[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]

From the 1998 Presidential Documents Online via GPO Access [frwais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:pd02fe98_txt-5]

[Page 129-139]

Monday, February 2, 1998

Volume 34--Number 5

Pages 127-174

Week Ending Friday, January 30, 1998

Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union

January 27, 1998

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 unshakable

commitment to improving the lives of all our people. In the past few

weeks they've both been eulogized. Tonight I think we should begin by

sending a message to their families and their friends that we celebrate

their lives and give thanks for their service to our Nation.

[[Page 130]]

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 5 years in a

row, and the welfare rolls are at their lowest levels in 27 years. Our

leadership in the world is unrivaled. Ladies and gentlemen, 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 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 our young people can go on to college;

an America where scientists find cures for diseases, from diabetes to

Alzheimer's 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 have moved into an information age, a

global economy, a truly new world. For 5 years now, we have met the

challenge of these changes, as Americans have at every turning point in

our history, by renewing the very idea of America: widening the circle

of opportunity, deepening the meaning of our freedom, forging a more

perfect Union.

We 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, and 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.

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 our Nation.

Tonight I come before you to announce that the Federal deficit, once so

incomprehensibly large that it had 11 zeros, will be, simply, zero. I

will submit to Congress for 1999 the first balanced budget in 30 years.

And if we hold fast to fiscal discipline, we may balance the budget this

year--4 years ahead of schedule.

You can all be proud of that, because 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 percent, and the truly

historic bipartisan balanced budget agreement passed by this Congress.

Here's the really good news: 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

[[Page 131]]

deficit. Last year, together, we enacted targeted tax cuts so that the

typical middle class family will now have the lowest tax rates in 20

years. My plan to balance the budget next year includes both new

investments and new tax cuts targeted to the needs of working families,

for education, for child care, for 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.

Now, if we balance the budget for next year, it is projected that

we'll then have a sizable surplus in the years that immediately follow.

What should we do with this projected surplus? I have a simple four-word

answer: Save Social Security first. [Applause] Thank you.

Tonight I propose that we reserve 100 percent of the surplus--that's

every penny of any surplus--until we have taken all the necessary

measures to strengthen the Social Security system for the 21st century.

Let us say to all Americans watching tonight--whether you're 70 or 50,

or whether you just started paying into the system--Social Security will

be there when you need it. Let us make this commitment: Social Security

first. Let's do that together.

I also want to say that all the American people who are watching us

tonight should be invited to join in this discussion, in facing these

issues squarely and forming a true consensus on how we should 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'll hold 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.

[Applause] Thank you.

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 that education has to be our highest

priority. I laid out a 10-point plan to move us forward and urged all of

us to let politics stop at the schoolhouse door. Since then, this

Congress--across party lines--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 new charter schools, working to

connect every classroom in the country to the information superhighway,

committing to expand Head Start to a million children, launching America

Reads, sending literally thousands of college students into our

elementary 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, already less

expensive and easier to repay--now you get to deduct the interest.

Families all over America now can put their savings into new tax-free

education IRA's. And this year, for the first 2 years of college,

families will get a $1,500 tax credit--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 is a lifetime

learning credit. You did that, and you should be very proud of it.

And because of these actions, I have something to say to every

family listening to us 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

on to college. If you know a young couple struggling with bills, worried

they won't be able to send their children to college, tell them not to

give up; their children can go on to college. If you know somebody who's

caught in a dead-end job and afraid he can't afford the classes

necessary to get better jobs for the rest of his life, tell him not to

give up; he can go on to college. Because of the things that have been

done, we can make college as universal in the 21st century as high

school is today. And my friends, that will change the face and future of

America.

[[Page 132]]

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 world's best as well by raising standards, raising expectations, and

raising accountability. Thanks to the actions of this Congress last

year, we will soon have, for the very first time, a voluntary national

test based on national standards in fourth grade reading and eighth

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. [Applause] Thank you. My balanced budget will

help to hire 100,000 new teachers who've passed a State competency test.

Now, with these teachers--listen--with these teachers, we will actually

be able to reduce class size in the first, second, and third grades to

an average of 18 students a class, all across America.

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 greater accountability. When we promote a child

from grade to grade who hasn't mastered the work, we don't do that child

any favors. It is time to end social promotion in America's schools.

Last year, in Chicago, they made that decision--not to hold our 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

propose 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 to make sure they do.

I also ask this Congress to support our efforts to enlist colleges

and universities to reach out to disadvantaged children, starting in the

sixth grade, so that they can get the guidance and hope they need so

they can know that they, too, will be able to 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 5 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 America growing and to advance a safer, more stable world.

All of you know, whatever your views are, that I think this is a

great opportunity for America. I know there is opposition to more

comprehensive trade agreements. I have listened carefully, and I believe

that the opposition is 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 market and do their own people no

favors, even if there's more business; and, second, that if we have more

trade, more of our workers will lose their jobs and have to start over.

