Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice
President, members of the 104th Congress, distinguished guests, my
fellow Americans all across our land:
Let me begin tonight
by saying to our men and women in uniform around the world, and
especially those helping peace take root in Bosnia and to their
families, I thank you. America is very, very proud of you.
Listen online or download mp3;
My duty tonight is to
report on the state of the Union -- not the state of our government,
but of our American community; and to set forth our
responsibilities, in the words of our Founders, to form a more
perfect union.
The state of the Union
is strong. Our economy is the healthiest it has been in three
decades. We have the lowest combined rates of unemployment and
inflation in 27 years. We have created nearly 8 million new jobs,
over a million of them in basic industries, like construction and
automobiles. America is selling more cars than Japan for the first
time since the 1970s. And for three years in a row, we have had a
record number of new businesses started in our country.
Our leadership in the
world is also strong, bringing hope for new peace. And perhaps most
important, we are gaining ground in restoring our fundamental
values. The crime rate, the welfare and food stamp rolls, the
poverty rate and the teen pregnancy rate are all down. And as they
go down, prospects for America's future go up.
We live in an age of
possibility. A hundred years ago we moved from farm to factory. Now
we move to an age of technology, information, and global
competition. These changes have opened vast new opportunities for
our people, but they have also presented them with stiff challenges.
While more Americans are living better, too many of our fellow
citizens are working harder just to keep up, and they are rightly
concerned about the security of their families.
We must answer here
three fundamental questions: First, how do we make the American
Dream of opportunity for all a reality for all Americans who are
willing to work for it? Second, how do we preserve our old and
enduring values as we move into the future? And, third, how do we
meet these challenges together, as one America?
We know big government
does not have all the answers. We know there's not a program for
every problem. We have worked to give the American people a smaller,
less bureaucratic government in Washington. And we have to give the
American people one that lives within its means.
The era of big
government is over. But we cannot go back to the time when our
citizens were left to fend for themselves. Instead, we must go
forward as one America, one nation working together to meet the
challenges we face together. Self-reliance and teamwork are not
opposing virtues; we must have both.
I believe our new,
smaller government must work in an old-fashioned American way,
together with all of our citizens through state and local
governments, in the workplace, in religious, charitable and civic
associations. Our goal must be to enable all our people to make the
most of their own lives -- with stronger families, more educational
opportunity, economic security, safer streets, a cleaner environment
in a safer world.
To improve the state
of our Union, we must ask more of ourselves, we must expect more of
each other, and we must face our challenges together.
Here, in this place,
our responsibility begins with balancing the budget in a way that is
fair to all Americans. There is now broad bipartisan agreement that
permanent deficit spending must come to an end.
I compliment the
Republican leadership and the membership for the energy and
determination you have brought to this task of balancing the budget.
And I thank the Democrats for passing the largest deficit reduction
plan in history in 1993, which has already cut the deficit nearly in
half in three years.
Since 1993, we have
all begun to see the benefits of deficit reduction. Lower interest
rates have made it easier for businesses to borrow and to invest and
to create new jobs. Lower interest rates have brought down the cost
of home mortgages, car payments and credit card rates to ordinary
citizens. Now, it is time to finish the job and balance the budget.
Though differences
remain among us which are significant, the combined total of the
proposed savings that are common to both plans is more than enough,
using the numbers from your Congressional Budget Office to balance
the budget in seven years and to provide a modest tax cut.
These cuts are real.
They will require sacrifice from everyone. But these cuts do not
undermine our fundamental obligations to our parents, our children,
and our future, by endangering Medicare, or Medicaid, or education,
or the environment, or by raising taxes on working families.
I have said before,
and let me say again, many good ideas have come out of our
negotiations. I have learned a lot about the way both Republicans
and Democrats view the debate before us. I have learned a lot about
the good ideas that we could all embrace.
We ought to resolve
our remaining differences. I am willing to work to resolve them. I
am ready to meet tomorrow. But I ask you to consider that we should
at least enact these savings that both plans have in common and give
the American people their balanced budget, a tax cut, lower interest
rates, and a brighter future. We should do that now, and make
permanent deficits yesterday's legacy.
