 Members of the Cabinet, distinguished Republican leaders, fellow members of the Capitol Hill Club, and guests, well thank you, well it's a real pleasure to come to Capitol Hill and find myself surrounded by friends. I must say I was enthusiastic when I was invited and they told me it was to a cleanup party on Capitol Hill, I must have gotten in the wrong building, everything was fine here. But seriously it is a pleasure to be here this evening and because of your hard work, your loyal support and your dedication to principle, America has its first chance in many years for real and lasting economic recovery. In fact, someone just make me feel better, I know that little items like this don't make for full recovery but then we know we've got a 4% growth in the first quarter and so forth in the gross national product but I just read a little clipping from Tucson, Arizona. It seems the 21 automobile dealers out there just recently decided to have an automobile fair in the city park and to their great surprise in three days they sold 825 automobiles. They've decided there is a pent up demand. But your work and votes for the economic recovery program, our tax reforms and the spending restraints have brought on the recovery that is gaining strength today. And with your guidance, support and tireless efforts, we were able to negotiate a compromise solution to our social security system. I know the other sides go to miss having that political football to kick around. On behalf of the young couples who once again can look forward to owning their own homes, our elderly who can rest assured of their security and the millions of ordinary American families who are freed from the ravages of inflation, I thank you. I don't know whether you know that the figure for the last six months for inflation has been a rate of 1.4%. And I want to know you're only too aware of the budget that is now being proposed in the house by the diehard big spenders in what even the Washington Post has labeled as a rehash of old democratic policies. And they'll go to confession because of that. Having said that, some Democrats are proposing a complete reversal of the domestic spending cuts that we struggled to achieve during the last two years. They're calling for dangerous and drastic reductions in our defense program and tax hikes that would pile the tax burden on the working Americans higher than the record peacetime levels that were imposed during the last administration. Their budget represents a wholesale return to the big government policies that failed so miserably in the past and that brought on the pain and hardship that we've had now for these last few years. So we mustn't let that happen again, and together we won't let it happen again. This spring I'm asking for your support and help as we fight to protect the people's tax cuts, the indexing provision. Incidentally, those people that say we aren't fair, 78% of the tax savings to the people from indexing will go to those who are below $50,000 a year in the middle class and the lower income earners. 72% of all of the money in the third year of the tax cut will go to that same bracket of workers and earners. And these are the two tax cuts that our opponents would try to take away from us. I sleep with a veto pen under my pillow. I know that if we abandon principle now and if we give in to the big spenders and big taxers, the recovery that we've suffered so long to achieve will be snuffed out before it even takes hold. So thank you again for your past courage and determination. I'm grateful and the American people are grateful. And we're counting on your continued spirit and unwavering strength during the tough weeks ahead. We're so very close now to achieving that great renewal. Bound together in common commitment, we can and will make it happen, and I'm going to quit doing a monologue because they told me that you wanted to maybe ask some questions and I'd be delighted to try and answer them. Here it goes. Oh. Okay. He's going to see it. Bob McEwan over here. Mr. President, the question I wanted to ask you had to do with the Democratic budget. I listened to some of my former Democratic colleagues today. If you'd rather well-covered that, I think questions possibly a lot of us would like to ask. You are surrounded with so many friends. Wouldn't this be a good time to tell us the rest of your life? I think this would be a good place to start right here. Well, the place is wonderful. The timing is a little off. As I've said so many times, you know, whichever way, and you know, it's got to go 50-50. One way, then everything you tried to do, you'd be accused that it was political. If you go the other way, you're a lame duck. And I've also said that I think the people tell you whether you should or not, so let me just assure you that when the time comes to make a decision, I'll be remembering how you all reacted. I've been impressed with the work that Carlton Turner is doing on your drug abuse program. May I ask what your reaction is to the improvement in the drug abuse? Oh, I, but Carlton Turner is done in our drug abuse program. He's doing a great job. And I've got a new TV star in the family since any of you that saw that show. But there are two things that we're working at. One, as you know, we had a task force and George Bush headed it up, and it is the first time in our history that on a crime problem, we have put