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Transcript: President Trump’s speech to Congress, annotated by Vox staff

A running transcript, with analysis, on Trump’s first speech to a joint session of Congress.

by Vox Staff on February 28, 2017

President Trump took a trip up Pennsylvania Avenue Tuesday night to deliver a speech to a joint session of Congress, in which he called upon lawmakers to back his sweeping agenda on immigration, health care, taxes, and national security.

The speech was not technically a State of the Union address, but it served the same purpose: to cajole the House and Senate to enact the large swaths of Trump’s agenda that he cannot accomplish alone.

C-SPAN carried the speech live, as did other major cable news networks. Here is a transcript from it, to which Vox news staff added annotations as it was running live.

Thank you very much.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, the first lady of the United States.

And citizens of America, tonight, as we were — as we mark the celebration of Black History Month, we are reminded of our nation's path toward civil rights and the work that still remains to be done.

Recent threats targeting Jewish community centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries as well as last week's shooting in Kansas City remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all of its very ugly forms.1

The president was actually quite late to condemning hateful acts in the form of anti-Semitism. In two press conferences, he deflected questions about a rise in anti-Semitic threats to Jewish community centers and Jewish day schools across the country. So far this year, 90 such bomb threats have been made.

President Trump didn’t denounce the threats until February 22. Tuesday morning, however, Trump implied that the attacks may not have been what they appeared. He told attorneys general from states across the country that sometimes such attacks were actually “the reverse” and events that were really perpetrated to “make others look bad.” In advancing the idea that the attacks on the Jewish community were actually “false flags,” the president seemed to be presenting an idea popular among the far-right fringe.

Sarah Wildman,

Each American generation passes the torch of truth, liberty, and justice — in an unbroken chain all the way down to the present. That torch is now in our hands, and we will use it to light up the world.

I am here tonight to deliver a message of unity and strength, and it is a message deeply delivered from my heart. A new chapter of American greatness is now beginning. A new national pride is sweeping across our nation, and a new surge of optimism is placing impossible dreams firmly within our grasp. What we are witnessing today is the renewal of the American spirit.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Our allies will find once again America is ready to lead. All the nations of the world, friend or foe, will find that America is strong, America is proud, and America is free.

In nine years, the United States will celebrate the 250th anniversary of our founding — 250 years since the day we declared our independence. It will be one of the great milestones in the history of the world.

But what will America look like as we reach our 250th year? What kind of country will we leave for our children?

I will not allow the mistakes of recent decades past to define the course of our future. For too long, we have watched our middle class shrink as we have exported jobs and wealth to foreign countries. We financed and built one global project after another but ignored the face of our children. The inner cities of Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit, and so many other places throughout our land.

We tended the borders of other nations while leaving our own borders wide open for anyone to cross1 and for drugs to pour in at a now unprecedented rate.2 Infrastructure has so badly crumbled.

1

President Trump is incorrect about America’s borders: It’s hard to say the US is “leaving our own borders wide open” when the unauthorized immigrant population has barely grown in the past several years. He’s less wrong about other countries. The US has, in fact, worked with Mexico to prevent Central Americans from crossing the Mexico/Guatemala border. But it’s done this because those Central Americans were ultimately crossing into the United States — in other words, the US was “tending the border” of another nation in order to better secure its own.

Dara Lind,

2

Trump is right that America is currently undergoing its worst drug crisis, through the opioid painkiller and heroin epidemic, in its history: In 2015, more than 52,000 people died from drug overdoses — a higher toll than guns, car crashes, and even HIV/AIDS during that epidemic’s peak in the 1990s. But Trump’s plan to build a wall to secure the borders, experts say, would do little to stop the epidemic, in large part because drugs are so profitable that criminal enterprises will always have a profit incentive and the resources to find a way around the wall.

“It’s very simple business economics that you’re not going to stop a commodity like that by building a wall,” Peter Andreas, author of Smuggler Nation: How Illicit Trade Made America, previously told me. “The drugs can come under the wall, they can come over the wall, and they can come around the wall.”

German Lopez,

In 2016, the earth shifted. The rebellion started as a quiet protest, spoken by families of all colors and creeds — families who just wanted a fair shot for their children and a fair hearing for their concerns.

