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Every year, by law and by custom, we
meet here to consider the state of the union. This year, we gather
in this chamber deeply aware of decisive days that lie ahead.
You and I serve our country in a time
of great consequence. During this session of Congress, we have the
duty to reform domestic programs vital to our country; we have the
opportunity to save millions of lives abroad from a terrible
disease. We will work for a prosperity that is broadly shared, and
we will answer every danger and every enemy that threatens the
American people. (Applause.)
In all these days of promise and days
of reckoning, we can be confident. In a whirlwind of change and hope
and peril, our faith is sure, our resolve is firm, and our union is
strong. (Applause.)
This country has many challenges. We
will not deny, we will not ignore, we will not pass along our
problems to other Congresses, to other presidents and other
generations. (Applause.) We will confront them with focus and
clarity and courage.
During the last two years, we have seen
what can be accomplished when we work together. To lift the
standards of our public schools, we achieved historic education
reform -- which must now be carried out in every school and in every
classroom, so that every child in America can read and learn and
succeed in life. (Applause.) To protect our country, we reorganized
our government and created the Department of Homeland Security,
which is mobilizing against the threats of a new era. To bring our
economy out of recession, we delivered the largest tax relief in a
generation. (Applause.) To insist on integrity in American business,
we passed tough reforms, and we are holding corporate criminals to
account. (Applause.)
Some might call this a good record; I
call it a good start. Tonight I ask the House and Senate to join me
in the next bold steps to serve our fellow citizens.
Economy
Our first goal is clear: We must have
an economy that grows fast enough to employ every man and woman who
seeks a job. (Applause.) After recession, terrorist attacks,
corporate scandals and stock market declines, our economy is
recovering -- yet it's not growing fast enough, or strongly enough.
With unemployment rising, our nation needs more small businesses to
open, more companies to invest and expand, more employers to put up
the sign that says, "Help Wanted." (Applause.)
Jobs are created when the economy
grows; the economy grows when Americans have more money to spend and
invest; and the best and fairest way to make sure Americans have
that money is not to tax it away in the first place. (Applause.)
Tax relief
I am proposing that all the income tax
reductions set for 2004 and 2006 be made permanent and effective
this year. (Applause.) And under my plan, as soon as I sign the
bill, this extra money will start showing up in workers' paychecks.
Instead of gradually reducing the marriage penalty, we should do it
now. (Applause.) Instead of slowly raising the child credit to
$1,000, we should send the checks to American families now.
(Applause.)
The tax relief is for everyone who pays
income taxes -- and it will help our economy immediately: 92 million
Americans will keep, this year, an average of almost $1,000 more of
their own money. A family of four with an income of $40,000 would
see their federal income taxes fall from $1,178 to $45 per year.
(Applause.) Our plan will improve the bottom line for more than 23
million small businesses.
You, the Congress, have already passed
all these reductions and promised them for future years. If this tax
relief is good for Americans three, or five or seven years from now,
it is even better for Americans today. (Applause.)
We should also strengthen the economy
by treating investors equally in our tax laws. It's fair to tax a
company's profits. It is not fair to again tax the shareholder on
the same profits. (Applause.) To boost investor confidence and to
help the nearly 10 million seniors who receive dividend income, I
ask you to end the unfair double taxation of dividends. (Applause.)
Lower taxes and greater investment will
help this economy expand. More jobs mean more taxpayers and higher
revenues to our government. The best way to address the deficit and
move toward a balanced budget is to encourage economic growth and to
show some spending discipline in Washington, D.C. (Applause.)
We must work together to fund only our
most important priorities. I will send you a budget that increases
discretionary spending by 4 percent next year -- about as much as
the average family's income is expected to grow. And that is a good
benchmark for us. Federal spending should not rise any faster than
the paychecks of American families. (Applause.)
Economic reform
A growing economy and a focus on
essential priorities will also be crucial to the future of Social
Security. As we continue to work together to keep Social Security
sound and reliable, we must offer younger workers a chance to invest
in retirement accounts that they will control and they will own.
(Applause.)
Our second goal is high-quality,
affordable health care for all Americans. (Applause.) The American
system of medicine is a model of skill and innovation, with a pace
of discovery that is adding good years to our lives. Yet for many
people, medical care costs too much -- and many have no coverage at
all. These problems will not be solved with a nationalized health
care system that dictates coverage and rations care. (Applause.)
