[Daryn Kagan, Cnn Anchor:] Republicans say that President Clinton's State of the Union address included too much spending and not enough tax reduction. The president focused on new proposals and unfinished business in outlining the agenda for his final year in office. CNN senior White House correspondent John King has the highlights.
[William J. Clinton, President Of The United States:] The state of our union is the strongest it has ever been.
[John King, Cnn White House Correspondent:] 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.
[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.
[King:] And there was more and more as Mr. Clinton detailed new proposals for his final year, and recycled ideas from years past.
[Clinton:] We cannot let another year pass without extending to all our seniors this lifeline of affordable prescription drugs.
[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.
[Clinton:] And I hope you'll help me pass that this time.
[King:] There was praise for the man the president hopes wins the race to succeed him.
[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.
[King:] Republicans loved this slip of the tongue.
[Clinton:] Last year the vice president launched a new effort to make communities more liberal livable. Liberal? I know.
[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.
[Clinton:] For too long this Congress has been standing still on some of our most pressing national priorities.
[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. The president heads to Quincy, Illinois later today to try to sell his agenda to the American people. The question in this year of both congressional and presidential elections: Will the Democratic president have confrontation with the Republican Congress or cooperation? Daryn.
[Kagan:] John, and what about the first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a very different situation this year and perhaps next year will be in even a different situation.
[King:] The first lady always playing an important subplot in the president's State of the Union message. Back in 1994, he saluted her as the architect of his health plan. That, of course, resulted in a humiliating political defeat for the president. Last year, she sat in the balcony in the middle of the impeachment debate, offering critical support to her husband. He paid tribute to her very briefly last night, but did make no mention of the fact that when the next president goes before the Congress in January, he does hope his wife is on the floor as a Democratic member of the Senate from New York. Daryn.
[Kagan:] John King reporting live from the White House. Thank you, John.