Now it is time for us
to look also to the challenges of today and tomorrow, beyond the
burdens of yesterday. The challenges are significant. But America
was built on challenges, not promises. And when we work together to
meet them, we never fail. That is the key to a more perfect Union.
Our individual dreams must be realized by our common efforts.
Tonight I want to
speak to you about the challenges we all face as a people.
Our first challenge is
to cherish our children and strengthen America's families. Family is
the foundation of American life. If we have stronger families, we
will have a stronger America.
Before I go on, I
would like to take just a moment to thank my own family, and to
thank the person who has taught me more than anyone else over 25
years about the importance of families and children -- a wonderful
wife, a magnificent mother and a great First Lady. Thank you,
Hillary.
All strong families
begin with taking more responsibility for our children. I have heard
Mrs. Gore say that it's hard to be a parent today, but it's even
harder to be a child. So all of us, not just as parents, but all of
us in our other roles -- our media, our schools, our teachers, our
communities, our churches and synagogues, our businesses, our
governments -- all of us have a responsibility to help our children
to make it and to make the most of their lives and their God-given
capacities.
To the media, I say
you should create movies and CDs and television shows you'd want
your own children and grandchildren to enjoy.
I call on Congress to
pass the requirement for a V-chip in TV sets so that parents can
screen out programs they believe are inappropriate for their
children. When parents control what their young children see, that
is not censorship; that is enabling parents to assume more personal
responsibility for their children's upbringing. And I urge them to
do it. The V-chip requirement is part of the important
telecommunications bill now pending in this Congress. It has
bipartisan support, and I urge you to pass it now.
To make the V-chip
work, I challenge the broadcast industry to do what movies have done
-- to identify your programming in ways that help parents to protect
their children. And I invite the leaders of major media corporations
in the entertainment industry to come to the White House next month
to work with us in a positive way on concrete ways to improve what
our children see on television. I am ready to work with you.
I say to those who
make and market cigarettes: every year a million children take up
smoking, even though it is against the law. Three hundred thousand
of them will have their lives shortened as a result. Our
Administration has taken steps to stop the massive marketing
campaigns that appeal to our children. We are simply saying: Market
your products to adults, if you wish, but draw the line on children.
I say to those who are
on welfare, and especially to those who have been trapped on welfare
for a long time: For too long our welfare system has undermined the
values of family and work, instead of supporting them. The Congress
and I are near agreement on sweeping welfare reform. We agree on
time limits, tough work requirements, and the toughest possible
child support enforcement. But I believe we must also provide child
care so that mothers who are required to go to work can do so
without worrying about what is happening to their children.
I challenge this
Congress to send me a bipartisan welfare reform bill that will
really move people from welfare to work and do the right thing by
our children. I will sign it immediately.
Let us be candid about
this difficult problem. Passing a law, even the best possible law,
is only a first step. The next step is to make it work. I challenge
people on welfare to make the most of this opportunity for
independence. I challenge American businesses to give people on
welfare the chance to move into the work force. I applaud the work
of religious groups and others who care for the poor. More than
anyone else in our society, they know the true difficulty of the
task before us, and they are in a position to help. Every one of us
should join them. That is the only way we can make real welfare
reform a reality in the lives of the American people.
To strengthen the
family we must do everything we can to keep the teen pregnancy rate
going down. I am gratified, as I'm sure all Americans are, that it
has dropped for two years in a row. But we all know it is still far
too high.
Tonight I am pleased
to announce that a group of prominent Americans is responding to
that challenge by forming an organization that will support
grass-roots community efforts all across our country in a national
campaign against teen pregnancy. And I challenge all of us and every
American to join their efforts.
I call on American men
and women in families to give greater respect to one another. We
must end the deadly scourge of domestic violence in our country. And
I challenge America's families to work harder to stay together. For
families who stay together not only do better economically, their
children do better as well.
