[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 4 (Thursday, January 27, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S107-S113]
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 78

  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:

  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, honored guests,

[[Page S108]]

my fellow Americans: We are fortunate to be alive at this moment in 
history. Never before has our nation enjoyed, at once, so much 
prosperity and social progress with so little internal crisis or so few 
external threats. Never before have we had such a blessed opportunity--
and, therefore, such a profound obligation--to build the more perfect 
union of our founders? dreams.
  We begin the new century with over 20 million new jobs. The fastest 
economic growth in more than 30 years; the lowest unemployment rates in 
30 years; the lowest poverty rates in 20 years; the lowest African-
American and Hispanic unemployment rates on record; the first back-to-
back budget surpluses in 42 years.
  Next month, America will achieve the longest period of economic 
growth in our entire history.
  We have built a new economy.
  Our economic revolution has been matched by a revival of the American 
spirit: Crime down by 20 percent, to its lowest level in 25 years. Teen 
births down seven years in a row and adoptions up by 30 percent. 
Welfare rolls cut in half to their lowest levels in 30 years.
  My fellow Americans, the state of our Union is the strongest it has 
ever been.
  As always, the credit belongs to the American people.
  My gratitude also goes to those of you in this chamber who have 
worked with us to put progress above partisanship.
  Eight years ago, it was not so clear to most Americans there would be 
much to celebrate in the year 2000. Then our nation was gripped by 
economic distress, social decline, political gridlock. The title of a 
best-selling book asked: ``America: What went wrong?'' In the best 
traditions of our nation, Americans determined to set things right. We 
restored the vital center, replacing outdated ideologies with a new 
vision anchored in basic, enduring values: opportunity for all, 
responsibility from all, and a community of all Americans.
  We reinvented government, transforming it into a catalyst for new 
ideas that stress both opportunity and responsibility, and give our 
people the tools to solve their own problems.
  With the smallest federal workforce in 40 years, we turned record 
deficits into record surpluses, and doubled our investment in 
education. We cut crime: with 100,000 community police and the Brady 
Law, which has kept guns out of the hands of half a million criminals.
  We ended welfare as we knew it--requiring work while protecting 
health care and nutrition for children, and investing more in child 
care, transportation, and housing to help their parents go to work. We 
have helped parents to succeed at work and at home--with family leave, 
which 20 million Americans have used to care for a newborn child or a 
sick loved one. We have engaged 150,000 young Americans in citizen 
service through AmeriCorps--while also helping them earn their way 
through college.
  In 1992, we had a roadmap. Today, we have results. More important, 
American again has the confidence to dream big dreams. But we must not 
let our renewed confidence grow into complacency. We will be judged by 
the dreams and deeds we pass on to our children. And on that score, we 
will be held to a high standard, indeed. Because our chance to do good 
is so great.
  My fellow Americans, we have crossed the bridge we built to the 21st 
Century. Now, we must shape a 21st-Century American revolution--of 
opportunity, responsibility, and community. We must be, as we were in 
the beginning, a new nation.
  At the dawn of the last century, Theodore Roosevelt said, ``the one 
characteristic more essential than any other is foresight . . . It 
should be the growing nation with a future which takes the long look 
ahead.'' Tonight let us take our look long ahead--and set great goals 
for our nation.
  To 21st Century America, let us pledge that: Every child will begin 
school ready to learn and graduate ready to succeed. Every family will 
be able to succeed at home and at work--and no child will be raised in 
poverty. We will meet the challenge of the aging of America. We will 
assure quality, affordable healthcare for all Americans. We will make 
America the safest big country on Earth. We will bring prosperity to 
every American community. We will reverse the course of climate change 
and leave a cleaner, safer planet. America will lead the world toward 
shared peace and prosperity, and the far frontiers of science and 
technology. And we will become at last what our founders pledged us to 
be so long ago--one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and 
justice for all.

