[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 12 (Monday, March 28, 1994)]
[Pages 627-636]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's News Conference

March 24, 1994

    The President. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Yesterday we were 
reminded that protecting our democracy and expanding its promise around 
the world can be costly and dangerous. Here at home we mourn the loss of 
the servicemen in the tragic aircraft accident at Pope Air Force Base, 
and we pray for a speedy recovery for those who were injured. This 
tragedy reminds us that the men and women who serve in the military put 
their lives at risk in the service of our Nation.
    In Mexico, an assassin killed Luis Donaldo Colosio, the Presidential 
candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party. We send our 
condolences and our prayers to his family. And I urge the Mexican people 
at this difficult time to continue their strides toward economic and 
political reform and progress.
    With the Congress beginning its Easter recess tomorrow, this is a 
good time to assess the real work we are getting done on behalf of the 
American people. We're moving forward on our economic plan. The budget 
now moving through Congress, when passed, will give us 3 consecutive 
years of deficit reduction for the first time since Harry Truman was 
President. In 1995, we'll have the lowest budget deficit as a percentage 
of our annual income of any of the major industrialized countries. A 
recovering economy produced 2 million jobs last year, and we're on track 
to create 2 million more in '94.
    Around the world America's efforts have helped to bring much needed 
calm to Sarajevo and led to an important political accord between the 
Bosnian Muslims and Croats. Our call for restraint has helped to start 
talks again the Middle East. We will continue our efforts to stop North 
Korea's nuclear program and to seek progress on human rights in China, 
working to build a more positive relationship with that very important 
nation.
    This Friday, a week ahead of schedule, our troops will return home 
from Somalia. Because of their courageous efforts, Somalia can now build 
its own future, a step it made in the right direction today with the 
accord between the leaders of the two largest factions in that country.
    Since we came here, our country has been moving in the right 
direction. Just today, the House of Representatives passed our 
legislation to limit the influence of lobbyists. Our administration is 
completing work on a comprehensive welfare reform proposal. We have 
presented to the Congress our very important reemployment proposal, to 
change the unemployment system to provide immediate retraining to those 
who lose their jobs. In a few days, with bipartisan support, the country 
will have an education reform law that sets national standards for our 
public schools. In a few weeks, Congress will pass a crime bill and put 
more police on the street, tougher gun laws on the books, and make 
``three strikes and you're out'' the law of the land.
    Speaker Foley assured me last night that the crime bill will be item 
number one on the agenda of the House when it returns to work. And in a 
few months we will succeed in passing health care reform. Just 
yesterday, the House Subcommittee on Health passed legislation to 
provide health security for every American. And while there will be lots 
of twists and turns in the legislative process, this year Congress will 
pass and I will sign a health reform which guarantees health care 
security to every American that can never be taken away, with the right 
to choose a doctor, with a plan that outlaws insurance abuses: no more 
dropping coverage or cutting benefits; no more lifetime limits; no more 
raising rates just because someone in your family has been sick or some 
are older than others. We want to preserve and strengthen Medicare, and 
we believe in this administration that those health benefits should be 
guaranteed through the workplace, building on what works today.
    I know that many people around America must believe that Washington 
is overwhelmingly preoccupied with the Whitewater matter. But our 
administration is preoccupied with the business we were sent here to do 
for the American people. The investigation of Whitewater is being 
handled by an independent Special Counsel whose appointment I supported. 
Our cooperation with that counsel has been total. We have supplied over 
14,000 documents, my tax returns dating

[[Page 628]]

back to 1978, and made available every administration witness he has 
sought.
    I support the actions of the House and the Senate clearing the way 
for hearings at an appropriate time that does not interfere with Mr. 
Fiske's responsibilities. And I will fully cooperate with their work as 
well. Tomorrow I will make available my tax returns dating back to 1977 
when I first held public office. Cooperation, disclosure, and doing the 
people's business are the order of the day.
    This is the best moment we have had in decades to do the hard work 
on so many issues that affect not only our own progress and prosperity, 
but the very way we think about ourselves as a nation. The American 
people should know that I and my administration will not be distracted. 
We are committed to taking advantage of this rare moment and achieving 
these important goals.
    Terry [Terence Hunt, Associated Press].