Instead, we must work toward a system
in which all Americans have a good insurance policy, choose their
own doctors, and seniors and low-income Americans receive the help
they need. (Applause.) Instead of bureaucrats and trial lawyers and
HMOs, we must put doctors and nurses and patients back in charge of
American medicine. (Applause.)
Health care reform must begin with
Medicare; Medicare is the binding commitment of a caring society.
(Applause.) We must renew that commitment by giving seniors access
to preventive medicine and new drugs that are transforming health
care in America.
Seniors happy with the current Medicare
system should be able to keep their coverage just the way it is.
(Applause.) And just like you -- the members of Congress and your
staffs and other federal employees -- all seniors should have the
choice of a health care plan that provides prescription drugs.
(Applause.)
My budget will commit an additional
$400 billion over the next decade to reform and strengthen Medicare.
Leaders of both political parties have talked for years about
strengthening Medicare. I urge the members of this new Congress to
act this year. (Applause.)
To improve our health care system, we
must address one of the prime causes of higher cost: the constant
threat that physicians and hospitals will be unfairly sued.
(Applause.) Because of excessive litigation, everybody pays more for
health care, and many parts of America are losing fine doctors. No
one has ever been healed by a frivolous lawsuit. I urge the Congress
to pass medical liability reform. (Applause.)
Energy/environment
Our third goal is to promote energy
independence for our country, while dramatically improving the
environment. (Applause.) I have sent you a comprehensive energy plan
to promote energy efficiency and conservation, to develop cleaner
technology, and to produce more energy at home. (Applause.) I have
sent you Clear Skies legislation that mandates a 70-percent cut in
air pollution from power plants over the next 15 years. (Applause.)
I have sent you a Healthy Forests Initiative, to help prevent the
catastrophic fires that devastate communities, kill wildlife and
burn away millions of acres of treasured forest. (Applause.)
I urge you to pass these measures, for
the good of both our environment and our economy. (Applause.) Even
more, I ask you to take a crucial step and protect our environment
in ways that generations before us could not have imagined.
In this century, the greatest
environmental progress will come about not through endless lawsuits
or command-and-control regulations but through technology and
innovation. Tonight I'm proposing $1.2 billion in research funding
so that America can lead the world in developing clean,
hydrogen-powered automobiles. (Applause.)
A single chemical reaction between
hydrogen and oxygen generates energy, which can be used to power a
car -- producing only water, not exhaust fumes. With a new national
commitment, our scientists and engineers will overcome obstacles to
taking these cars from laboratory to showroom, so that the first car
driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen and
pollution-free. (Applause.)
Join me in this important innovation to
make our air significantly cleaner and our country much less
dependent on foreign sources of energy. (Applause.)
At home: raising our youth, crime and
drug prevention/recovery
Our fourth goal is to apply the
compassion of America to the deepest problems of America. For so
many in our country -- the homeless and the fatherless, the addicted
-- the need is great. Yet there's power, wonder-working power, in
the goodness and idealism and faith of the American people.
Americans are doing the work of
compassion every day -- visiting prisoners, providing shelter for
battered women, bringing companionship to lonely seniors. These good
works deserve our praise; they deserve our personal support; and
when appropriate, they deserve the assistance of the federal
government. (Applause.)
I urge you to pass both my faith-based
initiative and the Citizen Service Act, to encourage acts of
compassion that can transform America, one heart and one soul at a
time. (Applause.)
Last year, I called on my fellow
citizens to participate in the USA Freedom Corps, which is enlisting
tens of thousands of new volunteers across America. Tonight I ask
Congress and the American people to focus the spirit of service and
the resources of government on the needs of some of our most
vulnerable citizens -- boys and girls trying to grow up without
guidance and attention, and children who have to go through a prison
gate to be hugged by their mom or dad.
I propose a $450-million initiative to
bring mentors to more than a million disadvantaged junior high
students and children of prisoners. Government will support the
training and recruiting of mentors; yet it is the men and women of
America who will fill the need. One mentor, one person can change a
life forever. And I urge you to be that one person. (Applause.)
