[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 27, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S20-S25]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE UNION--MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT--PM 84

  The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following message 
from the President of the United States, together with an accompanying 
report; which was ordered to lie on the table.

  The PRESIDENT. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of the 105th 
Congress, distinguished guests, my fellow Americans:
  Since the last time we met in this chamber, America has lost two 
patriots and fine public servants. Though they sat 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. In the past few weeks they have been 
eulogized; tonight, let us send a message to their families and 
friends--let us celebrate their lives, and give thanks for their 
service to their nation.
  For 209 years, it has been the President's duty to report to you on 
the State of the Union. Because of the hard work and high purpose of 
the American people, these are good times for America. We have more 
than 14 million new jobs. The lowest unemployment in 24 years. The 
lowest core inflation in 30 years. Incomes are rising, and we have the 
highest homeownership in history. Crime has dropped for a record five 
years in a row, and the welfare rolls are the lowest in 27 years. 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 everybody has a chance to get ahead with hard work. 
Where every citizen can live in a safe community. Where families are 
strong, schools are good, and all young people can go on to college. An 
America where scientists find cures for diseases from diabetes to 
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.
  Where government provides opportunity, and citizens honor the 
responsibility to give something back to their communities. An America 
which leads the world to new heights of peace and prosperity.
  This is the America we have begun to build; this is the America we 
can leave to our children--if we join together to finish the work at 
hand. Let us strengthen our nation for the 21st Century.
  Rarely have Americans lived through so much change, in so many ways, 
in so short a time. Quietly but with gathering force, the ground has 
shifted beneath our feet, as we move into an information age, a global 
economy, a truly new world.
  For five years now, we have met the challenge of these changes as 
Americans have at every turning point--by renewing the very 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. I 
thank the Vice President for his leadership and the Congress for its 
support in building a government that is leaner, more flexible, a 
catalyst for new ideas. Most of all, a government that gives the 
American people the tools they need to make the most of their own 
lives.
  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 the smallest 
government in 35 years, but a more progressive one. We have a smaller 
government, but a stronger nation.
  We are moving steadily toward an even stronger America in the 21st 
Century. An economy that offers opportunity. A society rooted in 
responsibility. And a nation that lives as a community.

[[Page S21]]

                   an economy that offers opportunity

  First, Americans in this chamber and across our nation have pursued a 
new strategy for prosperity: Fiscal discipline to cut interest rates 
and spur growth. Investments in education and skills, in science and 
technology and transportation, to prepare our people for the new 
economy. New markets for American products and American workers.
  When I took office, the deficit for 1998 was projected to be $357 
billion, and heading higher. This year, our deficit is projected to be 
$10 billion, and heading lower.
  For three decades, six Presidents have come before you to warn of the 
damage deficits pose to the nation. Tonight, I come before you to 
announce that the federal deficit--once so incomprehensibly large that 
it had eleven zeroes--will be, simply . . . zero.
  We 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 in 
Congress--the courageous vote in 1993 that led to a cut in the deficit 
of 90% . . . and the historic bipartisan balanced budget agreement 
passed by this Congress. And if we maintain our resolve, we will 
produce balanced budgets as far as the eye can see.
  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 typical middle class families will now have the lowest tax 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, 