Whitewater

    Q. Mr. President, you just said that you would release your tax 
returns back to 1977. Questions also have been raised about whether you 
made money or lost money in your Whitewater investment. Do you still 
believe that you lost about $70,000? And do you have any reason to 
believe that you owe any back taxes?
    The President. I am certain that we lost money. I do not believe we 
owe any back taxes. If it is determined that we do, of course, we will 
pay. I am now sure that we lost something less than $70,000, based on an 
interview I heard on television, or I heard about on television, with 
Jim McDougal with one of the networks, where he said that he felt that 
one of the loans I had taken from a bank where we also borrowed money 
for the land development corporation, he said he thought one of those 
was a personal loan.
    And so I started racking my brain to try to remember what that might 
have been, and by coincidence, I was also rereading the galleys of my 
mother's autobiography, just fact checking it, and I noticed that she 
mentioned there something that I had genuinely forgotten, which is that 
I helped her to purchase the property and what was then a cabin on the 
place that she and her husband, Dick Kelley, lived back in 1981, and 
that I was a co-owner of that property with her for just a few months. 
After they married, he bought my interest out.
    So that's where that--I borrowed the money to go into that 
investment. I paid the money back with interest. That was unrelated to 
Whitewater. All the other losses that we have documented to date we 
believe clearly are tied to the investment Hillary and I made in 
Whitewater. So we, in fact, lost some $20,700 less than the Lyon's 
report indicated because that loan came from a different place or came 
for different purposes. And there was another $1,500 payment I made on 
it. So whatever the total in the Lyon's report was, you should subtract 
from that $20,700 and another $1,500. And we believe we can document 
that clearly.
    Tomorrow, my counsel, David Kendall, will brief the press on the 
evidence that we have, what's in the tax returns. You will see when you 
see the tax returns that those losses were clearly there. And he will be 
glad to support it with other information as well.
    Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International].
    Q. Mr. President, do you know of any funds, any money--Whitewater 
seems to be about money--having gone into any of your gubernatorial 
campaigns or into Whitewater, particularly federally insured money? Do 
you know of any money that could have gone in?
    The President. No. I have no knowledge of that. I have absolutely no 
knowledge of that.
    Rita [Rita Braver, CBS News].
    Q. President Clinton, you just mentioned James McDougal, your former 
business partner. A lot of questions have been raised about his business 
practices. Can you tell us what drew you to him to begin with, and 
whether or not you still have faith now that he was--that he is an 
honest businessman?
    The President. Well, I can tell you that when I entered my 
relationship with him--let's go back to then and not now--I knew Mr. 
McDougal and had known him for many years. I met him in the late sixties 
when he was running Senator Fulbright's office in Arkansas. I knew that 
sometime around that time, perhaps later, he got into the real estate 
business. When I entered into this investment, it was with a person I 
had known many

[[Page 629]]

