[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book I)]
[January 23, 2007]
[Pages 42-50]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union
January 23, 2007

    Thank you very much. And tonight I have the high privilege and 
distinct honor of my own as the first President to begin the State of 
the Union message with these words: Madam Speaker.
    In his day, the late Congressman Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr., from 
Baltimore, Maryland, saw Presidents Roosevelt and Truman at this 
rostrum. But nothing could compare with the sight of his only daughter, 
Nancy, presiding tonight as Speaker of the 
House of Representatives. Congratulations, Madam Speaker.
    Two Members of the House and Senate are not with us tonight, and we 
pray for the recovery and speedy return of Senator Tim Johnson and Congressman Charlie Norwood.
    Madam Speaker, Vice President 
Cheney, Members of Congress, distinguished 
guests, and fellow citizens: The rite of custom brings us together at a 
defining hour when decisions are hard and courage is needed. We enter 
the year 2007 with large endeavors underway and others that are ours to 
begin. In all of this, much is asked of us. We must have the will to 
face difficult challenges and determined enemies and the wisdom to face 
them together.
    Some in this Chamber are new to the House and the Senate, and I 
congratulate the Democrat majority. Congress has changed, but not our 
responsibilities. Each of us is guided by our own convictions, and to 
these we must stay faithful. Yet we're all held to the same standards 
and called to serve the same good purposes: to extend this Nation's 
prosperity, to spend the people's money wisely, to solve problems, not 
leave them to future generations, to guard America against all evil, and 
to keep faith with those we have sent forth to defend us.
    We're not the first to come here with a government divided and 
uncertainty in the air. Like many before us, we can work through our 
differences, and we can achieve big things for the American people. Our 
citizens don't much care which side of the aisle we sit on, as long as 
we're willing to cross that aisle when there is work to be done. Our job 
is to make life better for our fellow Americans and to help them build a 
future of hope and opportunity, and this is the business before us 
tonight.
    A future of hope and opportunity begins with a growing economy, and 
that is what we have. We're now in the 41st month of uninterrupted job 
growth, a recovery that has created 7.2 million new jobs so far. 
Unemployment is low; inflation is low; wages are rising. This economy is 
on the move, and our job is to keep it that way, not with more 
government but with more enterprise.
    Next week, I'll deliver a full report on the state of our economy. 
Tonight I want to discuss three economic reforms that deserve to be 
priorities for this Congress.
    First, we must balance the Federal budget. We can do so without 
raising taxes. What we need is spending discipline in Washington, DC. We 
set a goal of cutting the deficit in half by 2009 and met that goal 3 
years ahead of schedule. Now let us take the next step. In the coming 
weeks, I will submit a budget that eliminates the

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Federal deficit within the next 5 years. I ask you to make the same 
commitment. Together, we can restrain the spending appetite of the 
Federal Government, and we can balance the Federal budget.
    Next, there is the matter of earmarks. These special interest items 
are often slipped into bills at the last hour, when not even C-SPAN is 
watching. [Laughter] In 2005 alone, the number of earmarks grew to over 
13,000 and totaled nearly $18 billion. Even worse, over 90 percent of 
the earmarks never make it to the floor of the House and Senate. They 
are dropped into committee reports that are not even part of the bill 
that arrives on my desk. You didn't vote them into law, I didn't sign 
them into law, yet they're treated as if they have the force of law. The 
time has come to end this practice. So let us work together to reform 
the budget process, expose every earmark to the light of day and to a 
vote in Congress, and cut the number and cost of earmarks at least in 
half by the end of this session.
    And finally, to keep this economy strong, we must take on the 
challenge of entitlements. Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid are 
commitments of conscience, and so it is our duty to keep them 
permanently sound. Yet we're failing in that duty. And this failure will 
one day leave our children with three bad options: huge tax increases, 
huge deficits, or huge and immediate cuts in benefits. Everyone in this 
Chamber knows this to be true, yet somehow we have not found it in 
ourselves to act. So let us work together and do it now. With enough 
good sense and good will, you and I can fix Medicare and Medicaid and 
save Social Security.