Another cause of hopelessness is
addiction to drugs. Addiction crowds out friendship, ambition, moral
conviction, and reduces all the richness of life to a single
destructive desire. As a government, we are fighting illegal drugs
by cutting off supplies and reducing demand through anti-drug
education programs. Yet for those already addicted, the fight
against drugs is a fight for their own lives. Too many Americans in
search of treatment cannot get it. So tonight I propose a new
$600-million program to help an additional 300,000 Americans receive
treatment over the next three years. (Applause.)
Our nation is blessed with recovery
programs that do amazing work. One of them is found at the Healing
Place Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A man in the program said,
"God does miracles in people's lives, and you never think it could
be you." Tonight, let us bring to all Americans who struggle with
drug addiction this message of hope: The miracle of recovery is
possible, and it could be you. (Applause.)
By caring for children who need
mentors, and for addicted men and women who need treatment, we are
building a more welcoming society -- a culture that values every
life. And in this work we must not overlook the weakest among us. I
ask you to protect infants at the very hour of their birth and end
the practice of partial-birth abortion. (Applause.) And because no
human life should be started or ended as the object of an
experiment, I ask you to set a high standard for humanity and pass a
law against all human cloning. (Applause.)
Foreign aid
The qualities of courage and compassion
that we strive for in America also determine our conduct abroad. The
American flag stands for more than our power and our interests. Our
founders dedicated this country to the cause of human dignity, the
rights of every person and the possibilities of every life. This
conviction leads us into the world to help the afflicted and defend
the peace and confound the designs of evil men.
In Afghanistan, we helped liberate an
oppressed people. And we will continue helping them secure their
country, rebuild their society and educate all their children --
boys and girls. (Applause.) In the Middle East, we will continue to
seek peace between a secure Israel and a democratic Palestine.
(Applause.) Across the earth, America is feeding the hungry -- more
than 60 percent of international food aid comes as a gift from the
people of the United States. As our nation moves troops and builds
alliances to make our world safer, we must also remember our calling
as a blessed country is to make this world better.
Concern for African AIDS epidemic
Today, on the continent of Africa,
nearly 30 million people have the AIDS virus -- including 3 million
children under the age 15. There are whole countries in Africa where
more than one-third of the adult population carries the infection.
More than 4 million require immediate drug treatment. Yet across
that continent, only 50,000 AIDS victims -- only 50,000 -- are
receiving the medicine they need.
Because the AIDS diagnosis is
considered a death sentence, many do not seek treatment. Almost all
who do are turned away. A doctor in rural South Africa describes his
frustration. He says, "We have no medicines. Many hospitals tell
people, you've got AIDS, we can't help you; go home and die." In an
age of miraculous medicines, no person should have to hear those
words. (Applause.)
AIDS can be prevented. Anti-retroviral
drugs can extend life for many years. And the cost of those drugs
has dropped from $12,000 a year to under $300 a year -- which places
a tremendous possibility within our grasp. Ladies and gentlemen,
seldom has history offered a greater opportunity to do so much for
so many.
We have confronted, and will continue
to confront, HIV/AIDS in our own country. And to meet a severe and
urgent crisis abroad, tonight I propose the Emergency Plan for AIDS
Relief -- a work of mercy beyond all current international efforts
to help the people of Africa. This comprehensive plan will prevent 7
million new AIDS infections, treat at least 2 million people with
life-extending drugs and provide humane care for millions of people
suffering from AIDS -- and for children orphaned by AIDS.
(Applause.)
I ask the Congress to commit $15
billion over the next five years, including nearly $10 billion in
new money, to turn the tide against AIDS in the most afflicted
nations of Africa and the Caribbean. (Applause.)
War on terrorism
This nation can lead the world in
sparing innocent people from a plague of nature. And this nation is
leading the world in confronting and defeating the man-made evil of
international terrorism. (Applause.)
There are days when our fellow citizens
do not hear news about the war on terror. There's never a day when I
do not learn of another threat, or receive reports of operations in
progress or give an order in this global war against a scattered
network of killers. The war goes on, and we are winning. (Applause.)
