US Presidency
1981

The President: How do you do? I have a brief opening statement here before I take your questions. Yesterday Secretary of the Treasury Donald Regan sent to the Congress a request to raise the debt ceiling to $ 985 billion. This represents a dramatic jump of $ 50 billion over the previous debt ceiling. The administration took this action with great regret, because it's clear that the massive deficits our government runs is one of the root causes of our profound economic problems, and for too many years this process has come too easily for us. We've lived beyond our means and then financed our extravagance on the backs of the American people. The clear message I received in the election campaign is that we must gain control of this inflationary monster. Let me briefly review for the American people what we've already done. Within moments of taking the oath of office, I placed a freeze on the hiring of civilian employees in the Federal Government.