child care, and the environment.
  But 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 
then have a sizeable surplus in the years immediately afterward. What 
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--that's every 
penny of any surplus--until we have taken all the measures necessary to 
strengthen the Social Security system for the 21st Century.
  Let us say to all Americans watching tonight--whether you are 70 . . 
. or 50 . . . or just beginning to pay into the system--Social Security 
will be there when you need it. Let us, tonight, make this commitment: 
Social Security first.
  I urge all Americans to join us--in facing these issues squarely, and 
forming a true consensus on how to proceed. We'll start by conducting 
nonpartisan forums in every region of the country, and I hope that 
lawmakers of both parties will participate. We will host a White House 
conference on Social Security in December. And one year from now, I 
will convene the leaders of Congress to craft historic, bipartisan 
legislation to achieve a landmark for our generation--a Social Security 
system that is strong in the 21st Century.
  In an economy that honors opportunity, all Americans must be able to 
reap the rewards of prosperity.
  Because these times are good, we can afford to take one simple, 
sensible step to help 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 throughout a lifetime.
  Last year, from this podium, I said education was our highest 
priority. I laid out a ten point plan to move us forward, and urged us 
all to make sure 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 . . . opening the way to 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, sending thousands of college students into our 
schools to make sure all our 8 year olds can read.
  Last year I proposed, and you passed . . . 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 can put savings into our new, tax free 
education IRAs. And this year, for the first two years of college, 
families will get a $1,500 tax cut--a Hope Scholarship that will cover 
the cost of most community college tuition. And for junior and senior 
year, graduate school, and job training, there's a lifetime learning 
credit.
  So I have something to say to each and every American family 
listening tonight: your children can go on 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 children's education, you tell them not 
to give up. Their children can go on 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. And my 
friends, this will change the face of 21st Century America.
  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, too--by raising standards, raising expectations, 
and raising accountability.
  Thanks to the actions 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 to hire 
100,000 new teachers who have passed a state competency test. With 
these teachers, we will reduce class size in the first, second, and 
third grades to an average of 18 students a class.
  If I've got the math right, more teachers teaching smaller classes 
requires more classrooms. So I also propose a school construction tax 
cut to help communities modernize or build 5,000 schools.
  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 
started mandatory summer school to help students who are behind to 
catch up. I proposed an effort to help other communities follow 
Chicago's lead. Let's say to them: Stop promoting children who don't 
learn, and we will give you the tools you need to make sure they do.
  I also ask this Congress to support our effort to enlist colleges and 
universities to reach out to disadvantaged children starting in the 6th 
grade--to give them guidance and hope so they too can go on to college.
  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 shape this global economy, not shrink from it. In the last five 
years, we have led the way in opening new markets, with 240 trade 
agreements that remove foreign barriers to products bearing the proud 
stamp, ``Made in the USA.''
  Today, record high exports account for fully one third of our 
economic growth. I want to keep them going, because that's the way to 
keep American growing and to advance a safer, more stable world.
  This is a great opportunity for America. I know there is opposition 
to more comprehensive trade agreements, rooted in two fears; first that 
our trading partners will have lower environmental and labor standards 
which will give them an unfair advantage in our markets--and do their 
own people no favors; and, second, that with more trade, more of our 
workers will lose their jobs and have to start over.