To date, we've arrested or otherwise
dealt with many key commanders of al Qaeda. They include a man who
directed logistics and funding for the September the 11th attacks;
the chief of al Qaeda operations in the Persian Gulf, who planned
the bombings of our embassies in East Africa and the USS Cole; an al
Qaeda operations chief from Southeast Asia; a former director of al
Qaeda's training camps in Afghanistan; a key al Qaeda operative in
Europe; a major al Qaeda leader in Yemen. All told, more than 3,000
suspected terrorists have been arrested in many countries. Many
others have met a different fate. Let's put it this way -- they are
no longer a problem to the United States and our friends and allies.
(Applause.)
We are working closely with other
nations to prevent further attacks. America and coalition countries
have uncovered and stopped terrorist conspiracies targeting the
American embassy in Yemen, the American embassy in Singapore, a
Saudi military base, ships in the Straits of Hormuz and the Straits
the Gibraltar. We've broken al Qaeda cells in Hamburg, Milan,
Madrid, London, Paris, as well as Buffalo, New York.
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We have the terrorists on the run.
We're keeping them on the run. One by one, the terrorists are
learning the meaning of American justice. (Applause.)
As we fight this war, we will remember
where it began -- here, in our own country. This government is
taking unprecedented measures to protect our people and defend our
homeland. We've intensified security at the borders and ports of
entry, posted more than 50,000 newly-trained federal screeners in
airports, begun inoculating troops and first responders against
smallpox, and are deploying the nation's first early warning network
of sensors to detect biological attack. And this year, for the first
time, we are beginning to field a defense to protect this nation
against ballistic missiles. (Applause.)
I thank the Congress for supporting
these measures. I ask you tonight to add to our future security with
a major research and production effort to guard our people against
bioterrorism, called Project Bioshield. The budget I send you will
propose almost $6 billion to quickly make available effective
vaccines and treatments against agents like anthrax, botulinum
toxin, Ebola, and plague. We must assume that our enemies would use
these diseases as weapons, and we must act before the dangers are
upon us. (Applause.)
Since September the 11th, our
intelligence and law enforcement agencies have worked more closely
than ever to track and disrupt the terrorists. The FBI is improving
its ability to analyze intelligence and is transforming itself to
meet new threats. Tonight, I am instructing the leaders of the FBI,
the CIA, the Homeland Security and the Department of Defense to
develop a Terrorist Threat Integration Center to merge and analyze
all threat information in a single location. Our government must
have the very best information possible, and we will use it to make
sure the right people are in the right places to protect all our
citizens. (Applause.)
Our war against terror is a contest of
will in which perseverance is power. In the ruins of two towers, at
the western wall of the Pentagon, on a field in Pennsylvania, this
nation made a pledge, and we renew that pledge tonight: Whatever the
duration of this struggle and whatever the difficulties, we will not
permit the triumph of violence in the affairs of men -- free people
will set the course of history. (Applause.)
Today, the gravest danger in the war on
terror, the gravest danger facing America and the world, is outlaw
regimes that seek and possess nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons. These regimes could use such weapons for blackmail, terror
and mass murder. They could also give or sell those weapons to
terrorist allies, who would use them without the least hesitation.
This threat is new; America's duty is
familiar. Throughout the 20th century, small groups of men seized
control of great nations, built armies and arsenals, and set out to
dominate the weak and intimidate the world. In each case, their
ambitions of cruelty and murder had no limit. In each case, the
ambitions of Hitlerism, militarism and communism were defeated by
the will of free peoples, by the strength of great alliances and by
the might of the United States of America. (Applause.)
Now, in this century, the ideology of
power and domination has appeared again and seeks to gain the
ultimate weapons of terror. Once again, this nation and all our
friends are all that stand between a world at peace and a world of
chaos and constant alarm. Once again, we are called to defend the
safety of our people and the hopes of all mankind. And we accept
this responsibility. (Applause.)
America is making a broad and
determined effort to confront these dangers. We have called on the
United Nations to fulfill its charter and stand by its demand that
Iraq disarm. We're strongly supporting the International Atomic
Energy Agency in its mission to track and control nuclear materials
around the world. We're working with other governments to secure
nuclear materials in the former Soviet Union and to strengthen
global treaties banning the production and shipment of missile
technologies and weapons of mass destruction.
In all these efforts, however,
America's purpose is more than to follow a process -- it is to
achieve a result: the end of terrible threats to the civilized
world. All free nations have a stake in preventing sudden and
catastrophic attacks. And we're asking them to join us, and many are
doing so. Yet the course of this nation does not depend on the
decisions of others. (Applause.) Whatever action is required,
whenever action is necessary, I will defend the freedom and security
of the American people. (Applause.)
