the United States" and urged quick approval by the Senate. On October 19, Ford delivered an address to a group of business economists at the Pierre Hotel, calling on the Carter administration to pursue a $20 billion to $25 billion annual tax cut immediately. On February 19, 1978, Ford advocated that Carter invoke the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 to assist with quelling the coal crisis, which he stated would benefit Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections should it persist. On April 6, while attending a Republican Party fundraiser dinner in Los Angeles, Ford stated the national defense program had not been fully funded under the administration of his immediate successor and the consequence had been the encouragement of the expansion of communism through both actual and believed weaknesses within the military. On December 13, during a speech at a luncheon meeting of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Ford stated that Congress "is just not prepared for crisis management" of American foreign policy and sympathized with Carter over troubles pertaining to the economy and other branches of the government. On October 3, 1980, Ford cast blame on Carter for the latter's charges of ineffectiveness on the part of the Federal Reserve Board due to his appointing of most of its members: "President Carter, when the going gets tough, will do anything to save his own political skin. This latest action by the president is cowardly." On January 19, 1981, during a speech, Ford stated that he was in favor of the $9 billion being offered by the Carter administration to return the hostages in the Iran hostage crisis and said President-elect Reagan would take the oath of office the following day " and inherit a full platter of difficult problems, including runaway stagflation, the dangers of military weakness and dependence on foreign oil." Ronald Reagan Following the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, Ford told reporters while appearing at a fundraiser for Thomas Kean that criminals who use firearms should get the death penalty in the event someone is injured with the weapon. On March 23, 1981, Ford met with Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping to transmit a message on the part of the Reagan administration that the new presidency would not see a departure of the past working relationship between the United States and China. In May 1981, Ford attended a luncheon organized by Peter Pocklington, advocating