In his second State of the Union address President George W. Bush outlined broad plans for the international future of the United States. Bush expressed support for political dissent in Iran as a peaceful mechanism of positive change and combat against the evil of authoritarianism. He condemned the deceit and military posturing of North Korea saying that "The North Korean regime will find respect in the world and revival for its people only when it turns away from its nuclear ambitions." Saying that the U.S. must avoid repeating the mistakes it made in North Korea with Iraq, Bush outlined more than a dozen Iraqi breaches of the last U.N. resolution requiring disarmament. Bush's litany included unaccounted for weapons of mass destruction, purposeful deceiving of U.N. inspectors and repeated threats to anyone who cooperated with the U.N. investigation, repeated attempts to acquire uranium and aluminum casings used in nuclear weapons and mobile biological weapons bases. Bush finally called for a U.N. Security Council meeting on Feb. 5 to consider the facts of Iraq's ongoing defiance of the world and ultimately come to a final decision on the U.N. and the U.S.'s next moves.

Economic, environmental reforms at top of domestic policy

Bush proposed acceleration of 2004 and 2006 tax cuts, immediate reduction of the marriage tax disincentives and the termination of the double taxation of stock dividends. He called for new standards in fiscal responsibility in an effort to secure feasibility of the social security system for current and future senior citizens. He also sponsored health care initiatives. Bush called for strengthening and broadening of the Medicare system, prescription coverage for all seniors and for medical liability reform to limit damages in malpractice suits. Bush laid out plans for a 70-percent cut in air pollution through funding of technological research. Laying out $1.2 billion for research into hydrogen powered automobile engines, Bush painted the picture of a world where today's children drive cars which produce no pollution and live in a country with substantially less international dependence on fossil fuel energy. Finally he made an appeal to the generosity and beneficence of Americans-calling on Congress to pass programs dedicated to volunteerism, mentoring, and treatment of drug addicts. Bush called for ethical fortitude as well in calling for an end to partial-birth abortions and a definitive banning of all forms of human cloning.

Locke expresses concern with economy, budget crisis

In the Democratic Party's formal response to the President's speech, Washington Governor Gary Locke explained that Democrats agreed with most of President Bush's overarching ideas, however they were concerned with their execution. Focusing on the economy, Locke pointed out that more than two million jobs have been lost in the two years since Bush took office and a multi-billion dollar budget surplus has been transformed into a looming specter of trillion-dollar budget deficits. Locke expressed concern over the nation's largest state and local budget crisis since World War II and suggested that any domestic plan should immediately and positively impact the economy and must be fiscally responsible, unlike the plans of Bush which neglect the middle-class in favor of families with annual incomes in excess of $300,000 and would plunge the nation into an inferior long-term economic state. Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy said that he would introduce a bill that would require President Bush to represent the case for war with Iraq to Congress prior to any action in the Middle East; citing that the situation had materially changed since Congress gave Bush consent for military action in the region.