Friday, January 28, 2000
Text of State of the Union address
(Part 3 of 5)
Crime in America has dropped for the past seven years — 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 believes America is safe enough. So let's set a higher goal: Let's make America the safest big country in the world.
Last fall, Congress supported my plan to hire — in addition to the 100,000 community police we have already funded — 50,000 more, concentrated in high-crime neighborhoods. I ask your continued support.
Soon after the Columbine tragedy, Congress considered common-sense gun safety legislation to require Brady background checks at gun shows, child safety locks for all 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.
We've 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 Tom 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 move this Congress to make common-sense gun safety legislation the very next order of business. Tom, thank you for being here tonight.
We must strengthen gun laws and better enforce laws already on the books. Federal gun crime prosecutions are up 16 percent since I took office. But again, 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 law enforcement the tools to trace every gun — and every bullet — used in a crime in America.
Listen to this: The accidental gun death rate of children under 15 in the United States is nine times higher than in the other 25 industrialized nations — combined. 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 in smart gun technology. I also call on responsible leaders in the gun industry to work with us on smart guns and other steps to keep guns out of the wrong hands and keep our children safe.
Every parent I know worries about the impact of violence in the media on their children. I thank the entertainment industry for accepting my challenge to put voluntary ratings on TV programs and video and Internet games. But the ratings are too numerous, diverse and confusing to be really useful to parents. Therefore, I now ask the industry to accept the first lady's challenge — to develop a single, voluntary rating system for all children's entertainment, one that is easier for parents to understand and enforce. If we take all these steps, we will be well on our way to making America the safest big country in the world.
To keep our historic economic expansion going, we need a 21st century revolution to open new markets, start new businesses and hire new workers right here in America — in our inner cities, poor rural areas and on Indian reservations. Our nation's prosperity has not yet reached these places. Over the last six months, I have traveled to many 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 Indian Reservation. Everywhere I've gone, I've met talented people eager for opportunity, and able to work. 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 if we don't do it now, when will we ever get around to it?
I ask Congress to give businesses the same incentives to invest in America's new markets that they now have to invest in foreign markets. 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 inner cities and rural areas. Empowerment zones have been creating these opportunities for five years now. We should also increase incentives to invest in them and create more of them.
This is not a Democratic or a Republican issue. It is an American issue. Mr. Speaker, it was a powerful moment last November when you joined me and the Rev. Jesse Jackson 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. Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with you.
We must maintain our commitment to community development banks and keep the Community Reinvestment Act strong so all Americans have access to the capital they need to buy homes and build businesses. We need to make special efforts to address the areas with the highest rates of poverty.
My budget includes a special $110 million initiative to promote economic development in the Mississippi Delta and $1 billion to increase economic opportunity, health care, education and law enforcement for Native American communities. In this new century, we should honor our historic responsibility to empower the first Americans. I thank leaders and members from both parties who have already expressed an interest in working with us on these efforts.
There's another part of our American community in trouble today — our family farmers. When I signed the farm bill in 1996, I said there was a great danger it would work well in good times but not in bad. Well, droughts, floods and historically low prices have made times very bad for our farmers. We must work together to strengthen the farm safety net, invest in land conservation and create new markets by expanding our program for bio-based fuels and products.
Today, opportunity for all requires something new: having access to a computer and knowing how to use it. That means we must close the digital divide between those who have these 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 creates technology centers in 1,000 communities to serve adults. This spring, I will invite high-tech leaders to join me on another New Markets tour — to close the digital divide and open opportunity for all our people. I thank the high-tech companies that are already doing so much in this area — and I hope the new tax incentives I have proposed will encourage others to join us.
If we take these steps, we will go a long way toward our goal of bringing opportunity to every community.
To realize the full possibilities of the new 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, economies and cultures: globalization. It is the central reality of our time. Change this profound is both liberating and threatening. But there is no turning back. And our open, creative society stands to benefit more than any other — if we understand, and act on, the new realities of interdependence. We must be at the center of every vital global network, as a good neighbor and partner. We cannot build our future without helping others to build theirs.
First, we must forge a new consensus on trade. Those of us who believe passionately in the power of open trade must ensure that it lifts both our living standards and our values, never tolerating abusive child labor or a race to the bottom on the environment and worker protection. Still, open markets and rules-based trade are the best engines we know for raising living standards, reducing global poverty and environmental destruction, and assuring the free flow of ideas. There is only one direction for America on trade: We must go forward.
And we must make developing economies our partners in prosperity — which is why I ask Congress to finalize our groundbreaking African and Caribbean basin trade initiatives. Globalization is about more than economics. Our purpose must be to bring the world together around democracy, freedom 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 from reaching their full potential: Russia by the legacy of communism, economic 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: thousands of former Soviet nuclear weapons eliminated, Russian soldiers 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. No one can know for sure what direction these great countries will choose. But we must do everything in our power to increase the chance they will choose wisely, to be constructive members of the global community.
MORE
Text of State of the Union address (Part 1)
Text of State of the Union address (Part 2)
Text of State of the Union address (Part 3)
Text of State of the Union address (Part 4)
Text of State of the Union address (Part 5)
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