 That's probably one of the things I like. It's good to have you all here again in the White House, and guess what we're going to talk about. But I know the work of you and your staff, and I sincerely appreciate it. You know my belief in rebalancing our federal system and the national government should trust all of you and your colleagues as true partners in our intergovernmental system. Throughout 81 and 82, we've worked together many times on block grants, regulatory relief, and a variety of other intergovernmental issues. I think we can be pleased by the progress that's been made thus far, and how much we've all learned in the development of the Federalist Initiative. Let me review what I think we're going to agree upon, that we need to return government responsibilities to the state and local level. These return responsibilities should be accompanied by commensurate revenue sources or an appropriate funding mechanism such as the Federalism Trust Fund. There should be a mandatory pass-through to protect local units of government. The initiative should not be a vehicle for budgetary savings between either side. I know there are some areas where we couldn't reach agreement earlier this year. Let me assure you, I've made no final decisions in those areas, and I'd like to hear your input firsthand about any outstanding issues or other approaches which we might consider to achieve our mutual goals. As I said to many of you when we talked in August, I thought it would be appropriate for all of us to take a step back and rethink many aspects of the initiative. I think it can be very healthy for you and your organization to develop all sort of good comprehensive plans, and I look forward to receiving it. But what I would like to do most in this meeting today is to hear from you, you know, Laura and Rich, and you to recognize the heads of each of the organizations that you represented here. Thank you, Mr. President. We're going to start out with Bill Murphy, the new President of the National Association of Counties. Thanks, Rich. Mr. President, it's a pleasure to see you again. It's always nice to see you in such good health. Best wishes to go with you for much success. Mr. President, two things I'd like to address. The first is the 1984 budget, and it's a word of caution from county governments throughout this country. The recession is having very heavy impact on those county budgets, and as you know, they are largely financed by real property taxes. Those taxes in almost all the counties in this country do have associations not to cut further into those programs that affect county governments in this country, at least while the recession is going on, because we're in no position to be able to pick up the additional costs that those cutbacks would engender. At present time, our welfare rules are swelling because of unemployment. Our Medicaid rules are going up at a rate faster than anyone could ever imagine. The food stamp program has obviously grown, and now there's been a 60% increase in that. Our jails are overcrowded. Our criminal justice system is bad, and I wish I could end it up by saying, but everything else is okay, all right? Pretend it's a joke, but it simply is not. So as far as the budget is concerned, our strong recommendation would be no further cuts. We can adjust to the cuts to have them down already until we get out of this recession and turn the corner onto this prosperity, which I'm confident you're going to bring this country. Secondly, as it relates to New Federalism, we're going to go.