[[Page S22]]

  We should seek to advance worker and environmental standards around 
the world. It should be a part of our trade agenda. But we can't 
influence other countries' decisions if we send a message to them that 
we're backing away from trade.
  This year, I will send legislation to Congress, and ask other nations 
to join us, to fight the most intolerable labor practice of all--
abusive child labor.
  We should also offer help and hope to those Americans temporarily 
left behind by the global marketplace, or by the march of technology.
  That is why we have more than doubled funding for training dislocated 
workers since 1993--and if my new budget is adopted, we will triple it.
  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 ought to help them in the same way if their factory closes.
  And that is why, again, I ask the Congress to continue its bipartisan 
work to consolidate the tangle of training programs into a GI Bill for 
Workers, a simple skills grant so people can move quickly to new jobs 
and higher incomes.
  Change is not always easy, but we have to reap its benefits. And 
remember the big picture: While we have been entering into hundreds of 
new trade agreements, we have been creating millions of new jobs.
  So this year we will forge new partnerships with Latin America, Asia 
and Europe. We should pass the new African Trade Act.
  And I renew my request for the fast track negotiating authority 
necessary to open more new markets and create more new jobs, which 
every President has had for two decades.
  Whether we like it or not, in ways that are mostly positive, the 
world's economies are more and more interconnected.
  Today, an economic crisis anywhere can affect economies everywhere. 
Recent months have brought serious financial problems to Thailand, 
Indonesia, South Korea and beyond.
  Why should Americans be concerned about this?
  First, these countries are our customers--and if they sink into 
recession, they won't be able to buy the goods we want to sell them. 
They are also our competitors--and if their currencies lose their 
value, the price of their goods will drop, flooding our market and 
others with cheap goods, making it tougher for our people to compete. 
Finally, they are our strategic partners. Their stability bolsters our 
security.
  The American economy remains sound and strong--and I want to keep it 
that way. But because the turmoil in Asia will have an impact on all 
the world's economies, including ours, making that negative impact as 
small as possible is the right thing to do for a safer world--and the 
right thing to do for America.
  Our policy is clear. No nation can recover if it does not reform 
itself. But when nations are willing to undertake serious economic 
reform, we should help them to do it. 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.
  A society rooted in responsibility must first promote the value of 
work, not welfare. We can be proud that after decades of finger 
pointing and failure, together 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. I am pleased to report that we have also met that goal--
two years ahead of schedule.
  This is a grand achievement, the sum of many acts of individual 
courage, persistence and hope. For 13 years, Elaine Kinslow of 
Indianapolis, Indiana was on and off welfare. Today, she is a 
dispatcher with a van company. She's saved enough money to move her 
family to a good neighborhood. And she's helping other welfare 
recipients get to work.
  Elaine Kinslow and all those like her are the real heroes of the 
welfare revolution; there are millions just like her across America. I 
am happy she could join the First Lady tonight. Elaine, we are very 
proud of you.
  We must all do more to make welfare reform a success--providing child 
care, helping families move closer to available jobs, challenging more 
companies to join the welfare-to-work partnership, increasing child 
support collections from deadbeat parents who have a duty to support 
their own children. I also want to thank Congress for restoring some 
benefits to immigrants who are here legally and working hard--and I ask 
you to finish the job this year.
  We must make it possible for hardworking families to meet their most 
important responsibilities.
  Two years ago, we helped guarantee that Americans keep their 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.
  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--not 
just the cheapest. You have the right to choose the doctor you want for 
the care you need. You have the right to emergency room care, wherever 
and whenever you need it. You have the right to keep your medical 
records confidential. Traditional care or managed care, every American 
deserves quality care.
  Millions of Americans between the ages of 55 and 65 have lost their 
health insurance. Some are retired; some are laid off; some lost their 
coverage when their spouses retire. 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 improve public health, protect tobacco farmers, 
and change the way tobacco companies do business forever. Let's do what 
it takes to bring teen smoking down. Let's raise the price of 
cigarettes by up to $1.50 a pack over the next ten years, with 
penalties on the tobacco industry if it keeps marketing to kids. 
Tomorrow, like every day, 3000 children will start smoking. 1000 of 
them will die early as a result. Let this Congress 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 was the very first bill I signed 
into law. I ask you to extend the law to cover 10 million more workers, 
and to give parents time off for parent-teacher conferences and 
doctor's visits.
  Child care is the next frontier. Last year, the First Lady and I 
hosted the very first White House conference on child care. From all 
corners of America, we heard the same message: we must raise the 
quality of child care and make it safer and more affordable.
  Here is my plan: Help families to pay for child care for one million 
more children. Scholarships and background checks for child care 
workers, and a new emphasis on early learning. Tax credits for 
businesses that provide child care for their employees.
  And a larger child care tax credit for working families--so that 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.
  You know, I have often wondered how my mother--as a young widow--
would have been able to go away to school if my grandparents had not 
been able to care for me. She and I were lucky. How many other families 
never get that same opportunity? We don't know the answer to that 
question. But

[[Page S23]]

we do know what the answer should be: Not a single family should have 
to choose between the job they need and the child they love.
  A society rooted in responsibility must provide safe streets, safe 
schools, safe neighborhoods.
  We are pursuing a strategy of more police, tougher punishment and 
smarter prevention, with crimefighting partnerships with local law 
enforcement and citizen groups.
  I can report to you tonight that it is working. Violent crime is 
down, robbery is down, assault is down, burglary is down . . . for five 
years in a row, all across America.
  Now we need to finish the job of putting 100,000 more police on the 
streets.
  Again I ask Congress to pass a juvenile crime bill that provides more 
prosecutors and probation officers to crack down on gangs, guns and 
drugs, and bar violent juveniles from buying guns for life.
  And I ask you to dramatically expand our support for after-school 
programs. Most juvenile crime is committed between the hours of 3 in 
the afternoon and 8 at night. We can keep so many of our children 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 this Congress for passing the biggest anti-drug 
budget in history. Now I ask for the resources to hire, 1,000 new 
border patrol agents, and to deploy sophisticated new technologies, to 
help close the door on drugs at our borders.
  Police, prosecutors, and prevention programs, good as they are, can't 
work if the court system doesn't work. Today, there are 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 the highly 
qualified judicial nominees before you, up or down.

