Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Members of the 103d Congress, my fellow Americans: I'm not at all sure what speech is in the TelePrompter tonight—[ ]—but I hope we can talk about the state of the Union. I ask you to begin by recalling the memory of the giant who presided over this Chamber with such force and grace. Tip O'Neill liked to call himself "a man of the House." And he surely was that. But even more, he was a man of the people, a bricklayer's son who helped to build the great American middle class. Tip O'Neill never forgot who he was, where he came from, or who sent him here. Tonight he's smiling down on us for the first time from the Lord's gallery. But in his honor, may we, too, always remember who we are, where we come from, and who sent us here. If we do that we will return over and over again to the principle that if we simply give ordinary people equal opportunity, quality education, and a fair shot at the American dream, they will do extraordinary things. We gather tonight in a world of changes so profound and rapid that all nations are tested. Our American heritage has always been to master such change, to use it to expand opportunity at home and our leadership abroad. But for too long and in too many ways, that heritage was abandoned, and our country drifted. For 30 years, family life in America has been breaking down. For 20 years, the wages of working people have been stagnant or declining. For the 12 years of trickle-down economics, we built a false prosperity on a hollow base as our national debt quadrupled. From 1989 to 1992, we experienced the slowest growth in a half century. For too many families, even when both parents were working, the American dream has been slipping away. In 1992, the American people demanded that we change. A year ago I asked all of you to join me in accepting responsibility for the future of our country. Well, we did. We replaced drift and deadlock with renewal and reform. And I want to thank every one of you here who heard the American people, who broke gridlock, who gave them the most successful teamwork between a President and a Congress in 30 years. This Congress produced a budget that cut the deficit by half a trillion dollars, cut spending, and raised income taxes on only the wealthiest Americans. This Congress produced tax relief for millions of low-income workers to reward work over welfare. It produced NAFTA. It produced the Brady bill, now the Brady law. And thank you, Jim Brady, for being here, and God bless you, sir. This Congress produced tax cuts to reduce the taxes of 9 out of 10 small businesses who use the money to invest more and create more jobs. It produced more research and treatment for AIDS, more childhood immunizations, more support for women's health research, more affordable college loans for the middle class, a new national service program for those who want to give something back to their country and their communities for higher education, a dramatic increase in high-tech investments to move us from a defense to a domestic high-tech economy. This Congress produced a new law, the motor voter bill, to help millions of people register to vote. It produced family and medical leave. All passed; all signed into law with not one single veto. These accomplishments were all commitments I made when I sought this office. And in fairness, they all had to be passed by you in this Congress. But I am persuaded that the real credit belongs to the people who sent us here, who pay our salaries, who hold our feet to the fire. But what we do here is really beginning to change lives. Let me just give you one example. I will never forget what the family and medical leave law meant to just one father I met early one Sunday morning in the White House. It was unusual to see a family there touring early Sunday morning, but he had his wife and his three children there, one of them in a wheelchair. I came up, and after we had our picture taken and had a little visit, I was walking off and that man grabbed me by the arm and he said, "Mr. President, let me tell you something. My little girl here is desperately ill. She's probably not going to make it. But because of the family leave law, I was able to take time off to spend with her, the most important time I ever spent in my life, without losing my job and hurting the rest of my family. It means more to me than I will ever be able to say. Don't you people up here ever think what you do doesn't make a difference. It does." Though we are making a difference, our work has just begun. Many Americans still haven't felt the impact of what we've done. The recovery still hasn't touched every community or created enough jobs. Incomes are still stagnant. There's still too much violence and not enough hope in too many places. Abroad, the young democracies we are strongly supporting still face very difficult times and look to us for leadership. And so tonight, let us resolve to continue the journey of renewal, to create more and better jobs, to guarantee health security for all, to reward work over welfare, to promote democracy abroad, and to begin to reclaim our streets from violent crime and drugs and gangs, to renew our own American community. Last year we began to put our house in order by tackling the budget deficit that was driving us toward bankruptcy. We cut $255 billion in spending, including entitlements, and over 340 separate budget items. We froze domestic spending and used honest budget numbers. Led by the Vice President, we launched a campaign to reinvent Government. We cut staff, cut perks, even trimmed the fleet of Federal limousines. After years of leaders whose rhetoric attacked bureaucracy but whose action expanded it, we will actually reduce it by 252,000 people over the next 5 years. By the time we have finished, the Federal bureaucracy will be at its lowest point in 30 years. Because the deficit was so large and because they benefited from tax cuts in the 1980's, we did ask the wealthiest Americans to pay more to reduce the deficit. So on April 15th, the American people will discover the truth about what we did last year on taxes. Only the top 1—[ ]—yes, listen, the top 1.2 percent of Americans, as I said all along, will pay higher income tax rates. Let me repeat: Only the wealthiest 1.2 percent of Americans will face higher income tax rates, and no one else will. And that is the truth. Of course, there were, as there always are in politics, naysayers who said this plan wouldn't work. But they were wrong. When I became President, the experts predicted that next year's deficit would be $300 billion. But because we acted, those same people now say the deficit is going to be under $180 billion, 40 percent lower than was previously predicted. Our economic program has helped to produce the lowest core inflation rate and the lowest interest rates in 20 years. And because those interest rates are down, business investment and equipment is growing at 7 times the rate of the previous 4 years. Auto sales are way up. Home sales are at a record high. Millions of Americans have refinanced their homes. And our economy has produced 1.6 million private sector jobs in 1993, more than were created in the previous 4 years combined. The people who supported this economic plan should be proud of its early results, proud. But everyone in this Chamber should know and acknowledge that there is more to do. Next month I will send you one of the toughest budgets ever presented to Congress. It will cut spending in more than 300 programs, eliminate 100 domestic programs, and reform the ways in which governments buy goods and services. This year we must again make the hard choices to live within the hard spending ceilings we have set. We must do it. We have proved we can bring the deficit down without choking off recovery, without punishing seniors or the middle class, and without putting our national security at risk. If you will stick with this plan, we will post 3 consecutive years of declining deficits for the first time since Harry Truman lived in the White House. And once again, the buck stops here. Our economic plan also bolsters our strength and our credibility around the world. Once we reduced the deficit and put the steel back into our competitive edge, the world echoed with the sound of falling trade barriers. In one year, with NAFTA, with GATT, with our efforts in Asia and the national export strategy, we did more to open world markets to American products than at any time in the last two generations. That means more jobs and rising living standards for the American people, low deficits, low inflation, low interest rates, low trade barriers, and high investments. These are the building blocks of our recovery. But if we want to take full advantage of the opportunities before us in the global economy, you all know we must do more. As we reduce defense spending, I ask Congress to invest more in the technologies of tomorrow. Defense conversion will keep us strong militarily and create jobs for our people here at home. As we protect our environment, we must invest in the environmental technologies of the future which will create jobs. This year we will fight for a revitalized Clean Water Act and a Safe Drinking Water Act and a reformed Superfund program. And the Vice President is right, we must also work with the private sector to connect every classroom, every clinic, every library, every hospital in America into a national information superhighway by the year 2000. Think of it: Instant access to information will increase productivity, will help to educate our children. It will provide better medical care. It will create jobs. And I call on the Congress to pass legislation to establish that information superhighway this year. As we expand opportunity and create jobs, no one can be left out. We must continue to enforce fair lending and fair housing and all civil rights laws, because America will never be complete in its renewal until everyone shares in its bounty. But we all know, too, we can do all these things—put our economic house in order, expand world trade, target the jobs of the future, guarantee equal opportunity—but if we're honest we'll all admit that this strategy still cannot work unless we also give our people the education, training, and skills they need to seize the opportunities of tomorrow. We must set tough, world-class academic and occupational standards for all our children and give our teachers and students the tools they need to meet them. Our Goals 2000 proposal will empower individual school districts to experiment with ideas like chartering their schools to be run by private corporations or having more public school choice, to do whatever they wish to do as long as we measure every school by one high standard: Are our children learning what they need to know to compete and win in the global economy? Goals 2000 links world-class standards to grassroots reforms. And I hope Congress will pass it without delay. Our school-to-work initiative will for the first time link school to the world of work, providing at least one year of apprenticeship beyond high school. After all, most of the people we're counting on to build our economic future won't graduate from college. It's time to stop ignoring them and start empowering them. We must literally transform our outdated unemployment system into a new reemployment system. The old unemployment system just sort of kept you going while you waited for your old job to come back. We've got to have a new system to move people into new and better jobs, because most of those old jobs just don't come back. And we know that the only way to have real job security in the future, to get a good job with a growing income, is to have real skills and the ability to learn new ones. So we've got to streamline today's patchwork of training programs and make them a source of new skills for our people who lose their jobs. Reemployment, not unemployment, must become the centerpiece of our economic renewal. I urge you to pass it in this session of Congress. And just as we must transform our unemployment system, so must we also revolutionize our welfare system. It doesn't work. It defies our values as a nation. If we value work, we can't justify a system that makes welfare more attractive than work if people are worried about losing their health care. If we value responsibility, we can't ignore the $34 billion in child support absent parents ought to be paying to millions of parents who are taking care of their children. If we value strong families, we can't perpetuate a system that actually penalizes those who stay together. Can you believe that a child who has a child gets more money from the Government for leaving home than for staying home with a parent or a grandparent? That's not just bad policy, it's wrong. And we ought to change it. I worked on this problem for years before I became President, with other Governors and with Members of Congress of both parties and with the previous administration of another party. I worked on it with people who were on welfare, lots of them. And I want to say something to everybody here who cares about this issue. The people who most want to change this system are the people who are dependent on it. They want to get off welfare. They want to go back to work. They want to do right by their kids. I once had a hearing when I was a Governor, and I brought in people on welfare from all over America who had found their way to work. The woman from my State who testified was asked this question: What's the best thing about being off welfare and in a job? And without blinking an eye, she looked at 40 Governors, and she said, "When my boy goes to school and they say, ‘What does your mother do for a living?' he can give an answer." These people want a better system, and we ought to give it to them. Last year we began this. We gave the States more power to innovate because we know that a lot of great ideas come from outside Washington, and many States are already using it. Then this Congress took a dramatic step. Instead of taxing people with modest incomes into poverty, we helped them to work their way out of poverty by dramatically increasing the earned-income tax credit. It will lift 15 million working families out of poverty, rewarding work over welfare, making it possible for people to be successful workers and successful parents. Now that's real welfare reform. But there is more to be done. This spring I will send you a comprehensive welfare reform bill that builds on the Family Support Act of 1988 and restores the basic values of work and responsibility. We'll say to teenagers, "If you have a child out of wedlock, we will no longer give you a check to set up a separate household. We want families to stay together"; say to absent parents who aren't paying their child support, "If you're not providing for your children, we'll garnish your wages, suspend your license, track you across State lines, and if necessary, make some of you work off what you owe." People who bring children into this world cannot and must not walk away from them. But to all those who depend on welfare, we should offer ultimately a simple compact. We'll provide the support, the job training, the child care you need for up to 2 years. But after that, anyone who can work, must, in the private sector wherever possible, in community service if necessary. That's the only way we'll ever make welfare what it ought to be, a second chance, not a way of life. I know it will be difficult to tackle welfare reform in 1994 at the same time we tackle health care. But let me point out, I think it is inevitable and imperative. It is estimated that one million people are on welfare today because it's the only way they can get health care coverage for their children. Those who choose to leave welfare for jobs without health benefits, and many entry-level jobs don't have health benefits, find themselves in the incredible position of paying taxes that help to pay for health care coverage for those who made the other choice, to stay on welfare. No wonder people leave work and go back to welfare to get health care coverage. We've got to solve the health care problem to have real welfare reform. So this year, we will make history by reforming the health care system. And I would say to you, all of you, my fellow public servants, this is another issue where the people are way ahead of the politicians. That may not be popular with either party, but it happens to be the truth. You know, the First Lady has received now almost a million letters from people all across America and from all walks of life. I'd like to share just one of them with you. Richard Anderson of Reno, Nevada, lost his job and with it, his health insurance. Two weeks later his wife, Judy, suffered a cerebral aneurysm. He rushed her to the hospital, where she stayed in intensive care for 21 days. The Andersons' bills were over $120,000. Although Judy recovered and Richard went back to work at $8 an hour, the bills were too much for them, and they were literally forced into bankruptcy. "Mrs. Clinton," he wrote to Hillary, "no one in the United States of America should have to lose everything they've worked for all their lives because they were unfortunate enough to become ill." It was to help the Richard and Judy Andersons of America that the First Lady and so many others have worked so hard and so long on this health care reform issue. We owe them our thanks and our action. I know there are people here who say there's no health care crisis. Tell it to Richard and Judy Anderson. Tell it to the 58 million Americans who have no coverage at all for some time each year. Tell it to the 81 million Americans with those preexisting conditions. Those folks are paying more, or they can't get insurance at all, or they can't ever change their jobs because they or someone in their family has one of those preexisting conditions. Tell it to the small businesses burdened by the skyrocketing cost of insurance. Most small businesses cover their employees, and they pay on average 35 percent more in premiums than big businesses or Government. Or tell it to the 76 percent of insured Americans, three out of four, whose policies have lifetime limits, and that means they can find themselves without any coverage at all just when they need it the most. So if any of you believe there's no crisis, you tell it to those people, because I can't. There are some people who literally do not understand the impact of this problem on people's lives. And all you have to do is go out and listen to them. Just go talk to them anywhere in any congressional district in this country. They're Republicans and Democrats and independents; it doesn't have a lick to do with party. They think we don't get it. And it's time we show them that we do get it. From the day we began, our health care initiative has been designed to strengthen what is good about our health care system: the world's best health care professionals, cutting-edge research and wonderful research institutions, Medicare for older Americans. None of this, none of it should be put at risk. But we're paying more and more money for less and less care. Every year fewer and fewer Americans even get to choose their doctors. Every year doctors and nurses spend more time on paperwork and less time with patients because of the absolute bureaucratic nightmare the present system has become. This system is riddled with inefficiency, with abuse, with fraud, and everybody knows it. In today's health care system, insurance companies call the shots. They pick whom they cover and how they cover them. They can cut off your benefits when you need your coverage the most. They are in charge. What does it mean? It means every night millions of well-insured Americans go to bed just an illness, an accident, or a pink slip away from having no coverage or financial ruin. It means every morning millions of Americans go to work without any health insurance at all, something the workers in no other advanced country in the world do. It means that every year more and more hard-working people are told to pick a new doctor because their boss has had to pick a new plan. And countless others turn down better jobs because they know if they take the better job, they will lose their health insurance. If we just let the health care system continue to drift, our country will have people with less care, fewer choices, and higher bills. Now, our approach protects the quality of care and people's choices. It builds on what works today in the private sector, to expand employer-based coverage, to guarantee private insurance for every American. And I might say, employer-based private insurance for every American was proposed 20 years ago by President Richard Nixon to the United States Congress. It was a good idea then, and it's a better idea today. Why do we want guaranteed private insurance? Because right now 9 out of 10 people who have insurance get it through their employers. And that should continue. And if your employer is providing good benefits at reasonable prices, that should continue, too. That ought to make the Congress and the President feel better. Our goal is health insurance everybody can depend on: comprehensive benefits that cover preventive care and prescription drugs; health premiums that don't just explode when you get sick or you get older; the power, no matter how small your business is, to choose dependable insurance at the same competitive rates governments and big business get today; one simple form for people who are sick; and most of all, the freedom to choose a plan and the right to choose your own doctor. Our approach protects older Americans. Every plan before the Congress proposes to slow the growth of Medicare. The difference is this: We believe those savings should be used to improve