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Past Event

An Economic Studies, Foreign Policy and Governance Studies Event

State of the Union: Analyzing Bush's Agenda for the Next Four Years

U.S. Politics, Bureaucracy, Executive Branch, The Presidency, Politics


Event Summary

In his State of the Union speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, President Bush is expected to spell out many of the specifics of his domestic and national security agenda, not just for the year ahead but for his entire second term in the White House.

Event Information

When

Thursday, February 03, 2005
2:30 PM to 4:00 PM

Where

Falk Auditorium
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC
Map

Contact: Office of Communications

E-mail: communications@brookings.edu

Phone: 202.797.6105

While his recent inaugural speech struck a lofty but non-specific tone, the president's State of the Union address is expected to provide details of his proposals for Social Security reform, changes in the tax system, tort reform, the federal budget, renewing the USA PATRIOT Act, and many other initiatives.

At this forum the day after the State of the Union speech, Brookings scholars with expertise in the relevant issues will analyze the president's proposals, as well as the outlook for their passage, and the mood and divisions in Congress and in the country as the debate over Bush's second-term agenda begins.

The panelists will answer questions from the audience.

Transcript

Belle Sawhill: Let me begin by taking just a few moments to try to set the stage here. I thought the Washington Post summarized very nicely Bush's second term today. They said the President is going to be remembered for saying that we should stay the course in Iraq and change the course on Social Security, and I think those are the two big issues that we will probably talk about today along with others.

As I listened to the speech I was struck by several things. First of all, the President began and ended the speech on the same theme that he addressed in his inaugural address, and that's the importance of freedom and democracy around the world. His objectives here I think are clearly lofty, ambitious. The question is whether they're realistic.

Read the complete event transcript (PDF—74Kb)

Participants

Moderator

Isabel V. Sawhill

Senior Fellow, Economic Studies

Panelists

Ivo H. Daalder

Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy

Jonathan Rauch

Guest Scholar, Governance Studies

Stuart Taylor, Jr.

Nonresident Senior Fellow, Brookings
Columnist, National Journal

William G. Gale

Vice President and Director, Economic Studies


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