Hello, everybody. What a nice group of Democrats. We do, we have a lot of Democrats and we welcome you. Honestly, we do. And I think we're gonna start working together in healthcare. I really predict that. How are you? Boy, I see some very friendly faces. I see some faces that are friendly, but they could be friendlier.
But I think we're gonna do great. And we got a lot of good things to, to happen. We know our First Lady. She works so hard on making this so beautiful. And, uh, the decorations, she's been given wonderful reviews for the trees and all of the Christmas decorations. So thank you very mch. Thank you. So we have a very special Congresswoman with us. Julia Letlow.
Where's Julia? And it was just announced, and in fact, I just heard that she went to the dip room where she officially announced with a very handsome man, her engagement. Okay. Where is Julia? Julia, where are you? Come on up. Julia. That's a big deal. Come on, Julia. Let's go, Julia. That's a big deal. That's bigger than, that transcends politics.
Look at Julia. Oh, he's so lucky. He's the luckiest guy. He's a handsome guy, too.
Thank you. Thank you.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
Let me see that ring. Oh, that's a nice ring.
[Laughs]
That's fantastic.
Thank you. Thank you.
Wanna say something? Huh?
Well --
Yeah, go ahead.
Thank you so much to the best president of my entire life because he's heard [Inaudible] of America. Thank you. [Laughter]
Thank you. You got a great, great woman. He's got a great woman. Here's a fantastic couple. Thank you very much. So I wanna just welcome everybody to the White House. It's a very special tradition. And it's interesting because all other time, oh, look, I have my favorite Congressman. How are you, Congressman?
You know, it's very interesting because all of the Christmas occasions, everyone's quiet. When they're all politicians in the room, they talk right through a speech and that's okay. I don't mind that. But I want to welcome you all to the White House. It's an honor to have you. It's a special place. You know, for 150 years, they've been trying to do a ballroom.
They never got it off, but we got it off. And in a, in a very short period of time, like about a year-and-a-half, you're gonna have the best ballroom anywhere in the country, anywhere. It is, it is special, and they're gonna be able to, we'll be able to host this in a larger setting. However, it won't be the same.
So I think we'll keep this the same way. But we really did, we had a fantastic turnout. We had 12 different parties, and they asked me to go to speak at every party. And I did. I spoke at every single party. Then they announced because of the fact that they have so many people. It's 11 people are turned down for everyone that makes it. So it's a very good feeling, but I did 11. Then they said, "Sir, would you do two more?" I did two more.
And I said, "Did Biden do this, too? I don't think so." [Audience calls out "No"] I would love it if he did. It would've been very interesting. But we have a, uh, lot of things happening. We have a congressional ball. We have so many different, but what we're really here to celebrate is Christmas. So I wanna wish everybody a very Merry Christmas, a very happy New Year.
Happy Hanukkah. Whatever it may be, it's gonna be happy and we're gonna have a fantastic year. We have a fantastic year coming up. You know, never in our country have we had investment like has taken place over the last 10 months. We have $18 trillion plus already, and I think by the end of the year, it'll be over $20 trillion.
That's more than any nation anywhere in the world, at any time by quadruple. By quadruple. Um, in the previous administration, just to give you a little fact, not to be hostile, but they had less than one trillion over four years. So we have 18, I think we'll have 20, but we have 18 over 10 months. So that's some, that's some number.
And with that, and with that automatically comes jobs. And today, for the 52nd day, we hit an all-time stock market high, and that's great. And that means, that means 401(k)s, that means a lot of things are happening. It means jobs. And I think when the real numbers start coming out, and when the real pollsters start doing the polls, I think you're gonna see some really fantastic numbers.
And that's good for Republicans, frankly, and Democrats. I want to, uh, again, thank our first lady for working so hard on this. She's done so well. It's the, uh, let's see. She's done it four times. This would be the fifth time. And, uh, I would say this is the best, although I like the red tree. She got criticized for the red trees.
Then I liked the white trees, and she was criticized for the white trees. Then I liked the green trees, and she got criticized, and she went back to green, and they love it. So I don't know what's going on. I think this is a little bit of a different administration maybe than the first. But I wanna thank all of the great people in the room, both Democrat and Republican who work so hard on behalf of our great nation.
Uh, you're members of the greatest legislative body and the history of our country, history of the world really. And we have the greatest nation anywhere in the world, and it's getting stronger, bigger, better. And I just want to, uh, I just want to thank you because sometimes we don't work together, but we come up with great ideas together, and that is true.
So tonight we're going to set aside all political differences. We're not going to criticize each other, we're gonna love each other. And we're gonna come together not as Democrats and Republicans, but as fellow Americans to give thanks for this nation, which is so great indeed. And it's a, it's a tremendous, I think it's a tremendous tribute that it, I think it really is. I think it's a tremendous tribute that so many Democrats have joined us tonight.
High level. I know almost every single name on the list. It's a very impressive list too, I must say. But let me also say a very special thanks to all of the spouses and loved ones here tonight. You make incredible sacrifices for us as politicians. I call myself now a politician. I never thought that was going to happen.
