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President Clinton delivers the
1997 State
of the Union Address.
The President "shall from time to time
give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to
their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient..."
U.S. Constitution, Art. II, sec.
3.
Download in .ra format (~3.5 Mb)
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT IN STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
United States Capitol
9:15 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of the 105th
Congress, distinguished guests, and my fellow Americans:
I think I should start by saying, thanks for inviting me back.
(Applause.) I come before you tonight with a challenge as great as any in our
peacetime history, and a plan of action to meet that challenge, to prepare our
people for the bold new world of the 21st century.
We have much to be thankful for. With four years of growth, we have won
back the basic strength of our economy. With crime and welfare rolls declining,
we are winning back our optimism, the enduring faith that we can master any
difficulty. With the Cold War receding and global commerce at record levels, we
are helping to win unrivaled peace and prosperity all across the world.
My fellow Americans, the state of our union is strong. (Applause.) But
now we must rise to the decisive moment, to make a nation and a world better
than any we have ever known. The new promise of the global economy, the
Information Age, unimagined new work, life-enhancing technology -- all these
are ours to seize. That is our honor and our challenge. We must be shapers of
events, not observers. For if we do not act, the moment will pass -- and we
willlose the best possibilities of our future.
We face no imminent threat, but we do have an enemy -- the enemy of our
time is inaction. So, tonight, I issue a call to action -- action by this
Congress, action by our states, by our people, to prepare America for the 21st
century. Action to keep our economy and our democracy strong and working for
all our people; action to strengthen education and harness the forces of
technology and science; action to build stronger families and stronger
communities and a safer environment; action to keep America the world's
strongest force for peace, freedom and prosperity. And above all, action to
build a more perfect union here at home.
The spirit we bring to our work will make all the difference. We must
be committed to the pursuit of opportunity for all Americans, responsibility
from all Americans, in a community of all Americans. And we must be committed
to a new kind of government -- not to solve all our problems for us, but to
give our people -- all our people -- the tools they need to make the most of
their own lives.
And we must work together. The people of this nation elected us all.
They want us to be partners, not partisans. They put us all right here in the
same boat, they gave us all oars, and they told us to row. Now, here is the
direction I believe we should take.
First, we must move quickly to complete the unfinished business of our
country -- to balance our budget, renew our democracy, and finish the job of
welfare reform.
Over the last four years, we have brought new economic growth by
investing in our people, expanding our exports, cutting our deficits, creating
over 11 million new jobs, a four-year record. (Applause.) Now we must keep our
economy the strongest in the world.We here tonight have an historic
opportunity. Let this Congress be the Congress that finally balances the
budget. (Applause.)
In two days, I will propose a detailed plan to balance the budget by
2002. This plan will balance the budget and invest in our people while
protecting Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the environment. It will balance
the budget and build on the Vice President's efforts to make our government
work better, even as it costs less. It will balance the budget and provide
middle class tax relief to pay for education and health care, to help to raise
a child, to buy and sell a home.
Balancing the budget requires only your vote and my signature. It does
not require us to rewrite our Constitution. (Applause.) I believe it is both
unnecessary and unwise to adopt a balanced budget amendment that could cripple
our country in time of crisis, and force unwanted results, such as judges
halting Social Security checks or increasing taxes. Let us at least agree, we
should not pass any measure -- no measure should be passed that threatens
Social Security. (Applause.) Whatever your view on that, we all must concede we
don't need a constitutional amendment, we need action. (Applause.)
Whatever our differences, we should balance the budget now. And then,
for the long-term health of our society, we must agree to a bipartisan process
to preserve Social Security and reform Medicare for the long run, so that these
fundamental programs will be as strong for our children as they are for our
parents.
And let me say something that's not in my script tonight. I know this
is not going to be easy. But I really believe one of the reasons the American
people gave me a second term was to take the tough decisions in the next four
years that will carry our country through the next 50 years. I know it is
easier for me than for you to say or do. But another reason I was elected is to
support all of you, without regard to party, to give you what is necessary to
join in these decisions. We owe it to our country and to our future.
