Diary Entry - 03/18/1983
Key Facts
President Reagan meets with Republican Members of Congress to discuss the budget.
President Reagan attends meetings to discuss the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces talks in Geneva.
Mexico's financial crisis contributed to a surge of illegal aliens over the border into Texas.
Interview with Henry Brandon—his swan song with the London Times. Met with House Repubs. re the Dem. budget that came out of comm. on a party line vote. Our guys were all gung ho & ready to do battle. The Dems. must know they cant get their budget but Tip said it was a moral statement of Dem. beliefs. I think they’ve handed us an issue. They would reduce or repeal everything we have done. They’d cut defense more than $100 bil. over 5 yrs. but they’d increase social spending $181 bil. & increase taxes $315 bil. On Mon. Commerce will announce G.N.P. growth for 1st Quarter ’83 as 4%—highest since 1st Q. of 81. Our program is working even better than we expected 2 months ago. An N.S.P.G. meeting on I.N.F. and Lebanon. I’m of the mind we should tell Nitze to offer an interim missile reduction plan to the Soviets while still claiming zero is our ultimate goal. On Lebanon it’s still Israel dragging their feet. Met with Small Businessmens group—St. Dining room to sign our annual report. We’re trying to get Ruckleshouse to take over E.P.A.