I never thought that was going to happen, but it happened. But none of what we, uh, absolutely do, whatever, would be possible without you. And I want to thank my great wife, my great first lady for, uh, helping me. But every single one of you have been helped by your spouse. I want to also thank our really wonderful, great Vice President JD Vance, who's here.
JD, and thank you. And Second Lady Usha Vance. Usha, thank you very much. Thank you, Usha. Also a man that a few of you might know, not very well, but you might know him, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Where's Mike? What a great job you're doing. What a great job. And most importantly, you have a wonderful, beautiful wife.
Thank you very much. Say hello to the boys, okay? It's great to have you both. It was really, it's, uh, not easy to manage with a majority of three. But we've been up to seven and we sort of veer back and forth, but he's done a job and he gets along very well with the Democrats. Sometimes I would say he gets along too well.
That bothers. We also have Senate Majority Leader John Thune here. Where's John? Where is John? One of the really good, he's a good, thank you. Oh, wow. Look at him. See, he always gives the best location to others. Thank you, John. Thank you for everything. You've done a great job. It's not easy, John. [Laughs] It's not easy.
Thank you very much. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. Where's Steve? Where is Steve, Mr. Speaker? I'll tell you what, you know, I, I always say he's got great courage because he got hit real hard. He got hit harder than I got hit. I got hit too, but I got little, you know, I have a throbbing feeling. He had much more than a throbbing feeling.
In fact, I went to the hospital and they actually thought he wasn't gonna make it. His wife was devastated. She was crying. I tell the story. I found out that night you have a wife that loves you dearly. I know many wives would not even be crying. [Laughter] But your wife, your wife was absolutely a mess.
She was crying. She was inconsolable, Steve. So we found that out, but he made it. And then he went about four months later, he could barely walk, he went and he played second base in the game between the Ne- -- the, you, between you people, right? [Laughter] Republicans and Democrats. He could barely walk, he could barely stand.
He was not gonna be the great Bobby Richardson, all star second baseman of the New York Yankees for 15 years. And this could only happen by God. A shot was hit to him so hard, I said, "Oh, no." And it went right at him. He fell to his knees, which was his only option because he couldn't bend. This was not a good looking picture.
He knocked down the ball, picked it up, could barely grab it, threw it to first base. The runner who was actually a very good Democrat athlete was out. [Audience responds affirmatively] And I said that, and I said, and I've told this, uh, that was a miracle. That was a miracle. And then brilliantly, after one hitter, the manager took him out of the game -- [Laughter] -- because there was no way that he was gonna outdo that one. [Laughter] So Steve, it's great that you're here and we love you, Steve, and you went through a lot.
Majority Whip Tom Emmer, a fantastic guy with a fantastic spouse. Where's Tom? Tom is a great guy. I don't know what you're gonna do about Minnesota. [Audience member calls out "Over here. Over here"] Where? [Audience member calls out "Here"] What, here he is. He's a handsome devil, isn't he? [Laughter] With a, with an unbelievable wife who puts up with a lot of stuff.
She does not have an easy job, Tom. You are a difficult man. [Laughter] And Tom is very friendly with the Somalians, you know? He's doing a great job. [Laughter] He's a big, he's a big fan. He's a big fan of Somalia. [Laughter] Anyway. [Laughs] He said, "Please correct that." [Audience chants "Send them home."] Anyway. Thank you, Tom, very much. [Laughs] Thank you.
He's a great guy. He's done a fantastic job, and we re- -- real- -- we really appreciate it. And you have so many members of the House and the Senate, but I just wanna thank a few of them. And I really, I do mean it. I think it's fantastic that we're all here together tonight. We have, uh, cabinet members, and we have Marco is here.
Scott Bessent is here. We got 'em all sort of here. Every single one. I won't call 'em out because they're not names that are gonna get huge applause from this very substantially Democrat audience. [Laughter] But you know what? They're working, they're working toward making America great again. It's very simple.
We are making America great again. I saw it today on a somewhat left-ish, uh, broadcast. They were saying, "You know whether you like it or not, these numbers are starting to get very good." And they are. And that's good for all of us." But during the season of joy and peace, we have so much to celebrate as a nation 'cause one year ago we really were, we were a country that was in serious trouble.
There were those that say we were a country that was really not gonna make it. And they were saying we were not going to make it. Now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world. They're all saying it. Other leaders are saying it. The European nations are saying it. The European nations are reporting that your president might as well be the leader of the European nations also.
They listen to us and they respect us like they've never respected us before. So we're gonna work very hard. We get along with them. We wanna get along with as many nations as we can. We've been ripped off by a lot of them for a lot of years. And frankly, a lot of the Democrats knew that better than some of the Republicans.
But we've been ripped off and taken advantage of by friend and foe. And in many cases, friend was worse than foe. But not anymore. We have, uh, I don't know if you noticed the, uh, the deficit was cut down by 64%. Nobody's ever heard of a number like that. You know why? [Audience cheers] A thing called tariffs.