In particular, I
challenge the fathers of this country to love and care for their
children. If your family has separated, you must pay your child
support. We're doing more than ever to make sure you do, and we're
going to do more, but let's all admit something about that, too: A
check will not substitute for a parent's love and guidance. And only
you -- only you can make the decision to help raise your children.
No matter who you are, how low or high your station in life, it is
the most basic human duty of every American to do that job to the
best of his or her ability.
Our second challenge
is to provide Americans with the educational opportunities we will
all need for this new century. In our schools, every classroom in
America must be connected to the information superhighway, with
computers and good software, and well-trained teachers. We are
working with the telecommunications industry, educators and parents
to connect 20 percent of California's classrooms by this spring, and
every classroom and every library in the entire United States by the
year 2000. I ask Congress to support this education technology
initiative so that we can make sure this national partnership
succeeds.
Every diploma ought to
mean something. I challenge every community, every school and every
state to adopt national standards of excellence; to measure whether
schools are meeting those standards; to cut bureaucratic red tape so
that schools and teachers have more flexibility for grass-roots
reform; and to hold them accountable for results. That's what our
Goals 2000 initiative is all about.
I challenge every
state to give all parents the right to choose which public school
their children will attend; and to let teachers form new schools
with a charter they can keep only if they do a good job.
I challenge all our
schools to teach character education, to teach good values and good
citizenship. And if it means that teenagers will stop killing each
other over designer jackets, then our public schools should be able
to require their students to wear school uniforms.
I challenge our
parents to become their children's first teachers. Turn off the TV.
See that the homework is done. And visit your children's classroom.
No program, no teacher, no one else can do that for you.
My fellow Americans,
higher education is more important today than ever before. We've
created a new student loan program that's made it easier to borrow
and repay those loans, and we have dramatically cut the student loan
default rate. That's something we should all be proud of, because it
was unconscionably high just a few years ago. Through AmeriCorps,
our national service program, this year 25,000 young people will
earn college money by serving their local communities to improve the
lives of their friends and neighbors. These initiatives are right
for America and we should keep them going.
And we should also
work hard to open the doors of college even wider. I challenge
Congress to expand work-study and help one million young Americans
work their way through college by the year 2000; to provide a $1000
merit scholarship for the top five percent of graduates in every
high school in the United States; to expand Pell Grant scholarships
for deserving and needy students; and to make up to $10,000 a year
of college tuition tax deductible. It's a good idea for America.
Our third challenge is
to help every American who is willing to work for it, achieve
economic security in this new age. People who work hard still need
support to get ahead in the new economy. They need education and
training for a lifetime. They need more support for families raising
children. They need retirement security. They need access to health
care. More and more Americans are finding that the education of
their childhood simply doesn't last a lifetime.
So I challenge
Congress to consolidate 70 overlapping, antiquated job-training
programs into a simple voucher worth $2,600 for unemployed or
underemployed workers to use as they please for community college
tuition or other training. This is a G.I. Bill for America's workers
we should all be able to agree on.
More and more
Americans are working hard without a raise. Congress sets the
minimum wage. Within a year, the minimum wage will fall to a 40-year
low in purchasing power. Four dollars and 25 cents an hour is no
longer a living wage, but millions of Americans and their children
are trying to live on it. I challenge you to raise their minimum
wage.
In 1993, Congress cut
the taxes of 15 million hard-pressed working families to make sure
that no parents who work full-time would have to raise their
children in poverty, and to encourage people to move from welfare to
work. This expanded earned income tax credit is now worth about
$1,800 a year to a family of four living on $20,000. The budget bill
I vetoed would have reversed this achievement and raised taxes on
nearly 8 million of these people. We should not do that.
I also agree that the
people who are helped under this initiative are not all those in our
country who are working hard to do a good job raising their children
and at work. I agree that we need a tax credit for working families
with children. That's one of the things most of us in this Chamber,
I hope, can agree on. I know it is strongly supported by the
Republican majority. And it should be part of any final budget
agreement.
