[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 15 (Wednesday, January 25, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1551-S1555]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, last night the President spoke to the 
Congress and to the Nation. He set out an agenda for action. He told us 
where he wants to take the country and how he will accomplish his 
goals.
  While the audience in the House chamber looked somewhat different 
from last year's audience, the President's message remained the same: 
We must help working families who are squeezed between rising prices 
and stagnant incomes.
  The President spoke for all Democrats when he said we believe in 
opportunity for every American willing to work hard enough to earn it.
  We believe in political reform that puts regular people ahead of 
lobbyists and special interests.
  We believe in recasting Government to make it leaner and more 
responsive to society's contemporary needs.
  And we believe that middle-class families are the backbone of this 
Nation and that Government actions should reflect their values and 
beliefs.
  That agenda responds directly to the Nation's needs, and many of his 
goals have bipartisan support:
  Providing tax cuts for middle-class families that are paid for with 
real spending cuts; implementing health insurance reforms to protect 
people against the arbitrary denial of health benefits for which they 
have paid premiums; replacing welfare as we know it with work as most 
of us know it; securing our border against illegal entrants; reducing 
the size of Government, and shifting resources and decision making from 
bureaucrats to citizens.
  On other goals the chance for bipartisan support is unclear, but I am 
hopeful we can achieve it:
  Addressing fundamental national needs like immunization against 
childhood disease, school lunches, Head Start, medical care and 
nutrition for pregnant women and infants, and meeting Government's 
responsibilities to its people by promoting educational opportunity and 
protecting veterans, Social Security, and Medicare.
  We know that there will be partisan fights ahead. Some will reflect 
principled differences of belief. Some will probably reflect 
maneuvering for short-term political advantage.
  Americans are used to that. It is inevitable in a competitive 
political system such as ours.
  What was more compelling about the President's speech, however, was 
his
 reminder to all of us, private citizens and members of Congress alike, 
that, in many cases, none of us has to wait for the Government or 
anyone else to tell us how to do the right thing.

  He is talking about citizenship. And that is a tenet and 
responsibility to which all of us subscribe, but sometimes forget.
  Members of Congress must adopt true congressional reforms that 
address the undue influence of lobbyists and special interests. And, as 
the President said, that reform must include campaign finance reform.
  The President asked businesses whose sales are up and whose profits 
are healthy to share their good fortune with their workers; to keep 
American plants open in America; to give workers a bonus when the 
company does well. Every employer in this country knows what the 
President was talking about.
  We who have been blessed beyond others in our Nation know that we 
didn't achieve our successes along. Each and every one of us can 
remember the helping hand, the encouragement, the push when we needed 
it--from a parent, a teacher, a colleague, a fellow American.
  The President spoke to our greatest national tradition as a people, 
the tradition of giving back. I think he spoke wisely and well, to 
Americans in private life as well as to government officials.
  The President's address was important. But what we do over the next 2 
years in the critical issue. Democrats and Republicans need to work 
together, and Democrats are ready to do that.
  It is my hope that Republicans will join the President and us in the 
effort to address the real world concerns of the middle class and bring 
genuine reform to Washington.
  On behalf of my colleagues, I congratulate the President on his State 
of the Union Address. We look forward to the challenging agenda he has 
set out for all of us this year.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the full text of the 
President's address be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

   President William Jefferson Clinton's State of the Union Address, 
                            January 24, 1995

       Mr. President. Mr. Speaker, Members of the 104th Congress. 
     My fellow Americans:
       Again we are here in the sanctuary of democracy, and once 
     again our democracy has spoken. To all of you in the 104th 
     Congress, to you, Mr. Speaker: Congratulations.
       If we agree on nothing else, we must agree that the 
     American people voted for change in 1992 and 1994. We didn't 
     hear America singing--we heard America shouting. Now, we must 
     say: We hear you. We will work together to earn your trust.
       For we are the keepers of a sacred trust, and we must be 
     faithful to it in this new era. Over two hundred years ago, 
     our Founders changed the course of history by joining 
     together to create a new country based on a powerful idea: We 
     hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are 
     created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with 
     certain inalienable rights; that among these are Life, 
     Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
       It has fallen to every generation since to preserve that 
     idea--the American idea--and to expand its meaning in new and 
     different times. To Lincoln and his Congress: To preserve the 
     Union and end slavery. To Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow 
     Wilson: To restrain the abuses and excesses of the Industrial 
     Revolution, and to assert America's leadership in the world. 
     To Franklin Roosevelt; To fight the failure of the Great 
     Depression and our century's great struggle against fascism. 