Different threats require different
strategies. In Iran, we continue to see a government that represses
its people, pursues weapons of mass destruction and supports terror.
We also see Iranian citizens risking intimidation and death as they
speak out for liberty and human rights and democracy. Iranians, like
all people, have a right to choose their own government and
determine their own destiny -- and the United States supports their
aspirations to live in freedom. (Applause.)
On the Korean peninsula, an oppressive
regime rules a people living in fear and starvation. Throughout the
1990s, the United States relied on a negotiated framework to keep
North Korea from gaining nuclear weapons. We now know that that
regime was deceiving the world and developing those weapons all
along. And today the North Korean regime is using its nuclear
program to incite fear and seek concessions. America and the world
will not be blackmailed. (Applause.)
America is working with the countries
of the region -- South Korea, Japan, China and Russia -- to find a
peaceful solution and to show the North Korean government that
nuclear weapons will bring only isolation, economic stagnation and
continued hardship. (Applause.) The North Korean regime will find
respect in the world and revival for its people only when it turns
away from its nuclear ambitions. (Applause.)
Our nation and the world must learn the
lessons of the Korean peninsula and not allow an even greater threat
to rise up in Iraq. A brutal dictator, with a history of reckless
aggression, with ties to terrorism, with great potential wealth,
will not be permitted to dominate a vital region and threaten the
United States. (Applause.)
Twelve years ago, Saddam Hussein faced
the prospect of being the last casualty in a war he had started and
lost. To spare himself, he agreed to disarm of all weapons of mass
destruction. For the next 12 years, he systematically violated that
agreement. He pursued chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, even
while inspectors were in his country. Nothing to date has restrained
him from his pursuit of these weapons -- not economic sanctions, not
isolation from the civilized world not even cruise missile strikes
on his military facilities.
Almost three months ago, the United
Nations Security Council gave Saddam Hussein his final chance to
disarm. He has shown instead utter contempt for the United Nations
and for the opinion of the world. The 108 U.N. inspectors were sent
to conduct -- were not sent to conduct a scavenger hunt for hidden
materials across a country the size of California. The job of the
inspectors is to verify that Iraq's regime is disarming. It is up to
Iraq to show exactly where it is hiding its banned weapons, lay
those weapons out for the world to see and destroy them as directed.
Nothing like this has happened.
The United Nations concluded in 1999
that Saddam Hussein had biological weapons sufficient to produce
over 25,000 liters of anthrax -- enough doses to kill several
million people. He hasn't accounted for that material. He's given no
evidence that he has destroyed it.
The United Nations concluded that
Saddam Hussein had materials sufficient to produce more than 38,000
liters of botulinum toxin -- enough to subject millions of people to
death by respiratory failure. He hadn't accounted for that material.
He's given no evidence that he has destroyed it.
Our intelligence officials estimate
that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons
of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. In such quantities, these
chemical agents could also kill untold thousands. He's not accounted
for these materials. He has given no evidence that he has destroyed
them.
U.S. intelligence indicates that Saddam
Hussein had upwards of 30,000 munitions capable of delivering
chemical agents. Inspectors recently turned up 16 of them -- despite
Iraq's recent declaration denying their existence. Saddam Hussein
has not accounted for the remaining 29,984 of these prohibited
munitions. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed them.
From three Iraqi defectors we know that
Iraq, in the late 1990s, had several mobile biological weapons labs.
These are designed to produce germ warfare agents and can be moved
from place to a place to evade inspectors. Saddam Hussein has not
disclosed these facilities. He's given no evidence that he has
destroyed them.
The International Atomic Energy Agency
confirmed in the 1990s that Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear
weapons development program, had a design for a nuclear weapon and
was working on five different methods of enriching uranium for a
bomb. The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein
recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Our
intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase
high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons
production. Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these
activities. He clearly has much to hide.
The dictator of Iraq is not disarming.
To the contrary; he is deceiving. From intelligence sources we know,
for instance, that thousands of Iraqi security personnel are at work
hiding documents and materials from the U.N. inspectors, sanitizing
inspection sites and monitoring the inspectors themselves. Iraqi
officials accompany the inspectors in order to intimidate witnesses.
