WASHINGTON — Bill Clinton, in the final State of the Union address of his roller-coaster presidency, outlined a far-reaching agenda Thursday that calls for $350 billion in tax cuts and major new investments in education, from preschool to graduate school.
Aiming to force history to look beyond his impeachment to his stewardship of unprecedented prosperity, Clinton said that today's overflowing treasury could wipe out the 150-year-old national debt in just 13 years--with enough left over to extend the life of Social Security until 2050 and Medicare until 2025.
Detailing an ambitious list of proposals more typical of a first-year president than a lame duck, Clinton challenged the Republican Congress to put substantive accomplishment ahead of the quest for political advantage in this year's elections.
"We stand on the mountaintop of a new millennium," Clinton said. "We should be filled with gratitude and humility for our prosperity and progress, with awe and joy at what lies ahead--and with absolute determination to make the most of it."
Clinton's delivery was upbeat and confident, even as the speech went on for nearly 90 minutes. Many of his proposals had a distinctly Democratic stamp--from a federal law forbidding job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation to stricter control on sales at gun shows, which failed to pass last year.
He did not shy from needling Congress. "You can't gain ground if you're standing still," he said. "For too long, this Congress has been standing still on some of our most pressing national priorities."
With Vice President Al Gore leading the applause, Democrats rose in unison to cheer Clinton's calls for a patient's bill of rights, stricter gun laws, campaign finance reform and an increase in the minimum wage. Republicans on the other side of the aisle did not join them.
The GOP side of the chamber already showed more empty seats than usual when Clinton began his address, and after the first hour Republicans started quietly slipping out during standing ovations. By the time the address was over, almost one-third of the Republican section was empty.
Both parties, however, see possibilities for new legislation on tax cuts, education and health care, although perhaps not on the grand scale envisaged by Clinton.
