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President[ Ronald Reagan

         Date[ January 25, 1988

Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, and distinguished Members of the House and

Senate: When we first met here 7 years ago--many of us for the first

time--it was with the hope of beginning something new for America. We meet

here tonight in this historic Chamber to continue that work. If anyone

expects just a proud recitation of the accomplishments of my

administration, I say let's leave that to history; we're not finished yet.

So, my message to you tonight is put on your work shoes; we're still on the

job.

History records the power of the ideas that brought us here those 7 years

ago--ideas like the individual's right to reach as far and as high as his or

her talents will permit; the free market as an engine of economic progress.

And as an ancient Chinese philosopher, Lao-tzu, said: "Govern a great

nation as you would cook a small fish; do not overdo it." Well, these ideas

were part of a larger notion, a vision, if you will, of America

herself--an America not only rich in opportunity for the individual but an

America, too, of strong families and vibrant neighborhoods; an America

whose divergent but harmonizing communities were a reflection of a deeper

community of values: the value of work, of family, of religion, and of the

love of freedom that God places in each of us and whose defense He has

entrusted in a special way to this nation.

All of this was made possible by an idea I spoke of when Mr. Gorbachev was

here--the belief that the most exciting revolution ever known to humankind

began with three simple words: "We the People," the revolutionary notion

that the people grant government its rights, and not the other way around.

And there's one lesson that has come home powerfully to me, which I would

offer to you now. Just as those who created this Republic pledged to each

other their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, so, too,

America's leaders today must pledge to each other that we will keep

foremost in our hearts and minds not what is best for ourselves or for our

party but what is best for America.

In the spirit of Jefferson, let us affirm that in this Chamber tonight

there are no Republicans, no Democrats--just Americans. Yes, we will have

our differences, but let us always remember what unites us far outweighs

whatever divides us. Those who sent us here to serve them--the millions of

Americans watching and listening tonight--expect this of us. Let's prove to

them and to ourselves that democracy works even in an election year. We've

done this before. And as we have worked together to bring down spending,

tax rates, and inflation, employment has climbed to record heights; America

has created more jobs and better, higher paying jobs; family income has

risen for 4 straight years, and America's poor climbed out of poverty at

the fastest rate in more than 10 years.

Our record is not just the longest peacetime expansion in history but an

economic and social revolution of hope based on work, incentives, growth,

and opportunity; a revolution of compassion that led to private sector

initiatives and a 77-percent increase in charitable giving; a revolution

that at a critical moment in world history reclaimed and restored the

American dream.

In international relations, too, there's only one description for what,

together, we have achieved: a complete turnabout, a revolution. Seven years

ago, America was weak, and freedom everywhere was under siege. Today

America is strong, and democracy is everywhere on the move. From Central

America to East Asia, ideas like free markets and democratic reforms and

human rights are taking hold. We've replaced "Blame America" with "Look up

to America." We've rebuilt our defenses. And of all our accomplishments,

none can give us more satisfaction than knowing that our young people are

again proud to wear our country's uniform.

And in a few moments, I'm going to talk about three developments--arms

reduction, the Strategic Defense Initiative, and the global democratic

revolution--that, when taken together, offer a chance none of us would have

dared imagine 7 years ago, a chance to rid the world of the two great

nightmares of the postwar era. I speak of the startling hope of giving our

children a future free of both totalitarianism and nuclear terror.

Tonight, then, we're strong, prosperous, at peace, and we are free. This is

the state of our Union. And if we will work together this year, I believe

we can give a future President and a future Congress the chance to make

that prosperity, that peace, that freedom not just the state of our Union

but the state of our world.

Toward this end, we have four basic objectives tonight. First, steps we can

take this year to keep our economy strong and growing, to give our children

a future of low inflation and full employment. Second, let's check our

progress in attacking social problems, where important gains have been

made, but which still need critical attention. I mean schools that work,

economic independence for the poor, restoring respect for family life and

family values. Our third objective tonight is global: continuing the

exciting economic and democratic revolutions we've seen around the world.

Fourth and finally, our nation has remained at peace for nearly a decade

and a half, as we move toward our goals of world prosperity and world

freedom. We must protect that peace and deter war by making sure the next

President inherits what you and I have a moral obligation to give that

President: a national security that is unassailable and a national defense

that takes full advantage of new technology and is fully funded.