years who was in the real estate business who had never been in the S&L 
business or the banking business. That all happened at a later time. He 
had done quite well.
    The reason we lost money on Whitewater is not surprising; a lot of 
people did at that time. Interest rates, as you'll remember, went 
through the roof in the early eighties. People stopped immigrating to my 
State to retire at least in the numbers they had all during the 
seventies; and the market simply changed. So we didn't sell as many 
lots, and the venture was not successful. So we lost the money. 
Principally, the money I lost was on the interest payments I had to make 
on the loans, which were never reimbursed because of the venture never 
turned a profit.
    Q. Do you still believe in his honesty now and do you think that 
he----
    The President. All I can tell you, to the best of my knowledge, he 
was honest in his dealings with me. And that's all I can comment on. As 
I said, when I heard about his comments on television, since he had--
he's always told you that I had nothing to do with the management of 
Whitewater, that Hillary had nothing to do with it; we didn't keep the 
books or the records; that this investment was made, as you know, back 
in 1978; and that we were essentially passive investors; that none of 
our money was borrowed from savings and loans, and we had nothing to do 
with a savings and loan. So that's what he has always said. So when he 
said he didn't think this note, where I borrowed money from a bank not 
an S&L in 1981 had anything to do with Whitewater, I started thinking 
about it. We talked about it. We couldn't remember what else it could 
have been until I literally just happened to cross that in reading my 
mother's autobiography.
    Andrea [Andrea Mitchell, NBC News].
    Q. Mr. President, Congressman Leach made some very dramatic charges 
today. He said that Whitewater is really about the arrogance of power, 
and he didn't just mean back in Arkansas. He said that Federal 
regulators tried to stop investigators for the Resolution Trust 
Corporation in Kansas City from putting Whitewater into their criminal 
referrals. That would amount to a coverup and possibly obstruction of 
justice. Do you have any knowledge of that?
    The President. Absolutely not. And it is my understanding----
    Q. And are you looking into it?
    The President. Let me just say this, it's my understanding that Mr. 
Leach was rather careful in the words that he used, and apparently he 
didn't even charge that any political appointee of our administration 
had any knowledge of this. So he may be talking about an internal 
dispute within the RTC from career Republican appointees for all I know.
    Keep in mind, until I came here, all the appointees of the RTC were 
hired under previous, Republican administrations. There has never been a 
Democratic President since there's been an RTC. And I can tell you 
categorically I had no knowledge of this and was not involved in it in 
any way, shape, or form.
    Q. Well, in light of all that's happened so far, Mr. President, do 
you think you made any mistakes in the initial investment and in the way 
the White House has handled this?
    The President. I certainly don't think I made a mistake in the 
initial investment. It was a perfectly honorable thing to do, and it was 
a perfectly legal thing to do. And I didn't make any money, I lost 
money. I paid my debts. And then later on, as you know, Hillary and I 
tried to make sure that the corporation was closed down in an 
appropriate way and paid any obligations that it owed after we were 
asked to get involved at a very late stage and after Mr. McDougal had 
left the S&L. So I don't think that we did anything wrong in that at 
all. And I think we handled it in an appropriate way. We were like a lot 
of people; we invested money, and we lost.
    I'd be the last person in the world to be able to defend everything 
we've done here in the sense that whatever we did or didn't do has 
sparked an inordinate amount of interest in a 16-year-old business 
venture that lost money. But to suggest--let me just say again, I have 
had absolutely nothing to do, and would have nothing to do, with any 
attempt to influence an RTC regulatory matter. And I think if you look 
at the actions of the RTC just since I've been President and you examine 
the facts that everybody that works there was appointed by a previous,

[[Page 630]]

Republican administration, the evidence is clear that I have not done 
that.
    Yes.
    Q. Mr. President, you've been kind of tough at times on people you 
felt made out during the eighties and didn't pay their fair share. Can 
you tell us, sir, tonight that you have abided by the very high ethical 
standards----
    The President. Absolutely.
    Q. ----to which you've sought to hold others? And also, sir, if it 
turns out that you do owe something in back taxes, will you be prepared 
perhaps to revise some of those judgments you've made about others?
    The President. No, not at all. I ask you to tell the American people 
what percentage of my income I paid in taxes in every year where I 
reported my tax returns. And let me tell you what my wife and I spent 
the eighties doing: I was the lowest paid Governor of any State in the 
country. I don't complain about it. I was proud of that. I didn't do it 
for the money. I worked on creating jobs and improving education for the 
children of my State. Every year I was Governor, my wife worked in a law 
firm that had always done business with the State. She never took any 
money for any work she did for the State. And indeed, she gave up her 
portion of partnership income that otherwise came to the firm, and 
instead every year gave an enormous percentage of her time to public 
service work, helping children and helping education, and doing a lot of 
other things, giving up a lot of income.
    Now, we did that because we wanted to. The fact that we made 
investments, some of which we lost money on, some of which we made money 
on, has nothing to do whatever with the indictment that I made about the 
excesses of the eighties. And we always made every effort to pay our 
taxes. I would remind you that we, like most middle class folks, we 
turned our records over to an accountant. I always told the accountant 
to resolve all doubts in favor of the Government. I never wanted any 
question raised about our taxes.
    When it turned out in our own investigation of this Whitewater 
business that one year we had inadvertently taken a tax deduction for 
interest payments when, in fact, it was principal payment, even though 
the statute of limitations had run, we went back and voluntarily paid 
what we owed to the Federal Government. And if it turns out we've made 
some mistake inadvertently, we will do that again. But I have always 
tried to pay my taxes. And you will see when you look at all the returns 
that we've always paid quite a considerable percentage of our income in 
taxes.
    Yes.
    Q. Mr. President, during the campaign you said your administration 
would set a higher standard. Yet, in the travel office case last year, 
your own Chief of Staff found some of your aides used their official 
position to advance their personal interests. While recently, we've seen 
a senior White House official delinquent in Social Security taxes that 
disqualified others from serving in your administration and others in 
the White House neglecting until recently to undergo a security 
clearance required of other Government officials handling classified 
information. Why, sir, do you think it's so difficult for members of 
your staff to live up to your campaign promise?
    The President. First of all, let's deal with those things, each in 
turn. Now, the finding was not that anybody who worked for me sought to 
advance themselves personally, financially in the travel office issue. 
That was not the finding. We found that the issue had not been well 
handled. And I might say, unlike other White Houses that stonewalled, 
denied, or delayed, we did our own internal investigation and admitted 
what mistakes we made and made some changes there. I'm proud of that.
    Secondly, no one was barred from serving in our administration 
because they hadn't paid Social Security taxes, but people were barred 
from serving in Presidential-appointed positions that required Senate 
confirmation unless they complied with administration policy. Mr. 
Kennedy did not do that entirely, and he has been reassigned. He has had 
a difficult time, and I am convinced that he has done a lot of work 
that's been very valuable for us. But I think that he should not have 
done what he did, and I think he should fully pay. He has done that. I 
think that's what he should have done.
    Now, on the White House passes thing, let's just talk about what the 
facts are. About

