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
1995 State of the Union Address history. The president acknowledged many Americans of past and present in his speech. Among them were: The Republican Party response was delivered by Governor Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey. This was the first response given exclusively by a state governor and, delivered in Trenton, the first outside Washington, DC. Conservative William Kristol called the address the "most conservative State of the Union by a Democratic president in history." Federico Peña, the Secretary of Transportation, served as the designated survivor. 1995 State of the Union Address The 1995 State of the Union address was given by President Bill Clinton to