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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
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Michael Waldman
Office of Speechwriting
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1993-1999
Identifier
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2006-0469-F
Extent
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Segment One contains 1071 folders in 72 boxes.
Segment Two contains 868 folders in 66 boxes.
Provenance
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
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
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
1998 SOTU [State of the Union] - Drafts with Corrections [1]
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 61
<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36404"> 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 2
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
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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-Seg2-061-006-2015