Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 642-023
Date: Monday, January 3, 1972 at 11:00 AM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Shultz, George P.
Recording device: Oval Office
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/642-023

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[4:03:21] Good God, we've got a problem.
[4:03:23] Tell us why you're in this situation.
[4:03:30] Well, I'm not in this situation.
[4:03:32] Well, will there be, will there be any reason to have the stoats, and then the fridge, and then the wine-frigger, or what is the...
[4:03:39] I don't have a sense of time to discuss it.
[4:03:49] I'll let you know.
[4:03:53] You can't find it.
[4:03:54] I'll let you know.
[4:03:57] I'll let you know.
[4:03:59] I'll let you know.
[4:04:17] I just threw it into the bathroom.
[4:04:18] See, there's another letter.
[4:04:20] Well, that other letter is where you might find it.
[4:04:23] It's in my possession.
[4:04:24] Because the other letter, I threw that out there, but it could be inside that.
[4:04:28] Because that other letter, I'd written a note on it.
[4:04:31] And this piece of paper, I already know.
[4:04:34] I'll get it in the pocket here.
[4:04:49] I thought that was pretty goddamn cheap, and she should have just not asked me to do it.
[4:04:56] So I didn't have a question to answer.
[4:04:58] But I think the fact that you made a school of papers all the time, and it was funny, it was a little, did you have a relaxed, cool, and a good will?
[4:05:04] I think it was.
[4:05:06] I had a little thing there where I said, well, you know, everybody can say that their president has done something.
[4:05:10] I said, of course, there were some of my supporters who thought that the bombing was coming to you.
[4:05:23] I think it's 5.30.
[4:05:25] No, it's 3.30.
[4:05:58] There's got to be, got to be, got to be, got to be, got to be, got to be.
[4:06:31] Oh, yes, sir.
[4:06:32] Now, do you see a piece of paper or my, uh...
[4:06:39] I'll see if I can find it.
[4:06:43] Oh, I do.
[4:07:00] The other letter, I threw that out there, but it could be inside that, because that other letter, I read a note on that.
[4:07:06] This piece of paper I know.
[4:07:08] I don't get the power to do this.
[4:07:10] Reception.
[4:07:11] Reception.
[4:07:28] He didn't want my burger in it.
[4:08:21] I think to a certain extent it's a paper issue.
[4:08:25] Capfield's rather strongly about it.
[4:08:28] And on the whole, as I mentioned to John earlier, when I was in agreement, it involves a Medicare waiting period before which people pay some of their costs.
[4:08:42] The law now is that it goes 61 days before they share in the costs.
[4:08:51] The philosophy of your health bill, which we followed through with in the Medicare proposal, is that it's good for people to share in the cost because it is a way of making them help manage the system.
[4:09:06] The last year, we got some very good for 10 days without sharing, and after the 10th day, they start sharing in the cost.
[4:09:17] That is very unpopular with the old folks.
[4:09:21] But that was our position.
[4:09:23] And we made some headway in Ways and Means in H.R.
[4:09:27] 1, and they have a 31-day waiting period rather than a 61-day waiting period.
[4:09:33] Now, the budget issue is whether to stay with our 10-day position or say, well, we got the 31 days in H.R.
[4:09:46] 1, and that'll be our position now before the Senate Finance Committee.
[4:09:51] That's what Elliott wants to do.
[4:09:53] He feels that if we do that, we won't further alienate the old folks.
[4:09:59] If we go back to 10 days, we'll get them all sore-headed.
[4:10:03] And we're not going to win.
[4:10:05] The reason CAP is so uptight about it is that it's $350 million.
[4:10:10] Those aren't real dollars.
[4:10:11] They're paper dollars in the bank.
[4:10:21] Would you mind just putting your two-direction one at your exact point?
[4:10:25] I'll talk to her.
[4:10:25] Good.
[4:10:26] John, I'm willing to fight the, you know, diver.
[4:10:33] Losing causes of mine are on this one.
[4:10:36] I thought that's what happened.
[4:10:43] And I said, well, what's up?
[4:11:10] He doesn't lose everything in his office.
[4:11:14] He's got the most of it because of who you are.
[4:11:18] Normally, I would just sell this myself, but it costs a lot of money, and Cap is very concerned about it, so I wanted to be sure to go over it with you.
[4:11:29] We're going to come in at 11.30, and we'll show you the bad news on the budget and where we stand.
[4:11:34] So, I believe that...
[4:11:40] Oh, it'll be all right.
[4:11:43] Well, we'll see.
[4:11:45] We'll see the projections and everything.
[4:11:50] What did we finally come up with on the
[4:11:59] It will come out somewhere around 1150, 1052.