I want to challenge
every business that can possibly afford it to provide pensions for
your employees. And I challenge Congress to pass a proposal
recommended by the White House Conference on Small Business that
would make it easier for small businesses and farmers to establish
their own pension plans. That is something we should all agree on.
We should also protect
existing pension plans. Two years ago, with bipartisan support that
was almost unanimous on both sides of the aisle, we moved to protect
the pensions of 8 million working people and to stabilize the
pensions of 32 million more. Congress should not now let companies
endanger those workers's pension funds. I know the proposal to
liberalize the ability of employers to take money out of pension
funds for other purposes would raise money for the treasury. But I
believe it is false economy. I vetoed that proposal last year, and I
would have to do so again.
Finally, if our
working families are going to succeed in the new economy, they must
be able to buy health insurance policies that they do not lose when
they change jobs or when someone in their family gets sick. Over the
past two years, over one million Americans in working families have
lost their health insurance. We have to do more to make health care
available to every American. And Congress should start by passing
the bipartisan bill sponsored by Senator Kennedy and Senator
Kassebaum that would require insurance companies to stop dropping
people when they switch jobs, and stop denying coverage for
preexisting conditions. Let's all do that.
And even as we enact
savings in these programs, we must have a common commitment to
preserve the basic protections of Medicare and Medicaid -- not just
to the poor, but to people in working families, including children,
people with disabilities, people with AIDS, and senior citizens in
nursing homes.
In the past three
years, we've saved $15 billion just by fighting health care fraud
and abuse. We have all agreed to save much more. We have all agreed
to stabilize the Medicare Trust Fund. But we must not abandon our
fundamental obligations to the people who need Medicare and
Medicaid. America cannot become stronger if they become weaker.
The G.I. Bill for
workers, tax relief for education and child rearing, pension
availability and protection, access to health care, preservation of
Medicare and Medicaid -- these things, along with the Family and
Medical Leave Act passed in 1993 -- these things will help
responsible, hard-working American families to make the most of
their own lives.
But employers and
employees must do their part, as well, as they are doing in so many
of our finest companies -- working together, putting the long-term
prosperity ahead of the short-term gain. As workers increase their
hours and their productivity, employers should make sure they get
the skills they need and share the benefits of the good years, as
well as the burdens of the bad ones. When companies and workers work
as a team they do better, and so does America.
Our fourth great
challenge is to take our streets back from crime and gangs and
drugs. At last we have begun to find a way to reduce crime, forming
community partnerships with local police forces to catch criminals
and prevent crime. This strategy, called community policing, is
clearly working. Violent crime is coming down all across America. In
New York City murders are down 25 percent; in St. Louis, 18 percent;
in Seattle, 32 percent. But we still have a long way to go before
our streets are safe and our people are free from fear.
The Crime Bill of 1994
is critical to the success of community policing. It provides funds
for 100,000 new police in communities of all sizes. We're already a
third of the way there. And I challenge the Congress to finish the
job. Let us stick with a strategy that's working and keep the crime
rate coming down.
Community policing
also requires bonds of trust between citizens and police. I ask all
Americans to respect and support our law enforcement officers. And
to our police, I say, our children need you as role models and
heroes. Don't let them down.
The Brady Bill has
already stopped 44,000 people with criminal records from buying
guns. The assault weapons ban is keeping 19 kinds of assault weapons
out of the hands of violent gangs. I challenge the Congress to keep
those laws on the books.
Our next step in the
fight against crime is to take on gangs the way we once took on the
mob. I'm directing the FBI and other investigative agencies to
target gangs that involve juveniles in violent crime, and to seek
authority to prosecute as adults teenagers who maim and kill like
adults.
And I challenge local
housing authorities and tenant associations: Criminal gang members
and drug dealers are destroying the lives of decent tenants. From
now on, the rule for residents who commit crime and peddle drugs
should be one strike and you're out.
I challenge every
state to match federal policy to assure that serious violent
criminals serve at least 85 percent of their sentence.
More police and
punishment are important, but they're not enough. We have got to
keep more of our young people out of trouble, with prevention
strategies not dictated by Washington, but developed in communities.
