State of the Union excerpts
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| ON CNN TV |
Watch CNN beginning at 8:50 p.m. ET for coverage of the State of the Union and the Democratic response.
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 VIDEO |
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 CNN's Joe Johns on how the speech may play out in Congress.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Excerpts from President Bush's State of the Union address, as released by the White House before the speech Wednesday night:
Domestic policy
"Over the next several months, on issue after issue, let us do what Americans have always done, and build a better world for our children and grandchildren."
"First, we must be good stewards of this economy, and renew the great institutions on which millions of our fellow citizens rely."
"One of America's most important institutions -- a symbol of the trust between generations -- is also in need of wise and effective reform. Social Security ... on its current path, is headed toward bankruptcy. And so we must join together to strengthen and save Social Security."
"Fixing Social Security permanently will require an open, candid review of the options ... I will work with members of Congress to find the most effective combination of reforms."
"Our second great responsibility to our children and grandchildren is to honor and to pass along the values that sustain a free society... Government is not the source of these values, but government should never undermine them."
Foreign policy
"Our third responsibility to future generations is to leave them an America that is safe from danger, and protected by peace. We will pass along to our children all the freedoms we enjoy -- and chief among them is freedom from fear."
"During this time of war, we must continue to support our military and give them the tools for victory."
"In the next four years, my administration will continue to build the coalitions that will defeat the dangers of our time."
"In the long term, the peace we seek will only be achieved by eliminating the conditions that feed radicalism and ideologies of murder. ... The only force powerful enough to stop the rise of tyranny and terror, and replace hatred with hope, is the force of human freedom."
"The goal of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace, is within reach -- and America will help them achieve that goal."
"To promote peace and stability in the broader Middle East, the United States will work with our friends in the region to fight the common threat of terror, while we encourage a higher standard of freedom."
"Our generational commitment to the advance of freedom, especially in the Middle East, is now being tested and honored in Iraq."
"We will succeed because the Iraqi people value their own liberty -- as they showed the world last Sunday."
"The new political situation in Iraq opens a new phase of our work in that country. ... We will increasingly focus our efforts on helping prepare more capable Iraqi security forces -- forces with skilled officers, and an effective command structure."
"We are standing for the freedom of our Iraqi friends, and freedom in Iraq will make America safer for generations to come."
"The volunteers of our military are unrelenting in battle, unwavering in loyalty, unmatched in honor and decency, and every day they are making our nation more secure."
