1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 The President's President of the United States of America 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:12,000 is the President of the United States of America. 3 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:17,000 Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, 4 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:22,000 members of Congress, honored guests, my fellow Americans, 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,000 tonight I have the honor of reporting to you on the State of the Union. 6 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:31,640 Let me begin by saluting the new Speaker of the House and thanking him, 7 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:38,300 especially tonight for extending an invitation to two guests sitting in the gallery with Mrs. Hastert. 8 00:00:38,300 --> 00:00:44,700 Lynn Gibson and Wendling Chestnut are the widows of the two brave Capitol Hill police officers 9 00:00:44,700 --> 00:00:47,700 who gave their lives to defend Freedom's House. 10 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:26,980 Thank you. 11 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:50,100 Mr. Speaker, at your swearing-in, 12 00:01:51,100 --> 00:01:55,500 you ask us all to work together in a spirit of civility 13 00:01:55,500 --> 00:01:57,740 and bipartisanship. 14 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:03,760 Mr. Speaker, let's do exactly that. 15 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:05,360 Thank you. 16 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:06,100 Thank you. 17 00:02:10,060 --> 00:02:14,940 Thank you. 18 00:02:14,940 --> 00:02:15,860 Thank you. 19 00:02:15,860 --> 00:02:17,080 Thank you. 20 00:02:18,300 --> 00:02:19,440 Thank you. 21 00:02:22,820 --> 00:02:24,040 Thank you. 22 00:02:25,500 --> 00:02:34,620 Tonight, I stand before you to report that America has created the longest peacetime economic 23 00:02:34,620 --> 00:02:37,740 expansion in our history. 24 00:02:37,740 --> 00:02:46,100 With nearly 18 million new jobs, wages rising at more than twice the rate of inflation, 25 00:02:46,100 --> 00:02:51,240 the highest home ownership in history, the smallest welfare rolls in 30 years, and the 26 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:58,240 the lowest peacetime unemployment since 1957. 27 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:10,360 For the first time in three decades, the budget is balanced. 28 00:03:13,460 --> 00:03:17,960 From a deficit of $290 billion in 1992, 29 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:24,720 We had a surplus of $70 billion last year, and now we are on course for budget surpluses 30 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:27,720 for the next 25 years. 31 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:55,260 Thanks to the pioneering leadership of all of you, 32 00:03:56,580 --> 00:03:59,420 we have the lowest violent crime rate in a quarter century 33 00:03:59,420 --> 00:04:01,880 and the cleanest environment in a quarter century. 34 00:04:02,700 --> 00:04:05,060 America is a strong force for peace, 35 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:08,400 from Northern Ireland to Bosnia to the Middle East. 36 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:11,600 Thanks to the leadership of Vice President Gore, 37 00:04:11,700 --> 00:04:13,840 we have a government for the information age. 38 00:04:14,540 --> 00:04:17,340 Once again, a government that is a progressive instrument 39 00:04:17,340 --> 00:04:23,680 of the common good, rooted in our oldest values of opportunity, responsibility, and community, 40 00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:31,340 devoted to fiscal responsibility, determined to give our people the tools they need to 41 00:04:31,340 --> 00:04:38,200 make the most of their own lives in the 21st century, a 21st century government for 21st 42 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:39,320 century America. 43 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:47,940 My fellow Americans, I stand before you tonight to report that the state of our union is strong. 44 00:04:47,940 --> 00:04:48,940 Thank you. 45 00:04:48,940 --> 00:05:12,900 Now, America is working again. 46 00:05:12,900 --> 00:05:16,320 The promise of our future is limitless. 47 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:23,940 But we cannot realize that promise if we allow the hum of our prosperity to lull us into 48 00:05:23,940 --> 00:05:25,980 complacency. 