I think we should seek to advance worker and environmental standards

around the world. I have made it abundantly clear that it should be a

part of our trade agenda. But we cannot influence other countries'

decisions if we send them a message that we're backing away from trade

with them.

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, which may have nothing to do with trade. That's why we have

more than doubled funding for training dislocated workers since 1993.

And if my new budget is adopted, we will triple funding. That's why we

must do more, and more quickly, to help workers who lose their jobs for

whatever reason.

You know, we help communities in a special way when their military

base closes; we ought to help them in the same way if their factory

closes. Again, I ask the Congress to continue its bipartisan work to

consolidate the tangle of training programs we have today into one

single ``GI bill'' for workers,

[[Page 133]]

a simple skills grant so people can, on their own, move quickly to new

jobs, to higher incomes, and brighter futures.

We all know, in every way in life, change is not always easy, but we

have to decide whether we're going to try to hold it back and hide from

it or reap its benefits. And remember the big picture here: While we've

been entering into hundreds of new trade agreements, we've been creating

millions of new jobs.

So this year we will forge new partnerships with Latin America,

Asia, and Europe. And we should pass the new ``African Trade Act''; it

has bipartisan support. I will also renew my request for the fast-track

negotiating authority necessary to open more new markets, create more

new jobs, which every President has had for two decades.

You know, whether we like it or not, in ways that are mostly

positive, the world's economies are more and more interconnected and

interdependent. Today, an economic crisis anywhere can affect economies

everywhere. Recent months have brought serious financial problems to

Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, and beyond.

Now, why should Americans be concerned about this? First, these

countries are our customers. If they sink into recession, they won't be

able to buy the goods we'd like to sell them. Second, they're also our

competitors. So if their currencies lose their value and go down, then

the price of their goods will drop, flooding our market and others with

much cheaper goods, which makes it a lot tougher for our people to

compete. And 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 America and the right thing to

do for a safer world.

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 do it. So I call on Congress to renew

America's commitment to the International Monetary Fund. And I think we

should say to all the people we're trying to represent here that

preparing for a far-off storm that may reach our shores is far wiser

than ignoring the thunder till the clouds are just overhead.

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. And we're now

replacing welfare checks with paychecks.

Last year, after a record 4-year decline in welfare rolls, I

challenged our Nation to move 2 million more Americans off welfare by

the year 2000. I'm pleased to report we have also met that goal, 2 full

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's a dispatcher

with a van company. She's saved enough money to move her family into a

good neighborhood, and she's helping other welfare recipients go to

work. Elaine Kinslow and all those like her are the real heroes of the

welfare revolution. There are millions like her all across America. And

I'm happy she could join the First Lady tonight. Elaine, we're very

proud of you. Please stand up. [Applause]

We still have a lot more to do, all of us, to make welfare reform a

success--providing child care, helping families move closer to available

jobs, challenging more companies to join our 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 of the benefits to immigrants who are here

legally and working hard, and I hope you will finish that job this year.

We have to make it possible for all hard-working families to meet

their most important responsibilities. Two years ago we helped guarantee

that Americans can 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.

A hundred and sixty million of our fellow citizens are in managed

care plans. These

[[Page 134]]

plans save money, and they can improve care. But medical decisions ought

to be made by medical doctors, not insurance company accountants. I urge

this Congress to reach across the aisle and 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 lose 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 hard-working

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 that they face: an epidemic of teen smoking, spread by

multimillion-dollar marketing campaigns. I challenge Congress: Let's

pass bipartisan, comprehensive legislation that will improve public

health, protect our 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 a dollar and

a half a pack over the next 10 years, with penalties on the tobacco

industry if it keeps marketing to our children. Tomorrow, like every

day, 3,000 children will start smoking, and 1,000 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 was privileged to sign into

law as President in 1993. Since then, about 15 million people have taken

advantage of it, and I've met a lot of them all across this country. I

ask you to extend that law to cover 10 million more workers and to give

parents time off when they have to go see their children's teachers or

take them to the doctor.

Child care is the next frontier we must face to enable people to

succeed at home and at work. Last year I cohosted the very first White

House Conference on Child Care with one of our foremost experts,

America's First Lady. From all corners of America, we heard the same

message, without regard to region or income or political affiliation:

We've got to raise the quality of child care. We've got to make it

safer. We've got to make it more affordable.

So here's my plan: Help families to pay for child care for a 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. Now, if you pass my plan,

what this means is that a family of four with an income of $35,000 and

high child care costs will no longer pay a single penny of Federal

income tax.