health care for senior citizens. Medicare must be protected, and it should cover prescription drugs, and we should take the first steps in covering long-term care. To those who would cut Medicare without protecting seniors, I say the solution to today's squeeze on middle class working people's health care is not to put the squeeze on middle class retired people's health care. We can do better than that. When it's all said and done, it's pretty simple to me. Insurance ought to mean what it used to mean: You pay a fair price for security, and when you get sick, health care's always there, no matter what. Along with the guarantee of health security, we all have to admit, too, there must be more responsibility on the part of all of us in how we use this system. People have to take their kids to get immunized. We should all take advantage of preventive care. We must all work together to stop the violence that explodes our emergency rooms. We have to practice better health habits, and we can't abuse the system. And those who don't have insurance under our approach will get coverage, but they'll have to pay something for it, too. The minority of businesses that provide no insurance at all, and in so doing shift the cost of the care of their employees to others, should contribute something. People who smoke should pay more for a pack of cigarettes. Everybody can contribute something if we want to solve the health care crisis. There can't be any more something for nothing. It will not be easy but it can be done. Now, in the coming months I hope very much to work with both Democrats and Republicans to reform a health care system by using the market to bring down costs and to achieve lasting health security. But if you look at history we see that for 60 years this country has tried to reform health care. President Roosevelt tried. President Truman tried. President Nixon tried. President Carter tried. Every time the special interests were powerful enough to defeat them. But not this time. I know that facing up to these interests will require courage. It will raise critical questions about the way we finance our campaigns and how lobbyists yield their influence. The work of change, frankly, will never get any easier until we limit the influence of well-financed interests who profit from this current system. So I also must now call on you to finish the job both Houses began last year by passing tough and meaningful campaign finance reform and lobby reform legislation this year. You know, my fellow Americans, this is really a test for all of us. The American people provide those of us in Government service with terrific health care benefits at reasonable costs. We have health care that's always there. I think we need to give every hard-working, tax-paying American the same health care security they have already given to us. I want to make this very clear. I am open, as I have said repeatedly, to the best ideas of concerned Members of both parties. I have no special brief for any specific approach, even in our own bill, except this: If you send me legislation that does not guarantee every American private health insurance that can never be taken away, you will force me to take this pen, veto the legislation, and we'll come right back here and start all over again. But I don't think that's going to happen. I think we're ready to act now. I believe that you're ready to act now. And if you're ready to guarantee every American the same health care that you have, health care that can never be taken away, now—not next year or the year after—now is the time to stand with the people who sent us here, now. As we take these steps together to renew our strength at home, we cannot turn away from our obligation to renew our leadership abroad. This is a promising moment. Because of the agreements we have reached this year, last year, Russia's strategic nuclear missiles soon will no longer be pointed at the United States, nor will we point ours at them. Instead of building weapons in space, Russian scientists will help us to build the international space station. Of course, there are still dangers in the world: rampant arms proliferation, bitter regional conflicts, ethnic and nationalist tensions in many new democracies, severe environmental degradation the world over, and fanatics who seek to cripple the world's cities with terror. As the world's greatest power, we must, therefore, maintain our defenses and our responsibilities. This year, we secured indictments against terrorists and sanctions against those who harbor them. We worked to promote environmentally sustainable economic growth. We achieved agreements with Ukraine, with Belarus, with Kazahkstan to eliminate completely their nuclear arsenal. We are working to achieve a Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons. We will seek early ratification of a treaty to ban chemical weapons worldwide. And earlier today, we joined with over 30 nations to begin negotiations on a comprehensive ban to stop all nuclear testing. But nothing, nothing is more important to our security than our Nation's Armed Forces. We honor their contributions, including those who are carrying out the longest humanitarian air lift in history in Bosnia, those who will complete their mission in Somalia this year and their brave comrades who gave their lives there. Our forces are the finest military our Nation has ever had. And I have pledged that as long as I am President, they will remain the best equipped, the best trained, and the best prepared fighting force on the face of the Earth. Last year I proposed a defense plan that maintains our post-cold-war security at a lower cost. This year many people urged me to cut our defense spending further to pay for other Government programs. I said no. The budget I send to Congress draws the line against further defense cuts. It protects the readiness and quality of our forces. Ultimately, the best strategy is to do that. We must not cut defense further. I hope the Congress, without regard to party, will support that position. Ultimately, the best strategy to ensure our security and to build a durable peace is to support the advance of democracy elsewhere. Democracies don't attack each other. They make better trading partners and partners in diplomacy. That is why we have supported, you and I, the democratic reformers in Russia and in the other states of the former Soviet bloc. I applaud the bipartisan support this Congress provided last year for our initiatives to help Russia, Ukraine, and the other states through their epic transformations. Our support of reform must combine patience for the enormity of the task and vigilance for our fundamental interest and values. We will continue to urge Russia and the other states to press ahead with economic reforms. And we will seek to cooperate with Russia to solve regional problems, while insisting that if Russian troops operate in neighboring states, they do so only when those states agree to their presence and in strict accord with international standards. But we must also remember as these nations chart their own futures—and they must chart their own futures—how much more secure and more prosperous our own people will be if democratic and market reforms succeed all across the former Communist bloc. Our policy has been to support that move, and that has been the policy of the Congress. We should continue it. That is why I went to Europe earlier this month, to work with our European partners, to help to integrate all the former Communist countries into a Europe that has a possibility of becoming unified for the first time in its entire history, its entire history, based on the simple commitments of all nations in Europe to democracy, to free markets, and to respect for existing borders. With our allies we have created a Partnership For Peace that invites states from the former Soviet bloc and other non-NATO members to work with NATO in military cooperation. When I met with Central Europe's leaders, including Lech Walesa and Vaclav Havel, men who put their lives on the line for freedom, I told them that the security of their region is important to our country's security. This year we must also do more to support democratic renewal and human rights and sustainable development all around the world. We will ask Congress to ratify the new GATT accord. We will continue standing by South Africa as it works its way through its bold and hopeful and difficult transition to democracy. We will convene a summit of the Western Hemisphere's democratic leaders from Canada to the tip of South America. And we will continue to press for the restoration of true democracy in Haiti. And as we build a more constructive relationship with China, we must continue to insist on clear signs of improvement in that nation's human rights record. We will also work for new progress toward the Middle East peace. Last year the world watched Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat at the White House when they had their historic handshake of reconciliation. But there is a long, hard road ahead. And on that road I am determined that I and our administration will do all we can to achieve a comprehensive and lasting peace for all the peoples of the region. Now, there are some in our country who argue that with the cold war, America should turn its back on the rest of the world. Many around the world were afraid we would do just that. But I took this office on a pledge that had no partisan tinge, to keep our Nation secure by remaining engaged in the rest of the world. And this year, because of our work together, enacting NAFTA, keeping our military strong and prepared, supporting democracy abroad, we have reaffirmed America's leadership, America's engagement. And as a result, the American people are more secure than they were before. But while Americans are more secure from threats abroad, I think we all know that in many ways we are less secure from threats here at home. Every day the national peace is shattered by crime. In Petaluma, California, an innocent slumber party gives way to agonizing tragedy for the family of Polly Klaas. An ordinary train ride on Long Island ends in a hail of 9-millimeter rounds. A tourist in Florida is nearly burned alive by bigots simply because he is black. Right here in our Nation's Capital, a brave young man named Jason White, a policeman, the son and grandson of policemen, is ruthlessly gunned down. Violent crime and the fear it provokes are crippling our society, limiting personal freedom, and fraying the ties that bind us. The crime bill before Congress gives you a chance to do something about it, a chance to be tough and smart. What does that mean? Let me begin by saying I care a lot about this issue. Many years ago, when I started out in public life, I was the attorney general of my State. I served as a Governor for a dozen years. I know what it's like to sign laws increasing penalties, to build more prison cells, to carry out the death penalty. I understand this issue. And it is not a simple thing. First, we must recognize that most violent crimes are committed by a small percentage of criminals who too often break the laws even when they are on parole. Now those who commit crimes should be punished. And those who commit repeated violent crimes should be told, "When you commit a third violent crime, you will be put away, and put away for good; three strikes and you are out." Second, we must take serious steps to reduce violence and prevent crime, beginning with more police officers and more community policing. We know right now that police who work the streets, know the folks, have the respect of the neighborhood kids, focus on high crime areas, we know that they are more likely to prevent crime as well as catch criminals. Look at the experience of Houston, where the crime rate dropped 17 percent in one year when that approach was taken. Here tonight is one of those community policemen, a brave, young detective, Kevin Jett, whose beat is eight square blocks in one of the toughest neighborhoods in New York. Every day he restores some sanity and safety and a sense of values and connections to the people whose lives he protects. I'd like to ask him to stand up and be recognized tonight. Thank you, sir. [ ] You will be given a chance to give the children of this country, the law-abiding working people of this country—and don't forget, in the toughest neighborhoods in this country, in the highest crime neighborhoods in this country, the vast majority of people get up every day and obey the law, pay their taxes, do their best to raise their kids. They deserve people like Kevin Jett. And you're going to be given a chance to give the American people another 100,000 of them, well trained. And I urge you to do it. You have before you crime legislation which also establishes a police corps to encourage young people to get an education and pay it off by serving as police officers; which encourages retiring military personnel to move into police forces, an inordinate resource for our country; one which has a safe schools provision which will give our young people the chance to walk to school in safety and to be in school in safety instead of dodging bullets. These are important things. The third thing we have to do is to build on the Brady bill, the Brady law, to take further steps to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. I want to say something about this issue. Hunters must always be free to hunt. Law-abiding adults should always be free to own guns and protect their homes. I respect that part of our culture; I grew up in it. But I want to ask the sportsmen and others who lawfully own guns to join us in this campaign to reduce gun violence. I say to you, I know you didn't create this problem, but we need your help to solve it. There is no sporting purpose on Earth that should stop the United States Congress from banishing assault weapons that out-gun police and cut down children. Fourth, we must remember that drugs are a factor in an enormous percentage of crimes. Recent studies indicate, sadly, that drug use is on the rise again among our young people. The crime bill contains—all the crime bills contain— more money for drug treatment for criminal addicts and boot camps for youthful offenders that include incentives to get off drugs and to stay off drugs. Our administration's budget, with all its cuts, contains a large increase in funding for drug treatment and drug education. You must pass them both. We need them desperately. My fellow Americans, the problem of violence is an American problem. It has no partisan or philosophical element. Therefore, I urge you to find ways as quickly as possible to set aside partisan differences and pass a strong, smart, tough crime bill. But further, I urge you to consider this: As you demand tougher penalties for those who choose violence, let us also remember how we came to this sad point. In our toughest neighborhoods, on our meanest streets, in our poorest rural areas, we have seen a stunning and simultaneous breakdown of community, family, and work, the heart and soul of civilized society. This has created a vast vacuum which has been filled by violence and drugs and gangs. So I ask you to remember that even as we say no to crime, we must give people, especially our young people, something to say yes to. Many of our initiatives, from job training to welfare reform to health care to national service, will help to rebuild distressed communities, to strengthen families, to provide work. But more needs to be done. That's what our community empowerment agenda is all about, challenging businesses to provide more investment through empowerment zones, ensuring banks will make loans in the same communities their deposits come from, passing legislation to unleash the power of capital through community development banks to create jobs, opportunity, and hope where they're needed most. I think you know that to really solve this problem, we'll all have to put our heads together, leave our ideological armor aside, and find some new ideas to do even more. And let's be honest, we all know something else too: Our problems go way beyond the reach of Government. They're rooted in the loss of values, in the disappearance of work, and the breakdown of our families and our communities. My fellow Americans, we can cut the deficit, create jobs, promote democracy around the world, pass welfare reform and health care, pass the toughest crime bill in history, but still leave too many of our people behind. The American people have got to want to change from within if we're going to bring back work and family and community. We cannot renew our country when within a decade more than half of the children will be born into families where there has been no marriage. We cannot renew this country when 13-year-old boys get semiautomatic weapons to shoot 9-year-olds for kicks. We can't renew our country when children are having children and the fathers walk away as if the kids don't amount to anything. We can't renew the country when our businesses eagerly look for new investments and new customers abroad but ignore those people right here at home who would give anything to have their jobs and would gladly buy their products if they had the money to do it. We can't renew our country unless more of us—I mean, all of us— are willing to join the churches and the other good citizens, people like all the—like ministers I've worked with over the years or the priests and the nuns I met at Our Lady of Help in east Los Angeles or my good friend Tony Campollo in Philadelphia, unless we're willing to work with people like that, people who are saving kids, adopting schools, making streets safer. All of us can do that. We can't renew our country until we realize that governments don't raise children, parents do. Parents who know their children's teachers and turn off the television and help with the homework and teach their kids right from wrong, those kinds of parents can make all the difference. I know; I had one. I'm telling you, we have got to stop pointing our fingers at these kids who have no future and reach our hands out to them. Our country needs it, we need it, and they deserve it. So I say to you tonight, let's give our children a future. Let us take away their guns and give them books. Let us overcome their despair and replace it with hope. Let us, by our example, teach them to obey the law, respect our neighbors, and cherish our values. Let us weave these sturdy threads into a new American community that can once more stand strong against the forces of despair and evil because everybody has a chance to walk into a better tomorrow. Oh, there will be naysayers who fear that we won't be equal to the challenges of this time. But they misread our history, our heritage. Even today's headlines, all those things tell us we can and we will overcome any challenge. When the earth shook and fires raged in California, when I saw the Mississippi deluge the farmlands of the Midwest in a 500-year flood, when the century's bitterest cold swept from North Dakota to Newport News, it seemed as though the world itself was coming apart at the seams. But the American people, they just came together. They rose to the occasion, neighbor helping neighbor, strangers risking life and limb to save total strangers, showing the better angels of our nature. Let us not reserve the better angels only for natural disasters, leaving our deepest and most profound problems to petty political fighting. Let us instead be true to our spirit, facing facts, coming together, bringing hope, and moving forward. Tonight, my fellow Americans, we are summoned to answer a question as old as the Republic itself: What is the state of our Union? It is growing stronger, but it must be stronger still. With your help and God's help, it will be. Thank you, and God bless America.
Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Members of the 103d Congress, my fellow Americans: I am not at all sure what speech is in the TelePrompter tonight—[ ]—but I hope we can talk about the state of the Union. I ask you to begin by recalling the memory of the giant who presided over this Chamber with such force and grace. Tip O'Neill liked to call himself "a man of the House." And he surely was that. But even more, he was a man of the people, a bricklayer's son who helped to build the great American middle class. Tip O'Neill never forgot who he was, where he came from, or who sent him here. Tonight he is smiling down on us for the first time from the Lord's gallery. But in his honor, may we, too, always remember who we are, where we come from, and who sent us here. If we do that we will return over and over again to the principle that if we simply give ordinary people equal opportunity, quality education, and a fair shot at the American dream, they will do extraordinary things. We gather tonight in a world of changes so profound and rapid that all nations are tested. Our American heritage has always been to master such change, to use it to expand opportunity at home and our leadership abroad. But for too long and in too many ways, that heritage was abandoned, and our country drifted. For 30 years, family life in America has been breaking down. For 20 years, the wages of working people have been stagnant or declining. For the 12 years of trickle-down economics, we built a false prosperity on a hollow base as our national debt quadrupled. From 1989 to 1992, we experienced the slowest growth in a half century. For too many families, even when both parents were working, the American dream has been slipping away. In 1992, the American people demanded that we change. A year ago I asked all of you to join me in accepting responsibility for the future of our country. Well, we did. We replaced drift and deadlock with renewal and reform. And I want to thank every one of you here who heard the American people, who broke gridlock, who gave them the most successful teamwork between a President and a Congress in 30 years. This Congress produced a budget that cut the deficit by half a trillion dollars, cut spending, and raised income taxes on only the wealthiest Americans. This Congress produced tax relief for millions of low-income workers to reward work over welfare. It produced NAFTA. It produced the Brady bill, now the Brady law. And thank you, Jim Brady, for being here, and God bless you, sir. This Congress produced tax cuts to reduce the taxes of 9 out of 10 small businesses who use the money to invest more and create more jobs. It produced more research and treatment for AIDS, more childhood immunizations, more support for women's health research, more affordable college loans for the middle class, a new national service program for those who want to give something back to their country and their communities for higher education, a dramatic increase in high-tech investments to move us from a defense to a domestic high-tech economy. This Congress produced a new law, the motor voter bill, to help millions of people register to vote. It produced family and medical leave. All passed; all signed into law with not one single veto. These accomplishments were all commitments I made when I sought this office. And in fairness, they all had to be passed by you in this Congress. But I am persuaded that the real credit belongs to the people who sent us here, who pay our salaries, who hold our feet to the fire. But what we do here is really beginning to change lives. Let me just give you one example. I will never forget what the family and medical leave law meant to just one father I met early one Sunday morning in the White House. It was unusual to see a family there touring early Sunday morning, but he had his wife and his three children there, one of them in a wheelchair. I came up, and after we had our picture taken and had a little visit, I was walking off and that man grabbed me by the arm and he said, "Mr. President, let me tell you something. My little girl here is desperately ill. She is probably not going to make it. But because of the family leave law, I was able to take time off to spend with her, the most important time I ever spent in my life, without losing my job and hurting the rest of my family. It means more to me than I will ever be able to say. Do not you people up here ever think what you do does not make a difference. It does." Though we are making a difference, our work has just begun. Many Americans still have not felt the impact of what we have done. The recovery still has not touched every community or created enough jobs. Incomes are still stagnant. There is still too much violence and not enough hope in too many places. Abroad, the young democracies we are strongly supporting still face very difficult times and look to us for leadership. And so tonight, let us resolve to continue the journey of renewal, to create more and better jobs, to guarantee health security for all, to reward work over welfare, to promote democracy abroad, and to begin to reclaim our streets from violent crime and drugs and gangs, to renew our own American community. Last year we began to put our house in order by tackling the budget deficit that was driving us toward bankruptcy. We cut $255 billion in spending, including entitlements, and over 340 separate budget items. We froze domestic spending and used honest budget numbers. Led by the Vice President, we launched a campaign to reinvent Government. We cut staff, cut perks, even trimmed the fleet of Federal limousines. After years of leaders whose rhetoric attacked bureaucracy but whose action expanded it, we will actually reduce it by 252,000 people over the next 5 years. By the time we have finished, the Federal bureaucracy will be at its lowest point in 30 years. Because the deficit was so large and because they benefited from tax cuts in the 1980's, we did ask the wealthiest Americans to pay more to reduce the deficit. So on April 15th, the American people will discover the truth about what we did last year on taxes. Only the top 1—[ ]—yes, listen, the top 1.2 percent of Americans, as I said all along, will pay higher income tax rates. Let me repeat: Only the wealthiest 1.2 percent of Americans will face higher income tax rates, and no one else will. And that is the truth. Of course, there were, as there always are in politics, naysayers who said this plan would not work. But they were wrong. When I became President, the experts predicted that next year's deficit would be $300 billion. But because we acted, those same people now say the deficit is going to be under $180 billion, 40 percent lower than was previously predicted. Our economic program has helped to produce the lowest core inflation rate and the lowest interest rates in 20 years. And because those interest rates are down, business investment and equipment is growing at 7 times the rate of the previous 4 years. Auto sales are way up. Home sales are at a record high. Millions of Americans have refinanced their homes. And our economy has produced 1.6 million private sector jobs in 1993, more than were created in the previous 4 years combined. The people who supported this economic plan should be proud of its early results, proud. But everyone in this Chamber should know and acknowledge that there is more to do. Next month I will send you one of the toughest budgets ever presented to Congress. It will cut spending in more than 300 programs, eliminate 100 domestic programs, and reform the ways in which governments buy goods and services. This year we must again make the hard choices to live within the hard spending ceilings we have set. We must do it. We have proved we can bring the deficit down without choking off recovery, without punishing seniors or the middle class, and without putting our national security at risk. If you will stick with this plan, we will post 3 consecutive years of declining deficits for the first time since Harry Truman lived in the White House. And once again, the buck stops here. Our economic plan also bolsters our strength and our credibility around the world. Once we reduced the deficit and put the steel back into our competitive edge, the world echoed with the sound of falling trade barriers. In one year, with NAFTA, with GATT, with our efforts in Asia and the national export strategy, we did more to open world markets to American products than at any time in the last two generations. That means more jobs and rising living standards for the American people, low deficits, low inflation, low interest rates, low trade barriers, and high investments. These are the building blocks of our recovery. But if we want to take full advantage of the opportunities before us in the global economy, you all know we must do more. As we reduce defense spending, I ask Congress to invest more in the technologies of tomorrow. Defense conversion will keep us strong militarily and create jobs for our people here at home. As we protect our environment, we must invest in the environmental technologies of the future which will create jobs. This year we will fight for a revitalized Clean Water Act and a Safe Drinking Water Act and a reformed Superfund program. And the Vice President is right, we must also work with the private sector to connect every classroom, every clinic, every library, every hospital in America into a national information superhighway by the year 2000. Think of it: Instant access to information will increase productivity, will help to educate our children. It will provide better medical care. It will create jobs. And I call on the Congress to pass legislation to establish that information superhighway this year. As we expand opportunity and create jobs, no one can be left out. We must continue to enforce fair lending and fair housing and all civil rights laws, because America will never be complete in its renewal until everyone shares in its bounty. But we all know, too, we can do all these things—put our economic house in order, expand world trade, target the jobs of the future, guarantee equal opportunity—but if we are honest we will all admit that this strategy still cannot work unless we also give our people the education, training, and skills they need to seize the opportunities of tomorrow. We must set tough, world-class academic and occupational standards for all our children and give our teachers and students the tools they need to meet them. Our Goals 2000 proposal will empower individual school districts to experiment with ideas like chartering their schools to be run by private corporations or having more public school choice, to do whatever they wish to do as long as we measure every school by one high standard: Are our children learning what they need to know to compete and win in the global economy? Goals 2000 links world-class standards to grassroots reforms. And I hope Congress will pass it without delay. Our school-to-work initiative will for the first time link school to the world of work, providing at least one year of apprenticeship beyond high school. After all, most of the people we are counting on to build our economic future will not graduate from college. It is time to stop ignoring them and start empowering them. We must literally transform our outdated unemployment system into a new reemployment system. The old unemployment system just sort of kept you going while you waited for your old job to come back. We have got to have a new system to move people into new and better jobs, because most of those old jobs just do not come back. And we know that the only way to have real job security in the future, to get a good job with a growing income, is to have real skills and the ability to learn new ones. So we have got to streamline today's patchwork of training programs and make them a source of new skills for our people who lose their jobs. Reemployment, not unemployment, must become the centerpiece of our economic renewal. I urge you to pass it in this session of Congress. And just as we must transform our unemployment system, so must we also revolutionize our welfare system. It does not work. It defies our values as a nation. If we value work, we cannot justify a system that makes welfare more attractive than work if people are worried about losing their health care. If we value responsibility, we cannot ignore the $34 billion in child support absent parents ought to be paying to millions of parents who are taking care of their children. If we value strong families, we cannot perpetuate a system that actually penalizes those who stay together. Can you believe that a child who has a child gets more money from the Government for leaving home than for staying home with a parent or a grandparent? That is not just bad policy, it is wrong. And we ought to change it. I worked on this problem for years before I became President, with other Governors and with Members of Congress of both parties and with the previous administration of another party. I worked on it with people who were on welfare, lots of them. And I want to say something to everybody here who cares about this issue. The people who most want to change this system are the people who are dependent on it. They want to get off welfare. They want to go back to work. They want to do right by their kids. I once had a hearing when I was a Governor, and I brought in people on welfare from all over America who had found their way to work. The woman from my State who testified was asked this question: What is the best thing about being off welfare and in a job? And without blinking an eye, she looked at 40 Governors, and she said, "When my boy goes to school and they say, ‘What does your mother do for a living?' he can give an answer." These people want a better system, and we ought to give it to them. Last year we began this. We gave the States more power to innovate because we know that a lot of great ideas come from outside Washington, and many States are already using it. Then this Congress took a dramatic step. Instead of taxing people with modest incomes into poverty, we helped them to work their way out of poverty by dramatically increasing the earned-income tax credit. It will lift 15 million working families out of poverty, rewarding work over welfare, making it possible for people to be successful workers and successful parents. Now that is real welfare reform. But there is more to be done. This spring I will send you a comprehensive welfare reform bill that builds on the Family Support Act of 1988 and restores the basic values of work and responsibility. We will say to teenagers, "If you have a child out of wedlock, we will no longer give you a check to set up a separate household. We want families to stay together"; say to absent parents who are not paying their child support, "If you are not providing for your children, we will garnish your wages, suspend your license, track you across State lines, and if necessary, make some of you work off what you owe." People who bring children into this world cannot and must not walk away from them. But to all those who depend on welfare, we should offer ultimately a simple compact. We will provide the support, the job training, the child care you need for up to 2 years. But after that, anyone who can work, must, in the private sector wherever possible, in community service if necessary. That is the only way we will ever make welfare what it ought to be, a second chance, not a way of life. I know it will be difficult to tackle welfare reform in 1994 at the same time we tackle health care. But let me point out, I think it is inevitable and imperative. It is estimated that one million people are on welfare today because it is the only way they can get health care coverage for their children. Those who choose to leave welfare for jobs without health benefits, and many entry-level jobs do not have health benefits, find themselves in the incredible position of paying taxes that help to pay for health care coverage for those who made the other choice, to stay on welfare. No wonder people leave work and go back to welfare to get health care coverage. We have got to solve the health care problem to have real welfare reform. So this year, we will make history by reforming the health care system. And I would say to you, all of you, my fellow public servants, this is another issue where the people are way ahead of the politicians. That may not be popular with either party, but it happens to be the truth. You know, the First Lady has received now almost a million letters from people all across America and from all walks of life. I would like to share just one of them with you. Richard Anderson of Reno, Nevada, lost his job and with it, his health insurance. Two weeks later his wife, Judy, suffered a cerebral aneurysm. He rushed her to the hospital, where she stayed in intensive care for 21 days. The Andersons' bills were over $120,000. Although Judy recovered and Richard went back to work at $8 an hour, the bills were too much for them, and they were literally forced into bankruptcy. "Mrs. Clinton," he wrote to Hillary, "no one in the United States of America should have to lose everything they have worked for all their lives because they were unfortunate enough to become ill." It was to help the Richard and Judy Andersons of America that the First Lady and so many others have worked so hard and so long on this health care reform issue. We owe them our thanks and our action. I know there are people here who say there is no health care crisis. Tell it to Richard and Judy Anderson. Tell it to the 58 million Americans who have no coverage at all for some time each year. Tell it to the 81 million Americans with those preexisting conditions. Those folks are paying more, or they cannot get insurance at all, or they cannot ever change their jobs because they or someone in their family has one of those preexisting conditions. Tell it to the small businesses burdened by the skyrocketing cost of insurance. Most small businesses cover their employees, and they pay on average 35 percent more in premiums than big businesses or Government. Or tell it to the 76 percent of insured Americans, three out of four, whose policies have lifetime limits, and that means they can find themselves without any coverage at all just when they need it the most. So if any of you believe there is no crisis, you tell it to those people, because I cannot. There are some people who literally do not understand the impact of this problem on people's lives. And all you have to do is go out and listen to them. Just go talk to them anywhere in any congressional district in this country. They are Republicans and Democrats and independents; it does not have a lick to do with party. They think we do not get it. And it is time we show them that we do get it. From the day we began, our health care initiative has been designed to strengthen what is good about our health care system: the world's best health care professionals, cutting-edge research and wonderful research institutions, Medicare for older Americans. None of this, none of it should be put at risk. But we are paying more and more money for less and less care. Every year fewer and fewer Americans even get to choose their doctors. Every year doctors and nurses spend more time on paperwork and less time with patients because of the absolute bureaucratic nightmare the present system has become. This system is riddled with inefficiency, with abuse, with fraud, and everybody knows it. In today's health care system, insurance companies call the shots. They pick whom they cover and how they cover them. They can cut off your benefits when you need your coverage the most. They are in charge. What does it mean? It means every night millions of well-insured Americans go to bed just an illness, an accident, or a pink slip away from having no coverage or financial ruin. It means every morning millions of Americans go to work without any health insurance at all, something the workers in no other advanced country in the world do. It means that every year more and more hard-working people are told to pick a new doctor because their boss has had to pick a new plan. And countless others turn down better jobs because they know if they take the better job, they will lose their health insurance. If we just let the health care system continue to drift, our country will have people with less care, fewer choices, and higher bills. Now, our approach protects the quality of care and people's choices. It builds on what works today in the private sector, to expand employer-based coverage, to guarantee private insurance for every American. And I might say, employer-based private insurance for every American was proposed 20 years ago by President Richard Nixon to the United States Congress. It was a good idea then, and it is a better idea today. Why do we want guaranteed private insurance? Because right now 9 out of 10 people who have insurance get it through their employers. And that should continue. And if your employer is providing good benefits at reasonable prices, that should continue, too. That ought to make the Congress and the President feel better. Our goal is health insurance everybody can depend on: comprehensive benefits that cover preventive care and prescription drugs; health premiums that do not just explode when you get sick or you get older; the power, no matter how small your business is, to choose dependable insurance at the same competitive rates governments and big business get today; one simple form for people who are sick; and most of all, the freedom to choose a plan and the right to choose your own doctor. Our approach protects older Americans. Every plan before the Congress proposes to slow the growth of Medicare. The difference is this: We believe those savings should be used to improve health care for senior citizens. Medicare must be protected, and it should cover prescription drugs, and we should take the first steps in covering long-term care. To those who would cut Medicare without protecting seniors, I say the solution to today's squeeze on middle class working people's health care is not to put the squeeze on middle class retired people's health care. We can do better than that. When it is all said and done, it is pretty simple to me. Insurance ought to mean what it used to mean: You pay a fair price for security, and when you get sick, health care's always there, no matter what. Along with the guarantee of health security, we all have to admit, too, there must be more responsibility on the part of all of us in how we use this system. People have to take their kids to get immunized. We should all take advantage of preventive care. We must all work together to stop the violence that explodes our emergency rooms. We have to practice better health habits, and we cannot abuse the system. And those who do not have insurance under our approach will get coverage, but they will have to pay something for it, too. The minority of businesses that provide no insurance at all, and in so doing shift the cost of the care of their employees to others, should contribute something. People who smoke should pay more for a pack of cigarettes. Everybody can contribute something if we want to solve the health care crisis. There cannot be any more something for nothing. It will not be easy but it can be done. Now, in the coming months I hope very much to work with both Democrats and Republicans to reform a health care system by using the market to bring down costs and to achieve lasting health security. But if you look at history we see that for 60 years this country has tried to reform health care. President Roosevelt tried. President Truman tried. President Nixon tried. President