State of the Union: Clinton Delivers Long List of Proposals
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: In Washington, President Clinton sounded nothing like a lame duck as he put forward a number of his proposals at his final State of the Union address last night. But as Democrats led the applause more than 100 times during that speech, Republicans relished a Clinton faux pas. CNN White House correspondent John King with the highlights.</s>WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The state of our union is the strongest it has ever been.</s>JOHN KING, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His final State of the Union address was hardly a farewell speech. Speaking for 90 minutes, the president looked to shape his legacy with a long list of proposals that reflect the new politics of prosperity and his party's election-year priorities.</s>CLINTON: I ask you the pass a real patients' bill of rights. I ask you to pass that common sense gun safety legislation. I ask you, I implore you to raise the minimum wage.</s>KING: And there was more and more as Mr. Clinton detailed new proposals for his final year, and recycled ideas from years past.</s>CLINTON: We cannot let another year pass without extending to all our seniors this lifeline of affordable prescription drugs.</s>KING: Mr. Clinton proposed $350 billion in tax cuts over 10 years, and said the bulk of what's left of the budget surplus should go to Social Security, Medicare and paying down the national debt. The parent of a Columbine High shooting victim was on hand as the president made a controversial call for requiring a license to purchase a handgun.</s>CLINTON: And I hope you'll help me pass that this time.</s>KING: There was praise for the man the president hopes wins the race to succeed him.</s>CLINTON: Tonight, I propose that we follow Vice President Gore's suggestion to make low income parents eligible for the insurance that covers their children.</s>KING: Republicans loved this slip of the tongue.</s>CLINTON: Last year the vice president launched a new effort to make communities more liberal -- livable. Liberal? I know.</s>KING: And congressional Democrats also got an election-year boost from a president out to prove to the majority Republicans he's no lame duck.</s>CLINTON: For too long this Congress has been standing still on some of our most pressing national priorities.</s>KING: Republicans applauded politely, but many said a president scarred by scandal was trying to buy himself a more favorable legacy by proposing billions in new spending.</s>KING: It is a final year that will put the president's powers of persuasion to one last test, the opposition of the Republican Congress, and the spotlight on campaign 2000 complicating his pursuit of a legacy defined more by achievement and less by impeachment. John King, CNN, reporting live from the White House.</s>HARRIS: Thanks, John. You put in a heck of a day, John. Appreciate it.