    Spreading opportunity and hope in America also requires public 
schools that give children the knowledge and character they need in 
life. Five years ago, we rose above partisan differences to pass the No 
Child Left Behind Act, preserving local control, raising standards, and 
holding schools accountable for results. And because we acted, students 
are performing better in reading and math, and minority students are 
closing the achievement gap.
    Now the task is to build on the success without watering down 
standards, without taking control from local communities, and without 
backsliding and calling it reform. We can lift student achievement even 
higher by giving local leaders flexibility to turn around failing 
schools and by giving families with children stuck in failing schools 
the right to choose someplace better. We must increase funds for 
students who struggle and make sure these children get the special help 
they need. And we can make sure our children are prepared for the jobs 
of the future and our country is more competitive by strengthening math 
and science skills. The No Child Left Behind Act has worked for 
America's children, and I ask Congress to reauthorize this good law.
    A future of hope and opportunity requires that all our citizens have 
affordable and available health care. When it comes to health care, 
Government has an obligation to care for the elderly, the disabled, and 
poor children, and we will meet those responsibilities. For all other 
Americans, private health insurance is the best way to meet their needs.
    But many Americans cannot afford a health insurance policy, and so 
tonight I propose two new initiatives to help more Americans afford 
their own insurance. First, I propose a standard tax deduction for 
health insurance that will be like the standard tax deduction for 
dependents. Families with health insurance will pay no income on payroll 
tax--or payroll taxes on $15,000 of their income. Single Americans with 
health insurance will pay no income or payroll taxes on $7,500 of their 
income. With this reform, more than 100 million men, women, and children 
who are now covered by employer-provided insurance will benefit from 
lower tax bills. At the same time, this reform will level the playing 
field for those who do not get health insurance through their job. For 
Americans who

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now purchase health insurance on their own, this proposal would mean a 
substantial tax savings, $4,500 for a family of four making $60,000 a 
year. And for the millions of other Americans who have no health 
insurance at all, this deduction would help put a basic, private health 
insurance plan within their reach. Changing the Tax Code is a vital and 
necessary step to making health care affordable for more Americans.
    My second proposal is to help the States that are coming up with 
innovative ways to cover the uninsured. States that make basic private 
health insurance available to all their citizens should receive Federal 
funds to help them provide this coverage to the poor and the sick. I 
have asked the Secretary of Health and Human Services to work with Congress to take existing Federal funds and 
use them to create Affordable Choices grants. These grants would give 
our Nation's Governors more money and more flexibility to get private 
health insurance to those most in need.
    There are many other ways that Congress can help. We need to expand 
health savings accounts. We need to help small businesses through 
association health plans. We need to reduce costs and medical errors 
with better information technology. We will encourage price 
transparency. And to protect good doctors from junk lawsuits, we need to 
pass medical liability reform. In all we do, we must remember that the 
best health care decisions are not made by government and insurance 
companies but by patients and their doctors.
    Extending hope and opportunity in our country requires an 
immigration system worthy of America, with laws that are fair and 
borders that are secure. When laws and borders are routinely violated, 
this harms the interests of our country. To secure our border, we're 
doubling the size of the Border Patrol and funding new infrastructure 
and technology.
    Yet even with all these steps, we cannot fully secure the border 
unless we take pressure off the border, and that requires a temporary-
worker program. We should establish a legal and orderly path for foreign 
workers to enter our country to work on a temporary basis. As a result, 
they won't have to try to sneak in, and that will leave border agents 
free to chase down drug smugglers and criminals and terrorists. We'll 
enforce our immigration laws at the worksite and give employers the 
tools to verify the legal status of their workers, so there's no excuse 
left for violating the law.