But then the quiet voices became a loud chorus, as thousands of citizens now spoke out together from cities small and large all across our country.

Finally, the chorus became an earthquake, and the people turned out, by the tens of millions, and they were all united by one very simple but crucial demand: that America must put its own citizens first.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Dying industries will come roaring back to life; heroic veterans will get the care they so desperately need. Our military will be given the resources its brave warriors so richly deserve.

Crumbling infrastructure will be replaced with new roads, bridges, tunnels, airports, and railways, gleaming across our very beautiful land. Our terrible drug epidemic will slow down and ultimately stop, and our neglected inner cities will see a rebirth of hope, safety, and opportunity.

Above all else, we will keep our promises to the American people. It has been a little over a month since my inauguration, and I want to take this moment to update the nation on the progress I have made in keeping those promises.

Since my election, Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, Sprint, Softbank, Lockheed,

Intel, Walmart, and many others have announced they will invest billions and billions of dollars in the United States, and will create tens of thousands of new American jobs.

The stock market has gained almost $3 trillion in value since the election on November 8 — a record. We have saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by bringing down the price of fantastic — and it is a fantastic — new F-35 jet fighter, and we will be saving billions more on contracts all across our government.

We have placed a hiring freeze on nonmilitary and nonessential federal workers. We have begun to drain the swamp of government corruption by imposing a five-year ban on lobbying by executive branch officials and a lifetime ban on becoming a lobbyist for a foreign government.1

It is true that President Trump announced these new lobbying restrictions, which are aimed at curbing lobbying for those who are leaving the administration. But just as he imposed the new bans, Trump also dramatically exacerbated what money-in-politics experts consider the much bigger problem: potential business conflicts for those entering the administration.

Crucially, Trump rescinded President Obama’s order forcing administration officials to recuse themselves from any government business “directly and substantially” affecting their former employers. That’s likely to be a huge problem in Trump’s White House, given how many corporate executives are taking White House positions where they’ll have the opportunity to massively help their former companies.

Jeff Stein,

We have undertaken a historic effort to massively reduce job-crushing regulations, creating a deregulation task force inside of every government agency. And we are imposing a new rule which mandates that for every one new regulation, two old regulations must be eliminated.1

The executive order Trump is referring to does not in fact mandate that two old regulations be eliminated for any one new one. Instead, for every new regulation proposed, the relevant agency must identify two old regulations that could be eliminated at some point — something much weaker. Brad Plumer has more here.

Andrew Prokop,

We are going to stop the regulations that threaten the future and livelihood of our great coal miners.1

Coal mining jobs have been declining because of a combination of automation, cheap natural gas from fracking, and regulations. Trump plans to attack regulations, but he doesn’t plan to do anything about the other two — which will make it tough to reverse the decline of mining employment that’s been going on since the 1980s.

Brad Plumer,

We have cleared the way for the construction of the Keystone and Dakota pipelines, thereby creating tens of thousands of jobs. And I have issued a new directive that new American pipelines be made with American steel.1

Trump has not directed new pipelines to be made with American steel. He merely asked the secretary of commerce to come up with a plan to have new pipelines “use materials and equipment produced in the United States to the maximum extent possible and to the extent permitted by the law.” It’s unclear how this would be compatible with World Trade Organization rules, but we’ll see what the study says.

Brad Plumer,

We have withdrawn the United States from the job killing Trans-Pacific Partnership.

And with the help of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, we have formed a council with our neighbors in Canada to help ensure that women entrepreneurs have access to the networks, markets, and capital they need to start a business and live out their financial dreams.

To protect our citizens, I have directed the Department of Justice to form a task force on reducing violent crime. I have further ordered the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice, along with the Department of State and the director of National Intelligence, to coordinate an aggressive strategy to dismantle the criminal cartels that have spread all across our nation.

We will stop the drugs from pouring into our country and poisoning our youth, and we will expand treatment for those who have become so badly addicted1 .

Trump hasn’t given specifics on how, exactly, he would increase access to treatment for drug addiction. But it’s desperately needed: According to 2014 federal data, at least 89 percent of people who met the definition for a drug abuse disorder didn’t get treatment. Patients with drug abuse disorders also often complain of weeks- or months-long waiting periods for care. (Even Prince, a wealthy superstar musician, couldn’t access care quickly enough — and died as a result.)

