克林頓2000年國情咨文演說

克林頓2000年國情咨文演說 英文版

Thursday, January 27, 2000

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, honored guests, my fellow Americans:

We are fortunate to be alive at this moment in history. Never before has our nation enjoyed, at once, so much prosperity and social progress with so little internal crisis and so few external threats. Never before have we had such a blessed opportunity—and, therefore, such a profound obligation—to build the more perfect union of our founders' dreams.

We begin the new century with over 20 million new jobs; the fastest economic growth in more than 30 years; the lowest unemployment rates in 30 years; the lowest poverty rates in 20 years; the lowest African American and Hispanic unemployment rates on record; the first back-to-back budget surpluses in 42 years. And next month, America will achieve the longest period of economic growth in our entire history.

We have built a new economy.

And our economic revolution has been matched by a revival of the American spirit: crime down by 20 percent, to its lowest level in 25 years; teen births down seven years in a row; adoptions up by 30 percent; welfare rolls cut in half to their lowest levels in 30 years.

My fellow Americans, the state of our union is the strongest it has ever been.

As always, the real credit belongs to the American people. My gratitude also goes to those of you in this chamber who have worked with us to put progress over partisanship. Eight years ago, it was not so clear to most Americans there would be much to celebrate in the year 2000. Then our nation was gripped by economic distress, social decline, political gridlock. The title of a best-selling book asked: "America: What Went Wrong?"

In the best traditions of our nation, Americans determined to set things right. We restored the vital center, replacing outmoded ideologies with a new vision anchored in basic, enduring values: opportunity for all, responsibility from all, a community of all Americans. We reinvented government, transforming it into a catalyst for new ideas that stress both opportunity and responsibility, and give our people the tools they need to solve their own problems.

With the smallest federal work force in 40 years, we turned record deficits into record surpluses, and doubled our investment in education. We cut crime, with 100,000 community police and the Brady law, which has kept guns out of the hands of half a million criminals.

We ended welfare as we knew it—requiring work while protecting health care and nutrition for children, and investing more in child care, transportation, and housing to help their parents go to work. We've helped parents to succeed at home and at work, with family leave, which 20 millions Americans have now used to care for a newborn child or a sick loved one. We've engaged 150,000 young Americans in citizen service through AmeriCorps, while helping them earn money for college.

In 1992, we just had a road map; today, we have results.

But even more important, America again has the confidence to dream big dreams. But we must not let this confidence drift into complacency. For we, all of us, will be judged by the dreams and deeds we pass on to our children. And on that score, we will be held to a high standard, indeed, because our chance to do good is so great.

My fellow Americans, we have crossed the bridge we built to the 21st century. Now, we must shape a 21st century American revolution—of opportunity, responsibility and community. We must be now, as we were in the beginning, a new nation.

At the dawn of the last century, Theodore Roosevelt said, "the one characteristic more essential than any other is foresight…it should be the growing nation with a future that takes the long look ahead." So, tonight, let us take our long look ahead and set great goals for our nation.

To 21st century America, let us pledge these things: Every child will begin school ready to learn and graduate ready to succeed. Every family will be able to succeed at home and at work, and no child will be raised in poverty. We will meet the challenge of the aging of America. We will assure quality, affordable health care, at last, for all Americans.

We will make America the safest big country on Earth. We will pay off our national debt for the first time since 1835. We will bring prosperity to every American community. We will reverse the course of climate change and leave a safer, cleaner planet. America will lead the world toward shared peace and prosperity, and the far frontiers of science and technology. And we will become at last what our founders pledged us to be so long ago—one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

These are great goals, worthy of a great nation. We will not reach them all this year. Not even in this decade. But we will reach them. Let us remember that the first American Revolution was not won with a single shot; the continent was not settled in a single year. The lesson of our history—and the lesson of the last seven years—is that great goals are reached step by step, always building on our progress, always gaining ground.

Of course, you can't gain ground if you're standing still. And for too long this Congress has been standing still on some of our most pressing national priorities. So let's begin tonight with them.

Again, I ask you to pass a real patients' bill of rights. I ask you to pass common-sense gun safety legislation. I ask you to pass campaign finance reform. I ask you to vote up or down on judicial nominations and other important appointees. And, again I ask you—I implore you—to raise the minimum wage.

Now, two years ago—let me try to balance the seesaw here—two years ago, as we reached across party lines to reach our first balanced budget, I asked that we meet our responsibility to the next generation by maintaining our fiscal discipline. Because we refused to stray from that path, we are doing something that would have seemed unimaginable seven years ago. We are actually paying down the national debt.

Now, if we stay on this path, we can pay down the debt entirely in 13 just years now and make America debt-free for the first time since Andrew Jackson was President in 1835.

In 1993, we began to put our fiscal house in order with the Deficit Reduction Act, which you'll all remember won passages in both Houses by just a single vote. Your former colleague, my first Secretary of the Treasury, led that effort and sparked our long boom. He's here with us tonight. Lloyd Bentsen, you have served America well, and we thank you.

Beyond paying off the debt, we must ensure that the benefits of debt reduction go to preserving two of the most important guarantees we make to every American—Social Security and Medicare. Tonight, I ask you to work with me to make a bipartisan down payment on Social Security reform by crediting the interest savings from debt reduction to the Social Security Trust Fund so that it will be strong and sound for the next 50 years.

But this is just the start of our journey. We must also take the right steps toward reaching our great goals. First and foremost, we need a 21st century revolution in education, guided by our faith that every single child can learn. Because education is more important than ever, more than ever the key to our children's future, we must make sure all our children have that key. That means quality pre-school and after-school, the best trained teachers in the classroom, and college opportunities for all our children.

For seven years now, we've worked hard to improve our schools, with opportunity and responsibility—investing more, but demanding more in turn. Reading, math, college entrance scores are up. Some of the most impressive gains are in schools in very poor neighborhoods.

But all successful schools have followed the same proven formula: higher standards, more accountability, and extra help so children who need it can get it to reach those standards. I have sent Congress a reform plan based on that formula. It holds states and school districts accountable for progress, and rewards them for results. Each year, our national government invests more than $15 billion in our schools. It is time to support what works and stop supporting what doesn't.

Now, as we demand more from our schools, we should also invest more in our schools. Let's double our investment to help states and districts turn around their worst-performing schools, or shut them down. Let's double our investments in after-school and summer school programs, which boost achievement and keep people off the streets and out of trouble. If we do this, we can give every single child in every failing school in America—everyone—the chance to meet high standards.

Since 1993, we've nearly doubled our investment in Head Start and improved its quality. Tonight, I ask you for another $1 billion for Head Start, the largest increase in the history of the program.

We know that children learn best in smaller classes with good teachers. For two years in a row, Congress has supported my plan to hire 100,000 new qualified teachers to lower class size in the early grades. I thank you for that, and I ask you to make it three in a row. And to make sure all teachers know the subjects they teach, tonight I propose a new teacher quality initiative—to recruit more talented people into the classroom, reward good teachers for staying there, and give all teachers the training they need.

We know charter schools provide real public school choice. When I became President, there was just one independent public charter school in all America. Today, thanks to you, there are 1,700. I ask you now to help us meet our goal of 3,000 charter schools by next year.

We know we must connect all our classrooms to the Internet, and we're getting there. In 1994, only 3 percent of our classrooms were connected. Today, with the help of the Vice President's E-rate program, more than half of them are. And 90 percent of our schools have at least one Internet connection.

But we cannot finish the job when a third of all our schools are in serious disrepair. Many of them have walls and wires so old, they're too old for the Internet. So tonight, I propose to help 5,000 schools a year make immediate and urgent repairs; and again, to help build or modernize 6,000 more, to get students out of trailers and into high-tech classrooms.

I ask all of you to help me double our bipartisan Gear-Up program, which provides mentors for disadvantaged young people. If we double it, we can provide mentors for 1.4 million of them. Let's also offer these kids from disadvantaged backgrounds the same chance to take the same college test-prep courses wealthier students use to boost their test scores.

To make the American Dream achievable for all, we must make college affordable for all. For seven years, on a bipartisan basis, we have taken action toward that goal: larger Pell grants, more affordable student loans, education IRAs, and our HOPE scholarships, which have already benefitted 5 million young people.

Now, 67 percent of high school graduates are going on to college. That's up 10 percent since 1993. Yet millions of families still strain to pay college tuition. They need help. So I propose a landmark $30-billion college opportunity tax cut—a middle class tax deduction for up to $10,000 in college tuition costs. The previous actions of this Congress have already made two years of college affordable for all. It's time to make four years of college affordable for all. If we take all these steps, we'll move a long way toward making sure every child starts school ready to learn and graduates ready to succeed.

We need a 21st century revolution to reward work and strengthen families, by giving every parent the tools to succeed at work and at the most important work of all—raising children. That means making sure every family has health care and the support to care for aging parents, the tools to bring their children up right, and that no child grows up in poverty.

From my first days as President, we've worked to give families better access to better health care. In 1997, we passed the Children's Health Insurance Program—CHIP—so that workers who don't have coverage through their employers at least can get it for their children. So far, we've enrolled 2 million children; we're well on our way to our goal of 5 million.

But there are still more than 40 million of our fellow Americans without health insurance—more than there were in 1993. Tonight I propose that we follow Vice President Gore's suggestion to make low income parents eligible for the insurance that covers their children. Together with our children's initiative—think of this—together with our children's initiative, this action would enable us to cover nearly a quarter of all the uninsured people in America.

Again, I want to ask you to let people between the ages of 55 and 65—the fastest growing group of uninsured—buy into Medicare. And this year I propose to give them a tax credit to make that choice an affordable one. I hope you will support that, as well.

When the baby boomers retire, Medicare will be faced with caring for twice as many of our citizens; yet, it is far from ready to do so. My generation must not ask our children's generation to shoulder our burden. We simply must act now to strengthen and modernize Medicare.

My budget includes a comprehensive plan to reform Medicare, to make it more efficient and competitive. And it dedicates nearly $400 billion of our budget surplus to keep Medicare solvent past 2025. And, at long last, it also provides funds to give every senior a voluntary choice of affordable coverage for prescription drugs.

Lifesaving drugs are an indispensable part of modern medicine. No one creating a Medicare program today would even think of excluding coverage for prescription drugs. Yet more than three in five of our seniors now lack dependable drug coverage which can lengthen and enrich their lives. Millions of older Americans who need prescription drugs the most pay the highest prices for them. In good conscience, we cannot let another year pass without extending to all our seniors this lifeline of affordable prescription drugs.

Record numbers of Americans are providing for aging or ailing loved ones at home. It's a loving, but a difficult and often very expensive choice. Last year, I proposed a $1,000 tax credit for long-term care. Frankly, it wasn't enough. This year, let's triple it, to $3,000. But this year, let's pass it.

We also have to make needed investments to expand access to mental health care. I want to take a moment to thank the person who led our first White House Conference on Mental Health last year, and who for seven years has led all our efforts to break down the barriers to decent treatment of people with mental illness. Thank you, Tipper Gore.

Taken together, these proposals would mark the largest investment in health care in the 35 years since Medicare was created—the largest investment in 35 years. That would be a big step toward assuring quality health care for all Americans, young and old. And I ask you to embrace them and pass them.

We must also make investments that reward work and support families. Nothing does that better than the Earned Income Tax Credit—the EITC. The "E" in the EITC is about earning, working, taking responsibility and being rewarded for it. In my very first address to you, I asked Congress to greatly expand this credit; and you did. As a result, in 1998 alone, the EITC helped more than 4.3 million Americans work their way out of poverty toward the middle class. That's double the number in 1993.

Tonight, I propose another major expansion of the EITC: to reduce the marriage penalty, to make sure it rewards marriage as it rewards work—and also, to expand the tax credit for families that have more than two children. It punishes people with more than two children today. Our proposal would allow families with three or more children to get up to $1,100 more in tax relief. These are working families; their children should not be in poverty.

We also can't reward work and family unless men and women get equal pay for equal work. Today, the female unemployment rate is the lowest it has been in 46 years. Yet, women still only earn about 75 cents for every dollar men earn. We must do better, by providing the resources to enforce present equal pay laws; training more women for high-paying, high-tech jobs; and passing the Paycheck Fairness Act.

