Wee July 4, Reuter: President Reagan has launched an effort to rejuvenate a government battered by the Iran arms scandal with a plan he says will address the deficit ridden national budget.
A major aim of Reagan’s holiday speech at the sunbaked Jefferson Memorial yesterday, devoted to what he called an “Economic Bill of Rights”, was to restore momentum to his Presidency, according to senior U.S, officials.
A balanced budget — this year it is heading for a 170 billion dollar deficit has been a prime stated goal of Reagan’s Presidency, now in its last 19 months.
The deficit has more than tripled since Reagan took office in 1981.
Reagan’s plan, which had been leaked widely in advance of the Independence Day holiday to ensure maximum publicity. would make it harder to raise taxes or legislate new spending without specifying where the money was to come from.
A shirt sleeved Reagan said his reform drive would top the agenda for the remainder of his Presidency, which is staggering under the impact of revelations he approved clandestine arms sales to Iran despite an embargo he imposed in a bid to free American hostages held in Lebanon.
“Those who attain political power must know there are limits beyond which they will not be permitted to go, because beyond that point their intrusion is destructive of the economic freedom of the people”, he said.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 10, 1987