I challenge all of our communities, all of our adults, to give our
children futures to say yes to. And I challenge Congress not to
abandon the Crime Bill's support of these grass-roots prevention
efforts.
Finally, to reduce
crime and violence we have to reduce the drug problem. The challenge
begins in our homes, with parents talking to their children openly
and firmly. It embraces our churches and synagogues, our youth
groups and our schools.
I challenge Congress
not to cut our support for drug-free schools. People like the
D.A.R.E. officers are making a real impression on grade
schoolchildren that will give them the strength to say no when the
time comes.
Meanwhile, we continue
our efforts to cut the flow of drugs into America. For the last two
years, one man in particular has been on the front lines of that
effort. Tonight I am nominating him -- a hero of the Persian Gulf
War and the Commander in Chief of the United States Military
Southern Command -- General Barry McCaffrey, as America's new Drug
Czar.
General McCaffrey has
earned three Purple Hearts and two Silver Stars fighting for this
country. Tonight I ask that he lead our nation's battle against
drugs at home and abroad. To succeed, he needs a force far larger
than he has ever commanded before. He needs all of us. Every one of
us has a role to play on this team.
Thank you, General
McCaffrey, for agreeing to serve your country one more time.
Our fifth challenge:
to leave our environment safe and clean for the next generation.
Because of a generation of bipartisan effort we do have cleaner
water and air, lead levels in children's blood has been cut by 70
percent, toxic emissions from factories cut in half. Lake Erie was
dead, and now it's a thriving resource. But 10 million children
under 12 still live within four miles of a toxic waste dump. A third
of us breathe air that endangers our health. And in too many
communities, the water is not safe to drink. We still have much to
do.
Yet Congress has voted
to cut environmental enforcement by 25 percent. That means more
toxic chemicals in our water, more smog in our air, more pesticides
in our food. Lobbyists for polluters have been allowed to write
their own loopholes into bills to weaken laws that protect the
health and safety of our children. Some say that the taxpayer should
pick up the tab for toxic waste and let polluters who can afford to
fix it off the hook. I challenge Congress to reexamine those
policies and to reverse them.
This issue has not
been a partisan issue. The most significant environmental gains in
the last 30 years were made under a Democratic Congress and
President Richard Nixon. We can work together. We have to believe
some basic things. Do you believe we can expand the economy without
hurting the environment? I do. Do you believe we can create more
jobs over the long run by cleaning the environment up? I know we
can. That should be our commitment.
We must challenge
businesses and communities to take more initiative in protecting the
environment, and we have to make it easier for them to do it. To
businesses this Administration is saying: If you can find a cheaper,
more efficient way than government regulations require to meet tough
pollution standards, do it -- as long as you do it right. To
communities we say: We must strengthen community right-to-know laws
requiring polluters to disclose their emissions, but you have to use
the information to work with business to cut pollution. People do
have a right to know that their air and their water are safe.
Our sixth challenge is
to maintain America's leadership in the fight for freedom and peace
throughout the world. Because of American leadership, more people
than ever before live free and at peace. And Americans have known 50
years of prosperity and security.
We owe thanks
especially to our veterans of World War II. I would like to say to
Senator Bob Dole and to all others in this Chamber who fought in
World War II, and to all others on both sides of the aisle who have
fought bravely in all our conflicts since: I salute your service,
and so do the American people.
All over the world,
even after the Cold War, people still look to us and trust us to
help them seek the blessings of peace and freedom. But as the Cold
War fades into memory, voices of isolation say America should
retreat from its responsibilities. I say they are wrong.
The threats we face
today as Americans respect no nation's borders. Think of them:
terrorism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, organized
crime, drug trafficking, ethnic and religious hatred, aggression by
rogue states, environmental degradation. If we fail to address these
threats today, we will suffer the consequences in all our tomorrows.
Of course, we can't be
everywhere. Of course, we can't do everything. But where our
interests and our values are at stake, and where we can make a
difference, America must lead. We must not be isolationist.
