1999 State of the Union Address 1999 State of the Union Address The 1999 State of the Union address was given by President Bill Clinton to a joint session of the 106th United States Congress on Tuesday, January 19, 1999. The speech was the third State of the Union address of President Clinton's second term. This was the first State of the Union address with Dennis Hastert as Speaker of the House of Representatives. President Clinton discussed the economy, the federal budget, taxes and focused on the budget surplus, then at $70 billion. The president also discussed the future of Social Security, education, foreign relations and
State of the Union of the pomp and ceremony behind the State of the Union address is governed by tradition rather than law, in modern times, the event is seen as one of the most important in the US political calendar. It is one of the few instances when all three branches of the US government are assembled under one roof: members of both houses of Congress constituting the legislature, the President's Cabinet constituting the executive, and the Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court constituting the judiciary. In addition, the military is represented by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, while foreign