German Lopez,

At the same time, my administration has answered the pleas of immigration enforcement and border security by finally enforcing our immigration laws, We will raise wages, help the unemployed, save billions and billions of dollars, and make our communities safer for everyone.1

When President Trump rolled out these executive orders, he treated them as a matter of national security first and foremost. That argument might not have been as effective as the Trump administration might have wished — it wasn’t enough to keep federal courts from putting his refugee and visa ban on hold, for instance. So it’s interesting that Trump, as well as key advisers such as Stephen Miller, are now adding an economic argument to their case against legal and unauthorized immigration.

Dara Lind,

We want all Americans to succeed, but that cannot happen in an environment of lawless chaos. We must restore integrity and the rule of law and our borders. For that reason, we will soon begin the construction of a great, great wall along our southern border.

As we speak tonight, we are removing gang members, drug dealers, and criminals that threaten our communities and prey on our very innocent citizens. Bad ones are going out as I speak, and as I promised throughout the campaign.

To any in Congress who do not believe we should enforce our laws, I would ask you this one question: What would you say to the American family that loses their jobs, their income, or their loved one because America refused to uphold its laws and defend its borders?

Our obligation is to serve, protect, and defend the citizens of the United States. We are also taking strong measures to protect our nation from radical Islamic terrorism.

According to data provided by the Department of Justice, the vast majority of individuals convicted of terrorism and terrorism-related offense since 9/11 came here from outside of our country.1

It’s not clear what “terrorism-related offense” means here, but it is clear that terrorism inside the United States is not, principally, a problem of people entering here to commit a terrorist act. According to data from New America, all 12 jihadists who have committed fatal terrorist attacks in the United States since 9/11 have been either native-born citizens or legal permanent residents.

Zack Beauchamp,

We have seen the attacks at home from Boston to San Bernardino to the Pentagon, and, yes, even the World Trade Center. We have seen the attacks in France, in Belgium, in Germany, and all over the world.1

One of the biggest problems the Trump administration has had in the court case against its refugee and visa ban is that it hasn’t shown judges that the seven countries banned pose a unique security threat. It’s hard to imagine that this passage from the speech — which implies there would be a problem admitting immigrants from France and Belgium but doesn’t mention any countries targeted by the ban — is going to help their case much.

Dara Lind,

It is not compassionate but reckless to allow uncontrolled entry where proper vetting cannot occur.1

This was a big applause line, but the statement is misleading at best. The seven countries that Trump chose to ban entry from do not have a history of sending their nationals to the United States for terrorism; in fact, no individual from a designated country has committed an attack in the United States, nor has any refugee. Moreover, there’s a pretty intense vetting system for anyone attempting to enter the United States as an immigrant or refugee, so it’s just not right to say that entry from, say, Somalia is unvetted.

Zack Beauchamp,

Those given a high honor of admission to the United States should support this country and love its people and its values. We cannot allow a beachhead of terrorists to form inside of America. We cannot allow our nation to become a sanctuary for extremists.

That is why my administration has been working on improved vetting procedures, and we will shortly take new steps to keep our nation safe and to keep those out who would do us harm.1

Trump is expected to reveal a new version of his refugee and visa ban on Wednesday — one that’s likely to be a lot more limited than the first one — in the hopes that it will stand up in court.

Dara Lind,

As promised, I directed the Department of Defense to develop a plan to demolish and destroy ISIS — a network of lawless savages that have slaughtered Muslims and Christians and men and women and children of all faiths and all beliefs.

We will work with our allies, including our friends and allies in the Muslim world, to extinguish this vile enemy from our planet.

I have also imposed sanctions on entities and individuals who support Iran's ballistic missile program1 , and reaffirmed our unbreakable alliance with the state of Israel.

This is overstatement and a bit misleading. In reality, Trump expanded sanctions that were already on the books under the Obama administration, and did so in a manner that Obama likely would have done himself.

Zeeshan Aleem,

Finally, I have kept my promise to appoint a justice to the United States Supreme Court from my list of 20 judges who will defend our Constitution.

I am greatly honored to have this person in the gallery with us tonight.