     To all our Presidents since: To fight the Cold War. 
     Especially to two, who struggled in partnership with 
     Congresses of the opposite party. To Harry Truman, who 
     summoned us to unparralled prosperity at home and constructed 
     the architecture of the Cold War world. And to Ronald Reagan, 
     who exhorted us to carry on until the twilight struggle 
     against Communism was won.
       In another time of change and challenge, I became the first 
     President to be elected in the post-Cold War era, an era 
     marked by the global economy, the information revolution, 
     unparalleled change and opportunity and insecurity for 
     ordinary Americans. I came to this hallowed chamber two years 
     ago on a mission: To restore the American Dream for all our 
     people and to ensure that we move into the 21st Century still 
     the world's strongest force for freedom and democracy.
       I was determined to tackle tough problems, too long 
     ignored. In these efforts I have
      made my mistakes and learned again the importance of 
     humility in all human endeavor. But I am proud to say 
     that, tonight, our country is stronger than it was two 
     years ago.
       Record numbers of Americans are succeeding in the new 
     global economy. We are at peace and a force for peace and 
     freedom throughout the world. We have almost six million new 
     jobs since I became President. We have the lowest combined 
     rate of unemployment and inflation in over 25 years. We 
     [[Page S1552]] have expanded trade, put more police on our 
     streets, given our citizens more tools to get an education 
     and rebuild their communities. But the rising tide is not 
     lifting all boats.
       While our nation is enjoying peace and prosperity, too many 
     of our people are still working harder and harder for less 
     and less. While our businesses are restructuring and growing 
     more competitive, too many of our people can't be sure of 
     even having a job next year or even next month. And far more 
     than our material riches are threatened: Things far more 
     precious--our children, our families, our values.
       Our civil life is suffering. Citizens are working together 
     less, shorting at each other more. The common bonds of 
     community which have been the great strength of this country 
     from its beginning are badly frayed.
       What are we do to about it? More than 60 years ago, at the 
     dawn of another new era, Franklin Roosevelt told the nation: 
     ``New conditions impose new requirements on government and 
     those who conduct government'' From that simple proposition, 
     he shaped the New Deal, which helped restore our nation to 
     prosperity and defined the relationship between Americans and 
     their government for half a century.
       That approach worked in its time. But we today, we face a 
     new time and different conditions. We are moving from an 
     Industrial Age built on gears and sweat, to an Information 
     Age that will demand more skills and learning. Our 
     government, once a champion of national purpose, is now seen 
     as a captive of narrow interests, putting more burdens on our 
     citizens, instead of equipping them to get ahead. The values 
     that used to hold us together are coming apart.
       So, tonight, we must forge a new social compact, to meet 
     the challenges of our time. As we enter a new era, we need a 
     new set of understandings, not just with our government but 
     more important, with one another.
       That is what I want to talk to you about tonight. I call it 
     a New Covenant, but it is grounded in a very old idea: That 
     all Americans have not just a right, but a responsibility to 
     rise as far as their God-given talents and determination can 
     take them, and to give something back to their communities 
     and their country in return.
       Opportunity and responsibility go hand-in-hand. We can't 
     have one without the other. And our national community can't 
     hold together without both.
       Our New Covenant is a new set of understandings for how we 
     can equip our people to meet the challenges of the new 
     economy, how we can change the way our government works to 
     fit a different time and, above all, how we can repair the 
     damaged bonds in our society and come together behind our 
     common purpose. We must have dramatic change in our economy, 
     in our government and in ourselves.
       Let us rise to the occasion. Let us put aside partisanship, 
     pettiness, and pride. As we embark on a new course, let us 
     put our country first, remembering that regardless of our 
     party labels, we are all Americans. Let the final test of any 
     action we take be a simple one: is it good for the American 
     people?
       We cannot ask Americans to be better citizens if we are not 
     better servants. We've made a start this week by enacting a 
     law applying to Congress the laws you apply to the private 
     sector. But we have a lot more to do.
       Three times as many lobbyists roam the streets and 
     corridors of Washington as did 20 years ago. The American 
     people look at their nation's capital, and they see a city 
     where the well-connected and the well-protected milk the 
     system, and the interests of ordinary citizens are too often 
     left out.
       As this new Congress opened its doors, lobbyists were still 
     at work. Free travel, expensive gifts . . . business as 
     usual. Twice this month, you have voted not to stop these 
     gifts. Well, there doesn't have to be a law for everything. 
     Tonight, I challenge you to just stop taking them--now, 
     without waiting for legislation to pass. Then, send me the 
     strongest possible lobby reform bill, and I'll sign it.
