Vice President Gore later signed the Kyoto Protocol for the United States. But President Bill Clinton never sent it to the Senate for its required approval. The treaty faced enough opposition in the Senate that it might have been defeated.

President Bush decided to “unsign” the treaty. He said he did not want to put the United States at a competitive disadvantage with big developing countries like China and India. Those countries would not have been required to cut the large amounts of greenhouse gases they were producing. Bush said the agreement was unfair and would harm American industry at a time when the economy was weakening.

Critics said the president's decision would harm the environment and set a bad example for the world.

Another environmental issue concerned exploring for oil and natural gas. The president supported a measure to allow drilling in a wildlife refuge in the state of Alaska. He said doing so would reduce American dependence on foreign oil. Opponents argued that it would destroy wildlife in some of America’s most beautiful natural surroundings. In the end, the environmentalists won -- Congress did not approve the drilling.

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One of President Bush's major domestic goals was improving America's public education system. In January two thousand two, he signed legislation passed by Congress called the No Child Left Behind Act.

GEORGE W. BUSH: "We owe the children of America a good education. And today begins a new era, a new time in public education in our country. As of this hour, America's schools will be on a new path of reform, and a new path of results."