President Donald J. Trump's State of the Union Address | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    Remarks as prepared for delivery  •  TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:

    Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, the First Lady of the United States, and my fellow Americans:

    Less than 1 year has passed since I first stood at this podium, in this majestic chamber, to speak on behalf of the American People - and to address their concerns, their hopes, and their dreams. That night, our new Administration had already taken swift action. A new tide of optimism was already sweeping across our land.

    Each day since, we have gone forward with a clear vision and a righteous mission - to make America great again for all Americans.

    Over the last year, we have made incredible progress and achieved extraordinary success. We have faced challenges we expected, and others we could never have imagined. We have shared in the heights of victory and the pains of hardship. We endured floods and fires and storms. But through it all, we have seen the beauty of America's soul, and the steel in America's spine.

    Each test has forged new American heroes to remind us who we are, and show us what we can be.
President Trump addressing congress: Above.    Click image to expand.
    We saw the volunteers of the "Cajun Navy," racing to the rescue with their fishing boats to save people in the aftermath of a devastating hurricane.

    We saw strangers shielding strangers from a hail of gunfire on the Las Vegas strip.

    We heard tales of Americans like Coast Guard Petty Officer Ashlee Leppert, who is here tonight in the gallery with Melania. Ashlee was aboard one of the first helicopters on the scene in Houston during Hurricane Harvey. Through 18 hours of wind and rain, Ashlee braved live power lines and deep water, to help save more than 40 lives. Thank you, Ashlee.



    We heard about Americans like firefighter David Dahlberg. He is here with us too. David faced down walls of flame to rescue almost 60 children trapped at a California summer camp threatened by wildfires.

    To everyone still recovering in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, California, and everywhere else - we are with you, we love you, and we will pull through together.

    Some trials over the past year touched this chamber very personally. With us tonight is one of the toughest people ever to serve in this House - a guy who took a bullet, almost died, and was back to work three and a half months later: the legend from Louisiana, Congressman Steve Scalise.

    We are incredibly grateful for the heroic efforts of the Capitol Police Officers, the Alexandria Police, and the doctors, nurses, and paramedics who saved his life, and the lives of many others in this room.

    In the aftermath of that terrible shooting, we came together, not as Republicans or Democrats, but as representatives of the people. But it is not enough to come together only in times of tragedy. Tonight, I call upon all of us to set aside our differences, to seek out common ground, and to summon the unity we need to deliver for the people we were elected to serve.

    Over the last year, the world has seen what we always knew: that no people on Earth are so fearless, or daring, or determined as Americans. If there is a mountain, we climb it. If there is a frontier, we cross it. If there is a challenge, we tame it. If there is an opportunity, we seize it.

    So let us begin tonight by recognizing that the state of our Union is strong because our people are strong.

    And together, we are building a safe, strong, and proud America.

    Since the election, we have created 2.4 million new jobs, including 200,000 new jobs in manufacturing alone. After years of wage stagnation, we are finally seeing rising wages.

    Unemployment claims have hit a 45-year low. African-American unemployment stands at the lowest rate ever recorded, and Hispanic American unemployment has also reached the lowest levels in history.

    Small business confidence is at an all-time high. The stock market has smashed one record after another, gaining $8 trillion in value. That is great news for Americans' 401k, retirement, pension, and college savings accounts.

    And just as I promised the American people from this podium 11 months ago, we enacted the biggest tax cuts and reforms in American history.

    Our massive tax cuts provide tremendous relief for the middle class and small businesses.

    To lower tax rates for hardworking Americans, we nearly doubled the standard deduction for everyone. Now, the first $24,000 earned by a married couple is completely tax-free. We also doubled the child tax credit.

    A typical family of four making $75,000 will see their tax bill reduced by $2,000 - slashing their tax bill in half.

    This April will be the last time you ever file under the old broken system - and millions of Americans will have more take-home pay starting next month.

    We eliminated an especially cruel tax that fell mostly on Americans making less than $50,000 a year - forcing them to pay tremendous penalties simply because they could not afford government-ordered health plans. We repealed the core of disastrous Obamacare - the individual mandate is now gone.

    We slashed the business tax rate from 35 percent all the way down to 21 percent, so American companies can compete and win against anyone in the world. These changes alone are estimated to increase average family income by more than $4,000.

    Small businesses have also received a massive tax cut, and can now deduct 20 percent of their business income.

    Here tonight are Steve Staub and Sandy Keplinger of Staub Manufacturing - a small business in Ohio. They have just finished the best year in their 20-year history. Because of tax reform, they are handing out raises, hiring an additional 14 people, and expanding into the building next door.

    One of Staub's employees, Corey Adams, is also with us tonight. Corey is an all-American worker. He supported himself through high school, lost his job during the 2008 recession, and was later hired by Staub, where he trained to become a welder. Like many hardworking Americans, Corey plans to invest his tax‑cut raise into his new home and his two daughters' education. Please join me in congratulating Corey.

    Since we passed tax cuts, roughly 3 million workers have already gotten tax cut bonuses - many of them thousands of dollars per worker. Apple has just announced it plans to invest a total of $350 billion in America, and hire another 20,000 workers.

