 Thank you very much. Thank you. Thanks very much. Well, thank you very much. And incidentally, who's minding the store? Don, I hope I didn't. I tried to sneak in back there and not interrupt a good answer. Got it all? Don? You can pick up on it. Well, I haven't know that many of you are from California. And after the snow and the freeze of last week, I think we Californians can legitimately claim service beyond the call of duty. I was watching the snow come down and talking on the phone to a friend in California. It was 87 degrees there when I was talking to him. It just confirms what I've always said. If the pilgrims had landed in California instead of the East Coast, the East Coast would still be unpopulated and the capital would be in California. Seriously though, I want each and every one of you to know how much I appreciate the job that you're doing. I understand you put up with much worse than the weather. We set out five years ago to change the course of government in America. And due to your efforts, we've come a long way. It's getting hard to remember when the primary debate in this town was whether or not to pass this or that new spending bill. The ever-increasing centralization of power in Washington was good only for federal employees and people who sold them office equipment. For a while, it seemed like government was our country's only growth industry. Well, for the last 13 straight quarters, our whole country has been a growth industry. There's been an average of 11,000 new businesses incorporated every week since we got to Washington and since November of 1982, over 9 million more Americans are working in new jobs. The stock market has skyrocketed. Interest rates are down. And all I can say is, we must be doing something right, even if the Washington Post won't admit it. But I'm glad I have this chance to speak with you today because there is some good news and bad news that we need to talk about. I just gave you the good news a moment ago. The bad news is, in the coming months, we'll be facing challenges as great as any we've confronted in these last five years. Graham Rudman Hollings has at last given us the vehicle with which to deal with federal deficit spending. Now, I realize there are many trepidations about GRH. Let me just say we have it within our power to meet the targets set by Graham Rudman Hollings. And I'm afraid that each of you will do your utmost to see that we're going to do just that. No, I'm really hoping that that's what you're going to do, and I'm sure you will. With your help, Jim Miller and his crew at OMB have done a terrific job in developing a budget that meets those targets and does so without cutting Social Security and other essential domestic programs, while at the same time not gutting defense. It's reasonable, it's fair, and it's the best alternative in town. The worst alternative in town is the one that calls for raising taxes. I still remember a couple of years ago when I agreed to an adjustment to our original tax program that increased government revenues. And I did so on the promise that there would be an even greater cut dollar for dollar in government spending. But as soon as I agreed to those higher taxes, members of Congress just forgot about their commitment to reduce spending. And that was a bad experience, and I don't intend to repeat it. This isn't just being stubborn. Raising taxes runs the risk of knocking the legs out from under our economic growth. If that happens, spending will be higher and taxes will be higher. It's up to us to make certain that nightmare doesn't come true. Keeping our country safe is also going to be a challenge. There are those in this town who would drastically slash the defense budget. If freedom had no adversaries, I'd help them do it. Maintaining the peace and keeping our country secure is an expensive proposition, but we cannot afford to do anything less than what is absolutely necessary. And anyone who read Bill Casey's testimony to the House and Senate committees recently, as to the difference, we're still playing catch up with the Soviet Union in matters of defense. And we haven't nearly caught them in virtually every area. And don't let anyone tell you that we're being cavalier about defense spending. I think we can be proud of the job that Cap Weinberger and those of you who work for him have done in ferreting out waste in the Defense Department. Every time I read one of those horror stories, about $400 hammers and such, it brings a smile to my face. Because in the first place, to put an S on that hammer, there was only one such hammer. And that was buried in an invoice. And someone in the Navy section over there found it almost immediately. And back it went and was corrected. We bought 20,000 hammers and paid from $6 to $8 for each one of them. I know our people are hard at work finding the flaws and correcting them, even if that isn't the way it's reported in the press. Another major issue that we'll face this year will be our support of those brave individuals fighting for their freedom in places like Afghanistan and Gola and Nicaragua. We owe it to everything we hold dear as a people and to our long-term national security to help those courageous people win their freedom. We're sending the people of the third world a message that if they side with democracy and take a stand against communism, they are not alone. And if we can't do that, we're encouraging defeatism and inviting aggression. Isn't it funny how much some people can forget? Some of those were the most critical of what we're trying to do today. The ones that back in World War II were pronouncing over and over again that if there's one person in the world living in a thatched hut who isn't free, then everyone's freedom is in danger. They've kind of forgotten that, but maybe they didn't figure on somebody being around here would be old enough to remember. I've not been saying especially true in Central America. No one should kid himself. If it weren't for the freedom fighters in Nicaragua, you can bet that the situation in El Salvador and other Central American countries would be far different. Lightly armed Nicaraguan freedom fighters are standing up against one of the best equipped armies in this hemisphere, an army with Soviet tanks and helicopter gunships. The individuals putting their lives on the line trying to restore democracy to Nicaragua are heroes in the truest sense of the word. Their success or failure will directly impact on our security, and we should give them military aid. Bless you. I knew you were the right ones when we avoided you. But whatever the goal, remember our ace in the hole is the American people. As Thomas Jefferson said, the good sense of the people will always be found to be the best army. You know, I quoted Thomas Jefferson in my meeting in Geneva in a private meeting with Secretary General Gorbachev. And his response was a little surprising. I quoted Jefferson's remark that if the people have all the facts, the people will never make a mistake. And he looked, and his eyes kind of widened, and he said, that is very profound. I guess this had never been called to his attention before. Well, we've got a good track record and an agenda for the future. Now is the time for us to be bold. As I said, we've come a long way. It takes a while to learn how things work in Washington. But now that we've learned, we should pull out the stops and move forward, full steam ahead. The future is in our hands. So let's give it our very best. And I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. God bless all of you.