Thank you, Maureen. Her great, late husband, Antonin Scalia, will forever be a symbol of American justice.

Win McNamee/Getty Images

To fill his seat, we have chosen Judge Neil Gorsuch, a man of incredible skill and deep devotion to the law. He was confirmed unanimously by the Court of Appeals, and I am asking the Senate to swiftly approve his nomination.

Tonight, as I outlined the next steps we must take as a country, we must honestly acknowledge the circumstances we inherited: 94 million Americans are out of the labor force, over 43 million people are now living in poverty, and over 43 million Americans are on food stamps.

More than one in five people in their prime working years are not working. We have the worst financial recovery in 65 years. In the last eight years, the past administration has put on more new debt than nearly all of the other presidents combined.

We have lost more than one-fourth of our manufacturing jobs since NAFTA was approved1 , and we have lost 60,000 factories since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.

Trump describes free trade agreements as pure apocalypse for American workers, when in reality they also create jobs. Many hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs migrated to Mexico under NAFTA, but the agreement also created jobs by dramatically boosting American exports to Mexico. And US consumers have more money to spend on the economy when they save money on cheaper Mexican goods imported to the US — which in turn helps create more jobs as well. The Wilson Center estimates that, all told, US trade with Mexico supports 4.9 million jobs in the US. NAFTA caused real pain, but it also generated many gains.

Zeeshan Aleem,

The trade deficit in the goods with the world last year was nearly $800 billion, and overseas, we have inherited a serious, tragic foreign policy disaster.

Solving these and so many other pressing problems requires us to work past the differences of party. It will require us to tap into the American spirit that has overcome every challenge throughout our long and storied history.

But to accomplish our goals at home and abroad, we must restart the engine of the economy. Make it easy to do business and much harder for companies to leave our country.

Right now American companies are taxed at one of the highest rates in the world. My economic team is developing tax reform that will reduce the rate on our companies so they can compete and thrive anywhere and with anyone.

It will be a big, big cut. At the same time, we will provide massive tax relief for the middle class. We must create a level playing field for American companies and our workers.

Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Pool/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Currently when we ship products out of America, many other countries make us pay very high tariffs and taxes. But when foreign companies ship their products into America, we charge them nothing or almost nothing. I just met with officials and workers from a great American company, Harley Davidson. In fact, they proudly displayed five of their magnificent motorcycles, made in the USA, on the front lawn of the White House. And they wanted me to ride one, and I said, no, thank you.

At our meeting, I asked them how are you doing? How is business? They said it is good. I asked them further how they are doing with other countries, mainly with international sales. They told me without complaining — because they have been mistreated for so long that they have become used to it — that it is very hard to do business with other countries because they tax our goods at such a high rate. They said that in one case another country taxed their motorcycles at 100 percent. They weren't even asking for a change — but I am.

I believe strongly in free trade, but it also has to be fair trade. It has been a long time since we had fair trade. The first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, warned that the “abandonment of the protective policy by the American government will produce want and ruin among our people." Lincoln was right, and it is time we heeded his advice and his words.

I am not going to let America and its great companies and workers be taken advantage of anymore. They have taken advantage of our country. No longer. I am going to bring back millions of jobs.

Protecting our workers also means reforming our system of legal immigration. The current, outdated system depresses wages for our poorest workers and puts great pressure on taxpayers.

Nations around the world, like Canada, Australia, and many others, have a merit-based immigration system. It is a basic principle that those seeking to enter a country ought to be able to support themselves financially.

Yet in America, we do not enforce this rule, straining the very public resources that our poorest citizens rely upon. According to the National Academy of Sciences, our current immigration system costs American taxpayers many billions of dollars a year. Switching away from this current system of lower-skilled immigration, and instead adopting a merit-based system, we will have so many more benefits.1

The phrase “merit-based immigration system” has been used for a while to mean “allowing fewer people to come to the US as relatives of US citizens or family members, and allowing more people to come to the US as high-skilled workers.” The way Trump uses it here, he certainly seems to endorse the reduction side — and implies that in addition to reducing family-based immigration, he might want to reduce the number of visas given to low-skilled workers as well.