  These are great goals, worthy of a great nation. We will not reach 
them all this year. Not even in this decade. But we will reach them. 
Let us remember that the first American revolution was not won with a 
single shot. The continent was not settled in a single year. The lesson 
of our history--and the lesson of the last seven years--is that great 
goals are reached step by step: always building on our progress, always 
gaining ground.
  Of course, you can't gain ground if you're standing still. For too 
long this Congress has been standing still on some of our most pressing 
national priorities. Let's begin with them.
  I ask you again to pass a real patient's bill of rights. Pass common-
sense gun-safety legislation. Pass campaign finance reform. Vote on 
long overdue judicial nominations and other important appointees. And, 
again, I ask you to raise the minimum wage.
  Two years ago, as we reached our first balanced budget, I asked that 
we meet our responsibility to the next generation by maintaining our 
fiscal discipline. Because we refused to stray from that path, we are 
doing something that would have seemed unimaginable seven years ago: We 
are actually paying down the national debt. If we stay on this path, we 
can pay down the debt entirely in 13 years and make America debt-free 
for the first time since Andrew Jackson was president in 1835.
  In 1993, we began to put our fiscal house in order with the Deficit 
Reduction Act, winning passage in both houses by just one vote. Your 
former colleague, my first Secretary of the Treasury, led that effort. 
He is here tonight. Lloyd Bentsen, you have served America well.
  Beyond paying off the debt, we must ensure that the benefits of debt 
reduction go to preserving two of the most important guarantees we make 
to every American--Social Security and Medicare. I ask you tonight to 
work with me to make a bipartisan down payment on Social Security 
reform by crediting the interest savings from debt reduction to the 
Social Security Trust Fund to ensure that it is strong and sound for 
the next 50 years.
  But this is just the start of our journey. Now we must take the right 
steps toward reaching our great goals.


              opportunity and responsibility in education

  First and foremost, we need a 21st Century revolution in education, 
guided by our faith that every child can learn. Because education is 
more than ever the key to our children's future, we must make sure all 
our children have that key. That means quality preschool and 
afterschool, the best trained teachers in every classroom, and college 
opportunities for all our children.
  For seven years, we have worked hard to improve our schools, with 
opportunity and responsibility: Investing more, but demanding more in 
return.
  Reading, math, and college entrance scores are up. And some of the 
most impressive gains are in schools in poor neighborhoods.
  All successful schools have followed the same proven formula: higher 
standards, more accountability, so all children can reach those 
standards. I have sent Congress a reform plan based on that formula. It 
holds states and school districts accountable for progress, and rewards 
them for results. Each year, the national government invests more than 
$15 billion in our schools. It's time to support what works and stop 
supporting what doesn't.
  As we demand more than ever from our schools, we should invest more 
than ever in our schools.
  Let's double our investments to help states and districts turn around 
their worst-performing schools--or shut them down.
  Let's double our investment in afterschool and summer school 
programs--boosting achievement, and keeping children off the street and 
out of trouble. If we do, we can give every child in every failing 
school in America the chance to meet high standards.

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  Since 1993, we've nearly doubled our investment in Head Start and 
improved its quality. Tonight, I ask for another $1 billion to Head 
Start, the largest increase in the program's history.
  We know that children learn best in smaller classes with good 
teachers. For two years in a row, Congress has supported my plan to 
hire 100,000 new, qualified teachers, to lower class sizes in the early 
grades. This year, I ask you to make it three in a row.
  And to make sure all teachers know the subjects they teach, tonight I 
propose a new teacher quality initiative--to recruit more talented 
people into the classroom, reward good teachers for staying there, and 
give all teachers the training they need.
  We know charter schools provide real public school choice. When I 
became President, there was just one independent public charter school 
in all America. Today there are 1,700. I ask you to help us meet our 
goal of 3,000 by next year.
  We know we must connect all our classrooms to the Internet. We're 
getting there. In 1994, only three percent of our classrooms were 
connected. Today, with the help of the Vice President's E-rate program, 
more than half of them are; and 90 percent of our schools have at least 
one connection to the Internet.
  But we can't finish the job when a third of all schools are in 
serious disrepair, many with walls and wires too old for the Internet. 
Tonight, I propose to help 5,000 schools a year make immediate, urgent 
repairs. And again, to help build or modernize 6,000 schools, to get 
students out of trailers and into high-tech classrooms.
  We should double our bipartisan GEAR UP program to mentor 1.4 million 
disadvantaged young people for college. And let's offer these students 
a chance to take the same college test-prep courses wealthier students 
use to boost their test scores.
  To make the American Dream achievable for all, we must make college 
affordable for all. For seven years, on a bipartisan basis, we have 
taken action toward that goal: larger Pell grants, more-affordable 
student loans, education IRAs, and our HOPE scholarships, which have 
already benefited 5 million young people. 67 percent of high school 
graduates now go on to college, up almost 10 percent since 1993. Yet 
millions of families still strain to pay college tuition. They need 
help.
  I propose a landmark $30-billion college opportunity tax cut--a 
middle-class tax deduction for up to $10,000 in college tuition costs. 
We've already made two years of college affordable for all. Now let's 
make four years of college affordable for all.
  If we take all these steps, we will move a long way toward making 
sure every child starts school ready to learn and graduates ready to 
succeed.


