U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

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99–011 2002

107th Congress, 2d Session – – – – – – – – – – – – House Document 107–157

STATE OF THE UNION MESSAGE

MESSAGE

FROM

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

TRANSMITTING

A REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE UNION

FEBRUARY 4, 2002.—Message and accompanying papers referred to the

Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered

to be printed

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To the Congress of the United States:

Mr. Speaker, Vice President Cheney, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens: As we gather tonight, our

Nation is at war, our economy is in recession, and the civilized

world faces unprecedented dangers. Yet the state of our Union has

never been stronger.

We last met in an hour of shock and suffering. In four short

months, our Nation has comforted the victims . . . begun to rebuild

New York and the Pentagon . . . rallied a great coalition . . . captured, arrested, and rid the world of thousands of terrorists . . .

destroyed Afghanistan’s terrorist training camps . . . saved a people from starvation . . . and freed a country from brutal oppression.

The American flag flies again over our embassy in Kabul. Terrorists who once occupied Afghanistan now occupy cells at Guantanamo Bay. And terrorist leaders who urged followers to sacrifice

their lives are running for their own.

America and Afghanistan are now allies against terror . . . we

will be partners in rebuilding that country . . . and this evening

we welcome the distinguished interim leader of a liberated Afghanistan: Chairman Hamid Karzai.

The last time we met in this chamber, the mothers and daughters of Afghanistan were captives in their own homes, forbidden

from working or going to school. Today women are free, and are

part of Afghanistan’s new government, and we welcome the new

Minister of Women’s Affairs, Doctor Sima Samar.

Our progress is a tribute to the spirit of the Afghan people, to

the resolve of our coalition, and to the might of the United States

military. When I called our troops into action, I did so with complete confidence in their courage and skill—and tonight, thanks to

them, we are winning the war against terror. The men and women

of our armed forces have delivered a message now clear to every

enemy of the United States: Even seven thousand miles away,

across oceans and continents, on mountaintops and in caves—you

will not escape the justice of this Nation.

For many Americans, these four months have brought sorrow,

and pain that will never completely go away. Every day a retired

firefighter returns to Ground Zero, to feel closer to his two sons

who dies there. At a memorial in New York, a little boy left his

football with a note for his lost father: ‘‘Dear Daddy, Please take

this to Heaven. I don’t want to play football until I can play with

you again someday.’’ Last month, at the grave of her husband,

Micheal, a CIA officer and marine who died in Mazar-e Sharif,

Shannon Spann said these words of farewell: ‘‘Semper Fi, my love.’’

Shannon is with us tonight.

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Shannon, I assure you and all who have lost a loved one that our

cause is just, and our country will never forget the debt we owe

Micheal and all who gave their lives for freedom.

Our cause is just, and it continues. Our discoveries in Afghanistan confirmed our worst fears, and show us the true scope of the

task ahead. We have seen the depth of our enemies’ hatred in videos where they laugh about the loss of innocent life. And the depth

of their hatred is equaled by the madness of the destruction they

design. We have found diagrams of American nuclear power plants

and public water facilities . . . detailed instructions for making

chemical weapons . . . surveillance maps of American cities, and

thorough descriptions of landmarks in America and throughout the

world.

What we have found in Afghanistan confirms that—far from ending there—our war against terror is only beginning. Most of the 19

men who hijacked planes on September 11th were trained in Afghanistan’s camps—and so were tens of thousands of others. Thousands of dangerous killers, schooled in the methods of murder,

often supported by outlaw regimes, are now spread throughout the

world like ticking time bombs—set to go off without warning.

Thanks to the work of our law enforcement officials and coalition

partners, hundreds of terrorists have been arrested . . . yet tens

of thousands of trained terrorists are still at large. These enemies

view the entire world as a battlefield, and we must pursue them

wherever they are. So long as training camps operate, so long as

nations harbor terrorists, freedom is at risk—and America and our

allies must not, and will not, allow it.

Our Nation will continue to be steadfast, and patient, and persistent in the pursuit of two great objectives. First, we will shut

down terrorist camps, disrupt terrorist plans, and bring terrorists

to justice. Second, we must prevent the terrorists and regimes who

seek chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons from threatening the

United States and the world.

Our military has put the terror training camps of Afghanistan

out of business, yet camps still exist in at least a dozen boundaries.

A terrorist underworld—including groups like Hamas, Hezbollah,

Islamic Jihad, and Jaish-i-Mohammed—operates in remote jungles

and deserts, and hides in the centers of large cities.

