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Within the House chamber, site of the State of the Union speech, the President's arrival was preceded immediately by that of the Cabinet, led by Secretary of State George Shultz, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and Treasury Secretary James Baker. Ironically, Stockman drew a seat just in front of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who seemed amused at the coincidence, as did Stockman's seatmate, White House Counsellor Edwin Meese. Somewhat surprisingly, Reagan barely mentioned the budget in his address, and he said nothing at all about the sacrifices that it would surely seek from nearly everyone. On the contrary, he dwelt at length on what he regards as an almost boundless future for the U.S.: "There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect."
In specific terms, the President swept away any remaining doubts that he would press for a tax-simplification plan this year along the lines of the program drafted by former Treasury Secretary Donald Regan, now White House chief of staff. While still withholding a total endorsement of the Regan proposal, which has won wide support but also vehement opposition from some lobbying and special-interest groups, Reagan came closer than ever before to giving it his stamp of approval. The scheme, he said, is "an excellent reform plan whose principles will guide the final proposal we will ask you to enact." With the President's encouragement, Baker will now begin serious negotiations on Capitol Hill, looking for tax-reform consensus among Democrats as well as Republicans.
In other economic matters, Reagan called for a new round of negotiations + between the U.S. and its trading partners within a year in an effort to combat growing protectionism. For the fourth straight year the President called for the creation of "enterprise zones," pockets of high unemployment where businesses would receive tax benefits for creating jobs. The State of the Union speech coincided with Reagan's 74th birthday, and the President took note of the event by turning to House Speaker Thomas O'Neill, seated behind him, and saying, "Tip, you could make that a birthday present."
Continued resolve was the familiar byword in military affairs. "Our determination to maintain a strong defense has influenced the Soviet Union to return to the bargaining table," said Reagan, referring to the new round of arms negotiations scheduled to begin next month in Geneva. He termed the two- year-old Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), better known as Star Wars, "the most hopeful possibility of the nuclear age," because it would provide a nonnuclear defense against ballistic missiles. As for the argument of SDI detractors that the technology envisioned for such a system would take decades to develop, Reagan stated impatiently, "The answer to that is: let's get started." It was a line that he had added by felt-tipped pen to a late draft of the speech.