Carter tried. Every time the special interests were powerful enough to defeat them. But not this time. I know that facing up to these interests will require courage. It will raise critical questions about the way we finance our campaigns and how lobbyists yield their influence. The work of change, frankly, will never get any easier until we limit the influence of well-financed interests who profit from this current system. So I also must now call on you to finish the job both Houses began last year by passing tough and meaningful campaign finance reform and lobby reform legislation this year. You know, my fellow Americans, this is really a test for all of us. The American people provide those of us in Government service with terrific health care benefits at reasonable costs. We have health care that is always there. I think we need to give every hard-working, tax-paying American the same health care security they have already given to us. I want to make this very clear. I am open, as I have said repeatedly, to the best ideas of concerned Members of both parties. I have no special brief for any specific approach, even in our own bill, except this: If you send me legislation that does not guarantee every American private health insurance that can never be taken away, you will force me to take this pen, veto the legislation, and we will come right back here and start all over again. But I do not think that is going to happen. I think we are ready to act now. I believe that you are ready to act now. And if you are ready to guarantee every American the same health care that you have, health care that can never be taken away, now—not next year or the year after—now is the time to stand with the people who sent us here, now. As we take these steps together to renew our strength at home, we cannot turn away from our obligation to renew our leadership abroad. This is a promising moment. Because of the agreements we have reached this year, last year, Russia's strategic nuclear missiles soon will no longer be pointed at the United States, nor will we point ours at them. Instead of building weapons in space, Russian scientists will help us to build the international space station. Of course, there are still dangers in the world: rampant arms proliferation, bitter regional conflicts, ethnic and nationalist tensions in many new democracies, severe environmental degradation the world over, and fanatics who seek to cripple the world's cities with terror. As the world's greatest power, we must, therefore, maintain our defenses and our responsibilities. This year, we secured indictments against terrorists and sanctions against those who harbor them. We worked to promote environmentally sustainable economic growth. We achieved agreements with Ukraine, with Belarus, with Kazahkstan to eliminate completely their nuclear arsenal. We are working to achieve a Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons. We will seek early ratification of a treaty to ban chemical weapons worldwide. And earlier today, we joined with over 30 nations to begin negotiations on a comprehensive ban to stop all nuclear testing. But nothing, nothing is more important to our security than our Nation's Armed Forces. We honor their contributions, including those who are carrying out the longest humanitarian air lift in history in Bosnia, those who will complete their mission in Somalia this year and their brave comrades who gave their lives there. Our forces are the finest military our Nation has ever had. And I have pledged that as long as I am President, they will remain the best equipped, the best trained, and the best prepared fighting force on the face of the Earth. Last year I proposed a defense plan that maintains our post-cold-war security at a lower cost. This year many people urged me to cut our defense spending further to pay for other Government programs. I said no. The budget I send to Congress draws the line against further defense cuts. It protects the readiness and quality of our forces. Ultimately, the best strategy is to do that. We must not cut defense further. I hope the Congress, without regard to party, will support that position. Ultimately, the best strategy to ensure our security and to build a durable peace is to support the advance of democracy elsewhere. Democracies do not attack each other. They make better trading partners and partners in diplomacy. That is why we have supported, you and I, the democratic reformers in Russia and in the other states of the former Soviet bloc. I applaud the bipartisan support this Congress provided last year for our initiatives to help Russia, Ukraine, and the other states through their epic transformations. Our support of reform must combine patience for the enormity of the task and vigilance for our fundamental interest and values. We will continue to urge Russia and the other states to press ahead with economic reforms. And we will seek to cooperate with Russia to solve regional problems, while insisting that if Russian troops operate in neighboring states, they do so only when those states agree to their presence and in strict accord with international standards. But we must also remember as these nations chart their own futures—and they must chart their own futures—how much more secure and more prosperous our own people will be if democratic and market reforms succeed all across the former Communist bloc. Our policy has been to support that move, and that has been the policy of the Congress. We should continue it. That is why I went to Europe earlier this month, to work with our European partners, to help to integrate all the former Communist countries into a Europe that has a possibility of becoming unified for the first time in its entire history, its entire history, based on the simple commitments of all nations in Europe to democracy, to free markets, and to respect for existing borders. With our allies we have created a Partnership For Peace that invites states from the former Soviet bloc and other non-NATO members to work with NATO in military cooperation. When I met with Central Europe's leaders, including Lech Walesa and Vaclav Havel, men who put their lives on the line for freedom, I told them that the security of their region is important to our country's security. This year we must also do more to support democratic renewal and human rights and sustainable development all around the world. We will ask Congress to ratify the new GATT accord. We will continue standing by South Africa as it works its way through its bold and hopeful and difficult transition to democracy. We will convene a summit of the Western Hemisphere's democratic leaders from Canada to the tip of South America. And we will continue to press for the restoration of true democracy in Haiti. And as we build a more constructive relationship with China, we must continue to insist on clear signs of improvement in that nation's human rights record. We will also work for new progress toward the Middle East peace. Last year the world watched Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat at the White House when they had their historic handshake of reconciliation. But there is a long, hard road ahead. And on that road I am determined that I and our administration will do all we can to achieve a comprehensive and lasting peace for all the peoples of the region. Now, there are some in our country who argue that with the cold war, America should turn its back on the rest of the world. Many around the world were afraid we would do just that. But I took this office on a pledge that had no partisan tinge, to keep our Nation secure by remaining engaged in the rest of the world. And this year, because of our work together, enacting NAFTA, keeping our military strong and prepared, supporting democracy abroad, we have reaffirmed America's leadership, America's engagement. And as a result, the American people are more secure than they were before. But while Americans are more secure from threats abroad, I think we all know that in many ways we are less secure from threats here at home. Every day the national peace is shattered by crime. In Petaluma, California, an innocent slumber party gives way to agonizing tragedy for the family of Polly Klaas. An ordinary train ride on Long Island ends in a hail of 9-millimeter rounds. A tourist in Florida is nearly burned alive by bigots simply because he is black. Right here in our Nation's Capital, a brave young man named Jason White, a policeman, the son and grandson of policemen, is ruthlessly gunned down. Violent crime and the fear it provokes are crippling our society, limiting personal freedom, and fraying the ties that bind us. The crime bill before Congress gives you a chance to do something about it, a chance to be tough and smart. What does that mean? Let me begin by saying I care a lot about this issue. Many years ago, when I started out in public life, I was the attorney general of my State. I served as a Governor for a dozen years. I know what it is like to sign laws increasing penalties, to build more prison cells, to carry out the death penalty. I understand this issue. And it is not a simple thing. First, we must recognize that most violent crimes are committed by a small percentage of criminals who too often break the laws even when they are on parole. Now those who commit crimes should be punished. And those who commit repeated violent crimes should be told, "When you commit a third violent crime, you will be put away, and put away for good; three strikes and you are out." Second, we must take serious steps to reduce violence and prevent crime, beginning with more police officers and more community policing. We know right now that police who work the streets, know the folks, have the respect of the neighborhood kids, focus on high crime areas, we know that they are more likely to prevent crime as well as catch criminals. Look at the experience of Houston, where the crime rate dropped 17 percent in one year when that approach was taken. Here tonight is one of those community policemen, a brave, young detective, Kevin Jett, whose beat is eight square blocks in one of the toughest neighborhoods in New York. Every day he restores some sanity and safety and a sense of values and connections to the people whose lives he protects. I would like to ask him to stand up and be recognized tonight. Thank you, sir. [ ] You will be given a chance to give the children of this country, the law-abiding working people of this country—and do not forget, in the toughest neighborhoods in this country, in the highest crime neighborhoods in this country, the vast majority of people get up every day and obey the law, pay their taxes, do their best to raise their kids. They deserve people like Kevin Jett. And you are going to be given a chance to give the American people another 100,000 of them, well trained. And I urge you to do it. You have before you crime legislation which also establishes a police corps to encourage young people to get an education and pay it off by serving as police officers; which encourages retiring military personnel to move into police forces, an inordinate resource for our country; one which has a safe schools provision which will give our young people the chance to walk to school in safety and to be in school in safety instead of dodging bullets. These are important things. The third thing we have to do is to build on the Brady bill, the Brady law, to take further steps to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. I want to say something about this issue. Hunters must always be free to hunt. Law-abiding adults should always be free to own guns and protect their homes. I respect that part of our culture; I grew up in it. But I want to ask the sportsmen and others who lawfully own guns to join us in this campaign to reduce gun violence. I say to you, I know you did not create this problem, but we need your help to solve it. There is no sporting purpose on Earth that should stop the United States Congress from banishing assault weapons that out-gun police and cut down children. Fourth, we must remember that drugs are a factor in an enormous percentage of crimes. Recent studies indicate, sadly, that drug use is on the rise again among our young people. The crime bill contains—all the crime bills contain— more money for drug treatment for criminal addicts and boot camps for youthful offenders that include incentives to get off drugs and to stay off drugs. Our administration's budget, with all its cuts, contains a large increase in funding for drug treatment and drug education. You must pass them both. We need them desperately. My fellow Americans, the problem of violence is an American problem. It has no partisan or philosophical element. Therefore, I urge you to find ways as quickly as possible to set aside partisan differences and pass a strong, smart, tough crime bill. But further, I urge you to consider this: As you demand tougher penalties for those who choose violence, let us also remember how we came to this sad point. In our toughest neighborhoods, on our meanest streets, in our poorest rural areas, we have seen a stunning and simultaneous breakdown of community, family, and work, the heart and soul of civilized society. This has created a vast vacuum which has been filled by violence and drugs and gangs. So I ask you to remember that even as we say no to crime, we must give people, especially our young people, something to say yes to. Many of our initiatives, from job training to welfare reform to health care to national service, will help to rebuild distressed communities, to strengthen families, to provide work. But more needs to be done. That is what our community empowerment agenda is all about, challenging businesses to provide more investment through empowerment zones, ensuring banks will make loans in the same communities their deposits come from, passing legislation to unleash the power of capital through community development banks to create jobs, opportunity, and hope where they are needed most. I think you know that to really solve this problem, we will all have to put our heads together, leave our ideological armor aside, and find some new ideas to do even more. And let us be honest, we all know something else too: Our problems go way beyond the reach of Government. They are rooted in the loss of values, in the disappearance of work, and the breakdown of our families and our communities. My fellow Americans, we can cut the deficit, create jobs, promote democracy around the world, pass welfare reform and health care, pass the toughest crime bill in history, but still leave too many of our people behind. The American people have got to want to change from within if we are going to bring back work and family and community. We cannot renew our country when within a decade more than half of the children will be born into families where there has been no marriage. We cannot renew this country when 13-year-old boys get semiautomatic weapons to shoot 9-year-olds for kicks. We cannot renew our country when children are having children and the fathers walk away as if the kids do not amount to anything. We cannot renew the country when our businesses eagerly look for new investments and new customers abroad but ignore those people right here at home who would give anything to have their jobs and would gladly buy their products if they had the money to do it. We cannot renew our country unless more of us—I mean, all of us— are willing to join the churches and the other good citizens, people like all the—like ministers I have worked with over the years or the priests and the nuns I met at Our Lady of Help in east Los Angeles or my good friend Tony Campollo in Philadelphia, unless we are willing to work with people like that, people who are saving kids, adopting schools, making streets safer. All of us can do that. We cannot renew our country until we realize that governments do not raise children, parents do. Parents who know their children's teachers and turn off the television and help with the homework and teach their kids right from wrong, those kinds of parents can make all the difference. I know; I had one. I am telling you, we have got to stop pointing our fingers at these kids who have no future and reach our hands out to them. Our country needs it, we need it, and they deserve it. So I say to you tonight, let us give our children a future. Let us take away their guns and give them books. Let us overcome their despair and replace it with hope. Let us, by our example, teach them to obey the law, respect our neighbors, and cherish our values. Let us weave these sturdy threads into a new American community that can once more stand strong against the forces of despair and evil because everybody has a chance to walk into a better tomorrow. Oh, there will be naysayers who fear that we will not be equal to the challenges of this time. But they misread our history, our heritage. Even today's headlines, all those things tell us we can and we will overcome any challenge. When the earth shook and fires raged in California, when I saw the Mississippi deluge the farmlands of the Midwest in a 500-year flood, when the century's bitterest cold swept from North Dakota to Newport News, it seemed as though the world itself was coming apart at the seams. But the American people, they just came together. They rose to the occasion, neighbor helping neighbor, strangers risking life and limb to save total strangers, showing the better angels of our nature. Let us not reserve the better angels only for natural disasters, leaving our deepest and most profound problems to petty political fighting. Let us instead be true to our spirit, facing facts, coming together, bringing hope, and moving forward. Tonight, my fellow Americans, we are summoned to answer a question as old as the Republic itself: What is the state of our Union? It is growing stronger, but it must be stronger still. With your help and God's help, it will be. Thank you, and God bless America.
thank you very much speaker president members of the 103d congress my fellow americans i am not at all sure what speech is in the teleprompter i hope we can talk about the state of the union i ask you to begin by recalling the memory of the giant who presided over this chamber with such force and grace tip liked to call himself a man of the house and he surely was that but even more he was a man of the people a bricklayer son who helped to build the great american middle class tip never forgot who he was where he came from or who sent him here tonight he is smiling down on us for the first time from the lord gallery but in his honor may we too always remember who we are where we come from and who sent us here if we do that we will return over and over again to the principle that if we simply give ordinary people equal opportunity quality education and a fair shot at the american dream they will do extraordinary things we gather tonight in a world of changes so profound and rapid that all nations are tested our american heritage has always been to master such change to use it to expand opportunity at home and our leadership abroad but for too long and in too many ways that heritage was abandoned and our country drifted for 30 years family life in america has been breaking down for 20 years the wages of working people have been stagnant or declining for the 12 years of economics we built a false prosperity on a hollow base as our national debt quadrupled from 1989 to 1992 we experienced the slowest growth in a half century for too many families even when both parents were working the american dream has been slipping away in 1992 the american people demanded that we change a year ago i asked all of you to join me in accepting responsibility for the future of our country well we did we replaced drift and deadlock with renewal and reform and i want to thank every one of you here who heard the american people who broke gridlock who gave them the most successful teamwork between a president and a congress in 30 years this congress produced a budget that cut the deficit by half a trillion dollars cut spending and raised income taxes on only the wealthiest americans this congress produced tax relief for millions of workers to reward work over welfare it produced nafta it produced the brady bill now the brady law and thank you jim brady for being here and god bless you sir this congress produced tax cuts to reduce the taxes of 9 out of 10 small businesses who use the money to invest more and create more jobs it produced more research and treatment for aids more childhood immunizations more support for women health research more affordable college loans for the middle class a new national service program for those who want to give something back to their country and their communities for higher education a dramatic increase in investments to move us from a defense to a domestic economy this congress produced a new law the motor voter bill to help millions of people register to vote it produced family and medical leave all passed all signed into law with not one single veto these accomplishments were all commitments i made when i sought this office and in fairness they all had to be passed by you in this congress but i am persuaded that the real credit belongs to the people who sent us here who pay our salaries who hold our feet to the fire but what we do here is really beginning to change lives let me just give you one example i will never forget what the family and medical leave law meant to just one father i met early one sunday morning in the white house it was unusual to see a family there touring early sunday morning but he had his wife and his three children there one of them in a wheelchair i came up and after we had our picture taken and had a little visit i was walking off and