Fact Sheet: Key Initiatives in the President's State of the Union Message

The White House ^ | 28 January 2003 | President George W. Bush

[PhiKapMom]

For Immediate Release
January 28, 2003

Fact Sheet: Key Initiatives in the President's State of the Union Message

• President Bush announced a $1.2 billion Freedom Fuel initiative to reverse America’s growing dependence on foreign oil by developing the technology needed for commercially viable hydrogen-powered fuel cells – a way to power cars, trucks, homes and businesses that produces no pollution and no greenhouse gases. The Freedom Fuel initiative will include $720 million in new funding over the next five years to develop the technologies and infrastructure needed to produce, store, and distribute hydrogen fuel for use in fuel cell vehicles and electricity generation.

• Under the President’s Freedom Fuel initiative, the first car driven by a child born today could be powered by fuel cells. It complements the President’s existing FreedomCAR initiative, which is developing technologies needed for mass production of safe and affordable hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles. Together, Freedom Fuel and FreedomCAR will develop new vehicle and fuel technologies and the infrastructure needed to make it practical and cost-effective for large numbers of Americans to choose to use clean, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by 2020. These initiatives will dramatically improve America’s energy security by significantly reducing the need for imported oil. At the same time, these initiatives are key components of the President’s clean air and climate change strategies.

  Building a More Compassionate America

• Helping Children at Risk: In his 2002 State of the Union address, President Bush called on all Americans to serve their neighbors and their Nation and created the USA Freedom Corps. In the last year the USA Freedom Corps has become a resource for volunteers and volunteer-serving organizations alike -- working with federally-supported programs, business, educators and the volunteer sector to enlist millions of Americans in meaningful opportunities to serve their neighbors. This year, he asked Americans to share their compassion with those at risk of losing hope by becoming mentors. The President proposed a three-year, $450 million initiative to recruit and train mentors for more than one million disadvantaged youth, and children with one or more parents in prison, who are making the transition from childhood through adolescence. Through this initiative, key federal agencies will work with nonprofit, community, and faith-based organizations that train volunteer mentors and pair them with children in need.

• Conquering Addiction: Last year, approximately 100,000 men and women seeking drug treatment could not get help. To address this problem, the President called for a $600 million increase in federal treatment funding over the next three years to help addicted Americans find needed treatment from the most effective programs, including faith-based institutions. This new investment will make treatment available to help 300,000 more Americans combat their addiction over the next three years, by providing vouchers to individuals identified in their communities as needing treatment. By doing this, the President’s plan ensures the availability of a comprehensive continuum of effective treatment and support service options for those who need help.

  Combating the International HIV/AIDS Pandemic

• President Bush announced the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a five-year, $15 billion initiative to turn the tide in the global effort to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has killed at least 20 million of the more than 60 million people it has infected thus far, leaving 14 million orphans worldwide.

• Today, on the continent of Africa, nearly 30 million people have the AIDS virus – including three million children under the age of 15. There are whole countries in Africa where more than one-third of the adult population carries the infection. More than four million require immediate drug treatment. Yet across that continent, only 50,000 AIDS victims are receiving the medicine they need.

• The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief will help the most afflicted countries in Africa and the Caribbean wage and win the war against HIV/AIDS, extending and saving lives. The following countries will be the focus of the initiative: Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

• In each of these countries, the United States will work with private groups and willing governments to put in place a comprehensive system for diagnosing, preventing and treating AIDS. Central hospitals will have laboratories, specialized doctors, and nurses to anchor the system. Satellite clinics will provide antiretroviral drugs and education on the prevention of AIDS. By truck and motorcycle, nurses and local healers will reach the farthest villages and farms to test for the disease and to deliver life-saving drugs.

• The initiative is intended to:
  • Prevent 7 million new infections (60 percent of the projected 12 million new infections in the target countries);
  • Provide antiretroviral drugs for 2 million HIV-infected people; and
  • Care for 10 million HIV-infected individuals and AIDS orphans.
• The $15 billion virtually triples the current U.S. commitment to fighting AIDS internationally. It includes $10 billion in new funds, of which $1 billion is for the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Funding will begin with $2 billion in FY 04 and ramp up thereafter.

