“And it’s time for some more straight talk. This time it’s about the budget deficit. Yes, it’s much too high. But the President doesn’t vote for a budget, and the President can’t spend a dime. Only the Congress can do that. They blame, they blame the defense increases for the deficit, yet defense spending today, in real dollars, is almost exactly what it was six years ago. In a six-year period, Congress cut defense spending authority by over $125 billion. And for every one-dollar reduction in defense outlays, they added two dollars to domestic spending. Now if they had passed my first budget, my first spending plan, in 1982, the cumulative outlays in deficits would have been $207 billion lower by 1986.”
“Every – every single year I’ve been in office, I have supported and called for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, and the liberals have said no every year. I called for the line-item veto, which 43 governors have, to cut fat in the budget, and the liberals have said no. Every year, I’ve attempted to limit their wild spending sprees, and they’ve said no.”
“They would have us believe that runaway budget deficits began in 1981, when we took office. Well, let me tell you something. The fact is, when they began their war on poverty in the middle 60’s, from 1965 through 1980 – in just those 15 years – the budgets increased to five times what they had been, and the deficits went up to 52 times what they had been before their war on poverty. Now, now don’t we know that, if they were elected – they’re elected, their answer will be the one they have relied on in the past – and that is higher taxes?”
“The other party has controlled the House of Representatives for 52 out of the last 56 years. They’ve controlled the Senate also for 46 of those years. Where we really need a change is to elect Republican majorities in both Houses. Then – and then George Bush can have a team that will protect your tax cuts, keep America strong, hold down inflation and interest rates, appoint judges to preserve your rights, and, yes, reduce the budget deficit.”
“In 1980 and before, it took seven weeks to get a Social Security card. Now it takes 10 days. It only takes 10 days to get a passport; it used to take 43 days. It took 75 days to get an export license; now it’s only 17 days, and for some countries, only 5. It took over 100 days to process a claim for a Department of Housing and Urban Development Title I loan – 100 days. It now takes less than one-fourth of that – 22 days.”
‘Requirements for President’
“Because I feel so strongly about the work that must continue and the need to protect our gains for the American family and for national security, I want to share with you the qualities we should seek in the next President.”
“We need someone who’s big enough and experienced enough to handle tough and demanding negotiations with Mr. Gorbachev -because this is no time to gamble with on-the-job training. We need someone who’s prepared to be President and who has the commitment to stand up for you against massive new taxes and who will keep alive the hope and promise that keeps our economy strong.”
“It’ll take someone who has seen this office from the inside, who senses the danger points, will be cool under fire and knows the range of answers when the tough questions come.”
“This office is not mine to give – only you, the people, can do that. But I love America too much and care too much about where we will be in the next few years. I care that we give custody of this office to someone who will build on our changes, not retreat to the past.”
“With George Bush I’ll know, as we approach the new millenium, our children will have a future secure with a nation at peace and protected against aggression; we’ll have a prosperity that spreads the blessings of our abundance and opportunity across all America; we’ll have safe and active neighborhoods; drug-free schools that send our children soaring in the atmosphere of great ideas and deep values; and a nation confidently willing to take its leadership into the uncharted reaches of a new age.”