(Applause.)
Our second piece of unfinished business requires us to commit ourselves
tonight, before the eyes of America, to finally enacting bipartisan campaign
finance reform. (Applause.)
Now, Senators McCain and Feingold, Representatives Shays and Meehan,
have reached across party lines here to craft tough and fair reform. Their
proposal would curb spending, reduce the role of special interests, create a
level playing field between challengers and incumbents, and ban contributions
from noncitizens, all corporate sources, and the other large soft money
contributions that both parties receive.
You know and I know that this can be delayed. And you know and I know
the delay will mean the death of reform. So let's set our own deadline. Let's
work together to write bipartisan campaign finance reform into law and pass
McCain-Feingold by the day we celebrate the birth of our democracy -- July the
4th. (Applause.)
There is a third piece of unfinished business. Over the last four
years, we moved a record 2.25 million people off the welfare rolls. Then last
year, Congress enacted landmark welfare reform legislation, demanding that all
able-bodied recipients assume the responsibility of moving from welfare to
work.
Now each and every one of us has to fulfill our responsibility --
indeed, our moral obligation -- to make sure that people who now must work, can
work. (Applause.) Now we must act to meet a new goal: 2 million more people off
the welfare rolls by the year 2000.
Here is my plan: Tax credits and other incentives for businesses that
hire people off welfare; incentives for job placement firms and states to
create more jobs for welfare recipients; training, transportation, and child
care to help people go to work.
Now I challenge every state: Turn those welfare checks into private
sector paychecks. I challenge every religious congregation, every community
nonprofit, every business to hire someone off welfare. And I'd like to say
especially to every employer in our country who ever criticized the old welfare
system, you can't blame that old system anymore, we have torn it down. Now do
your part. Give someone on welfare the chance to go to work. (Applause.)
Tonight, I am pleased to announce that five major corporations --
Sprint, Monsanto, UPS, Burger King and United Airlines -- will be the first to
join in a new national effort to marshal America's businesses, large and small,
to create jobs so that people can move from welfare to work. (Applause.)
We passed welfare reform. All of you know I believe we were right to do
it. But no one can walk out of this chamber with a clear conscience unless you
are prepared to finish the job. (Applause.)
And we must join together to do something else, too -- something both
Republican and Democratic governors have asked us to do -- to restore basic
health and disability benefits when misfortune strikes immigrants who came to
this country legally, who work hard, pay taxes and obey the law. To do
otherwise is simply unworthy of a great nation of immigrants. (Applause.)
Now, looking ahead, the greatest step of all -- the high threshold of
the future we now must cross -- and my number one priority for the next four
years is to ensure that all Americans have the best education in the world.
(Applause.)
Let's work together to meet these three goals: Every 8-year-old must be
able to read; every 12-year-old must be able to log on to the Internet; every
18-year-old must be able to go to college; and every adult American must be
able to keep on learning for a lifetime. (Applause.)
My balanced budget makes an unprecedented commitment to these goals --
$51 billion next year. But far more than money is required. I have a plan, a
Call to Action for American Education, based on these 10 principles.
First, a national crusade for education standards -- not federal
government standards, but national standards, representing what all our
students must know to succeed in the knowledge economy of the 21st century.
Every state and school must shape the curriculum to reflect these standards,
and train teachers to lift students up to them. To help schools meet the
standards and measure their progress, we will lead an effort over the next two
years to develop national tests of student achievement in reading and math.
Tonight, I issue a challenge to the nation: Every state should adopt
high national standards, and by 1999, every state should test every 4th grader
in reading and every 8th grader in math to make sure these standards are met.
(Applause.)
Raising standards will not be easy, and some of our children will not
be able to meet them at first. The point is not to put our children down, but
to lift them up. Good tests will show us who needs help, what changes in
teaching to make, and which schools need to improve. They can help us to end
social promotion. For no child should move from grade school to junior high, or
junior high to high school until he or she is ready.