               rewarding work and strengthening families

  We need a 21st Century revolution to reward work and strengthen 
families--by giving every parent the tools to succeed at work and at 
the most important work of all--raising their children. That means 
making sure that every family has health care and the support to care 
for aging parents, the tools to bring their children up right, and that 
no child grows up in poverty.
  From my first days as President, we have worked to give families 
better access to better health care. In 1997, we passed the Children's 
Health Insurance Program--CHIP--so that workers who don't have health 
care coverage through their employers at least can get it for their 
children. So far, we've enrolled 2 million children, and we're well on 
our way to our goal of 5 million.
  But there are still more than 40 million Americans without health 
insurance, more than there were in 1993. Tonight I propose that we 
follow Vice President Gore's suggestion to make low income parents 
eligible for the insurance that covers their kids. Together with our 
children's initiative, we can cover nearly one quarter of the uninsured 
in America.
  Again, I ask you to let people between 55 and 65--the fastest growing 
group of uninsured--buy into Medicare. And let's give them a tax credit 
to make that choice an affordable one.
  When the Baby Boomers retire, Medicare will be faced with caring for 
twice as many of our citizens--and yet it is far from ready to do so. 
My generation must not ask our children's generation to shoulder our 
burden. We must strengthen and modernize Medicare now.
  My budget includes a comprehensive plan to reform Medicare, to make 
it more efficient and competitive. And it dedicates nearly $400 billion 
of our budget surplus to keep Medicare solvent past 2025; and, at long 
last, to give every senior a voluntary choice of affordable coverage 
for prescription drugs.
  Lifesaving drugs are an indispensable part of modern medicine. No one 
creating a Medicare program today would even consider excluding 
coverage for prescription drugs. Yet more than three in five seniors 
now lack dependable drug coverage which can lengthen and enrich their 
lives. Millions of older Americans who need prescription drugs the most 
pay the highest prices for them.
  In good conscience, we cannot let another year pass without extending 
to all seniors the lifeline of affordable prescription drugs.
  Record numbers of Americans are providing for aging or ailing loved 
ones at home. Last year, I proposed a $1,000 tax credit for long-term 
care. Frankly, that wasn't enough. This year, let's triple it to 
$3,000--and this year, let's pass it.
  And we must make needed investments to expand access to mental health 
care. I want to thank the person who has led our efforts to break down 
the barriers to the decent treatment of mental illness: Tipper Gore.
  Taken together, these proposals would mark the largest investment in 
health care in the 35 years since the creation of Medicare--a big step 
toward assuring health care for all Americans, young and old.
  We must also make investments that reward work and support families. 
Nothing does that better than the Earned Income Tax Credit, the EITC. 
The `E' in `EITC' is about earning; working; taking responsibility and 
being rewarded for it. In my first Address to you, I asked Congress to 
greatly expand this tax credit; and you did. As a result, in 1998 
alone, the EITC helped more than 4.3 million Americans work their way 
out of poverty and toward the middle class--double the number in 1993.

  Tonight, I propose another major expansion. We should reduce the 
marriage penalty for the EITC, making sure it rewards marriage just as 
it rewards work. And we should expand the tax credit for families with 
more than two children to provide up to $1,100 more in tax relief.
  We can't reward work and family unless men and women get equal pay 
for equal work. The female unemployment rate is the lowest in 46 years. 
Yet women still earn only about 75 cents for every dollar men earn. We 
must do better by providing the resources to enforce present equal pay 
laws, training more women for high-paying, high-tech jobs, and passing 
the Paycheck Fairness Act.
  Two-thirds of new jobs are in the suburbs, far away from many low-
income families. In the past two years, I have proposed and Congress 
has approved 110,000 new housing vouchers--rent subsidies to help 
working families live closer to the workplace. This year, let us more 
than double that number. If we want people to go to work, they have to 
be able to get to work.
  Many working parents spend up to a quarter of their income on child 
care. Last year, we helped parents provide child care for about two 
million children. My child care initiative, along with funds already 
secured in welfare reform, would make child care better, safer, and 
more affordable for another 400,000 children.
  For hard-pressed middle-income families, we should also expand the 
child care tax credit. And we should take the next big step. We should 
make that tax credit refundable for low-income families. For those 
making under $30,000 a year, that could mean up to $2,400 for child-
care costs. We all say we're pro-work and pro-family. Passing this 
proposal would prove it.
  Tens of millions of Americans live from paycheck to paycheck. As hard 
as they work, they still don't have the opportunity to save. Too few 
can make use of IRAs and 401-K retirement plans. We should to more to 
help working families save and accumulate wealth. That's the idea 
behind so-called Individual Development Accounts. Let's take that idea 
to a new level, with Retirement savings Accounts that enable