This is a full agenda. It's meant to be. You see, my thinking on the next

year is quite simple: Let's make this the best of 8. And that means it's

all out--right to the finish line. I don't buy the idea that this is the

last year of anything, because we're not talking here tonight about

registering temporary gains but ways of making permanent our successes. And

that's why our focus is the values, the principles, and ideas that made

America great. Let's be clear on this point. We're for limited government,

because we understand, as the Founding Fathers did, that it is the best way

of ensuring personal liberty and empowering the individual so that every

American of every race and region shares fully in the flowering of American

prosperity and freedom.

One other thing we Americans like--the future--like the sound of it, the

idea of it, the hope of it. Where others fear trade and economic growth, we

see opportunities for creating new wealth and undreamed-of opportunities

for millions in our own land and beyond. Where others seek to throw up

barriers, we seek to bring them down. Where others take counsel of their

fears, we follow our hopes. Yes, we Americans like the future and like

making the most of it. Let's do that now.

And let's begin by discussing how to maintain economic growth by

controlling and eventually eliminating the problem of Federal deficits. We

have had a balanced budget only eight times in the last 57 years. For the

first time in 14 years, the Federal Government spent less in real terms

last year than the year before. We took $73 billion off last year's deficit

compared to the year before. The deficit itself has moved from 6.3 percent

of the gross national product to only 3.4 percent. And perhaps the most

important sign of progress has been the change in our view of deficits. You

know, a few of us can remember when, not too many years ago, those who

created the deficits said they would make us prosperous and not to worry

about the debt, because we owe it to ourselves. Well, at last there is

agreement that we can't spend ourselves rich.

Our recent budget agreement, designed to reduce Federal deficits by $76

billion over the next 2 years, builds on this consensus. But this agreement

must be adhered to without slipping into the errors of the past: more

broken promises and more unchecked spending. As I indicated in my first

State of the Union, what ails us can be simply put: The Federal Government

is too big, and it spends too much money. I can assure you, the bipartisan

leadership of Congress, of my help in fighting off any attempt to bust our

budget agreement. And this includes the swift and certain use of the veto

power.

Now, it's also time for some plain talk about the most immediate obstacle

to controlling Federal deficits. The simple but frustrating problem of

making expenses match revenues--something American families do and the

Federal Government can't--has caused crisis after crisis in this city. Mr.

Speaker, Mr. President, I will say to you tonight what I have said before

and will continue to say: The budget process has broken down; it needs a

drastic overhaul. With each ensuing year, the spectacle before the American

people is the same as it was this Christmas: budget deadlines delayed or

missed completely, monstrous continuing resolutions that pack hundreds of

billions of dollars worth of spending into one bill, and a Federal

Government on the brink of default.

I know I'm echoing what you here in the Congress have said, because you

suffered so directly. But let's recall that in 7 years, of 91

appropriations bills scheduled to arrive on my desk by a certain date, only

10 made it on time. Last year, of the 13 appropriations bills due by

October 1st, none of them made it. Instead, we had four continuing

resolutions lasting 41 days, then 36 days, and 2 days, and 3 days,

respectively.

And then, along came these behemoths. This is the conference report--1,053

pages, report weighing 14 pounds. Then this--a reconciliation bill 6 months

late that was 1,186 pages long, weighing 15 pounds. And the long-term

continuing resolution--this one was 2 months late, and it's 1,057 pages

long, weighing 14 pounds. That was a total of 43 pounds of paper and ink.

You had 3 hours--yes, 3 hours--to consider each, and it took 300 people at

my Office of Management and Budget just to read the bill so the Government

wouldn't shut down. Congress shouldn't send another one of these. No, and

if you do, I will not sign it.

Let's change all this. Instead of a Presidential budget that gets discarded

and a congressional budget resolution that is not enforced, why not a

simple partnership, a joint agreement that sets out the spending priorities

within the available revenues? And let's remember our deadline is October

1st, not Christmas. Let's get the people's work done in time to avoid a

footrace with Santa Claus. And, yes, this year--to coin a phrase--a new

beginning: 13 individual bills, on time and fully reviewed by Congress.

I'm also certain you join me in saying: Let's help ensure our future of

prosperity by giving the President a tool that, though I will not get to

use it, is one I know future Presidents of either party must have. Give the

President the same authority that 43 Governors use in their States: the

right to reach into massive appropriation bills, pare away the waste, and

enforce budget discipline. Let's approve the line-item veto.