49 00:05:25,980 --> 00:05:32,600 How we fare as a nation far into the 21st century depends upon what we do as a nation 50 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:35,140 today. 51 00:05:35,140 --> 00:05:41,000 So with our budget surplus growing, our economy expanding, our confidence rising, now is the 52 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:49,940 moment for this generation to meet our historic responsibility to the 21st century. 53 00:05:49,940 --> 00:05:58,040 Our fiscal discipline gives us an unsurpassed opportunity to address a remarkable new challenge, 54 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:06,000 the aging of America. With the number of elderly Americans set to double by 2030, the baby 55 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:15,200 boom will become a senior boom. So first, and above all, we must save Social Security 56 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:20,200 for the 21st century. 57 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:40,353 Thank you Early in this century being old meant being poor 58 00:06:40,353 --> 00:06:46,793 When President Roosevelt created Social Security, thousands wrote to thank him for eliminating 59 00:06:46,793 --> 00:06:56,513 what one woman called the stark terror of penniless, helpless old age. 60 00:06:56,513 --> 00:07:04,413 Even today, without Social Security, half our nation's elderly would be forced into poverty. 61 00:07:04,413 --> 00:07:11,673 Today Social Security is strong, but by 2013 payroll taxes will no longer be sufficient 62 00:07:11,673 --> 00:07:17,833 to cover monthly payments. By 2032 the trust fund will be exhausted and Social Security 63 00:07:17,833 --> 00:07:23,833 will be unable to pay the full benefits older Americans have been promised. 64 00:07:23,833 --> 00:07:31,893 The best way to keep Social Security a rock-solid guarantee is not to make drastic cuts in benefits, 65 00:07:31,893 --> 00:07:37,113 not to raise payroll tax rates, not to drain resources from Social Security in the name 66 00:07:37,113 --> 00:07:43,373 of saving it. Instead, I propose that we make the historic decision to invest the surplus 67 00:07:43,373 --> 00:07:45,073 to save Social Security. 68 00:07:53,833 --> 00:08:06,953 Specifically, I propose that we commit 60 percent of the budget surplus for the next 69 00:08:06,953 --> 00:08:14,033 15 years to Social Security, investing a small portion in the private sector just as any 70 00:08:14,033 --> 00:08:17,133 private or state government pension would do. 71 00:08:17,133 --> 00:08:23,993 This will earn a higher return and keep Social Security sound for 55 years. 72 00:08:23,993 --> 00:08:26,213 But we must aim higher. 73 00:08:26,213 --> 00:08:30,953 We should put Social Security on a sound footing for the next 75 years. 74 00:08:30,953 --> 00:08:36,093 We should reduce poverty among elderly women who are nearly twice as likely to be poor 75 00:08:36,093 --> 00:08:38,813 as our other seniors. 76 00:08:38,813 --> 00:08:51,173 And we should eliminate the limits on what seniors on Social Security can earn. 77 00:08:51,173 --> 00:09:17,613 Now, these changes will require difficult but fully achievable choices over and above 78 00:09:17,613 --> 00:09:19,033 the dedication of the surplus. 79 00:09:19,033 --> 00:09:24,733 They must be made on a bipartisan basis. They should be made this year. 80 00:09:25,833 --> 00:09:32,853 So let me say to you tonight, I reach out my hand to all of you in both houses, in both parties, 81 00:09:33,433 --> 00:09:40,833 and ask that we join together in saying to the American people, we will save Social Security now. 82 00:09:49,033 --> 00:10:02,533 Now, last year we wisely reserved all the surplus until we knew what it would take to save Social Security. 83 00:10:03,293 --> 00:10:10,553 Again, I say, we shouldn't spend any of it, not any of it, until after Social Security is truly saved. 84 00:10:10,913 --> 00:10:12,513 First things first. 85 00:10:12,513 --> 00:10:23,473 Second, once we have saved Social Security, we must fulfill our obligation to save and 86 00:10:23,473 --> 00:10:28,893 approve Medicare. Already we have extended the life of the Medicare Trust Fund by 10 87 00:10:28,893 --> 00:10:34,793 years, but we should extend it for at least another decade. Tonight I propose that we 88 00:10:34,793 --> 00:10:41,553 use one out of every six dollars in the surplus for the next 15 years to guarantee the soundness 89 00:10:41,553 --> 00:10:44,093 of Medicare until the year 2020. 90 00:10:56,093 --> 00:11:01,193 But again, we should aim higher. 