Last month, our Secretary of Education Dick Riley and I visited
Northern Illinois, where 8th grade students from 20 school districts, in a
project aptly called "First in the World," took the Third International Math
and Science Study. That's a test that reflects the world-class standards our
children must meet for the new era. And those students in Illinois tied for
first in the world in science and came in second in math. Two of them, Kristin
Tanner and Chris Getsla, are here tonight, along with their teacher, Sue
Winski; they're up there with the First Lady. And they prove that when we aim
high and challenge our students, they will be the best in the world. Let's give
them a hand. Stand up, please. (Applause.)
Second, to have the best schools, we must have the best teachers. Most
of us in this chamber would not be here tonightwithout the help of those
teachers. I know that I wouldn't be here. For years, many of our educators, led
by North Carolina's Governor Jim Hunt and the National Board for Professional
Teaching Standards, have worked very hard to establish nationally accepted
credentials for excellence in teaching. Just 500 of these teachers have been
certified since 1995. My budget will enable 100,000 more to seek national
certification as master teachers. We should reward and recognize our best
teachers. (Applause.) And as we reward them, we should quickly and fairly
remove those few who don't measure up, and we should challenge more of our
finest young people to consider teaching as a career.
Third, we must do more to help all our children read. Forty percent --
forty percent -- of our 8-year-olds cannot read on their own. That's why we
have just launched the America Reads initiative -- to build a citizen army of
one million volunteer tutors to make sure every child can read independently by
the end of the 3rd grade. We will use thousands of AmeriCorps volunteers to
mobilize this citizen army. We want at least 100,000 college students to help.
And tonight I am pleased that 60 college presidents have answered my call,
pledging that thousands of their work-study students will serve for one year as
reading tutors. (Applause.)
This is also a challenge to every teacher and every principal. You must
use these tutors to help students read. And it is especially a challenge to our
parents. You must read with your children every night.
This leads to the fourth principle: Learning begins in the first days
of life. Scientists are now discovering how young children develop emotionally
and intellectually from their very first days, and how important it is for
parents to begin immediately talking, singing, even reading to their infants.
The First Lady has spent years writing about this issue, studying it. And she
and I are going to convene a White House Conference on Early Learning and the
Brain this spring, to explore how parents and educators can best use these
startling new findings.
We already know we should start teaching children before they start
school. That's why this balanced budget expands Head Start to one million
children by 2002. (Applause.) And that is why the Vice President and Mrs. Gore
will host their annual familyconference this June on what we can do to make
sure that parents are an active part of their children's learning all the way
through school.
They've done a great deal to highlight the importance of family in our
life, and now they're turning their attention to getting more parents involved
in their children's learning all the way through school. And I thank you, Mr.
Vice President, and I thank you especially, Tipper, for what you do.
(Applause.)
Fifth, every state should give parents the power to choose the right
public school for their children. Their right to choose will foster competition
and innovation that can make public schools better. We should also make it
possible for more parents and teachers to start charter schools, schools that
set and meet the highest standards, and exist only as long as they do. Our plan
will help America to create 3,000 of these charter schools by the next century
-- nearly seven times as there are in the country today -- so that parents will
have even more choices in sending their children to the best schools.
Sixth: Character education must be taught in our schools. We must teach
our children to be good citizens. (Applause.) And we must continue to promote
order and discipline, supporting communities that introduce school uniforms,
impose curfews enforce truancy laws, remove disruptive students from the
classroom, and have zero tolerance for guns and drugs in school.
(Applause.)
Seventh: We cannot expect our children to raise themselves up in
schools that are literally falling down. With the student population at an
all-time high, and record numbers of school buildings falling into disrepair,
this has now become a serious national concern. Therefore, my budget includes a
new initiative --$5 billion to help communities finance $20 billion in school
construction over the next four years. (Applause.)