Iraq is blocking U-2 surveillance
flights requested by the United Nations. Iraqi intelligence officers
are posing as the scientists inspectors are supposed to interview.
Real scientists have been coached by Iraqi officials on what to say.
Intelligence sources indicate that Saddam Hussein has ordered that
scientists who cooperate with U.N. inspectors in disarming Iraq will
be killed, along with their families.
Year after year, Saddam Hussein has
gone to elaborate lengths, spent enormous sums, taken great risks to
build and keep weapons of mass destruction. But why? The only
possible explanation, the only possible use he could have for those
weapons, is to dominate, intimidate or attack.
With nuclear arms or a full arsenal of
chemical and biological weapons, Saddam Hussein could resume his
ambitions of conquest in the Middle East and create deadly havoc in
that region. And this Congress and the America people must recognize
another threat. Evidence from intelligence sources, secret
communications and statements by people now in custody reveal that
Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al
Qaeda. Secretly, and without fingerprints, he could provide one of
his hidden weapons to terrorists or help them develop their own.
Before September the 11th, many in the
world believed that Saddam Hussein could be contained. But chemical
agents, lethal viruses and shadowy terrorist networks are not easily
contained. Imagine those 19 hijackers with other weapons and other
plans -- this time armed by Saddam Hussein. It would take one vial,
one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of
horror like none we have ever known. We will do everything in our
power to make sure that that day never comes. (Applause.)
Some have said we must not act until
the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants
announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before
they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly
emerge, all actions, all words and all recriminations would come too
late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not
a strategy, and it is not an option. (Applause.)
The dictator who is assembling the
world's most dangerous weapons has already used them on whole
villages -- leaving thousands of his own citizens dead, blind or
disfigured. Iraqi refugees tell us how forced confessions are
obtained -- by torturing children while their parents are made to
watch. International human rights groups have catalogued other
methods used in the torture chambers of Iraq: electric shock,
burning with hot irons, dripping acid on the skin, mutilation with
electric drills, cutting out tongues and rape. If this is not evil,
then evil has no meaning. (Applause.)
And tonight I have a message for the
brave and oppressed people of Iraq: Your enemy is not surrounding
your country -- your enemy is ruling your country. (Applause.) And
the day he and his regime are removed from power will be the day of
your liberation. (Applause.)
The world has waited 12 years for Iraq
to disarm. America will not accept a serious and mounting threat to
our country and our friends and our allies. The United States will
ask the U.N. Security Council to convene on February the 5th to
consider the facts of Iraq's ongoing defiance of the world.
Secretary of State Powell will present information and intelligence
about Iraqi's legal -- Iraq's illegal weapons programs, its attempt
to hide those weapons from inspectors and its links to terrorist
groups.
We will consult. But let there be no
misunderstanding: If Saddam Hussein does not fully disarm, for the
safety of our people and for the peace of the world, we will lead a
coalition to disarm him. (Applause.)
Tonight I have a message for the men
and women who will keep the peace, members of the American armed
forces: Many of you are assembling in or near the Middle East, and
some crucial hours may lay ahead. In those hours, the success of our
cause will depend on you. Your training has prepared you. Your honor
will guide you. You believe in America, and America believes in you.
(Applause.)
Sending Americans into battle is the
most profound decision a president can make. The technologies of war
have changed; the risks and suffering of war have not. For the brave
Americans who bear the risk, no victory is free from sorrow. This
nation fights reluctantly, because we know the cost and we dread the
days of mourning that always come.
We seek peace. We strive for peace. And
sometimes peace must be defended. A future lived at the mercy of
terrible threats is no peace at all. If war is forced upon us, we
will fight in a just cause and by just means -- sparing, in every
way we can, the innocent. And if war is forced upon us, we will
fight with the full force and might of the United States military --
and we will prevail. (Applause.)
And as we and our coalition partners
are doing in Afghanistan, we will bring to the Iraqi people food and
medicines and supplies -- and freedom. (Applause.)
In conclusion
Many challenges, abroad and at home,
have arrived in a single season. In two years, America has gone from
a sense of invulnerability to an awareness of peril, from bitter
division in small matters to calm unity in great causes. And we go
forward with confidence, because this call of history has come to
the right country.