While the most visible military action is in Afghanistan, America

is acting elsewhere. We now have troops in the Philippines helping

to train that country’s armed forces to go after terrorist cells that

have executed an American, and still hold hostages. Our soldiers,

working with the Bosnian government, seized terrorists who were

plotting to bomb our embassy. Our navy is patrolling the coast of

Africa to block the shipment of weapons and the establishment of

terrorist camps in Somalia.

My hope is that all nations will heed our call, and eliminate the

terrorist parasites who threaten their countries, and our own.

Many nations are acting forcefully. Pakistan is now cracking down

on terror, and I admire the leadership of President Musharraf. But

some governments will be timid in the face of terror. And make no

mistake: if they do not act, America will.

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Our second goal is to prevent regimes that sponsor terror from

threatening America or our friends and allies with weapons of

mass destruction.

Some of these regimes have been pretty quiet since September

11th. But we know their true nature. North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving

its citizens.

Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror,

while an unelected few repress the Iranian people’s hope for freedom.

Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and

nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade. This is a regime

that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own

citizens—leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead

children. This is a regime that agreed to international inspections—then kicked out the inspectors. This is a regime that has

something to hide from the civilized world.

States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of

evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing

danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them

the means to match their hatred. They could attack our allies or

attempt to blackmail the United States. In any of these cases, the

price of indifference would be catastrophic.

We will work closely with our coalition to deny terrorists and

their state sponsors the materials, technology, and expertise to

make and deliver weapons of mass destruction. We will develop

and deploy effective missile defenses to protect America and our allies from sudden attack. And all nations should know: America will

do what is necessary to ensure our Nation’s security.

We will be deliberate, yet time is not on our side. I will not wait

on events, while dangers gather. I will not stand by, as peril draws

closer and closer. The United States of America will not permit the

world’s most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world’s

most destructive weapons.

Our war on terror is well begun, but it is only begun. Thus campaign may not be finished on our watch—yet it must be and it will

be waged on our watch.

We cannot stop short. If we stopped now—leaving terror camps

intact and terror states unchecked—our sense of security would be

false and temporary. History has called America and our allies to

action, and it is both our responsibility and our privilege to fight

freedom’s fight.

Our first priority must always be the security of our Nation, and

that will be reflected in the budget I send to Congress. My budget

supports three great goals for America: We will win this war, we

will protect our homeland, and we will revive our economy.

September 11th brought out the best in America, and the best

in this Congress, and I join the American people in applauding

your unity and resolve. Now Americans deserve to have this same

spirit directed toward addressing problems here at home. I am a

proud member of my party—yet as we act to win the war, protect

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our people, and create jobs in America, we must act first and foremost not as Republicans, not as Democrats, but as Americans.

It costs a lot to fight this war. We have spent more than a billion

dollars a month—over 30 million dollars a day—and we must be

prepared for future operations. Afghanistan proved that expensive

precision weapons defeat the enemy and spare innocent lives, and

we need more of them. We need to replace aging aircraft and make

our military more agile to put our troops anywhere in the world

quickly and safely. Our men and women in uniform deserve the

best weapons, the best equipment, and the best training—and they

also deserve another pay raise. My budget includes the largest increase in defense spending in two decades . . . because while the

price of freedom and security is high, it is never too high—whatever it costs to defend our country, we will pay it.

The next priority of my budget is to do everything possible to

protect our citizens and strengthen our Nation against the ongoing

threat of another attack. Time and distance from the events of September 11th will not make us safer unless we act on its lessons.

America is not longer protected by vast oceans. We are protected

from attack only by vigorous action abroad, and increased vigilance

at home.

My budget nearly doubles funding for a sustained strategy of

homeland security, focused on four key areas: bioterrorism, emergency response, airport and border security, and improved intelligence. We will develop vaccines to fight anthrax and other deadly

diseases. We will increase funding to help states and communities

train and equip our heroic police and firefighters. We will improve

intelligence collection and sharing, expand patrols at our borders,

strengthen the security of air travel, and use technology to track

the arrivals and departures of visitors to the United States.

Homeland security will make America, not only stronger, but in

many ways better. Knowledge gained from bioterrorism research

will improve public health . . . stronger police and fire departments will means safer neighborhoods . . . stricter border enforcement will help combat illegal drugs.

And as government works to better secure our homeland, America will continue to depend on the eyes and ears of alert citizens.