Many working parents spend up to a quarter—a quarter—of their income on child care. Last year, we helped parents provide child care for about 2 million children. My child care initiative, before you now, along with funds already secured in welfare reform, would make child care better, safer and more affordable for another 400,000 children. I ask you to pass that. They need it out there.

For hard-pressed middle-income families, we should also expand the child care tax credit. And I believe strongly we should take the next big step and make that tax credit refundable for low-income families. For people making under $30,000 a year, that could mean up to $2,400 for child care costs. You know, we all say we're pro-work and pro-family. Passing this proposal would prove it.

Tens of millions of Americans live from paycheck to paycheck. As hard as they work, they still don't have the opportunity to save. Too few can make use of IRAs and 401-K plans. We should do more to help all working families save and accumulate wealth. That's the idea behind the Individual Development Accounts, the IDAs. I ask you to take that idea to a new level, with new Retirement Savings Accounts that enable every low- and moderate-income family in America to save for retirement, a first home, a medical emergency, or a college education. I propose to match their contributions, however small, dollar for dollar, every year they save. And I propose to give a major new tax credit to any small business that will provide a meaningful pension to its workers. Those people ought to have retirement as well as the rest of us.

Nearly one in three American children grows up without a father. These children are five times more likely to live in poverty than children with both parents at home. Clearly, demanding and supporting responsible fatherhood is critical to lifting all children out of poverty. We've doubled child support collections since 1992. And I'm proposing to you tough new measures to hold still more fathers responsible.

But we should recognize that a lot of fathers want to do right by their children, but need help to do it. Carlos Rosas of St. Paul, Minnesota, wanted to do right by his son, and he got the help to do it. Now he's got a good job and he supports his little boy. My budget will help 40,000 more fathers make the same choices Carlos Rosas did. I thank him for being here tonight. Stand up, Carlos. Thank you.

If there is any single issue on which we should be able to reach across party lines, it is in our common commitment to reward work and strengthen families, similar to what we did last year. We came together to help people with disabilities keep their health insurance when they go to work. And I thank you for that. Thanks to overwhelming bipartisan support from this Congress, we have improved foster care. We've helped those young people who leave it when they turn 18, and we have dramatically increased the number of foster care children going into adoptive homes. I thank all of you for all of that.

Of course, I am forever grateful to the person who has led our efforts from the beginning, and who's worked so tirelessly for children and families for 30 years now: my wife, Hillary. And I thank her.

If we take the steps I've just discussed, we can go a long, long way toward empowering parents to succeed at home and at work, and ensuring that no child is raised in poverty. We can make these vital investments in health care, education, support for working families, and still offer tax cuts to help pay for college, for retirement, to care for aging parents, to reduce the marriage penalty. We can do these things without forsaking the path of fiscal discipline that got us to this point here tonight.

Indeed, we must make these investments and these tax cuts in the context of a balanced budget that strengthens and extends the life of Social Security and Medicare and pays down the national debt.

Crime in America has dropped for the past seven years—that's the longest decline on record—thanks to a national consensus we helped to forge on community police, sensible gun safety laws, and effective prevention. But nobody—nobody here, nobody in America—believes we're safe enough. So again, I ask you to set a higher goal. Let's make this country the safest big country in the world.

Last fall, Congress supported my plan to hire, in addition to the 100,000 community police we've already funded, 50,000 more, concentrated in high-crime neighborhoods. I ask your continued support for that.

Soon after the Columbine tragedy, Congress considered common-sense gun legislation, to require Brady background checks at the gun shows, child safety locks for new handguns, and a ban on the importation of large-capacity ammunition clips. With courage and a tie-breaking vote by the Vice President—the Senate faced down the gun lobby, stood up for the American people, and passed this legislation. But the House failed to follow suit.

Now, we have all seen what happens when guns fall into the wrong hands. Daniel Mauser was only 15 years old when he was gunned down at Columbine. He was an amazing kid , a straight-A student, a good skier. Like all parents who lose their children, his father Tom has borne unimaginable grief. Somehow he has found the strength to honor his son by transforming his grief into action. Earlier this month, he took a leave of absence from his job to fight for tougher gun safety laws. I pray that his courage and wisdom will at long last move this Congress to make common-sense gun legislation the very next order of business.Tom Mauser, stand up. We thank you for being here tonight. Tom. Thank you, Tom.

We must strengthen our gun laws and enforce those already on the books better. Federal gun crime prosecutions are up 16 percent since I took office. But we must do more. I propose to hire more federal and local gun prosecutors and more ATF agents to crack down on illegal gun traffickers and bad-apple dealers. And we must give them the enforcement tools that they need, tools to trace every gun and every bullet used in every gun crime in the United States. I ask you to help us do that.

Every state in this country already requires hunters and automobile drivers to have a license. I think they ought to do the same thing for handgun purchases. Now, specifically, I propose a plan to ensure that all new handgun buyers must first have a photo license from their state showing they passed the Brady background check and a gun safety course, before they get the gun. I hope you'll help me pass that in this Congress.

Listen to this—listen to this. The accidental gun rate—the accidental gun death rate of children under 15 in the United States is nine times higher than in the other 25 industrialized countries combined. Now, technologies now exist that could lead to guns that can only be fired by the adults who own them. I ask Congress to fund research into smart gun technology, to save these children's lives. (Applause.) I ask responsible leaders in the gun industry to work with us on smart guns, and other steps to keep guns out of the wrong hands, to keep our children safe.

You know, every parent I know worries about the impact of violence in the media on their children. I want to begin by thanking the entertainment industry for accepting my challenge to put voluntary ratings on TV programs and video and Internet games. But, frankly, the ratings are too numerous, diverse and confusing to be really useful to parents. So tonight, I ask the industry to accept the First Lady's challenge to develop a single voluntary rating system for all children's entertainment that is easier for parents to understand and enforce. The steps I outline will take us well on our way to making America the safest big country in the world.

Now, to keep our historic economic expansion going—the subject of a lot of discussion in this community and others—I believe we need a 21st century revolution to open new markets, start new businesses, hire new workers right here in America—in our inner cities, poor rural areas, and Native American reservations.

Our nation's prosperity hasn't yet reached these places. Over the last six months, I've traveled to a lot of them, joined by many of you, and many far-sighted business people, to shine a spotlight on the enormous potential in communities from Appalachia to the Mississippi Delta, from Watts to the Pine Ridge Reservation. Everywhere I go, I meet talented people eager for opportunity, and able to work. Tonight I ask you, let's put them to work.For business, it's the smart thing to do. For America, it's the right thing to do. And let me ask you something—if we don't do this now, when in the wide world will we ever get around to it?

So I ask Congress to give businesses the same incentives to invest in America's new markets they now have to invest in markets overseas. Tonight, I propose a large New Markets tax credit and other incentives to spur $22 billion in private-sector capital to create new businesses and new investments in our inner cities and rural areas.

Because empowerment zones have been creating these opportunities for five years now, I also ask you to increase incentives to invest in them and to create more of them.

And let me say to all of you again what I have tried to say at every turn—this is not a Democratic or a Republican issue. Giving people a chance to live their dreams is an American issue.

Mr. Speaker, it was a powerful moment last November when you joined Reverend Jesse Jackson and me in your home state of Illinois, and committed to working toward our common goal, by combining the best ideas from both sides of the aisle. I want to thank you again, and to tell you, Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with you. This is a worthy, joint endeavor. Thank you.

I also ask you to make special efforts to address the areas of our nation with the highest rates of poverty—our Native American reservations and the Mississippi Delta. My budget includes $110-million initiative to promote economic development in the Delta, and a billion dollars to increase economic opportunity, health care, education and law enforcement for our Native American communities. In this new century—we should begin this new century by honoring our historic responsibility to empower the first Americans. And I want to thank tonight the leaders and the members from both parties who've expressed to me an interest in working with us on these efforts. They are profoundly important.

There's another part of our American community in trouble tonight—our family farmers. When I signed the Farm Bill in 1996, I said there was great danger it would work well in good times, but not in bad. Well, droughts, floods, and historically low prices have made these times very bad for the farmers. We must work together to strengthen the farm safety net, invest in land conservation, and create some new markets for them by expanding our programs for bio-based fuels and products. Please, they need help—let's do it together.

Opportunity for all requires something else today—having access to a computer and knowing how to use it. That means we must close the digital divide between those who've got the tools and those who don't.

Connecting classrooms and libraries to the Internet is crucial, but it's just a start. My budget ensures that all new teachers are trained to teach 21st century skills, and it creates technology centers in 1,000 communities to serve adults. This spring, I'll invite high-tech leaders to join me on another New Markets tour, to close the digital divide and open opportunity for our people.

I want to thank the high-tech companies that already are doing so much in this area. I hope the new tax incentives I have proposed will get all the rest of them to join us. This is a national crusade. We have got to do this, and do it quickly.

Now, again I say to you, these are steps, but step by step, we can go a long way toward our goal of bringing opportunity to every community.

To realize the full possibilities of this economy, we must reach beyond our own borders, to shape the revolution that is tearing down barriers and building new networks among nations and individuals, and economies and cultures: globalization. It's the central reality of our time.

Of course, change this profound is both liberating and threatening to people. But there's no turning back. And our open, creative society stands to benefit more than any other—if we understand, and act on, the realities of interdependence. We have to be at the center of every vital global network, as a good neighbor and a good partner. We have to recognize that we cannot build our future without helping others to build theirs.

The first thing we have got to do is to forge a new consensus on trade. Now, those of us who believe passionately in the power of open trade, we have to ensure that it lifts both our living standards and our values, never tolerating abusive child labor or a race to the bottom in the environment and worker protection. But others must recognize that open markets and rule-based trade are the best engines we know of for raising living standards, reducing global poverty and environmental destruction, and assuring the free flow of ideas.

I believe as strongly tonight as I did the first day I got here, the only direction forward for America on trade—the only direction for America on trade is to keep going forward. I ask you to help me forge that consensus.

We have to make developing economies our partners in prosperity. That's why I would like to ask you again to finalize our groundbreaking African and Caribbean Basin trade initiatives.

But globalization is about more than economics. Our purpose must be to bring together the world around freedom and democracy and peace, and to oppose those who would tear it apart. Here are the fundamental challenges I believe America must meet to shape the 21st century world.

First, we must continue to encourage our former adversaries, Russia and China, to emerge as stable, prosperous, democratic nations. Both are being held back today from reaching their full potential: Russia by the legacy of communism, an economy in turmoil, a cruel and self-defeating war in Chechnya; China by the illusion that it can buy stability at the expense of freedom.

But think how much has changed in the past decade: 5,000 former Soviet nuclear weapons taken out of commission; Russian soldiers actually serving with ours in the Balkans; Russian people electing their leaders for the first time in a thousand years; and in China, an economy more open to the world than ever before.

Of course, no one, not a single person in this chamber tonight, can know for sure what direction these great nations will take. But we do know for sure that we can choose what we do. And we should do everything in our power to increase the chance that they will choose wisely, to be constructive members of our global community.

That's why we should support those Russians who are struggling for a democratic, prosperous future; continue to reduce both our nuclear arsenals; and help Russia to safeguard weapons and materials that remain.

And that's why I believe Congress should support the agreement we negotiated to bring China into the WTO, by passing Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China as soon as possible this year.

I think you ought to do it for two reasons. First of all, our markets are already open to China; this agreement will open China's markets to us. And, second, it will plainly advance the cause of peace in Asia and promote the cause of change in China. No, we don't know where it's going. All we can do is decide what we're going to do. But when all is said and done, we need to know we did everything we possibly could to maximize the chance that China will choose the right future.

A second challenge we've got is to protect our own security from conflicts that pose the risk of wider war and threaten our common humanity. We can't prevent every conflict or stop every outrage. But where our interests are at stake and we can make a difference, we should be, and we must be, peacemakers.

We should be proud of our role in bringing the Middle East closer to a lasting peace; building peace in Northern Ireland; working for peace in East Timor and Africa; promoting reconciliation between Greece and Turkey and in Cyprus; working to defuse these crises between India and Pakistan; in defending human rights and religious freedom. And we should be proud of the men and women of our Armed Forces and those of our allies who stopped the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, enabling a million people to return to their homes.