Eighth: We must make the 13th and 14th years of education -- at least
two years of college -- just as universal in America by the 21st century as a
high school education is today, and we must open the doors of college to
Americans. (Applause.)
To do that, I propose America's HOPE Scholarship, basedon Georgia's
pioneering program: two years of a $1,500 tax credit for college tuition,
enough to pay for the typical community college. I also propose a tax deduction
of up to $10,000 a year for all tuition after high school; an expanded IRA you
can withdraw from tax free for education; and the largest increase in Pell
Grant scholarships in 20 years. (Applause.) Now, this plan will give most
families the ability to pay no taxes on money they save for college tuition. I
ask you to pass it -- and give every American who works hard the chance to go
to college.
Ninth: In the 21st century, we must expand the frontiers of learning
across a lifetime. All our people, of whatever age, must have a chance to learn
new skills. Most Americans live near a community college. The roads that take
them there can be paths to a better future. My G.I. Bill for America's Workers
will transform the confusing tangle of federal training programs into a simple
skill grant to go directly into eligible workers' hands. For too long, this
bill has been sitting on that desk there without action -- I ask you to pass it
now. Let's give more of our workers the ability to learn and to earn for a
lifetime. (Applause.)
Tenth: We must bring the power of the Information Age into all our
schools. Last year, I challenged America to connect every classroom and library
to the Internet by the year 2000, so that, for the first time in our history,
children in the most isolated rural towns, the most comfortable suburbs, the
poorest inner city schools, will have the same access to the same universe of
knowledge. (Applause.) That is my plan -- a Call to Action for American
Education. Some may say that it is unusual for a President to pay this kind of
attention to education. Some may say it is simply because the President and his
wonderful wife have been obsessed with this subject for more years than they
can recall. That is not what is driving these proposals.
We must understand the significance of this endeavor: One of the
greatest sources of our strength throughout the Cold War was a bipartisan
foreign policy; because our future was at stake, politics stopped at the
water's edge. Now I ask you -- and I ask all our nation's governors; I ask
parents, teachers, and citizens all across America -- for a new nonpartisan
commitment to education -- because education is a critical national security
issue for our future, and politics must stop at the schoolhouse door.
(Applause.)
To prepare America for the 21st century we must harness the powerful
forces of science and technology to benefit all Americans. This is the first
State of the Union carried live in video over the Internet. But we've only
begun to spread the benefits of a technology revolution that should become the
modern birthright of every citizen.
Our effort to connect every classroom is just the beginning. Now, we
should connect every hospital to the Internet, so that doctors can instantly
share data about their patients with the best specialists in the field. And I
challenge the private sector tonight to start by connecting every children's
hospital as soon as possible, so that a child in bed can stay in touch with
school, family and friends. A sick child need no longer be a child alone.
(Applause.)
We must build the second generation of the Internet so that our leading
universities and national laboratories can communicate in speeds 1,000 times
faster than today, to develop new medical treatments, new sources of energy,
new ways of working together.
But we cannot stop there. As the Internet becomes our new town square,
a computer in every home -- a teacher of all subjects, a connection to all
cultures -- this will no longer be a dream, but a necessity. And over the next
decade, that must be our goal. (Applause.)
We must continue to explore the heavens -- pressing on with the Mars
probes and the international space station, both of which will have practical
applications for our everyday living.
We must speed the remarkable advances in medical science. The human
genome project is now decoding the genetic mysteries of life. American
scientists have discovered genes linked to breast cancer and ovarian cancer,
and medication that stops a stroke in progress and begins to reverse its
effect, and treatments that dramatically lengthen the lives of people with HIV
and AIDS.
Since I took office, funding for AIDS research at the National
Institutes of Health has increased dramatically -- to $1.5 billion. With new
resources, NIH will now become the most powerful discovery engine for an AIDS
vaccine, working with other scientists to finally end the threat of AIDS.