I think this is such a big issue with me because of my own personal

experience. I have often wondered how my mother, when she was a young

widow, would have been able to go away to school and get an education

and come back and support me if my grandparents hadn't been able to take

care of me. She and I were really very lucky. How many other families

have never had that same opportunity? The truth is, we don't know the

answer to that question. But we do know what the answer should be: Not a

single American family should ever have to choose between the job they

need and the child they love.

A society rooted in responsibility must provide safe streets, safe

schools, and safe neighborhoods. We pursued a strategy of more police,

tougher punishment, smarter prevention, with crimefighting partnerships

with local law enforcement and citizen groups, where the rubber hits the

road. I can report to you tonight that it's working. Violent crime is

down; robbery is down; assault is down; burglary is down--for 5 years in

a row, all across America. We need to finish the job

[[Page 135]]

of putting 100,000 more police on our streets.

Again, I ask Congress to pass a juvenile crime bill that provides

more prosecutors and probation officers, to crack down on gangs and 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. I

think every American should know that 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, and we ought to do it.

Drug use is on the decline. I thank General McCaffrey for his

leadership, and I thank this Congress for passing the largest antidrug

budget in history. Now I ask you to join me in a groundbreaking effort

to hire 1,000 new Border Patrol agents and to deploy the most

sophisticated available new technologies to help close the door on drugs

at our borders.

Police, prosecutors, and prevention programs, as good as they are,

they can't work if our court system doesn't work. Today there are large

number 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 simply 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 just at home but around the

world. On the eve of a new century, we have the power and the duty to

build a new era of peace and security. But make no mistake about it,

today's possibilities are not tomorrow's guarantees. America must 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 and 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 50 years, NATO

contained communism and kept America and Europe secure. Now 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 of 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 in the streets, where 2 years ago

they were hiding from snipers and shells. The shops are filled with

food; the cafes were alive with conversation. The progress there is

unmistakable, but it is not yet irreversible. To take firm root,

Bosnia's fragile peace still needs the support of American and allied

troops when the current NATO mission ends in June. I think Senator Dole

actually said it best. He said, ``This is like being ahead in the 4th

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're very

proud of what they're doing in Bosnia, and we're all very proud of them.

One of those--[applause]--thank you--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. 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. Thank you very much, Sergeant, for what you

represent. Please stand up. [Applause]

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.

[[Page 136]]

I 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 is within 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'm pleased to announce that four former Chairmen of the

Joint Chiefs of Staff--Generals John Shalikashvili, Colin Powell, and

David Jones and Admiral William Crowe--have endorsed this treaty. And I

ask the Senate to approve it this year. [Applause] Thank you.

Together, we must confront the new hazards of 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 truly remarkable job finding and destroying more

of Iraq's arsenal than was destroyed during the entire Gulf war. 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,'' and when I say to him, ``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 now. 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. [Applause] Thank you. More and more, we are working with other

nations to achieve common goals. If we want America to lead, we've got

to 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 weakened, by our increasing

interdependence with other nations. But we have to do our part.

Our Founders set America on a permanent course toward a more perfect

Union. To all of you I say, it is a journey we can only make together,

living as one community. First, we have to 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 6th, at long last the Senate will actually 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 and for the status quo. I ask you to strengthen our democracy

and pass campaign finance reform this year.

At least equally important, we have to address the real reason for

the explosion in campaign costs: the high cost of media advertising.

[At this point, audience members responded.]

To the folks watching at home, those were the groans of pain in the

audience. [Laughter] I will formally request that the Federal

Communications Commission act to provide free or reduced-cost television

time for candidates who observe spending limits voluntarily. The

airwaves are a public trust, and broadcasters also have to help us in

this effort to strengthen our democracy.

Under the leadership of Vice President Gore, we've reduced the

Federal payroll by 300,000 workers, cut 16,000 pages of regulation,

eliminated hundreds of programs, and improved the operations of

virtually every Government agency. But we can do more. Like every

taxpayer, I'm outraged by the reports of abuses by the IRS. We need some

[[Page 137]]

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 of

Representatives passed sweeping IRS reforms. This bill must not now

languish in the Senate. Tonight I ask the Senate: Follow the House; pass

the bipartisan package as your first order of business.

I hope to goodness before I finish I can think of something to say

``follow the Senate'' on, so I'll be out of trouble. [Laughter]

A nation that lives as a community must value all its communities.

For the past 5 years, we have worked to bring the spark of private

enterprise to inner city and poor rural areas, with community

development banks, more commercial loans in the poor neighborhoods,

cleanup of polluted sites for development. Under the continued

leadership of the Vice President, we propose to triple the number of

empowerment zones to give business incentives to invest in those areas.

We should--[applause]--thank you--we should also 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 our Capital City a great city

for all who live and visit here. Our cities are the vibrant hubs of

great metropolitan areas. They are still the gateways for new

immigrants, from every continent, who come here to work for their own

American dreams. Let's keep our cities going strong into the 21st

century; they're a very important part of our future.

