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Senate Debates Iraq
Aired October 10, 2002 - 11:41 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The vote is in, in the U.S. Senate, on a resolution -- not exactly on the resolution, but an indication of how the vote might go on the resolution for war powers granted to President Bush to act against Iraq.
Let's bring in our Kate Snow for the latest on that.
Kate -- hello.
KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.
We've been talking about this vote this morning. It's a procedural vote, but it's a good indicator of where things are going to end up in the U.S. Senate.
They voted on whether or not to continue debate, and the vote came out 75 to 25; 75 members of the Senate saying, let's cut off debate now, let's move on, let's try to get towards the end here, where we vote on the actual resolution authorizing the president to use force.
So, again, 75 of the 100 senators saying that they will vote along with the president, at least at this point, to go ahead and move towards the close of this debate. Again, a good indicator of where things are going to end up.
Of those 75, most of them are -- well, almost all Republicans are in that 75, except for 2, and then about half of the Democratic group in the Senate; 22 Democrats voting no on this key vote here. So, that's a good indicator that you may have 22 Democrats in the end who vote against the president.
Now, one Republican who's voting no is Senator Lincoln Chafee. He is a Republican from Rhode Island. He is a moderate. He's someone who has often gone against his party. You might recall that on the tax cut, for example. He was appointed to the Senate after his father's death in 1999, who was a very well-known senator as well, elected to the Senate in 2000.
So, he is one Republican who has voted no this morning, and we do expect him to vote no in the final analysis.
The other Republican who voted no is Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, but he indicated this morning that he might come around, and in the end, help the president out and vote for the resolution authorizing force. Now, what does this resolution do? Let's just quickly remind our viewers. It is going to give President Bush the authorization to use force, but it does support diplomatic efforts first and foremost to enforce U.N. Security Council resolutions. It suggests that he ought to go to the U.N. first.
It authorizes him to use force, if he wants to defend U.S. national security or to enforce U.N. Security Council resolutions. And it does tell the president that he needs to consult with Congress, report back to Congress every 60 days.
There were, of course, some changes that were made to the resolution along the way in the language, Daryn, to try to help Democrats and those who were more worried about putting some caveats on all of this. So, some of those changes were made.
Senator Daschle last hour coming out -- the Democratic leader in the Senate coming out and saying he's going to vote for this resolution. That's, of course, a very strong indication of the support the president is likely to get.
And I also should mention the House still set to vote on this later this afternoon. In the House, we do expect a fairly overwhelming vote with about 100 or so Democrats who will probably vote against the resolution.
Daryn -- back to you.
KAGAN: Kate Snow on Capitol Hill, thank you for that update -- appreciate that.
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 - 11:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The vote is in, in the U.S. Senate, on a resolution -- not exactly on the resolution, but an indication of how the vote might go on the resolution for war powers granted to President Bush to act against Iraq.
Let's bring in our Kate Snow for the latest on that.
Kate -- hello.
KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.
We've been talking about this vote this morning. It's a procedural vote, but it's a good indicator of where things are going to end up in the U.S. Senate.
They voted on whether or not to continue debate, and the vote came out 75 to 25; 75 members of the Senate saying, let's cut off debate now, let's move on, let's try to get towards the end here, where we vote on the actual resolution authorizing the president to use force.
So, again, 75 of the 100 senators saying that they will vote along with the president, at least at this point, to go ahead and move towards the close of this debate. Again, a good indicator of where things are going to end up.
Of those 75, most of them are -- well, almost all Republicans are in that 75, except for 2, and then about half of the Democratic group in the Senate; 22 Democrats voting no on this key vote here. So, that's a good indicator that you may have 22 Democrats in the end who vote against the president.
Now, one Republican who's voting no is Senator Lincoln Chafee. He is a Republican from Rhode Island. He is a moderate. He's someone who has often gone against his party. You might recall that on the tax cut, for example. He was appointed to the Senate after his father's death in 1999, who was a very well-known senator as well, elected to the Senate in 2000.
So, he is one Republican who has voted no this morning, and we do expect him to vote no in the final analysis.
The other Republican who voted no is Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, but he indicated this morning that he might come around, and in the end, help the president out and vote for the resolution authorizing force. Now, what does this resolution do? Let's just quickly remind our viewers. It is going to give President Bush the authorization to use force, but it does support diplomatic efforts first and foremost to enforce U.N. Security Council resolutions. It suggests that he ought to go to the U.N. first.
It authorizes him to use force, if he wants to defend U.S. national security or to enforce U.N. Security Council resolutions. And it does tell the president that he needs to consult with Congress, report back to Congress every 60 days.
There were, of course, some changes that were made to the resolution along the way in the language, Daryn, to try to help Democrats and those who were more worried about putting some caveats on all of this. So, some of those changes were made.
Senator Daschle last hour coming out -- the Democratic leader in the Senate coming out and saying he's going to vote for this resolution. That's, of course, a very strong indication of the support the president is likely to get.
And I also should mention the House still set to vote on this later this afternoon. In the House, we do expect a fairly overwhelming vote with about 100 or so Democrats who will probably vote against the resolution.
Daryn -- back to you.
KAGAN: Kate Snow on Capitol Hill, thank you for that update -- appreciate that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