       Require the lobbyists to tell the people who they work for, 
     what they're spending and what they want. And let's curb the 
     role of big money in our elections, by capping the cost of 
     campaigns and limiting the influence of PACs, and opening the 
     people's airwaves to be an instrument of democracy, by giving 
     free TV time to candidates.
       When Congress killed political reform last year, the 
     lobbyists actually stood in the halls of this sacred building 
     and cheered. This year, let's give the folks at home 
     something to cheer about.
       More important, let's change the government--let's make it 
     smaller, less costly and smarter--leaner, not meaner.
       The New Covenant is an approach to governing that is 
     different from the old bureaucratic way as the computer is 
     from the manual typewriter. The old way protected the 
     organized interests. The New Covenant looks out for the 
     interests of ordinary people, the old way divided us by 
     interests, constituency or class. The New Covenant unites us 
     behind a common vision of what's best for our country.
       The old way dispensed services through large, hierarchical, 
     inflexible bureaucracies. The New Covenant shifts resources 
     and decision-making from bureaucrats to citizens, injecting 
     choice, competition and individual responsibility into 
     national policy.
       The old way seemed to reward failure. The New Covenant has 
     built-in incentives to reward success. The old way was 
     centralized in Washington. The New Covenant must take hold in 
     communities across the country.
       Our job here is to expand opportunity, not bureaucracy: To 
     empower people to make the most of their own lives; to 
     enhance our security at home and abroad.
       We must go beyond the sterile debate between the illusion 
     that there is a program for every problem and the illusion 
     that government is the source of all our problems. Our job is 
     to get rid of yesterday's government so our people can meet 
     today's and tomorrow's needs.
       For years before I became President, others had been saying 
     they would cut government, but not much happened. We did it. 
     We cut over a quarter of a trillion dollars in spending, more 
     than 300 domestic programs, more than 100,000 positions from 
     the federal bureaucracy in the last two years alone. Based on 
     decisions we have already made, we will have cut a total of 
     more than a quarter million positions, making the federal 
     government the smallest it has been since John Kennedy was 
     President.
       Under the leadership of Vice President Gore, our 
     initiatives have already saved taxpayers $63 billion. The age 
     of the $500 hammer is gone. Deadwood programs like mohair 
     subsidies are gone. We have streamlined the Agriculture 
     Department by more than 1,200 offices. Slashed the Small 
     business loan form from an inch-thick to a single page and 
     thrown away the government's 10,000 page personnel manual. 
     FEMA--the federal disaster agency--has gone from being a 
     disaster to helping people. Government workers--hand-in-hand 
     with private business--rebuilt southern California's 
     fractured freeways in record time and under budget. And 
     because the federal government moved fast, all but one of the 
     650 schools damaged in the earthquake are back in business 
     educating our children.
       University administrators tell me that they are saving 
     weeks of time on college loan applications because of our new 
     college loan program that cut costs to the taxpayers, cuts 
     costs to students, and gives people a better way to pay back 
     their college loans, and cut out bureaucracy.
       Previous government reform reports gathered dust. We are 
     getting results. And we're not through. There is going to be 
     a second round of reinventing government. We propose to cut 
     $130 billion in spending by shrinking departments, extending 
     our freeze on domestic spending, cutting 60 public housing 
     programs down to three. Getting rid of over 100 programs we 
     don't need--like the Interstate Commerce Commission and the 
     helium reserve program.
       These programs have outlived their usefulness. We have to 
     cut yesterday's government to help solve tomorrow's problems.
       And we need to get government closer to the people it's 
     meant to serve. Where states and communities, private 
     citizens and the private sector can do a better job, we 
     should get out of the way. We're taking power away from 
     federal bureaucracies and giving it back to communities and 
     individuals. And it's time for Congress to stop passing on to 
     the states the cost of the decisions we make here in 
     Washington.
       For years, Congress has concealed in the budget scores of 
     pet spending projects--and last year was no different: A 
     million dollars to study stress in plants, $12 million for a 
     tick-removal programs that didn't even work. Give me the line 
     item veto and I'll save the taxpayers money.
       But when we cut, let's remember that government still has 
     important responsibilities: Our young people hold our future 
     in their hands; we owe a debt to our veterans who were 
     willing to risk their lives for us; the elderly have made us 
     what we are. My budget cuts a lot, but it protects education, 
     veterans, Social Security, and Medicare and so should you.