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every low- and moderate-income family in America to save for 
retirement, a first home, a medical emergency, or a college education. 
I propose to match their contributions, however small, dollar for 
dollar, every year they save. And to give a major new tax credit for 
any small business that provides a meaningful pension to its workers.
  Nearly one in three American children grows up in a home without a 
father. These children are five times more likely to live in poverty 
than children with both parents at home. Clearly, demanding and 
supporting responsible fatherhood is critical to lifting all children 
out of poverty.
  We have doubled child support collections since 1992, and I am 
proposing tough new measures to hold still more fathers responsible. 
But we should recognize that a lot of fathers want to do right by their 
children--and need help to do it. Carlos Rosas of St. Paul, Minnesota, 
got that help. How he has a good job and he supports his son Ricardo. 
My budget will help 40,000 fathers make the choices Carlos did. And I 
thank him for being here.
  If there is any issue on which we can reach across party lines it is 
in our common commitment to reward work and strengthen families. Thanks 
to overwhelming bipartisan support from this Congress, we have improved 
foster care, supported those who leave it when they turn eighteen, and 
dramatically increased the number of foster children going to adoptive 
homes. I thank you for that. Of course, I am especially grateful to the 
person who has led our efforts from the beginning, and who has worked 
tirelessly for children and families for thirty years now: my wife, 
Hillary.

  If we take all these steps, we will move a long way toward empowering 
parents to succeed at home and at work and ensuring that no child is 
raised in poverty. We can make these vital investments in health care, 
education and support for working families--and still offer tax cuts to 
help pay for college, for retirement, to care for aging parents and 
reduce the marriage penalty--without forsaking the path of fiscal 
discipline that got us here. Indeed, we must make these investments and 
tax cuts in the context of a balanced budget that strengthens and 
extends the life of Social Security and Medicare and pays down the 
national debt.


                        responsibility and crime

  Crime in America has dropped for the past seven years--the longest 
decline on record, thanks to a national consensus we helped to forge on 
community police, sensible gun safety laws, and effective prevention. 
But nobody believes America is safe enough. So let's set a higher goal: 
let's make America the safest big country in the world.
  Last fall, Congress supported my plan to hire--in addition to the 
100,000 community police we have already funded--50,000 more, 
concentrated in high-crime neighborhoods. I ask your continued support.
  Soon after the Columbine tragedy, Congress considered common-sense 
gun safety legislation to require Brady background checks at gun shows, 
child safety locks for all new handguns, and a ban on the importation 
of large-capacity ammunition clips. With courage--and a tie-breaking 
vote by the Vice President--the Senate faced down the gun lobby, stood 
up for the American people, and passed this legislation. But the House 
failed to follow suit.
  We've all seen what happens when guns fall into the wrong hands. 
Daniel Mauser was only 15 years old when he was gunned down at 
Columbine. He was an amazing kid, a straight-A student, a good skier. 
Like all parents who lost their children his father Tom has borne 
unimaginable grief. Somehow Tom has found the strength to honor his son 
by transforming his grief into action. Earlier this month, he took a 
leave of absence from his job to fight for tougher gun safety laws. I 
pray that his courage and wisdom will move this Congress to make 
common-sense gun safety legislation the very next order of business. 
Tom, thank you for being here tonight.
  We must strengthen gun laws and better enforce laws already on the 
books. Federal gun crime prosecutions are up 16 percent since I took 
office. But again, we must do more. I propose to hire more federal and 
local gun prosecutors, and more ATF agents to crack down on illegal gun 
traffickers and bad-apple dealers. And we must give law enforcement the 
tools to trace every gun--and every bullet--used in a crime in America.
  Listen to this: the accidental gun death rate of children under 15 in 
the United States is nine times higher than in the other 25 
industrialized nations--combined. Technologies now exist that could 
lead to guns that can only be fired by the adults who own them. I ask 
Congress to fund research in Smart Gun technology. I also call on 
responsible leaders in the gun industry to work with us on smart guns 
and other steps to keep guns out of the wrong hands and keep our 
children safe.
  Every parent I know worries about the impact of violence in the media 
on their children. I thank the entertainment industry for accepting my 
challenge to put voluntary ratings on TV programs and video and 
Internet games. But the ratings are too numerous, diverse, and 
confusing to be really useful to parents. Therefore, I now ask the 
industry to accept the First Lady's challenge--to develop a single, 
voluntary rating system for all children's entertainment, one that is 
easier for parents to understand and enforce.
  If we take all these steps, we will be well on our way to making 
America the safest big country in the world.