that man grabbed me by the arm and he said president let me tell you something my little girl here is desperately she is probably not going to make it but because of the family leave law i was able to take time off to spend with her the most important time i ever spent in my life without losing my job and hurting the rest of my family it means more to me than i will ever be able to say do not you people up here ever think what you do does not make a difference it does though we are making a difference our work has just begun many americans still have not felt the impact of what we have done the recovery still has not touched every community or created enough jobs incomes are still stagnant there is still too much violence and not enough hope in too many places abroad the young democracies we are strongly supporting still face very difficult times and look to us for leadership and so tonight let us resolve to continue the journey of renewal to create more and better jobs to guarantee health security for all to reward work over welfare to promote democracy abroad and to begin to reclaim our streets from violent crime and drugs and gangs to renew our own american community last year we began to put our house in order by tackling the budget deficit that was driving us toward bankruptcy we cut 255 billion in spending including entitlements and over 340 separate budget items we froze domestic spending and used honest budget numbers led by the vice president we launched a campaign to reinvent government we cut staff cut perks even trimmed the fleet of federal limousines after years of leaders whose rhetoric attacked bureaucracy but whose action expanded it we will actually reduce it by people over the next 5 years by the time we have finished the federal bureaucracy will be at its lowest point in 30 years because the deficit was so large and because they benefited from tax cuts in the 1980 we did ask the wealthiest americans to pay more to reduce the deficit so on april 15th the american people will discover the truth about what we did last year on taxes only the top listen the top percent of americans as i said all along will pay higher income tax rates let me repeat only the wealthiest percent of americans will face higher income tax rates and no one else will and that is the truth of course there were as there always are in politics naysayers who said this plan would not work but they were wrong when i became president the experts predicted that next year deficit would be 300 billion but because we acted those same people now say the deficit is going to be under 180 billion 40 percent lower than was previously predicted our economic program has helped to produce the lowest core inflation rate and the lowest interest rates in 20 years and because those interest rates are down business investment and equipment is growing at 7 times the rate of the previous 4 years auto sales are way up home sales are at a record high millions of americans have refinanced their homes and our economy has produced million private sector jobs in 1993 more than were created in the previous 4 years combined the people who supported this economic plan should be proud of its early results proud but everyone in this chamber should know and acknowledge that there is more to do next month i will send you one of the toughest budgets ever presented to congress it will cut spending in more than 300 programs eliminate 100 domestic programs and reform the ways in which governments buy goods and services this year we must again make the hard choices to live within the hard spending ceilings we have set we must do it we have proved we can bring the deficit down without choking off recovery without punishing seniors or the middle class and without putting our national security at risk if you will stick with this plan we will post 3 consecutive years of declining deficits for the first time since harry truman lived in the white house and once again the buck stops here our economic plan also bolsters our strength and our credibility around the world once we reduced the deficit and put the steel back into our competitive edge the world echoed with the sound of falling trade barriers in one year with nafta with gatt with our efforts in asia and the national export strategy we did more to open world markets to american products than at any time in the last two generations that means more jobs and rising living standards for the american people low deficits low inflation low interest rates low trade barriers and high investments these are the building blocks of our recovery but if we want to take full advantage of the opportunities before us in the global economy you all know we must do more as we reduce defense spending i ask congress to invest more in the technologies of tomorrow defense conversion will keep us strong militarily and create jobs for our people here at home as we protect our environment we must invest in the environmental technologies of the future which will create jobs this year we will fight for a revitalized clean water act and a safe drinking water act and a reformed superfund program and the vice president is right we must also work with the private sector to connect every classroom every clinic every library every hospital in america into a national information superhighway by the year 2000 think of it instant access to information will increase productivity will help to educate our children it will provide better medical care it will create jobs and i call on the congress to pass legislation to establish that information superhighway this year as we expand opportunity and create jobs no one can be left out we must continue to enforce fair lending and fair housing and all civil rights laws because america will never be complete in its renewal until everyone shares in its bounty but we all know too we can do all these our economic house in order expand world trade target the jobs of the future guarantee equal if we are honest we will all admit that this strategy still can not work unless we also give our people the education training and skills they need to seize the opportunities of tomorrow we must set tough academic and occupational standards for all our children and give our teachers and students the tools they need to meet them our goals 2000 proposal will empower individual school districts to experiment with ideas like chartering their schools to be run by private corporations or having more public school choice to do whatever they wish to do as long as we measure every school by one high standard are our children learning what they need to know to compete and win in the global economy goals 2000 links standards to grassroots reforms and i hope congress will pass it without delay our initiative will for the first time link school to the world of work providing at least one year of apprenticeship beyond high school after all most of the people we are counting on to build our economic future will not graduate from college it is time to stop ignoring them and start empowering them we must literally transform our outdated unemployment system into a new reemployment system the old unemployment system just sort of kept you going while you waited for your old job to come back we have got to have a new system to move people into new and better jobs because most of those old jobs just do not come back and we know that the only way to have real job security in the future to get a good job with a growing income is to have real skills and the ability to learn new ones so we have got to streamline today patchwork of training programs and make them a source of new skills for our people who lose their jobs reemployment not unemployment must become the centerpiece of our economic renewal i urge you to pass it in this session of congress and just as we must transform our unemployment system so must we also revolutionize our welfare system it does not work it defies our values as a nation if we value work we can not justify a system that makes welfare more attractive than work if people are worried about losing their health care if we value responsibility we can not ignore the 34 billion in child support absent parents ought to be paying to millions of parents who are taking care of their children if we value strong families we can not perpetuate a system that actually penalizes those who stay together can you believe that a child who has a child gets more money from the government for leaving home than for staying home with a parent or a grandparent that is not just bad policy it is wrong and we ought to change it i worked on this problem for years before i became president with other governors and with members of congress of both parties and with the previous administration of another party i worked on it with people who were on welfare lots of them and i want to say something to everybody here who cares about this issue the people who most want to change this system are the people who are dependent on it they want to get off welfare they want to go back to work they want to do right by their kids i once had a hearing when i was a governor and i brought in people on welfare from all over america who had found their way to work the woman from my state who testified was asked this question what is the best thing about being off welfare and in a job and without blinking an eye she looked at 40 governors and she said when my boy goes to school and they say what does your mother do for a living he can give an answer these people want a better system and we ought to give it to them last year we began this we gave the states more power to innovate because we know that a lot of great ideas come from outside washington and many states are already using it then this congress took a dramatic step instead of taxing people with modest incomes into poverty we helped them to work their way out of poverty by dramatically increasing the tax credit it will lift 15 million working families out of poverty rewarding work over welfare making it possible for people to be successful workers and successful parents now that is real welfare reform but there is more to be done this spring i will send you a comprehensive welfare reform bill that builds on the family support act of 1988 and restores the basic values of work and responsibility we will say to teenagers if you have a child out of wedlock we will no longer give you a check to set up a separate household we want families to stay together say to absent parents who are not paying their child support if you are not providing for your children we will garnish your wages suspend your license track you across state lines and if necessary make some of you work off what you owe people who bring children into this world can not and must not walk away from them but to all those who depend on welfare we should offer ultimately a simple compact we will provide the support the job training the child care you need for up to 2 years but after that anyone who can work must in the private sector wherever possible in community service if necessary that is the only way we will ever make welfare what it ought to be a second chance not a way of life i know it will be difficult to tackle welfare reform in 1994 at the same time we tackle health care but let me point out i think it is inevitable and imperative it is estimated that one million people are on welfare today because it is the only way they can get health care coverage for their children those who choose to leave welfare for jobs without health benefits and many jobs do not have health benefits find themselves in the incredible position of paying taxes that help to pay for health care coverage for those who made the other choice to stay on welfare no wonder people leave work and go back to welfare to get health care coverage we have got to solve the health care problem to have real welfare reform so this year we will make history by reforming the health care system and i would say to you all of you my fellow public servants this is another issue where the people are way ahead of the politicians that may not be popular with either party but it happens to be the truth you know the first lady has received now almost a million letters from people all across america and from all walks of life i would like to share just one of them with you richard anderson of reno nevada lost his job and with it his health insurance two weeks later his wife judy suffered a cerebral aneurysm he rushed her to the hospital where she stayed in intensive care for 21 days the andersons bills were over although judy recovered and richard went back to work at 8 an hour the bills were too much for them and they were literally forced into bankruptcy clinton he wrote to hillary no one in the united states of america should have to lose everything they have worked for all their lives because they were unfortunate enough to become it was to help the richard and judy andersons of america that the first lady and so many others have worked so hard and so long on this health care reform issue we owe them our thanks and our action i know there are people here who say there is no health care crisis tell it to richard and judy anderson tell it to the 58 million americans who have no coverage at all for some time each year tell it to the 81 million americans with those preexisting conditions those folks are paying more or they can not get insurance at all or they can not ever change their jobs because they or someone in their family has one of those preexisting conditions tell it to the small businesses burdened by the skyrocketing cost of insurance most small businesses cover their employees and they pay on average 35 percent more in premiums than big businesses or government or tell it to the 76 percent of insured americans three out of four whose policies have lifetime limits and that means they can find themselves without any coverage at all just when they need it the most so if any of you believe there is no crisis you tell it to those people because i can not there are some people who literally do not understand the impact of this problem on people lives and all you have to do is go out and listen to them just go talk to them anywhere in any congressional district in this country they are republicans and democrats and independents it does not have a lick to do with party they think we do not get it and it is time we show them that we do get it from the day we began our health care initiative has been designed to strengthen what is good about our health care system the world best health care professionals research and wonderful research institutions medicare for older americans none of this none of it should be put at risk but we are paying more and more money for less and less care every year fewer and fewer americans even get to choose their doctors every year doctors and nurses spend more time on paperwork and less time with patients because of the absolute bureaucratic nightmare the present system has become this system is riddled with inefficiency with abuse with fraud and everybody knows it in today health care system insurance companies call the shots they pick whom they cover and how they cover them they can cut off your benefits when you need your coverage the most they are in charge what does it mean it means every night millions of americans go to bed just an illness an accident or a pink slip away from having no coverage or financial ruin it means every morning millions of americans go to work without any health insurance at all something the workers in no other advanced country in the world do it means that every year more and more people are told to pick a new doctor because their boss has had to pick a new plan and countless others turn down better jobs because they know if they take the better job they will lose their health insurance if we just let the health care system continue to drift our country will have people with less care fewer choices and higher bills now our approach protects the quality of care and people choices it builds on what works today in the private sector to expand coverage to guarantee private insurance for every american and i might say private insurance for every american was proposed 20 years ago by president richard nixon to the united states congress it was a good idea then and it is a better idea today why do we want guaranteed private insurance because right now 9 out of 10 people who have insurance get it through their employers and that should continue and if your employer is providing good benefits at reasonable prices that should continue too that ought to make the congress and the president feel better our goal is health insurance everybody can depend on comprehensive benefits that cover preventive care and prescription drugs health premiums that do not just explode when you get sick or you get older the power no matter how small your business is to choose dependable insurance at the same competitive rates governments and big business get today one simple form for people who are sick and most of all the freedom to choose a plan and the right to choose your own doctor our approach protects older americans every plan before the congress proposes to slow the growth of medicare the difference is this we believe those savings should be used to improve health care for senior citizens medicare must be protected and it should cover prescription drugs and we should take the first steps in covering care to those who would cut medicare without protecting seniors i say the solution to today squeeze on middle class working people health care is not to put the squeeze on middle class retired people health care we can do better than that when it is all said and done it is pretty simple to me insurance ought to mean what it used to mean you pay a fair price for security and when you get sick health care always there no matter what along with the guarantee of health security we all have to admit too there must be more responsibility on the part of all of us in how we use this system people have to take their kids to get immunized we should all take advantage of preventive care we must all work together to stop the violence that explodes our emergency rooms we have to practice better health habits and we can not abuse the system and those who do not have insurance under our approach will get coverage but they will have to pay something for it too the minority of businesses that provide no insurance at all and in so doing shift the cost of the care of their employees to others should contribute something people who smoke should pay more for a pack of cigarettes everybody can contribute something if we want to solve the health care crisis there can not be any more something for nothing it will not be easy but it can be done now in the coming months i hope very much to work with both democrats and republicans to reform a health care system by using the market to bring down costs and to achieve lasting health security but if you look at history we see that for 60 years this country has tried to reform health care president roosevelt tried president truman tried president nixon tried president carter tried every time the special interests were powerful enough to defeat them but not this time i know that facing up to these interests will require courage it will raise critical questions about the way we finance our campaigns and how lobbyists yield their influence the work of change frankly will never get any easier until we limit the influence of interests who profit from this current system so i also must now call on you to finish the job both houses began last year by passing tough and meaningful campaign finance reform and lobby reform legislation this year you know my fellow americans this is really a test for all of us the american people provide those of us in government service with terrific health care benefits at reasonable costs we have health care that is always there i think we need to give every american the same health care security they have already given to us i want to make this very clear i am open as i have said repeatedly to the best ideas of concerned members of both parties i have no special brief for any specific approach even in our own bill except this if you send me legislation that does not guarantee every american private health insurance that can never be taken away you will force me to take this pen veto the legislation and we will come right back here and start all over again but i do not think that is going to happen i think we are ready to act now i believe that you are ready to act now and if you are ready to guarantee every american the same health care that you have health care that can never be taken away next year or the year is the time to stand with the people who sent us here now as we take these steps together to renew our strength at home we can not turn away from our obligation to renew our leadership abroad this is a promising moment because of the agreements we have reached this year last year russia strategic nuclear missiles soon will no longer be pointed at the united states nor will we point ours at them instead of building weapons in space russian scientists will help us to build the international space station of course there are still dangers in the world rampant arms proliferation bitter regional conflicts ethnic and nationalist tensions in many new democracies severe environmental degradation the world over and fanatics who seek to cripple the world cities with terror as the world greatest power we must therefore maintain our defenses and our responsibilities this year we secured indictments against terrorists and sanctions against those who harbor them we worked to promote environmentally sustainable economic growth we achieved agreements with ukraine with belarus with kazahkstan to eliminate