And in fact, we have to worry that the improvement in the deficit numbers is so strong that a lot of people in Washington are getting much too eager to relax budget discipline and start adding a lot of new spending. We're making great progress toward balancing the budget, but we have to resist the temptation to use that good news as an excuse to start the big spending party all over again. There's a lot of good news that people seem a little reluctant to believe. And for a lot of Americans, that's still a very legitimate complaint. But for most people, the times seem to be pretty good.
Economic growth is strong.
There are more jobs and opportunities right now than there have been in decades. People have to work hard and get training, but the opportunities are there. Of course, most of the credit goes to the American people. But by restraining spending increases, helping to open foreign markets, providing a brake on new regulations, getting the President's signature on a massive national welfare overhaul, by pushing for tax cuts rather than tax increases, and more, Congress has played a constructive role. Nobody claims our problems are all behind us.