When Slobodan Milosevic unleashed his terror on Kosovo, Captain John Cherrey was one of the brave airmen who turned the tide. And when another American plane was shot down over Serbia, he flew into the teeth of enemy air defenses to bring his fellow pilot home. Thanks to our Armed Forces' skill and bravery, we prevailed in Kosovo without losing a single American in combat. I want to introduce Captain Cherrey to you. We honor Captain Cherrey, and we promise you, Captain, we'll finish the job you began. Stand up so we can see you.

A third challenge we have is to keep this inexorable march of technology from giving terrorists and potentially hostile nations the means to undermine our defenses. Keep in mind, the same technological advances that have shrunk cell phones to fit in the palms of our hands can also make weapons of terror easier to conceal and easier to use.

We must meet this threat by making effective agreements to restrain nuclear and missile programs in North Korea; curbing the flow of lethal technology to Iran; preventing Iraq from threatening its neighbors; increasing our preparedness against chemical and biological attack; protecting our vital computer systems from hackers and criminals; and developing a system to defend against new missile threats—while working to preserve our ABM missile treaty with Russia. We must do all these things.

I predict to you, when most of us are long gone, but some time in the next 10 to 20 years, the major security threat this country will face will come from the enemies of the nation state: the narco-traffickers and the terrorists and the organized criminals, who will be organized together, working together, with increasing access to ever-more sophisticated chemical and biological weapons.

And I want to thank the Pentagon and others for doing what they're doing right now to try to help protect us and plan for that, so that our defenses will be strong. I ask for your support to ensure they can succeed.

I also want to ask you for a constructive bipartisan dialogue this year to work to build a consensus which I hope will eventually lead to the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

I hope we can also have a constructive effort to meet the challenge that is presented to our planet by the huge gulf between rich and poor. We cannot accept a world in which part of humanity lives on the cutting edge of a new economy, and the rest live on the bare edge of survival. I think we have to do our part to change that—with expanded trade, expanded aid, and the expansion of freedom.

This is interesting—from Nigeria to Indonesia, more people got the right to choose their leaders in 1999 than in 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell. We've got to stand by these democracies—including, and especially tonight, Colombia, which is fighting narco-traffickers, for its own people's lives and our children's lives. I have proposed a strong two-year package to help Colombia win this fight. I want to thank the leaders in both parties in both Houses for listening to me and the President of Colombia about it. We have got to pass this. I want to ask your help. A lot is riding on it. And it's so important for the long-term stability of our country, and for what happens in Latin America.

I also want you to know I'm going to send you new legislation to go after what these drug barons value the most—their money. And I hope you'll pass that as well.

In a world where over a billion people live on less than a dollar a day, we also have got to do our part in the global endeavor to reduce the debts of the poorest countries, so they can invest in education, health care and economic growth. That's what the Pope and other religious leaders have urged us to do. And last year, Congress made a down payment on America's share. I ask you to continue that. I thank you for what you did, and ask you to stay the course.

I also want to say that America must help more nations to break the bonds of disease. Last year in Africa, 10 times as many people died from AIDS as were killed in wars—10 times. The budget I give you invests $150 million more in the fight against this and other infectious killers. And today, I propose a tax credit to speed the development of vaccines for diseases like malaria, TB and AIDS. I ask the private sector and our partners around the world to join us in embracing this cause. We can save millions of lives together, and we ought to do it.

I also want to mention our final challenge, which, as always, is the most important. I ask you to pass a national security budget that keeps our military the best-trained and best-equipped in the world, with heightened readiness and 21st century weapons; which raises salaries for our servicemen and women; which protects our veterans; which fully funds the diplomacy that keeps our soldiers out of war; which makes good on our commitment to pay our U.N. dues and arrears. I ask you to pass this budget.

I also want to say something, if I might, very personal tonight. The American people watching us at home, with the help of all the commentators, can tell from who stands and who sits, and who claps and who doesn't, that there's still modest differences of opinion in this room. But I want to thank you for something, every one of you. I want to thank you for the extraordinary support you have given—Republicans and Democrats alike—to our men and women in uniform. I thank you for that.

I also want to thank, especially, two people. First, I want to thank our Secretary of Defense, Bill Cohen, for symbolizing our bipartisan commitment to national security. Thank you, sir. Even more, I want to thank his wife, Janet, who, more than any other American citizen, has tirelessly traveled this world to show the support we all feel for our troops. Thank you, Janet Cohen. I appreciate that. Thank you.

These are the challenges we have to meet so that we can lead the world toward peace and freedom in an era of globalization.

I want to tell you that I am very grateful for many things as President. But one of the things I'm grateful for is the opportunity that the Vice President and I have had to finally put to rest the bogus idea that you cannot grow the economy and protect the environment at the same time.

As our economy has grown, we've rid more than 500 neighborhoods of toxic waste, ensured cleaner air and water for millions of people. In the past three months alone, we've helped preserve 40 million acres of roadless lands in the national forests, created three new national monuments.

But as our communities grow, our commitment to conservation must continue to grow. Tonight, I propose creating a permanent conservation fund, to restore wildlife, protect coastlines, save natural treasures, from the California redwoods to the Florida Everglades.

This Lands Legacy endowment would represent by far the most enduring investment in land preservation ever proposed in this House. I hope we can get together with all the people with different ideas and do this. This is a gift we should give to our children and our grandchildren for all time, across party lines. We can make an agreement to do this.

Last year, the Vice President launched a new effort to make communities more liberal—livable—liberal, I know. Wait a minute, I've got a punchline now. That's this year's agenda; last year was livable, right? That's what Senator Lott is going to say in the commentary afterwards. To make our communities more livable. This is big business. This is a big issue. What does that mean? You ask anybody that lives in an unlivable community, and they'll tell you. They want their kids to grow up next to parks, not parking lots; the parents don't have to spend all their time stalled in traffic when they could be home with their children.

Tonight, I ask you to support new funding for the following things, to make American communities for liberal—livable. I've done pretty well with this speech, but I can't say that.

One, I want you to help us to do three things. We need more funding for advanced transit systems. We need more funding for saving open spaces in places of heavy development. And we need more funding—this ought to have bipartisan appeal—we need more funding for helping major cities around the Great Lakes protect their waterways and enhance their quality of life. We need these things and I want you to help us.

The greatest environmental challenge of the new century is global warming. The scientists tell us the 1990s were the hottest decade of the entire millennium. If we fail to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, deadly heat waves and droughts will become more frequent, coastal areas will flood, and economies will be disrupted. That is going to happen, unless we act.

Many people in the United States—some people in this chamber—and lots of folks around the world still believe you cannot cut greenhouse gas emissions without slowing economic growth. In the Industrial Age that may well have been true. But in this digital economy, it is not true anymore. New technologies make it possible to cut harmful emissions and provide even more growth.

For example, just last week, automakers unveiled cars that get 70 to 80 miles a gallon—the fruits of a unique research partnership between government and industry. And before you know it, efficient production of bio-fuels will give us the equivalent of hundreds of miles from a gallon of gasoline.

To speed innovation in these kind of technologies, I think we should give a major tax incentive to business for the production of clean energy, and to families for buying energy-saving homes and appliances and the next generation of super-efficient cars when they hit the showroom floor. I also ask the auto industry to use the available technologies to make all new cars more fuel-efficient right away.

And I ask this Congress to do something else. Please help us make more of our clean energy technology available to the developing world. That will create cleaner growth abroad and a lot more new jobs here in the United States of America.

In the new century, innovations in science and technology will be the key not only to the health of the environment, but to miraculous improvements in the quality of our lives and advances in the economy. Later this year, researchers will complete the first draft of the entire human genome, the very blueprint of life. It is important for all our fellow Americans to recognize that federal tax dollars have funded much of this research, and that this and other wise investments in science are leading to a revolution in our ability to detect, treat, and prevent disease.

For example, researchers have identified genes that cause Parkinson's, diabetes, and certain kinds of cancer—they are designed precision therapies that will block the harmful effect of these genes for good. Researchers already are using this new technique to target and destroy cells that cause breast cancer. Soon, we may be able to use it to prevent the onset of Alzheimer's. Scientists are also working on an artificial retina to help many blind people to see—and listen to this—microchips that would actually directly stimulate damaged spinal cords in a way that could allow people now paralyzed to stand up and walk.

These kinds of innovations are also propelling our remarkable prosperity. Information technology only includes 8 percent of our employment, but now it counts for a third of our economic growth—along with jobs that pay, by the way, about 80 percent above the private sector average. Again, we ought to keep in mind, government-funded research brought supercomputers, the Internet, and communications satellites into being. Soon researchers will bring us devices that can translate foreign languages as fast as you can talk; materials 10 times stronger than steel at a fraction of the weight; and—this is unbelievable to me—molecular computers the size of a tear drop with the power of today's fastest supercomputers.

To accelerate the march of discovery across all these disciplines in science and technology, I ask you to support my recommendation of an unprecedented $3 billion in the 21st Century Research Fund, the largest increase in civilian research in a generation. We owe it to our future.

Now, these new breakthroughs have to be used in ways that reflect our values. First and foremost, we have to safeguard our citizens' privacy. Last year, we proposed to protect every citizen's medical record. This year, we will finalize those rules. We've also taken the first steps to protect the privacy of bank and credit card records and other financial statements. Soon I will send legislation to you to finish that job. We must also act to prevent any genetic discrimination whatever by employers or insurers. I hope you will support that.

These steps will allow us to lead toward the far frontiers of science and technology. They will enhance our health, the environment, the economy in ways we can't even imagine today. But we all know that at a time when science, technology and the forces of globalization are bringing so many changes into all our lives, it's more important than ever that we strengthen the bonds that root us in our local communities and in our national community.

No tie binds different people together like citizen service. There's a new spirit of service in America—a movement we've tried to support with AmeriCorps, expanded Peace Corps, unprecedented new partnerships with businesses, foundations, community groups. Partnerships, for example, like the one that enlisted 12,000 companies which have now moved 650,000 of our fellow citizens from welfare to work. Partnerships to battle drug abuse, AIDS, teach young people to read, save America's treasures, strengthen the arts, fight teen pregnancy, prevent violence among young people, promote racial healing. The American people are working together.

But we should do more to help Americans help each other. First, we should help faith-based organizations to do more to fight poverty and drug abuse, and help people get back on the right track, with initiatives like Second Chance Homes that do so much to help unwed teen mothers. Second, we should support Americans who tithe and contribute to charities, but don't earn enough to claim a tax deduction for it. Tonight, I propose new tax incentives that would allow low-and middle-income citizens who don't itemize to get that deduction. It's nothing but fair, and it will get more people to give.

We should do more to help new immigrants to fully participate in our community. That's why I recommend spending more to teach them civics and English. And since everybody in our community counts, we've got to make sure everyone is counted in this year's census.

Within 10 years—just 10 years—there will be no majority race in our largest state of California. In a little more than 50 years, there will be no majority race in America. In a more interconnected world, this diversity can be our greatest strength. Just look around this chamber. Look around. We have members in this Congress from virtually every racial, ethnic, and religious background. And I think you would agree that America is stronger because of it.

You also have to agree that all those differences you just clapped for all too often spark hatred and division even here at home. Just in the last couple of years, we've seen a man dragged to death in Texas just because he was black. We saw a young man murdered in Wyoming just because he was gay. Last year, we saw the shootings of African Americans, Asian Americans, and Jewish children just because of who they were. This is not the American way, and we must draw the line.

I ask you to draw that line by passing without delay the Hate Crimes Prevention Act and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. And I ask you to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act.

Finally tonight, I propose the largest-ever investment in our civil rights laws for enforcement, because no American should be subjected to discrimination in finding a home, getting a job, going to school, or securing a loan. Protections in law should be protections in fact.

Last February, because I thought this was so important, I created the White House Office of One America to promote racial reconciliation. That's what one of my personal heroes, Hank Aaron, has done all his life. From his days as our all-time home run king to his recent acts of healing, he has always brought people together. We should follow his example, and we're honored to have him with us tonight. Stand up, Hank Aaron.

I just want to say one more thing about this, and I want every one of you to think about this the next time you get mad at one of your colleagues on the other side of the aisle. This fall, at the White House, Hillary had one of her millennium dinners, and we had this very distinguished scientist there, who is an expert in this whole work in the human genome. And he said that we are all, regardless of race, genetically 99.9 percent the same.