(Applause.) Remember that every year -- every year we move up the discovery of
an AIDS vaccine will save millions of lives around the world. We must reinforce
our commitment to medical science.
To prepare America for the 21st century, we must build stronger
families. Over the past four years, the Family and Medical Leave law has helped
millions of Americans to take time off to be with their families. With new
pressures on people in the way they work and live, I believe we must expand
family leave so that workers can take time off for teacher conferences and a
child's medical checkup. We should pass flex-time, so workers can choose to be
paid for overtime in income or trade it in for time off to be with their
families. (Applause.)
We must continue -- we must continue, step by step, to give more
families access to affordable, quality health care. Forty million Americans
still lack health insurance. Ten million children still lack health insurance
-- 80 percent of them have working parents who pay taxes. That is wrong.
(Applause.)
My balanced budget will extend health coverage to up to 5 million of
those children. Since nearly half of all children who lose their insurance do
so because their parents lose or change a job, my budget will also ensure that
people who temporarily lose their jobs can still afford to keep their health
insurance. No child should be without a doctor just because a parent is without
a job. (Applause.)
My Medicare plan modernizes Medicare, increases the life of the trust
fund to 10 years, provides support for respite care for the many families with
loved ones afflicted with Alzheimer's. And for the first time, it would fully
pay for annual mammograms. (Applause.)
Just as we ended drive-through deliveries of babies last year, we must
now end the dangerous and demeaning practice of forcing women home from the
hospital only hours after a mastectomy. (Applause.) I ask your support for
bipartisan legislation to guarantee that a woman can stay in the hospital for
48 hours after a mastectomy. With us tonight is Dr. Kristen Zarfos, a
Connecticut surgeon whose outrage at this practice spurred a national movement
and inspired this legislation. I'd like her to stand so we thank her for her
efforts. Dr. Zarfos, thank you. (Applause.)
In the last four years, we have increased child support collections by
50 percent. Now we should go further and do better by making it a felony for
any parent to cross a state line in an attempt to flee from this, his or her
most sacred obligation. (Applause.)
Finally, we must also protect our children by standing firm in our
determination to ban the advertising and marketing of cigarettes that endanger
their lives. (Applause.)
To prepare America for the 21st century, we must build stronger
communities. We should start with safe streets. Serious crime has dropped five
years in a row. The key has been community policing. We must finish the job of
putting 100,000 community police on the streets of the United States.
(Applause.) We should pass the Victims Rights Amendment to the Constitution.
And I ask you to mount a full-scale assault on juvenile crime, with
legislation that declares war on gangs, with new prosecutors and tougher
penalties; extends the Brady Bill so violent teen criminals will not be able to
buy handguns; requires child safety locks on handguns to prevent unauthorized
use; and helps to keep our schools open after hours, on weekends, and in the
summer, so our young people will have someplace to go and something to say yes
to. (Applause.)
This balanced budget includes the largest antidrug effort ever: to stop
drugs at their source, punish those who push them, and teach our young people
that drugs are wrong, drugs are illegal, and drugs will kill them. I hope you
will support it. (Applause.)
Our growing economy has helped to revive poor urban and rural
neighborhoods. But we must do more to empower them to create the conditions in
which all families can flourish and to create jobs through investment by
business and loans by banks.
We should double the number of empowerment zones. They've already
brought so much hope to communities like Detroit, where the unemployment rate
has been cut in half in four years. We should restore contaminated urban land
and buildings to productive use. We should expand the network of community
development banks. And together we must pledge tonight that we will use this
empowerment approach -- including private sector tax incentives -- to renew our
Capital City, so that Washington is a great place to work and live, and once
again the proud face America shows to world. (Applause.)
We must protect our environment in every community. In the last four
years, we cleaned up 250 toxic waste sites, as many as in the previous 12. Now,
we should clean up 500 more, so that our children grow up next to parks, not
poison. I urge you to pass my proposal to make big polluters live by a simple
rule: If you pollute our environment, you should pay to clean it
up.(Applause.)
