Well, thank you very much. This is a beautiful day. It's a little warm, but that's the way we like it. And this is beautiful Republicans and beautiful Democrats. We have them both, and it's nice to mention them in the same breath frankly. And I'm delighted to welcome all of the members of the House and Senate and your beautiful families.
It's a great honor to have you at the White House and to the annual White House Congressional Picnic, a long time it's been going on. I want to thank our magnificent First Lady for putting together this wonderful evening. There are too many friends, frankly, to mention all of them. We have so many of our Congressmen and we have some Senators in here.
I have to tell you, they snuck in, but that's ok. They wanted to be here. But I just want to thank all of you and I want to in particular thank Speaker Mike Johnson. He's doing an incredible job. And all of our other colleagues on both sides of the aisle for your service to America. That's what it is; it's service to America.
For more than half a century, the White House Congressional Picnic has served as a special night for Republicans and Democrats to put politics aside, if that's possible. Is that possible? I think so, right, for at least about an hour and come together with our families and give thanks and privilege to all of those people.
And I want to really in particular thank all of the people that so beautifully serve our country, and that's what -- exactly what you're doing. Everyone here works incredibly hard. And your loved ones, they make just these tremendous sacrifices, enormous sacrifices frankly. And I want to thank you all. The exceptional dedication to our country is unparalleled.
We're gathered at a truly exciting time for our nation. The USA is now the hottest country in the world. They just came back from the Middle East and the King of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. We have a great leader of Qatar, as you probably know, and UAE -- all leaders, great leaders frankly. And they all said the same thing.
They started off, they said America is the hottest country anywhere in the world and it is. And if you think about it, seven or eight months ago, we were cold as ice, we weren't hot. We were a laughing stock and now we're hot as can be. They all respect us. We actually came home, you'll be happy to hear, $5.1 trillion we brought back with us from the Middle East.
So, that's a -- that's an all time record by far. But the USA is now really on a path that's, I believe, unparalleled. Trillions of dollars of investment are pouring in, incomes are soaring, grocery prices are way down, gasoline prices are way down, energy prices are down, mortgage rates are down and inflation is down.
Other than that, how are you doing, right? They've been talking to me, do you think you can get prices down? We did it, every single one of them. And last month we cut the trade deficit. You saw that two days ago, it was just announced the trade deficit was cut in half, and that was all done in a period of four months.
So, we've reduced the number of illegal border crossings and you know that because you look at the numbers and 99.999 percent. Last month, it was three people got across -- three. So, I did a good job in 2016, but we did an even better job right now and it's been amazing. We have to get a little cooperation for some people, but a lot of bad people were let into our country.
We're getting them out and we're getting them out fast and I think you know that. They came from jails, prisons, they came from mental institutions, gang members. We're getting them out very fast. You're going to be very happy when you see the results. The recent months we've even come together as a bipartisan basis and on a bipartisan basis with the help of our great First Lady to pass the Take It Down Act protecting our youth from exploitation.
And I want to thank you Melania and thank you everybody. out there. When I saw that bill pass bipartisan, I said, you know, I think you're going to take my job, Melania, you'll get a little -- but we don't get so much bipartisan. So, she didn't know why. She said, why is that? I said there is no reason for it, but you did it. Congratulations.
That's a great job. But as a result of these many other historic wins for the American people, a majority of Americans now believe our country is on the right track for the first time in over 28 years, according to a very prestigious poll, 28 years, it has not been. And this is the first time in 28 years, and it will only get better when the Senate passes the One Big, Beautiful Bill and Congress sends it to my desk on the 4th of July.
We're shooting for the 4th of July. I think it's going to be the most important piece of legislation that our country has passed in many, many years. On Saturday, we're coming together to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States Army with a grand parade, a parade -- a military parade that I don't think we've ever seen the likes of what you're going to see.
I hope the weather is ok, but actually if it's not, that brings you good luck. That's ok, too. It doesn't matter. It doesn't affect the tanks at all. It doesn't affect the soldiers. They're used to it. They're tough, smart. Next year when we're all together again, we will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the American founding.
We founded our country, they founded our -- our great people, our great past founders -- have done a fantastic job and we'll be cheering on team USA in the World Cup. So, we have the World Cup coming; we have the Olympics coming; and maybe most importantly, we're going to celebrate a whole year 250th anniversary.
You know the Army is exactly one year older than the country, so that was interesting. We did a speech yesterday at Fort Bragg and it was really something, the display that they put on. I truly believe that great times are ahead for America. So, once again, I want to thank all of you. I want to thank every single person in this group, Democrat, Republican, or a couple of Independents out there.
They say they're independent, but they're not that independent. But I want to -- I want to thank everybody in the audience for being very special. I know every one of you and some by reputation and some by just knowing them and you're fantastic people and you have great families and without the families it wouldn't work for you at all.
So I just want to thank you very much for being here. Have a great night. We're going to have plenty of fun, have a really fantastic night and nobody's going to be cold tonight. You're going to be very warm tonight because it's a little on the hot side, but just enjoy yourself. And again, really happy birthday to a truly great country.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.