Now, you may find that uncomfortable when you look around here. But it is worth remembering. We can laugh about this, but you think about it. Modern science has confirmed what ancient faiths has always taught: the most important fact of life is our common humanity. Therefore, we should do more than just tolerate our diversity—we should honor it and celebrate it.

My fellow Americans, every time I prepare for the State of the Union, I approach it with hope and expectation and excitement for our nation. But tonight is very special, because we stand on the mountain top of a new millennium. Behind us we can look back and see the great expanse of American achievement; and before us we can see even greater, grander frontiers of possibility. We should, all of us, be filled with gratitude and humility for our present progress and prosperity. We should be filled with awe and joy at what lies over the horizon. And we should be filled with absolute determination to make the most of it.

You know, when the framers finished crafting our Constitution in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin stood in Independence Hall and he reflected on the carving of the sun that was on the back of a chair he saw. The sun was low on the horizon. So he said this—he said, "I've often wondered whether that sun was rising or setting. Today," Franklin said, "I have the happiness to know it's a rising sun." Today, because each succeeding generation of Americans has kept the fire of freedom burning brightly, lighting those frontiers of possibility, we all still bask in the glow and the warmth of Mr. Franklin's rising sun.

After 224 years, the American revolution continues. We remain a new nation. And as long as our dreams outweigh our memories, America will be forever young. That is our destiny. And this is our moment.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

克林頓2000年國情咨文演說 中文版

2000年1月27日，星期四

議長先生、副總統(tǒng)先生、國會議員、各位貴賓、美國同胞們：

我們幸運地生活在這樣一個歷史時刻。我們國家從未享有如此之大的繁榮和社會進(jìn)步，同時面臨如此之少的國內(nèi)危機(jī)和國外威脅。我們從未有過這么幸運的機(jī)會，因此也從未有過這樣重大的責(zé)任去建設(shè)我們的開國元勛們所夢想的更加完美的合眾國。

我們正以驕人的成績迎接新世紀(jì)，我們創(chuàng)造了2000萬個以上的新就業(yè)機(jī)會，三十多年來最快的經(jīng)濟(jì)增長速度，30年來最低的失業(yè)率，20年來最低的貧困率，有史以來非洲裔美國人和西班牙裔美國人最低的失業(yè)率，42年來第一次連續(xù)性預(yù)算盈余。到下個月，美國將創(chuàng)下有史以來經(jīng)濟(jì)增長持續(xù)時間最久的記錄。

我們建設(shè)了一個新經(jīng)濟(jì)。

與我們的經(jīng)濟(jì)革命一致的是美國精神也在恢復(fù)。犯罪率下降了20%，降至25年來的最低水平;青少年的生育率連續(xù)七年呈下降趨勢;收養(yǎng)率上升了30%;接受福利救濟(jì)的人數(shù)減少了一半，是30年來的最低水平。

美國同胞們，縱觀歷史我們的合眾國從未如此強大。

像以往一樣，真正的功勞屬于美國人民。我還要感謝與我們共同努力，把進(jìn)步置于黨派斗爭之上的在座的國會議員們。八年前，大多數(shù)美國人還不這么確信，在2000年會有很多值得慶祝的成就。當(dāng)時，我們的國家處于經(jīng)濟(jì)困境、社會衰退和政治停滯之中。有一本暢銷書的書名是《美國：出了什么問題?》

憑借我們國家最優(yōu)良的傳統(tǒng)，美國人決心撥亂反正。我們重新采取中間路線，用一種植根于基本而持久的價值觀的新思想取代過時的意識形態(tài)。這種價值觀就是人人擁有機(jī)會，人人承擔(dān)責(zé)任，所有美國人組成一個大家庭。我們徹底改造了政府，使它成為新思想的催化劑，重視機(jī)會與責(zé)任，使人民擁有解決自己的問題所需要的新思想的工具。

我們憑借40年來最少的聯(lián)邦工作人員隊伍，把空前的赤字變成了創(chuàng)紀(jì)錄的盈余，并把教育方面的投資增加了一倍。借助10萬名社區(qū)警察和禁止50萬罪犯擁有槍支的布雷迪法，我們減少了犯罪。

我們知道我們結(jié)束了福利救濟(jì)——在保證兒童的醫(yī)療和營養(yǎng)的同時要求父母參加工作，并增加兒童照管、交通和住房方面的經(jīng)費以幫助他們的父母參加工作。通過家人生病休假法，父母們在我們的幫助下既能家庭美滿又能事業(yè)成功。迄今為止，已有2000萬美國人利用這種休假來照料新生兒或者生病的親人。我們吸收15萬美國年輕人加入美國國民服務(wù)隊為居民服務(wù)，同時幫助他們掙錢上大學(xué)。

1992年，我們只有一幅路線圖;今天，我們已經(jīng)取得了成果。

然而更重要的是，美國又有了擁有美好夢想的信心。但我們千萬不能讓這種信心變成自滿情緒，因為我們傳給子孫后代的夢想和行為將成為評價我們的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。在這一點上，評價我們的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)將很高，的確很高，因為我們?nèi)〉贸晒Φ臋C(jī)會是如此之大。

美國同胞們，我們已經(jīng)跨越我們建造的通向21世紀(jì)的橋梁?，F(xiàn)在，我們必須塑造21世紀(jì)的美國革命——關(guān)于機(jī)會、責(zé)任和大家庭的革命。我們必須成為一個嶄新的國家，就像開國之初一樣。

20世紀(jì)初，西奧多·羅斯福曾說：“最重要的特點是遠(yuǎn)見卓識……美國應(yīng)該成為日益強大的國家，擁有目光長遠(yuǎn)的未來。”那么今晚，讓我們放眼未來，為我們國家確定宏偉的目標(biāo)。

對于21世紀(jì)的美國，讓我們做出如下承諾：每一個孩子在入學(xué)時有望學(xué)到知識，在畢業(yè)時有望取得成就。每一個家庭都能家庭事業(yè)雙豐收，沒有一個兒童會在貧困中長大成人。我們將迎接美國老齡化的挑戰(zhàn)。我們將最終保證向所有美國人提供優(yōu)質(zhì)的、負(fù)擔(dān)得起的醫(yī)療。

我們將使美國成為地球上最安全的大國。我們將自1835年以來第一次清償國債。我們將給美國每個社區(qū)帶來繁榮。我們將扭轉(zhuǎn)氣候變化的趨勢，留給后人一個更加安全、更加潔凈的星球。美國將領(lǐng)導(dǎo)世界走向共同和平與繁榮，走向科學(xué)技術(shù)的前沿。我們將最終實現(xiàn)我們的開國元勛們很久以前的承諾——上帝庇護(hù)之下的一個不可分割、人人享有自由與正義的國家。

這些都是宏偉的目標(biāo)，值得一個偉大的國家去爭取。我們今年不可能實現(xiàn)所有這些目標(biāo)，甚至這個十年也不可能，但我們終將實現(xiàn)這些目標(biāo)。我們要記住，美國獨立戰(zhàn)爭不是一槍就打贏的，北美洲不是一年就完成開拓的。歷史以及過去七年給我們的啟示是，宏偉的目標(biāo)是一步一步實現(xiàn)的，在進(jìn)展的基礎(chǔ)上不斷積累，不斷進(jìn)步。

當(dāng)然，如果我們舉步不前，我們就不可能取得進(jìn)步。在我國最緊迫的一些優(yōu)先考慮的問題上，本屆國會猶豫的時間太久了。因此，我們今晚就從它們談起。

我再次請求你們通過真正的病人權(quán)益法。我請求你們通過注重實際的槍支安全法。我請求你們通過競選籌款改革法。我請求你們通過或否決被提名的司法官員或其他重要官員。另外，我再次請求你們，我懇求你們提高最低工資。

兩年前，讓我試著平衡一下蹺蹺板——兩年前，當(dāng)我們?yōu)閷崿F(xiàn)第一個平衡預(yù)算而跨越黨派界限時，我曾提出通過保持財政紀(jì)律來履行我們對下一代的責(zé)任。因為我們不愿背離這條道路，我們正做著在七年前看來難以想象的事情。我們實際上正逐漸支付國債。

現(xiàn)在，如果我們繼續(xù)沿著這條道路走下去，我們將在13之年內(nèi)完全清償債務(wù)，使美國自1835年安德魯·杰克遜擔(dān)任總統(tǒng)以來第一次擺脫債務(wù)的困擾。

1993年，我們開始憑借赤字減少法整頓財政狀況。你們大家都會記得，該法案是以一票之差在兩院得到通過的。你們的前同事，我的第一任財政部長，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)了那次行動并促成了我們長期的經(jīng)濟(jì)繁榮。他今晚來到了我們中間，勞埃德·本特森你為美國做出了重要貢獻(xiàn)，我們感謝你。

除了清償債務(wù)，我們必須確保削減債務(wù)的好處用于履行我們向每位美國人做出的最重要的承諾——社會保險與老年保健醫(yī)療制度。今晚，我請你們與我合作，兩黨采取一致行動把第一筆款項用于社會保險改革，把通過削減債務(wù)節(jié)省下來的錢用于社會保險信托基金，使該基金在今后50年強勁健康地發(fā)展。

但這只是我們行程的開始，我們還必須采取正確的措施來實現(xiàn)我們的偉大目標(biāo)。首先和最重要的是，我們需要在21世紀(jì)對教育進(jìn)行改革，以每個兒童都能識文斷字為指導(dǎo)思想。因為教育比以往任何時候都重要，是我國兒童通向未來的鑰匙，我們必須確保所有兒童都擁有這把鑰匙。這意味著優(yōu)質(zhì)的學(xué)前教育和課外教育，教室里受過最好培訓(xùn)的教師，以及所有兒童上大學(xué)的機(jī)會。

七年來，我們一直致力于利用機(jī)會和責(zé)任來改善我們的學(xué)校，投資更多但要求得到的回報也更多。學(xué)生的閱讀和數(shù)學(xué)能力以及大學(xué)入學(xué)成績都提高了，某些最引人注目的收益是在非常貧困街區(qū)的學(xué)校里獲得的。

但所有成功的學(xué)校都遵循著同一經(jīng)過實踐證明的準(zhǔn)則：提高標(biāo)準(zhǔn)、實施更明確的責(zé)任以及提供額外幫助，這樣需要這種幫助的兒童就能得到幫助來達(dá)到那些標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。我向國會遞交了一項以這個準(zhǔn)則為基礎(chǔ)的改革計劃。這項計劃使各州和各校區(qū)為取得進(jìn)展而做出努力，并且由于這種進(jìn)展而得到回報。每年我國政府在學(xué)校投資150多億美元。是到了支持行得通的制度和停止支持行不通的制度的時候了。

現(xiàn)在，由于我們對學(xué)校提出了更多的要求，我們也應(yīng)該增加對學(xué)校的投資。讓我們把投資增加一倍，以便幫助各州和各校區(qū)改革最差勁的學(xué)?；蛘吒纱嚓P(guān)閉它們。讓我們把對課外計劃和夏季學(xué)校計劃的投資增加一倍，以便提高成績，使人們不再在街頭閑逛，并使他們擺脫麻煩。如果我們做到這一點，我們就能夠使美國每所失敗學(xué)校的每位兒童——每一個人有機(jī)會達(dá)到高標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。

自從1993年以來，我們幾乎把我們對“起步領(lǐng)先計劃”的投資增加了一倍，并且提高了它的質(zhì)量。今晚，我要求你們對該計劃再投資10億美元，這是該計劃歷史上資金增加幅度最大的一次。

我們知道那些規(guī)模較小、教師優(yōu)異的班級里的學(xué)生的成績最好。連續(xù)兩年來，國會一直支持我的計劃，雇用10萬名新的合格教師來縮小每個年級的班級規(guī)模。為此我感謝你們，請你們連續(xù)第三年支持我的這項計劃。為了確保所有教師了解他們教授的課程，今晚我建議制訂一項新的教學(xué)質(zhì)量計劃，以便讓更多有天分的教師進(jìn)入教室授業(yè)解惑，獎勵那些留在教室安心工作的優(yōu)異教師，并且使所有教師得到他們所需要的培訓(xùn)。

