Saturday Morning News

Bush May Face Difficulty in Pushing His Conservative Agenda

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: These are unusual times indeed at the Capitol. The Senate, which will confirm several Bush Cabinet nominees this afternoon, is divided 50-50 for the first time in history. For about 3 1/2 more hours, a first lady will be a member of that elite body -- actually, for the first time.

And CNN congressional correspondent Chris Black joining us live from Capitol Hill.

Chris, good morning to you on this Inauguration Day.

CHRIS BLACK, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn. It only takes a few minutes to get down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House to the U.S. Capitol, but moving George W. Bush's legislative agenda into law, that could take a lot longer.

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BLACK (voice-over): Republicans barely control Capitol Hill: a 10-vote margin in the House, dead even in the Senate. Those numbers add up to trouble for the new Republican president.

Challenge one for George W. Bush: maintaining his conservative political base. Picking conservatives for his Cabinet put Democrats on high alert.

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D), SOUTH DAKOTA: I would say the biggest concern is whether or not he's going to be able to say no to the right-wing constituency. He's got to be able to say no. He's got to be able to say, I've got to come in the middle.

BLACK: Challenge two: the Democratic opposition stronger than ever, convinced they have as much a mandate as the new president.

The No. 2 Senate Republican says President Bush will make the difference.

UNIDENTIFIED SENATOR: I think he's the type of person that will really reach out to try and make things happen. He proved that he could do it in Texas. I think it's going to be a bigger challenge, probably a more difficult challenge to do it in Washington, D.C.

BLACK: The specific challenges: Democratic opposition to school vouchers and the size of Mr. Bush's $1.6 trillion tax cut. They also oppose cuts in social spending to finance increases in the defense budget. But both sides say there are potential areas of agreement on education and a patient bill of rights. The moderate Democrats are trying to bridge the divide but say Mr. Bush needs to move in their direction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I fully expect President Bush to fight for his principles and those things that he believes in, and that's his prerogative. But at the end of the day, there are going to be reasonable differences of opinion. And what he needs to do is to be willing to compromise and accept those things that he can for the American people while still fighting for his beliefs.

BLACK: Then there is the X factor, the maverick Republican John McCain determined to change the rules on political money as soon as next Monday in defiance of his own leaders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think it's the right issue to have right off the bat, because there's not a bipartisan consensus, bipartisan being a majority of Democrats and Republicans think that this is the right way to go.

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BLACK: In the end, it's all about the numbers. The evenly divided Congress could force both sides to work together, but those same numbers pose an enormous challenge to President Bush's leadership ability with a divided Congress -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Chris Black with us here in Washington, D.C. on Capitol Hill, thank you very much.

With more on that topic -- gridlock or compromise -- let's go ahead and ask two members of the divided Congress. We have Republican congressman Roy Blunt, who hails from Missouri -- he's a good friend of the new president -- and Democrat David Bonior of Michigan, the House Minority Whip.

Good morning to both of you, congressmen. Thanks for getting up early with us this morning. Appreciate it.

REP. ROY BLUNT (R), MISSOURI: Good morning.

REP. DAVID BONIOR (D), MICHIGAN: Good morning.

KAGAN: Congressman Blunt, first to you. I want to be a fly on the wall. Take us back to those early days, because I know you aligned yourself with George Bush early on even during the exploratory committee days. What were those early conversations like when he was considering running for president.

BLUNT: You know, I was on the original 10-person exploratory committee. I think he really began to talk very early about the model that will be so necessary now in Washington about changing the tone, ending the gridlock in Washington, believing that he could replicate many of the successes he had in Texas where he had a Democratic legislature in his first term and a narrowly divided legislature in his second term.

But a person who, from the very first day was confident in his ability to make the decisions and surround himself with the right kind of people in a Bush administration to be sure that he had all the options placed before him, I think that's what he's doing. He's also, Daryn, reached out already to a number of Democrats in the House and Senate, will be doing more of that in the next few days as he also develops a strong relationships with Republicans.

KAGAN: Congressman Bonior, now to you. Much has been made of George Bush's success in being a bipartisan governor in Texas, but to that, do you say, "Watch out. Now you're in the big leagues"?

BONIOR: Well, no, Texas is pretty big. I mean, it's a big state and it's -- and the governor had enormous responsibility in that state. And so what we're looking for is a relationship that is a true relationship, that if President-elect Bush is willing to sit down with Democratic leaders in the House and Senate -- and we're going to do that, by the way, on Wednesday, the first bipartisan leadership meeting we're going to have -- and he's willing to discuss some of the big issues with us and try to work out differences in them -- the tax bill, for instance.

We both agree that we should have a tax cut for the American people. The question is the size and the scope and the figuration of it. And if we can come to some process where we can agree on how we're going to get there, that's one thing.

But if President-elect Bush and the Republicans want to just try to pick off a few Democrats here on Wednesday then on Thursday, go after another set of Democrats, that's going to be very debilitating to them in the end of the process. So we're open to working together on issues that we can agree on, but we're not going to sit back and not fight for the things and the principles we believe in.

KAGAN: Well, speaking of fighting, let's look at what we've seen so far from the Congress, namely the Senate and confirmation hearings. Do you think that the John Ashcroft confirmation hearing set the tone for what Americans can expect from Congress coming up: Tough questions from the Democrats but in the end, the Republicans prevail?

BONIOR: I think the Ashcroft hearings are important because of the questions of civil rights and a very important issue. I would say to you, also, Daryn, that pivoting off the Ashcroft hearings, if President-elect Bush does not seriously understand the deep pain that people in this country feel as a result of the election problems that we had and he disenfranchisement of literally millions of people in this country, he's going to have a rocky two years. He's got to address that problem early, up front. He can't pretend it didn't happen. I know it's a painful issue for him because it raises the question of his legitimacy as president.

He will be our president in just a few hours. We need to move behind him and try to move the country forward, but that piece of the equation has to be foremost in his mind, because believe me, it is foremost on the minds of a lot of Americans. KAGAN: Congressman Blunt, how do you balance that? This is an incredible opportunity for Republicans, the first time since the Eisenhower era where you have a Republican Congress and also a Republican president, and yet, if you take that too far, you can come across a smug and ruin a great opportunity for the Republicans.

BLUNT: Well, I think with the size of our majority, the chance that we'll appear to be smug is pretty slim. But we do feel like on our side of the aisle that for the first time in the majority with the Republican president, that's such a different situation than we've had the last four years that I've been in Congress, the last six years that Republicans have been in the majority.

In the House, we can work with these numbers. I think the Senate, for those of us who are House members, there's always a little bit of a mystery anyway and more of a challenge. I do know, you know, to respond to what my friend, David, said, that the president will be reaching out on these election issues as the Congress will to see what we can do to ensure a greater sense of inclusion, a greater sense of fairness in that process.

But George W. Bush does come to the White House and the presidency with more votes, with a higher percentage of the vote than Bill Clinton had in either of his elections. I think clearly when he's sworn in today, he'll begin to reach out to really change the tone in Washington. I think that's very important.

I even think, Daryn, what happened yesterday to move the Clinton story on to another page, to finish that chapter is a helpful element as we start a new day in Washington. And I believe Democrats and Republicans alike are really worn out with a lot of the divisiveness of not just the last eight years, but about the last 10 years and are ready for something different. I'm hopeful that something different begins today at noon.

KAGAN: It is the beginning of a new era. Congressman Blunt, Congressman Bonior, thanks for joining us. A long day indeed. Good luck staying dry today, gentlemen.

BONIOR: Thank you.

KAGAN: That will be a big challenge. Thanks for joining us.

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