       And when we give more flexibility to the states, let's 
     remember certain fundamental national needs that should be 
     addressed in every state. Immunization against childhood 
     disease; school lunches; Head Start; medical care and 
     nutrition for pregnant women and infants--they're in the 
     national interest.
       I applaud your desire to get rid of costly, unnecessary 
     regulations. But when we deregulate, let's remember what 
     national action in the national interest has given us: Safer 
     food for our families; safer toys for our kids; safer nursing 
     homes for you parents. Safer cars and highways. And safer 
     workplaces. Clean water and clean air.
       Do we need more common sense and fairness in our 
     regulations? You bet we do. But we can have common sense and 
     still provide for safe drinking water. We can have fairness 
     and still clean up toxic waste dumps. And we ought to do it.
       Should we cut the deficit more? Of course, we should. We 
     must bring down spending in a way that protects the economic 
     recovery and does not punish the middle class or seniors
       I know many of you in this chamber support the balanced 
     budget amendment. We all want to balance the budget. Our 
     administration has done more to bring the budget closer to 
     balance than any one in a long time. But if you're going to 
     pass this amendment, you have to be straight with the 
     American people. They have a right to
      know what you are going to cut and how it would affect them. 
     And you should tell them before you change the 
     Constitution.
       In the New Covenant there are problems we have the 
     responsibility to face.
       [[Page S1553]] Nothing has done more to undermine our sense 
     of responsibility than our failed welfare system. It rewards 
     welfare over work. It undermines family values. It lets 
     millions of parents get away without paying child support.
       That is why I have worked so long to reform welfare. We 
     have made a good start. In the last two years, my 
     administration has given more states the chance to find their 
     own ways to reform welfare than the past two administration 
     combined. Last year, I introduced the most sweeping welfare 
     reform plan ever presented by an administration.
       We have to make welfare what it was meant to be: a second 
     chance, not a way of life. We'll help those on welfare move 
     to work as quickly as possible, provide child care and teach 
     skills if they need them for up to two years. But after that, 
     the rule will be simple: Anyone who can work must go to work.
       If a parent isn't paying child support, we'll make them 
     pay. We'll suspend their driver's licenses, track them across 
     state lines and make them work off what they owe. Governments 
     don't raise children. Parents do.
       I want to work with you to pass welfare reform. But our 
     goal must be to liberate people and lift them up--from 
     dependence to independence, welfare to work, mere 
     childbearing to responsible parenting--not punish them 
     because they happen to be poor. We should require work and 
     mutual responsibility, but we shouldn't cut people off 
     because they are poor, young, unmarried. We should promote 
     responsibility by requiring young mothers to live at home 
     with their parents or in other supervised settings and finish 
     school, not by putting them and their children out on the 
     street. We shouldn't punish poor children for the mistakes of 
     their parents.
       Let this be the year we end welfare as we know it. But let 
     this also be the year we stop using this issue to divide 
     America. No one is more eager to end welfare than the people 
     that are trapped on it. Let's promote education, work, good 
     parenting. Let's punish bad behavior and the refusal to be a 
     student, a worker, a responsible parent. Let's not punish 
     poverty and past mistakes. All of us have made mistakes. None 
     of us can change our yesterday's, but all of us can change 
     tomorrow's. Just ask Lynn Woolsey, who worked her way off 
     welfare and is now a congresswoman from California.
       I know it has become fashionable to embrace Franklin D. 
     Roosevelt. So let's remember exactly what he said: ``Human 
     kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber 
     of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel in order 
     to be tough.''
       I know members of this Congress are concerned about crime. 
     But I would remind you that last year we passed a very tough 
     crime bill--longer sentences, three strikes and you're out, 
     more prevention, more prisons, and 100,000 more police. And 
     we paid for it all by reducing the size of the federal 
     bureaucracy and giving money back to local communities to 
     lower the crime rate. There may be other things we can do to 
     be tougher on crime and to help lower the crime rate, and 
     let's do them. But let's not take back the good things we've 
     already done. That's what local community leaders think. And 
     that's what the police who put their lives on the line every 
     day think.
       Secondly, the last Congress passed the Brady Bill and the 
     ban on nineteen assault weapons. I think everybody in this 
     room knows that several members of the last Congress who 
     voted for the assault weapons ban and the Brady Bill lost 
     their seats because of it. Neither the bill supporters nor I 
     believe anything should be done to infringe upon the 
     legitimate right of our citizens to bear arms for hunting and 
     sporting purposes. Those people laid down their seats in 
     Congress to try to keep more police and children from laying 
     down their lives in our streets under a hail of assault 
     weapons' bullets. And I will not see that ban repealed.