We must not be the
world's policeman. But we can and should be the world's very best
peacemaker. By keeping our military strong, by using diplomacy where
we can and force where we must, by working with others to share the
risk and the cost of our efforts, America is making a difference for
people here and around the world. For the first time since the dawn
of the nuclear age, there is not a single Russian missile pointed at
America's children.
North Korea has now
frozen its dangerous nuclear weapons program. In Haiti, the
dictators are gone, democracy has a new day, the flow of desperate
refugees to our shores has subsided. Through tougher trade deals for
America -- over 80 of them -- we have opened markets abroad, and now
exports are at an all-time high, growing faster than imports and
creating good American jobs.
We stood with those
taking risks for peace: In Northern Ireland, where Catholic and
Protestant children now tell their parents, violence must never
return. In the Middle East, where Arabs and Jews who once seemed
destined to fight forever now share knowledge and resources, and
even dreams.
And we stood up for
peace in Bosnia. Remember the skeletal prisoners, the mass graves,
the campaign to rape and torture, the endless lines of refugees, the
threat of a spreading war. All these threats, all these horrors have
now begun to give way to the promise of peace. Now, our troops and a
strong NATO, together with our new partners from Central Europe and
elsewhere, are helping that peace to take hold.
As all of you know, I
was just there with a bipartisan congressional group, and I was so
proud not only of what our troops were doing, but of the pride they
evidenced in what they were doing. They knew what America's mission
in this world is, and they were proud to be carrying it out.
Through these efforts,
we have enhanced the security of the American people. But make no
mistake about it:important challenges remain.
The START II Treaty
with Russia will cut our nuclear stockpiles by another 25 percent. I
urge the Senate to ratify it -- now. We must end the race to create
new nuclear weapons by signing a truly comprehensive nuclear test
ban treaty -- this year.
As we remember what
happened in the Japanese subway, we can outlaw poison gas forever if
the Senate ratifies the Chemical Weapons Convention -- this year. We
can intensify the fight against terrorists and organized criminals
at home and abroad if Congress passes the anti-terrorism legislation
I proposed after the Oklahoma City bombing -- now. We can help more
people move from hatred to hope all across the world in our own
interest if Congress gives us the means to remain the world's leader
for peace.
My fellow Americans,
the six challenges I have just discussed are for all of us. Our
seventh challenge is really America's challenge to those of us in
this hallowed hall tonight: to reinvent our government and make our
democracy work for them.
Last year this
Congress applied to itself the laws it applies to everyone else.
This Congress banned gifts and meals from lobbyists. This Congress
forced lobbyists to disclose who pays them and what legislation they
are trying to pass or kill. This Congress did that, and I applaud
you for it.
Now I challenge
Congress to go further -- to curb special interest influence in
politics by passing the first truly bipartisan campaign reform bill
in a generation. You, Republicans and Democrats alike, can show the
American people that we can limit spending and open the airwaves to
all candidates.
I also appeal to
Congress to pass the line-item veto you promised the American
people.
Our Administration is
working hard to give the American people a government that works
better and costs less. Thanks to the work of Vice President Gore, we
are eliminating 16,000 pages of unnecessary rules and regulations,
shifting more decision-making out of Washington, back to states and
local communities.
As we move into the
era of balanced budgets and smaller government, we must work in new
ways to enable people to make the most of their own lives. We are
helping America's communities, not with more bureaucracy, but with
more opportunities. Through our successful Empowerment Zones and
Community Development Banks, we are helping people to find jobs, to
start businesses. And with tax incentives for companies that clean
up abandoned industrial property, we can bring jobs back to places
that desperately, desperately need them.
But there are some
areas that the federal government should not leave and should
address and address strongly. One of these areas is the problem of
illegal immigration. After years of neglect, this Administration has
taken a strong stand to stiffen the protection of our borders. We
are increasing border controls by 50 percent. We are increasing
inspections to prevent the hiring of illegal immigrants. And
tonight, I announce I will sign an executive order to deny federal
contracts to businesses that hire illegal immigrants.
