noon today, we have obtained two hundred twenty votes, enough for a narrow margin of victory. “I
would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to thank the esteemed Speaker of the
House, Mr. Thomas Basset, for all of the hard work he has done to ensure passage of this budget. His hard work will help put us another step closer to getting this country back on the road to a speedy economic recovery.” The President glanced down at his watch, then brought his gaze back to the reporters. “I’m sorry for being so brief, but I have an extremely busy calendar today, and I’m already running an hour behind. I have a couple of minutes to field a few brief questions.” Hands immediately shot up, and a dozen or so reporters started to shout questions. The President turned to his right and looked for the familiar face of Jim Lester, the ABC White House correspondent.
Lester was sitting on the edge of his chair, right hand raised, obediently waiting to be called on. Stevens pointed in his direction and called his name. The rest of the reporters fell silent as Lester rose from his chair. “As of this morning, sir, it was reported that you had secured approximately two hundred ten votes. How did you pick up the remaining ten so quickly, and are any of those new votes coming from Congressman who were previously committed to voting against your budget?”
“Well … we picked up the ten so quickly because there are a lot of people up on the
Hill who know, despite what the opposition has been saying, that this is a good budget.
There are a lot of people in this country who need the relief this budget will provide, and
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there were several Congressman who, after taking a more serious look at the budget, realized it would be mean-spirited not to vote for it.” The President turned his head away from Lester, and the hands shot up immediately. He rested his gaze and forefinger on another friendly face, Lisa Williamson, the White House correspondent for the
Associated Press.
“Mr. President, are you worried that with such a narrow victory in the House, your budget will have a harder time getting through the Senate, where the opposition holds a much higher percentage of seats?” Stevens wasted no time responding. The question was anticipated and the answer prepared. “Not really. The American people want this budget, and our Senators know that. They will do what is right and they will pass the budget.”
Stevens started to turn to find another reporter before he finished answering the question.
More hands shot up, and this time the President turned to find Mick Turner from CNN.
“Mr. President, the successful passage of this budget through the House will be a political home run for your administration. How much do you think it will improve your position when negotiating with the Japanese during next month’s trade talks?”
“Well, the Japanese have a history of walking away from these talks in a better position than when they entered them. This is somewhat ironic when one considers the fact that they have been running an ever-increasing trade surplus with us for the last fifteen years. The trade deficit that we run with them is hurting American labor. We are putting out high-quality products and the Japanese refuse to open their markets. This trade deficit is stifling our economy from reaching its full potential, and most importantly, it is costing us American jobs.
There is no doubt that the passage of my budget will be a signal to the Japanese that we are finally ready to reverse a trend that previous administrations let get so out of control. “I have time for one more question.” While Stevens was talking, his head swiveled to take in the whole press gallery. He noticed a stunning brunette sitting in the section usually reserved for foreign press. He decided that since voters cared little about foreign affairs, he would be safe calling on her. He pointed toward the back of the room.
“The young lady in the back rose.”
The President was expecting to hear a foreign accent and was somewhat shocked when she stood and spoke perfect English. “Mr. President, Liz Scarlatti from the
Washington Reader. Congressman Michael O’Rourke from Minnesota has said that even though he thinks your budget is, quote, ‘stuffed with more pork than a Jimmy Dean sausage,’ he would still be willing to vote for it if you shut down the Rural Electrification
Administration, an agency that is estimated to cost the American taxpayer five hundred to seven hundred million dollars a year.
This agency was founded in 1935 for the sole purpose of bringing electricity to rural
America …. My question is this: Mr. President, I know that the leaders of our country are very busy, but have you or anyone else in Washington noticed that all of rural America has had electricity for over twenty years? And now that you’ve been informed, what are
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you going to do to shut down this wasteful program?” Many of the reporters in the audience started to chuckle.
With a forced smile, the President pulled out his best, good-old-boy drawl. “Well, Ms. Scarlatti, first of all, this budget is one of the leanest budgets that any President in the last twenty years has sent to the Hill.” Eyes started to roll in the audience. The cynical members of the press were getting sick of hearing the tactless rhetoric of the President. It was cute for the first year, but they’d grown tired of it. “And second of all, I have been trying to shut down the REA ever since I took office, but the hard fact remains that if I
killed the REA, my budget would never make it out of committee.” Before the President could continue, the fiery brunette shouted again from the back row.
“Mr. President, don’t you think it is a harsher fact of reality that your budget is forecasting a one-hundred- billion-dollar deficit and you are still funding Federal agencies that are obsolete? Not to mention the fact that you have done nothing to control the growth of Social Security and Medicare!”
Stu Garret could see that the President was in trouble, so he stepped forward and touched his elbow. The President turned and Garret pointed to his watch. Stevens turned back to the press and said, “People, I’m running very late. Let me finish the young lady’s question and then I’m going to have to leave …. This administration is very concerned about finding and getting rid of government waste.
