State of the Union Address Slim on High Tech Policy

(January 20, 1999)  President Bill Clinton read his annual "State of the Union" speech to the Congress on Tuesday night, January 19.  It contained little discussion of high tech policies.  However, it did touch on the Year 2000 conversion problem, privacy in electronically stored medical records, and terrorist threats to computer infrastructure.

Clinton's speech addressed medical records privacy.  He stated:

"As more of our medical records are stored electronically, the threats to all our privacy increase. Because Congress has given me the authority to act if it does not do so by August, one way or another, we can all say to the American people, we will protect the privacy of medical records and we will do it this year."

On July 31, 1998, Vice President Al Gore delivered a speech at the White House which addressed this topic in more detail.  (See, story | transcript of event | Gore press release.)

Clinton also addressed the Year 2000 conversion problem.  However, he did not address the subject of litigation reform.  One of the leading high tech issues in Congress in 1999 is likely to be proposals to limit the liability for Year 2000 problems in order to provide companies greater incentives fix problems.  For example, Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT) called for new legislation at a Senate hearing on Friday, January 15.  (See, story.)

Clinton stated as follows:

"We must strengthen our lead in technology. It was government investment that led to the creation of the Internet. I propose a 28-percent increase in long-term computing research.

We also must be ready for the 21st century from its very first moment, by solving the so-called Y2K computer problem.

We had one member of Congress stand up and applaud.  And we may have about that ratio out there applauding at home, in front of their television sets. But remember, this is a big, big problem. And we've been working hard on it. Already, we've made sure that the Social Security checks will come on time.  But I want all the folks at home listening to this to know that we need every state and local government, every business, large and small, to work with us to make sure that this Y2K computer bug will be remembered as the last headache of the 20th century, not the first crisis of the 21st."

Clinton also stated that "We must work to keep terrorists from disrupting computer networks."  He made this remark as a part of his discussion of the recent embassy bombing in Africa, and Osama Bin Laden.

Early in his speech, Clinton praised Al Gore.  "Thanks to the leadership of Vice President Gore, we have a government for the Information Age."  However, he did not cite any examples of this leadership.

Rep. Jennifer Dunn (R-WA) and Rep. Steve Largent (R-OK) jointly delivered the Republican response.  Neither addressed high tech issues.