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 toxins that threaten their children. Just

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 effort to clean our rivers, our lakes, and

our coastal waters for our children. [Applause] Thank you.

Our overriding environmental challenge tonight is the worldwide

problem of climate change, global warming, the gathering crisis that

requires worldwide action. The vast majority of scientists have

concluded unequivocally that if we don't reduce the emission of

greenhouse gases, at some point in the next century, we'll disrupt our

climate and put our children and grandchildren at risk. This past

December, America led the world to reach a historic agreement committing

our Nation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through market forces, new

technologies, 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

told us it would hurt the economy. Well, today our economy is the

strongest in a generation, and our environment is the cleanest in a

generation. We have always found a way to clean the environment and grow

the economy 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 haven't always honored that ideal and we've never fully

lived up to it. Often it's easier to believe that our differences matter

more than what we have in common. It may be easier, but it's wrong.

What we have to do in our day and generation to make sure that

America becomes truly one nation--what do we have to do? We're becoming

more and more and more diverse. Do you believe we can become one nation?

The answer cannot be to dwell on our differences but to build on our

shared values. We all cherish family and faith, freedom and

responsibility. We all want our children to grow up in a world where

their talents are matched by their opportunities.

I've launched this national initiative on race to help us recognize

our common interests and to bridge the opportunity gaps that

[[Page 138]]

are keeping 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. Sixty thousand of our fellow citizens are waiting in line

for justice, and we should act now to end their 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, without regard to race. 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 our neighborhoods, when we make sure all

parents have the child care they need, we're helping to build one

nation.

We, in this Chamber and in this Government, must do all we can to

address the continuing American challenge to build one America. But

we'll only move forward if all our fellow citizens, including every one

of you at home watching tonight, is also committed to this cause. We

must work together, learn together, live together, serve together. On

the forge of common enterprise, Americans of all backgrounds can hammer

out a common identity. We see it today in the United States military, in

the Peace Corps, in AmeriCorps. Wherever people of all races and

backgrounds come together in a shared endeavor and get a fair chance, we

do just fine. With shared values and meaningful opportunities and honest

communication and citizen service, we can unite a diverse people in

freedom and mutual respect. We are many; we must be one.

In that spirit, let us lift our eyes to the new millennium. How will

we mark that passage? It just happens once every 1,000 years. 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 American's treasures, great and small.

And while we honor the past, let us imagine the future. Now, think

about this: The entire store of human knowledge now doubles every 5

years. In the 1980's, scientists identified the gene causing cystic

fibrosis; it took 9 years. Last year scientists located the gene that

causes Parkinson's Disease--in only 9 days. Within a decade, ``gene

chips'' will offer a roadmap for prevention of illnesses throughout a

lifetime. Soon we'll 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 22d century.

Tonight, as part of our gift to the millennium, I propose a 21st

century research fund for path-breaking scientific inquiry, the largest

funding increase in history for the National Institutes of Health, the

National Science Foundation, the National Cancer Institute. We have

already discovered genes for breast cancer and diabetes. I ask you to

support this initiative so 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 all this scientific progress is, we must continue to

see that science serves humanity, not 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.

We should enable all the world's people to explore the far reaches

of cyberspace. Think of this: The first time I made a State of the Union

speech to you, only a handful of physicists used the World Wide Web--

literally, just a handful of people. Now, in schools, in libraries,

homes, and businesses, millions and millions of Americans surf the Net

every day. We must give parents the tools they need to help protect

their children from inappropriate material on the Internet, but we also

must make sure that we protect the exploding global commercial potential

of the Internet. We can do the kinds of things that we need to do and

still protect our kids.

[[Page 139]]

For one thing, I ask Congress to step up support for building the next-

generation Internet. It's getting kind of clogged, you know, and the

next-generation Internet will operate at speeds up to 1,000 times faster

than today.

Even as we explore this inner space in the new millennium, we're

going to open new frontiers in outer space. Throughout all history,

humankind has had only one place to call home, our 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 actually set sail on an

uncharted sea of limitless mystery and unlimited potential.

And this October, a true American hero, a veteran pilot of 149

combat missions and one 5-hour space flight that changed the world, will

return to the heavens. Godspeed, John Glenn. [Applause] John, you will

carry with you America's hopes. And on your uniform, once again, 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, the words

that became our national anthem. Today, that Star-Spangled Banner, along

with the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of

Rights, are on display just a short walk from here. They are America's

treasures, and we must also save them for the ages.

I ask all Americans to support our project to restore all our

treasures so that the 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, 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.

Note: The President spoke at 9:12 p.m. in the House Chamber of the

Capitol. In his remarks, he referred to former Senator Bob Dole and his

wife, Elizabeth; and President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.