But it’s less clear that his administration wants to increase the number of visas given to high-skilled immigrants. Chief strategist Steve Bannon has been a notable opponent of high-skilled immigration — expressing concerns about its effect on America’s “civic society” — and Trump son-in-law and key adviser Jared Kushner is reportedly mulling reforms to change the way high-skilled visas are allocated, rather than allocating more of them.

Dara Lind,

It will save countless dollars, raise workers' wages, and help struggling families, including immigrant families enter the middle class. And they will do it quickly, and they will be very, very happy indeed.

I believe that real and positive immigration reform is possible, as long as we focus on the following goals: To improve jobs and wages for Americans, to strengthen our nation's security, and to restore respect for our laws.

If we are guided by the well-being of American citizens, then I believe Republicans and Democrats can work together to achieve an outcome that has eluded our country for decades.

Another Republican president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, initiated the last truly great national infrastructure program — the building of the interstate highway system. The time has come for a new program of national rebuilding.

America has spent approximately $6 trillion in the Middle East. All the while, our infrastructure at home has crumbled. With $6 trillion, we could have rebuilt our country twice, and maybe even three times if we had people who had the ability to negotiate.1

This is an echo of a line Trump routinely used on the campaign trail, but his talk about $6 trillion wasted in overseas wars confuses money spent with money that may be spent in the future. A Brown University study concluded that the US had spent about $3.6 trillion in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria from 2001 to 2016. It, and other studies, estimates that the US will need to spend another $1 billion or more in the years ahead to care for wounded veterans. Trump, in other words, isn't wrong to say that the wars may eventually cost US taxpayers $6 trillion or more. But his remark is misleading because the US has yet to spend anywhere close to that much money.

Yochi Dreazen,

To launch our national rebuilding, I will be asking the Congress to approve legislation that produces a $1 trillion investment in the infrastructure of the United States,1 financed through both public and private capital, creating millions of new jobs.

Trump’s campaign infrastructure plan basically involves giving roughly $137 billion in tax cuts to private investors who want to finance toll roads, toll bridges, or other projects that generate their own revenue streams. The hope is that these tax cuts would help finance $1 trillion in investment, but this isn’t the same as $1 trillion in direct spending. Critics also argue that Trump’s plan would neglect many of America’s most pressing infrastructure needs, such as rebuilding aging roads and bridges.

Brad Plumer,

This effort will be guided by two core principles: Buy American, and hire American.

Tonight I am also calling on this Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare with reforms that expand choice, increase access, lower costs, and at the same time provide better health care.

Mandating every American to buy government-approved health insurance was never the right solution for our country.

The way to make health insurance available to everyone is to lower the cost of health insurance, and that is what we are going to do. Obamacare premiums nationwide have increased by double and triple digits.

As an example, Arizona went up 116 percent last year alone. Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky just said Obamacare is failing in his state — and it is unsustainable and collapsing.

One-third of counties have only one insurer, and they are losing them fast. They are losing them so fast, they are leaving, and many Americans have no choice at all. There is no choice left. Remember when you were told that you could keep your doctor and keep your plan? We now know that all of those promises have been totally broken.

Obamacare is collapsing, and we must act decisively to protect all Americans. Action is not a choice. It is a necessity. So I am calling on all Democrats and Republicans in Congress to work with us to save Americans from this imploding Obamacare disaster.

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Here are the principles that should guide the Congress as we move to create a better health care system for all Americans. First, we should ensure that Americans with preexisting conditions have access to coverage, and that we have a stable transition for Americans currently enrolled in the health care exchanges.

Secondly, we should help Americans purchase their own coverage through the use of tax credits and expanded health savings accounts. But it must be the plan they want, not the plan forced on them by our government.

Thirdly, we should give our state governors the resources and flexibility they need with Medicaid to make sure no one is left out.

Fourth, we should implement legal reforms that protect patients and doctors from unnecessary costs that drive up the price of insurance and work to bring down the artificially high price of drugs, and bring them down immediately.

And finally, the time has come to give Americans the freedom to purchase health insurance across state lines, which will create a truly competitive national marketplace that will bring cost way down and provide far better care. So important.

Everything that is broken in our country can be fixed. Every problem can be solved. And every hurting family can find healing and hope. Our citizens deserve this and so much more. So why not join forces and finally get the job done and get the job done right?