    We need to uphold the great tradition of the melting pot that 
welcomes and assimilates new arrivals. We need to resolve the status of 
the illegal immigrants who are already in our country without animosity 
and without amnesty. Convictions run deep in this Capitol when it comes 
to immigration. Let us have a serious, civil, and conclusive debate, so 
that you can pass and I can sign comprehensive immigration reform into 
law.
    Extending hope and opportunity depends on a stable supply of energy 
that keeps America's economy running and America's environment clean. 
For too long, our Nation has been dependent on foreign oil. And this 
dependence leaves us more vulnerable to hostile regimes and to 
terrorists who could cause huge disruptions of oil shipments and raise 
the price of oil and do great harm to our economy.
    It's in our vital interest to diversify America's energy supply. The 
way forward is through technology. We must continue changing the way 
America generates electric power by even greater use of clean coal 
technology, solar and wind energy, and clean, safe nuclear power. We 
need to press on with battery research for plug-in and hybrid vehicles 
and expand the use of clean diesel vehicles and biodiesel fuel. We must 
continue investing in new methods of producing ethanol, using everything 
from wood chips to grasses to agricultural wastes.
    We made a lot of progress, thanks to good policies here in 
Washington and the strong response of the market. And now

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even more dramatic advances are within reach. Tonight I ask Congress to 
join me in pursuing a great goal. Let us build on the work we've done 
and reduce gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent in the next 
10 years. When we do that, we will have cut our total imports by the 
equivalent of three-quarters of all the oil we now import from the 
Middle East.
    To reach this goal, we must increase the supply of alternative fuels 
by setting a mandatory fuels standard to require 35 billion gallons of 
renewable and alternative fuels in 2017, and that is nearly five times 
the current target. At the same time, we need to reform and modernize 
fuel economy standards for cars the way we did for light trucks, and 
conserve up to 8\1/2\ billion more gallons of gasoline by 2017.
    Achieving these ambitious goals will dramatically reduce our 
dependence on foreign oil, but it's not going to eliminate it. And so as 
we continue to diversify our fuel supply, we must step up domestic oil 
production in environmentally sensitive ways. And to further protect 
America against severe disruptions to our oil supply, I ask Congress to 
double the current capacity of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
    America is on the verge of technological breakthroughs that will 
enable us to live our lives less dependent on oil. And these 
technologies will help us be better stewards of the environment, and 
they will help us to confront the serious challenge of global climate 
change.
    A future of hope and opportunity requires a fair, impartial system 
of justice. The lives of our citizens across our Nation are affected by 
the outcome of cases pending in our Federal courts. We have a shared 
obligation to ensure that the Federal courts have enough judges to hear 
those cases and deliver timely rulings. As President, I have a duty to 
nominate qualified men and women to vacancies on the Federal bench, and 
the United States Senate has a duty as well, to give those nominees a 
fair hearing and a prompt up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.
    For all of us in this room, there is no higher responsibility than 
to protect the people of this country from danger. Five years have come 
and gone since we saw the scenes and felt the sorrow that the terrorists 
can cause. We've had time to take stock of our situation. We've added 
many critical protections to guard the homeland. We know with certainty 
that the horrors of that September morning were just a glimpse of what 
the terrorists intend for us, unless we stop them.
    With the distance of time, we find ourselves debating the causes of 
conflict and the course we have followed. Such debates are essential 
when a great democracy faces great questions. Yet one question has 
surely been settled: that to win the war on terror, we must take the 
fight to the enemy.
    From the start, America and our allies have protected our people by 
staying on the offense. The enemy knows that the days of comfortable 
sanctuary, easy movement, steady financing, and free flowing 
communications are long over. For the terrorists, life since 9/11 has 
never been the same.
