Thank you, General McCaffrey, for agreeing to serve your country one more time.

Environment

Our fifth challenge:  to leave our environment safe and clean for the next generation.  Because of a generation of bipartisan effort we do have cleaner water and air, lead levels in children’s blood has been cut by 70 percent, toxic emissions from factories cut in half.  Lake Erie was dead, and now it’s a thriving resource.  But 10 million children under 12 still live within four miles of a toxic waste dump.  A third of us breathe air that endangers our health.  And in too many communities, the water is not safe to drink.  We still have much to do.

Yet Congress has voted to cut environmental enforcement by 25 percent.  That means more toxic chemicals in our water, more smog in our air, more pesticides in our food.  Lobbyists for polluters have been allowed to write their own loopholes into bills to weaken laws that protect the health and safety of our children.  Some say that the taxpayer should pick up the tab for toxic waste and let polluters who can afford to fix it off the hook.  I challenge Congress to reexamine those policies and to reverse them.

This issue has not been a partisan issue.  The most significant environmental gains in the last 30 years were made under a Democratic Congress and President Richard Nixon.  We can work together.  We have to believe some basic things.  Do you believe we can expand the economy without hurting the environment?  I do.  Do you believe we can create more jobs over the long run by cleaning the environment up?  I know we can.  That should be our commitment.

We must challenge businesses and communities to take more initiative in protecting the environment, and we have to make it easier for them to do it.  To businesses this administration is saying:  If you can find a cheaper, more efficient way than government regulations require to meet tough pollution standards, do it—­as long as you do it right.  To communities we say:  We must strengthen community right-to-know laws requiring polluters to disclose their emissions, but you have to use the information to work with business to cut pollution.  People do have a right to know that their air and their water are safe.

Foreign Policy

Our sixth challenge is to maintain America’s leadership in the fight for freedom and peace throughout the world.  Because of American leadership, more people than ever before live free and at peace.  And Americans have known 50 years of prosperity and security.

We owe thanks especially to our veterans of World War II.  I would like to say to Senator Bob Dole and to all others in this Chamber who fought in World War II, and to all others on both sides of the aisle who have fought bravely in all our conflicts since:  I salute your service, and so do the American people.

All over the world, even after the Cold War, people still look to us and trust us to help them seek the blessings of peace and freedom.  But as the Cold War fades into memory, voices of isolation say America should retreat from its responsibilities.  I say they are wrong.