completely their nuclear arsenal we are working to achieve a korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons we will seek early ratification of a treaty to ban chemical weapons worldwide and earlier today we joined with over 30 nations to begin negotiations on a comprehensive ban to stop all nuclear testing but nothing nothing is more important to our security than our nation armed forces we honor their contributions including those who are carrying out the longest humanitarian air lift in history in bosnia those who will complete their mission in somalia this year and their brave comrades who gave their lives there our forces are the finest military our nation has ever had and i have pledged that as long as i am president they will remain the best equipped the best trained and the best prepared fighting force on the face of the earth last year i proposed a defense plan that maintains our security at a lower cost this year many people urged me to cut our defense spending further to pay for other government programs i said no the budget i send to congress draws the line against further defense cuts it protects the readiness and quality of our forces ultimately the best strategy is to do that we must not cut defense further i hope the congress without regard to party will support that position ultimately the best strategy to ensure our security and to build a durable peace is to support the advance of democracy elsewhere democracies do not attack each other they make better trading partners and partners in diplomacy that is why we have supported you and i the democratic reformers in russia and in the other states of the former soviet bloc i applaud the bipartisan support this congress provided last year for our initiatives to help russia ukraine and the other states through their epic transformations our support of reform must combine patience for the enormity of the task and vigilance for our fundamental interest and values we will continue to urge russia and the other states to press ahead with economic reforms and we will seek to cooperate with russia to solve regional problems while insisting that if russian troops operate in neighboring states they do so only when those states agree to their presence and in strict accord with international standards but we must also remember as these nations chart their own they must chart their own much more secure and more prosperous our own people will be if democratic and market reforms succeed all across the former communist bloc our policy has been to support that move and that has been the policy of the congress we should continue it that is why i went to europe earlier this month to work with our european partners to help to integrate all the former communist countries into a europe that has a possibility of becoming unified for the first time in its entire history its entire history based on the simple commitments of all nations in europe to democracy to free markets and to respect for existing borders with our allies we have created a partnership for peace that invites states from the former soviet bloc and other members to work with nato in military cooperation when i met with central europe leaders including lech walesa and vaclav havel men who put their lives on the line for freedom i told them that the security of their region is important to our country security this year we must also do more to support democratic renewal and human rights and sustainable development all around the world we will ask congress to ratify the new gatt accord we will continue standing by south africa as it works its way through its bold and hopeful and difficult transition to democracy we will convene a summit of the western hemisphere democratic leaders from canada to the tip of south america and we will continue to press for the restoration of true democracy in haiti and as we build a more constructive relationship with china we must continue to insist on clear signs of improvement in that nation human rights record we will also work for new progress toward the middle east peace last year the world watched yitzhak rabin and yasser arafat at the white house when they had their historic handshake of reconciliation but there is a long hard road ahead and on that road i am determined that i and our administration will do all we can to achieve a comprehensive and lasting peace for all the peoples of the region now there are some in our country who argue that with the cold war america should turn its back on the rest of the world many around the world were afraid we would do just that but i took this office on a pledge that had no partisan tinge to keep our nation secure by remaining engaged in the rest of the world and this year because of our work together enacting nafta keeping our military strong and prepared supporting democracy abroad we have reaffirmed america leadership america engagement and as a result the american people are more secure than they were before but while americans are more secure from threats abroad i think we all know that in many ways we are less secure from threats here at home every day the national peace is shattered by crime in petaluma california an innocent slumber party gives way to agonizing tragedy for the family of polly klaas an ordinary train ride on long island ends in a hail of rounds a tourist in florida is nearly burned alive by bigots simply because he is black right here in our nation capital a brave young man named jason white a policeman the son and grandson of policemen is ruthlessly gunned down violent crime and the fear it provokes are crippling our society limiting personal freedom and fraying the ties that bind us the crime bill before congress gives you a chance to do something about it a chance to be tough and smart what does that mean let me begin by saying i care a lot about this issue many years ago when i started out in public life i was the attorney general of my state i served as a governor for a dozen years i know what it is like to sign laws increasing penalties to build more prison cells to carry out the death penalty i understand this issue and it is not a simple thing first we must recognize that most violent crimes are committed by a small percentage of criminals who too often break the laws even when they are on parole now those who commit crimes should be punished and those who commit repeated violent crimes should be told when you commit a third violent crime you will be put away and put away for good three strikes and you are out second we must take serious steps to reduce violence and prevent crime beginning with more police officers and more community policing we know right now that police who work the streets know the folks have the respect of the neighborhood kids focus on high crime areas we know that they are more likely to prevent crime as well as catch criminals look at the experience of houston where the crime rate dropped 17 percent in one year when that approach was taken here tonight is one of those community policemen a brave young detective kevin jett whose beat is eight square blocks in one of the toughest neighborhoods in new york every day he restores some sanity and safety and a sense of values and connections to the people whose lives he protects i would like to ask him to stand up and be recognized tonight thank you sir you will be given a chance to give the children of this country the working people of this do not forget in the toughest neighborhoods in this country in the highest crime neighborhoods in this country the vast majority of people get up every day and obey the law pay their taxes do their best to raise their kids they deserve people like kevin jett and you are going to be given a chance to give the american people another of them well trained and i urge you to do it you have before you crime legislation which also establishes a police corps to encourage young people to get an education and pay it off by serving as police officers which encourages retiring military personnel to move into police forces an inordinate resource for our country one which has a safe schools provision which will give our young people the chance to walk to school in safety and to be in school in safety instead of dodging bullets these are important things the third thing we have to do is to build on the brady bill the brady law to take further steps to keep guns out of the hands of criminals i want to say something about this issue hunters must always be free to hunt adults should always be free to own guns and protect their homes i respect that part of our culture i grew up in it but i want to ask the sportsmen and others who lawfully own guns to join us in this campaign to reduce gun violence i say to you i know you did not create this problem but we need your help to solve it there is no sporting purpose on earth that should stop the united states congress from banishing assault weapons that police and cut down children fourth we must remember that drugs are a factor in an enormous percentage of crimes recent studies indicate sadly that drug use is on the rise again among our young people the crime bill the crime bills more money for drug treatment for criminal addicts and boot camps for youthful offenders that include incentives to get off drugs and to stay off drugs our administration budget with all its cuts contains a large increase in funding for drug treatment and drug education you must pass them both we need them desperately my fellow americans the problem of violence is an american problem it has no partisan or philosophical element therefore i urge you to find ways as quickly as possible to set aside partisan differences and pass a strong smart tough crime bill but further i urge you to consider this as you demand tougher penalties for those who choose violence let us also remember how we came to this sad point in our toughest neighborhoods on our meanest streets in our poorest rural areas we have seen a stunning and simultaneous breakdown of community family and work the heart and soul of civilized society this has created a vast vacuum which has been filled by violence and drugs and gangs so i ask you to remember that even as we say no to crime we must give people especially our young people something to say yes to many of our initiatives from job training to welfare reform to health care to national service will help to rebuild distressed communities to strengthen families to provide work but more needs to be done that is what our community empowerment agenda is all about challenging businesses to provide more investment through empowerment zones ensuring banks will make loans in the same communities their deposits come from passing legislation to unleash the power of capital through community development banks to create jobs opportunity and hope where they are needed most i think you know that to really solve this problem we will all have to put our heads together leave our ideological armor aside and find some new ideas to do even more and let us be honest we all know something else too our problems go way beyond the reach of government they are rooted in the loss of values in the disappearance of work and the breakdown of our families and our communities my fellow americans we can cut the deficit create jobs promote democracy around the world pass welfare reform and health care pass the toughest crime bill in history but still leave too many of our people behind the american people have got to want to change from within if we are going to bring back work and family and community we can not renew our country when within a decade more than half of the children will be born into families where there has been no marriage we can not renew this country when boys get semiautomatic weapons to shoot for kicks we can not renew our country when children are having children and the fathers walk away as if the kids do not amount to anything we can not renew the country when our businesses eagerly look for new investments and new customers abroad but ignore those people right here at home who would give anything to have their jobs and would gladly buy their products if they had the money to do it we can not renew our country unless more of mean all of are willing to join the churches and the other good citizens people like all ministers i have worked with over the years or the priests and the nuns i met at our lady of help in east los angeles or my good friend tony campollo in philadelphia unless we are willing to work with people like that people who are saving kids adopting schools making streets safer all of us can do that we can not renew our country until we realize that governments do not raise children parents do parents who know their children teachers and turn off the television and help with the homework and teach their kids right from wrong those kinds of parents can make all the difference i know i had one i am telling you we have got to stop pointing our fingers at these kids who have no future and reach our hands out to them our country needs it we need it and they deserve it so i say to you tonight let us give our children a future let us take away their guns and give them books let us overcome their despair and replace it with hope let us by our example teach them to obey the law respect our neighbors and cherish our values let us weave these sturdy threads into a new american community that can once more stand strong against the forces of despair and evil because everybody has a chance to walk into a better tomorrow oh there will be naysayers who fear that we will not be equal to the challenges of this time but they misread our history our heritage even today headlines all those things tell us we can and we will overcome any challenge when the earth shook and fires raged in california when i saw the mississippi deluge the farmlands of the midwest in a flood when the century bitterest cold swept from north dakota to newport news it seemed as though the world itself was coming apart at the seams but the american people they just came together they rose to the occasion neighbor helping neighbor strangers risking life and limb to save total strangers showing the better angels of our nature let us not reserve the better angels only for natural disasters leaving our deepest and most profound problems to petty political fighting let us instead be true to our spirit facing facts coming together bringing hope and moving forward tonight my fellow americans we are summoned to answer a question as old as the republic itself what is the state of our union it is growing stronger but it must be stronger still with your help and god help it will be thank you and god bless america
thank much speaker president members 103d congress fellow americans sure speech teleprompter hope talk state union ask begin recalling memory giant presided chamber force grace tip liked call man house surely even man people bricklayer son helped build great american middle class tip never forgot came sent tonight smiling us first time lord gallery honor may always remember come sent us return principle simply give ordinary people equal opportunity quality education fair shot american dream extraordinary things gather tonight world changes profound rapid nations tested american heritage always master change use expand opportunity home leadership abroad long many ways heritage abandoned country drifted 30 years family life america breaking 20 years wages working people stagnant declining 12 years economics built false prosperity hollow base national debt quadrupled 1989 1992 experienced slowest growth half century many families even parents working american dream slipping away 1992 american people demanded change year ago asked join accepting responsibility future country well replaced drift deadlock renewal reform want thank every one heard american people broke gridlock gave successful teamwork president congress 30 years congress produced budget cut deficit half trillion dollars cut spending raised income taxes wealthiest americans congress produced tax relief millions workers reward work welfare produced nafta produced brady bill brady law thank jim brady god bless sir congress produced tax cuts reduce taxes 9 10 small businesses use money invest create jobs produced research treatment aids childhood immunizations support women health research affordable college loans middle class new national service program want give something back country communities higher education dramatic increase investments move us defense domestic economy congress produced new law motor voter bill help millions people register vote produced family medical leave passed signed law one single veto accomplishments commitments made sought office fairness passed congress persuaded real credit belongs people sent us pay salaries hold feet fire really beginning change lives let give one example never forget family medical leave law meant one father met early one sunday morning white house unusual see family touring early sunday morning wife three children one wheelchair came picture taken little visit walking man grabbed arm said president let tell something little girl desperately probably going make family leave law able take time spend important time ever spent life without losing job hurting rest family means ever able say people ever think make difference though making difference work begun many americans still felt impact done recovery still touched every community created enough jobs incomes still stagnant still much violence enough hope many places abroad young democracies strongly supporting still face difficult times look us leadership tonight let us resolve continue journey renewal create better jobs guarantee health security reward work welfare promote democracy abroad begin reclaim streets violent crime drugs gangs renew american community last year began put house order tackling budget deficit driving us toward bankruptcy cut 255 billion spending including entitlements 340 separate budget items froze domestic spending used honest budget numbers led vice president launched campaign reinvent government cut staff cut perks even trimmed fleet federal limousines years leaders whose rhetoric attacked bureaucracy whose action expanded actually reduce people next 5 years time finished federal bureaucracy lowest point 30 years deficit large benefited tax cuts 1980 ask wealthiest americans pay reduce deficit april 15th american people discover truth last year taxes top listen top percent americans said along pay higher income tax rates let repeat wealthiest percent americans face higher income tax rates one else truth course always politics naysayers said plan would work wrong became president experts predicted next year deficit would 300 billion acted people say deficit going 180 billion 40 percent lower previously predicted economic program helped produce lowest core inflation rate lowest interest rates 20 years interest rates business investment equipment growing 7 times rate previous 4 years auto sales way home sales record high millions americans refinanced homes economy produced million private sector jobs 1993 created previous 4 years combined people supported economic plan proud early results proud everyone chamber know acknowledge next month send one toughest budgets ever presented congress cut spending 300 programs eliminate 100 domestic programs reform ways governments buy goods services year must make hard choices live within hard spending ceilings set must proved bring deficit without choking recovery without punishing seniors middle class without putting national security risk stick plan post 3 consecutive years declining deficits first time since harry truman lived white house buck stops economic plan also bolsters strength credibility around world reduced deficit put steel back competitive edge world echoed sound falling trade barriers one year nafta gatt efforts asia national export strategy open world markets american products time last two generations means jobs rising living standards american people low deficits low inflation low interest rates low trade barriers high investments building blocks recovery want take full advantage opportunities us global economy know must reduce defense spending ask congress invest technologies tomorrow defense conversion keep us strong militarily create jobs people home protect environment must invest environmental technologies future create jobs year fight revitalized clean water act safe drinking water act reformed superfund program vice president right must also work private sector connect every classroom every clinic every library every hospital america national information superhighway year 2000 think instant access information increase productivity help educate children provide better medical care create jobs call congress pass legislation establish information superhighway year expand opportunity create jobs one left must continue enforce fair lending fair housing civil rights laws america never complete renewal everyone shares bounty know economic house order expand world trade target jobs future guarantee equal honest admit strategy still work unless also give people education training skills need seize opportunities tomorrow must set tough academic occupational standards children give teachers students tools need meet goals 2000 proposal empower individual school districts experiment ideas like chartering schools run private corporations public school choice whatever wish long measure every school one high standard children learning need know compete win global economy goals 2000 links standards grassroots reforms hope congress pass without delay initiative first time link school world work providing least one year apprenticeship beyond high school people counting build economic future graduate college time stop ignoring start empowering