A few days before Christmas, an airline flight attendant spotted a

passenger lighting a match. The crew and passengers quickly subdued the man, who had been trained by al-Qaida, and was armed

with explosives. The people on that airplane were alert, and as a

result, likely saved nearly 200 lives—and tonight we welcome and

thank flight attendants Hermis Moutardier and Christina Jones.

Once we have funded our national security and our homeland security, the final great priority of my budget is economic security for

the American people. To achieve these great national objectives—

to win the war, protect the homeland, and revitalize our economy—

our budget will run a deficit that will be small and short term so

long as Congress restrains spending and acts in a fiscally responsible way. We have clear priorities and we must act at home with

the same purpose and resolve we have shown overseas: We will

prevail in the war, and we will defeat this recession.

Americans who have lost their jobs need our help and I support

extending unemployment benefits, and direct assistance for health

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care coverage. Yet American workers want more than unemployment checks—they want a steady paycheck. When America works,

America prospers, so my economic security plan can be summed up

in one word: jobs.

Good jobs begin with good schools—and here we’ve made a fine

start. Republicans and Democrats worked together to achieve historic education reform so no child in America will be left behind.

I was proud to work with Members of both parties—Chairman

John Boehner and Congressman George Miller, Senator Judd

Gregg—and I was so proud of our work I even had nice things to

say about my friend Ted Kennedy. The folks at the Crawford coffee

shop couldn’t quite believe it—but our work on this bill shows what

is possible if we set aside posturing and focus on results.

There is more to do. We need to prepare our children to read and

succeed in school with improved Head Start and early childhood

development programs. We must upgrade our teacher colleges and

teacher training and launch a major recruiting drive with a great

goal for America: a quality teacher in every classroom.

Good jobs also depend on reliable and affordable energy. This

Congress must act to encourage conservation, promote technology,

build infrastructure, and it must act to increase energy production

at home so America is less dependent on foreign oil.

Good jobs depend on expanded trade. Selling into new markets

creates new jobs, so I ask Congress to finally approve Trade Promotion Authority. On these two key issues, trade and energy, the

House of Representatives has acted to create jobs—and I urge the

Senate to pass this legislation.

Good jobs depend on sound tax policy. Last year, some in this

hall thought my tax relief plan was too small—and some thought

it was too big. But when those checks arrived in the mail, most

Americans thought tax relief was just about right. Congress listened to the people and responded by reducing tax rates, doubling

the child credit, and ending the death tax. For the sake of longterm growth and to help Americans plan for the future, let’s make

these tax cuts permanent.

The way out of this recession, the way to create jobs, is to grow

the economy by encouraging investment in factories and equipment, and by speeding up tax relief so people have more money to

spend. For the sake of American workers, let’s pass a stimulus

package.

Good jobs must be the aim of welfare reform. As we reauthorize

these important reforms, we must always remember the goal is to

reduce dependency on government and offer every American the

dignity of a job.

Americans know economic security can vanish in an instant

without health security. I ask Congress to join me this year to

enact a Patients’ Bill of Rights . . . to give uninsured workers credits to help buy health coverage . . . to approve an historic increase

in spending for veterans’ health . . . and to give seniors a sound

and modern Medicare system that includes coverage for prescription drugs.

A good job should lead to security in retirement. I ask Congress

to enact new safeguards for 401(k) and pension plans, because employees who have worked hard and saved all their lives should not

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have to risk losing everything if their company fails. Through

stricter accounting standards and tougher disclosure requirements,

corporate America must be made more accountable to employees

and shareholders and held to the highest standards of conduct.

Retirement security also depends upon keeping the commitments

of Social Security—and we will. We must make Social Security financially stable and allow personal retirement accounts for younger workers who choose them.

Members, you and I will work together in the months ahead on

other issues: productive farm policy . . . a cleaner environment

. . . broader home ownership, especially among minorities . . . and

ways to encourage the good work of charities and faith-based

groups. I ask you to join me on these important domestic issues in

the same spirit of cooperation we have applied to our war against

terrorism.

During these last few months, I have been humbled and privileged to see the true character of this country in a time of testing.

Our enemies believed America was weak and materialistic, that we

would splinter in fear and selfishness. They were as wrong as they

are evil.

The American people have responded magnificently, with courage

and compassion, strength and resolve. As I have met the heroes,

hugged the families, and looked into the tired faces of rescuers, I

have stood in awe of the American people.

And I hope you will join me in expressing thanks to one American for the strength, and calm, and comfort she brings to our Nation in crisis: our First Lady, Laura Bush.