  Protecting Americans from the Threat of Bio-Terrorism

• The possibility of the intentional use of biological or other dangerous agents represents a threat to our society. Unfortunately, the medical treatments available for some types of terrorist attacks have improved little in decades, while there has been tremendous and rapid progress in the treatment of many serious naturally-occurring diseases. The President believes that, by bringing researchers, medical experts, and the biomedical industry together in a new and focused way, our Nation can achieve the same kind of treatment breakthroughs for bio-terrorism and other threats that have significantly reduced the threat of heart disease, cancer, and many other serious illnesses.

• In his State of the Union Address, President Bush proposed Project BioShield -- a comprehensive effort to develop and make available modern, effective countermeasures against biological and other dangerous agents. This major cooperative effort will be a joint activity of the new Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services. The President’s Project BioShield program will:
  • Ensure Resources to Develop Next-Generation Countermeasures: The President’s plan would create a special secure spending authority to pay for the delivery of “next-generation” medical countermeasures. Over the next 10 years, almost $6 billion will be available to purchase new countermeasures for smallpox, anthrax, and botulinum toxin. Additional funds will be available to produce and purchase countermeasures for other dangerous agents, such as Ebola and plague, once safe and effective treatments are developed.
  • Expand Research and Development: Project BioShield would expand the ability of the National Institutes of Health to speed research and development on medical countermeasures based on the most promising recent scientific discoveries.
  • Make Promising Treatments Available Quickly for Emergencies: Under Project BioShield, the Food and Drug Administration would have the ability to make new and promising treatments under development available quickly in emergency situations – potentially saving many more lives than treatments otherwise available today.

  Strengthening Our Intelligence Systems to Better Protect America

• President Bush announced that he has instructed the Directors of Central Intelligence and the FBI, the new Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Secretary of Defense to develop the Nation’s first unified Terrorist Threat Integration Center. This new center will merge and analyze terrorist-related information collected domestically and abroad in order to form the most comprehensive possible threat picture.

• The Terrorist Threat Integration Center will permanently eliminate the seam between foreign and domestic intelligence on terrorism. Specifically, it will:
  • Optimize use of terrorist threat-related information, expertise, and capabilities to conduct threat analysis and inform collection strategies.
  • Create a structure that ensures information sharing across agency lines in a way consistent with our national values of privacy and civil liberties.
  • Integrate terrorist-related information collected domestically and abroad in order to form the most comprehensive possible threat picture.
  • Be responsible and accountable for providing terrorist threat assessments for our national leadership.

  For more information on the President’s initiatives, please visit www.whitehouse.gov

  The State of the Union
  January 28, 2003

  America faces decisive days ahead. During this Congress, we have the duty to work for a prosperity that is broadly shared, to strengthen domestic programs vital to our country, and to answer every danger that threatens the American people. In his State of the Union Address, the President proposed bold steps to address these challenges at home and abroad—confident that America will meet these tests.

  The President set forth the following domestic goals for Congress and our Nation to address this year:

  1. Grow the Economy and Create Jobs
  2. Strengthen and Improve Health Care
  3. Promote Energy Independence While Improving the Environment
  4. Encourage Acts of Compassion

  Goal #1: Grow the Economy and Create Jobs
  The President’s goal is an economy that grows fast enough to employ every man and woman who seeks a job. The economy grows when Americans have more money to spend and invest. The President’s plan:

  • Provides broad and fair tax relief to 92 million Americans who will keep—this year and every year to come—an average of almost $1,100 more of their own money.
  • A family of four with an income of $40,000 would see their federal income taxes fall from $1,178 to $45.
  • To boost investor confidence, and help nearly 10 million seniors who receive dividend income, the President’s plan will end the unfair double taxation of dividends.

    Budget Discipline: The best way to counter deficits is by growing the economy and maintaining spending discipline in Washington. The President will propose a budget that increases discretionary spending four percent next year. At four percent, the federal budget will grow about as much as the average family’s income. That is the President’s benchmark: Federal spending should not rise any faster than the paychecks of American families.

    Social Security: To keep Social Security sound and reliable, the President reissued his call for offering younger workers a chance to voluntarily invest in retirement accounts that they will control and they will own.

