[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.