Walmart

Jimmy Carter

State of the Union Speech 1981

The State of the Union is sound. Our economy is recovering from a recession. A national energy plan is in place and our dependence on foreign oil is decreasing. We have been at peace for four uninterrupted years.

But, our Nation has serious problems. Inflation and unemployment are unacceptably high. The world oil market is increasingly tight. There are trouble spots throughout the world, and 52 American hostages are being held in Iran against international law and against every precept of human affairs.

However, I firmly believe that, as a result of the progress made in so many domestic and international areas over the past four years, our Nation is stronger, wealthier, more compassionate and freer than it was four years ago. I am proud of that fact. And I believe the Congress should be proud as well, for so much of what has been accomplished over the past four years has been due to the hard work, insights and cooperation of Congress. I applaud the Congress for its efforts and its achievements.

In this State of the Union Message I want to recount the achievements and progress of the last four years and to offer recommendations to the Congress for this year. While my term as President will end before the 97th Congress begins its work in earnest, I hope that my recommendations will serve as a guide for the direction this country should take so we build on the record of the past four years.

RECORD OF PROGRESS

When I took office, our Nation faced a number of serious domestic and international problems:

no national energy policy existed, and our dependence on foreign oil was rapidly increasing;

public trust in the integrity and openness of the government was low;

the Federal government was operating inefficiently in administering essential programs and policies;

major social problems were being ignored or poorly addressed by the Federal government;

our defense posture was declining as a result of a defense budget which was continuously shrinking in real terms;

the strength of the NATO Alliance needed to be bolstered;

tensions between Israel and Egypt threatened another Middle East war; and

America's resolve to oppose human rights violations was under serious question.

Over the past 48 months, clear progress has been made in solving the challenges we found in January of 1977:

almost all of our comprehensive energy program have been enacted, and the Department of Energy has been established to administer the program;

confidence in the government's integrity has been restored, and respect for the government's openness and fairness has been renewed;

the government has been made more effective and efficient: the Civil Service system was completely reformed for the first time this century; 14 reorganization initiatives have been proposed to the Congress, approved, and implemented; two new Cabinet departments have been created to consolidate and streamline the government's handling of energy and education problems; inspectors general have been placed in each Cabinet department to combat fraud, waste and other abuses; the regulatory process has been reformed through creation of the Regulatory Council, implementation of Executive Order 12044 and its requirement for cost-impact analyses, elimination of unnecessary regulation, and passage of the Regulatory Flexibility Act; procedures have been established to assure citizen participation in government; and the airline, trucking, rail and communications industries are being deregulated;

critical social problems, many long ignored by the Federal government, have been addressed directly; an urban policy was developed and implemented to reverse the decline in our urban areas; the Social Security System was refinanced to put it on a sound financial basis; the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act was enacted; Federal assistance for education was expanded by more than 75 percent; the minimum wage was increased to levels needed to ease the effects of inflation; affirmative action has been pursued aggressively

more blacks, Hispanics and women have been appointed to senior government positions and to judgeships than at any other time in our history; the ERA ratification deadline was extended to aid the ratification effort; and minority business procurement by the Federal government has more than doubled;

the Nation's first sectoral policies were put in place, for the auto and steel industries, with my Administration demonstrating the value of cooperation between the government, business and labor;

reversing previous trends, real defense spending has increased every year since 1977; the real increase in FY 1980 defense spending is well above 3 percent and I expect FY 1981 defense spending to be even higher; looking ahead, the defense program I am proposing is premised on a real increase in defense spending over the next five years of 20 percent or more;

the NATO Alliance has proven its unity in responding to the situations in Eastern Europe and Southwest Asia and in agreeing on the issues to be addressed in the review of the Helsinki Final Act currently underway in Madrid;

the peace process in the Middle East established at Camp David and by the Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel is being buttressed on two fronts: steady progress in the normalization of Egyptian-Israeli relations in many fields, and the commitment of both Egypt and Israel, with United States' assistance, to see through to successful conclusion the autonomy negotiations for the West Bank and Gaza;

the Panama Canal Treaties have been put into effect, which has helped to improve relations with Latin America;

we have continued this Nation's strong commitment to the pursuit of human rights throughout the world, evenhandedly and objectively; our commitment to a worldwide human rights policy has remained firm; and many other countries have given high priority to it;

our resolve to oppose aggression, such as the illegal invasion of the Soviet Union into Afghanistan, has been supported by tough action.

I. ENSURING ECONOMIC STRENGTH ECONOMY

During the last decade