                          opening new markets

  To keep our historic economic expansion going, we need a 21st Century 
revolution to open new markets, start new businesses, and hire new 
workers right here in America--in our inner cities, poor rural areas, 
and on Indian reservations.
  Our nation's prosperity has not yet reached these places. Over the 
last six months, I have traveled to many of them--joined by many of 
you, and many far-sighted business people--to shine a spotlight on the 
enormous potential in communities from Appalachia to the Mississippi 
Delta, from Watts to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Everywhere I've 
gone, I've met talented people eager for opportunity, and able to work. 
Let's put them to work.
  For business, it's the smart thing to do. For America, it's the right 
thing to do. And if we don't do it now, when will we ever get around to 
it? I ask Congress to give businesses the same incentives to invest in 
America's new markets that they now have to invest in foreign markets. 
Tonight, I propose a large New Markets Tax Credit and other incentives 
to spur $22 billion in private-sector capital--to create new businesses 
and new investments in inner cities and rural areas.
  Empowerment Zones have been creating these opportunities for five 
years now. We should also increase incentives to invest in them and 
create more of them.
  This is not a Democratic or a Republican issue. It is an American 
issue. Mr. Speaker, it was a powerful moment last November when you 
joined me and the Reverend Jesse Jackson in your home state of 
Illinois, and committed to working toward our common goal, by combining 
the best ideas from both sides of the aisle. Mr. Speaker, I look 
forward to working with you.
  We must maintain our commitment to community development banks and 
keep the community reinvestment act strong so all Americans have access 
to the capital they need to buy homes and build businesses.
  We need to make special efforts to address the areas with the highest 
rates of poverty. My budget includes a special $110 million initiative 
to promote economic development in the Mississippi Delta; and $1 
billion to increase economic opportunity, health care, education and 
law enforcement for Native American communities. In this new century, 
we should honor our historic responsibility to empower the first 
Americans. I thank leaders and members from both parties who have 
already expressed an interest in working with us on these efforts.
  There's another part of our American community in trouble today--our 
family farmers. When I signed the Farm Bill in 1996, I said there was a 
great danger it would work well in good times but not in bad. Well, 
droughts, floods, and historically low prices have made times very bad 
for our farmers. We must work together to strengthen the farm safety 
net, invest in land conservation, and create new markets by expanding 
our program for bio-based fuels and products.

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  Today, opportunity for all requires something new: having access to a 
computer and knowing how to use it. That means we must close the 
digital divide between those who have these tools and those who don't.
  Connecting classrooms and libraries to the Internet is crucial, but 
it's just a start. My budget ensures that all new teachers are trained 
to teach 21st Century skills and creates technology centers in 1,000 
communities to serve adults. This spring, I will invite high-tech 
leaders to join me on another New Markets tour--to close the digital 
divide and open opportunity for all our people. I thank the high-tech 
companies that are already doing so much in this area--and I hope the 
new tax incentives. I have proposed will encourage others to join us.
  If we take these steps, we will go a long way toward our goal of 
bringing opportunity to every community.


                 global change and american leadership

  To realize the full possibilities of the new economy, we must reach 
beyond our own borders, to shape the revolution that is tearing down 
barriers and building new networks among nations and individuals, 
economies and cultures: globalization.
  It is the central reality of our time. Change this profound is both 
liberating and threatening. But there is no turning back. And our open, 
creative society stands to benefit more than any other--if we 
understand, and act on, the new realities of interdependence. We must 
be at the center of every vital global network, as a good neighbor and 
partner. We cannot build our future without helping others to build 
theirs.
  First, we must forge a new consensus on trade. Those of us who 
believe passionately in the power of open trade must ensure that it 
lifts both our living standards and our values, never tolerating 
abusive child labor or a race to the bottom on the environment and 
worker protection. Still, open markets and rules-based trade are the 
best engines we know for raising living standards, reducing global 
poverty and environmental destruction, and assuring the free flow of 
ideas. There is only one direction for America on trade: we must go 
forward.
  And we must make developing economies our partners in prosperity--
which is why I ask Congress to finalize our groundbreaking African and 
Caribbean Basin trade initiatives.
  Globalization is about more than economics. Our purpose must be to 
bring the world together around democracy, freedom, and peace, and to 
oppose those who would tear it apart.
  Here are the fundamental challenges I believe America must meet to 
shape the 21st Century world.
  First, we must continue to encourage our former adversaries, Russia 
and China, to emerge as stable, prosperous, democratic nations. Both 
are being held back from reaching their full potential: Russia by the 
legacy of communism, economic turmoil, a cruel and self-defeating war 
in Chechnya; China by the illusion that it can buy stability at the 
expense of freedom.
  But think how much has changed in the past decade: thousands of 
former Soviet nuclear weapons eliminated; Russian soldiers serving with 
ours in the Balkans; Russian people electing their leaders for the 
first time in a thousand years. And in China, an economy more open to 
the world than ever before. No one can know for sure what direction 
these great countries will choose. But we must do everything in our 
power to increase the chance they will choose wisely, to be 
constructive members of the global community.