       We shouldn't cut government programs that help to prepare 
     us for the new economy, promote responsibility, and are 
     organized from the grass roots up, not by federal 
     bureaucracies. The best example of that is the national 
     service program--Americorps--which today has 20,000 
     Americans, more than ever served in one year in the Peace 
     Corps, working all over America, helping people--person to 
     person--in local volunteer groups, solving problems and 
     earning some money for their education. This is citizenship 
     at its best. It's good for the Americorps members and good 
     for the rest of us. It's the essence of the New Covenant. And 
     we shouldn't stop it.
       All Americans are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of 
     illegal immigrants entering this country. The jobs they hold 
     might otherwise be held by our citizens or legal immigrants, 
     and the public services they use impose burdens on our 
     taxpayers. That's why our administration has moved 
     aggressively to secure our borders by hiring a record number 
     of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal 
     aliens as ever before, by cracking down on illegal aliens who 
     try to take American jobs, and by barring welfare benefits to 
     illegal aliens.
       In the budget I will present to you, we will do more to try 
     to speed the deportation of illegal aliens who are arrested 
     for crimes, and to better identify illegal aliens in the 
     workplace, as recommended by the commission headed by former 
     Congresswoman Barbara Jordan.
       This is a nation of immigrants. But it is also a nation of 
     law. And it is wrong, and ultimately self-defeating for a 
     nation of immigrants to permit the kind of abuse of our 
     immigration laws we have seen in recent years.
       The most important job of government is to empower people 
     to succeed in the new global economy. America has always been 
     the land of opportunity, a land where if you work hard you 
     can get ahead. We are a middle class country. Middle class 
     values sustain us. We must expand the middle class and shrink 
     the underclass, while supporting the millions who are already 
     successful in the new economy.
       America is once again the world's strongest economy. Almost 
     six million jobs in two years. Exports booming. Inflation 
     down. High wage jobs coming back. A record number of American 
     entrepreneurs living the American dream. If we want to stay 
     that way, those who work and lift our nation must have more 
     of its benefits.
       Today too many of those people are being left out. They are 
     working harder for less security, less income, less certainty 
     they can even afford a vacation, much less college for their 
     children or retirement for themselves. We cannot let this 
     continue.
       If we don't act, our economy will probably do what it's 
     done since 1978: Provide high income growth to those at the 
     top, give very little to everyone in the middle, and leave 
     the people at the bottom to fall even farther behind, no 
     matter how hard they work.
       We must have a government that can be a partner in making 
     this new economy work for all Americans--a government that 
     helps each and every one of us get an education and have the 
     opportunity to renew our skills.
       That's why we worked so hard to increase educational 
     opportunity from Head Start, to public schools, to 
     apprenticeships, to job training, to make college loans 
     available and more affordable for 20 million people. That's 
     the first thing we have to do.
       The second thing we can do to raise incomes is to lower 
     taxes. In 1993, we took the first step with a working family 
     tax cut for 15 million families with incomes of under $27,000 
     and a tax cut to most small and new businesses. Before we 
     could do more than that, we first had to bring down the 
     deficit we inherited. And we had to get economic growth up. 
     We have done both.
       Now we can cut taxes in a more comprehensive way. Tax cuts 
     must promote and reinforce our first obligation, empowering 
     citizens with education and training to make the most of 
     their lives. The tax relief spotlight must shine on those who 
     make the right choices for their families and communities.
       I have proposed the Middle Class Bill of Rights--which 
     should be called a Bill of Rights and Responsibilities, 
     because its provisions only benefit those who are working to 
     educate and raise their children or to improve their own 
     lives. It will, therefore, give needed tax relief and raise 
     incomes in the short and long runs in a way that benefits all 
     of us.
       There are four provisions: First, a tax deduction for all 
     education and training after high school. Education is even 
     more important now than ever to the economic well-being of 
     America, and we should do everything we can to encourage it. 
     If businesses can get a deduction for investing in factories, 
     why shouldn't families for investment in their future?
       Second, a $500 tax credit for all children under thirteen 
     in middle class households.
       Third, an individual retirement account with penalty-free 
     withdrawal rights for the cost of education, health care, 
     first-time home buying, and care of a parent.
       And fourth, a G.I. Bill for American workers. We propose to 
     collapse nearly 70 federal programs and offer vouchers 
     directly to eligible American workers. If you are laid off, 
     or make a low wage, you will get a voucher worth $2,600 a 
     year for up to two years to go to your local community 
     college or get private or public job training to raise your 
     job skills.