91 00:11:01,293 --> 00:11:06,813 We must be willing to work in a bipartisan way and look at new ideas, including the upcoming 92 00:11:06,813 --> 00:11:09,053 report of the bipartisan Medicare Commission. 93 00:11:09,053 --> 00:11:14,953 If we work together, we can secure Medicare for the next two decades 94 00:11:14,953 --> 00:11:22,073 and cover the greatest growing need of seniors, affordable prescription drugs. 95 00:11:22,073 --> 00:11:44,593 Third, we must help all Americans from their first day on the job to save, to invest, to 96 00:11:44,593 --> 00:11:50,553 create wealth. From its beginning, Americans have supplemented Social Security with private 97 00:11:50,553 --> 00:11:56,733 pensions and savings. Yet today, millions of people retire with little to live on other 98 00:11:56,733 --> 00:12:05,273 than Social Security. Americans living longer than ever simply must save more than ever. 99 00:12:05,273 --> 00:12:12,033 Therefore, in addition to saving Social Security and Medicare, I propose a new pension initiative 100 00:12:12,033 --> 00:12:18,953 for retirement security in the 21st century. I propose that we use a little over 11 percent 101 00:12:18,953 --> 00:12:26,833 of the surplus to establish universal savings accounts, USA accounts, to give all Americans 102 00:12:26,833 --> 00:12:33,353 the means to save. With these new accounts, Americans can invest as they choose and receive 103 00:12:33,353 --> 00:12:40,833 funds to match a portion of their savings with extra help for those least able to save. 104 00:12:40,833 --> 00:12:45,953 USA accounts will help all Americans to share in our nation's wealth and to enjoy a more 105 00:12:45,953 --> 00:12:48,953 secure retirement, I ask you to support them. 106 00:12:56,953 --> 00:13:15,807 Fourth we must invest in long care I propose a tax credit of for the aged ailing or disabled and the families who care for them 107 00:13:16,547 --> 00:13:20,747 Long-term care will become a bigger and bigger challenge with the aging of America, 108 00:13:21,007 --> 00:13:25,727 and we must do more to help our families deal with it. 109 00:13:30,907 --> 00:13:38,947 I was born in 1946, the first year of the baby boom. 110 00:13:40,067 --> 00:13:44,987 I can tell you that one of the greatest concerns of our generation 111 00:13:44,987 --> 00:13:52,987 is our absolute determination not to let our growing old place an intolerable burden on our children 112 00:13:52,987 --> 00:13:56,027 and their ability to raise our grandchildren. 113 00:13:56,027 --> 00:14:06,647 Our economic success and our fiscal discipline now give us an opportunity to lift that burden from their shoulders, and we should take it. 114 00:14:06,647 --> 00:14:21,267 Saving Social Security, Medicare, creating USA accounts, this is the right way to use the surplus. 115 00:14:21,267 --> 00:14:30,307 If we do so, if we do so, we will still have resources to meet critical needs in education and defense. 116 00:14:31,127 --> 00:14:35,627 And I want to point out that this proposal is fiscally sound. 117 00:14:35,627 --> 00:14:43,587 Now, listen to this. If we set aside 60 percent of the surplus for Social Security and 16 118 00:14:43,587 --> 00:14:52,487 percent for Medicare, over the next 15 years, that saving will achieve the lowest level 119 00:14:52,487 --> 00:15:00,147 of publicly held debt since right before World War I in 1917. 120 00:15:05,627 --> 00:15:28,347 So with these four measures, saving Social Security, strengthening Medicare, establishing 121 00:15:28,347 --> 00:15:34,427 the USA accounts, supporting long-term care, we can begin to meet our generation's historic 122 00:15:34,427 --> 00:15:40,747 responsibility to establish true security for 21st century seniors. 123 00:15:40,747 --> 00:15:48,247 Now, there are more children from more diverse backgrounds in our public schools than at any 124 00:15:48,247 --> 00:15:56,007 time in our history. Their education must provide the knowledge and nurture the creativity 125 00:15:56,007 --> 00:16:02,247 that will allow our entire nation to thrive in the new economy. 126 00:16:02,247 --> 00:16:06,487 Today we can say something we couldn't say six years ago. 127 00:16:06,487 --> 00:16:13,747 With tax credits and more affordable student loans, with more work study grants and more 128 00:16:13,747 --> 00:16:21,227 Pell grants, with education IRAs and the new HOPE scholarship tax cut that more than five 129 00:16:21,227 --> 00:16:29,987 million Americans will receive this year, we have finally opened the doors of college 130 00:16:29,987 --> 00:16:36,987 to all Americans. 