In the last four years, we strengthened our nation's safe food and
clean drinking water laws; we protected some of America's rarest, most
beautiful land in Utah's Red Rocks region; created three new national parks in
the California desert; and beganto restore the Florida Everglades. Now we must
be as vigilant with our rivers as we are with our lands. Tonight, I announce
that this year I will designate 10 American Heritage Rivers, to help
communities alongside them revitalize their waterfronts and clean up pollution
in the rivers, proving once again that we can grow the economy as we protect
the environment. (Applause.)
We must also protect our global environment, working to ban the worst
toxic chemicals and to reduce the greenhouse gases that challenge our health
even as they change our climate.
Now, we all know that in all of our communities, some of our children
simply don't have what they need to grow and learn in their own homes, or
schools or neighborhoods. And that means the rest of us must do more, for they
are our children, too. That's why President Bush, General Colin Powell, former
Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros will join the Vice President and me to lead
the President's Summit of Service in Philadelphia in April.
Our national service program, AmeriCorps, has already helped 70,000
young people to work their way through college as theyserve America. Now we
intend to mobilize millions of Americans to serve in thousands of ways. Citizen
service is an American responsibility which all Americans should embrace, and I
ask your support for that endeavor. (Applause.)
I'd like to make just one last point about our national community. Our
economy is measured in numbers and statistics, and it's very important. But the
enduring worth of our nation lies in our shared values and our soaring spirit.
So instead of cutting back on our modest efforts to support the arts and
humanities, I believe we should stand by them and challenge our artists,
musicians, and writers -- (applause) -- challenge our museums, libraries and
theaters -- (applause) -- we should -- we should challenge all Americans in the
arts and humanities to join with our fellow citizens to make the year 2000 a
national celebration of the American spirit in every community -- a celebration
of our common culture in the century that has passed, and in the new one to
come in a new millennium, so that we can remain the world's beacon not only of
liberty, but of creativity, long after the fireworks have faded.
To prepare America for the 21st century we must masterthe forces of
change in the world and keep American leadership strong and sure for an
uncharted time.
Fifty years ago, a farsighted America led in creating the institutions
that secured victory in the Cold War and built a growing world economy. As a
result, today more people than ever embrace our ideals and share our interests.
Already, we have dismantled many of the blocs and barriers that divided our
parents' world. For the first time, more people live under democracy than
dictatorship, including every nation in our own hemisphere, but one -- and its
day, too, will come. (Applause.)
Now, we stand at another moment of change and choice --and another time
to be farsighted, to bring America 50 more years of security and prosperity. In
this endeavor, our first task is to help to build, for the first time, an
undivided, democratic Europe. When Europe is stable, prosperous and at peace,
America is more secure.
To that end, we must expand NATO by 1999, so that countries that were
once our adversaries can become our allies. Atthe special NATO summit this
summer, that is what we will begin to do. We must strengthen NATO's Partnership
for Peace with non-member allies. And we must build a stable partnership
between NATO and a democratic Russia. (Applause.) An expanded NATO is good for
America. And a Europe in which all democracies define their future not in terms
of what they can do to each other, but in terms of what they can do together
for the good of all -- that kind of Europe is good for America.
Second, America must look to the East no less than to the West. Our
security demands it. Americans fought three wars in Asia in this century. Our
prosperity requires it. More than two million American jobs depend upon trade
with Asia.
There, too, we are helping to shape an Asian Pacific community of
cooperation, not conflict. Let our progress there not mask the peril that
remains. Together with South Korea, we must advance peace talks with North
Korea and bridge the Cold War's last divide. And I call on Congress to fund our
share of the agreement under which North Korea must continue to freeze and then
dismantle its nuclear weapons program. (Applause.)