  Goal #2: Strengthen and Improve Health Care
  Medicare is the commitment of a caring society, and we must renew that commitment by giving seniors the choice of a strengthened Medicare system that includes prescription drug coverage.

  • Seniors who like the current system can keep their coverage just as it is.
  • All seniors will be given choices of a variety of health plans—similar to those enjoyed by Members of Congress.
  • The President’s budget will commit an additional $400 billion over the next ten years to strengthen and improve Medicare.

    Control Rising Health Care Costs: The President believes that to improve our overall health care system, we must address one of the prime causes of higher costs—excessive lawsuits. He urged Congress to pass medical liability reform.

  Goal #3: Promote Energy Independence While Improving the Environment

  Freedom Fuel: Because the greatest environmental progress will come about through technology and innovation, the President proposed $1.2 billion in research funding so that America can lead the world in developing clean, hydrogen-powered automobiles. This new national commitment will open the possibility that the first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen, and pollution-free. This important innovation will make our air significantly cleaner, and our country much less dependent on foreign sources of energy. In addition to this new initiative, the President urged Congress to act on important environmental measures he proposed last year, including:

  • A comprehensive energy plan to produce more energy, promote energy efficiency and conservation, and develop cleaner technology.
  • Clear Skies legislation that mandates a 70 percent cut in air pollution from power plants over the next 15 years—the largest reduction in our history.
  • The Healthy Forests Initiative to help prevent catastrophic fires

  Goal #4: Encourage Acts of Compassion
  We must apply the compassion of America to the deepest problems of America. The President:

  • Urged Congress to pass his faith-based initiative and the Citizen Service Act.
  • Proposed $450 million to bring mentors to more than a million disadvantaged middle school students and to the children of prisoners.
  • Offered help to enable an additional 300,000 Americans receive treatment for substance addiction.

  Defending the Safety of Our People and the Hopes of Mankind
  America can lead the world in sparing innocent people from a terrible disease. And, our Nation will lead the world in confronting and defeating the man-made evil of international terrorism.

  Confront the International HIV/AIDS Pandemic: President Bush announced the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a five-year, $15 billion initiative to turn the tide in the global effort to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has killed at least 20 million of the more than 60 million people it has infected thus far, leaving 14 million orphans worldwide. Today, on the continent of Africa, nearly 30 million people have the AIDS virus – including three million children under the age of 15. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief will help the most afflicted countries in Africa and the Caribbean wage and win the war against HIV/AIDS, extending and saving lives. The initiative will prevent 7 million new infections; provide antiretroviral drugs for 2 million HIV-infected people; and care for 10 million HIV-infected individuals and AIDS orphans.

  Protect Our Security at Home and Abroad: The President outlined progress in the war on terrorism and announced new initiatives in the fight. Since September 11, America has:

  • Disrupted terrorist networks, removed key leaders, and arrested more than 3,000 terrorists in many countries.
  • Created the Department of Homeland Security to safeguard our citizens, intensified security at our borders and ports of entry and posted more than 50,000 federal screeners in airports.
  • Deployed the Nation’s first early warning network of sensors to detect biological attack and begun inoculating troops and first responders against smallpox.

  Project BioShield: To guard Americans against bio-terrorism, the President proposed a new plan to pay for the delivery of “next-generation” medical countermeasures. Over the next 10 years, almost $6 billion will be available to purchase new countermeasures for smallpox, anthrax, and botulinum toxin. Additional funds will be available to produce and purchase countermeasures for other dangerous agents, such as Ebola and plague, once safe and effective treatments are developed.

  Terrorist Threat Integration Center: To improve our intelligence capabilities, the President instructed the Directors of Central Intelligence and the FBI, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of Defense to develop a center to merge and analyze all terrorist-related information collected domestically and abroad in a single location to form the most comprehensive threat picture.