On this and so many other things, Democrats and Republicans should get together and unite for the good of our country and for the good of the American people.

My administration wants to work with members of both parties to make child care accessible and affordable, to help ensure new parents that they have paid family leave1 , to invest in women's health2 , and to promote clean air and clear water, and to rebuild our military and our infrastructure.

1

It’s interesting that Trump said “paid family leave.” The plan he proposed during the campaign only offered six weeks of paid maternity leave for new birth mothers. But “paid family leave” usually applies to both mothers and fathers, after either the birth of a new child or an adoption. It also often includes paid leave for anyone who needs to care for a sick family member. The US has no national paid leave program, but so far four states and the District of Columbia have passed their own.

Emily Crockett,

2

This will be news to women’s health providers, and it’s not at all clear what Trump means by this. His expanded version of the global gag rule will devastate global women’s health. And if Republicans in Congress manage to pass a bill to defund Planned Parenthood, and if Trump signs it as he has promised, it will jeopardize the safety net for low-income people who need women’s health care in the United States.

But while Trump is willing to go along with a hard-line social conservative position on these issues, they also don’t seem to be a big priority for him. According to a comprehensive archive of all of Trump’s public statements, he has mentioned the phrase “women’s health” in public just 11 times since August 2015.

Emily Crockett,

True love for our people requires us to find common ground, to advance the common good, and to cooperate on behalf of every American child who deserves a much brighter future. An incredible young woman is with us this evening who should serve as an inspiration to us all. Today is Rare Disease Day, and joining us in the gallery is a rare disease survivor, Megan Crowley.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

Megan was diagnosed with Pompe disease, a rare and serious illness, when she was 15 months old. She was not expected to live past 5. On receiving this news, Megan's dad, John, fought with everything he had to save the life of his precious child. He founded a company to look for a cure and helped develop the drug that saved Megan's life. Today she is 20 years old and a sophomore at Notre Dame.

Megan's story is about the unbounded power of a father's love for a daughter. But our slow and burdensome approval process at the Food and Drug Administration keeps too many advances, like the one that saved Megan's life, from reaching those in need. If we slash the restraints not just at the FDA but across our government, then we will be blessed with far more miracles just like Megan.1

One of the key notions that undergirds Trump’s view of the FDA is that if the agency just got rid of some of the pesky restrictions for drug approval, we could have a golden age in drug development, not just for rare diseases but all diseases. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. According to drug industry experts, and those who study the FDA, the agency isn’t what gets in the way of drug innovation. It’s now the fastest drug regulatory agency in the world. FDA review times have fallen from 30 months in the 1980s to about 8.5 months today — yet there's little evidence that all this speed has led to more medical “miracles.”

Julia Belluz,

In fact, our children will grow up in a nation of miracles. But to achieve this future, we must enrich the mind, and the souls, of every American child. Education is the civil rights issue of our time.

I am calling upon members of both parties to pass an education bill that funds school choice for disadvantaged youth, including millions of African-American and Latino children. These families should be free to choose the public, private, charter, magnet, religious, or home school that is right for them.1

Trump proposed a $20 billion school voucher program during the campaign that would apply to children living in poverty. But he’s right that this plan will need Congress to become law — and given that some conservative lawmakers from rural areas are voucher skeptics, and that Congress just passed a major education bill in December 2015 and has other legislative priorities this year, it’s not clear legislators will go along.

Libby Nelson,

Joining us tonight in the gallery is a remarkable woman, Denisha Merriweather. As a young girl, Denisha struggled in school and failed third grade twice.

Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

But then she was able to enroll in a private center for learning, great learning center, with the help of a tax credit scholarship program.1 Today, she is the first in her family to graduate, not just from high school but from college. Later this year, she will get her master’s degree in social work. We want all children to be able to break the cycle of poverty just like Denisha.

The key words here are “tax credit scholarship” — creating an incentive in the tax code for donations to private school scholarship funds is one way Congress could expand “school choice” without creating an explicit voucher program.