And let's take a partial step in this direction. Most of you in this

Chamber didn't know what was in this catchall bill and report. Over the

past few weeks, we've all learned what was tucked away behind a little

comma here and there. For example, there's millions for items such as

cranberry research, blueberry research, the study of crawfish, and the

commercialization of wildflowers. And that's not to mention the five or so

million ($.5 million) that--so that people from developing nations could

come here to watch Congress at work. I won't even touch that. So, tonight I

offer you this challenge. In 30 days I will send back to you those items as

rescissions, which if I had the authority to line them out I would do so.

Now, review this multibillion-dollar package that will not undercut our

bipartisan budget agreement. As a matter of fact, if adopted, it will

improve our deficit reduction goals. And what an example we can set, that

we're serious about getting our financial accounts in order. By acting and

approving this plan, you have the opportunity to override a congressional

process that is out of control.

There is another vital reform. Yes, Gramm-Rudman-Hollings has been

profoundly helpful, but let us take its goal of a balanced budget and make

it permanent. Let us do now what so many States do to hold down spending

and what 32 State legislatures have asked us to do. Let us heed the wishes

of an overwhelming plurality of Americans and pass a constitutional

amendment that mandates a balanced budget and forces the Federal Government

to live within its means. Reform of the budget process--including the

line-item veto and balanced budget amendment--will, together with real

restraint on government spending, prevent the Federal budget from ever

again ravaging the family budget.

Let's ensure that the Federal Government never again legislates against the

family and the home. Last September 1 signed an Executive order on the

family requiring that every department and agency review its activities in

light of seven standards designed to promote and not harm the family. But

let us make certain that the family is always at the center of the public

policy process not just in this administration but in all future

administrations. It's time for Congress to consider, at the beginning, a

statement of the impact that legislation will have on the basic unit of

American society, the family.

And speaking of the family, let's turn to a matter on the mind of every

American parent tonight: education. We all know the sorry story of the

sixties and seventies--soaring spending, plummeting test scores--and that

hopeful trend of the eighties, when we replaced an obsession with dollars

with a commitment to quality, and test scores started back up. There's a

lesson here that we all should write on the blackboard a hundred times: In

a child's education, money can never take the place of basics like

discipline, hard work, and, yes, homework.

As a nation we do, of course, spend heavily on education--more than we

spend on defense. Yet across our country, Governors like New Jersey's Tom

Kean are giving classroom demonstrations that how we spend is as important

as how much we spend. Opening up the teaching profession to all qualified

candidates, merit pay--so that good teachers get A's as well as apples--and

stronger curriculum, as Secretary Bennett has proposed for high

schools--these imaginative reforms are making common sense the most popular

new kid in America's schools. How can we help? Well, we can talk about and

push for these reforms. But the most important thing we can do is to

reaffirm that control of our schools belongs to the States, local

communities and, most of all, to the parents and teachers.

My friends, some years ago, the Federal Government declared war on poverty,

and poverty won. Today the Federal Government has 59 major welfare programs

and spends more than $100 billion a year on them. What has all this money

done? Well, too often it has only made poverty harder to escape. Federal

welfare programs have created a massive social problem. With the best of

intentions, government created a poverty trap that wreaks havoc on the very

support system the poor need most to lift themselves out of poverty: the

family. Dependency has become the one enduring heirloom, passed from one

generation to the next, of too many fragmented families.

It is time--this may be the most radical thing I've said in 7 years in this

office--it's time for Washington to show a little humility. There are a

thousand sparks of genius in 50 States and a thousand communities around

the Nation. It is time to nurture them and see which ones can catch fire

and become guiding lights. States have begun to show us the way. They've

demonstrated that successful welfare programs can be built around more

effective child support enforcement practices and innovative programs

requiring welfare recipients to work or prepare for work. Let us give the

States more flexibility and encourage more reforms. Let's start making our

welfare system the first rung on America's ladder of opportunity, a boost

up from dependency, not a graveyard but a birthplace of hope.

And now let me turn to three other matters vital to family values and the

quality of family life. The first is an untold American success story.

Recently, we released our annual survey of what graduating high school

seniors have to say about drugs. Cocaine use is declining, and marijuana

use was the lowest since surveying began. We can be proud that our students

are just saying no to drugs. But let us remember what this menace requires:

commitment from every part of America and every single American, a

commitment to a drugfree America. The war against drugs is a war of

individual battles, a crusade with many heroes, including America's young

people and also someone very special to me. She has helped so many of our

young people to say no to drugs. Nancy, much credit belongs to you, and I

want to express to you your husband's pride and your country's thanks.'.

Surprised you, didn't I?

