30 January 2002
Text: The Democrats' Response to the President's State of the Union
(They want 'Real Security', Justice Abroad and Jobs at Home) (1510)
Following is the text of the Democratic response to President Bush's
State of the Union address, delivered by House Minority Leader Richard
A. Gephardt (D-Missouri.)
(begin text)
Good evening.
I want to commend the president for his strong and patriotic message
tonight, and I can assure you of this: There were two parties tonight
in the House chamber, but one resolve. Like generations that came
before us, we will pay any price and bear any burden to make sure that
this proud nation wins the first war of the 21st century.
Tonight, we say to our men and women in uniform: Thank you for your
bravery, your skill and your sacrifice. When the history of this time
is written, your courage will be listed in its proudest pages.
To our friends around the world, we say thank you for your aid and
support. True friendship is tested not only in treaties and trade, but
in times of trial.
To our enemies, we say with one voice: No act of violence, no threat
will drive us apart or steer us from our course: to protect America
and preserve our democracy. And make no mistake about it: We are going
to hunt you down and make you pay.
Now is not a time for finger-pointing or politics as usual. The men
and women who are defending our freedom are not fighting for the
Democratic Party or the Republican Party. They are fighting for the
greatest country that has ever existed on Earth: the United States of
America.
As Americans, we need to put partisanship aside and work together to
solve the problems that face us. On the day after the attacks, I went
to the Oval Office for a meeting with the president. I said, "Mr.
President, we have to find a way to work together." I said, "We have
to trust you and you have to trust us."
Since that day, there has been no daylight between us in this war on
terrorism. We have met almost every single week and built a bipartisan
consensus that is helping America win this war.
We also know that to defeat terrorism, our economy must be strong. For
all the things that have changed in our world over the past four
months, the needs of our families have not. While our attention has
shifted, our values have not.
We know that real security depends not just on justice abroad, but
creating good jobs at home; not just on securing our borders, but
strengthening Social Security and Medicare at home; not just on
bringing governments together, but creating a government here at home
that lives within its means, cuts wasteful spending, and invests in
the future. Real security depends not just on meeting threats around
the world, but living up to our highest values here at home.
Our values call for tax cuts that promote growth and prosperity for
all Americans. Our values call for protecting Social Security, and not
gambling it away on the stock market. Our values call for helping
patients and older Americans -- not just big HMOs and pharmaceutical
companies -- ensuring that seniors don't have to choose between food
and medicine. Our values call for helping workers who have lost their
401(k) plans and protecting pensions from corporate mismanagement and
abuse. Our values call for helping the unemployed -- not just large
corporations and the most fortunate.
These same values guide us as we work toward a long-term plan for our
nation. We want to roll up our sleeves and work with our president to
end America's dependence on foreign oil while preserving our
environment -- so we don't see gas prices jump every year.
We want to work together to recruit high-quality teachers and invest
more in our schools while demanding more from them. We want to say to
every student who wants to go to college and every worker who wants to
update their skills: The first $10,000 of your education should be
tax-deductible. We want to work together to raise the minimum wage --
because nobody who works hard and plays by the rules should be forced
to live in poverty. We want to work together to create a universal
pension system that follows a worker from job to job through life and
protects employees from the next Enron.
We want to work together to build our new economy, creating jobs by
investing in technology so America can continue to lead the world in
growth and opportunity. We want to work together to improve homeland
security and protect our borders, to keep out those people who want to
bring us harm -- but also to celebrate our nation's diversity and
welcome those hard-working immigrants who pay taxes and keep our
country strong. We want to work together -- as we have over the last
decade -- to continue to build the best-trained, best-equipped
fighting force on the face of the planet.
I refuse to accept that while we stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the
war, we should stand toe-to-toe on the economy. We need to find a way
to respect each other and trust each other and work together to solve
the long-term challenges America faces. I'm ready to roll up my
sleeves and go to work. That's one of the reasons I have proposed that
next month, a group of leaders from both parties come together at the
White House for an economic growth summit to figure out how we're
going to help businesses create jobs, reduce the deficit, simplify the
tax code and grow our economy.
To accomplish these goals, we need a political system that is worthy
of the people of this country. In the next several weeks, the House of
Representatives will once again consider campaign finance reform. If
the nation's largest bankruptcy coupled with a clear example of paid
political influence isn't a prime case for reform, I don't know what
is. The forces aligned against this are powerful. So if you've never
called or written your member of Congress, now is the time. I hope the
president will stand with us to clean up the political system and get
big money out of politics.
Our nation has been through a lot the past four months. If it's even
possible to suggest a silver lining in this dark cloud that has fallen
over our nation, it's the renewed sense of community that we have seen
across America. The more we are able to turn that renewed sense of
purpose into a new call for service -- to encourage more Americans,
young and old, to get involved, join the Americorps, the Peace Corps,
the military or other endeavors -- the more we're going to make our
nation a model for all the good things that terrorists hate us for:
hope, opportunity and freedom.
It was brought home to me how Americans are already answering that
call when I spoke to a friend of mine, who is the head of a postal
union.
Shortly after we learned of the anthrax threat, I spoke with him and
asked how he was doing.
"Not well," he said. "We've lost two workers and some are sick." He
said, "I went to New Jersey, where they had some of the biggest
problems. Because of anthrax, all the workers were working in a tent
exposed to the cold, hand-sorting the mail." He said: "I thought I was
going to get an earful, but when I asked for questions, a man stood up
and said, 'I have been a postal worker for 30 years. We're here and
we're going to stay here. And if we've got to be outside all winter,
we're going to stay here. The mail is going out. The terrorists will
not win.'"
As one American said, the terrorists who attacked us wanted to teach
us a lesson. They wanted us to know them. But these attacks make
clear: They don't know us. They don't know what we will do to defend
freedom, and they don't know what they've started. But they're
beginning to find out.
As we look ahead to the future, we do so with the knowledge that we
can never fully know what the men and women we lost on that day would
have accomplished. We can never know what would have been the full
measure of their lives or what they would have contributed to our
world if they had lived. But one thing is certain: It is up to all of
us to redeem the lives they would have lived with the lives we live
today, and to make the most of our time here on earth. Let us be up to
that challenge.
Thank you. God bless you and God bless America.
(end Democrats text)
(This text first appeared in The Washington Post on January 30, 2002
and is in the public domain, no copyright restrictions.)
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