[[Page 631]]

90 percent of the people who work here have been through all the 
clearances. The others are going through the clearances. I learned when 
I read about this that apparently previous administrations had had some 
of the same problems. That is, they'd been lax because of the cumbersome 
nature of the process. So we've now basically put in rules that say that 
anybody who comes to work here now has to get all this done in 30 days 
or is immediately on leave without pay. They can't get paid unless they 
do it. I asked Mr. McLarty and Mr. Cutler to fix this and make sure it 
never happens again. So I feel confident that we have.
    But since you raised the issue, let me also ask you to report to the 
American people that we have and we have enforced higher standards 
against ethical conflicts than any previous administration. When people 
leave the White House, they can't lobby the White House. If they're in 
certain positions, they can't lobby the White House for a long time. If 
they're in certain positions now, they can never lobby on behalf of a 
foreign government.
    I have supported a campaign finance reform bill that I am hoping the 
Congress will pass, and I believe they will, which will change the 
nature of financing political campaigns. I have supported a very tough 
lobby reform bill which will require more disclosure and more restraint 
on the part of lobbyists and public officials than ever before. And we 
will comply with those laws.
    So I think our record on balance is quite good here. And when we 
make mistakes, we try to admit them, something that has not been the 
order of the day in the past.
    Peter [Peter Maer, NBC Mutual Radio].
    Q. Thank you, Mr. President. So many things have happened since this 
Whitewater story broke or resurfaced, depending on your point of view, 
your Counsel has resigned, a number of your top aides have been 
subpoenaed because of their contacts with Treasury officials in on the 
investigation. I'm curious, who do you blame more than anything else for 
the Whitewater mess that the administration in is now?
    The President. Well, I don't think it's useful to get into blame. I 
think what's important is that I answer the questions that you have that 
are legitimate questions, that I fully cooperate with the Special 
Counsel, which was requested widely by the press and by the members of 
the Republican Party, and who is himself a Republican, that we fully 
cooperate. And we've done that. Senator Inouye from Hawaii pointed out 
today, he said, ``I've been experienced in these investigations.'' He 
said, ``You folks have claimed no executive privilege. You've fully 
cooperated. No one can quarrel with that.'' And then I get back to the 
work of getting unemployment down, jobs up, passing a health care bill, 
passing the crime bill, moving this country forward. I think the worst 
thing that can happen is for me to sort of labor over who should be 
blamed for this. There will probably be enough blame to go around. I'm 
just not concerned about it.
    Q. To follow up, sir, do you feel ill served in any way by your 
staff?
    The President. I think on the--I've told you what I think about 
these meetings. Now, let's go back to the facts of the meetings. We now 
know that Mr. Altman's counsel checked with the ethics officer in 
Treasury before he came over and gave the briefings to the White House. 
But I have said--so it appears at least that the counsel thought that 
Mr. Altman had an ethical clearance to come and do this briefing. We 
certainly know that no one in the White House, at least to the best of 
my knowledge, has tried to use any information to in any way improperly 
influence the RTC or any Federal agency.
    Would it have been better if those had not occurred? Yes, I think it 
would have been. Do we have people here who wouldn't do anything wrong 
but perhaps weren't sensitive enough to how something could look in 
retrospect by people who are used to having problems in a Presidency or 
used to having people not telling the truth? I think that we weren't as 
sensitive as we should have been. And I've said before, it would have 
been better if that hadn't occurred.
    But I think the one thing you have to say is, you learn things as 
you go along in this business. None of this, in the light of history, 
will be as remotely important as the fact that by common consensus we 
had the most productive first year of a Presidency last year of anyone 
in a generation. That's what mat- 