The tariffs are so big and so substantial. And it was just announced two weeks ago, the deficits cut down by, nobody ever heard of a number like that. If the deficit goes down by 2%, it's, like, a great thing. The tariffs have reduced the deficit by 64%. Nobody has ever seen. And frankly, we haven't even started yet.
It's given us strength. We've solved eight wars. Think of it. Eight wars have been solved. Although Thailand and Cambodia, I think I'm gonna have to make a couple of phone calls on Thailand and, but we'll get that one back on track. [Laughter] But think of it. We've solved eight wars that's never happened.
And more Americans are working today than ever before the history of our country. We've never had anything like it. We have more Americans working today than at any time, by far, in the history of our country. And 100% of all new jobs have been created, 100%, created in the private sector. I mean, that's a big factor.
Right, Virginia, right? Also, I just announced real wages are up for the typical worker by more than $1,000 a year. That's a record, $1,000 a year. [Audience member calls out] And many of you in Congress worked very hard, both, both sides, this year to keep the promises that you were elected on and to deliver big wins for the American people.
And Democrats worked very hard too. I mean, I think you could get rid of a couple of your little policies, like men in women's sports, open borders, transgender for everybody. [Laughter] But other than that, other than that, I like what you're doing. [Laughter] You pass the largest tax cuts in American history.
We all did that. [Audience cheers] We passed the largest spending cuts in American history, and we have the largest regulation cuts by far in American history. All of these things were just passed. You passed the Laken Riley Act to get criminal aliens off the street so they don't kill our people, hurt our people, mug our people, slice up our people, which is what they, what they did.
They're not doing it so much because crime is way down. And you passed the Genius Act to unleash a new era of financial innovation. And on a bipartisan basis, working with a woman named Melania. Have you heard of Melania? But working with our great First Lady, you passed the Take It Down Act to protect our nation's youths of, from some horrible people. And I think, I'm not sure, that was, this is hard to believe.
I believe this is correct. It was just about a unanimous vote, to which I said, "Maybe you should be doing my job [Laughs] because I don't get one vote." You know that it was, was it, did anybody vote against it? Even Rand Paul voted for it, right? 'Cause Rand Paul is an automatic no vote. He's not a Democrat vote, but he's an automatic no. Everybody voted.
I think it was just about unanimous. I can't believe it. She came home. I said, "I heard you got a unanimous vote." Yeah, she looks at me like, you know, "What was the big deal?" But that was a great thing that she did and a great thing that all of you did. Very soon, I'll hopefully be signing a National Defense Authorization Act that makes a historic investment in the United States Military, which I think most people wanna see.
And I look forward to working with each and every one of you in the coming year to make our nation stronger, safer, wealthier, healthier. And I really believe we can work on healthcare together and come up with something that's going to be much better, much less expensive for the people, less expensive for our nation, but really most importantly, better and less expensive for the people.
And we have an idea that rather than making these massive payments where they, you know, their stocks went up 1,700% over a short period of time, the insurance companies, we make beautiful, big payments directly to the people and they buy their own health insurance. And it's so good and so popular and everybody wants it. And I think, frankly, I think a lot of the Democrats are gonna want it too.
It's been a very popular, ever since I uttered those words about a month ago, it's been very, very popular. So hopefully we can get that done together. So I wanna just say in closing, have a, uh, fantastic, you're gonna have a fantastic evening. This food is unbelievable. The White House is known for great food, and it's better than that, and it's a great house.
It's a special, special place. You know, I've had a lot of nice houses, but I have to tell you, this house, it's just special. It's one of the reasons that every one of these events, all of them, are packed, sold out, waiting room, and they're begging to come. People love the White House, and people love our country, and we love the Republicans, and we love the Democrats, so we love everybody else.
We love everybody, especially tonight. Now, tomorrow, I'll have to deny I ever said that, but that's okay. So I wanna thank you. Maybe our First Lady would like to say something.
Good evening. Welcome to the White House. As the President said, uh, our greatest, uh, triumph, uh, in my office in the First Lady office in 2025, uh, is a Take a Down Act. I want to, I appreciate, uh, all of your support. I appreciate your bipartisan, overwhelmingly bipartisan support and, uh, across the House and the Senate.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker Johnson. And, um, I hope you will be excited to support my new legislative i- -- initiative in 2026. Some of you already know about it because it's already in the works. Thank you very much. I wish you and your families a very happy and Merry Christmas and a healthy New Year. Thank you.
Well, I just heard about that for the first time. The only thing I can tell you, I know one thing for sure, Mr. Speaker, it's going to be great. It's gonna be great for children, okay? I don't know what it is she's doing, but I know it's going to be great for children, because she loves children and she's, uh, she's got a wonderful boy and she's very proud of her boy, but she loves children.
And, uh, if she, if she puts it out, it'll be maybe unanimous again or whatever that was, but very close, unanimous again. I wanna thank you all. Have a great Christmas, a great Hanukkah, and a fantastic year, but we're gonna have a great 3 years, 4 years, 10 years. We're gonna make it great.
Our country is, our country is going to be strong, safe, rich. It's gonna be great. We're gonna make America great again. Thank you, everybody. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.