    Our success in this war is often measured by the things that did not 
happen. We cannot know the full extent of the attacks that we and our 
allies have prevented, but here is some of what we do know. We stopped 
an Al Qaida plot to fly a hijacked airplane into the tallest building on 
the west coast. We broke up a Southeast Asian terror cell grooming 
operatives for attacks inside the United States. We uncovered an Al 
Qaida cell developing anthrax to be used in attacks against America. And 
just last August, British authorities uncovered a plot to blow up 
passenger planes bound for America over the Atlantic Ocean. For each 
life saved, we owe a debt of gratitude to the brave public servants who 
devote their lives to finding the terrorists and stopping them.
    Every success against the terrorists is a reminder of the shoreless 
ambitions of this

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enemy. The evil that inspired and rejoiced in 9/11 is still at work in 
the world. And so long as that's the case, America is still a nation at 
war.
    In the mind of the terrorists, this war began well before September 
the 11th and will not end until their radical vision is fulfilled. And 
these past 5 years have given us a much clearer view of the nature of 
this enemy. Al Qaida and its followers are Sunni extremists possessed by 
hatred and commanded by a harsh and narrow ideology. Take almost any 
principle of civilization, and their goal is the opposite. They preach 
with threats, instruct with bullets and bombs, and promise paradise for 
the murder of the innocent.
    Our enemies are quite explicit about their intentions. They want to 
overthrow moderate governments and establish safe havens from which to 
plan and carry out new attacks on our country. By killing and 
terrorizing Americans, they want to force our country to retreat from 
the world and abandon the cause of liberty. They would then be free to 
impose their will and spread their totalitarian ideology. Listen to this 
warning from the late terrorist Zarqawi: ``We will sacrifice our blood 
and bodies to put an end to your dreams, and what is coming is even 
worse.'' Usama bin Laden declared: ``Death 
is better than living on this Earth with the unbelievers among us.''
    These men are not given to idle words, and they are just one camp in 
the Islamist radical movement. In recent times, it has also become clear 
that we face an escalating danger from Shi'a extremists who are just as 
hostile to America and are also determined to dominate the Middle East. 
Many are known to take direction from the regime in Iran, which is 
funding and arming terrorists like Hizballah, a group second only to Al 
Qaida in the American lives it has taken.
    The Shi'a and Sunni extremists are different faces of the same 
totalitarian threat. Whatever slogans they chant when they slaughter the 
innocent, they have the same wicked purposes. They want to kill 
Americans, kill democracy in the Middle East, and gain the weapons to 
kill on an even more horrific scale.
    In the sixth year since our Nation was attacked, I wish I could 
report to you that the dangers have ended. They have not. And so it 
remains the policy of this Government to use every lawful and proper 
tool of intelligence, diplomacy, law enforcement, and military action to 
do our duty, to find these enemies, and to protect the American people.
    This war is more than a clash of arms; it is a decisive ideological 
struggle. And the security of our Nation is in the balance. To prevail, 
we must remove the conditions that inspire blind hatred and drove 19 men 
to get onto airplanes and to come and kill us. What every terrorist 
fears most is human freedom: societies where men and women make their 
own choices, answer to their own conscience, and live by their hopes 
instead of their resentments. Free people are not drawn to violent and 
malignant ideologies, and most will choose a better way when they're 
given a chance. So we advance our own security interests by helping 
moderates and reformers and brave voices for democracy. The great 
question of our day is whether America will help men and women in the 
Middle East to build free societies and share in the rights of all 
humanity. And I say, for the sake of our own security, We must.
    In the last 2 years, we've seen the desire for liberty in the 
broader Middle East, and we have been sobered by the enemy's fierce 
reaction. In 2005, the world watched as the citizens of Lebanon raised 
the banner of the Cedar Revolution. They drove out the Syrian occupiers 
and chose new leaders in free elections. In 2005, the people of 
Afghanistan defied the terrorists and elected a democratic legislature. 