131 00:16:53,167 --> 00:16:58,327 With our support, nearly every state has set higher academic standards for public schools, 132 00:16:58,327 --> 00:17:02,587 And a voluntary national test is being developed to measure the progress of our students. 133 00:17:03,367 --> 00:17:06,727 With over $1 billion in discounts available this year, 134 00:17:06,807 --> 00:17:12,427 we are well on our way to our goal of connecting every classroom and library to the Internet. 135 00:17:13,267 --> 00:17:21,267 Last fall, you passed our proposal to start hiring 100,000 new teachers 136 00:17:21,267 --> 00:17:24,227 to reduce class size in the early grades. 137 00:17:24,367 --> 00:17:27,507 Now I ask you to finish the job. 138 00:17:28,327 --> 00:17:32,747 Thank you. 139 00:17:32,747 --> 00:17:36,747 Thank you. 140 00:17:36,747 --> 00:17:40,947 Thank you. 141 00:17:40,947 --> 00:17:44,947 Thank you. 142 00:17:44,947 --> 00:17:49,307 You know, our children are doing better. 143 00:17:50,427 --> 00:17:51,547 SAT scores are up. 144 00:17:52,027 --> 00:17:53,907 Math scores have risen in nearly all grades. 145 00:17:54,867 --> 00:17:55,807 But there's a problem. 146 00:17:55,807 --> 00:18:01,367 While our fourth graders outperform their peers in other countries in math and science, 147 00:18:01,887 --> 00:18:07,847 our eighth graders are around average, and our twelfth graders rank near the bottom. 148 00:18:08,947 --> 00:18:11,947 We must do better. 149 00:18:13,247 --> 00:18:19,127 Now, each year, the national government invests more than $15 billion in our public schools. 150 00:18:19,687 --> 00:18:22,687 I believe we must change the way we invest that money 151 00:18:22,687 --> 00:18:29,087 to support what works, and to stop supporting what does not work. 152 00:18:29,087 --> 00:18:54,287 First, later this year I will send to Congress a plan that for the first time holds states 153 00:18:54,287 --> 00:19:00,047 in school districts accountable for progress and rewards them for results. 154 00:19:00,047 --> 00:19:05,347 My Education Accountability Act will require every school district receiving federal help 155 00:19:05,347 --> 00:19:08,527 to take the following five steps. 156 00:19:08,527 --> 00:19:12,627 First, all schools must end social promotion. 157 00:19:12,627 --> 00:19:24,047 Now, no child should graduate from high school with a diploma he or she can't read. 158 00:19:24,047 --> 00:19:30,527 We do our children no favors when we allow them to pass from grade to grade without mastering the material. 159 00:19:31,287 --> 00:20:04,920 But we can just hold students back because the system fails them So my balanced budget triples the funding for summer school and after school programs to keep a million children learning If you doubt this will work just look at Chicago which ended social promotion and made 160 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:09,240 summer school mandatory for those who don't master the basics. 161 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:14,140 and reading scores are up three years running with some of the biggest gains in some of 162 00:20:14,140 --> 00:20:20,240 the poorest neighborhoods. It will work, and we should do it. 163 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:30,540 Second, all states and school districts must turn around their worst-performing schools 164 00:20:30,540 --> 00:20:37,540 or shut them down. 165 00:20:37,780 --> 00:20:42,640 That's the policy established in North Carolina by Governor Jim Hunt. 166 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:47,620 North Carolina made the biggest gains in test scores in the nation last year. 167 00:20:47,620 --> 00:20:50,920 Our budget includes $200 million to help states 168 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:54,300 turn around their own failing schools. 169 00:20:54,300 --> 00:20:55,660 Third, 170 00:20:55,660 --> 00:20:59,200 all states and school districts must be held responsible for the quality of their 171 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:00,540 teachers. 172 00:21:00,540 --> 00:21:05,880 The great majority of our teachers do a fine job, but in too many schools, teachers don't 173 00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:10,380 have college majors or even minors in the subjects they teach. 174 00:21:10,380 --> 00:21:15,560 New teachers should be required to pass performance exams, and all teachers should know the subjects 175 00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:25,860 they're teaching. 176 00:21:25,860 --> 00:21:31,460 This year's balanced budget contains resources to help them reach higher standards. 