together local, state, and federal authorities into a single task force and even the military. And this was at South Florida where the bulk of the drugs were coming into our country. And we own the biggest fleet of airplanes, the biggest fleet of cabin cruisers and speed boats and so forth, and a whole patch of trucks that we've confiscated from the drug runners and virtually have shut off the drugs coming in through South Florida. But it's a big country with a lot of coastline and boundary, so naturally they moved in other directions. We now have put together 12 task forces. George will coordinate their activities, it'll be the same policy, federal, state, and local and military, and to cover the entire coastline and our southern border here. And they're going to work now. That's on the one side. And the other side, and where Carlton is working not only with that, but very well and where Nancy has been helping him on much of this, is the other, and I think equally we have not more important. To try and stop the flood of narcotics is a very difficult job. We have reduced them sizeably. But the real way is to take the customers away from them, turn the kids off, and there you'd be amazed at the gains that have been made and the drop in youthful use of drugs that has been taking place just in the last couple of years with this campaign to wake them up and even in our military. And we have cut what was an estimated use by 50% down to 18% and still going down. And the most wonderful thing is that the kids themselves are blowing the whistle on each other. They've suddenly realized that if someday they're out there for real, they don't want the guy beside them stoned. And so it's working. Now, Neil. Mr. President, in connection with the proposed withholding on interest and dividends. It sets a program more than exceed the increase in revenues expected to be realized. No, it actually doesn't. And I must tell you that however this is going to come out, I don't know. But I do know this, that the lobbying, I have never seen anything as successful and intense. And most of the people in this country that are really aroused against this wouldn't even be touched by it. That the exemptions are so many, the limit below which you don't withhold includes the bulk of the people, virtually no one over 65 will be required. And what we have is anywhere from $5 to $7 billion a year that is not being paid by people who owe it, owe the tax, it's part of, you realize that today the avoidance of tax is enough to more than balance the budget, the deficit, wipe out the deficit. And this would be one way, and it doesn't have an exceptional cost to it by the use of withholding. But we know that they have really influenced the people, the perception. Most people actually believe this is a new tax. And let me give you an idea of just what, how little the cost could be. They say, well, you know, this is taking money away from them. The actual loss in any appreciation on interest by having the money taken before the end of the year on a withholding basis. And $10,000 of savings at 9% interest, which is fairly typical in a lot of banks today. It would cost you around $4.5 on the earnings of $10,000 at 9%. And yet if that can, because the rest of you who are paying your taxes, you're the ones that are really being robbed by those that aren't paying, that are ducking it. And this was what caused it. It was for only one reason. It was the only way we figured. The difference, if we had to have the personnel to match the bank statements, for example, the savings and loan statements to the other statements that they get for their wages and salaries, it would just take thousands of employees. It would be a manual labor job to do it. Because the savings and loans and the smaller banks, they do not send you anything you can put in a computer and computerize it. They just send you paper. Wouldn't you say the difference between Reaganomics and Demonomics is that Demonomics feeds inflation, fuels it, whereas Reaganomics has brought down inflation? If you didn't hear that, the difference between Reaganomics and Demonomics and is that one of them feeds inflation and all the things that go with it. It is true. This budget, I didn't really give you some of the details, very simply and basically what this budget would do. And I'm amazed. They've given us something on a platter. If we don't keep talking about this for the next year and a half, we ought to be ashamed of ourselves. The tax increase that they have is based on, we know, canceling the third year and canceling indexing. Over five years would amount to $315 billion of tax increase. The increase spending on domestic programs is $181 billion. They would cancel most of the cuts that we've made over the last two years in spending. They have 10 new social reform programs, 10 absolutely new ones, and they would reduce the defense budget over the next five years by $206 billion, which would take us to $31 billion less than the Carter budget that he had proposed and which wouldn't begin to do what we have accomplished in rearming. And in the first year, it would add, having done all that, would add $8 billion to the deficit. The issue is nuclear freeze. One area where I think perhaps we're not, we haven't done enough is the Americans of the various ethnic groups whose fathers and ourselves have come from the areas from those countries