And in 2005, the Iraqi people held three national elections, choosing a 
transitional government, adopting the most progressive, democratic 
Constitution in the Arab world, and

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then electing a Government under that Constitution. Despite endless 
threats from the killers in their midst, nearly 12 million Iraqi 
citizens came out to vote in a show of hope and solidarity that we 
should never forget.
    A thinking enemy watched all of these scenes, adjusted their 
tactics, and, in 2006, they struck back. In Lebanon, assassins took the 
life of Pierre Gemayel, a prominent participant in the Cedar Revolution. 
Hizballah terrorists, with support from Syria and Iran, sowed conflict 
in the region and are seeking to undermine Lebanon's legitimately 
elected Government. In Afghanistan, Taliban and Al Qaida fighters tried 
to regain power by regrouping and engaging Afghan and NATO forces. In 
Iraq, Al Qaida and other Sunni extremists blew up one of the most sacred 
places in Shi'a Islam, the Golden Mosque of Samarra. This atrocity, 
directed at a Muslim house of prayer, was designed to provoke 
retaliation from Iraqi Shi'a, and it succeeded. Radical Shi'a elements, 
some of whom receive support from Iran, formed death squads. The result 
was a tragic escalation of sectarian rage and reprisal that continues to 
this day.
    This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we're 
in. Every one of us wishes this war were over and won. Yet it would not 
be like us to leave our promises unkept, our friends abandoned, and our 
own security at risk. Ladies and gentlemen, on this day, at this hour, 
it is still within our power to shape the outcome of this battle. Let us 
find our resolve and turn events toward victory.
    We're carrying out a new strategy in Iraq, a plan that demands more 
from Iraq's elected Government and gives our forces in Iraq the 
reinforcements they need to complete their mission. Our goal is a 
democratic Iraq that upholds the rule of law, respects the rights of its 
people, provides them security, and is an ally in the war on terror.
    In order to make progress toward this goal, the Iraqi Government 
must stop the sectarian violence in its capital. But the Iraqis are not 
yet ready to do this on their own. So we're deploying reinforcements of 
more than 20,000 additional soldiers and marines to Iraq. The vast 
majority will go to Baghdad, where they will help Iraqi forces to clear 
and secure neighborhoods and serve as advisers embedded in Iraqi Army 
units. With Iraqis in the lead, our forces will help secure the city by 
chasing down the terrorists, insurgents, and the roaming death squads. 
And in Anbar Province, where Al Qaida terrorists have gathered and local 
forces have begun showing a willingness to fight them, we're sending an 
additional 4,000 United States marines, with orders to find the 
terrorists and clear them out. We didn't drive Al Qaida out of their 
safe haven in Afghanistan only to let them set up a new safe haven in a 
free Iraq.
    The people of Iraq want to live in peace, and now it's time for 
their Government to act. Iraq's leaders know that our commitment is not 
open ended. They have promised to deploy more of their own troops to 
secure Baghdad, and they must do so. They pledged that they will 
confront violent radicals of any faction or political party, and they 
need to follow through and lift needless restrictions on Iraqi and 
coalition forces, so these troops can achieve their mission of bringing 
security to all of the people of Baghdad. Iraq's leaders have committed 
themselves to a series of benchmarks: to achieve reconciliation, to 
share oil revenues among all of Iraq's citizens, to put the wealth of 
Iraq into the rebuilding of Iraq, to allow more Iraqis to reenter their 
nation's civic life, to hold local elections, and to take responsibility 
for security in every Iraqi Province. But for all of this to happen, 
Baghdad must be secure, and our plan will help the Iraqi Government take 
back its capital and make good on its commitments.

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    My fellow citizens, our military commanders and I have carefully 
weighed the options. We discussed every possible approach. In the end, I 
chose this course of action because it provides the best chance for 
success. Many in this Chamber understand that America must not fail in 
Iraq, because you understand that the consequences of failure would be 
grievous and far-reaching.