Americans are a resolute people who
have risen to every test of our time. Adversity has revealed the
character of our country to the world and to ourselves. America is a
strong nation and honorable in the use of our strength. We exercise
power without conquest, and we sacrifice for the liberty of
strangers.
Americans are a free people who know
that freedom is the right of every person and the future of every
nation. The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world; it
is God's gift to humanity. (Applause.)
We Americans have faith in ourselves
but not in ourselves alone. We do not know -- we do not claim to
know -- all the ways of Providence; yet we can trust in them,
placing our confidence in the loving God behind all of life and all
of history.
May He guide
us now. And may God continue to bless the United States of America.
(Applause.)
[White
House news release] |
|
Tonight, I'd like to offer our view of
how to strengthen America.
My grandfather came to this country
from China nearly a century ago and worked as a servant. Now I serve
as governor just one mile from where my grandfather worked. It took
our family 100 years to travel that mile. It was a voyage we could
only make in America.
The values that sustained us --
education, hard work, responsibility and family -- guide me every
day.
I want every person to have the chance
this country gave our family. But like many of you, I'm concerned
about the challenges now before us.
Tonight, President Bush spoke about the
threats we face from terrorists and dictators abroad. Many of the
young Americans who fought in Afghanistan, and who tonight are still
defending our freedom, were trained in Washington state.
We're so grateful to them, to all the
members of our armed services and their families, and we pray for
their safe return.
But the war against terror is not over.
Al Qaida still targets Americans. Osama bin Laden is still at large.
As we rise to the many challenges around the globe, let us never
lose sight of who attacked our people here at home.
We also support the president in
working with our allies and the United Nations to eliminate the
threat posed by Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong Il of North Korea. Make
no mistake: Saddam Hussein is a ruthless tyrant, and he must give up
his weapons of mass destruction.
We support the president in the course
he has followed so far: working with Congress, working with the
United Nations, insisting on strong and unfettered inspections.
We need allies today in 2003, just as
much as we needed them in Desert Storm and just as we needed them on
D-Day in 1944, when American soldiers, including my father, fought
to vanquish the Nazi threat. He must convince the world that Saddam
Hussein is not America's problem alone; he's the world's problem.
And we urge President Bush to stay this course, for we are far
stronger when we stand with other nations than when we stand alone.
I have no doubt that, together, we can
meet these global challenges.
But to be strong abroad we need to be
strong at home. And today, in too many ways, our country is headed
in the wrong direction. We are missing the opportunity to strengthen
America for the future.
Democrats have a positive, specific
plan to turn our nation around.
Today, the economy is limping along.
Some say it's a recovery, but for far too Americans, there's no
recovery in our states and cities.
There's no recovery in our rural
communities. There's no recovery for working Americans and for those
searching for jobs to feed and clothe their families.
After gaining 22 million jobs in eight
years, we've now lost 2 million jobs in the last two years since
President Bush took office -- 100,000 jobs lost last month alone.
Two years ago, the federal budget was
in surplus. Now, this administration's policies will produce massive
deficits of over a trillion dollars over the next decade.
These policies have powerful and
painful consequences. States and cities now face our worst budget
crises since World War II. We're being forced to cut vital services
from police to fire to health care, and many are being forced to
raise taxes.
We need a White House that understands
the challenges our communities and people are facing across America.
We Democrats have a plan to restore
prosperity so the United States once again becomes the great job
engine it was in the 1990s. It's rooted in three principles: It must
give our economy an immediate jump-start; it must benefit
middle-class families rather than just a few; and it must be
fiscally responsible, so we have the savings to strengthen Social
Security and protect our homeland.
Our plan provides over $100 billion in
tax relief and investments, right now. Tax relief for middle class
and working families immediately.
Incentives for businesses to invest and
create jobs this year. Substantial help for cities and states like
yours and mine now. Extended unemployment benefits without delay for
nearly a million American workers who have already exhausted their
benefits. And all without passing on the bill to our children and
grandchildren through exploding budget deficits for years to come.
Now, as you heard tonight, President
Bush has a very different plan. We think it's upside-down economics;
it does too little to stimulate the economy now and does too much to
weaken our economic future.