where communism has taken root. We've had over 64 years experience with knowing how to trust in, quote, the Soviets. I think what we're going to do now, and I have an organization that we're going to start, to try and organize our people, our ethnic Americans to help and support and go around the country and lecture and tell the people what communism means, what it has done to our nations, our former country, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Afghanistan, what's the question, what's the question? I like the statement anyway. One more question, this is it. I think he's got something, I don't think he's. We'd like to help get your support for this, can we? Oh, you can rest assured you do, God bless you, yes. Believe me, and I won't respond at great length about this or the nuclear freeze or anything or what it'll do because tomorrow night, unless the networks refuse to carry it, at 8 o'clock I am going to be making a speech to the nation on this whole subject and what it is that we're trying to accomplish and what the problems would be with a freeze or something of that kind. But I don't know how many of you saw some weeks ago on television the first time that I have ever seen this. In Afghanistan, they were interviewing Russian soldiers that have deserted the Russian army and going over to the Afghanistan and every one of them, one asked why, said I don't want to shoot women and children and that's what we've been ordered to do. And that's the potential adversary we face. Keep it up. Mr. President, millions of your supporters, people who love you through Americans, have no way to make their feelings known because we are not trying to find the time to write or telephone. Now, Bill Wilson, a friend in Vatican, and myself were talking about it since 1980. And in the meantime, I have developed and field tested on a very large scale something which could be self-supporting and would permit to every citizen speak up at the time of his choosing and make sure that his voice will be heard by you, by a congressman, respective congressman and senator. We plan to call you the hotline to run on dragons. If I can reclaim our time, Mr. President. Well, hand it up to me. I think that's the most direct way. Well, more veto pens. All right. I just wondered, you know, as the last question, after you've completed your second term, if you and I could go on the road as the Ron and Tom show. The way you preface that, I'm hard put to answer it. Let me just say that the whole idea of such a show is very appealing. You know, some time back. What? How about singing God Bless America? I'm in favor, but I don't know what, I don't know what key I set it in, but all right. One hand there, that one, and then that's got to be it. We owe Miss Nancy. Why did you leave her home today? Because she's found out that she has a job, too. It's not salary or anything, but they have a schedule for her that's about as busy as mine, and they just didn't jibe today. I just want to say to you in singing that song, it reminded me, one of the proudest things, and I know you don't have too much of a chance to see it, but in just these couple of years, what we'd found here in our military, in our defenses, and the lack of morale, and the no re-enlistment or anything. Today, the re-enlistment rate on first termers is the highest it's ever been. We have the highest percentage of high school graduates we have ever had in the military. We have the highest level from average up in intelligence that we have ever had. We've got our full quota of enlistees. We've got a waiting list in the service, but what is even more important is to meet them and meet these young people and see their pride once again in wearing the uniform, representing their country, and these people that would like to say that I want a war and I would like to send us to a war, when you look at these kids, how would anyone want to send them out there to a war? They're the peacekeepers. As long as they're there and as good as they are, we've got a better chance of peace. But the one thing, just I wanted to tell you a little story, maybe I've told it to some of you, our ambassador to Luxembourg wrote me one day, and he'd been up on the East German frontier looking at the Second Armored Cavalry Regiment, wrote me glowingly about it and the morale and everything of the troops, but then he said when he went back to his helicopter, a young 19-year-old trooper followed him, and when he turned around to speak to him, the trooper said, can you get a message to the president? Well, being an ambassador, he allowed us how he could, and the kid then straightened up and he said, will you tell the president, we're proud to be here and we ain't scared of nothing. Well, thank you all very much. If you remember, Mr. President, some two years ago, you became a life member in the Capitol Hill Club, you and Mrs. Reagan, and I didn't send you the certificate because I wanted to wait till you came so I could present it to you in person. Well, I thought I'd been blackballed. No, I tell you really, I can assure you as long as I'm present, if you just come to dinner, you won't have to stand in line to get a table. And thank you very much for coming. Well, thank you and thank all of you again. Ladies and gentlemen, we thank you for your cooperation. If you could just stand back from the door and let the president get through, I know