    If American forces step back before Baghdad is secure, the Iraqi 
Government would be overrun by extremists on all sides. We could expect 
an epic battle between Shi'a extremists backed by Iran and Sunni 
extremists aided by Al Qaida and supporters of the old regime. A 
contagion of violence could spill out across the country, and, in time, 
the entire region could be drawn into the conflict.
    For America, this is a nightmare scenario; for the enemy, this is 
the objective. Chaos is the greatest ally, their greatest ally in this 
struggle. And out of chaos in Iraq would emerge an emboldened enemy with 
new safe havens, new recruits, new resources, and an even greater 
determination to harm America. To allow this to happen would be to 
ignore the lessons of September the 11th and invite tragedy. Ladies and 
gentlemen, nothing is more important at this moment in our history than 
for America to succeed in the Middle East, to succeed in Iraq, and to 
spare the American people from this danger.
    This is where matters stand tonight, in the here and now. I have 
spoken with many of you in person. I respect you and the arguments 
you've made. We went into this largely united, in our assumptions and in 
our convictions. And whatever you voted for, you did not vote for 
failure. Our country is pursuing a new strategy in Iraq, and I ask you 
to give it a chance to work. And I ask you to support our troops in the 
field and those on their way.
    The war on terror we fight today is a generational struggle that 
will continue long after you and I have turned our duties over to 
others. And that's why it's important to work together so our Nation can 
see this great effort through. Both parties and both branches should 
work in close consultation. It's why I've proposed to establish a 
special advisory council on the war on terror, made up of leaders in 
Congress from both political parties. We will share ideas for how to 
position America to meet every challenge that confronts us. We'll show 
our enemies abroad that we are united in the goal of victory.
    And one of the first steps we can take together is to add to the 
ranks of our military so that the American Armed Forces are ready for 
all the challenges ahead. Tonight I ask the Congress to authorize an 
increase in the size of our active Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 in 
the next 5 years. A second task we can take on together is to design and 
establish a volunteer civilian reserve corps. Such a corps would 
function much like our military reserve. It would ease the burden on the 
Armed Forces by allowing us to hire civilians with critical skills to 
serve on missions abroad when America needs them. It would give people 
across America who do not wear the uniform a chance to serve in the 
defining struggle of our time.
    Americans can have confidence in the outcome of this struggle 
because we're not in this struggle alone. We have a diplomatic strategy 
that is rallying the world to join in the fight against extremism. In 
Iraq, multinational forces are operating under a mandate from the United 
Nations. We're working with Jordan and Saudi Arabia and Egypt and the 
Gulf States to increase support for Iraq's Government.
    The United Nations has imposed sanctions on Iran and made it clear 
that the world will not allow the regime in Tehran to acquire nuclear 
weapons. With the other members of the Quartet--the U.N., the EU, and 
Russia--we're pursuing diplomacy to help bring peace to the Holy Land 
and pursuing the establishment of a democratic Palestinian state living 
side by side with

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Israel in peace and security. In Afghanistan, NATO has taken the lead in 
turning back the Taliban and Al Qaida offensive, the first time the 
Alliance has deployed forces outside the North Atlantic area. Together 
with our partners in China and Japan, Russia and South Korea, we're 
pursuing intensive diplomacy to achieve a Korean Peninsula free of 
nuclear weapons.
    We will continue to speak out for the cause of freedom in places 
like Cuba, Belarus, and Burma, and continue to awaken the conscience of 
the world to save the people of Darfur.
    American foreign policy is more than a matter of war and diplomacy. 
Our work in the world is also based on a timeless truth: To whom much is 
given, much is required. We hear the call to take on the challenges of 
hunger and poverty and disease, and that is precisely what America is 
doing. We must continue to fight HIV/AIDS, especially on the continent 
of Africa. Because you funded the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the 
number of people receiving lifesaving drugs has grown from 50,000 to 
more than 800,000 in 3 short years. I ask you to continue funding our 
efforts to fight HIV/AIDS, and I ask you to provide $1.2 billion over 5 
years so we can combat malaria in 15 African countries.