  That is why we must support those Russians struggling for a 
democratic, prosperous future; continue to reduce both our nuclear 
arsenals; and help Russia safeguard weapons and materials that remain.
  That is why Congress should support the agreement we negotiated to 
bring China into the WTO, by passing Permanent Normal Trade Relations 
as soon as possible this year. Our markets are already open to China. 
This agreement will open China's markets to us. And it will advance the 
cause of peace in Asia and promote the cause of change in China.
  A second challenge is to protect our security from conflicts that 
pose the risk of wider war and threaten our common humanity. America 
cannot prevent every conflict or stop every outrage. But where our 
interests are at stake and we can make a difference, we must be 
peacemakers.
  We should be proud of America's role in bringing the Middle East 
closer than ever to a comprehensive peace; building peace in Northern 
Ireland; working for peace in East Timor and Africa; promoting 
reconciliation between Greece and Turkey and in Cyprus; working to 
defuse crises between India and Pakistan; defending human rights and 
religious freedom.
  And we should be proud of the men and women of our armed forces and 
those of our allies who stopped the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo--
enabling a million innocent people to return to their homes.
  When Slobodan Milosevic unleashed his terror on Kosova, Captain John 
Cherrey was one of the brave airmen who turned the tide. And when 
another American plane went down over Serbia, he flew into the teeth of 
enemy air defenses to bring his fellow pilot home. Thanks to our armed 
forces' skill and bravery, we prevailed without losing a single 
American in combat. Captain Cherrey, we honor you, and promise to 
finish the job you began.
  A third challenge is to keep the inexorable march of technology from 
giving terrorists and potentially hostile nations the means to 
undermine our defenses. The same advances that have shrunk cell phones 
to fit in the palms of our hands can also make weapons of terror easier 
to conceal and easier to use.
  We must meet this threat: by making effective agreements to restrain 
nuclear and missile programs in North Korea, curbing the flow and 
lethal technology to Iran; preventing Iraq from threatening its 
neighbors; increasing our preparedness against chemical and biological 
attack; protecting our vital computer systems from hackers and 
criminals; and developing a system to defend against new threats--while 
working to preserve our Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia.
  I hope we can have a constructive bipartisan dialogue this year to 
build a consensus which will lead eventually to the ratification of the 
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
  A fourth challenge is to ensure that the stability of our planet is 
not threatened by the huge gulf between rich and poor. We cannot accept 
a world in which part of humanity lives on the cutting edge of a new 
economy, while the rest live on the bare edge of survival. We must do 
our part, with expanded trade, expanded aid, and the expansion of 
freedom.
  From Nigeria to Indonesia, more people won the right to choose their 
leaders in 1999 than in 1989, the year the Berlin Wall fell. We must 
stand by democracies--like Colombia, fighting narco-traffickers for its 
people's lives, and our children's lives. I have proposed a strong two-
year package to help Colombia win this fight; and I ask for your 
support. And I will propose tough new legislation to go after what drug 
barons value most--their money.
  In a world where 1.2 billion people live on less than a dollar a day, 
we must do our part in the global endeavor to reduce the debts of the 
poorest countries so they can invest in education, health and economic 
growth--as the Pope and other religious leaders have urged. Last year, 
Congress made a down payment on America's share. And I ask for your 
continued support.
  And America must help more nations break the bonds of disease. Last 
year in Africa, AIDS killed ten times as many people as war did. My 
budget invests $150 million more in the fight against this and other 
infectious killers. Today, I propose a tax credit to speed the 
development of vaccines for diseases like malaria, TB and AIDS. I ask 
the private sector and our partners around the world to join us in 
embracing this cause. Together, we can save millions of lives.
  Our final challenge is the most important: to pass a national 
security budget that keeps our military the best trained and best 
equipped in the world, with heightened readiness and 21st Century 
weapons; raises salaries for our service men and women; protects our 
veterans; fully funds the diplomacy that keeps our soldiers out of war; 
and makes good on our commitment to pay our UN dues and arrears. I ask 
you to pass this budget and I thank you for the extraordinary support 
you have given--Republicans and Democrats

