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CNN Live Today

Congress Returns to Washington This Week

Aired April 08, 2002 - 12:30   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Congress returns to Washington this week after a break for the Easter holiday. Some of the first big votes are likely to involve President Bush's energy policy.

CNN's Jonathan Karl is on Capitol Hill to tell us more about that.

Good to see you, John.

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra.

Well, Republicans are hoping that the news coming out of the Middle East, combined with what you are seeing at gas stations all across the country, rising gasoline prices, rising oil prices, will provide some added urgency for the president's energy plan. This is a bill the president proposed early in his term last year, and has been kind of slogging its way through the Congress ever since. It has been beyond the floor of the Senate this week, and what Republicans are hoping is especially the most important, what they believe is the most important part of this bill, the proposal to drill for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, will get some added momentum.

This is a provision that the president talked a lot about on the campaign trail. He thinks it's very important as a way to reduce dependency on foreign oil, reduce dependency on oil from the Middle East. This is also something that Democrats, of course, think would be just something that would be terrible for the environment. This is a very pristine wildlife refuge in Alaska. The Democrat will do whatever they can to stop this.

And up until now, it looked like the Democrats clearly have the votes stop the plan to drill for oil in Alaska. And that may still be the case, Kyra. But Republicans are really hoping that they can turn this week into a national security issue as well as an energy issue, and that situation in Middle East with talk of Arab countries cutting off oil supplies to countries that support Israel. They believe that all of this adds up to more support for this provision, and They have enlisted some surprising Democratic allies.

I mean, labor unions have been fighting with Republicans for this, because they believe it would mean more jobs, and also Jewish organization want to see less dependence on Arab oil are also getting into the fray and helping Republicans on this issue. So it will be a tough battle. We expect that could come up this week and be voted on by week's end -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, if Republican's don't get passage on the drilling, will they support the rest of the president's energy proposal?

KARL: Well, that's a great question, and the answer is far from clear. Republicans will not say right now what they would do if they don't get this. This is something that is really central to the president's energy plan. There is a lot else in this energy plan. There are tax incentives for renewable energy, and there are other provisions that are important to both parties, but Republicans hold out the possibility that if drilling for oil in Alaska goes down that they will not support this. And what's interesting is, the other big provision in this bill, the big Democratic provision, which would have required automakers to make more fuel-efficient cars, to raise the miles-per-gallon standard in cars went down before the Congress went on recess.

So the Democrats have already lost their big provision in this bill. Republicans may lose theirs. It's unclear what else is left, and it's real important to either party, so the bill itself might be in jeopardy.

PHILLIPS: Jonathan Karl on Capitol Hill, thank you.

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