[[Page 632]]

ters, that we're changing people's lives. That's what counts. And I'm 
just going to keep working on it.
    Yes.
    Q. Mr. President, you and your wife have both used the phrase, 
``bewildered, confused about why all the interest in Whitewater.'' Yet, 
in the Arkansas savings and loan business, your wife represented Madison 
Savings and Loan before the Arkansas Savings and Loan Board, whose head 
was a former lawyer who had done work for Madison Savings and Loan. Do 
you not see any conflicts of interest in your action, or your wife's 
actions, which would appear to contradict what you just said about her 
not doing any work before the State, that would cause people to question 
your actions?
    The President. No, that's not what I said. I did not say--I said 
that when my wife did business, when her law firm represented some State 
agency itself--State agencies all over America use private lawyers--if 
she did any work for the State, she never took any pay for it. And when 
the firm got income from State work, she didn't take her partnership 
share of that income. She gave that up because she wanted to bend over 
backwards to avoid the appearance of conflict.
    Was there anything wrong with her representing a client before a 
State agency? And if you go back and look at the facts, basically the 
firm wrote the securities commissioner a letter saying, is it 
permissible under Arkansas law to raise money for this S&L in this way? 
And it showed that she was one of the contacts on it, and the securities 
commissioner wrote her back and said it's not against the law. That was 
basically the extent of her representation.
    Now, all I can do is tell you that she believed there was nothing 
unethical about it. And today, in an interview, Professor Steven Geller, 
of New York University, who is a widely respected national expert on 
legal ethics, once again said there was nothing at all unethical in 
doing this. These kinds of things happen when you have married couples 
who have professions. And the most important thing there is disclosure. 
There was no sneaking around about this. This was full disclosure. 
Professor Geller--I brought the quote here--said, ``I think this is a 
bum rap on Mrs. Clinton, and I'm amazed that it keeps getting 
recirculated.'' Now, there's a person who doesn't work for us whose job 
it is to know what the code of professional responsibility requires.
    Yes.
    Q. Mr. President, one thing that puzzled a lot of people is why, if 
you did nothing wrong, did you act for so long as if you had something 
to hide. And now that you're about to release these documents to the 
public, your tax records and other things, do you think it would have 
helped if you had released these documents to the public earlier? Would 
it have stopped this issue from reaching the proportions that it has?
    The President. I don't have any idea. But I don't think I acted as 
if I had anything to hide. After all, I did volunteer--I had already 
given out my tax returns going back to 1980. And then keep in mind, when 
the furor arose at the request for the Special Counsel--even though 
everybody at the time said, ``Well, we don't think he's done anything 
wrong; there's no evidence that either he or the First Lady have done 
anything wrong; we still think there ought to be a Special Counsel''--I 
said we would give all this over to the Special Counsel. It was only 
after the Special Counsel had all the information that the people who 
first wanted the Special Counsel then decided they wanted the documents 
as well. So we're making them available.
    Perhaps I should have done it earlier, but you will see essentially 
what I've told you and things that you basically already know.
    Yes, Gwen [Gwen Ifill, New York Times].
    Q. Mr. President, you said a few minutes ago that the people in the 
RTC who are involved in Congressman Leach's allegations are all career 
Republican officials. But aren't they members of your administration? 
And do you plan to take any action in speaking to either Mr. Bentsen or 
Mr. Altman about taking action and investigation of Mr. Leach's charges?
    The President. I think the last thing in the world I should do is 
talk to the Treasury Department about the RTC. [Laughter] You all have 
told me that that creates the appearance of impropriety. I don't think 
we can have a--it's not just a one-way street; it's a two-way street. 
Mr. Leach will see that what- 