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alike--to our men and women in uniform. I especially want to thank 
Secretary Cohen for symbolizing our bipartisan commitment to our 
national security--and Janet Cohen, I thank you for tirelessly 
traveling the world to show our support for the troops.
  If we meet all these challenges, America can lead the world toward 
peace and freedom in an era of globalization.


            responsibility, opportunity, and the environment

  I am grateful for the opportunities the Vice President and I have had 
to work hard to protect the environment and finally to put to rest the 
notion that you can't expand the economy while protecting the 
environment. As our economy has grown, we have rid more than 500 
neighborhoods of toxic waste and ensured cleaner air and water for 
millions of families. In the past three months alone, we have acted to 
preserve more than 40 million acres of roadless lands in our National 
Forests and created three new National Monuments.
  But as our communities grow, our commitment to conservation must grow 
as well. Tonight, I propose creating a permanent conservation fund to 
restore wildlife, protect coastlines, and save natural treasures from 
California redwoods to the Everglades. This Lands Legacy endowment 
represents by far the most enduring investment in land preservation 
ever proposed.

  Last year, the Vice President launched a new effort to help make 
communities more livable--so children will grow up next to parks, not 
parking lots, and parents can be home with their children instead of 
stuck in traffic. Tonight, we propose new funding for advanced transit 
systems--for saving precious open spaces--for helping major cities 
around the Great Lakes protect their waterways and enhance their 
quality of life.
  The greatest environmental challenge of the new century is global 
warming. Scientists tell us that the 1990s were the hottest decade of 
the entire millennium. If we fail to reduce emissions of greenhouse 
gases, deadly heat waves and droughts will become more frequent, 
coastal areas will be flooded, economies disrupted.
  Many people in the United States and around the world still believe 
we can't cut greenhouse gas pollution without slowing economic growth. 
In the Industrial Age that may have been true. In the digital economy, 
it isn't. New technologies make it possible to cut harmful emissions 
and provide even more growth. For example, just last week, automakers 
unveiled cars that get 70 to 80 miles a gallon--the fruits of a unique 
research partnership between government and industry. Before you know 
it, efficient production of biofuels will give us the equivalent of 
hundreds of miles from a gallon of gas.
  To speed innovations in environmental technologies, I propose giving 
major tax incentives to businesses for the production of clean energy--
and to families for buying energy-saving homes and appliances and the 
next generation of super-efficient cars when they hit the showroom 
floor. I also call on the auto industry to use available technologies 
to make all new cars more fuel efficient right away. And on Congress to 
make more of our clean-energy technologies available to the developing 
world--creating cleaner growth abroad and new jobs at home.


      THE OPPORTUNITY AND RESPONSIBILITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

  In the new century, innovations in science and technology will be the 
key not only to the health of the environment but to miraculous 
improvements in the quality of our lives and advances in the economy.
  Later this year, researchers will complete the first draft of the 
entire human genome--the very blueprint of life. It is important for 
all Americans to recognize that your tax dollars have fueled this 
research--and that this and other wise investments in science are 
leading to a revolution in our ability to detect, treat, and prevent 
disease.
  For example, researchers have identified genes that cause Parkinson's 
Disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer--and they are designing 
precision therapies that will block the harmful effects of these faulty 
genes for good. Researchers are already using this new technique to 
target and destroy cells that cause breast cancer. Soon, we may be able 
to use it to prevent the onset of Alzheimer's Disease. Scientists are 
also working on an artificial retina to help many blind people to see 
and microchips that would directly stimulate damaged spinal cords and 
allow people who are now paralyzed to stand up and walk.
  Science and engineering innovations are also propelling our 
remarkable prosperity. Information technology alone now accounts for a 
third of our economic growth, with jobs that pay almost 80 percent 
above the private sector average. Again, we should keep in mind: 
government-funded research brought supercomputers, the Internet, 
and communications satellites into being. Soon researchers will bring 
us devices that can translate foreign languages as fast as you can 
speak; materials 10 times stronger than steel at a fraction of the 
weight; and molecular computers the size of a teardrop with the power 
of today's fastest supercomputers.