    This is our new American moment. There has never been a better time to start living the American Dream.

    So to every citizen watching at home tonight - no matter where you have been, or where you come from, this is your time. If you work hard, if you believe in yourself, if you believe in America, then you can dream anything, you can be anything, and together, we can achieve anything.

    Tonight, I want to talk about what kind of future we are going to have, and what kind of Nation we are going to be. All of us, together, as one team, one people, and one American family.

    We all share the same home, the same heart, the same destiny, and the same great American flag.

    Together, we are rediscovering the American way.

    In America, we know that faith and family, not government and bureaucracy, are the center of the American life. Our motto is "in God we trust."

    And we celebrate our police, our military, and our amazing veterans as heroes who deserve our total and unwavering support.

    Here tonight is Preston Sharp, a 12-year-old boy from Redding, California, who noticed that veterans' graves were not marked with flags on Veterans Day. He decided to change that, and started a movement that has now placed 40,000 flags at the graves of our great heroes. Preston: a job well done.

    Young patriots like Preston teach all of us about our civic duty as Americans. Preston's reverence for those who have served our Nation reminds us why we salute our flag, why we put our hands on our hearts for the pledge of allegiance, and why we proudly stand for the national anthem.

    Americans love their country. And they deserve a Government that shows them the same love and loyalty in return.

    For the last year we have sought to restore the bonds of trust between our citizens and their Government.

    Working with the Senate, we are appointing judges who will interpret the Constitution as written, including a great new Supreme Court Justice, and more circuit court judges than any new administration in the history of our country.

    We are defending our Second Amendment, and have taken historic actions to protect religious liberty.

    And we are serving our brave veterans, including giving our veterans choice in their healthcare decisions. Last year, the Congress passed, and I signed, the landmark VA Accountability Act. Since its passage, my Administration has already removed more than 1,500 VA employees who failed to give our veterans the care they deserve - and we are hiring talented people who love our vets as much as we do.

    I will not stop until our veterans are properly taken care of, which has been my promise to them from the very beginning of this great journey.

    All Americans deserve accountability and respect - and that is what we are giving them. So tonight, I call on the Congress to empower every Cabinet Secretary with the authority to reward good workers - and to remove Federal employees who undermine the public trust or fail the American people.

    In our drive to make Washington accountable, we have eliminated more regulations in our first year than any administration in history.

    We have ended the war on American Energy - and we have ended the war on clean coal. We are now an exporter of energy to the world.

    In Detroit, I halted Government mandates that crippled America's autoworkers - so we can get the Motor City revving its engines once again.

    Many car companies are now building and expanding plants in the United States - something we have not seen for decades. Chrysler is moving a major plant from Mexico to Michigan; Toyota and Mazda are opening up a plant in Alabama. Soon, plants will be opening up all over the country. This is all news Americans are unaccustomed to hearing - for many years, companies and jobs were only leaving us. But now they are coming back.

    Exciting progress is happening every day.

    To speed access to breakthrough cures and affordable generic drugs, last year the FDA approved more new and generic drugs and medical devices than ever before in our history.

    We also believe that patients with terminal conditions should have access to experimental treatments that could potentially save their lives.

    People who are terminally ill should not have to go from country to country to seek a cure - I want to give them a chance right here at home. It is time for the Congress to give these wonderful Americans the "right to try."

    One of my greatest priorities is to reduce the price of prescription drugs. In many other countries, these drugs cost far less than what we pay in the United States. That is why I have directed my Administration to make fixing the injustice of high drug prices one of our top priorities. Prices will come down.

    America has also finally turned the page on decades of unfair trade deals that sacrificed our prosperity and shipped away our companies, our jobs, and our Nation's wealth.

    The era of economic surrender is over.

    From now on, we expect trading relationships to be fair and to be reciprocal.

    We will work to fix bad trade deals and negotiate new ones.

    And we will protect American workers and American intellectual property, through strong enforcement of our trade rules.

    As we rebuild our industries, it is also time to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure.

    America is a nation of builders. We built the Empire State Building in just 1 year - is it not a disgrace that it can now take 10 years just to get a permit approved for a simple road?

    I am asking both parties to come together to give us the safe, fast, reliable, and modern infrastructure our economy needs and our people deserve.

    Tonight, I am calling on the Congress to produce a bill that generates at least $1.5 trillion for the new infrastructure investment we need.

    Every Federal dollar should be leveraged by partnering with State and local governments and, where appropriate, tapping into private sector investment - to permanently fix the infrastructure deficit.

    Any bill must also streamline the permitting and approval process - getting it down to no more than two years, and perhaps even one.

    Together, we can reclaim our building heritage. We will build gleaming new roads, bridges, highways, railways, and waterways across our land. And we will do it with American heart, American hands, and American grit.

    We want every American to know the dignity of a hard day's work. We want every child to be safe in their home at night. And we want every citizen to be proud of this land that we love.

    We can lift our citizens from welfare to work, from dependence to independence, and from poverty to prosperity.