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CNN Live At Daybreak

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

Aired September 03, 2002 - 06:08   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: After a couple of quiet weeks, things are about to get busy again in Washington.
Our deputy bureau chief in Washington, Steve Redisch, is on the phone with us, as usual at this time in the morning.

Good morning -- Steve.

STEVE REDISCH, CNN WASHINGTON DEPUTY BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: So, Congress is finally back. And, boy, I bet they'll be bitterly divided over Iraq, don't you?

REDISCH: Well, they will be bitterly divided over how to handle Iraq. There will be a lot of statements coming out from both sides of the aisle on whether to -- on how President Bush should consult, whether the president should seek a resolution from Congress and get a vote of confidence before going in after Iraq.

COSTELLO: Tom Ridge is also going to be busy today in Washington. Tell us what he is up to.

REDISCH: Well, you'll see him later on CNN, making the rounds. He's going to make the rounds of all of the television networks as Congress comes back to take up the Homeland Defense Department creation.

It's an unwieldy process of trying to take dozens, if not hundreds, of different agencies from various parts of the government and put them into one Homeland Defense Department. And Ridge will be out there today making the case for -- you know, for the administration.

COSTELLO: And complicating his task, Steve, I'm sure that privacy groups will have something to say.

REDISCH: Today, we're going to hear from several different privacy groups. They're going to release their annual report on privacy in about 50 countries. But today's focus will be on how the terrorist attacks last year and the subsequent crackdown is affecting your privacy.

COSTELLO: OK, let's talk about the "Amber Alert," because I understand several congressmen and senators are jumping on the "Amber Alert" bandwagon. REDISCH: Today, it will be senators, and later in the week, it will be congressmen. And neither senators nor congressmen ever pass up a really good working proposal or something that works in an election year. So they're going to get on the bandwagon and try and make "Amber Alert" a national program. We'll hear from Senator Feinstein, Senator Clinton and Senator Hutchinson today in a show of bipartisanship.

COSTELLO: Dare we say that it will fly through Congress?

REDISCH: I'm sure it will. My question is, and others' questions are: What kind of money is going to be appropriated for it?

COSTELLO: Oh, yes, there's always a rub (ph), isn't there.

OK, Steve Redisch, thank you very much. We'll let you get back to work, or get to work, rather, and we'll talk to you again tomorrow.

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