  To accelerate the march of discovery across all disciplines of 
science and technology, my budget includes an unprecedented $3 billion 
increase in the 21st Century Research Fund, the largest increase in 
civilian research in a generation.
  These new breakthroughs must be used in ways that reflect our most 
cherished values. First and foremost, we must safeguard our citizens' 
privacy. Last year, we proposed rules to protect every citizen's 
medical records. This year, we will finalize those rules. We have also 
taken the first steps to protect the privacy of bank and credit card 
statements and other financial records. Soon I will send legislation to 
the Congress to finish that job. We must also act to prevent any 
genetic discrimination by employers or insurers.
  These steps will allow America to lead toward the far frontiers of 
science and technology--enhancing our health, environment, and economy 
in ways we cannot even imagine today.


                               community

  At a time when science, technology and the forces of globalization 
are bringing so many changes into our lives, it is more important than 
ever that we strengthen the bonds that root us in our local communities 
and in our national communities.
  No tie binds different people together like citizen service. There is 
a new spirit of service in America, a movement we have supported with 
AmeriCorps, an expanded Peace Corps, and unprecedented new partnerships 
with businesses, foundations, and community groups. Partnerships to 
enlist 12,000 companies in moving 650,000 of our fellow citizens from 
welfare to work. To battle drug abuse and AIDS. To teach young people 
to read. To Save America's Treasures. To strengthen the arts. To fight 
teen pregnancy. To prevent youth violence. To promote racial healing.
  We can do even more to help Americans help each other. We should help 
faith-based organizations do more to fight poverty and drug abuse and 
help young people get back on the right track with initiatives like 
Second Chance Homes to help unwed teen mothers. We should support 
Americans who tithe and contribute to charities, but don't earn enough 
to claim a tax deduction for it. Tonight, I propose new tax incentives 
to allow low- and middle-income citizens to get that deduction.
  We should do more to help new immigrants fully participate in the 
American community--investing more to teach them civics and English. 
And since everyone in our community counts, we must make sure everyone 
is counted in this year's census.
  Within ten years there will be no majority race in our largest state, 
California. In a little more than 50 years, there will be no majority 
race in America. In a more interconnected world, this diversity can be 
our greatest strength. Just look around this chamber. We have members 
from virtually every racial, ethnic, and religious background. And 
America is stronger for it. But as we have seen, these differences all 
too often spark hatred and division, even here at home.
  We have seen a man dragged to death in Texas simply because he was 
black. A young man murdered in Wyoming simply because he was gay. In 
the last year alone, we've seen the shootings of African Americans, 
Asian Americans, and Jewish children simply because of

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who they were. This is not the American way. We must draw the line. 
Without delay, we must pass the Hate Crimes Prevention Act and the 
Employment Non-Discrimination Act. And we should reauthorize the 
Violence Against Women Act.

  No American should be subjected to discrimination in finding a home, 
getting a job, going to school, or securing a loan. Tonight, I propose 
the largest ever investment to enforce America's civil rights laws. 
Protections in law must be protections in fact.
  Last February, I created the White House Office of One America to 
promote racial reconiliation. That's what Hank Aaron, has done all his 
life. From his days as baseball's all-time homerun king to his recent 
acts of healing, he has always brought Americans together. We're 
pleased he's with us tonight.
  This fall, at the White House, one of America's leading scientists 
said something we should all remember. He said all human beings, 
genetically, are 99.9 percent the same. So modern science affirms what 
ancient faith has always taught: the most important fact of life is our 
common humanity.
  Therefore, we must do more than tolerate diversity--we must honor it 
and celebrate it.
  My fellow Americans, each time I prepare for the State of the Union, 
I approach it with great hope and expectations for our nation. But 
tonight is special--because we stand on the mountaintop of a new 
millennium. Behind us we see the great expanse of American achievement; 
before us, even grander frontiers of possibility.
  We should be filled with gratitude and humility for our prosperity 
and progress; with awe and joy at what lies ahead; and with absolute 
determination to make the most of it.
  When the framers finished crafting our Constitution, Benjamin 
Franklin stood in Independence Hall and reflected on a painting of the 
sun, low on the horizon. He said, ``I have often wondered whether that 
sun was rising or setting.'' Today, Franklin said, ``I have the 
happiness to know it is a rising sun.'' Well, today, because each 
generation of Americans has kept the fire of freedom burning brightly, 
lighting those frontiers of possibility, we still bask in the warmth of 
Mr. Franklin's rising sun.
  After 224 years, the American Revolution continues. We remain a new 
nation. As long as our dreams outweigh our memories, America will be 
forever young. That is our destiny. And this is our moment.
  Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

                          ____________________