Let me be very clear
about this: We are still a nation of immigrants; we should be proud
of it. We should honor every legal immigrant here, working hard to
become a new citizen. But we are also a nation of laws.
I want to say a
special word now to those who work for our federal government. Today
our federal government is 200,000 employees smaller than it was the
day I took office as President.
Our federal government
today is the smallest it has been in 30 years, and it's getting
smaller every day. Most of our fellow Americans probably don't know
that. And there is a good reason: The remaining federal work force
is composed of Americans who are now working harder and working
smarter than ever before, to make sure the quality of our services
does not decline.
I'd like to give you
one example. His name is Richard Dean. He is a 49 year-old Vietnam
veteran who's worked for the Social Security Administration for 22
years now. Last year he was hard at work in the Federal Building in
Oklahoma City when the blast killed 169 people and brought the
rubble down all around him. He reentered that building four times.
He saved the lives of three women. He's here with us this evening,
and I want to recognize Richard and applaud both his public service
and his extraordinary personal heroism.
But Richard Dean's
story doesn't end there. This last November, he was forced out of
his office when the government shut down. And the second time the
government shut down he continued helping Social Security
recipients, but he was working without pay.
On behalf of Richard
Dean and his family, and all the other people who are out there
working every day doing a good job for the American people, I
challenge all of you in this Chamber: Never, ever shut the federal
government down again.
On behalf of all
Americans, especially those who need their Social Security payments
at the beginning of March, I also challenge the Congress to preserve
the full faith and credit of the United States -- to honor the
obligations of this great nation as we have for 220 years; to rise
above partisanship and pass a straightforward extension of the debt
limit and show people America keeps its word.
I know that this
evening I have asked a lot of Congress, and even more from America.
But I am confident: When Americans work together in their homes,
their schools, their churches, their synagogues, their civic groups,
their workplace, they can meet any challenge.
I say again, the era
of big government is over. But we can't go back to the era of
fending for yourself. We have to go forward to the era of working
together as a community, as a team, as one America, with all of us
reaching across these lines that divide us -- the division, the
discrimination, the rancor -- we have to reach across it to find
common ground. We have got to work together if we want America to
work.
I want you to meet two
more people tonight who do just that. Lucius Wright is a teacher in
the Jackson, Mississippi, public school system. A Vietnam veteran,
he has created groups to help inner-city children turn away from
gangs and build futures they can believe in. Sergeant Jennifer
Rodgers is a police officer in Oklahoma City. Like Richard Dean, she
helped to pull her fellow citizens out of the rubble and deal with
that awful tragedy. She reminds us that in their response to that
atrocity the people of Oklahoma City lifted all of us with their
basic sense of decency and community.
Lucius Wright and
Jennifer Rodgers are special Americans. And I have the honor to
announce tonight that they are the very first of several thousand
Americans who will be chosen to carry the Olympic torch on its long
journey from Los Angeles to the centennial of the modern Olympics in
Atlanta this summer -- not because they are star athletes, but
because they are star citizens, community heroes meeting America's
challenges. They are our real champions.
Now, each of us must
hold high the torch of citizenship in our own lives. None of us can
finish the race alone. We can only achieve our destiny together --
one hand, one generation, one American connecting to another.
There have always been
things we could do together -- dreams we could make real -- which we
could never have done on our own. We Americans have forged our
identity, our very union, from every point of view and every point
on the planet, every different opinion. But we must be bound
together by a faith more powerful than any doctrine that divides us
-- by our belief in progress, our love of liberty, and our
relentless search for common ground.
America has always
sought and always risen to every challenge. Who would say that,
having come so far together, we will not go forward from here? Who
would say that this age of possibility is not for all Americans?
Our country is and
always has been a great and good nation. But the best is yet to
come, if we all do our part.
Thank you, God bless
you and God bless the United States of America. Thank you.
(Source: Americanrhetoric.com)
0 Comment "William Jefferson Clinton- State of the Union Address"
Đăng nhận xét