我們知道特許學(xué)校提供真正的公立學(xué)校的選擇。在我就任總統(tǒng)之初，全美國只有一所獨立的公立特許學(xué)校。今天，感謝你們，全國現(xiàn)在共有1700所特許學(xué)校。我現(xiàn)在請你們幫助我們實現(xiàn)我們這樣的一個目標(biāo)，即到明年時特許學(xué)校達(dá)到3000所。

我們知道我們必須把我們所有的教室與因特網(wǎng)連接起來，我們快要達(dá)到這個目標(biāo)了。1994年，只有3%的教室連上了因特網(wǎng)。如今，在副總統(tǒng)的“提高上網(wǎng)率計劃”的幫助下，一半以上的教室連上了因特網(wǎng)。在我們所有的學(xué)校中，有90%至少有一臺計算機(jī)連接了因特網(wǎng)。

但當(dāng)我們的學(xué)校中有三分之一處于嚴(yán)重的年久失修時，我們就無法完成這項任務(wù)。許多學(xué)校的墻壁和線路如此老化，以至于無法連接因特網(wǎng)。因此今晚，我建議每年幫助5000所學(xué)校立即進(jìn)行修葺;再幫助6000所學(xué)校實現(xiàn)現(xiàn)代化，使學(xué)生們走出活動式教室，進(jìn)入高科技教室中。

我要求你們所有的人幫助我把兩黨共同制訂的“提高計劃”擴(kuò)大一倍。該計劃旨在為貧困的年輕人提供導(dǎo)師。如果我們把該計劃擴(kuò)大一倍，我們就能向140萬貧困的年輕人提供導(dǎo)師。讓我們還向來自貧困家庭的兒童提供同樣的機(jī)會，像較富裕的學(xué)生那樣為提高分?jǐn)?shù)而上大學(xué)考試預(yù)備課程。

為了讓所有人實現(xiàn)美國夢，我們必須讓所有人都上得起大學(xué)。七年來，在兩黨支持的基礎(chǔ)上，我們?yōu)閷崿F(xiàn)這個目標(biāo)而采取了行動：提高佩爾助學(xué)金，增加學(xué)生貸款，制訂教育個人退休賬戶計劃以及設(shè)立“希望”獎學(xué)金。這些舉措已經(jīng)使500萬年輕人受益。

如今，高中畢業(yè)生中有67%正準(zhǔn)備上大學(xué)。自從1993年以來這個數(shù)字增加了10%。不過，數(shù)以百萬計的家庭仍然負(fù)擔(dān)不起大學(xué)費用，他們需要幫助。因此，我建議采取具有里程碑意義的舉措，為大學(xué)減稅300億美元——中產(chǎn)階級在大學(xué)費用方面的稅額扣減高達(dá)1萬美元。本屆國會以前采取的行動已經(jīng)使所有人上得起兩年制大學(xué)，是讓所有人都上得起四年制大學(xué)的時候了。如果我們采取所有這些措施，我們將朝向確保每位兒童在上學(xué)之初有望學(xué)到知識，在畢業(yè)之后有望取得成就方面邁出很大的一步。

我們需要一場21世紀(jì)的革命，使每位父母擁有能在工作方面以及最重要的工作——撫育子女方面取得成就的工具，從而鼓勵工作和加強家庭觀念。這意味著確保每個家庭擁有保健，并且得到支持來照顧上了年紀(jì)的父母，擁有能把子女撫育成人的工具，并且確保沒有兒童在貧困中長大。

從我就任總統(tǒng)之初，我們就致力于使家庭能更好地得到醫(yī)療保健。1997年，我們通過了兒童健康保險計劃，這樣那些不能通過其雇主擁有保險的工人們至少能夠為他們的子女得到保險。迄今為止，我們登記了200萬兒童，我們正向500萬兒童這一目標(biāo)順利邁進(jìn)。

但仍有4000多萬美國同胞沒有醫(yī)療保險，人數(shù)超過1993年。今晚我倡議我們聽從副總統(tǒng)戈爾的建議，使低收入父母有資格獲得能夠把他們的子女包括在內(nèi)的保險。與我們的兒童計劃一道——想想這一點——與我們的兒童計劃一道，這個行動將使我們能夠把美國所有沒有上保險的人中近四分之一包括進(jìn)來。

再次，我希望你們讓年齡在55歲至65歲之間的人——數(shù)量增長最快的未上保險群體，加入老年保健醫(yī)療制度。今年我建議使他們享有課稅扣除，以便使他們有錢加入這個制度。我希望你們也支持這項議案。

當(dāng)生育高峰期出生的人退休時，老年保健醫(yī)療制度要照顧的公民比我們現(xiàn)在的公民多一倍。不過，這個制度遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)沒有準(zhǔn)備好這么做。我們這一代人不該讓我們的子女來挑起我們的負(fù)擔(dān)。我們必須現(xiàn)在就采取行動來加強老年保健醫(yī)療制度并使其現(xiàn)代化。

我的預(yù)算包括一項改革老年保健醫(yī)療制度，使其更加有效和更具競爭力的綜合計劃。這項計劃把近4000億美元的預(yù)算結(jié)余用于使老年保健醫(yī)療制度安然度過2025年。最后，這項計劃還提供資金，以便使每位年長者為憑處方供應(yīng)的藥品自愿選擇負(fù)擔(dān)得起的保險。

救生藥物是現(xiàn)代藥品中必不可少的一部分。今天沒有一個人會在制訂老年保健醫(yī)療制度時把憑處方供應(yīng)的藥品排除在外。不過，現(xiàn)在我國五位年長者之中，就有三位以上缺少能夠延長和豐富其生命的獨立藥物保險。數(shù)以百萬計年紀(jì)較大的美國人需要憑處方供應(yīng)的藥品。對他們來說，這是價格最高的費用。憑良心說，我們不能讓又一年在沒有讓所有年長者都獲得負(fù)擔(dān)得起的憑處方供應(yīng)的藥品的情況下過去。

贍養(yǎng)家中上了年紀(jì)或者疾病纏身的親人的美國人的數(shù)量達(dá)到創(chuàng)紀(jì)錄的水平。這是一個充滿愛心，但卻是十分困難并且常常是昂貴的選擇。去年，我提出旨在讓長期保健享受1000美元的課稅扣除的議案。坦白地說，這并不夠。今年，讓我們把課稅扣除增加兩倍，達(dá)到3000美元。今年，讓我們通過這項議案。

我們還必須進(jìn)行必要的投資來使更多的人得到精神醫(yī)療保健。我想花一點時間來感謝那位，去年領(lǐng)導(dǎo)第一屆白宮精神保健會議召開，并且七年來領(lǐng)導(dǎo)大家打破精神疾病患者接受良好治療障礙的人。謝謝你，蒂珀·戈爾。

這些議案加在一起將標(biāo)志著自從老年保健醫(yī)療制度35年前創(chuàng)立以來對醫(yī)療保健最大的投資——35年來最大的投資。這將是朝向確保所有美國人——年輕人和年長者得到優(yōu)質(zhì)醫(yī)療保健方向邁出的一大步。我請你們接受它們并且通過它們。

我們還必須進(jìn)行投資，以鼓勵工作和支持家庭。在這個方面做得最好的莫過于賺得收益稅額減免(EITC)計劃。“E”代表收入、工作、責(zé)任以及為此得到的回報。在我第一次向你們發(fā)表演說時，我要求國會大大擴(kuò)大稅額減免幅度，你們照辦了。結(jié)果，單是在1998年，賺得收益稅額減免計劃就幫助430多萬美國人設(shè)法擺脫貧困，向中產(chǎn)階級發(fā)展。這個數(shù)字比1993年增加了一倍。

今晚，我建議擴(kuò)大賺得收益稅額減免計劃的另一個方面：減少結(jié)婚罰款，以確保此舉能夠鼓勵結(jié)婚，就像鼓勵工作一樣，并且還擴(kuò)大那些擁有兩個以上子女家庭的稅額減免。而目前的制度是懲罰那些擁有兩個以上子女的人。我們的議案將讓那些擁有三個或者更多子女的家庭享受的稅款減免高達(dá)1100美元。這些是工作家庭，他們的子女不應(yīng)該生活在貧困之中。

如果男女不能同工同酬，我們也不能做到鼓勵工作和支持家庭。今天，女性失業(yè)率達(dá)到46年來的最低水平。不過，男人每掙1美元，婦女只能掙75美分。我們必須做得更好，提供人力、物力和財力來執(zhí)行目前的平等薪金法;培訓(xùn)更多的婦女，讓她們獲得高收入、高科技的就業(yè)機(jī)會;以及通過薪金公平法案。

許多工作父母把他們的收入中的四分之一用于兒童保健。去年，我們幫助父母向大約200萬兒童提供了兒童保健。我的兒童保健計劃現(xiàn)在提交到你們面前，與福利改革已經(jīng)得到的資金一道，將使兒童保健更好、更安全以及使另外40萬兒童更加容易享受保健。我請你們通過這項計劃。他們需要你們通過該計劃。

為了幫助那些處于困境的中產(chǎn)階級家庭，我們還應(yīng)該擴(kuò)大托兒費減免稅收的范圍。我堅信我們應(yīng)該采取下一個重要步驟，讓低收入家庭從這一減免稅收中獲得一定數(shù)額的退款。對于年收入低于3萬美元的人來說，這意味著最高可獲得2400美元的托兒費。我們大家都說，我們都是支持工作，支持家庭的，通過這項提案將加以證明。

數(shù)千萬美國人靠工資生活。盡管他們努力工作，但他們?nèi)匀粵]有獲得積蓄的機(jī)會。利用個人退休賬戶計劃和401-K計劃的人太少。我們應(yīng)該做出更大努力來幫助所有工作家庭來積蓄和積累財富。這就是提出個人發(fā)展賬戶計劃背后的想法。我要求你們將這一想法提升到一個新的高度，建立新的退休儲蓄賬戶，以使美國每一個低收入和較低收入的家庭能夠為養(yǎng)老、住房緊急醫(yī)療和大學(xué)教育而積蓄。我提議他們的積蓄應(yīng)該與其貢獻(xiàn)相一致，不論這種貢獻(xiàn)有多大，他們每年的貢獻(xiàn)都能與積蓄相持平。我提議對小型企業(yè)實行大幅度減免稅收，以使它們能夠為其工人提供有價值的養(yǎng)老金。這些人也跟我們大家一樣都要退休。

近十分之一的美國兒童是在沒有父親的情況下長大成人的。這些兒童生活在貧窮狀態(tài)下的可能性是生活在雙親家庭中兒童的五倍。顯而易見的是，一個對孩子提出要求并予以撫養(yǎng)的、負(fù)責(zé)任的父親對于讓所有兒童擺脫貧困是至關(guān)重要的。自1992年以來，我們已經(jīng)將孩子的撫養(yǎng)費提高了一倍。我提議你們應(yīng)該采取新的嚴(yán)厲措施，以使更多的父親負(fù)起責(zé)任來。

但是，我們應(yīng)該認(rèn)識到許多父親希望為他們的孩子做一些事情，但他們這樣做卻需要幫助。明尼蘇達(dá)州圣保羅的卡洛斯·羅薩斯希望為他的兒子做點事，他這樣做因此得到了幫助。他現(xiàn)在獲得了一份好工作并撫養(yǎng)著他年幼的兒子。我的預(yù)算將再幫助4萬名父親做出像羅薩斯那樣的選擇。我對他今晚前來這里表示感謝。請起立，卡洛斯，謝謝!

如果說有一個我們能夠超越黨派界限而取得一致的問題，那就是我們共同致力于讓工作得到回報并加強我們的家庭關(guān)系。這有點類似于我們?nèi)ツ晁龅氖虑?。我們曾一起努力來幫助外出工作的殘疾人繼續(xù)實行醫(yī)療保險。我為此對你們表示感謝。多虧本屆國會兩黨給予壓倒一切的支持，我們才得以改善孤兒院的狀況。我們幫助了這些年輕人，當(dāng)他們到十八歲時就會離開孤兒院。我們已經(jīng)大大增加了孤兒院撫養(yǎng)的孤兒進(jìn)入收養(yǎng)家庭的人數(shù)。我因此向你們致謝。

當(dāng)然，我對那個從一開始就率先努力，那個為兒童和家庭至今已不懈努力了30年的人永遠(yuǎn)表示謝意。她就是我的夫人，希拉里。謝謝她!