None of us would ever wish the evil that was done on September

11th, yet after America was attacked, it was as if our entire country looked into a mirror, and saw our better selves. We were reminded that we are citizens, with obligations to each other, to our

country, and to history. We began to think less of the goods we can

accumulate, and more about the good we can do.

For too long our culture has said, ‘‘If it feels good, do it.’’ Now

America is embracing a new ethic and a new creed: ‘‘Let’s roll.’’ In

the sacrifice of soldiers, the fierce brotherhood of firefighters, and

the bravery and generosity of ordinary citizens, we have glimpsed

what a new culture of responsibility could look like. We want to be

a Nation that serves goals larger than self. We have been offered

a unique opportunity, and we must not let this moment pass.

My call tonight is for every American to commit at least two

years—four thousand hours over the rest of your lifetime—to the

service of your neighbors and your Nation.

Many are already serving and I thank you. If you aren’t sure

how to help, I’ve got a good place to start. To sustain and extend

the best that has emerged in America, I invite you to join the new

USA Freedom Corps. The Freedom Corps will focus on three areas

of need: responding in case of crisis at home, rebuilding our communities, and extending American compassion throughout the

world.

One purpose of the USA Freedom Corps will be homeland security. America needs retired doctors and nurses who can be mobilized in major emergencies . . . volunteers to help police and fire

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departments . . . transportation and utility workers well-trained in

spotting danger.

Our country also needs citizens working to rebuild our communities. We need mentors to love children, especially children whose

parents are in prison, and we need more talented teachers in troubled schools. USA Freedom Corps will expand and improve the

good efforts of AmeriCorps and Senior Corps to recruit more than

200,000 new volunteers.

And America needs citizens to extend the compassion of our

country to every part of the world. So we will renew the promise

of the Peace Corps, double its volunteers over the next five years,

and ask it to join a new effort to encourage development, and education, and opportunity in the Islamic world.

This time of adversity offers a unique moment of opportunity— a moment we must seize to change our culture. Through the gathering momentum of millions of acts of service and decency and

kindness, I know: We can overcome evil with greater good.

And we have a great opportunity during this time of war to lead

the world toward the values that will bring lasting peace. All fathers and mothers, in all societies, want their children to be educated and live free from poverty and violence. No people on earth

yearn to be oppressed, or aspire to servitude, or eagerly await the

midnight knock of the secret police.

If anyone doubts this, let them look to Afghanistan, where the

Islamic ‘‘street’’ greeted the fall of tyranny with song and celebration. Let the skeptics look to Islam’s own rich history—with its centuries of learning, and tolerance, and progress.

America will lead by defending liberty and justice because they

are right and true and unchanging for all people everywhere. No

nation owns these aspirations, and no nation is exempt from them.

We have no intention of imposing our culture—but America will always stand firm for the non-negotiable demands of human dignity:

the rule of law . . . limits on the power of the state . . . respect

for women . . . private property . . . free speech . . . equal justice

. . . and religious tolerance.

America will take the side of brave men and women who advocate these values around the world—including the Islamic world—

because we a greater objective than eliminating threats and containing resentment. We seek a just and peaceful world beyond the

war on terror.

In this moment of opportunity, a common danger is erasing old

rivalries. America is working with Russia, China, and India in

ways we never have before to achieve peace and prosperity. In

every region, free markets and free trade and free societies are

proving their power to lift lives. Together with friends and allies

from Europe to Asia, from Africa to Latin America, we will demonstrate that the forces of terror cannot stop the momentum of

freedom.

The last time I spoke here, I expressed the hope that life would

return to normal. In some ways, it has. In others, it never will.

Those of us who have lived through these challenging times have

been changed by them. We’ve come to know truths that we will

never question: Evil is real, and it must be opposed. Beyond all differences of race or creed, we are one country, mourning together

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and facing danger together. Deep in the American character, there

is honor, and it is stronger than cynicism. Many have discovered

again that even in tragedy—especially in tragedy—God is near.

In a single instant, we realized that this will be a decisive decade

in the history of liberty—that we have been called to a unique role

in human events. Rarely has the world faced a choice more clear

or consequential.

Our enemies send other people’s children on missions of suicide

and murder. They embrace tyranny and death as a cause and a

creed. We stand for a different choice—made long ago, on the day

of our founding. We affirm it again today. We choose freedom and

the dignity of every life.

Steadfast in our purpose, we now press on. We have known freedom’s price. We have shown freedom’s power. And in this great

conflict, my fellow Americans, we will see freedom’s victory.

Thank you, and my God bless the United States of America.

GEORGE W. BUSH.

THE WHITE HOUSE, January 29, 2002.

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