177 00:21:31,460 --> 00:21:37,800 And to attract talented young teachers to the toughest assignments, I recommend a six-fold 178 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:43,640 increase in our program for college scholarships for students who commit to teach in the inner 179 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:47,380 cities and isolated rural areas and in Indian communities. 180 00:21:47,380 --> 00:21:50,420 Let us bring excellence to every part of America. 181 00:21:55,860 --> 00:22:02,860 Thank you. 182 00:22:04,060 --> 00:22:09,400 Fourth, we must empower parents with more information and more choices. 183 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:13,340 In too many communities, it's easier to get information on the quality of local restaurants 184 00:22:13,340 --> 00:22:15,640 than on the quality of the local schools. 185 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:20,240 Every school district should issue report cards on every school. 186 00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:23,740 And parents should be given more choices in selecting their public schools. 187 00:22:28,740 --> 00:22:38,820 When I became president, there was just one independent public charter school in all America. 188 00:22:38,820 --> 00:22:44,300 With our support, on a bipartisan basis, today there are 1,100. 189 00:22:44,300 --> 00:22:50,740 My budget assures that early in the next century there will be 3,000. 190 00:22:55,120 --> 00:23:01,420 Fifth, to assure that our classrooms are truly places of learning 191 00:23:01,420 --> 00:23:06,320 and to respond to what teachers have been asking us to do for years, 192 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:11,200 we should say that all states and school districts must both adopt 193 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:15,680 and implement sensible discipline policies. 194 00:23:18,500 --> 00:23:23,880 Now, let's do one more thing for our children. 195 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:28,340 Today, too many schools are so old, they're falling apart, 196 00:23:28,900 --> 00:23:31,640 are so overcrowded, students are learning in trailers. 197 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:36,040 Last fall, Congress missed the opportunity to change that. 198 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:40,520 This year, with 53 million children in our schools, 199 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:43,580 Congress must not miss that opportunity again. 200 00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:48,680 I ask you to help our communities build or modernize 5,000 schools. 201 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:49,680 Thank you. 202 00:24:04,360 --> 00:24:04,960 Now, 203 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:29,480 If we do these things, end social promotion, turn around failing schools, build modern ones, support qualified teachers, promote innovation, competition, and discipline, then we will begin to meet our generation's historic responsibility to create 21st century schools. 204 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:40,980 Now, we also have to do more to support the millions of parents who give their all every 205 00:24:40,980 --> 00:24:44,380 day at home and at work. 206 00:24:44,380 --> 00:24:47,680 The most basic tool of all is a decent income. 207 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:53,480 So let's raise the minimum wage by a dollar an hour over the next two years. 208 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:15,480 And let's make sure that women and men get equal pay for equal work by strengthening enforcement of the equal pay laws. 209 00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:33,480 That was encouraging, you know. 210 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:37,480 There was more balance on the seesaw. I like that. 211 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:41,480 Let's give him a hand. 212 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:45,480 Working parents also need 213 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:49,480 quality childcare. 214 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:55,480 Again this year, I asked Congress to support our plan for tax credits 215 00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:59,480 and subsidies for working families, for improved safety and quality, for 216 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:06,660 expanded afterschool program. And our plan also includes a new tax credit for stay-at-home 217 00:26:06,660 --> 00:26:11,780 parents, too. They need support as well.