must literally transform outdated unemployment system new reemployment system old unemployment system sort kept going waited old job come back got new system move people new better jobs old jobs come back know way real job security future get good job growing income real skills ability learn new ones got streamline today patchwork training programs make source new skills people lose jobs reemployment unemployment must become centerpiece economic renewal urge pass session congress must transform unemployment system must also revolutionize welfare system work defies values nation value work justify system makes welfare attractive work people worried losing health care value responsibility ignore 34 billion child support absent parents ought paying millions parents taking care children value strong families perpetuate system actually penalizes stay together believe child child gets money government leaving home staying home parent grandparent bad policy wrong ought change worked problem years became president governors members congress parties previous administration another party worked people welfare lots want say something everybody cares issue people want change system people dependent want get welfare want go back work want right kids hearing governor brought people welfare america found way work woman state testified asked question best thing welfare job without blinking eye looked 40 governors said boy goes school say mother living give answer people want better system ought give last year began gave states power innovate know lot great ideas come outside washington many states already using congress took dramatic step instead taxing people modest incomes poverty helped work way poverty dramatically increasing tax credit lift 15 million working families poverty rewarding work welfare making possible people successful workers successful parents real welfare reform done spring send comprehensive welfare reform bill builds family support act 1988 restores basic values work responsibility say teenagers child wedlock longer give check set separate household want families stay together say absent parents paying child support providing children garnish wages suspend license track across state lines necessary make work owe people bring children world must walk away depend welfare offer ultimately simple compact provide support job training child care need 2 years anyone work must private sector wherever possible community service necessary way ever make welfare ought second chance way life know difficult tackle welfare reform 1994 time tackle health care let point think inevitable imperative estimated one million people welfare today way get health care coverage children choose leave welfare jobs without health benefits many jobs health benefits find incredible position paying taxes help pay health care coverage made choice stay welfare wonder people leave work go back welfare get health care coverage got solve health care problem real welfare reform year make history reforming health care system would say fellow public servants another issue people way ahead politicians may popular either party happens truth know first lady received almost million letters people across america walks life would like share one richard anderson reno nevada lost job health insurance two weeks later wife judy suffered cerebral aneurysm rushed hospital stayed intensive care 21 days andersons bills although judy recovered richard went back work 8 hour bills much literally forced bankruptcy clinton wrote hillary one united states america lose everything worked lives unfortunate enough become help richard judy andersons america first lady many others worked hard long health care reform issue owe thanks action know people say health care crisis tell richard judy anderson tell 58 million americans coverage time year tell 81 million americans preexisting conditions folks paying get insurance ever change jobs someone family one preexisting conditions tell small businesses burdened skyrocketing cost insurance small businesses cover employees pay average 35 percent premiums big businesses government tell 76 percent insured americans three four whose policies lifetime limits means find without coverage need believe crisis tell people people literally understand impact problem people lives go listen go talk anywhere congressional district country republicans democrats independents lick party think get time show get day began health care initiative designed strengthen good health care system world best health care professionals research wonderful research institutions medicare older americans none none put risk paying money less less care every year fewer fewer americans even get choose doctors every year doctors nurses spend time paperwork less time patients absolute bureaucratic nightmare present system become system riddled inefficiency abuse fraud everybody knows today health care system insurance companies call shots pick cover cover cut benefits need coverage charge mean means every night millions americans go bed illness accident pink slip away coverage financial ruin means every morning millions americans go work without health insurance something workers advanced country world means every year people told pick new doctor boss pick new plan countless others turn better jobs know take better job lose health insurance let health care system continue drift country people less care fewer choices higher bills approach protects quality care people choices builds works today private sector expand coverage guarantee private insurance every american might say private insurance every american proposed 20 years ago president richard nixon united states congress good idea better idea today want guaranteed private insurance right 9 10 people insurance get employers continue employer providing good benefits reasonable prices continue ought make congress president feel better goal health insurance everybody depend comprehensive benefits cover preventive care prescription drugs health premiums explode get sick get older power matter small business choose dependable insurance competitive rates governments big business get today one simple form people sick freedom choose plan right choose doctor approach protects older americans every plan congress proposes slow growth medicare difference believe savings used improve health care senior citizens medicare must protected cover prescription drugs take first steps covering care would cut medicare without protecting seniors say solution today squeeze middle class working people health care put squeeze middle class retired people health care better said done pretty simple insurance ought mean used mean pay fair price security get sick health care always matter along guarantee health security admit must responsibility part us use system people take kids get immunized take advantage preventive care must work together stop violence explodes emergency rooms practice better health habits abuse system insurance approach get coverage pay something minority businesses provide insurance shift cost care employees others contribute something people smoke pay pack cigarettes everybody contribute something want solve health care crisis something nothing easy done coming months hope much work democrats republicans reform health care system using market bring costs achieve lasting health security look history see 60 years country tried reform health care president roosevelt tried president truman tried president nixon tried president carter tried every time special interests powerful enough defeat time know facing interests require courage raise critical questions way finance campaigns lobbyists yield influence work change frankly never get easier limit influence interests profit current system also must call finish job houses began last year passing tough meaningful campaign finance reform lobby reform legislation year know fellow americans really test us american people provide us government service terrific health care benefits reasonable costs health care always think need give every american health care security already given us want make clear open said repeatedly best ideas concerned members parties special brief specific approach even bill except send legislation guarantee every american private health insurance never taken away force take pen veto legislation come right back start think going happen think ready act believe ready act ready guarantee every american health care health care never taken away next year year time stand people sent us take steps together renew strength home turn away obligation renew leadership abroad promising moment agreements reached year last year russia strategic nuclear missiles soon longer pointed united states point instead building weapons space russian scientists help us build international space station course still dangers world rampant arms proliferation bitter regional conflicts ethnic nationalist tensions many new democracies severe environmental degradation world fanatics seek cripple world cities terror world greatest power must therefore maintain defenses responsibilities year secured indictments terrorists sanctions harbor worked promote environmentally sustainable economic growth achieved agreements ukraine belarus kazahkstan eliminate completely nuclear arsenal working achieve korean peninsula free nuclear weapons seek early ratification treaty ban chemical weapons worldwide earlier today joined 30 nations begin negotiations comprehensive ban stop nuclear testing nothing nothing important security nation armed forces honor contributions including carrying longest humanitarian air lift history bosnia complete mission somalia year brave comrades gave lives forces finest military nation ever pledged long president remain best equipped best trained best prepared fighting force face earth last year proposed defense plan maintains security lower cost year many people urged cut defense spending pay government programs said budget send congress draws line defense cuts protects readiness quality forces ultimately best strategy must cut defense hope congress without regard party support position ultimately best strategy ensure security build durable peace support advance democracy elsewhere democracies attack make better trading partners partners diplomacy supported democratic reformers russia states former soviet bloc applaud bipartisan support congress provided last year initiatives help russia ukraine states epic transformations support reform must combine patience enormity task vigilance fundamental interest values continue urge russia states press ahead economic reforms seek cooperate russia solve regional problems insisting russian troops operate neighboring states states agree presence strict accord international standards must also remember nations chart must chart much secure prosperous people democratic market reforms succeed across former communist bloc policy support move policy congress continue went europe earlier month work european partners help integrate former communist countries europe possibility becoming unified first time entire history entire history based simple commitments nations europe democracy free markets respect existing borders allies created partnership peace invites states former soviet bloc members work nato military cooperation met central europe leaders including lech walesa vaclav havel men put lives line freedom told security region important country security year must also support democratic renewal human rights sustainable development around world ask congress ratify new gatt accord continue standing south africa works way bold hopeful difficult transition democracy convene summit western hemisphere democratic leaders canada tip south america continue press restoration true democracy haiti build constructive relationship china must continue insist clear signs improvement nation human rights record also work new progress toward middle east peace last year world watched yitzhak rabin yasser arafat white house historic handshake reconciliation long hard road ahead road determined administration achieve comprehensive lasting peace peoples region country argue cold war america turn back rest world many around world afraid would took office pledge partisan tinge keep nation secure remaining engaged rest world year work together enacting nafta keeping military strong prepared supporting democracy abroad reaffirmed america leadership america engagement result american people secure americans secure threats abroad think know many ways less secure threats home every day national peace shattered crime petaluma california innocent slumber party gives way agonizing tragedy family polly klaas ordinary train ride long island ends hail rounds tourist florida nearly burned alive bigots simply black right nation capital brave young man named jason white policeman son grandson policemen ruthlessly gunned violent crime fear provokes crippling society limiting personal freedom fraying ties bind us crime bill congress gives chance something chance tough smart mean let begin saying care lot issue many years ago started public life attorney general state served governor dozen years know like sign laws increasing penalties build prison cells carry death penalty understand issue simple thing first must recognize violent crimes committed small percentage criminals often break laws even parole commit crimes punished commit repeated violent crimes told commit third violent crime put away put away good three strikes second must take serious steps reduce violence prevent crime beginning police officers community policing know right police work streets know folks respect neighborhood kids focus high crime areas know likely prevent crime well catch criminals look experience houston crime rate dropped 17 percent one year approach taken tonight one community policemen brave young detective kevin jett whose beat eight square blocks one toughest neighborhoods new york every day restores sanity safety sense values connections people whose lives protects would like ask stand recognized tonight thank sir given chance give children country working people forget toughest neighborhoods country highest crime neighborhoods country vast majority people get every day obey law pay taxes best raise kids deserve people like kevin jett going given chance give american people another well trained urge crime legislation also establishes police corps encourage young people get education pay serving police officers encourages retiring military personnel move police forces inordinate resource country one safe schools provision give young people chance walk school safety school safety instead dodging bullets important things third thing build brady bill brady law take steps keep guns hands criminals want say something issue hunters must always free hunt adults always free guns protect homes respect part culture grew want ask sportsmen others lawfully guns join us campaign reduce gun violence say know create problem need help solve sporting purpose earth stop united states congress banishing assault weapons police cut children fourth must remember drugs factor enormous percentage crimes recent studies indicate sadly drug use rise among young people crime bill crime bills money drug treatment criminal addicts boot camps youthful offenders include incentives get drugs stay drugs administration budget cuts contains large increase funding drug treatment drug education must pass need desperately fellow americans problem violence american problem partisan philosophical element therefore urge find ways quickly possible set aside partisan differences pass strong smart tough crime bill urge consider demand tougher penalties choose violence let us also remember came sad point toughest neighborhoods meanest streets poorest rural areas seen stunning simultaneous breakdown community family work heart soul civilized society created vast vacuum filled violence drugs gangs ask remember even say crime must give people especially young people something say yes many initiatives job training welfare reform health care national service help rebuild distressed communities strengthen families provide work needs done community empowerment agenda challenging businesses provide investment empowerment zones ensuring banks make loans communities deposits come passing legislation unleash power capital community development banks create jobs opportunity hope needed think know really solve problem put heads together leave ideological armor aside find new ideas even let us honest know something else problems go way beyond reach government rooted loss values disappearance work breakdown families communities fellow americans cut deficit create jobs promote democracy around world pass welfare reform health care pass toughest crime bill history still leave many people behind american people got want change within going bring back work family community renew country within decade half children born families marriage renew country boys get semiautomatic weapons shoot kicks renew country children children fathers walk away kids amount anything renew country businesses eagerly look new investments new customers abroad ignore people right home would give anything jobs would gladly buy products money renew country unless mean willing join churches good citizens people like ministers worked years priests nuns met lady help east los angeles good friend tony campollo philadelphia unless willing work people like people saving kids adopting schools making streets safer us renew country realize governments raise children parents parents know children teachers turn television help homework teach kids right wrong kinds parents make difference know one telling got stop pointing fingers kids future reach hands country needs need deserve say tonight let us give children future let us take away guns give books let us overcome despair replace hope let us example teach obey law respect neighbors cherish values let us weave sturdy threads new american community stand strong forces despair evil everybody chance walk better tomorrow oh naysayers fear equal challenges time misread history heritage even today headlines things tell us overcome challenge earth shook fires raged california saw mississippi deluge farmlands midwest flood century bitterest cold swept north dakota newport news seemed though world coming apart seams american people came together rose occasion neighbor helping neighbor strangers risking life limb save total strangers showing better angels nature let us reserve better angels natural disasters leaving deepest profound problems petty political fighting let us instead true spirit facing facts coming together bringing hope moving forward tonight fellow americans summoned answer question old republic state union growing stronger must stronger still help god help thank god bless america
