Mr. Speaker, before I begin my prepared remarks, may I point out that tonight marks the 10th and last State of the Union Message that you’ve presided over.  And on behalf of the American people, I want to salute you for your service to Congress and country.  Here’s to you!

I have come to review with you the progress of our nation, to speak of unfinished work, and to set our sights on the future.  I am pleased to report the state of our Union is stronger than a year ago and growing stronger each day.  Tonight we look out on a rising America, firm of heart, united in spirit, powerful in pride and patriotism.  America is on the move!  But it wasn’t long ago that we looked out on a different land:  locked factory gates, long gasoline lines, intolerable prices, and interest rates turning the greatest country on Earth into a land of broken dreams.  Government growing beyond our consent had become a lumbering giant, slamming shut the gates of opportunity, threatening to crush the very roots of our freedom.  What brought America back?  The American people brought us back with quiet courage and common sense, with undying faith that in this nation under God the future will be ours; for the future belongs to the free.

Tonight the American people deserve our thanks for 37 straight months of economic growth, for sunrise firms and modernized industries creating 9 million new jobs in 3 years, interest rates cut in half, inflation falling over from 12 percent in 1980 to under 4 today, and a mighty river of good works—­a record $74 billion in voluntary giving just last year alone.  And despite the pressures of our modern world, family and community remain the moral core of our society, guardians of our values and hopes for the future.  Family and community are the costars of this great American comeback.  They are why we say tonight:  Private values must be at the heart of public policies.

What is true for families in America is true for America in the family of free nations.  History is no captive of some inevitable force.  History is made by men and women of vision and courage.  Tonight freedom is on the march.  The United States is the economic miracle, the model to which the world once again turns.  We stand for an idea whose time is now:  Only by lifting the weights from the shoulders of all can people truly prosper and can peace among all nations be secure.  Teddy Roosevelt said that a nation that does great work lives forever.  We have done well, but we cannot stop at the foothills when Everest beckons.  It’s time for America to be all that we can be.