Well, now we come to a family issue that we must have the courage to

confront. Tonight, I call America--a good nation, a moral people--to

charitable but realistic consideration of the terrible cost of abortion on

demand. To those who say this violates a woman's right to control of her

own body: Can they deny that now medical evidence confirms the unborn child

is a living human being entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of

happiness? Let us unite as a nation and protect the unborn with legislation

that would stop all Federal funding for abortion and with a human life

amendment making, of course, an exception where the unborn child threatens

the life of the mother. Our Judeo-Christian tradition recognizes the right

of taking a life in self-defense. But with that one exception, let us look

to those others in our land who cry out for children to adopt. I pledge to

you tonight I will work to remove barriers to adoption and extend full

sharing in family life to millions of Americans so that children who need

homes can be welcomed to families who want them and love them.

And let me add here: So many of our greatest statesmen have reminded us

that spiritual values alone are essential to our nation's health and vigor.

The Congress opens its proceedings each day, as does the Supreme Court,

with an acknowledgment of the Supreme Being. Yet we are denied the right to

set aside in our schools a moment each day for those who wish to pray. I

believe Congress should pass our school prayer amendment.

Now, to make sure there is a full nine member Supreme Court to interpret

the law, to protect the rights of all Americans, I urge the Senate to move

quickly and decisively in confirming Judge Anthony Kennedy to the highest

Court in the land and to also confirm 27 nominees now waiting to fill

vacancies in the Federal judiciary.

Here then are our domestic priorities. Yet if the Congress and the

administration work together, even greater opportunities lie ahead to

expand a growing world economy, to continue to reduce the threat of nuclear

arms, and to extend the frontiers of freedom and the growth of democratic

institutions.

Our policies consistently received the strongest support of the late

Congressman Dan Daniel of Virginia. I'm sure all of you join me in

expressing heartfelt condolences on his passing.

One of the greatest contributions the United States can make to the world

is to promote freedom as the key to economic growth. A creative,

competitive America is the answer to a changing world, not trade wars that

would close doors, create greater barriers, and destroy millions of jobs.

We should always remember: Protectionism is destructionism. America's jobs,

America's growth, America's future depend on trade--trade that is free,

open, and fair.

This year, we have it within our power to take a major step toward a

growing global economy and an expanding cycle of prosperity that reaches to

all the free nations of this Earth. I'm speaking of the historic free trade

agreement negotiated between our country and Canada. And I can also tell

you that we're determined to expand this concept, south as well as north.

Next month I will be traveling to Mexico, where trade matters will be of

foremost concern. And over the next several months, our Congress and the

Canadian Parliament can make the start of such a North American accord a

reality. Our goal must be a day when the free flow of trade, from the tip

of Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic Circle, unites the people of the Western

Hemisphere in a bond of mutually beneficial exchange, when all borders

become what the U.S.-Canadian border so long has been: a meeting place

rather than a dividing line.

This movement we see in so many places toward economic freedom is

indivisible from the worldwide movement toward political freedom and

against totalitarian rule. This global democratic revolution has removed

the specter, so frightening a decade ago, of democracy doomed to permanent

minority status in the world. In South and Central America, only a third of

the people enjoyed democratic rule in 1976. Today over 90 percent of Latin

Americans live in nations committed to democratic principles. And the

resurgence of democracy is owed to these courageous people on almost every

continent who have struggled to take control of their own destiny.

In Nicaragua the struggle has extra meaning, because that nation is so near

our own borders. The recent revelations of a former high-level Sandinista

major, Roger Miranda, show us that, even as they talk peace, the Communist

Sandinista government of Nicaragua has established plans for a large

600,000-man army. Yet even as these plans are made, the Sandinista regime

knows the tide is turning, and the cause of Nicaraguan freedom is riding at

its crest. Because of the freedom fighters, who are resisting Communist

rule, the Sandinistas have been forced to extend some democratic rights,

negotiate with church authorities, and release a few political prisoners.

The focus is on the Sandinistas, their promises and their actions. There is

a consensus among the four Central American democratic Presidents that the

Sandinistas have not complied with the plan to bring peace and democracy to

all of Central America. The Sandinistas again have promised reforms. Their

challenge is to take irreversible steps toward democracy. On Wednesday my

request to sustain the freedom fighters will be submitted, which reflects

our mutual desire for peace, freedom, and democracy in Nicaragua. I ask

Congress to pass this request. Let us be for the people of Nicaragua what

Lafayette, Pulaski, and Von Steuben were for our forefathers and the cause

of American independence.

