ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 24, 1996 TAG: 9601240061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
In a State of the Union address to a skeptical Republican Congress, President Clinton traced the themes of his upcoming re-election campaign Tuesday night and confronted the GOP on the budget, demanding they ``never - ever'' shut the government again.
Democrats rose with loud cheers, but Republicans sat in stony silence at Clinton's challenge. GOP lawmakers - particularly the House freshmen - had been coached by party elders to be on good behavior and not boo Clinton, as some did last year.
The speech was brief by Clinton standards: 61 minutes, less than last year's record 81-minute marathon.
Clinton proposed several initiatives, among them $1,000 college scholarships for the top 5 percent of graduates from every high school, and turning the FBI loose on youth gangs.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich sat immediately behind the president, applauding politely on some occasions, and sitting in stern silence when the president criticized Congress.
And criticize he did.
``I challenge all of you in this chamber,'' Clinton said, to ``never - ever'' shut the government again. He said it was time to ``finish the job'' and pass a balanced budget plan that he could sign.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said he thought Clinton delivered a ``cheap shot'' by having a hero from the Oklahoma City bombing stand up by way of setting up his remark ``about how we are shutting down the government.''
Not only did Richard Dean save the lives of three women during the bombing, he also later worked through the government shutdown without pay to help Social Security recipients get their benefits, Clinton said.
``The era of big government is over,'' Clinton said, twice, as if to capture a campaign slogan. ``But we cannot go back to the time when our citizens were left to fend for themselves.''
Clinton began his remarks expressing pride in U.S. peacekeepers in Bosnia.
He said the state of the union was ``strong'' and cited economic and falling crime rates to make the cash. He challenged GOP stands on welfare overhaul, tax cuts, the minimum wage, health insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, environmental cleanup, crime-fighting and foreign policy.
Each side found something different to cheer. GOP lawmakers led the applause when Clinton declared the end of the era of big government. Democrats initiated the clapping at the president's next sentence: ``We cannot go back to the time when our citizens were left to fend for themselves.''
Clinton again and again urged Americans to work together. ``None of this will work unless all of you, every person in America, reach across the lines that divide us and try to find common ground.''
The budget crisis loomed paramount over the House chamber.
``I am convinced we will balance the budget,'' Clinton said. ``Now is the time to finish the job.'' He said both sides should lock in agreed-on budget savings and continue negotiating the differences.
On other sensitive points, Clinton urged Congress to enact a welfare overhaul plan, replacing the Republican version he vetoed, and to increase the minimum wage, which the GOP has opposed. He also urged a tax cut for working families but did not mention the tax-cut plan that was part of the GOP budget he vetoed.
``He takes Republican principles and goals and wraps them in his own rhetoric,'' Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said of the speech. ``But it did not answer the question of how we get a balanced budget in seven years and stop this deficit spending.''
``What would be really encouraging would be him stepping forward and meeting us halfway on the budget,'' said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke.
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. President Clinton acknowledges the crowd beforeby CNBdelivering his State of the Union address Tuesday. Vice President Al
Gore and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich appear behind. color.