STATE OF THE UNION : The Main Arguments

Key topics touched on by President Clinton in his State of the Union address and by Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas in the Republican response:

CLINTON

Education: “I challenge parents to be their children’s first teachers. Turn off the TV. See that the homework gets done. Visit your children’s classroom.”

Budget: “Our responsibility here begins with balancing the budget in a way that is fair to all Americans.”

Families: “We need a tax credit for working families with children. . . . It should be part of any final budget agreement.”

Crime: “Our next step in the fight against crime is to take on gangs the way we took on the mob.”

Welfare: “I challenge people on welfare to make the most of this opportunity for independence. And I challenge American business to give them a chance.”

DOLE

Budget: “There comes a time when even practical leaders must refuse to bend or yield. . . . We have arrived at that time.”

Education: “[Clinon] He has chosen to defend an education establishment run by liberals whose goal is to operate every school in America by remote control from Washington.”

Families: “The point of our lives . . . is to raise children who are smarter and healthier and nobler than we are.”

Crime: “Untie the hands of our police. Restore justice to our courts and put our faith once again in the basic goodness, wisdom and self-reliance of our people.”

Welfare: “Americans know that handouts without responsibility destroy human dignity. We know that the help of a neighbor is preferable to that of a bureaucrat.”