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CNN Live At Daybreak

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

Aired October 10, 2002 - 06:09   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Iraq, of course, is the top priority on Capitol Hill today. The House votes tonight on a bill authorizing military force against Saddam Hussein.
More now from Washington with our CNN D.C. morning producer, Paul Courson.

Good morning.

PAUL COURSON, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU MORNING PRODUCER: Hi, Carol. Hi. How are you?

COSTELLO: So, a big debate in Congress today on Capitol Hill.

COURSON: Well, as Jane Arraf just reported, the split opinion on whether the U.S. ought to intervene militarily in Iraq is shared by members of Congress. The House has been on a marathon debate of various proposals for a resolution regarding the use of force against Iraq. They spent about 20 hours debating it, as a matter of fact.

And they return around 9:00 this morning to finish up. A vote looks likely sometime between 2:00 and 3:00 this afternoon. Prospects look good, however, the president will get what he has wanted as far as the opposition was concerned.

There's also a preliminary vote in the Senate today, Carol. A final vote on the resolution could come tomorrow. It's been slow- going over there as well.

Senator Russ Feingold among the opponents. Yesterday, he said the president's arguments just don't add up for the use of force against Iraq.

We also have a speech this morning with Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle. He'll explain his views on Iraq ahead of the Senate action that moves ahead.

The thinking still is that the Senate tomorrow will also go along with a resolution.

COSTELLO: Of course, we'll keep following that.

The Joint Intelligence hearings on Capitol Hill, they are ongoing, too, today.

COURSON: That's a curious one. We were supposed to have a public hearing today, but apparently, yesterday's closed-door sessions of the Joint Intelligence Committee hearing on what went wrong out of 9/11 has a little bit more to talk about behind closed doors. It's a little curious. So, they cancelled the public hearing today.

We do not have any coverage, obviously, of the closed-door session. We do have a stakeout camera available somewhere near the elevator that leads to the chamber where the Joint Intelligence members meet.

We also don't know what it is they might be discussing today, but we'll certainly try to bring it to you should anyone choose to come to the camera after they meet.

COSTELLO: And give us a quick update on Martha Stewart and what might happen in Washington concerning her.

COURSON: You know, Martha Stewart lends name-brand recognition, just like I suppose she does with her Kmart affiliation, to a controversy over ImClone. The home decorator sold her stock in ImClone just before the company went public with news that a cancer drug was not winning approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

Well, that's a problem for Martha Stewart if she did the deal based on inside information. We do not fully know the extent of any investigation into her proper (ph).

And today's hearing has mostly to do with administrative issues. Martha Stewart's not there. The testimony is actually from the brother of the man who founded ImClone where Stewart had invested. Lawmakers have a lot of questions about how the company was run.

Other events in Washington real quickly, Carol, the president does not have any public events on his schedule today. There is no Pentagon briefing that we know of. And Secretary of State Powell has an evening speech, but it's not on matters of Iraq that we know of.

COSTELLO: All right, Paul Courson, thank you very much. We'll let you get back to work down there at the Washington bureau.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired October 10, 2002 - 06:09   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Iraq, of course, is the top priority on Capitol Hill today. The House votes tonight on a bill authorizing military force against Saddam Hussein.
More now from Washington with our CNN D.C. morning producer, Paul Courson.

Good morning.

PAUL COURSON, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU MORNING PRODUCER: Hi, Carol. Hi. How are you?

COSTELLO: So, a big debate in Congress today on Capitol Hill.

COURSON: Well, as Jane Arraf just reported, the split opinion on whether the U.S. ought to intervene militarily in Iraq is shared by members of Congress. The House has been on a marathon debate of various proposals for a resolution regarding the use of force against Iraq. They spent about 20 hours debating it, as a matter of fact.

And they return around 9:00 this morning to finish up. A vote looks likely sometime between 2:00 and 3:00 this afternoon. Prospects look good, however, the president will get what he has wanted as far as the opposition was concerned.

There's also a preliminary vote in the Senate today, Carol. A final vote on the resolution could come tomorrow. It's been slow- going over there as well.

Senator Russ Feingold among the opponents. Yesterday, he said the president's arguments just don't add up for the use of force against Iraq.

We also have a speech this morning with Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle. He'll explain his views on Iraq ahead of the Senate action that moves ahead.

The thinking still is that the Senate tomorrow will also go along with a resolution.

COSTELLO: Of course, we'll keep following that.

The Joint Intelligence hearings on Capitol Hill, they are ongoing, too, today.

COURSON: That's a curious one. We were supposed to have a public hearing today, but apparently, yesterday's closed-door sessions of the Joint Intelligence Committee hearing on what went wrong out of 9/11 has a little bit more to talk about behind closed doors. It's a little curious. So, they cancelled the public hearing today.

We do not have any coverage, obviously, of the closed-door session. We do have a stakeout camera available somewhere near the elevator that leads to the chamber where the Joint Intelligence members meet.

We also don't know what it is they might be discussing today, but we'll certainly try to bring it to you should anyone choose to come to the camera after they meet.

COSTELLO: And give us a quick update on Martha Stewart and what might happen in Washington concerning her.

COURSON: You know, Martha Stewart lends name-brand recognition, just like I suppose she does with her Kmart affiliation, to a controversy over ImClone. The home decorator sold her stock in ImClone just before the company went public with news that a cancer drug was not winning approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

Well, that's a problem for Martha Stewart if she did the deal based on inside information. We do not fully know the extent of any investigation into her proper (ph).

And today's hearing has mostly to do with administrative issues. Martha Stewart's not there. The testimony is actually from the brother of the man who founded ImClone where Stewart had invested. Lawmakers have a lot of questions about how the company was run.

Other events in Washington real quickly, Carol, the president does not have any public events on his schedule today. There is no Pentagon briefing that we know of. And Secretary of State Powell has an evening speech, but it's not on matters of Iraq that we know of.

COSTELLO: All right, Paul Courson, thank you very much. We'll let you get back to work down there at the Washington bureau.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.