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CNN Live At Daybreak

What's on Tap in D.C. Today?

Aired July 23, 2002 - 06:08   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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us now on the phone is our Washington deputy bureau chief, Steve Redisch, with a look at what's on tap in Washington today.

Good morning -- Steve. How's it going?

STEVE REDISCH, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Anderson. How are you doing?

COOPER: Good. So Norm Mineta is headed to Capitol Hill. What's the reception likely -- he's likely to get?

REDISCH: He's going to get grilled, between guns in the cockpit, the X-raying of baggage and the deadline that's going to be missed, profiling passengers, cargo security -- should I go on about all of the problems that the Transportation Security Agency has?

With the new -- with the new of that, who is going to be unveiled today, Mineta is just going to get railed up on Capitol Hill today about questions about airport security and making sure passengers aren't too hassled as they go through the experience. That's what we can expect up on the Hill today.

Maybe there will be some news made. We'll have to see.

COOPER: Well, Mineta is -- I mean, he is a Washington insider. He's been around for a long time, especially on Capitol Hill. He never seems to get grilled all that, you know, toughly.

REDISCH: I know. And today, I think the lawmakers are going to hold their feet -- hold his feet to the fire, because there are some lofty goals that the Transportation Security Agency and the Department of Transportation had set for airline security in the wake of 9/11. It seems like very few of them have been met, and those that have been met have been met with lower standards.

COOPER: All right. The Senate looking again at Enron -- still at Enron. Now, it's starting to look at financial institutions and what role they may have played. What's happening on that today?

REDISCH: The top executives from many of the nation's biggest banks, such as J.P. Morgan, Citibank, Chase, Salomon Smith Barney, will be taking questions from senators about what they did to either enable or create the kind of transactions that Enron took advantage of and may have done illegally.

COOPER: So, Steve, how excited are Democrats about the troubles with the stock market? Is this an issue they are just going to run with?

REDISCH: Jumping up and down. The -- today, the Democrats are going to try and hold the feet of the Republicans in the House to the fire, and force them politically with a lot of rhetoric to accept the Senate's accounting bill, which as you heard John King and Bill Schneider mention, is somewhat tougher than the House version. And the Democrats believe that this is an issue they can win in November with, as well as perhaps in 2004.

COOPER: We're also suddenly seeing Al Gore again. He's sort of come out of whatever secret location he was in.

REDISCH: Well, why not, when you've got an issue that you feel -- that he feels he can win on and can pound the drum on. Why not come out of the closet?

COOPER: I also heard there were some developments on the dreaded Frankenfish, the snake fish that has terrorized Maryland. What's being done about that today?

REDISCH: They are bringing out the big guns. They are bringing out the federal government to...

COOPER: Uh-oh!

REDISCH: ... to...

COOPER: That will solve the problem.

REDISCH: ... to make illegal 28 species of this snakehead frankenfish, making it illegal to import. It won't do anything for those that are already in ponds and eating up everything that's in sight. But no longer will you be able to import them.

COOPER: All right. Steve, thanks very much for joining us. I know you're on vacation the rest of the week. Have a good couple of days off, you deserve them.

REDISCH: Thank you.

COOPER: All right.

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