       Anyone can call for a tax cut, but I will not accept one 
     that explodes the deficit and puts our economic recovery at 
     risk. We must pay for any tax cuts, fully and honestly. Two 
     years ago, it was an open question whether we would find the 
     strength to cut the deficit. Thanks to the courage of many 
     people here, and many who did not return to take their seats 
     in this House, we began to do what others said they would do 
     for years.
       We Democrats cut the deficit by over $600 billion--that's 
     nearly $10,000 for every family of four in this country. The 
     deficit is coming down three years in a row for the first 
     time since President Truman was in office.
       In the budget I will send you, the Middle Class Bill of 
     Rights is fully paid for by budget cuts, cuts in bureaucracy, 
     cuts in programs, cuts in special interest subsidies. And the 
     spending cuts will more than double tax cuts. My budget pays 
     for the Middle Class Bill of Rights without any cuts in 
     Medicare. And I will oppose any attempt to pay for tax cuts 
     with Medicare cuts.
       I know a lot of you have your own ideas about tax relief. I 
     want to work with you. My test for any proposal is: Will it 
     create jobs and raise incomes? Will it strengthen families 
     and support children? Will it build the middle class and 
     shrink the underclass? Is it paid for? If it does, I will 
     support it. If it doesn't, I will oppose it.
       That's why I will ask you to support raising the minimum 
     wage. It rewards work. Two and a half million Americans, 
     often women with children, work for $4.25 an hour. 
     [[Page S1554]] In terms of real buying power, by next year, 
     that minimum wage will be at a 40 year low.
       I have studied the arguments and evidence for and against a 
     minimum wage increase. The weight of evidence is that a 
     modest increase does not cost jobs, and may even lure people 
     into the job market. But the plain fact is you can't make a 
     living on $4.25 an hour, especially if you have kids to 
     support.
       In the past, the minimum wage has been a bipartisan issue. 
     It should be again. I challenge you to get together and find 
     a way to make the minimum wage a living wage.
       Members of Congress have been on the job less than a month. 
     But by the end of the week, 28 days into the new year, each 
     Congressman has already earned as much in Congressional 
     salary as people who work under minimum wage make in an 
     entire year.
       And everyone in this chamber has something else that too 
     many Americans go without; health care. Last year, we almost 
     came to blows over health care, but nothing was done. But the 
     hard, cold fact is that, since we started this debate, we 
     know that more than 1.1 million Americans in working families 
     have lost their coverage. The hard, cold fact is that 
     millions more, mostly workers who are farmers, self-employed, 
     and in small businesses, have seen their coverage erode with 
     higher premium costs, higher deductibles, and higher co-
     payments.
       I still believe we must move out nation towards providing 
     health security for every American family. Last year, we bit 
     off more than we could chew. This year, let's work together, 
     step by step, and get something done.
       Let's at least pass meaningful insurance reform so that no 
     American risks losing coverage or facing skyrocketing prices 
     when they change jobs, or lose a job, or a family member 
     falls ill. I want to work together with the Democratic 
     leadership and Republications like Bob Dole, who have a 
     longtime commitment to health reform.
       Let's make sure that self-employed people and small 
     businesses can buy insurance at more affordable rates through 
     voluntary purchasing pools. Let's help families provide long-
     term care for a sick parent or a disabled child. Let's help 
     workers who lose their jobs keep health insurance coverage 
     for a year while they look for work. And let's find a way to 
     make sure our children have health care. Let's work together. 
     This is too important for politics as usual.
       Much of what is on the American people's mind is devoted to 
     internal security concerns--the security of our jobs and 
     incomes, our children, our streets, our health, our borders. 
     Now that the Cold War is past, it is tempting to believe that 
     all security issues, with the possible exception of trade, 
     reside within our borders. That is not so.
       Our security depends upon our continued world leadership 
     for peace, freedom, and democracy. We cannot be strong at 
     home without being strong abroad.
       The financial crisis in Mexico is a powerful case in point. 
     We have to act--for the sake of millions of Americans whose 
     livelihoods are tied to Mexico's well-being. If we want to 
     secure American jobs, preserve American exports and safeguard 
     America's borders, we must pass our stabilization program and 
     help put Mexico back on track. And let me repeat--this is not 
     a loan, this is not foreign aid, this is not a bail-out. 
     We'll be giving a
      guarantee, like co-signing a note with good collateral that 
     will cover our risk. This legislation is right for 
     America, and together with the bipartisan leadership, I 
     call on Congress to pass it quickly.