  Disarm Saddam Hussein
  The gravest danger we face in the war on terror is outlaw regimes that seek and possess nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

  • Twelve years ago, Saddam Hussein agreed to disarm all weapons of mass destruction. For 12 years, he systematically violated that agreement.
  • Three months ago, the United Nations Security Council gave Saddam his final chance to disarm. He has shown his utter contempt for the U.N.
  • The U.N. and U.S. intelligence sources have known for some time that Saddam Hussein has materials to produce chemical and biological weapons, but he has not accounted for them:
    • 26,000 liters of anthrax—enough to kill several million people
    • 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin
    • 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agents
  • Almost 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents
  • From three Iraqi defectors, we know that Iraq in the late 1990s had several mobile biological weapons labs. But he has not disclosed them.
  • The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed in the 1990s that Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development program, a design for a nuclear weapon, and was working on methods of enriching uranium for a nuclear bomb. He recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa, according to the British Government. He has attempted to purchase high strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons, according to our intelligence sources. Yet he has not credibly explained these activities.
  • Thousands of Iraqi security personnel are at work hiding documents and materials from the UN inspectors.
  • Iraqi officials accompany all inspectors in order to intimidate witnesses.
  • Iraq is blocking U-2 surveillance flights requested by the U.N.
  • Saddam Hussein has ordered that scientists who cooperate with the UN be killed, along with their families.
  • Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including al-Qaida members. He could provide hidden weapons to terrorists, or help them develop their own. It would take just one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known.

  The United States will ask the UN Security Council to convene next week to consider the facts of Iraq’s ongoing defiance of the world. We will consult. But if Saddam Hussein does not disarm, we will act for the safety of our people, and for the peace of the world.

[.30Carbine]

Thank you for that link. The article has lots of info on D's conducting filibusters, but still did not explain *what* a filibuster is! So I did a google and found the following at the C-SPAN Congressional Glossary:

A Filibuster is the term used for an extended debate in the Senate which has the effect of preventing a vote. Senate rules contain no motion to force a vote. A vote occurs only once debate ends.

Therefore I conclude that the D's will attempt to continue debate on judicial nominees, ad infinitum, unless the R's can garner 60 supporting members to vote for an end to the debate? However, as the definition above says, "Senate rules contain no motion to force a vote." So I guess I am still a bit confused. Can 60 votes end debate and force a vote on a judicial nominee, or can the debate continue until doomsday?

In my most recent hard-copy issue of Human Events, in the Capital Briefs section, I read that "Hatch announced last week that he would drop the requirement that both senators from a given state submit positive reviews - or 'blue slips' - for a nominee to receive committee consideration.....if committee Republicans go along with Hatch, Democrats will have only the filibuster as a recourse against conservative judges."

The first part of this info is easy to understand - that denying 'blue slips' to nominees is a form of filibuster (obstructionism). The short quip does not, however, go into detail about the one final filibuster left to the D's. Is it prolonged debate without a vote?

PhiKapMom, I would guess that a thread devoted exclusively to getting out the word about a Democrat filibuster of judicial nominees in the Senate, complete with definitions!, would be useful. What do you think? Maybe you have already done that, and I just missed the thread. President Bush's judicial nominations are the most important function of his career in the White House. I believe America's future hangs in the balance on these nominees alone. I wish it were not so, but who can deny it after witnessing so much judicial activism?

[PhiKapMom]

Thanks for posting this. I think you have a great idea about putting up a thread on filibusters because I have seen a lot of misinformation about them.

Ping me and I will use the new Bush 2004 ping list I have put together as this would be very worthwhile background information for all of us to keep handy.

Thanks again!

[Bonaparte]

Here you go. It's called "cloture" and has been around since 1917. As I said before, the way to head off or stop a filibuster (which is now procedural, not spoken) is to threaten the filibustering party with dire consequences that a simple majority can inflict on them. At least, that's what a majority party with any cojones will do. If the majority leadership is weak, as it was under Lott, they will offer inducements instead.

[.30Carbine]

Found this quote in the Washington Times:

"Judicial nominees have rarely been subjected to a filibuster, which is when senators speak at length on the Senate floor to prevent a measure from receiving a vote. To break a filibuster in the Senate, 60 votes are necessary."

November 24, 2002

[.30Carbine]

Thank you! That is a fantastic link.

[Bonaparte]

"But they [Republicans] are in control..."

Six Republican Turncoats Defect On ANWAR Drilling.

Didn't notice any democrats crossing the aisle on this matter.

[Protagoras]

They crossed on a lot of others. But hey, it would never be enough would it? And then there would be some other excuse.