thank much speaker president member 103d congress fellow american sure speech teleprompter hope talk state union ask begin recall memory giant preside chamber force grace tip like call man house surely even man people bricklayer son help build great american middle class tip never forget come sent tonight smile u first time lord gallery honor may always remember come send u return principle simply give ordinary people equal opportunity quality education fair shot american dream extraordinary thing gather tonight world change profound rapid nation test american heritage always master change use expand opportunity home leadership abroad long many way heritage abandon country drift 30 year family life america break 20 year wag work people stagnant decline 12 year economics build false prosperity hollow base national debt quadruple 1989 1992 experience slow growth half century many family even parent work american dream slip away 1992 american people demand change year ago ask join accept responsibility future country well replace drift deadlock renewal reform want thank every one heard american people break gridlock give successful teamwork president congress 30 year congress produce budget cut deficit half trillion dollar cut spending raise income tax wealthy american congress produce tax relief million worker reward work welfare produce nafta produce brady bill brady law thank jim brady god bless sir congress produce tax cut reduce tax 9 10 small business use money invest create job produce research treatment aid childhood immunization support woman health research affordable college loan middle class new national service program want give something back country communities high education dramatic increase investment move u defense domestic economy congress produce new law motor voter bill help million people register vote produce family medical leave pass signed law one single veto accomplishment commitment make sought office fairness pass congress persuade real credit belongs people send u pay salary hold foot fire really begin change life let give one example never forget family medical leave law meant one father meet early one sunday morning white house unusual see family tour early sunday morning wife three child one wheelchair come picture take little visit walk man grab arm say president let tell something little girl desperately probably go make family leave law able take time spend important time ever spend life without lose job hurt rest family mean ever able say people ever think make difference though make difference work begin many american still felt impact do recovery still touch every community create enough job income still stagnant still much violence enough hope many place abroad young democracy strongly support still face difficult time look u leadership tonight let u resolve continue journey renewal create good job guarantee health security reward work welfare promote democracy abroad begin reclaim street violent crime drug gang renew american community last year begin put house order tackle budget deficit drive u toward bankruptcy cut 255 billion spending include entitlement 340 separate budget item freeze domestic spending use honest budget number lead vice president launch campaign reinvent government cut staff cut perk even trim fleet federal limousine year leader whose rhetoric attack bureaucracy whose action expand actually reduce people next 5 year time finish federal bureaucracy low point 30 year deficit large benefit tax cut 1980 ask wealthy american pay reduce deficit april 15th american people discover truth last year tax top listen top percent american say along pay high income tax rate let repeat wealthy percent american face high income tax rate one else truth course always politics naysayer say plan would work wrong become president expert predict next year deficit would 300 billion acted people say deficit go 180 billion 40 percent low previously predict economic program help produce low core inflation rate low interest rate 20 year interest rate business investment equipment grow 7 time rate previous 4 year auto sale way home sale record high million american refinance home economy produce million private sector job 1993 create previous 4 year combined people support economic plan proud early result proud everyone chamber know acknowledge next month send one tough budget ever present congress cut spend 300 program eliminate 100 domestic program reform way government buy good service year must make hard choice live within hard spending ceiling set must prove bring deficit without choke recovery without punish senior middle class without put national security risk stick plan post 3 consecutive year decline deficit first time since harry truman live white house buck stop economic plan also bolster strength credibility around world reduce deficit put steel back competitive edge world echo sound fall trade barrier one year nafta gatt effort asia national export strategy open world market american product time last two generation mean job rise living standard american people low deficit low inflation low interest rate low trade barrier high investment build block recovery want take full advantage opportunity u global economy know must reduce defense spending ask congress invest technology tomorrow defense conversion keep u strong militarily create job people home protect environment must invest environmental technology future create job year fight revitalize clean water act safe drinking water act reform superfund program vice president right must also work private sector connect every classroom every clinic every library every hospital america national information superhighway year 2000 think instant access information increase productivity help educate child provide well medical care create job call congress pas legislation establish information superhighway year expand opportunity create job one leave must continue enforce fair lend fair housing civil right law america never complete renewal everyone share bounty know economic house order expand world trade target job future guarantee equal honest admit strategy still work unless also give people education train skill need seize opportunity tomorrow must set tough academic occupational standard child give teacher student tool need meet goal 2000 proposal empower individual school district experiment idea like charter school run private corporation public school choice whatever wish long measure every school one high standard child learn need know compete win global economy goal 2000 link standard grassroots reform hope congress pas without delay initiative first time link school world work provide least one year apprenticeship beyond high school people count build economic future graduate college time stop ignore start empower must literally transform outdated unemployment system new reemployment system old unemployment system sort keep go waited old job come back get new system move people new good job old job come back know way real job security future get good job grow income real skill ability learn new one get streamline today patchwork training program make source new skill people lose job reemployment unemployment must become centerpiece economic renewal urge pas session congress must transform unemployment system must also revolutionize welfare system work defies value nation value work justify system make welfare attractive work people worry lose health care value responsibility ignore 34 billion child support absent parent ought pay million parent take care child value strong family perpetuate system actually penalize stay together believe child child get money government leave home staying home parent grandparent bad policy wrong ought change work problem year become president governor member congress party previous administration another party work people welfare lots want say something everybody care issue people want change system people dependent want get welfare want go back work want right kid hear governor bring people welfare america find way work woman state testify asked question best thing welfare job without blink eye look 40 governor say boy go school say mother live give answer people want good system ought give last year begin give state power innovate know lot great idea come outside washington many state already use congress take dramatic step instead tax people modest income poverty help work way poverty dramatically increase tax credit lift 15 million work family poverty reward work welfare make possible people successful worker successful parent real welfare reform do spring send comprehensive welfare reform bill build family support act 1988 restore basic value work responsibility say teenager child wedlock longer give check set separate household want family stay together say absent parent pay child support provide child garnish wage suspend license track across state line necessary make work owe people bring child world must walk away depend welfare offer ultimately simple compact provide support job train child care need 2 year anyone work must private sector wherever possible community service necessary way ever make welfare ought second chance way life know difficult tackle welfare reform 1994 time tackle health care let point think inevitable imperative estimate one million people welfare today way get health care coverage child choose leave welfare job without health benefit many job health benefit find incredible position pay tax help pay health care coverage make choice stay welfare wonder people leave work go back welfare get health care coverage get solve health care problem real welfare reform year make history reform health care system would say fellow public servant another issue people way ahead politician may popular either party happen truth know first lady receive almost million letter people across america walk life would like share one richard anderson reno nevada lose job health insurance two week later wife judy suffer cerebral aneurysm rush hospital stay intensive care 21 day anderson bill although judy recover richard go back work 8 hour bill much literally force bankruptcy clinton write hillary one united state america lose everything work life unfortunate enough become help richard judy anderson america first lady many others work hard long health care reform issue owe thanks action know people say health care crisis tell richard judy anderson tell 58 million american coverage time year tell 81 million american preexisting condition folk pay get insurance ever change job someone family one preexisting condition tell small business burden skyrocket cost insurance small business cover employee pay average 35 percent premium big business government tell 76 percent insured american three four whose policy lifetime limit mean find without coverage need believe crisis tell people people literally understand impact problem people live go listen go talk anywhere congressional district country republicans democrats independent lick party think get time show get day begin health care initiative design strengthen good health care system world best health care professional research wonderful research institution medicare old american none none put risk pay money less less care every year few few american even get choose doctor every year doctor nurse spend time paperwork less time patient absolute bureaucratic nightmare present system become system riddled inefficiency abuse fraud everybody know today health care system insurance company call shot pick cover cover cut benefit need coverage charge mean mean every night million american go bed illness accident pink slip away coverage financial ruin mean every morning million american go work without health insurance something worker advance country world mean every year people tell pick new doctor bos pick new plan countless others turn well job know take good job lose health insurance let health care system continue drift country people less care few choice higher bill approach protects quality care people choice build work today private sector expand coverage guarantee private insurance every american might say private insurance every american propose 20 year ago president richard nixon unite state congress good idea well idea today want guarantee private insurance right 9 10 people insurance get employer continue employer provide good benefit reasonable price continue ought make congress president feel good goal health insurance everybody depend comprehensive benefit cover preventive care prescription drug health premium explode get sick get old power matter small business choose dependable insurance competitive rate government big business get today one simple form people sick freedom choose plan right choose doctor approach protect old american every plan congress propose slow growth medicare difference believe saving use improve health care senior citizen medicare must protect cover prescription drug take first step cover care would cut medicare without protect senior say solution today squeeze middle class work people health care put squeeze middle class retire people health care well say do pretty simple insurance ought mean use mean pay fair price security get sick health care always matter along guarantee health security admit must responsibility part u use system people take kid get immunized take advantage preventive care must work together stop violence explodes emergency room practice well health habit abuse system insurance approach get coverage pay something minority business provide insurance shift cost care employee others contribute something people smoke pay pack cigarette everybody contribute something want solve health care crisis something nothing easy do come month hope much work democrat republicans reform health care system use market bring cost achieve last health security look history see 60 year country try reform health care president roosevelt tried president truman try president nixon try president carter try every time special interest powerful enough defeat time know face interest require courage raise critical question way finance campaign lobbyists yield influence work change frankly never get easy limit influence interest profit current system also must call finish job house begin last year pass tough meaningful campaign finance reform lobby reform legislation year know fellow american really test u american people provide u government service terrific health care benefit reasonable cost health care always think need give every american health care security already give u want make clear open say repeatedly best idea concerned member party special brief specific approach even bill except send legislation guarantee every american private health insurance never take away force take pen veto legislation come right back start think go happen think ready act believe ready act ready guarantee every american health care health care never take away next year year time stand people send u take step together renew strength home turn away obligation renew leadership abroad promising moment agreement reach year last year russia strategic nuclear missile soon longer point united state point instead build weapon space russian scientist help u build international space station course still dangers world rampant arm proliferation bitter regional conflict ethnic nationalist tension many new democracy severe environmental degradation world fanatic seek cripple world city terror world great power must therefore maintain defense responsibility year secure indictment terrorist sanction harbor worked promote environmentally sustainable economic growth achieve agreement ukraine belarus kazahkstan eliminate completely nuclear arsenal work achieve korean peninsula free nuclear weapon seek early ratification treaty ban chemical weapon worldwide early today join 30 nation begin negotiation comprehensive ban stop nuclear test nothing nothing important security nation arm force honor contribution include carry long humanitarian air lift history bosnia complete mission somalia year brave comrade give life force finest military nation ever pledge long president remain best equipped best trained best prepared fight force face earth last year propose defense plan maintain security lower cost year many people urge cut defense spend pay government program say budget send congress draw line defense cut protect readiness quality force ultimately best strategy must cut defense hope congress without regard party support position ultimately best strategy ensure security build durable peace support advance democracy elsewhere democracies attack make good trading partner partner diplomacy support democratic reformer russia state former soviet bloc applaud bipartisan support congress provide last year initiative help russia ukraine state epic transformation support reform must combine patience enormity task vigilance fundamental interest value continue urge russia state press ahead economic reform seek cooperate russia solve regional problem insist russian troop operate neighbor state state agree presence strict accord international standard must also remember nation chart must chart much secure prosperous people democratic market reform succeed across former communist bloc policy support move policy congress continue go europe earlier month work european partner help integrate former communist country europe possibility become unify first time entire history entire history base simple commitment nation europe democracy free market respect exist border ally create partnership peace invite state former soviet bloc member work nato military cooperation meet central europe leader include lech walesa vaclav havel men put life line freedom tell security region important country security year must also support democratic renewal human right sustainable development around world ask congress ratify new gatt accord continue stand south africa work way bold hopeful difficult transition democracy convene summit western hemisphere democratic leader canada tip south america continue press restoration true democracy haiti build constructive relationship china must continue insist clear sign improvement nation human right record also work new progress toward middle east peace last year world watch yitzhak rabin yasser arafat white house historic handshake reconciliation long hard road ahead road determine administration achieve comprehensive last peace people region country argue cold war america turn back rest world many around world afraid would take office pledge partisan tinge keep nation secure remain engage rest world year work together enact nafta keep military strong prepare support democracy abroad reaffirm america leadership america engagement result american people secure american secure threat abroad think know many way less secure threat home every day national peace shatter crime petaluma california innocent slumber party give way agonize tragedy family polly klaas ordinary train ride long island end hail round tourist florida nearly burn alive bigot simply black right nation capital brave young man name jason white policeman son grandson policeman ruthlessly gun violent crime fear provokes cripple society limit personal freedom fray tie bind u crime bill congress give chance something chance tough smart mean let begin say care lot issue many year ago start public life attorney general state serve governor dozen year know like sign law increase penalty build prison cell carry death penalty understand issue simple thing first must recognize violent crime commit small percentage criminal often break law even parole commit crime punish commit repeat violent crime tell commit third violent crime put away put away good three strike second must take serious step reduce violence prevent crime begin police officer community police know right police work street know folk respect neighborhood kid focus high crime area know likely prevent crime well catch criminal look experience houston crime rate drop 17 percent one year approach take tonight one community policeman brave young detective kevin jett whose beat eight square block one toughest neighborhood new york every day restore sanity safety sense value connection people whose life protects would like ask stand recognize tonight thank sir give chance give child country work people forget tough neighborhood country high crime neighborhood country vast majority people get every day obey law pay tax best raise kid deserve people like kevin jett go give chance give american people another well train urge crime legislation also establish police corps encourage young people get education pay serve police officer encourage retire military personnel move police force inordinate resource country one safe school provision give young people chance walk school safety school safety instead dodge bullet important thing third thing build brady bill brady law take step keep gun hand criminal want say something issue hunter must always free hunt adult always free gun protect home respect part culture grow want ask sportsman others lawfully gun join u campaign reduce gun violence say know create problem need help solve sport purpose earth stop united state congress banish assault weapon police cut child fourth must remember drug factor enormous percentage crime recent study indicate sadly drug use rise among young people crime bill crime bill money drug treatment criminal addict boot camp youthful offender include incentive get drug stay drug administration budget cut contain large increase fund drug treatment drug education must pass need desperately fellow american problem violence american problem partisan philosophical element therefore urge find way quickly possible set aside partisan difference pass strong smart tough crime bill urge consider demand tougher penalty choose violence let u also remember come sad point tough neighborhood mean street poorest rural area see stun simultaneous breakdown community family work heart soul civilize society create vast vacuum fill violence drug gang ask remember even say crime must give people especially young people something say yes many initiative job train welfare reform health care national service help rebuild distressed community strengthen family provide work need do community empowerment agenda challenge business provide investment empowerment zone ensure bank make loan community deposit come pass legislation unleash power capital community development bank create job opportunity hope need think know really solve problem put head together leave ideological armor aside find new idea even let u honest know something else problem go way beyond reach government root loss value disappearance work breakdown family community fellow american cut deficit create job promote democracy around world pas welfare reform health care pas toughest crime bill history still leave many people behind american people get want change within go bring back work family community renew country within decade half child born family marriage renew country boys get semiautomatic weapon shoot kick renew country child child father walk away kid amount anything renew country business eagerly look new investment new customer abroad ignore people right home would give anything job would gladly buy product money renew country unless mean willing join church good citizen people like minister work year priests nuns meet lady help east los angeles good friend tony campollo philadelphia unless willing work people like people save kid adopt school make street safer u renew country realize government raise child parent parent know child teacher turn television help homework teach kid right wrong kind parent make difference know one tell get stop point finger kid future reach hand country need need deserve say tonight let u give child future let u take away gun give book let u overcome despair replace hope let u example teach obey law respect neighbor cherish value let u weave sturdy thread new american community stand strong force despair evil everybody chance walk good tomorrow oh naysayer fear equal challenge time misread history heritage even today headline thing tell u overcome challenge earth shake fire rag california saw mississippi deluge farmlands midwest flood century bitter cold swept north dakota newport news seem though world come apart seams american people come together rise occasion neighbor help neighbor stranger risk life limb save total stranger show good angel nature let u reserve good angel natural disaster leave deep profound problem petty political fighting let u instead true spirit face fact come together bring hope move forward tonight fellow american summon answer question old republic state union grow strong must stronger still help god help thank god bless america