 Okay, let's speak a lot. Let's go. Okay, thank you. Let's go. The President of the United States. Interplaying in the Senate request to waive the useful five-dollar charge on the nine-and-four-museum service prepared to President Blunt. Therefore, if there is no objection, we don't have to speak a five-dollar charge. Thank you very much. I stepped back up here. I had to have a couple of reminders here in front of me. So I'm using the podium here because I have a quote, and I wouldn't want to make it and get it wrong. But it's a great pleasure to be here with all of you again. I thank you. And may I express my appreciation to the first Republican Senator Baker, who I think has been doing a magnificent job, and I've been most appreciative of the cooperation that we have had. And I, for one, I'm going to do all I can do to see that there is still a majority of you in the Senate next year. I'd like to pay tribute also to your chairman, John Tower. I think of him as a statesman whose judgment I deeply respect and I have been most pleased to call upon him for his vast knowledge and his good judgment with regard to our national security affairs. In opening my remarks, I told you there was a quote I would like to quote a few words by a very famous and celebrated orator, journalist, soldier, historian, and statesman. People have even said he might have made a great actor if he tried that. Winston Churchill he said, the idea that a nation can tax itself into prosperity is one of the crudest delusions which has ever befuddled the human mind. Now, I don't know how that quote happened to catch my eye. It realized it has nothing to do with the meeting here today but seriously we are still faced with problems, social and economic, which have been piling up for almost half a century. Last year we put together a bipartisan coalition and for the first time in that half century we charted a new course for this country. We've only barely set foot on that new path that we chose for the country but those who had much to do with the policies of the past were now shouting Turn Back members of the other party they haven't even waited to see where the path goes and it's true that we're in a recession the people are feeling the effects and they're not pleasant and for those who are unemployed in my view they're completely tragic but I believe the course we've embarked on offers the best hope for all of them there will always be room for improvement in any budget or economic policy but we must have a budget where further savings are to be found or a better way of meeting a greed upon goals can be worked out I pledge my full cooperation to you and I want to hear from you but our first obligation must be to the American people we're coming out of a long night of government mismanagement and blundering there's no quick fix but I cannot accept the idea that a program which hasn't really started is responsible for the displeasure of today planned deficits and deliberate inflation as a supposed means of improving prosperity was the policy of the democrat controlled congresses for most of this last half century has there been any indication that they are not demanding a return to those past policies if they are they're doomed to failure these aren't easy times as I said before but together I believe we can hold down taxes we can hold down spending and ensure a national defense that is able to preserve the peace I'll be glad to consider any comprehensive congressional plan that meets this crucial standard and I promise you that when where we have honest differences you can count on me to be willing to listen and a sincere partner but we must stand firm I think in every basic commitments together we must get on with the job of bringing the budget under control we're already winning the battle against inflation we can and we will bring interest rates down and that is the absolute must in the problems confronting us and we must continue to return the resources and responsibilities to the people that will mean more savings more freedom more economic opportunity more jobs I think that for the first time in this the eighth recession since World War II it is the first time that there has been in place before the recession started a program that is designed to bring us out of that recession and bring us out not with an artificial fix the kind of thing that we've seen seven times before each time the next time we dive it's deeper but will bring us out back to a sound economy and with our people who want jobs having jobs and with this government on the track that it should be on so with that I'm going to sit down and we'll get on with the rest of the of the meeting let's ask the press to exit the room now please if we could excuse the press then we'll go to our general discussion