We must pursue a deeper dialogue with China -- for the sake of our
interests and our ideals. An isolated China is not good for America. A China
playing its proper role in the world is. I will go to China, and I have invited
China's President to come here, not because we agree on everything, but because
engaging China is the best way to work on our common challenges like ending
nuclear testing, and to deal frankly with our fundamental differences like
human rights. (Applause.)
The American people must prosper in the global economy. We've worked
hard to tear down trade barriers abroad so that we can create good jobs at
home. I am proud to say that today, America is once again the most competitive
nation and the number one exporter in the world. (Applause.)
Now we must act to expand our exports, especially to Asia and Latin
America -- two of the fastest growing regions on Earth -- or be left behind as
these emerging economies forge new ties with other nations. That is why we need
the authority now to conclude new trade agreements that open markets to our
goods and services even as we preserve our values. (Applause.)
We need not shrink form the challenge of the global economy. After all,
we have the best workers and the best products. In a truly open market, we can
out-compete anyone, anywhere on Earth.
But this is about more than economics. By expanding trade, we can
advance the cause of freedom and democracy around the world. There is no better
example of this truth than Latin America where democracy and open markets are
on the march together. That is why I will visit there in the spring to
reinforce our important tie.
We should all be proud that America led the effort to rescue our
neighbor, Mexico, from its economic crises. And we should all be proud that
last month Mexico repaid the United States -- three full years ahead of
schedule -- with half a billion dollar profit to us. (Applause.)
America must continue to be an unrelenting force for peace --- from the
Middle East to Haiti, from Northern Ireland to Africa. Taking reasonable risks
for peace keeps us from being drawn into far more costly conflicts later.
With American leadership, the killing has stopped in Bosnia. Now the
habits of peace must take hold. The new NATO force will allow reconstruction
and reconciliation to accelerate. Tonight, I ask Congress to continue its
strong support for our troops. They are doing a remarkable job there for
America, and America must do right by them. (Applause.)
Fifth, we must move strongly against new threats to our security. In
the past four years, we agreed to ban -- we led the way to a worldwide
agreement to ban nuclear testing. With Russia, we dramatically cut nuclear
arsenals and we stopped targeting each others citizens. We are acting to
prevent nuclear materials from falling into the wrong hands and to rid the
world of land mines. (Applause.) We are working with other nations with renewed
intensity to fight drug traffickers and to stop terrorists before they act, and
hold them fully accountable if they do. (Applause.)
Now, we must rise to a new test of leadership: ratifying the Chemical
Weapons Convention. (Applause.) Make no mistake about it, it will make our
troops safer from chemical attack; it will help us to fight terrorism. We have
no more important obligations -- especially in the wake of what we now know
about the Gulf War. This treaty has been bipartisan from the beginning --
supported by Republican and Democratic administrations and Republican and
Democratic members of Congress -- and already approved by 68 nations.
But if we do not act by April the 29th -- when this Convention goes
into force, with or without us -- we will lose the chance to have Americans
leading and enforcing this effort. Togetherwe must make the Chemical Weapons
Convention law, so that at last we can begin to outlaw poison gas from the
Earth. (Applause.)
Finally, we must have the tools to meet all these challenges. We must
maintain a strong and ready military. We must increase funding for weapons
modernization by the year 2000, and we must take good care of our men and women
in uniform. They are the world's finest. (Applause.)
We must also renew our commitment to America's diplomacy, and pay our
debts and dues to international financial institutions like the World Bank, and
to a reforming United Nations. (Applause.) Every dollar we devote to preventing
conflicts, to promoting democracy, to stopping the spread of disease and
starvation, brings a sure return in security and savings. Yet international
affairs spending today is just one percent of the federal budget -- a small
fraction of what America invested in diplomacy to choose leadership over
escapism at the start of the Cold War. If America is to continue to lead the
world, we here who lead America simply must find the will to pay our way.
A farsighted America moved the world to a better place over these last
50 years. And so it can be for another 50 years. But a shortsighted America
will soon find its words falling on deaf ears all around the world.
(Applause.)