如果我們采取我剛剛提到的這些措施，我們就能夠在很大程度上使父母在家庭和工作上都取得成功，我們就能夠大大確保沒有一個孩子是在貧困中長大的。我們能夠在醫(yī)療保健、教育、補貼工作家庭等方面進(jìn)行這些重要的投資。我們?nèi)匀荒軌蛲ㄟ^減免稅收來幫助人們支付大學(xué)學(xué)費、退休金、贍養(yǎng)年邁的父母、減少婚姻壓力。我們能夠在不放棄財經(jīng)原則的情況下這樣做。這種原則使得我們今晚能夠在這里討論這一問題。

誠然，我們必須在保持預(yù)算平衡的情況下進(jìn)行這些投資并減免稅收。預(yù)算平衡能夠加強并延長社會保障計劃和醫(yī)療照顧計劃的壽命，還能償還國債。

美國的犯罪率在過去七年中一直在下降，這是記錄在案的持續(xù)時間最長的一次下降。這主要是因為國民在設(shè)立社區(qū)警察、敏感的槍支安全法律和有效預(yù)防犯罪等方面取得的共識。這種共識是我們幫助建立的。但是沒有人，不僅此間而且在美國也沒有人相信我們已經(jīng)足夠安全了。因此，我再次要求你們確定一個更高的目標(biāo)，讓我們把這個國家建設(shè)成為世界上最安全的大國。

去年秋天，國會支持我除招聘10萬名我們已經(jīng)資助的社區(qū)警察之外再招聘5萬名警察，主要集中在高犯罪率的居民區(qū)保護(hù)治安。我要求你們繼續(xù)對此給予支持。

哥倫拜恩慘劇發(fā)生后不久，國會就開始考慮制訂清楚明了的槍支管理法律，要求對槍支買賣進(jìn)行布雷迪提案中提出的背景檢查，新式手槍上要安裝兒童防護(hù)鎖，禁止進(jìn)口大容量的子彈夾。參議院憑借勇氣，以及副總統(tǒng)決定勝負(fù)的一票，抵制住了反對管理槍支的游說，捍衛(wèi)了美國人民的利益，通過了這一法律。但是，眾議院卻未能仿效。

現(xiàn)在我們大家都已經(jīng)看到槍支落入壞人手中將會出現(xiàn)什么情況。丹尼爾·莫瑟爾在哥倫拜恩被槍擊倒時才15歲。他是一個討人喜歡的孩子，一個成績一直非常優(yōu)異的學(xué)生，而且酷愛滑雪。如同所有失去孩子的家長一樣，他的父親湯姆經(jīng)受的痛苦難以言表。然而，他化悲痛為行動，找到了悼念他兒子的力量。本月早些時候，他請了假為通過更加嚴(yán)厲的槍支安全法律而不懈努力。我衷心祝愿他的勇氣和智慧最終能夠促使國會把這一簡單明了的槍支管理法律作為它下一個考慮的議程。湯姆·莫瑟爾，請起立。我們對你今晚能夠來到這里表示感謝。湯姆，謝謝你，湯姆。

我們必須加強我們的槍支管理法律并更好地實施已經(jīng)登記在冊的法律。自我執(zhí)政以來，聯(lián)邦槍支犯罪起訴案增加了16%。但是，我們必須采取更多的措施。我提議雇用更多的聯(lián)邦和地方起訴強制案件的檢察官和更多的AFT特工，以打擊非法販賣槍支者和屢教不改的販子。我們必須給予他們所需要的執(zhí)法手段，去搜尋在美國每一起涉槍案件中使用的每一支槍和每一發(fā)子彈的手段。我要求你們幫助我們完成這一任務(wù)。

這個國家的每一個州早就需要狩獵者和汽車司機(jī)擁有執(zhí)照，我認(rèn)為他們也必須要求購買手槍者持有執(zhí)照。具體地說，我提議實施一項計劃，以確保所有新購買槍支的人都必須首先從他們的州申請獲得貼有照片的執(zhí)照，然后才能得到槍支。該執(zhí)照須表明，持有人已經(jīng)通過了布雷迪提案中提出的背景檢查和槍支安全課程。我希望你們幫助我在國會通過這項議案。

請注意以下這一點，請注意這一點：意外槍殺率——美國15歲以下兒童意外遭到槍殺案的比率比其他25個工業(yè)化國家案例總和高出15倍。當(dāng)今存在的技術(shù)可以導(dǎo)致制造只有持有這些槍支的成人才能發(fā)射的槍。我要求國會撥款研制這種精巧槍支的技術(shù)，以便拯救我們孩子的生命。我還要求槍支行業(yè)負(fù)責(zé)任的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人與我們一起努力生產(chǎn)出精巧槍支，并采取其他措施不讓槍支落入壞人之手，保證我們孩子的安全。

我所認(rèn)識的每一個父母都擔(dān)心媒體上出現(xiàn)的暴力行動可能對他們孩子產(chǎn)生的影響。我想先感謝娛樂行業(yè)，是他們接受了我的挑戰(zhàn)，對電視節(jié)目、錄像片和因特網(wǎng)游戲?qū)嵭凶栽付?。但是坦率地說，這種定級數(shù)量太多，形式多樣，容易混淆，不能對家長起到真正有益的作用。因此，今晚我要求娛樂行業(yè)接受第一夫人的挑戰(zhàn)，制訂出家長更容易理解和實施的、單一兒童娛樂節(jié)目的自愿定級制。我闡述的這些措施將使我們大踏步地走上使美國成為世界上最安全的大國的大道。

為了能使我們具有歷史意義的經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展持續(xù)下去——這是我們的社會和其他社會大量討論的話題，我認(rèn)為我們需要通過21世紀(jì)的一場革命來開放新的市場，創(chuàng)建新的企業(yè)，就在美國，在城市中心的貧民區(qū)、貧窮的農(nóng)村地區(qū)和印地安人保護(hù)區(qū)雇用新的工人。

我們國家的繁榮還沒有覆蓋這些地區(qū)。在過去六個月中，我在你們中的許多人和眾多具有遠(yuǎn)見的企業(yè)界人士的陪同下去了其中的許多地方，以便讓人們的注意力集中在從阿巴拉契亞到密西西比三角洲，從瓦茨到派恩嶺保護(hù)區(qū)等地區(qū)巨大的潛力上。我所到之處都能見著渴望獲得機(jī)會、具有工作能力和才華的人們。今晚我要求你們，讓我們給他們以工作機(jī)會。對企業(yè)界而言，這樣做是有益的;對美國而言，這樣做是正確的。讓我向你們提一個問題：如果我們現(xiàn)在不這樣做，在這茫茫世間我們何時能有時間來這樣做?

所以，我要求國會給予企業(yè)界他們現(xiàn)在在海外市場上投資的那種優(yōu)惠措施，以便他們在美國的新市場上投資。今晚，我提議對新市場投資實行大幅度稅收減免和其他優(yōu)惠措施，促使私營部門提供220億美元的資本，以在城市中心的貧民區(qū)和農(nóng)村地區(qū)創(chuàng)建新的企業(yè)，進(jìn)行新的投資。

鑒于技能培訓(xùn)區(qū)五年來一直在創(chuàng)造這些機(jī)會，我還要求你們增加對它們投資的優(yōu)惠措施，以便創(chuàng)造更多的機(jī)會。

讓我再一次跟你們說我一直想說的話：這不是一個民主黨或共和黨的問題，給予人民以實現(xiàn)夢想的機(jī)會是一個全美國的問題。

議長先生，去年11月份的時光是美好的，你與杰西·杰克遜牧師和我一起來到了你的家鄉(xiāng)伊利諾伊州。你承諾要把國會兩黨最好的想法揉合在一起，爭取實現(xiàn)我們共同的目標(biāo)。我謹(jǐn)再次對你表示感謝并告訴你，議長先生，我期待著與你合作。這是一項值得一做的共同努力。謝謝你!

我還要求你們做出異乎尋常的努力來解決我們國家最貧困地區(qū)——印地安人保護(hù)區(qū)和密西西比三角洲面臨的一些問題。我的預(yù)算中包括一項總額為11億美元的優(yōu)惠政策，用以促進(jìn)密西西比三角洲的經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展，還包括用于我們印地安人保護(hù)區(qū)增加經(jīng)濟(jì)機(jī)會、改善醫(yī)療保健、教育和執(zhí)法的10億美元。在這個新世紀(jì)中，我們應(yīng)該以履行我們賦予最早的美國人以技能這一歷史職責(zé)來開始這個新的世紀(jì)。今晚我想感謝向我表示有興趣在這方面與我們合作的兩黨領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人和成員。這是非常重要的。

今晚，我們美國社會的另一個部分，我們的家庭農(nóng)場也面臨著困難。當(dāng)我1996年簽署農(nóng)場法案時，我曾經(jīng)說過存在這樣一種巨大的風(fēng)險，即在風(fēng)調(diào)雨順時該法案能夠很好地發(fā)揮作用，但在天災(zāi)人禍時就難以發(fā)揮作用了。干旱、水災(zāi)、創(chuàng)歷史最低紀(jì)錄的物價使農(nóng)場主的日子過得非常艱難。我們必須共同努力來加強農(nóng)場安全網(wǎng)，增加對土地保護(hù)的投資，并通過擴(kuò)大我們保護(hù)生態(tài)的燃料和產(chǎn)品計劃來為他們開拓一些新市場。他們需要幫助，讓我們一起為此而努力吧。

今天，“人人都有機(jī)會”還需要做另一件事，即接觸電腦并學(xué)會如何操作。這意味著我們必須縮小那些已經(jīng)掌握這種手段的人與那些沒有掌握的人在電腦知識方面之間的差距。

把教室和圖書館與因特網(wǎng)聯(lián)接起來是至關(guān)重要的?？墒牵覀儾艅倓偲鸩?。我的預(yù)算將確保所有新教師都將接受教授21世紀(jì)新技術(shù)的培訓(xùn)，并且將在1000個社區(qū)內(nèi)建立專為成人服務(wù)的技術(shù)中心。今年春天，我將邀請高技術(shù)帶頭人與我一起再一次進(jìn)行開拓新市場的視察，以縮小人們在電腦知識方面的差距并為我們的人民創(chuàng)造更多機(jī)會。

我想感謝那些已經(jīng)在這一領(lǐng)域做出許多貢獻(xiàn)的高技術(shù)公司。我希望我已經(jīng)提議實施的新稅收優(yōu)惠措施將會使它們中間的其他公司也與我們攜起手來。這是一項全國性的運動。我們必須這樣做，而且需要盡快做。

我想再次對你們說，這些僅僅是措施，但通過一個一個措施，我們在實現(xiàn)給每一個社區(qū)提供機(jī)會的目標(biāo)方面就能取得長足的進(jìn)展。

為了充分發(fā)揮本國經(jīng)濟(jì)的全部潛能，我們必須跨出我們自己的國界，去觸發(fā)一場拆除國與國和人與人之間、各國經(jīng)濟(jì)和文化之間的壁壘并建立新的聯(lián)網(wǎng)系統(tǒng)的革命，這就是全球化。這是我們時代的核心現(xiàn)實。

當(dāng)然，徹底改變這種局面對人民來說既有利又有弊。不過，已經(jīng)沒有回頭路可走了。我們開放的、具有創(chuàng)造性的社會肯定會比其他任何社會都更加受益，如果我們能夠認(rèn)識到互相依賴這一現(xiàn)實并據(jù)此采取行動的話。我們作為一個友好的鄰居和良好的合作伙伴，必須位居全球每一個重要網(wǎng)絡(luò)的中心。我們必須認(rèn)識到，我們不可能在不幫助他國創(chuàng)造未來的情況下創(chuàng)造我們自己的未來。

我們必須做的第一件事是在貿(mào)易方面達(dá)成共識?，F(xiàn)在對我們中那些堅信開放貿(mào)易力量的人來說，我們必須確保它既提高我們的生活水平，也提高我們的價值標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，絕不允許濫用童工或者為了發(fā)展而全然不顧環(huán)境和勞動保護(hù)。但是其他人必須認(rèn)識到，開放市場和以規(guī)則為基礎(chǔ)的貿(mào)易是我們知道的提高生活水平、減少全球貧困和環(huán)境危害、保證思想自由流通的最好引擎。

