So I'd like to have everyone sitting around the table - your incredible domains that you preside over so brilliantly, in some cases. In some cases very well; in some cases brilliantly. I would like you to come back with a 5-percent cut. Get rid of the fat. Get rid of the waste. And I'm sure you can do it. I'm sure everybody at this table can do it. It will have a huge impact.
Last budget we had to go - because of the military - we had to fix our military. Our military is in the process of being fixed. Planes are being made. Boats are being made. Ships are being made. Missiles, rockets, everything. Our nuclear is being brought to a level that nobody else could even imagine. Pray to God we don't have to use it. But there will be nothing like what we have, and there is nothing like what we have.
And that's why I did that. I made deals with the devil in order to get that done, because we had to improve our military. Our military was depleted. It was in bad shape. Our great people in the military hadn't received a wage increase in more than 10 years. Now they're getting an increase. First time in more than 10 years.
So I wanted to do that and - in order to get that done - because the Democrats won't vote for the military. They don't like the military. They don't like law enforcement. They don't like borders.
You see what's happening with the border, where people are coming up in caravans and we have to stop them even though the laws are terrible. The laws are terrible. Our laws are terrible. They're a laughingstock all over the world. And we're supposed to stop people with laws that aren't very good, but we're doing better than anybody else could possibly even think about.
But I'd like you all to come back with a 5-percent cut. And I think if you can do more than that, we will be very happy. There are some people sitting at the table - I'm not going to point you out - but there are some people that can really do substantially more than that. Because now that we have our military taken care of, we have our law enforcement taken care of, we can do things that we really weren't in a position to do when I first came.
So we'll see you at the next meeting. I'll see you many times before. I'm sure I'll speak to all of you during this term. But that's a very, very important request that I'm making of everybody sitting around this table. It's tremendous amounts of money, and it's something that we can do.
And I believe we could actually do it, easily. So rather than go by the penny plan, we'll call it the nickel plan. At least it will be a one-year nickel plan. We may do another nickel plan next year too.
Thank you all very much. To the press, thank you very much.
Q Mr. President, does that include the Defense Department, sir? The 5-percent cut.
THE PRESIDENT: We know what the budget - the new budget is for the Defense Department. It will probably be $700 billion. So it's 716; it was 700 - 716. And that's a very substantial number but it's defense. It's very important. I mean, to us, without defense, maybe the rest of it doesn't mean very much.
But if you know, it was a $520 [billion] a very short while ago. And the reason I brought it up to 700 and then 716 was to build new ships. We're building new, incredible submarines, the finest in the world. The most powerful in the world, anywhere, ever.
We're doing things that we have never done on this scale. So that included a lot of rebuilding of our military. So despite that, I'm going to keep that at $700 billion - defense. Okay?
Q The Saudis are investigating themselves, essentially. What do you think about calling for -
THE PRESIDENT: No, they're just - they're great, very talented people. They're not investigating themselves. They're going to cut costs. These all talented people. They have now been here long enough to be able to do this.
They are - it's a great group around this table. It's a great group. And they'll be able to do it. And when you add this and couple this with what Larry Kudlow said about how well we're doing, I wouldn't - where is Larry?
DIRECTOR KUDLOW: Here he is.
THE PRESIDENT: I mean, Larry has to be very happy when he hears this. You didn't even expect this, right? Did you expect this, Larry?
DIRECTOR KUDLOW: It's actually happening bigger and faster than I thought.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. I mean, this is part of it. This is all part of it. I just couldn't do it last year because of the fact that we had to do our military. Our military was in really bad shape.
Q I'm just talking about (inaudible) -
THE PRESIDENT: You had planes - you had planes that couldn't fly. You had - you had military that was really in a ridiculous situation. So that's what we had to do.
So what they're doing is they're doing it themselves. Okay, any other questions?
Steve, go ahead.
Q Sir, you said that the Chinese want to make a deal but you told them they're not ready.
THE PRESIDENT: I told them they're not ready yet.
Q (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: No, because they've had - they make too much -
Q (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: We have rebuilt China, just so you understand. Our country has rebuilt China - with their hardworking genius also. But how our country has allowed itself to lose $500 billion a year, and much more than that, is ridiculous - is ridiculous.
So it's hard for them to do a deal because they've had it so good for so long. It's a very hard thing for them to do. But we have a very good relationship with China. We have - I have a great relationship with President Xi. And I think you'll see something happen that going to be good for both countries. Okay?
Thank you all very much. I appreciate it.