It will create huge, permanent deficits
that will raise interest rates, stifle growth, hinder home ownership
and cut off the avenues of opportunity that have let so many work
themselves up from poverty.
We believe every American should get a
tax cut. That's the way to create broad-based growth. But we
shouldn't spend hundreds of billions of dollars on a plan that helps
neither the economy nor the families that need it most, while making
it harder to save Social Security and invest in health care and
education.
[to top of second column in
this article] |
Think about it: Under the president's
proposal to eliminate taxes on stock dividends, the top 1 percent --
that's people who earn over $300,000 a year -- would get more tax
relief than the bottom 95 percent of taxpayers combined. That's
wrong, it's irresponsible, and it won't create jobs.
Let's choose the right course, the
successful and fair course, for our economy.
We have another urgent priority:
homeland security. In this unprecedented fight against terror, the
front lines are in our own neighborhoods and communities, and this
one hits home.
In 1999, an Al Qaida operative tried to
enter my state with a trunk full of explosives. Thankfully, he was
caught in time. Now, a year and a half after September 11th, America
is still far too vulnerable.
Last year Congress authorized $2.5
billion in vital new resources to protect our citizens: for
equipment for firefighters and police, to protect ports, to guard
against bioterrorism, to secure nuclear power plants, and more.
It's hard to believe, but President
Bush actually refused to release the money. Republicans now say we
can't afford it. The Democrats say: "If we're serious about
protecting our homeland, we can and we must."
Now, to strengthen America at home,
there's much more to do. You and I know that education is the great
equalizer, the hope of democracy and the key to the information
economy of the future.
In my state we have raised test scores,
cut class sizes, trained teachers, launched innovative reading
programs, offered college scholarships, even as the federal
government cut its aid to deserving students.
Democrats worked with President Bush to
pass a law that demands more of our students and invests more in our
schools. But his budget fails to give communities the help they need
to meet these new, high standards.
We say we want to leave no child
behind, but our schools need more than kind words about education
from Washington, D.C.; we need a real partnership to renew our
schools.
Tonight, we also heard the president
talk about health care.
Too many seniors can't afford the
remarkable new drugs that can save their lives. Some are skimping on
food to pay for needed medication.
On this issue, the contrast is clear.
Democrats insist on a Medicare prescription drug benefit for all
seniors. President Bush says he supports a prescription drug
benefit, but let's read the fine print.
His plan only helps seniors who leave
traditional Medicare. Our parents shouldn't be forced to give up
their doctor or join an HMO to get the medicine they need. That
wouldn't save Medicare; it would privatize it. And it would put too
many seniors at too much risk just when they need the security of
Medicare.
And, finally, let's talk about the
environment and energy. Environmental protection has been a
tremendous bipartisan success story over three decades. Our air and
water are cleaner. In communities in my state and yours,
conservation is a way of life. But the administration is determined
to roll back much of this progress.
Our nation should lead global efforts
to promote environmental responsibility, not shun them. And instead
of opening up Alaska's wilderness to oil drilling, we should be
committed to a national policy to reduce our dependence on oil by
promoting American technology and sustainability.
Yes, the Republican Party now controls
the executive branch and both houses of Congress, but we Democrats
will hold the administration and congressional leaders accountable.
We will work to create jobs and
strengthen homeland security. We will fight to protect a woman's
right to choose, and we will fight for affirmative action, equal
opportunity and diversity in our schools and our workplaces.
Above all, we will demand that this
government advance our common purpose and not pander to narrow
special interests.
That's the vision of the Democratic
Party, in statehouses, in Congress and in the homes of millions of
Americans. We believe it's the best course for our nation. It's the
vision we will work for, and stand for, in the coming years.
This is not an easy time. But I often
think about my grandfather, arriving by steamship 100 years ago.
He had no family here. He spoke no
English. I can only imagine how he must have felt as he looked out
at his new country.
There are millions of families like
mine, people whose ancestors dreamed the American dream and worked
hard to make it come true. They transformed adversity into
opportunity.
Yes, these are challenging times, but
the American family, the American dream, has prevailed before.
That's the character of our people and the hallmark of our country.
The lesson of our legacy is, if we work
together and make the right choices, we will become a stronger, more
united and more prosperous nation.
Good night,
and God bless America.
[Democratic National Committee
news release] |
