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American Morning

Congress Plans for Disaster

Aired May 01, 2002 - 09:33   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: A disaster plan for the House, a senator fit to be tied, and the hottest read on the hill. Now, if that isn't enough to whet your appetite, we're going to take you "Under the Dome" right now for the main course with our CNN correspondents Kate Snow and Jonathan Karl. They join us from the Capitol this morning.

Good morning, you two, how are you doing?

KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Paula.

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: Let's start off with this whole idea of e-Congress. What does that mean?

SNOW: E-Congress, it is electronic Congress. What they are talking about today, they are going to have a hearing, Paula, and it is really kind of morbid, but bear with me here.

If on September 11 that plane that crashed in Pennsylvania -- what if it had been coming to the Capitol? What if it had destroyed the U.S. Capitol? They're looking into that question today, and they're talking about two different things.

One, if it were to destroy the Capitol but everybody survives because they're at home that day, maybe if they are back in their districts on like a Monday or Friday, they don't come up here usually, they're at home, then they are talking about how could they meet electronically?

They all have BlackBerries now. Ever since September 11, they all carry around BlackBerries, and they are talking about, could they have a formal Congress, a session from afar, and vote via BlackBerry or something like that.

The other thing that is even more morbid is the possibility that everyone or a good part of the Congress would be killed in attack, and there are some very serious discussions going on about that, Paula, because they don't really have a big plan in Congress to deal with that, and it hasn't really been dealt with constitutionally. It's really interesting, especially on the House side. On the House side, if members of the House were killed, and again, I'm sorry to be so morbid, but they're really looking into this, each state has different laws, Paula, about what would happen, and it could take up to three to six months to fill all those House positions again, so we would have no House, no House of Representatives.

KARL: But what is interesting is over on the Senate side of the Capitol, there is a provision in the Constitution. Governors can simply appoint the next day a senator, if the senator has died, so you would have situation where you have no House of Representatives, but you would have a perfectly functioning Senate, which might be all right for some of those guys over in the Senate, but...

ZAHN: Depending on which ones you talk to.

KARL: Yes.

ZAHN: So, Jonathan, on the issue of terror, of course, Senator Byrd has been highly critical of Tom Ridge for refusing to testify before Congress. Where is that fight going?

KARL: This is fascinating. What Byrd is doing -- of course, Byrd wants Ridge up here to testify, but he is not getting him right now. So what Byrd is doing is he is going through and he is inviting every single cabinet secretary that has some control over Homeland and Defense to come to testify, so in the course of eight days, you are going to have eight cabinet secretaries up here testifying before his committee. Already you've had Colin Powell and Paul O'Neill. You are going to have Donald Rumsfeld, John Ashcroft, a parade of cabinet secretaries coming before his committee, and with each one of those, he is saying will you help me get Tom Ridge up here to testify, because he's the guy I really want to talk to.

SNOW: He won't let it go. He absolutely won't let it go.

ZAHN: So, will Tom Ridge ever testify?

KARL: Well, the president has been firm on this. The White House has not moved an inch on this. They are willing to send Ridge up to talk to informally talk to congressmen, senators, but they do not want him to testify.

SNOW: They say he is not really a cabinet-level secretary, so he doesn't need to.

ZAHN: All right, Kate, on to the issue of mental health, which is going to take up a lot of time on the Hill this week. I guess the question being posed is should you pay the same amount of money to go to an internist as you would, let's say, to see a psychiatrist?

SNOW: Exactly. Yes, and I was out in New Mexico for the last couple of days. Senator Pete Domenici is from New Mexico, and this is a really big deal for him, Paula.

The president went out there on Monday to talk about this, and to endorse a bill that Domenici has been working on now for about ten years. Why is it such a big deal to the senator -- the senior senator from New Mexico? Well, there is one big reason, and that is because his daughter suffers from mental illness. She is in her late 30s. She is very successful now, she's doing OK, she is living on her own, but she has struggled with the disease for a long time, something between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder he tells me.

And their family struggled with this, and they didn't always have good insurance coverage, and so he says -- he says, look, it has made them realize, it has gotten them in touch with a lot of other families, and made them realize -- in his view, there needs to be policy change.

But Paula, there are a lot of Republicans, his own party, that don't like this bill, even though the president has now endorsed it, because they say it is going to cost a lot for everyone, even if you don't go to see a psychiatrist, you are going to be paying more money because everybody else might start taking advantage of that new coverage. So, it is going to be an interesting debate, but we expect it to come up real soon. I think Daschle said yesterday...

KARL: Yes, it could be Memorial Day...

SNOW: Before Memorial Day.

ZAHN: So, Kate, what's with this Jonathan Karl being in print today?

SNOW: Yes, I just happen to have right here today's "Wall Street Journal," and I want to open it up to page D-7 for all of you at home. D-7, check it out. I don't know if you can get close enough to see this, but Paula, it says, "Master of the Senate," it is a book review, "Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate" and it is by Jonathan Karl. Book review by Jonathan Karl.

KARL: And, Paula...

SNOW: Jon has the book here, look how big this book is. Look what Jon had to read.

KARL: 1,100 pages. And the author of this book is coming up to the Senate tomorrow to talk to the Senate Democrats. Lyndon Johnson is widely considered the most powerful leader of the Senate in the history of the U.S. Senate, and Tom Daschle, for one, wants to know the secret. One thing about Lyndon Johnson, he was 6'4" tall. He used to bully senators into voting his way. With one senator described in this book, he took him by his lapels, a shorter senator, and lifted him up to eye level, and ordered him to vote the right way. Tom Daschle wants to know the secret how to do that. Of course, Tom Daschle is only 5'8". Might be tough.

(CROSSTALK)

ZAHN: Yes, good luck. Maybe a ladder.

SNOW: But you liked the book. You gave it a good review.

(CROSSTALK) KARL: It is a wonderful book.

ZAHN: You did like it.

SNOW: And everyone up here is reading it.

KARL: Wonderful book.

ZAHN: All right. Well, I think I will try to find some time to read a 1,100 page book this weekend, you all (ph).

SNOW: Yes.

ZAHN: All right, thanks Kate Snow, Jonathan Karl, good to see you again "Under the Dome" for us this morning.

KARL: Thanks, Paula.

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