Almost exactly 50 years ago, in the first winter of the Cold War,
President Truman stood before a Republican Congress and called upon our country
to meet its responsibilities of leadership.This was his warning -- he said, "If
we falter, we may endanger the peace of the world, and we shall surely endanger
the welfare of this nation." That Congress, led by Republicans like Senator
Arthur Vandenberg, answered President Truman's call. Together, they made the
commitments that strengthened our country for 50 years.
Now let us do the same. Let us do what it takes to remain the
indispensable nation -- to keep America strong, secure and prosperous for
another 50 years. (Applause.)
In the end, more than anything else, our world leadership grows out of
the power of our example here at home, out of our ability to remain strong as
one America.
All over the world, people are being torn asunder by racial, ethnic,
and religious conflicts that fuel fanaticism and terror. We are the world's
most diverse democracy, and the world looks to us to show that it is possible
to live and advance together across those kinds of differences.
America has always been a nation of immigrants. From the start, a
steady stream of people, in search of freedom and opportunity, have left their
own lands to make this land their home. We started as an experiment in
democracy fueled by Europeans. We have grown into an experiment in democratic
diversity fueled by openness and promise.
My fellow Americans, we must never, ever believe that our diversity is
a weakness -- it is our greatest strength. (Applause.) Americans speak every
language, know every county. People on every continent can look to us and see
the reflection of their own great potential -- and they always will, as long as
we strive to give all of our citizens, whatever their background, an
opportunity to achieve their own greatness.
We're not there yet. We still see evidence of abiding bigotry and
intolerance, in ugly words and awful violence, in burned churches and bombed
buildings. We must fight against this, in our country and in our hearts.
Just a few days before my second Inauguration, one of country's best
known pastors, Reverend Robert Schuller, suggested that I read Isaiah 58:12.
Here's what it says: "Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations,
and thou shalt be called, the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to
dwell in." I placed my hand on that verse when I took the oath of office, on
behalf of all Americans. For no matter what our differences -- in our faiths,
our backgrounds, our politics -- we must all be repairers of the breach.
I want to say a word about two other Americans who show us how.
Congressman Frank Tejeda was buried yesterday, a proud American whose family
came from Mexico. He was only 51 years old. He was awarded the Silver Star, the
Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, fighting for his country in Vietnam. And he
went on to serve Texas and America fighting for our future in this chamber. We
are grateful for his service and honored that his mother, Lillie Tejeda, and
his sister, Mary Alice, have come from Texas to be with us here tonight. And we
welcome you. (Applause.)
Gary Locke, the newly elected Governor of Washington State, is the
first Chinese-American governor in the history of ourcountry. He's the proud
son of two of the millions of Asian-American immigrants who have strengthened
America with their hard work, family values and good citizenship. He represents
the future we can all achieve. Thank you, Governor, for being here. Please
stand up. (Applause.)
Reverend Schuller, Congressman Tejeda, Governor Locke, along with
Kristin Tanner and Chris Getsla, Sue Winski and Dr. Kristen Zarfos -- they're
all Americans from different roots, whose lives reflect the best of what we can
become when we are one America. We may not share a common past, but we surely
do share a common future.
Building one America is our most important mission -- "the foundation
for many generations," of every other strength we must build for this new
century. Money cannot buy it. Power cannot compel it. Technology cannot create
it. It can only come from the human spirit.
America is far more than a place. It is an idea, the most powerful idea
in the history of nations. And all of us in thischamber, we are now the bearers
of that idea, leading a great people into a new world. A child born tonight
will have almost no memory of the 20th century. Everything that child will know
about America will be because of what we do now to build a new century.
We don't have a moment to waste. Tomorrow there will be just over 1,000
days until the year 2000. One thousand days to prepare our people. One thousand
days to work together. One thousand days to build a bridge to a land of new
promise. My fellow Americans, we have work to do. Let us seize those days and
the century.
Thank you, God bless you and God bless America. (Applause.) | 