Libby Nelson,

But to break the cycle of poverty, we must also break the cycle of violence. The murder rate in 2015 experienced its largest single-year increase in nearly half a century.1

The murder rate did see its largest increase single-year increase in nearly half a century in 2015, according to PolitiFact. The question is how Trump wants to address that crime rate. Criminologists warn that if Trump takes the “tough on crime” approach he promised on the campaign trail, it could lead to more crime by fostering more distrust in the police. Experts have instead called for new, targeted kinds of policing that worked to reduce crime in cities like Boston without fostering more distrust in law enforcement.

German Lopez,

In Chicago, more than 4,000 people were shot last year alone, and the murder rate so far this year has been even higher. This is not acceptable in our society.

Every American child should be able to grow up in a safe community, to attend a great school, and to have access to a high-paying job.But to create this future, we must work with, not

against, the men and women of law enforcement. We must build bridges of cooperation and trust, not drive the wedge of disunity — and really what it is is division. It is pure, unadulterated division. We have to unify.

Police and sheriffs are members of our community. They are friends and neighbors, they are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, and they leave behind loved ones every day who worry about whether or not they'll come home safe and sound. We must support the incredible men and women of law enforcement.1

This is the best articulation Trump has ever given of his administration’s “Blue Lives Matter” approach to law enforcement: Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions appear to believe that talking about police misconduct or mistreatment will inevitably put police officers in danger, and they don’t appear to believe that any amount of benefit would be worth that cost.

Dara Lind,

And we must support the victims of crime. I have ordered the Department of Homeland Security to create an office to serve American victims. The office is called VOICE, Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement.

We are providing a voice to those who have been ignored by our media and silenced by special interests. Joining us are four very brave Americans whose government failed them. Their names are Jamiel Shaw, Susan Oliver, Jenna Oliver, and Jessica Davis. Jamiel's 17-year-old son was viciously murdered by an illegal immigrant gang member, who had just been released from prison.

Jamiel Shaw Jr. was an incredible young man with unlimited potential, who was getting ready to go to college, where he would have excelled as a great college quarterback. But he never got the chance. His father, who is in the audience tonight, has become a very good friend of mine.

 

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

Jamiel, thank you. Thank you.

Also with us are Susan Oliver and Jessica Davis. Their husbands, Deputy Sheriff Danny Oliver and Detective Michael Davis, were slain in the line of duty in California. They were pillars of their community. These brave men were viciously gunned down by an illegal immigrant with a criminal record and two prior deportations.

Should have never been in our country.

Sitting with Susan is her daughter Jenna. Jenna, I want you to know that your father was a hero, and that tonight you have the love of an entire country supporting you and praying for you.

We will always honor their memory.

Finally, to keep America safe, we must provide the men and women of the United States military with the tools they need to prevent war. If they must, they have to fight, and they only have to win. I am sending the Congress a budget that rebuilds the military, eliminates the defense sequester, and calls for one of the largest increases in national defense spending in American history.1

Um, not so much. Administration staffers have spent days telling reporters that Trump would call for increasing defense spending by an eye-popping $54 billion - a sum that would be particularly striking given that the US has largely wound down the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But there's much less here than meets the eye. The actual increase is closer to $18 billion. For almost any other part of the government, an influx of $18 billion would be cause to bust out the champagne. But the Pentagon isn't like most other parts of the government; for the Defense Department, $18 billion is an almost literal drop in the bucket. Trump is without question boosting defense spending. But he's boosting it by far less than his rhetoric suggests.

Yochi Dreazen,

My budget will also increase funding for our veterans. Our veterans have delivered for this nation, and now we must deliver for them.

The challenges we face as a nation are great, but our people are even greater. And none are greater or braver than those who fight for America in uniform. We are blessed to be joined tonight by Carryn Owens, the widow of US Navy special operator Senior Chief William Ryan Owens. Ryan died as he lived, a warrior and a hero, battling against terrorism and securing our nation.

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I just spoke to our great Gen. Mattis, who reconfirmed that, and I quote, "Ryan was a part of a highly successful raid that generated large amounts of vital intelligence that will lead to many more victories in the future against our enemies.” Ryan's legacy is etched into eternity.1  Thank you. Ryan is looking down right now. You know that. And he is very happy because I think he just broke a record.

This is a much more complicated, and politically charged, issue than Trump's vignette suggests. Owens died in a botched raid in Yemen that was planned during the Obama administration but carried out at Trump's command. The Pentagon insists the raid recovered important information, but many inside and outside the military question whether what it accomplished was worth the high human cost. Owens's father, Bill, angrily refused to meet with Trump after the commando's body was returned to the US.