  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 up for its interests and stand against the 
poisoned appeals of extreme nationalism. We must combat an unholy axis 
of new threats from terrorists, international criminals and drug 
traffickers. These 21st Century predators feed on technology and the 
free flow of information, ideas and people. And they will be all the 
more lethal if weapons of mass destruction fall into their hands.
  To meet these challenges, we are helping to write international rules 
of the road for the 21st Century, protecting those who join the family 
of nations, and 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. These three formerly Communist countries have said ``yes'' to 
democracy. I ask the Senate to say yes to them--our new allies.
  By taking in new members and working closely with new partners, 
including Russia and Ukraine, NATO can help to assure that Europe is a 
stronghold for peace in the 21st Century.
  Next, I will ask Congress to continue its support for our troops and 
their mission 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 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 seen our troops in Tuzla. They are very 
proud of what they are doing in Bosnia. And America is very proud of 
them. One of those brave soldiers is sitting with the First Lady 
tonight--Army Sergeant Michael Tolbert. His father was a decorated 
Vietnam vet. After college in Colorado, he joined the Army. And last 
year, he led an infantry unit that stopped a mob of extremists from 
taking over a radio station that is a voice of democracy and tolerance 
in Bosnia.
  In Bosnia and around the world, our men and women in uniform always 
do their mission well. Our mission must be to keep them well-trained 
and ready . . . to improve their quality of life . . . and to provide 
the 21st Century weapons they need to defeat any enemy.
  I also ask Congress to join me in pursuing an ambitious agenda to 
reduce the serious threat of weapons of mass destruction.
  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 to prevent the 
development of new and more dangerous weapons and make it more 
difficult for non-nuclear states to build them. I am pleased to 
announce that four former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff--
Generals John Shalikashvili, Colin Powell, David Jones and Admiral 
William Crowe--have endorsed this treaty. I ask the Senate to approve 
it--this year.
  Together, we also must confront new hazards: chemical and biological 
weapons and the outlaw states, terrorists and organized criminals 
seeking to acquire them.
  Saddam Hussein has spent the better part of this decade, and much of 
his nation's wealth, 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 know I speak for everyone in this chamber, Republicans and 
Democrats, when I say to Saddam Hussein: 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 the use of disease as a weapon of war and terror. The 
Biological Weapons Convention has been in effect for 23 years. The 
rules are good, but the enforcement is weak. We must strengthen it with 
a new 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 Middle East, America will continue to stand with those who stand 
for peace.
  Finally, it's long past time to make good on our debt to the United 
Nations. More and more, we are working with other nations to achieve 
common goals. If we want America to lead, we must set a good example. 
As we see so clearly in Bosnia, allies who share our goals can also 
share our burdens. In this new era, our freedom and independence are 
actually enriched, not impoverished, by our increasing interdependence 
with other nations.


                    a nation that lives by community

  Our Founders set America on a permanent course toward ``A more 
perfect union.'' It is a journey we can only make together--living as 
one community.
  First of all, we must continue to reform our government--the 
instrument of our national community.
  Everyone knows elections have become too expensive, fueling a 
fundraising arms race. This year, by March 6, the Senate will vote on 
bipartisan campaign finance 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. 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 high cost of media advertising. I will formally request that 
the Federal Communications Commission

[[Page S24]]

