Remarks at the Congressional Picnic

The President. 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. Great honor to have you at the White House and to the annual White House Congressional Picnic. Long time it's been going on.

I want to thank our magnificent First Lady for putting together this wonderful evening.

The First Lady. Thank you.

The President. Great, honey.

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 okay. [Laughter] 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? [Laughter] For at least about an hour—[laughter]—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 U.S.A. is now the hottest country in the world. I 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 U.A.E., all leaders—great leaders, frankly—and they all said the same thing. They started her off—they said, "America is the hottest country anywhere in the world." And it is. And if you think about it, 7 or 8 months ago, we were cold as ice. We weren't hot. We were a laughingstock, 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—[applause]. That's an alltime record by far.

But the U.S.A. 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? [Laughter] They've been talking to me, "Do you think you can get prices down?" We did it. I—every single one of them.

And last month, we cut the trade deficit. You saw that 2 days ago. It was just announced. The trade deficit was cut in exactly half, and that was all done in a period of 4 months.

So we've reduced the number of illegal border crossers. 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 a 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 passed bipartisan, I said: "You know, I think you're going to take my job, Melania. You'll get a little—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. Twenty-eight 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 Fourth of July. We're shooting for the Fourth 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 okay, but actually, if it's not, that brings you good luck. And that's okay too. It doesn't matter. It doesn't affect the tanks at all. It doesn't affect the soldiers. [Laughter] 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 great people. Our great past founders have done a fantastic job.

And we'll be cheering on Team U.S.A. 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 1 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 the 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. [Laughter] But 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 is 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.