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CNN Live Today

Congress Back in Session

Aired September 03, 2002 - 12:01   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Congress returns today to face the question of what to do about Iraq and the push for an attack. It is one of the key issues topping the post-Labor Day agenda.
We turn to CNN congressional correspondent Kate Snow for more from Capitol Hill. A lot happening on Capitol Hill.

Hi -- Kate.

KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so much, Kyra, that they probably aren't going to get all of it done over the next six weeks or so that they have before they'll take another break to go out on the campaign trail before the November elections. Chances are they will have to come back for what they call a lame-duck session after those November elections.

One of the big things on their agenda that we haven't mentioned yet is spending bills: They have to pass 13 spending bills through this Congress in order to keep the government up and running, and so far, both the House and Senate have not agreed to any of those bills yet.

Iraq, you mentioned, Kyra, is the wild card up here. We expect hearings to happen on the House side and on Senate side shortly. Unclear, though, whether there will be some kind of resolution of support for the president, or that sort of thing, but that could be coming down the pike.

And then the third thing that they are working on even today in the Senate is homeland security, creating a giant new homeland security department out of more than 20 different government agencies that currently exist. We are talking about 170,000 employees here, and it is getting a big debate in the Senate even as we speak, senators debating mainly over one particular point: Democrats in the Senate are concerned about what the president has asked for in terms of what he calls flexibility on labor rights. The president wants to be able to move some of those 170,000 workers, move them around, transfer them, hire and fire, if he feels that that is necessary; on the other hand, Democrats are saying that that is not necessary.

But just a short time ago, Senator Phil Gramm, a Republican backing the president spoke on the Senate floor. He said that the president needs to have the right if he invokes national security to be able to make those kind of choices and get rid of or get around labor rules -- Senator Gramm saying that already exists now, it shouldn't be taken away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR PHIL GRAMM (R), TEXAS: It is incomprehensible and absolutely unacceptable that we should be setting up a department of homeland security and at the same time take away power the president has under existing law to take action based on national security concerns. The provision taking away the president's national security powers simply doesn't fit in this bill. I don't think it fits in any bill. But in a bill that is trying respond to 9/11, it clearly does not fit and cannot be accepted, and will never be accepted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: Democrats insist that they are not trying to take away the president's flexibility; they say what are they trying to do is make sure that workers who currently have protections won't simply lose those protections when they get into this new homeland security department, also saying that this action, if it were taken by the administration, to try to waive labor rules, ought to be justified -- there ought to be a really good reason for it and it ought to be justified by the new secretary of that department. Democrats saying that the president has lost focus here, Kyra, that the real focus should be on getting a department through -- they shouldn't get so hung up on these labor issues.

But Republicans would probably say that too, that the focus should be on creating this department -- it is the first of many issues they have to deal with here over the next six weeks -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Kate, another issue too: Let's talk about the Amber Alert system. With all the missing kids this summer, that has become a hot topic and a big buzzword, as you know, especially on CNN, in talking about it. What about a national Amber Alert system? This came up in the last case. Will members be talking about this?

SNOW: They will be. In fact, this afternoon, several hours from now, several senators whose names you probably know -- Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Dianne Feinstein, two Democrats; Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican from Texas -- they are getting together, introducing a bill. There will be a similar bill on the House side, we expect, that will make it a national system, because right now it is very state by state, or even local jurisdiction by local jurisdiction. They are saying they want to provide some federal money through the Department of Transportation to help pay for those signs on the highways that advertise when there is a missing child who meets that barrier of having an Amber Alert. They want to pay for some of those signs.

They want to provide grants for the states for training, that sort of thing -- not a mandatory thing, Kyra, but they are saying they want to provide incentives so that more states -- because currently there are only 16 states that states that have statewide programs -- they want more states to be able to have those programs -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Our Kate Snow, up on the Hill -- thanks, Kate.

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