act to provide free or reduced cost television time for candidates. The 
airwaves are a public trust, and broadcasters also have a 
responsibility to help strengthen our democracy.
  Under the leadership of Vice President Gore, we have reduced the 
federal payroll by 300,000 workers, cut 16,000 pages of regulations, 
eliminated hundreds of programs, and improved the operations of 
virtually every agency. But we can do more.
  Like every taxpayer, I am outraged by the reports of abuses by the 
IRS. We need some changes there: new citizen advocacy panels, a 
stronger taxpayer advocate, phone lines open 24 hours a day, relief for 
innocent taxpayers. Last year, by an overwhelming bipartisan margin, 
the House passed sweeping IRS reforms. This bill must not languish in 
the Senate. Tonight I challenge the Senate: pass our bipartisan package 
of IRS reforms as your first order of business.
  A nation that lives as a community must value its communities.
  For the past five years, we have worked to bring the spark of private 
enterprise into inner city and poor rural areas--with community 
development banks, more commercial loans into poor neighborhoods, 
cleanups of polluted sites for development. Under the continued 
leadership of the Vice President, we propose to triple the number of 
empowerment zones, which give businesses incentives to invest in poor 
areas and create jobs. We also should give poor families more help to 
move into homes of their own. And we should use tax cuts to spur the 
construction of more low income housing.
  Last year this Congress took strong action to help the District of 
Columbia. Let us renew our resolve to make this capital city a great 
city for all who live and visit here.
  Our cities are the vibrant hubs of our great metropolitan areas. They 
are still the gateways for new immigrants, from every continent, coming 
to work for their own American Dream. Let's keep our cities going 
strong into the 21st Century.
  Our communities are only as healthy as the air our children breathe, 
the water they drink, 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, Lake Tahoe. We 
expanded every community's right to know about the toxics that threaten 
their children.
  Yesterday, our food safety plan took effect, using new science to 
protect consumers from dangers like 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 
coastal waters.
  Yet 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 encourage 
innovation, renewable energy, fuel efficient cars, energy efficient 
homes.
  Every time we have acted to heal our environment, 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 when it comes to global 
warming, we'll do it again.
  Finally, community means living by the defining American value--the 
ideal heard round the world--that we are all created equal.
  Throughout our history, we have not always honored this ideal--and we 
have never fully lived up to it. Often it is easier to believe that our 
differences matter more than what we have in common. It may be easier, 
but it is wrong.
  What must we do in our day and generation to make sure that America 
truly becomes one nation, even as we become more and more diverse?
  The answer cannot be to dwell on our differences, but to build on our 
shared values. We all cherish family and faith, work and community, 
freedom and responsibility. We all want our children to grow up in a 
world where their talents are matched by their opportunities.
  I have launched a national initiative on race to help us to recognize 
our common interests and bridge the opportunity gaps that keep us from 
becoming One America.
  Let us begin by recognizing what we still must overcome. 
Discrimination against any American is un-American. We must vigorously 
enforce the laws that make it illegal. I ask your help to end the 
backlog at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 60,000 of our 
fellow citizens are waiting in line for justice, and we should act now 
to end that wait.
  We also should recognize 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 Americans, when we rid all 
our streets of crime, when there are jobs available to people from all 
neighborhoods, when we make sure that all parents have the children 
they need, we help to build one nation.
  We, in this chamber and in government, must do all we can to address 
this continuing American challenge. But we will only move forward if 
all Americans--including every one of you watching at home tonight--are 
also committed to this cause.
  We must work together, learn together, live together, and serve 
together. On the forge of common enterprise Americans of all 
backgrounds can hammer out a common identity. We see that in the United 
States military, in the Peace Corps, in AmeriCorps, wherever people of 
all races and backgrounds come together in a shared endeavor.
  With shared values, meaningful opportunities, honest communication, 
and citizen service, we can unite a diverse people in freedom and 
mutual respect. We are many. We must be one.


                  the millennium--gifts to the future

  In that spirit, let us lift our eyes to the new millennium. How will 
we mark that passage?
  This year, Hillary and I launched the White House Millennium Program 
to promote America's creativity and innovation, and to preserve our 
heritage and culture into the 21st Century. Our culture lives in every 
community--and every community has places of historic value that tell 
our stories as Americans. We should protect them. I am proposing a 
public private partnership to advance our arts and humanities and to 
celebrate the millennium by saving America's treasures, great and 
small.

  While we honor the past, let us imagine the future.
  The entire store of human knowledge now doubles every five years. In 
the 1980s, scientists identified the gene causing cystic fibrosis--it 
took 9 years. Last year, we located the gene that causes Parkinson's 
Disease--in only 9 days. Within a decade, ``gene chips'' will offer a 
roadmap for prevention of illness throughout a lifetime. Soon, 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 child born in 1998 may well live 
to see the 22nd Century.
  Tonight, as part of our gift to the millennium, I propose a 21st 
Century Research Fund for pathbreaking scientific inquiry. This will be 
the largest funding increase in history for the National Institutes of 
Health, the National Science Foundation, and the National Cancer 
Institute. 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 . . . and 
begins a revolution in our fight against all deadly diseases.
  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.

[[Page S25]]

  We should enable all the world's people to explore the far reaches of 
cyberspace.
  The first time I reported to you on the State of the Union, only a 
handful of physicists used the World Wide Web. Now, in schools, 
libraries, homes and businesses, millions of Americans surf the Net 
every day.
  We must give parents the tools they need to protect their children 
from inappropriate material on the Internet. And the Internet is an 
exploding global marketplace of ideas as well as commerce.
  I ask Congress to step up support for building the next generation 
Internet, which will operate up to a thousand times faster than today.
  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. Beginning this year, 1998, men and women from 16 
countries will build a foothold in the heavens--the international space 
station. With 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 200 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 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 our project to restore all of our 
treasures so that generations of the 21st Century can see for 
themselves the images 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; a people of great works and greater possibilities, who 
have always found the wisdom and strength to come together as one 
nation--to widen the circle of opportunity--to deepen the meaning of 
our freedom--to form that more perfect union. Let that be our gift to 
the 21st Century.
  God Bless You, and God Bless the United States of America.

                          ____________________