Bush said: “It is in our vital interest to diversify America’s energy supply — and the way forward is through technology.”

FACT — BUSH PROMISED TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES LAST YEAR, DIDN’T DELIVER: At last year’s State of the Union, President Bush said the “best way to break this addiction [to oil] is through technology.” Yet his 2007 budget actually proposed to spend less on energy efficiency, conservation, and renewable energy resources in inflation-adjusted dollars than was appropriated in fiscal year 2001 — $1.176 billion in nominal dollars in both 2001 and 2007. [State of the Union, 1/31/06; President's Budget, FY 2007]

FACT — EMPHASIS ON TECHNOLOGY IS STANDARD RIGHT-WING TALKING POINT: Influential conservative political consultant and wordsmith Frank Luntz has advised politicians to point to the promise of technology in order to delay implementation of mandatory cuts in global warming pollution. “We need to emphasize how voluntary innovation and experimentation are preferable to bureaucratic or international intervention and regulation,” Luntz advises. [Luntz Environment Memo]

Bush said: “We need to expand Health Savings Accounts … help small businesses through Association Health Plans … reduce costs and medical errors with better information technology … encourage price transparency … and protect good doctors from junk lawsuits by passing medical liability reform. And in all we do, we must remember that the best health care decisions are made not by government and insurance companies, but by patients and their doctors.”

FACT — HSAs DO NOT OFFER MEANINGFUL SAVINGS FOR AMERICANS: “Low- and middle-income uninsured people will gain meager or no tax savings” from health savings accounts, according to a Commonwealth Fund study. Roughly 50 percent of uninsured adults pay no federal income taxes, meaning that “tax incentives for high-deductible health plans would have little impact on uninsured adults.” [Commonwealth Fund, April 2005]

FACT — HSAs PRIMARILY BENEFIT THE RICH: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found “that the average income of HSA users was $133,000 in 2004, compared to $51,000 for all non-elderly tax filers.” Most low-income individuals “do not face high enough tax liability to benefit in a significant way from tax deductions associated with HSAs.” [CBPP, 12/7/06; Kaiser Familiy Foundation, 10/4/06]

FACT — HSAs WILL NOT DECREASE THE NUMBER OF UNINSURED: HSAs are “not likely to be an important contributor to expanding coverage among uninsured people” because most of uninsured Americans “do not face high-enough marginal tax rates to benefit substantially from the tax deductibility of HSA contributions.” [Commonwealth Fund, April 2005]

FACT — AMERICANS ARE DISSATISFIED WITH HSAs: Just 33-42 percent of enrollees in consumer-driven health plans were satisfied with their health care, compared to 63 percent of those people with traditional coverage. Two-thirds of people prefer an employer-selected set of plans over an employer-funded account and choosing insurance on their own. [Commonwealth Fund, December 2005]

Bush said: “My second proposal is to help the States that are coming up with innovative ways to cover the uninsured. States that make basic private health insurance available to all their citizens should receive Federal funds to help them provide this coverage to the poor and the sick. I have asked the Secretary of Health and Human Services to work with Congress to take existing Federal funds and use them to create ‘Affordable Choices’ grants.”

FACT — BUSH PLAN WILL CUT $30 BILLION FROM PUBLIC HOSPITALS: Bush’s ‘Affordable Choice’ grants will not involve any new federal money. It will instead “redirect some of the $30 billion the government spends annually to care for people without health insurance who show up at hospitals and emergency rooms. There are about 47 million Americans without health insurance.” [USA Today, , 1/23/07; American Progress, 1/23/07]

Bush said: “First, I propose a standard tax deduction for health insurance that will be like the standard tax deduction for dependents. … [F]or the millions of other Americans who have no health insurance at all, this deduction would help put a basic private health insurance plan within their reach. Changing the tax code is a vital and necessary step to making health care affordable for more Americans.”

FACT — MILLIONS OF AMERICANS WILL BE UNABLE TO AFFORD EXPENSIVE INDIVIDUAL PLANS: Karen Pollitz, a Georgetown University researcher who co-authored a 2001 study on the individual health-insurance market for the Kaiser Family Foundation, found that people who aren’t in perfect health are largely unable to buy individual health insurance. In her study, Pollitz found that “roughly 90% of applicants in what’s known as less-than-perfect health were unable to buy individual policies at standard rates, while 37% were rejected outright.” Individual health insurers may deny coverage to people based on their medial history, or put them in “a high-risk category that it makes health coverage too expensive.” [MSN]

Bush said: “The time has come to end this practice [of congressional earmarking]. So let us work together to reform the budget process … expose every earmark to the light of day and to a vote in Congress.”