    I ask that you fund the Millennium Challenge Account, so that 
American aid reaches the people who need it, in nations where democracy 
is on the rise and corruption is in retreat. And let us continue to 
support the expanded trade and debt relief that are the best hope for 
lifting lives and eliminating poverty.
    When America serves others in this way, we show the strength and 
generosity of our country. These deeds reflect the character of our 
people. The greatest strength we have is the heroic kindness and courage 
and self-sacrifice of the American people. You see this spirit often if 
you know where to look, and tonight we need only look above to the 
gallery.
    Dikembe Mutombo grew up in Africa amid 
great poverty and disease. He came to Georgetown University on a 
scholarship to study medicine, but Coach John Thompson took a look at Dikembe and had a different idea. 
[Laughter] Dikembe became a star in the NBA and a citizen of the United 
States, but he never forgot the land of his birth or the duty to share 
his blessings with others. He built a brand new hospital in his old 
hometown. A friend has said of this good-
hearted man: ``Mutombo believes that God has given him this opportunity 
to do great things.'' And we are proud to call this son of the Congo a 
citizen of the United States of America.
    After her daughter was born, Julie Aigner-
Clark searched for ways to share her love 
of music and art with her child. So she borrowed some equipment and 
began filming children's videos in her basement. The Baby Einstein 
Company was born, and in just 5 years, her business grew to more than 
$20 million in sales. In November 2001, Julie sold Baby Einstein to Walt 
Disney Company, and with her help, Baby Einstein has grown into a $200 
million business. Julie represents the great enterprising spirit of 
America. And she is using her success to help others, producing child 
safety videos with John Walsh of the National 
Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Julie says of her new 
project: ``I believe it is the most important thing I have ever done. I 
believe that children have the right to live in a world that is safe.'' 
And so tonight we are pleased to welcome this talented business 
entrepreneur and generous social entrepreneur, Julie Aigner-Clark.
    Three weeks ago, Wesley Autrey was waiting 
at a Harlem subway station with his two little 
girls when he saw a man fall into the path of a train. With seconds to act, 
Wesley jumped onto the tracks, pulled the man into the space between the 
rails, and held him as the train passed right above their heads. He 
insists he's not a

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hero. He says: ``We got guys and girls overseas dying for us to have our 
freedoms. We have got to show each other some love.'' There is something 
wonderful about a country that produces a brave and humble man like 
Wesley Autrey.
    Tommy Rieman was a teenager pumping gas in 
Independence, Kentucky, when he enlisted in the United States Army. In 
December 2003, he was on a reconnaissance mission in Iraq when his team 
came under heavy enemy fire. From his Humvee, Sergeant Rieman returned 
fire. He used his body as a shield to protect his gunner. He was shot in 
the chest and arm and received shrapnel wounds to his legs, yet he 
refused medical attention and stayed in the fight. He helped to repel a 
second attack, firing grenades at the enemy's position. For his 
exceptional courage, Sergeant Rieman was awarded the Silver Star. And 
like so many other Americans who have volunteered to defend us, he has 
earned the respect and the gratitude of our entire country.
    In such courage and compassion, ladies and gentlemen, we see the 
spirit and character of America. And these qualities are not in short 
supply. This is a decent and honorable country and resilient too. We've 
been through a lot together. We've met challenges and faced dangers, and 
we know that more lie ahead. Yet we can go forward with confidence, 
because the State of our Union is strong; our cause in the world is 
right; and tonight that cause goes on. God bless.
    See you next year. Thank you for your prayers.

Note: The President spoke at 9:13 p.m. in the House Chamber of the 
Capitol. In his remarks, he referred to John Thompson, Jr., former 
Georgetown University head men's basketball coach. The Office of the 
Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of these 
remarks.