 I think there are at least two of us in this room who have a great feeling of nostalgia right about now, because it isn't the last time for you, but it is for us under these same circumstances, and we're going to miss this very much. We're delighted, Nancy and I, to welcome you once again to the White House. Seven years ago, some of you were our first guests for a state dinner, and since then I thought that was the right way to begin. I'm wondering now if we might have started something. I don't want to tie my successor's hands, so let me say that as a governor, I always thought that before a new president began entertaining heads of state from around the world, you should show the first things come first, and spend an evening with the heads of our 50 sovereign states and our territories. We've just finished a year-long celebration, the Bicentennial of the Drafting of the Constitution. You know, the Framers had a way of referring to the states as opposed to the federal government. They said the people. For example, James Madison once noted that the people called the Constitutional Convention, meaning the states did, and Congress just sort of tagged along trying to catch up and take credit, but there's a wisdom in saying the people to mean the states. A wisdom that until a few years ago was too often forgotten. The founders gave us a federal system in the first place because the best government of, by and for the people, is not the national government, but state government. In the past seven years, we've tried to return that seminal wisdom to Washington. We have taken federalism seriously. We've lived and breathed it, not just paid lip service to it. Federalism has been an integral part of our policies. For example, we've done our best to make certain that the federal government doesn't increase taxes and drain away the revenue base on which state and local governments depend. We've loosened federal grant guidelines and regulations in general and given states more room to experiment in areas like welfare reform that were once tightly controlled, and we've worked in partnership with you to improve the quality of education. We've also remembered that part of federalism is recognizing that the states are laboratories of democracy. And so we've tried to get Congress to follow the lead of the states in one of the most important matters before the government, the federal budget. You know, I remember it used to be thought of as sophisticated to say that the federal government was so much wiser than state government, and that was why it should be kind of a big brother to the states, telling them what to do and how to do it. Well, the federal budget process should put an end to that myth once and for all. Not one of you would put up with the mess that we have here in Washington at budget time. Federal debt after taking out for inflation held steadier decline from the late 40s until 1974 when it started to soar. Our budget system of checks and balances has become unchecked and unbalanced. That's why I want the federal government to follow the lead of so many of the states and give the American people a balanced budget amendment and the next president a line item veto. Now before I take my seat, I ask all of you to join me in raising a glass to one of America's outstanding governors and your chairman. He's feeling lonely right now. His state just lost half its population. And to another distinguished governor and your vice chairman, to John Sununu and Gary Belliles. Mrs. Reagan, on behalf of my colleagues and our spouses, I would like to express our appreciation for your very gracious hospitality. I think we would all in our moments of confidence admit that this is one of the events that we as governors look forward to every year. Your hospitality has always been a very pleasant compliment to the winter meeting of the governors. And it certainly has been a very important ingredient in adding to the collegiality amongst the governors and certainly in terms of the collegiality between the governors and your administration. As you noted, we are mindful of the fact that this is the last governor's dinner, this dinner of 1988, that you and Mrs. Reagan will host as you wind down the eight years here at the White House. That is, it will be the last governor's dinner you host if you don't get the 22nd Amendment repealed quickly. I will admit that if you do get it repealed quickly, there is a gentleman I hosted in New Hampshire last week that might be disappointed. President Reagan, you have served as a governor, governor of a great state of California. And in all your dealings with us, you have gone the extra mile in remembering those roots as we dealt with problems of mutual interest. It is important to us to remember, and you have done a good job in reminding us that there is a life after being governor. Obviously, there's much you've accomplished after seven years. And we certainly hope that as you go through the next few months, the same kind of commitment and firm desire to get things done, that these months will be both as satisfying to you and as rewarding to the country as the past seven years have been. No matter whether we as governors agree with you or disagree with you, we admire your commitment to purpose. And I must say we envy your capacity to rally the citizens of this country to support your programs. We are here tonight as governors to salute you and Mrs. Reagan. You both have worked with us as colleagues, you've received us as friends, and you've extended your hospitality as wonderful hosts. Therefore I, on behalf of the governors, would like to propose a toast in sincere appreciation and as an expression of our true affection for someone we really have grown to like and to love. And so if you will join me. Mr. President, from all of us to one of us, you did it your way, you did it well. Godspeed. You know, this is one of the largest pianos. Well, Dave Brubeck, once again, you have graced this house with your music. You know, I have a secret for you. I have an affinity for the Dave Brubeck quartet. Back in the 1950s, your quartet was sort of doing the college circuit. And about that same time, so was I in a different way. In Hollywood, if you didn't sing or dance, you wound up as an after-dinner speaker. So I was out on the mashed potato circuit and doing something of the same thing, only different. Same audience. And then about 1967, you disbanded the quartet. And the students at the same time were demanding that I disband, but for a different reason. But it is magic. I know it's sort of a cliche, but they not only don't write them anymore, there aren't very many around who play them that way anymore. Nancy and I are deeply grateful for this repeat performance here. And I think that everybody out there, without any hesitation, if I said, let's give the Dave Brubeck quartet another hand, thank you very much.