FACT — BUSH HAS ENGAGED IN HIS OWN EARMARKING: Bush has engaged in his own earmarking, using the federal budget process to “reward political supporters, campaign contributors and sometimes members of Congress” for votes on a presidential priority. Unlike with appropriations bills, you have no way to know whether an executive earmark “comes from some agency’s discretionary fund, and they decide to put it in some key district or state” for political gain. [Wall Street Journal, 2/21/06]

Bush said: “A future of hope and opportunity begins with a growing economy — and that is what we have. … This economy is on the move — and our job is to keep it that way, not with more government but with more enterprise.”

FACT — BUSH’S TAX CUTS THE LARGEST CONTRIBUTOR TO BUDGET DEFICITS: Tax cuts “have been the single largest contributor to the reemergence of substantial budget deficits.” “Between 2001 and 2006, the passage of the Bush tax cuts without the offsetting savings have cost $1.2 trillion in lost revenues, or more than 80 percent of the cumulative deficit during this period.” [Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, 10/12/06; Center for American Progress analysis, 1/22/07]

FACT — DEFICITS HAVE MUSROOMED UNDER BUSH: Bush has “never proposed a balanced budget since it went into deficit, never vetoed a spending bill when Republicans controlled Congress and offered little sustained objection to earmarks until the issue gained political traction last year.” “The budget outlook for the period 2002 to 2011 deteriorated by $8.5 trillion from 2001 to 2006 and for 2006, it decreased by $753 billion.” [Washington Post, 1/4/07; Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, 12/13/06; Center for American Progress analysis, 1/22/07]

FACT — ECONOMIC GROWTH HAS BEEN RELATIVELY SLOW UNDER BUSH: Economic growth fell to 2 percent in the third quarter of last year, following 2.6 percent growth in the second quarter and a surprisingly strong first quarter growth of 5.6 percent. “This was the first time in more than three years that the economy registered two consecutive quarters of growth below three percent.” [CBS News, 12/21/06; Center for Amercan Progress analysis, 12/21/06]

Bush said: “Tonight, I have a high privilege and distinct honor of my own — as the first President to begin the State of the Union message with these words: Madam Speaker. In his day, the late Congressman Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr., from Baltimore, Maryland, saw Presidents Roosevelt and Truman at this rostrum. But nothing could compare with the sight of his only daughter, Nancy, presiding tonight as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Congratulations.”

FACT — BUSH SUGGESTED ‘TERRORISTS WIN’ IF PELOSI ELECTED SPEAKER: “[President Bush] mocked [Pelosi] as ‘a secret admirer’ of tax cuts and an opponent of measures crucial to keeping Americans safe, warning that ‘terrorists win and America loses’ if her Democrats prevailed on Election Day”; “Setting the Record Straight: Rep. Pelosi Downplays Progress In Iraq.” [AP, 11/6/06; White House fact sheet, 12/7/05]

We’ll start respecting White House embargoes when they start telling the truth.

Embargoed Until Delivery of the State of the Union Address at 9:01 PM EST
January 23, 2007

STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

As Prepared For Delivery

TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:

Thank you very much. Tonight, I have a high privilege and distinct honor of my own — as the first President to begin the State of the Union message with these words: Madam Speaker.

In his day, the late Congressman Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr., from Baltimore, Maryland, saw Presidents Roosevelt and Truman at this rostrum. But nothing could compare with the sight of his only daughter, Nancy, presiding tonight as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Congratulations.

Two members of the House and Senate are not with us tonight — and we pray for the recovery and speedy return of Senator Tim Johnson and Congressman Charlie Norwood.

Madam Speaker, Vice President Cheney, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:

This rite of custom brings us together at a defining hour — when decisions are hard and courage is tested. We enter the year 2007 with large endeavors underway, and others that are ours to begin. In all of this, much is asked of us. We must have the will to face difficult challenges and determined enemies — and the wisdom to face them together.

Some in this Chamber are new to the House and Senate — and I congratulate the Democratic majority. Congress has changed, but our responsibilities have not. Each of us is guided by our own convictions — and to these we must stay faithful. Yet we are all held to the same standards, and called to serve the same good purposes: To extend this Nation’s prosperity … to spend the people’s money wisely … to solve problems, not leave them to future generations … to guard America against all evil, and to keep faith with those we have sent forth to defend us. Read more