[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 35 (Monday, September 6, 1993)]
[Pages 1689-1691]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Naming Bill Frenzel as Special Adviser to the President for 
NAFTA and an Exchange With Reporters

 September 3, 1993

    The President. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. A few days ago, 
as all of you know, I announced that Bill Daley in Chicago would be 
Special Counselor to the President to coordinate our effort to pass the 
North American Free Trade Agreement in the Congress. It is my great 
pleasure today to announce that Bill will be joined in our team by the 
gentleman to my left--probably an uncomfortable position for him--
[laughter]--the distinguished former ranking minority member of the 
House Ways and Means Committee, Bill Frenzel from Minnesota, who, for 20 
years in Congress, established a well-deserved record and is a genuine 
expert on this use of trade. He is now a guest scholar at the Brookings 
Institution, and he has agreed to come aboard as Special Adviser to the 
President for NAFTA while we work through this effort in Congress.
    I also want to point out that we have just received a letter signed 
by 283 economists, among them liberals and conservatives and

[[Page 1690]]

12 Nobel laureates, reinforcing the position that I have taken strongly 
for over a year now, which is that this agreement, especially coupled 
with the side agreements, means more jobs, not fewer jobs, for the 
American people. This is a jobs issue.
    Since the late 1980's, over half of our net new jobs have come from 
expanding exports. And one of the biggest deterrents to our expanding 
the job base in America today is declines in exports because of the flat 
economy in Europe, the flat economy in Japan. Latin America, as a whole, 
is the second fastest growing area of the world. Mexico is leading that 
growth. I believe this is a very good move for the United States. It 
means more jobs. And I want to thank Bill Frenzel for his willingness to 
come aboard to make clear to all of America that this is a truly 
bipartisan effort and also to make it clear that we are serious about 
getting as many votes from Members of both parties as we can in the 
United States Congress. I thank you.
    Congressman, I invite you to make a few remarks.

[At this point, Representative Frenzel thanked the President and 
reaffirmed his commitment to NAFTA.]

    Q. Mr. President, do you think it will pass? And also, is there some 
intramural fight on whether health care should go first, or you should 
focus on NAFTA first?
    The President. Yes, I think it will pass, and no, there isn't one. 
We believe that it is the challenge, obviously, to present any kind of a 
major initiative to the Congress. But there is quite a difference 
between the two issues. Once the bill is ready for introduction under 
the laws governing NAFTA, it must be voted on in a certain amount of 
time. So there is a legislative timetable that will control that. The 
health care issue--the timetable for that will be largely determined by 
how quickly a consensus can be reached and by how much time the 
individual Members of the Congress are willing to put into mastering 
what is clearly the most complex public policy issue facing the United 
States today.
    Nevertheless, I continue to believe strongly that the two issues 
complement each other; I do not think they conflict. I think that there 
is an enormous amount of bipartisan interest in doing something to 
control health care costs as a way of stimulating the economy as well as 
providing health security to all Americans. And it gives people 
something to be for, and it puts in the larger context that all these 
things are being done to try to provide the American economy and bring 
the American people into a stronger position as we face the 21st 
century. So I just don't buy the conflict argument. I feel good about 
this.

Health Care Reform

    Q. Mr. President, do you think that the fact the Congress won't let 
you go forward with any additional broad-based taxes to pay for health 
care reform, that that's going to force you to so scale back the 
universal health care that you once envisaged that it won't have the 
kind of effect that you thought it would originally?
    The President. No, not at all. If you go back to my February 
address, I have never wanted to have any big, broad-based taxes to pay 
for health care. I have never thought that was right, and I've never 
understood why you can justify taxing the American people as a whole to 
pay to cover those who aren't covered, when more than half of the 
American people are paying more for their health care than they'll be 
paying today. And when we are paying now almost 40 percent more of our 
income for our health care than any other advanced nation, I just don't 
think you can justify that. So I'm quite comfortable with that, and I 
think when we put out our ideas and others put theirs out, that the 
American people will see pretty quickly we can do comprehensive coverage 
and without a big, new tax.
    Q. Do you think Mr. Kantor is big enough to take on Mr. Perot?
    The President. Yes, he's wanted to--show them your--he's already 
wounded, but even wounded, Mr. Kantor is a formidable fighter. Now he's 
got a lot of good help, too.

Oval Office Redecoration

    Q.  What do you think of your new surroundings?
    The President. I like them very much. I think it's a beautiful rug. 
I like the couch. I like it.

[[Page 1691]]

    Q. How much input did you have in this? I mean, is this you?
    The President. I like it a lot. A little input. I thought a darker 
rug would be pretty and would lift the room and something other than 
white couches. I like it.
    You ought to sit on the couches. He also made them stronger so 
people don't sink in when they come in here. Did you ever go into an 
office and sink into the couch, you know? I don't think that's very 
good, so I wanted people to feel good.
    Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International], when Mickey opened 
his coat, did you think of President Johnson? [Laughter]

Note: The President spoke at 2:37 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of these 
remarks.