So, too, in Afghanistan, the freedom fighters are the key to peace. We

support the Mujahidin. There can be no settlement unless all Soviet troops

are removed and the Afghan people are allowed genuine self-determination. I

have made my views on this matter known to Mr. Gorbachev. But not just

Nicaragua or Afghanistan--yes, everywhere we see a swelling freedom tide

across the world: freedom fighters rising up in Cambodia and Angola,

fighting and dying for the same democratic liberties we hold sacred. Their

cause is our cause: freedom.

Yet even as we work to expand world freedom, we must build a safer peace

and reduce the danger of nuclear war. But let's have no illusions. Three

years of steady decline in the value of our annual defense investment have

increased the risk of our most basic security interests, jeopardizing

earlier hard-won goals. We must face squarely the implications of this

negative trend and make adequate, stable defense spending a top goal both

this year and in the future.

This same concern applies to economic and security assistance programs as

well. But the resolve of America and its NATO allies has opened the way for

unprecedented achievement in arms reduction. Our recently signed INF treaty

is historic, because it reduces nuclear arms and establishes the most

stringent verification regime in arms control history, including several

forms of short-notice, on-site inspection. I submitted the treaty today,

and I urge the Senate to give its advice and consent to ratification of

this landmark agreement. Thank you very much.

In addition to the INF treaty, we're within reach of an even more

significant START agreement that will reduce U.S. and Soviet long-range

missile--or strategic arsenals by half. But let me be clear. Our approach

is not to seek agreement for agreement's sake but to settle only for

agreements that truly enhance our national security and that of our allies.

We will never put our security at risk--or that of our allies--just to reach

an agreement with the Soviets. No agreement is better than a bad

agreement.

As I mentioned earlier, our efforts are to give future generations what we

never had--a future free of nuclear terror. Reduction of strategic

offensive arms is one step, SDI another. Our funding request for our

Strategic Defense Initiative is less than 2 percent of the total defense

budget. SDI funding is money wisely appropriated and money well spent. SDI

has the same purpose and supports the same goals of arms reduction. It

reduces the risk of war and the threat of nuclear weapons to all mankind.

Strategic defenses that threaten no one could offer the world a safer, more

stable basis for deterrence. We must also remember that SDI is our

insurance policy against a nuclear accident, a Chernobyl of the sky, or an

accidental launch or some madman who might come along.

We've seen such changes in the world in 7 years. As totalitarianism

struggles to avoid being overwhelmed by the forces of economic advance and

the aspiration for human freedom, it is the free nations that are resilient

and resurgent. As the global democratic revolution has put totalitarianism

on the defensive, we have left behind the days of retreat. America is again

a vigorous leader of the free world, a nation that acts decisively and

firmly in the furtherance of her principles and vital interests. No legacy

would make me more proud than leaving in place a bipartisan consensus for

the cause of world freedom, a consensus that prevents a paralysis of

American power from ever occurring again.

But my thoughts tonight go beyond this, and I hope you'll let me end this

evening with a personal reflection. You know, the world could never be

quite the same again after Jacob Shallus, a trustworthy and dependable

clerk of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, took his pen and engrossed

those words about representative government in the preamble of our

Constitution. And in a quiet but final way, the course of human events was

forever altered when, on a ridge overlooking the Emmitsburg Pike in an

obscure Pennsylvania town called Gettysburg, Lincoln spoke of our duty to

government of and by the people and never letting it perish from the

Earth.

At the start of this decade, I suggested that we live in equally momentous

times, that it is up to us now to decide whether our form of government

would endure and whether history still had a place of greatness for a

quiet, pleasant, greening land called America. Not everything has been made

perfect in 7 years, nor will it be made perfect in seven times 70 years,

but before us, this year and beyond, are great prospects for the cause of

peace and world freedom.

It means, too, that the young Americans I spoke of 7 years ago, as well as

those who might be coming along the Virginia or Maryland shores this night

and seeing for the first time the lights of this Capital City--the lights

that cast their glow on our great halls of government and the monuments to

the memory of our great men--it means those young Americans will find a

city of hope in a land that is free.

We can be proud that for them and for us, as those lights along the Potomac

are still seen this night signaling as they have for nearly two centuries

and as we pray God they always will, that another generation of Americans

has protected and passed on lovingly this place called America, this

shining city on a hill, this government of, by, and for the people.

Thank you, and God bless you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 9:07 p.m. in the House Chamber of the Capitol.

He was introduced by Jim Wright, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The address was broadcast live on nationwide radio and television.

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