WATTS: It seeks to return government to the side of the institutions that hold communities together -- faith, family, hard work, strong neighborhoods.

This will help rebuild low-income communities through their own moral renewal and giving them economic opportunity. It also recognizes that faith-based institutions contribute to the healing of our nation's problems.

So our first priority is to bring values back and give them pride of place in our moral and economic renewal. And in the next few weeks, we will be visiting a number of communities to highlight the accomplishments of active faith-based organizations.

The second thing Republicans will do is face a problem that demands immediate attention. We must get our government's financial affairs in order.

The biggest step in that direction is an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that demands that the federal government balance its books. We are more than $5 trillion in debt. This year, we will spend $330 billion on interest payments alone on the national debt.

And you know what? Not one dime of that $330 billion will go to strengthen Medicare, Medicaid. Not one dime of it will go to find a cure for cancer or fight drugs and crime. And worse yet -- not one dime will go toward learning, making the classrooms the centerpiece of our education.

Over $5 trillion worth of national debt is more than financially irresponsible. Friends, it's immoral, because someone is going to have to pay the piper. And you know who it's going to be? It's going to be our kids and our grandkids.

The American family is already overtaxed. Right now, the average family spends about half of every dollar they earn in some type of government tax or government fee.

Consider a five-year-old child today. If things continue as they are, by the time they're 25, they'll pay about 84 cents of every dollar they make on some government tax or government fee. Friends, that's more than a shame. It's a scandal.

The Balanced Budget Amendment will force the government to change its ways -- permanently. No longer will a president or a Congress be able to spend money we don't have on benefits our children will never see.

In a few weeks, we will vote on that amendment. Republicans can't pass it on our own because it takes a two-thirds majority. So we need Democrat votes, and we need your help. We need you to write or call your representative and senators and tell them to pass the Balanced Budget Amendment now.

And here's the good news. A balanced budget amendment will lower your house payment, lower your car payment, lower your student loan payments. The savings could be as much as $1,500 a year. Well, to some up here in Washington, $1,500 may not be much.

However, it's a new washer and dryer. It's a home computer or money toward a much-needed second car for a hard-working family.

And by the way, don't believe all those dire warnings about the amendment wrecking Social Security. That's just not true.

I encourage all of us in Congress -- Republicans and Democrats -- to appeal to people's intelligence and not to their fears.

WATTS: President Clinton was right on target tonight. He said the people want bipartisanship. I believe they do. But they want the kind of bipartisanship that results in progress. They don't want phony compromise. They don't want the kind of weak, back-scratching, go-along-to-get-along bipartisanship that allows lawmakers to feel good, but gets bad results.

There are some striking examples of cooperation this past year.

When Republicans led the effort to reform welfare, President Clinton opposed it at first. But eventually, after we passed it, he bowed to the will of the people and signed it. We applaud the president's embrace of reform and Mr. President, from the bottom of my heart, we are pleased to continue this bipartisan effort.

And there was the promise of bipartisanship tonight when the president signaled his interest in tax relief. Working Americans need real tax relief, not just targeted tax cuts to help one group at the expense of another. We all pay too much in taxes.

I hope the president shares this belief with us and works with us to bring desperately needed tax relief to America's working families. And we must work together -- Democrats and Republicans -- to win the twin wars against drugs and ignorance.

The war on drugs can and will be won, in large measure, by making sure that every child in America can walk to school safely, sit in a classroom where the teacher can really help them learn.

Third and finally, I want to say a few words about the Republican vision of how we can continue to make this "One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

You know, I'm just old enough to remember the Jim Crow brand of discrimination. I've seen issues of race hurt human beings and hurt our entire nation. Too often when we talk about racial healing, we make the old assumption that government can heal the racial divide.

In my lifetime, there have been some great and good laws that took some evil and ignorant laws off the books. So legislation has its place. But we're at a point now where we have to ask ourselves some questions. And are asking.

If legislation is the answer to the racial divide in our nation, then why in Gods' name in our time has the division grown? Why is the healing we long for so far from reality? Why does it seem that the more laws we pass, the less love we have?

The fact is, our problems can't be solved by legislation alone. Surely we have learned from our long difficult journey a great truth -- Government can't ease all pain. We must deal with the heart of man.

Republicans and Democrats -- red, yellow, black and white -- have to understand that we must individually -- al of us accept our share of responsibility.

We must decide, as we stand on the edge of a new age, if we will be a captive of the past.

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