[[Page 633]]

ever should be done is done. But I can tell you, I have had no contact 
with the RTC. I've made no attempt to influence them. And you can see by 
some of the decisions that they have made that that is the furthest 
thing, it seems to me, that ought to be on your mind.
    Q. Do you abandon all responsibility for a department, a Cabinet 
Department in your Government?
    The President. I haven't abandoned all responsibility. You can't 
have it both ways. Either we can talk to them or we can't. I just think 
this is a matter of public record now. And Mr. Leach will certainly see 
to it that it's looked into. He's already said that that's his job, and 
I'm sure he will see that it is.
    Yes.
    Q. With so many questions swirling around Whitewater and the Rose 
law firm, there's some concern that the moral authority of the First 
Lady is eroding as well. Are you reconsidering her role as the point 
person for health care reform?
    The President. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. People should not be 
able to raise questions and erode people's moral authority in this 
country. There ought to have to be evidence and proof. We live in a time 
when there is a great deal of question-raising. It seems to be the order 
of the day. But I know what the facts are, and I'm giving you the facts 
on this.
    Here we just had--all these questions were raised about whether she 
was properly or improperly representing a client before a State agency--
to do something, I might add, that the Federal Government had asked 
savings and loans to do, that is, go out and raise more capital to 
become more solvent. So that's what she was doing in the full light of 
day in full disclosure.
    Now we have, even in retrospect, an eminent national expert saying 
that she is getting a bum rap. When people ask questions that don't have 
any basis--I think you should ask whatever questions you want to ask, 
and I think that we should do our best to answer them. But I think that 
the 20-year record she made as a lawyer, never before having her ethics 
questioned, never before having her ability questioned, when everybody 
who knew her knew that every year she was giving up a whole lot of 
income to do public business, to advance the cause of children and to 
advance the cause of our State. No, I don't think so. I think in the end 
when all these questions get asked and answered, her moral authority 
will be stronger than it has ever been, because we will have gone 
through this process and been very forthcoming, as we are, to the 
Special Counsel. And then in the end, people will compare how we did 
this with how previous administrations under fire handled their 
business. And I think it will come out quite well.

Mexico

    Q. Mr. President, the assassination of Mr. Colosio today has shaken 
the financial markets in this country, created doubt about the stability 
of Mexico. Mexico opens its stock market and banks tomorrow. You said 
you would help Mexico in this. What can the United States do to help 
Mexico in these trying times?
    The President. Well, first of all, let me say, Mexico is a very 
great country that has made enormous progress economically and 
politically. There is a lot of ferment and change going on there that is 
inevitable and that can be very positive. What I think the United States 
can do, first of all, is to tell the rest of the world that we know this 
about Mexico. They're our neighbors, and we think they have a great 
future. And we don't expect any long-term damage to come from this 
terrible personal tragedy and political setback.
    Secondly, the only business I did last night on this--and I called 
President Salinas as a friend, as well as the President of the United 
States, to express my sorrow--the only business I did was to talk to the 
Secretary of the Treasury about what we might be able to do in the event 
there was some sort of unusual trading against the Mexican currency. And 
there may be something we can do to step in and stabilize that. As you 
know, there have been times in the past when our friends have had to 
come to our aid. The Germans, the Japanese and others have come to our 
aid when there was unusual trading against the dollar. And we are 
prepared to try to help the Mexicans if that is necessary. But we hope 
it won't be.

[[Page 634]]

    Today, we did just a little bit on Mexican securities when we 
suspended trading here in the United States for a very short time so 
that the American who would be interested in this would at least be able 
to verify what the facts were and what they were not about the terrible 
incident last night. And I think that helped a bit. I certainly hope 
that it did.