       Tonight, not a single Russian missile is aimed at our homes 
     or our children. And we, with them, are on the way to 
     destroying missiles and bombers that carry 9000 nuclear 
     warheads.
       We've come so far so fast in the post-Cold War world that 
     it is easy to take the decline of the nuclear threat of 
     granted. But it is still there, and we are not finished yet.
       This year, I am asking the Senate to approve START II--and 
     eliminate weapons that carry 5000 more warheads. The United 
     States will lead the charge to extend indefinitely the 
     Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to enact a comprehensive 
     nuclear test ban, and to eliminate chemical weapons. To stop, 
     and roll back, North Korea's potentially deadly nuclear 
     program, we will continue to implement the agreement we have 
     reached with that nation. It's a smart, tough deal based on 
     continuing inspection, with safeguards for our allies and 
     ourselves.
       This year I will submit to Congress comprehensive 
     legislation to strengthen our hand in combating terrorists, 
     whether they strike at home or abroad. As the cowards who 
     bombed the World Trade Center can testify, the United States 
     will hunt down terrorists and bring them to justice.
       Just this week, another horrendous terrorist act in Israel 
     killed 19 and injured scores more. On behalf of the American 
     people I extend our deepest sympathy to the families of the 
     victims. I know that in the face of such evil, it is hard to 
     go forward. But the terrorists are the past, not the future. 
     We must--and we will--persist in our pursuit of a 
     comprehensive peace between Israel and all her neighbors in 
     the Middle East. Accordingly, last night I signed an 
     Executive Order that will block the assets in the United 
     States of terrorist organizations that threaten to disrupt 
     the Middle East peace process and prohibits financial 
     transactions with these groups. Tonight, I call on our 
     allies, and peace-loving nations around the world, to join us 
     with renewed fervor in the global effort to combat terrorism.
       From my first day in office I have pledged that our nation 
     would maintain the best equipped, best trained and best 
     prepared fighting force on Earth. We have--and they are. They 
     have managed the dramatic downsizing of our forces since the 
     Cold War with remarkable skill and spirit. To make sure our 
     military is ready for action--and to provide the pay and 
     quality of life that the military and their families 
     deserve--I am asking this Congress to add $25 billion more in 
     defense spending over the next six years. Tonight I repeat 
     that request. We ask much of our armed forces. They are 
     called to service in many ways--and we must give them and 
     their families what the times demand and they deserve.
       Time after time, in the last year, our troops showed 
     America at its best; helping to save hundreds of thousands of 
     lives in Rwanda. Moving with lightning speed to head off 
     another Iraqi threat to Kuwait. And giving freedom and 
     democracy back to the people of Haiti.
       The United States has proudly supported peace, prosperity, 
     freedom and democracy, from South Africa to Northern Ireland, 
     from Central and Eastern Europe to Asia, from Latin America 
     to the Middle East. All these endeavors make America's future 
     more confident and more secure.
       This, then, my fellow Americans, is our agenda--expanding 
     opportunity, not bureaucracy, enhancing security at home and 
     abroad empowering people to make the most of their own lives.
       It is ambitious and achievable, but it is not enough. We 
     need more than new ideas changing the world, or equipping all 
     Americans to compete in the new economy. More than a 
     government that is smaller, smarter and wiser. More than all 
     the changes we can make from the outside in. Our fortunes and 
     our posterity also depend upon our ability to answer 
     questions from within, from the values and the voices that 
     speak to our hearts, voices that tell us we must accept 
     responsibility for ourselves, for our families, for our 
     communities and, yes, for our fellow citizens.
       We see our families and our communities coming apart. Our 
     common ground is shifting out from under us. The PTA, the 
     town hall meeting, the ball park--it's hard for many 
     overworked Americans to find the time and space for the 
     things that strengthen the bonds of trust and cooperation 
     among citizens. And too many of our children don't have the 
     parents and grandparents who can give them the experiences 
     they need to build character and strengthen identity.
       We all know that while we here in this chamber can make a 
     difference, the real differences in America must be made by 
     our fellow citizens where they work and where they live. More 
     than ever before, as we move to the twenty-first century, 
     everyone matters and we don't have a person to waste.
       That means the new covenant is for everybody. For our 
     corporate and business leaders: We are working to bring down 
     the deficit and expand markets and to support your success in 
     every way. But you have an obligation when you are doing well 
     to keep jobs in our communities and give American workers a 
     fair share of the prosperity they generate.
       For those in the entertainment industry: We applaud your 
     creativity and your worldwide success, and we support your 
     freedom of expression. But you have a responsibility to 
     assess the impact of your work and to understand the damage 
     that comes from the incessant, repetitive and mindless 
     violence, and irresponsible conduct that permeates our media. 