今天晚上我像第一天來這里時一樣堅信，在貿(mào)易方面美國唯一的前進(jìn)方向——在貿(mào)易方面美國唯一的方向是繼續(xù)前進(jìn)。我請你們幫助我取得這樣的共識。

我們必須把發(fā)展中的經(jīng)濟(jì)體作為我們繁榮的伙伴。正是因為這個原因，我想再次請你們最終確定我們開拓性的非洲和加勒比盆地貿(mào)易計劃。

但是，全球化不僅是經(jīng)濟(jì)。我們的目標(biāo)是使全世界團(tuán)結(jié)在自由、民主與和平的周圍，反對分裂世界的人。下面是我認(rèn)為美國在塑造21世紀(jì)的世界時必須應(yīng)對的根本性挑戰(zhàn)。

第一，我們必須繼續(xù)鼓勵我們以前的對手俄羅斯和中國成為穩(wěn)定、繁榮、民主的國家。它們今天在充分發(fā)揮潛力方面受阻：俄羅斯因為殘存的共產(chǎn)主義、動蕩的經(jīng)濟(jì)、車臣?xì)埧岬淖孕l(wèi)戰(zhàn)爭而受阻;中國因為幻想能以犧牲自由為代價得到穩(wěn)定而受阻。

但是，想一想過去十年發(fā)生了多大的變化：5000件前蘇聯(lián)核武器退出現(xiàn)役，俄羅斯軍人實際上與我們一起在巴爾干服務(wù)，俄羅斯人民一千年以來第一次選舉了他們的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人;在中國，經(jīng)濟(jì)比以往任何時候都向世界開放。

當(dāng)然沒有任何人，今晚在這個大廳里沒有一個人確切地知道這些大國將選擇什么方向。但是我們肯定的知道，我們能選擇我們做什么。我們應(yīng)該盡一切努力增加他們做出明智選擇，即成為我們?nèi)虼蠹彝ソㄔO(shè)性成員的可能。

正是因為這個原因，我們支持那些為民主、繁榮的未來而斗爭的俄羅斯人，繼續(xù)減少我們的核武器，幫助俄羅斯保障剩余的核武器和材料的安全。

也正是因為這個原因，我相信國會應(yīng)該支持我們?yōu)槭怪袊尤胧澜缳Q(mào)易組織而談判的協(xié)議，今年盡快批準(zhǔn)給中國的永久性正常貿(mào)易關(guān)系地位。

我認(rèn)為出于兩個原因，你們應(yīng)該支持這個協(xié)議。首先，我們的市場已經(jīng)向中國開放，這個協(xié)議將使中國的市場向我們開放。第二，它將明顯推進(jìn)亞洲的和平事業(yè)和促進(jìn)中國的變革事業(yè)。不，我們不知道它走向何方。我們能做的只是決定我們做什么。但是歸根結(jié)蒂，我們有必要知道，我們做了我們能做的一切來最大限度地增加中國選擇正確未來的可能。

我們必須應(yīng)對的第二個挑戰(zhàn)是保護(hù)我們自己的安全，不受有可能引發(fā)更大范圍的戰(zhàn)爭和威脅到全人類的沖突的危害。我們不能防止所有沖突或者制止所有暴行，但是在涉及到我們的利益而我們又能起到作用的地方，我們應(yīng)該也必須作為維和者。

我們應(yīng)該為我們在以下幾個方面發(fā)揮的作用而感到自豪，即讓中東更接近于實現(xiàn)持久和平，在北愛爾蘭建立和平，為東帝汶和非洲的和平做出努力，促進(jìn)希臘與土耳其以及塞浦路斯希族與土族之間的和解，努力消除印度與巴基斯坦之間的危機(jī)，維護(hù)人權(quán)和宗教自由。我們還應(yīng)該為我們武裝部隊的男女官兵以及我們盟國的士兵制止了科索沃的種族清洗并使數(shù)百萬人返回家園而感到自豪。

正值米洛舍維奇向科索沃發(fā)起恐怖行動之際，約翰·徹里上尉是力挽狂瀾、勇敢的飛行員之一。當(dāng)一架美國飛機(jī)在塞爾維亞上空被擊落時，他冒著敵人密集的防空炮火把他的飛行員戰(zhàn)友營救回國。由于我們武裝部隊的高超技術(shù)和勇敢精神，我們在科索沃取得了勝利，而且在戰(zhàn)場上沒有犧牲一兵一卒。我希望把徹里上尉介紹給你們。我們對徹里上尉表示敬意。我向你保證，上尉先生，我們將完成你開創(chuàng)的工作。請站起來，讓我們一睹你的風(fēng)采。

我們面臨的第三個挑戰(zhàn)是在繼續(xù)這種不可抗拒的技術(shù)潮流的同時，不讓恐怖分子和潛在的敵國獲得破壞我們防御的手段。請牢記，將移動電話縮小到手掌般大小的同一種技術(shù)也可以使恐怖武器更容易藏匿，更易于使用。

我們必須采取以下手段來應(yīng)對這種威脅，達(dá)成有效協(xié)議來限制朝鮮的核武器和導(dǎo)彈計劃，制止致命的技術(shù)流向伊朗，防止伊拉克威脅鄰國，提高我們防御生物和化學(xué)武器進(jìn)攻的能力，保護(hù)我們重要的電腦系統(tǒng)免受黑客和罪犯的攻擊，研制一種防御新導(dǎo)彈威脅的系統(tǒng)，同時又努力保留我們與俄羅斯達(dá)成的《反彈道導(dǎo)彈條約》。我們必須采取這些行動。

我可以向你們預(yù)言，當(dāng)我們中的大多數(shù)人早已不在人世的時候，有的甚至在今后10至20年間將會去世，我們國家在安全方面面臨的主要威脅將來自于國家的敵人：販毒分子、恐怖主義分子和有組織的犯罪集團(tuán)。他們將糾集在一起，同流合污，并將越來越多地獲得更加先進(jìn)的生物和化學(xué)武器。

我想對五角大樓等部門眼下正在做的事情表示感謝，他們努力保護(hù)我們，并為此制訂計劃以使我們的防御變得更加牢固。我請求你們?yōu)榇_保他們的成功而給予支持。

我還請求你們今年進(jìn)行建設(shè)性的黨派對話，爭取取得一種我希望最終將導(dǎo)致批準(zhǔn)《全面禁止核試驗條約》的共識。

我希望我們還能做出建設(shè)性的努力，以應(yīng)對由貧富之間的懸殊差距給我們的星球帶來的挑戰(zhàn)。我們不能容忍一個人類的一部分處在新經(jīng)濟(jì)的最前沿而其他的人則在為生存而掙扎的世界。我認(rèn)為我們必須盡力來改變這種狀況——通過擴(kuò)大貿(mào)易、增加援助和擴(kuò)大自由來加以實現(xiàn)。

值得注意的是，從尼日利亞到印度尼西亞，1999年有權(quán)選舉自己領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人的民眾多于柏林墻拆除時的1989年。我們必須支持這些民主國家，尤其是今天晚上，還包括哥倫比亞。它正在為保衛(wèi)本國人民的生命和我們后代的生命與毒品走私者進(jìn)行斗爭。我已經(jīng)提出一項幫助哥倫比亞贏得這場斗爭的強有力的兩年計劃。我想感謝兩院的兩黨領(lǐng)袖們在這項計劃上聽取我和哥倫比亞總統(tǒng)的意見。我想感謝各位的幫助。許多事情都取決于這項計劃，它對我們國家的長期穩(wěn)定，對拉丁美洲發(fā)生的事情非常重要。

我還希望你們知道，我將向你們提交一項新的法案，來查抄這些毒品大王們最珍視的東西——他們的金錢。我希望你們也會通過這項法案。

在一個有十多億人每天的生活費不足一美元的世界上，我們還必須在全球努力減少最窮國家的債務(wù)中盡到我們的責(zé)任，使它們能夠在教育、保健和經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展方面進(jìn)行投資。這是教皇和其他宗教領(lǐng)袖們敦促我們采取的行動。去年，國會為美國應(yīng)盡的義務(wù)撥出了款項。我請求你們繼續(xù)這樣做，我感謝你們所做的一切，請你們再接再厲，貫徹始終。

我還想說，美國必須幫助更多的國家擺脫疾病的枷鎖。去年，非洲死于艾滋病的人數(shù)是在戰(zhàn)爭中傷亡人數(shù)的10倍。我向你們提交的預(yù)算又拿出1.5億美元用于與這種疾病和其他致命性傳染病做斗爭。今天，我建議以減稅來加快瘧疾、肺病和艾滋病等疾病疫苗的研制。我請求私營部門和世界各地的伙伴與我們一道支持這項事業(yè)。我們可共同挽救數(shù)百萬人的生命。我們應(yīng)該這樣做。

我還想提一提我們的最后挑戰(zhàn)，它總是最重要的挑戰(zhàn)。我請求你們通過一項國家安全預(yù)算。這項預(yù)算可使我們的軍隊通過加強戰(zhàn)備，擁有21世紀(jì)的武器，繼續(xù)成為世界上訓(xùn)練最有素、裝備最精良的部隊。它提高了我們軍人的薪金，為使我們的軍人免于參加戰(zhàn)爭的外交活動提供充足的經(jīng)費，它履行了我們支付我們的聯(lián)合國會費和欠款的承諾。我請求你們通過這項預(yù)算。

如果有可能我還想談一件事情，是今天晚上涉及個人的事情。美國民眾在家里收看我們的電視轉(zhuǎn)播，在各位評論員的幫助下，他們從哪些人站立，哪些人坐在座位上，哪些人鼓掌，哪些人沒有鼓掌就能知道這個大廳里仍存在不同的意見。但是，我想為某些事情感謝你們，感謝在座的各位。我想感謝你們——共和黨人和民主黨人——對我們的軍人給予的特別支持。

我特別想感謝兩個人。首先，我想感謝我們的國防部長比爾·科恩。他象征著我們兩黨對國家安全的承諾。謝謝你，先生。再者，我還想感謝他的妻子珍妮特。她為表示對我們部隊的支持，不知疲倦地周游世界，出訪的次數(shù)比任何美國人都多。謝謝你珍妮特。謝謝你。

這是我們必須應(yīng)對的挑戰(zhàn)，這樣我們才能在一個全球化的時代領(lǐng)導(dǎo)全世界走向和平與自由。

我想告訴你們，作為總統(tǒng)許多事情使我非常滿意。但是，我感到滿意的事情之一是副總統(tǒng)和我有機(jī)會終于打消了一些人的錯誤想法，即不能同時既發(fā)展經(jīng)濟(jì)又保護(hù)環(huán)境。

隨著我們經(jīng)濟(jì)的發(fā)展，我們已經(jīng)在500多個居民區(qū)消滅了有毒廢物，確保數(shù)百萬人獲得比較潔凈的空氣和水源。僅在過去三個月里，我們就幫助保護(hù)了國家森林中4000萬英畝的無路土地，創(chuàng)建了三個新的國家天然勝地。

隨著我們社區(qū)的發(fā)展，我們對自然保護(hù)的承諾也必須繼續(xù)加強。今天晚上，我建議設(shè)立一項永久性自然保護(hù)基金，使野生動植物恢復(fù)生機(jī)，保護(hù)海岸線，挽救自然財富，從加利福尼亞州的紅杉到佛羅里達(dá)州的大沼澤都需要保護(hù)。

這項土地遺產(chǎn)基金將是在本院提出的對土地保護(hù)的最最持久的投資。我希望我們能與所有持不同意見的人坐在一起協(xié)商，實現(xiàn)這個目標(biāo)。這應(yīng)是我們不分黨派獻(xiàn)給我們子孫后代的一件禮物。我們能為實現(xiàn)這個目標(biāo)達(dá)成協(xié)議。

去年，副總統(tǒng)發(fā)起了使社區(qū)變得更自由、更適于居住——據(jù)我所知是自由的新努力。請稍等，這是一句妙語。這是今年的日程。去年是適于居住，對嗎?這是參議員洛特將在事后的評論中所說的話。要使我們的社區(qū)變得更加適于居住，這是一件大事，這是一個大問題。這意味著什么?你們可以問一問居住在不適于居住的社區(qū)的任何人，他們會告訴你們。他們希望他們的孩子在公園旁邊長大，而不是在停車場旁邊長大。父母們不必把本來應(yīng)在家里與孩子們共渡的時光消磨在寸步難行的道路上。