Whitewater

    Q. Increasingly polls are showing that more and more Americans are 
unsure whether you acted properly in Whitewater, that maybe you did 
something wrong. Does that concern you? And when do you think it would 
be proper for the First Lady to answer questions about Whitewater?
    The President. Well, first of all, does it concern me? Only a little 
bit. The truth is, I am amazed. When I read in the New York Times or 
someplace that there have been 3 times as much coverage of Whitewater as 
there had been of health care, I'm amazed that there hasn't been more 
change in the polls. I think what the American people are really upset 
about is the thought that this investment that we made 16 years ago that 
lost money, that did not involve savings and loans, might somehow divert 
any of us from doing the work of the country, getting the economy going 
and dealing with health care and crime and the other issues.
    So, in that sense, I think people are right to be concerned. And 
they want to know that I'm going to answer the questions. A lot of 
people don't even know, I don't think, that there is a Special Counsel, 
that we have fully cooperated, that he has said we have, that the 
Watergate prosecutor, Sam Dash, contrasted our conduct with previous 
Presidents and said we'd been highly ethical. And we're moving forward.
    Now, the First Lady has done several interviews. She was out in 
three different places last week answering questions exhaustively from 
the press. I think she will continue to do that. And if you have 
questions you want to ask her about this, I think you ought to ask the 
questions.
    Deb [Deborah Mathis, Gannett News Service].
    Q. Mr. President, you and the First Lady have several times said 
that you've been amazed and dismayed by the intensity of both the 
opposition and the scrutiny surrounding Whitewater in particular. Has 
any of this been instructive for you? Have you taken any lessons from 
this ordeal, whether it's about the Presidency, about the process, about 
the city, or anything?
    The President. Oh, I think I've learned a lot about it. I think one 
of the things I've learned about it is that it's very important to try 
to decide what the legitimate responsibility of the President is, to be 
as forthcoming as possible, and to do it.
    It's important for me to understand that there is a level here--and 
this is not a blame, this is just an observation--because of the 
experiences of the last several decades, of which I was not a part in 
this city, I think there is a level of suspicion here that is greater 
than that which I have been used to in the past--and I don't complain 
about it, but I've learned a lot about it--and that my job is to try to 
answer whatever questions are out there so I can get on with the 
business of the country.
    And I think I've learned a lot about how to handle that. I've also 
learned here that there may or may not be a different standard than I 
had seen in the past, not of right and wrong, that doesn't change, but 
of what may appear to be right or wrong. And I think that you'll see 
that, like everything else, this administration learns and goes on. We 
always learn from our mistakes, and we have proven that.
    Yes, sir, in the back.

International Affairs

    Q. I wonder if you realize the situation that is developing in 
Korea, what is expected? What will be the situation in South Africa next 
month? And do you believe that the former Soviet Union, Russia, has--
[inaudible]--that will contribute to peace in the world? How do you 
respond?
    The President. That's the quickest anybody ever asked me three 
questions at once. [Laughter] First of all, the situation in Korea is 
serious, and we have responded in a serious way. The North Koreans 
themselves have said they are committed to a nonnuclear Ko- 

[[Page 635]]

rean Peninsula. We want that. We want a good, normal relationship with 
them. They have terminated the IAEA inspections. We are examining what 
we can do. We are talking to our South Korean partners as well as to the 
Chinese, the Japanese, the Russians, and others.
    We still hope that this can be resolved, and we believe it can be. 
But the choice is really up to North Korea. Will they be isolated from 
the world community, or will they be a full partner? They could have a 
very bright future indeed. They have many contributions to make, indeed, 
to a united Korea. And we hope that it will work out. But I did decide 
to deploy the Patriots on the recommendation of General Luck as a purely 
defensive measure in the wake of the difficulties we've had, and we'll 
make further decisions as we go along.
    With regard to South Africa, I am immensely hopeful. I have tried 
once to encourage Chief Buthelezi to join in the political process. And 
I still have some hope that he will. It is not too late, and they have 
made real efforts to try to accommodate the conflicts between national 
and local interests. But I think we will be celebrating in late April a 
great triumph of democracy of the first nonracial or multiracial 
democratic process in South Africa.
    With regard to Russia, I think that on balance, our relationship is 
still sound. It is based on our perception and their perception of our 
shared interests, and when we disagree, we will say so. And we will act 
accordingly. But I do think that the Russians have made a constructive 
contribution to our efforts in Bosnia which have had a lot of success. 
We've got a long way to go, but we've had some real success. And I'm 
hopeful that they will elsewhere. I know they made a suggestion on Korea 
today, and we'll see what happens there.
    Press Secretary Myers. Last question.

