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 report. Since Franklin Roosevelt, the State of the Union is given typically each January before a joint session of the United States Congress and is held in the House of Representatives chamber of the United States Capitol. Newly inaugurated presidents generally deliver an address to Congress in February of the first year of their term, but this speech is not officially considered to be a "State of the Union". What began as a communication between president and Congress has become in effect a communication between the president and the people of the United States. Since the advent of radio, and