As a matter of fact, defense spending as a share of gross national product will be below the level that it was in 1960, which was before our Vietnam buildup and, more importantly, before the unprecedented Soviet buildup. Defense spending is 30 percent or less of our total budget. It used to run regularly around half of the Federal budget. If the United States is to meet its investment challenge, we must get the growth of nondefense spending under control once and for all. In the past 2 weeks, I've been conducting an intensive review of our economic and budgetary situation.
Difficult choices lie ahead.
They'll require political courage. No one ever said that democracy was easy. But we do know that democracy works if we make it work. So once again, we're asking for your help. We need your support at the grassroots as we put together a program to reduce projected deficits.