Health Care

    Q. Mr. President, Congressman Stark's health care bill doesn't do 
everything that you have proposed. Would you veto it if it reaches your 
desk?
    The President. No, because it does what I ask. It doesn't solve all 
the problems. But it does provide universal coverage. It emphasizes the 
workplace. That is, there is no tax on people unless they elect not to 
take out insurance. And it provides comprehensive benefits, which I 
think are very important. And it leaves Medicare alone with the 
integrity of Medicare.
    There are things that it doesn't do that I wish it did. I don't 
think it's as successful or would be as successful in holding down costs 
and expanding opportunity as our plan, but certainly if it were to be 
enacted by the United States Congress I would sign it, because it meets 
the fundamental criteria I set out of covering all Americans with health 
care.
    One more, then I guess we've got to go. Everybody wants to be 
watching these ball games, I think. [Laughter] You know, I'm going to 
make--nobody's asked me if we're going to tax gambling or anything. 
[Laughter] Go ahead.
    Q. Mr. President----
    The President. This is a set-up; it's my joke. Only people who bet 
against my team in the NCAA. [Laughter]

Whitewater

    Q. Mr. President, I take it that the tax returns you're putting out 
tomorrow are the ones that have already gone to the Special Counsel. If 
the Special Counsel wanted to question you about that, would you answer 
a subpoena? Would Mrs. Clinton? And what about congressional hearings, 
what would be the protocol on going before Congress to explain it to 
them?
    The President. Let me answer the first question first. We decided in 
addition to putting out the '78 and '79 returns, we should go ahead and 
put out the '77 returns, that that would be an appropriate starting 
point, because that's the year I first entered public life. I know 
there's--it's kind of a moving bar here. None of us are quite sure how 
far back anybody should go anymore about anything. But we thought that 
we would do that. And at least you would then have a complete record of 
the money we earned and the taxes we paid, Hillary and I together did, 
as long as I've been in public life.
    In terms of the information, I expect that the Special Counsel will 
want to question me

[[Page 636]]

and will want to question the First Lady. It's my understanding that 
typically in the past it's been done in a different way. I mean, I will 
cooperate with him in whatever way he decides is appropriate.
    Similarly, if Congress wants any information direct from us, we 
will, of course, provide it to them in whatever way seems most 
appropriate. Again, I understand there are certain protocols which have 
been followed in the past which I would expect would be followed here. 
But I intend to be fully cooperative so that I can go back to work doing 
what I was hired to do.
    Thank you very much.

Welfare Reform

    Q. [Inaudible]--welfare reform?
    The President. What did you say about----
    Q. What about welfare reform?
    The President. What about it?
    Q. [Inaudible]--going to tax----
    The President. No. What I said, I made a joke about that. I said I 
was going to try to tax anybody who bet against my team in the 
basketball finals.
    But I have made no decision on the financing of welfare reform. I 
can tell you this, it's a tough issue because we have to pay for 
anything we do. And there are all kinds of proposals out there. I know 
that the Republican welfare reform proposal has a lot of things in it 
that I like. But I think it's way too hard on financing things from 
savings from immigrants. I think it goes too far there. So there are no 
real easy answers.
    But I can say categorically that I have been briefed on a very wide 
range of options and that nobody in this administration has made any 
decision, and no one will make a decision except me, about how to fund 
it. That decision has not been made. We will come forward with that 
plan. We do think it offers the real promise of ending welfare as we 
know it, of moving people from welfare to work if we can also guarantee 
these welfare parents that when they go to work their children will not 
lose the health care that they have on welfare, so they won't be 
punished for going to work. That's the key issue.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President's 54th news conference began at 7:30 p.m. in the 
East Room at the White House. In his remarks, he refered to Lt. Gen. 
Gary E. Luck, USA, Commanding General, XVIII Corps, and Mangosuthu 
Buthelezi, leader of the South African Inkatha Freedom Party.