     Not because we will make you, but because you should.
       For our community leaders: We've got to stop the epidemic 
     of teen pregnancies and births where there is no marriage. I 
     have sent Congress a plan to target schools all over the 
     country with anti-pregnancy programs that work. But 
     government can only do so much. Tonight, I am calling on 
     parents and leaders across the country to join together in a 
     National Campaign Against Teen Pregnancy--to make a 
     difference.
       For our religious leaders: You can ignite your 
     congregations to carry their faith into action, reaching out 
     to all our children, to those in distress, to those who have 
     been savaged by the breakdown of all we hold dear. Because so 
     much of what has to be done must come from the inside out. 
     You can make all the difference.
       Responsibility is for all our citizens. It takes a lot of 
     people to help all the kids in trouble to stay off the 
     streets and in school, to build the Habitat for Humanity 
     houses, to provide the people power for all the civic 
     organizations that make our communities grow. It takes every 
     parent to teach their children the difference between right 
     and wrong, and to encourage them to learn and grow, to say no 
     to the wrong things in life and to believe they can become 
     whatever they want to be.
       I know it is hard when you are working harder for less 
     money and you are under great stress to do these things. I 
     also know it's hard to do the work of citizenship when for 
     years, politicians in both parties have treated you like 
     consumers and spectators, promising you something for nothing 
     and playing on your fears and frustrations. And more and more 
     of the information you get comes in very negative ways, not 
     conducive to real conversation. But the truth is, we have got 
     to stop seeing each other as enemies, even when we have 
     different views. If you go back to the very beginning of this 
     country, the great strength of America has 
     [[Page S1555]] always been our ability to associate with 
     people who were different from ourselves and to work together 
     to find common ground. And in the present day, everybody has 
     a responsibility to do more of that.
       That is the first law of democracy, the oldest lesson of 
     most of our faiths: That we are stronger together than alone. 
     That we all gain when we give.That is why we must make 
     citizenship matter again. Here are five shining examples of 
     citizenship:
       Cindy Perry teaches second graders to read in AmeriCorps, 
     in rural Kentucky. She gains when she gives: She is a mother 
     of four, and she says that her service ``inspired'' her to 
     get her high-school equivalency last year. Now, like 
     thousands of other members, she will use her scholarship from 
     AmeriCorps to go to college to equip herself to compete and 
     win in the new economy.
       With so many forces pulling us apart, we cannot stop a 
     force like AmeriCorps that's pulling us together.
       Chief Stephen Bishop gains when he gives: He has worked 
     with AmeriCorps to build
      community policing in Kansas City--and has seen crime go 
     down because of it. He stood up for our Crime Bill and the 
     Assault Weapons ban, and knows that the people he serves 
     and the people he leads are all safer because of it.
       Corporal Gregory Depestre gains when he gives: He went to 
     Haiti as part of his adopted country's force to help secure 
     democracy. And he saw the people of his native land--Haiti--
     are restoring democracy for themselves.
       And Jack Lucas gained when he gave. Fifty crowded years 
     ago, in the sands of Iwo Jima, he taught and he learned the 
     lessons of citizenship. February 20, 1945 was no ordinary day 
     for a small-town boy. As he and his three buddies moved along 
     a slope, they encountered the enemy--and two grenades at 
     their feet. Jack Lucas threw himself on them both, and, in 
     that moment, saved the lives of his companions. And what did 
     he gain? In the next instant, a medic saved his life. He 
     gained a foothold for freedom. And he gained this: Jack 
     Lucas--at 17 years old, just a year older than his grandson 
     is today--became the youngest Marine in our history, the 
     youngest man in this century, to be awarded the Congressional 
     Medal of Honor.
       All these years later, here's what he says about that day: 
     ``It didn't matter where you were from, who you were. You 
     relied on one another. You did it for your country.''
       We all gain when we give. We reap whatever we sow. That's 
     at the heart of the New Covenant: Responsibility. 
     Citizenship. Opportunity. They are more than stale chapter 
     headings in some remote civics book. They are the virtues by 
     which we can fulfill ourselves and our God-given potential--
     the virtues by which we can live out, the eternal promise of 
     America, the enduring dream of that first and most sacred 
     covenant: That we hold these truths to be self-evident, that 
     all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their 
     Creator with certain inalienable rights. And that among these 
     are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
       This is a very great country. And our best days are yet to 
     come. God bless you, and God bless the United States of 
     America.

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