 Well, thank you all very much. Welcome to the White House. It's really you who deserve the applause. It's wonderful to see so many friends and some familiar faces out there, and I can't tell you how much your support and commitment mean. I would have thanked Frank Grandy, but he isn't here. Congressional Co-Chairman of the RCLC, but Tom Derneman, and a rich devotor both here, and a special thanks to Guy Vanderjack, whose fundraising feats for Republican candidates over the last 13 years must be some kind of a record. But congratulations and thanks to you all. First, if you'll forgive me, I want to start with a little history. I'm talking about 1986, when thanks in great part to your efforts, we were able to buck the historical trend. We lost only five congressional seats, when by historical standards, we could have lost as many as 53. In other words, I'm convinced we'll be able to capture historical gains in 88. As you know, the next congressional elections may well be the most important in the next decade, because in 1990 comes the census and reapportionment, and we all know what that means, more Democratic gerrymandering. Last year, we practically split the popular vote in the house 50 to 50-50, but because of decades of Democratic gerrymandering, they kept an 82 seat majority. Over the first time in a long time, we have a chance in 88 and 90 to bust up the Democratic lockstep on the house, and believe me, we're going for it. Most people tend to forget that for most of the half century, almost all of it, both houses of the Congress have been held by the Democrats. Out of 50 odd years, only four years have seen Democrats or Republicans in control of both houses. Two years was during Harry Truman's eight, and the other two years was during Eisenhower's, and I have had for six years one house of the Congress, and now we're back to two being on the other side again, but in all those more than a half century, all except for the two years for Truman, the Democratic presidents had a Democratic Congress, and all of the Republican presidents only had for two years one of them have a Republican Congress. The rest of the time, it was with both houses of the Congress belonging to the opposition party, and that's why some things are still the way they are. We haven't been able to get them turned around. Nothing could be more important for our nation. Last night, I spoke to the nation about the dangers of a Congress that won't give up its big spending ways. I used some pretty tough language. Congress, I said, is violating its promises to the American people. They've turned important highway appropriations and clean water legislation into budget-busting boondoggles larded with the worst kind of pork, and they want to pay for it all with a whopping $100 billion tax hike on the American people over the next four years. Meanwhile, Congress is considering a budget that would cut the heart out of our defense capabilities, reducing defense spending over the next few years to dangerous levels. And this is the record of the 100th Congress. They subsidize the building of luxury apartments and other pork barrel projects and then stick the taxpayers with that $100 billion tax increase to pay for it. And all this is done under cover of multi-billion dollar continuing resolutions that lump essential services in with the pork, hoping in that way to make their special interest projects veto-proof. Often I must make a choice that no president should be faced with. Close down the government, buy an overall veto, cause real and unnecessary hardship to innocent people, or let the waste float by. And this is no way to run a government. As I said last night, the congressional budget charade is going on for too long. We've reached the breakpoint, decision time. Congress has been unwilling or unable to reform its budgetary mess. It's up to us and the American people to set them straight. Congress simply has got to break its addiction to tax and tax and spend and spend. As they say in another context, we've got to use tough love to straighten them out, to convince them to just say no when it comes to wasting the taxpayers' money. So that's why I'm stepping up my commitment to this cause. Just as we did with tax reform, we're taking our case to the people. We'll tell them of the waste, the sweetheart deals, the politically motivated spending, and we're going to be pointing fingers and placing blame. And we're going to be demanding that every member of Congress stand up and vote for or against a balanced budget amendment and a line item veto. And you know as governor of California I had in the Constitution a balanced budget amendment. Most states have it. And 43 states and including California, the governor had line item veto. The other day I was struck when I read something that found that a poll shows that most people don't really understand what I mean when I'm talking about line item veto. Now maybe all of you do just in the chance that you don't. It's a very simple thing that is one of the most necessary things in balancing a budget that we could have. And that is that when those funny little sweetheart things are funneled into a great big appropriations bill or a necessary bill or like the highway bill that my veto was overridden by one vote. It's just going to cost us billions and billions of dollars. Now I wouldn't have vetoed that bill except that larded into it were these particular somebody's district wanted favorite little things. Now line item veto means that you can approve the entire bill except you can go through and when you find those little special things you veto that. Now the Congress has the chance to override your veto. I vetoed as a governor in eight years nine hundred and forty three such items and was never overridden once. And in California the legislature has to pass the budget by a two thirds majority. That's the thing they sent to me. And yet they couldn't get a two thirds majority to override the veto when it had to be on those little spending things stuck out there all by themselves and not buried in a great big package. And that's why the president of the United States whoever he is must have line item veto to clean up those bills without closing down the government. You know so far the democratically controlled Congress House of Representatives has refused to even let the balanced budget amendment come to the floor for a vote. And yet every poll shows that almost 80 percent of the people in this country want the Constitution to have a balanced budget amendment. What are they afraid of? Well the people have a right to know where their representatives stand on this issue. The American people should not have to live in fear that Congress will tax and spend them back into the days of stagflation and malaise. You remember when they used to talk about malaise. There are a host of other reforms Congress should undertake to improve the enforceability and credibility of the budget process. A two year budget, credit reform, firm limits and the amount of non-defense spending, tougher rules to prevent bills that bust the budget. I have told some of our opponents in the Congress in little meetings that we've had over in the Oval Office things that they challenged and don't believe but as a governor having to administer some of those federal programs that are passed on to the states. I saw programs when I was governed, federal programs that were to help people to help the needy. The administrative overhead was $2 for every dollar that reached a needy person. Now there ought to be a way for us to clean things like that up. I know that Congress is currently considering some of these changes and I encourage them to move on with their deliberations and come up with a package of reforms that will begin to correct the glaring deficiencies of the current process. That's our agenda. It's ambitious, yes, but it's absolutely essential that we win. Otherwise, the dam of congressional spending will burst and all the gains that we've made will be wiped out. In the coming months, we're going to need your help more than ever. We're going to have to instigate a groundswell of indignation in this country demanding reform and delivering the message to Congress in no uncertain terms. Shape up or come 88, you'll be shipping out. Now together I know we can succeed. We can turn Congress around and ensure a future of economic growth and expanding opportunity for America. And that's the future that our country deserves. Now you've probably read some of the columns lately that say that my term is really over now. There isn't anything that I'll be able to do and that my honeymoon with the press has ended. If I ever had a honeymoon with the press, romance was dead in Calif or in Washington, D.C. I got news for you. I don't care what somebody else says. I'm due here for about another 18 months or so and I'm going to be busier than I ever have been. And I don't figure that the job is over yet at all. So thank you all very much. God bless you all. Thank you for what you're doing. Thank you very much. Great job, Mr. President. Thank you for all you do for us. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you so much. Thank you, sir. Mr. Director, Mr. President, as we're meeting, I'm a very good friend of Frank Stella. Ah, well, hey, saw him in Italy. Yes, tell Nancy Geary that I made it from Elmira, New York for two plane trips and I made it and it's a pleasure to be with you. Thank you. Incidentally, that marine band is 183 years old. I like to tell you that because there's something in the White House older than I am. The tape was fine. It was the amplified system. Two, three cameras. Although maybe the marine or whatever they are. Oh, yeah. Yeah, maybe you should. I guess he's going to have to do it himself. He'll take care of it. He's been through that before. I think it was a great day. Really, super. The content of the program just was great. David, what a pleasure to meet you. Thanks for giving us so much of data. Thank you.