The story took another turn today, with Trump breaking with decades of presidential precedent and blaming the military for the failed operation - and for Owens's death - rather than taking responsibility himself. As Phillip Carter wrote for Vox, most presidents have stepped up and accepted blame for failed military operations, regardless of whether they were their fault. Trump, in other words, has abandoned any notion of the buck stopping with him.

Yochi Dreazen,

The Bible teaches us there is no greater act of love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. Ryan laid down his life for his friends and his country, and for our freedom, and we will never forget Ryan.

To those allies who wonder what kind of friend America will be, look no further than the heroes who wear our uniform. Our foreign policy calls for a direct, robust, and meaningful engagement with the world. It is American leadership based on vital security interest that we share with our allies all across the globe.

We strongly support NATO, an alliance forged through the bonds of two world wars and the Cold War and defeated communism. But our partners must meet their financial obligations, and now, based on our very strong and frank discussions, they are beginning to do just that.1

America’s allies have to find this line a little relieving. Trump is not only supporting the alliance in fairly strong terms, but he’s also suggesting that they’re already meeting his desired commitments, which would imply that Trump is a lot less likely to renege on the alliance than one might have thought from his past statements. It isn’t ideal from a European point of view, but it’s a real improvement.

Zack Beauchamp,

In fact, I can tell you the money is pouring in. We expect our partners, whether in NATO, the Middle East, or the Pacific, to take a direct and meaningful role in both strategic and military operations and pay their fair share of the cost — have to do it. We will respect historic institutions, but we will respect the foreign rights of all nations, and they have to respect our rights as a nation also.

Free nations are the best vehicle for expressing the will of the people, and America respects the right of all nations to chart their own path. My job is not to represent the world; my job is to represent the United States of America.

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But we know that America is better off when there is less conflict, not more. We must learn from the mistakes of the past. We have seen the war and the destruction that have ravaged and raged throughout the world, all across the world. The only long-term solution for these humanitarian disasters is to create the conditions where displaced persons can safely return home and begin the long, long process of rebuilding.

America is willing to find new friends and forge new partnerships, shared interests align. We want harmony and stability, not war and conflict. We want peace wherever peace can be found.

America is friends today with former enemies. Some of our closest allies, decades ago, fought on the opposite side of these terrible, terrible wars. This history should give us all faith in the possibilities for a better world. Hopefully the 250th year for America will see a world that is more peaceful, more just, and more free.

On our 100th anniversary, in 1876, citizens across our nation came to Philadelphia to celebrate America's centennial. At that celebration, the country's builders and artists and inventors showed off their wonderful creations. Alexander Graham Bell displayed his telephone for the first time. Remington unveiled the first typewriter. An early attempt was made at electric light. Thomas Edison showed the telegraph and an electric pen. Imagine the wonders our country could know in America's 250th year.

Think of the marvels we can achieve if we simply set free the dreams of our people. Cures to the illnesses that have always plagued us are not too much to hope. Millions lifted from welfare to work is not too much to expect, and streets where mothers are safe from fear, schools where children can learn in peace, and jobs where Americans prosper and grow are not too much to ask.

When we have all of this, we've made America greater than before, for all Americans. This is our mission. But we can only get there together. We are one people with one destiny. We all bleed the same blood. We all salute the same great flag, and we all are made by the same God.

Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Pool/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

When we fulfill this vision — when we celebrate our 250 years of glorious freedom — we will look back on tonight as when this new chapter of American greatness began. The time for small thinking is over. The time for trivial fights is behind us. We just need the courage to share the dreams that fill our hearts, the bravery to express the hopes, and the confidence to turn those hopes and dreams into actions.

From now on, America will be empowered by our aspirations, not burdened by our fears; inspired by the future, not bound by failures of the past; and guided by a vision, not blinded by our doubts.

I am asking all citizens to embrace this American spirit. I am asking all members of Congress to join me in dreaming big and bold and daring things for our country. I am asking everyone watching tonight to seize this moment, believe in yourselves, believe in your future, and believe once more in America.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States.

The latest text has been updated.

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