今天晚上，我請求你們支持為以下項目撥出新的經(jīng)費，使美國的社區(qū)變得自由適于居住。

首先，我希望你們幫助我們做三件事。我們的先進(jìn)公共交通系統(tǒng)需要更多的經(jīng)費。我們需要更多的經(jīng)費挽救重開發(fā)地區(qū)的開闊空間。我們需要更多的經(jīng)費——這應(yīng)對兩黨都有吸引力，我們需要更多的經(jīng)費幫助五大湖周圍的城市保護(hù)他們的水道，提高他們的生活質(zhì)量。我們需要這些經(jīng)費，我希望你們給予幫助。

新世紀(jì)面臨的最大環(huán)境挑戰(zhàn)是全球氣候變暖?？茖W(xué)家們告訴我們，20世紀(jì)90年代是整個千年中最熱的十年。如果我們不能減少溫室氣體的排放，致命的熱浪和干旱將變得更加頻繁，沿海地區(qū)將洪水泛濫，經(jīng)濟(jì)將受到破壞。除非我們采取行動，否則這種情況將會發(fā)生。

美國有許多人——這個大廳里的一些人以及世界各地的許多人仍然認(rèn)為，不放慢經(jīng)濟(jì)增長的速度，就不能減少溫室氣體的排放。在工業(yè)化時代，很有可能是這種情況。但是，在這個數(shù)字經(jīng)濟(jì)時代，情況再也不同了。新技術(shù)使在減少有害氣體排放的同時加快經(jīng)濟(jì)增長成為可能。

例如，就在上星期，汽車制造商們推出了每加侖汽油行駛70～80英里的汽車，這是政府與工業(yè)的獨特研究合作的成果。生物燃料的有效生產(chǎn)將在人們不知不覺的情況下，使相當(dāng)于一加侖汽油的燃料行駛數(shù)百英里的路程。

為了加快這種新技術(shù)的創(chuàng)新，我認(rèn)為我們應(yīng)該給予重要的減稅刺激，鼓勵企業(yè)生產(chǎn)潔凈能源，鼓勵家庭購買節(jié)能住宅和家用電器以及即將問世的下一代超級效率汽車。我還請求汽車工業(yè)利用現(xiàn)有的技術(shù)立即提高所有新汽車的燃料利用率。

我請求本屆國會做一件其他事情。請幫助我們更多地向發(fā)展中國家提供我們的潔凈能源技術(shù)。這將使國外在改善環(huán)境的情況下獲得發(fā)展，在美利堅合眾國這里創(chuàng)造更多的就業(yè)機(jī)會。

在新世紀(jì)，科學(xué)技術(shù)的創(chuàng)新不僅是環(huán)境健康的關(guān)鍵，也將是奇跡般地提高我們的生活質(zhì)量和經(jīng)濟(jì)取得進(jìn)步的關(guān)鍵。今年晚些時候，研究人員將完成整個人體基因圖的第一份草稿，這是生命的藍(lán)圖。我們所有美國同胞都應(yīng)認(rèn)識到，聯(lián)邦稅收為這項研究的大部分工作提供了經(jīng)費，這種投資以及對科學(xué)的其他明智投資將使我們發(fā)現(xiàn)、治療和預(yù)防疾病的能力發(fā)生一場革命。

例如，研究人員已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了引起帕金森氏病、糖尿病和某些癌癥的基因。現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)研究出永久阻止這些基因的有害影響的精確療法。研究人員已經(jīng)在利用這種新方法瞄準(zhǔn)和消滅引起乳腺癌的細(xì)胞。我們或許能在不久利用這種方法防止阿耳茨海默氏病的發(fā)生?？茖W(xué)家們還研究出一種人工視網(wǎng)膜，可幫助許多盲人重見光明——請注意——還有微芯片，實際上它將直接刺激受傷的脊髓，讓現(xiàn)在的癱瘓者站起來行走。

這些發(fā)明創(chuàng)造還在推動著我們非凡的繁榮。信息技術(shù)的從業(yè)人員現(xiàn)在僅占我們就業(yè)人數(shù)的8%，但是，它創(chuàng)造的財富占我們經(jīng)濟(jì)增長的三分之一。順便說一下，它為就業(yè)者提供的報酬比私營部門的平均報酬高出大約80%。我們還應(yīng)牢記的是，政府資助的研究項目發(fā)明了超級計算機(jī)、互聯(lián)網(wǎng)和通訊衛(wèi)星。研究人員將在不久為我們研究出能對外語進(jìn)行同聲傳譯的機(jī)器。重量很輕，堅固性卻比鋼高十倍的材料即將問世。我簡直不敢相信的是，只有一滴眼淚大小的分子計算機(jī)卻有當(dāng)今速度最快的超級計算機(jī)的功能。

為了加快科技領(lǐng)域所有這些學(xué)科的發(fā)展步伐，我請求你們支持我的建議，為21世紀(jì)的科研基金撥出前所未有的30億美元經(jīng)費，這是一代人的時間里民用科研經(jīng)費幅度最大的增長。我們應(yīng)為我們的未來投資。

現(xiàn)在，這些新的突破必須以反映我們價值觀的方式加以利用。首先而且最重要的是，我們必須保障我們公民的隱私權(quán)。去年，我建議保護(hù)每位公民的病例。今年，我們將定下這些規(guī)則。我們還初步采取一些措施保護(hù)銀行和信用卡記錄以及其他財務(wù)表格的秘密。我將在不久向你們提交法案完成這項工作。我們還必須采取行動防止雇主或保險人從遺傳上給予任何歧視。我希望你們會給予支持。

這些措施將允許我們向更遠(yuǎn)的科技邊疆邁進(jìn)。這將增進(jìn)我們的健康，改善我們的環(huán)境，以我們現(xiàn)在不能想象的方式促進(jìn)經(jīng)濟(jì)增長。我們都知道，當(dāng)科學(xué)技術(shù)和全球化的力量給我們所有人的生活帶來如此之多的變化時，我們加強植根于我們本地社區(qū)和我們?nèi)珖鐣募~帶比以往任何時候都更加重要。

在不同的民眾當(dāng)中最有凝聚力的紐帶莫過于公民服務(wù)。美國出現(xiàn)了一種新的服務(wù)精神——這是我們設(shè)法以美國國民服務(wù)隊、擴(kuò)大的和平隊、與工商企業(yè)的前所未有的新伙伴關(guān)系、基金會、社區(qū)組織給予支持的一場運動。例如，有1.2萬家公司參加的一種伙伴關(guān)系，現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)使我們的65萬名同胞從靠福利生活走向自食其力。還有一些伙伴關(guān)系是為了與毒品濫用和艾滋病作斗爭，教年輕人學(xué)習(xí)識字，挽救美國的財富，加強藝術(shù)的發(fā)展，預(yù)防青少年懷孕，防止年輕人之間發(fā)生暴力，促進(jìn)種族間的和解。美國人民已經(jīng)開始合作了。

但是，我們還應(yīng)采取更多行動促使美國人互相幫助。首先，我們應(yīng)該幫助以信仰為基礎(chǔ)的組織做出更多努力與貧困和毒品濫用作斗爭，幫助人們回到正確的軌道，實施幫助未婚少女母親的二次機(jī)會住宅這樣的計劃。其次，我們應(yīng)該支持那些向慈善機(jī)構(gòu)捐款，而其收入又不足以申請減稅的美國人。今天晚上，我建議實現(xiàn)新的納稅刺激，允許沒有開列捐款賬單的中低收入公民獲得這項減稅。這只是公平的做法，這會讓更多的人慷慨解囊。

我們應(yīng)該做出更多努力幫助新移民充分參與我們的社會。由于這個原因，我建議增加開支教他們學(xué)習(xí)公民準(zhǔn)則和英語。由于每一個人都是我們社會的一員，我們必須確保在今年的人口普查中把每一個人都登記在冊。

在十年的時間里——只是十年，我們最大的州加利福尼亞將沒有多數(shù)種族。在50年多一點的時間里，美國將沒有多數(shù)種族。在一個相互聯(lián)系更加密切的世界里，這種多樣性可能是我們的最大力量。請環(huán)顧一下這個大廳。請環(huán)顧一下。本屆國會議員來自幾乎所有的種族、民族和宗教背景。我認(rèn)為，你們會同意的看法是，由于這個原因，美國才更加強大。

你們還得同意的是，你們剛才為之鼓掌的所有這些差異常常引起仇恨和分裂，甚至在這里也是如此。就在過去幾年里，得克薩斯州的一名男子被活活拖死，就是因為他是黑人。一名男子在懷俄明州被暗殺，就是因為他是同性戀者。去年，美國黑人、亞裔美國人和猶太人遭槍殺，就是因為他們的血統(tǒng)。這不是美國的方式，我們必須與此劃清界限。

我請求你們劃清這條界線，刻不容緩地通過仇恨犯罪預(yù)防法和就業(yè)不歧視法。我請求你們重新批準(zhǔn)防止對婦女暴力法。

最后，我建議為我們實施民權(quán)法進(jìn)行數(shù)額最大的投資，因為任何美國人在購買住宅、就業(yè)、上學(xué)或獲得貸款方面都不得受到歧視。法律中給予的保護(hù)應(yīng)該是事實上的保護(hù)。

去年2月，我成立了白宮美國大同辦公室，以促進(jìn)種族和解，因為我認(rèn)為這一點非常重要。這是我心目中的英雄之一漢克·阿倫終其一生所做的事情。從他作為棒球名手的時代到他最近從事的調(diào)?；顒樱偸亲屓藗冏叩揭黄?。我們應(yīng)該以他為榜樣，我們?yōu)樗裉焱砩系墓馀R感到榮幸。漢克·阿倫，請站起來。

有關(guān)這個問題，我還想再講一件事。我希望各位下次對你們對面的一位同事發(fā)火的時候考慮這個問題。去年秋天，希拉里在白宮舉辦了她的一次新千年晚宴，我們邀請到一位非常杰出的科學(xué)家，他是整個人類基因研究工作的專家。他說，不管什么種族，我們的基因有99.9%是相同的。

現(xiàn)在，當(dāng)你們在這里環(huán)顧周圍的時候，你們可能感到很不自在，但是這是值得牢記的。我們可以對此一笑了之，但是你們應(yīng)該想一想?，F(xiàn)代科學(xué)證實了古代信仰始終傳授的東西：最重要的生活事實是我們是同一個人類。因此，我們應(yīng)該不僅僅容忍我們的多樣性，我們應(yīng)該尊重這種多樣性，頌揚這種多樣性。

同胞們，我每次準(zhǔn)備發(fā)表國情咨文時都對我們國家充滿希望和期望，并為之激動萬分。但是今天晚上非常特殊，因為我們處在新千年的開始?；仡欉^去，我們看到美國取得的巨大成就。展望未來，我們看到前景廣闊，前途無限。對于我們目前的進(jìn)步與繁榮，我們都應(yīng)該感到滿意，同時又要戒驕戒躁。我們都應(yīng)為即將來臨的機(jī)會充滿驚奇與喜悅。我們應(yīng)該以十足的決心最充分地利用這種機(jī)會。

你們知道，當(dāng)憲法的制定者們在費城制定完我們的憲法時，本杰明·弗蘭克林站在獨立紀(jì)念館里，看著照在一張椅背上的陽光陷入沉思。太陽從地平線上冉冉升起。他當(dāng)時說了這樣一句話——他說：“我常常想知道太陽是在升起還是在下落。”弗蘭克林說：“今天，我高興地知道，它是冉冉升起的太陽。”如今，由于后來的每一代美國人都在使自由的火焰熊熊燃燒，照亮了這些有可能開拓的邊疆，我們現(xiàn)在仍都沐浴在弗蘭克林先生冉冉升起的太陽的光輝與溫暖之中。

224年之后，美國革命在繼續(xù)。我們?nèi)允且粋€年輕的國家。只要我們的理想超出我們的記憶，美國將永遠(yuǎn)年輕。這就是我們的使命，這就是我們驕傲的時刻。

謝謝大家，愿上帝保佑你們，保佑美國。