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CNN Live At Daybreak

Homeland Security Department Passes Congress

Aired November 20, 2002 - 06:33   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: The Senate has passed and sent to the president a bill creating the Department of Homeland Security. It is the largest reorganization of the federal government since Harry Truman was president.
Here's CNN congressional correspondent, Jonathan Karl, to tell us about it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The vote to create the new Department of Homeland Security was overwhelmingly bipartisan -- 90 to 9 in favor of the greatest restructuring of the federal government since the creation of the Department of Defense more than 50 years ago.

The new Department of Homeland Security will be a vast structure that will include such major agencies as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Customs Service, the Coast Guard, the Border Patrol, the Secret Service and much more.

Now, this -- although it was an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote -- came after a long and occasionally bitter and divisive debate on the floor of the United States Senate. And in the end, nine senators voted against it, saying that this restructuring would do nothing to address the fundamental problem that happened on September 11, which was a failure in intelligence. They argued that the intelligence failure is what needed addressing, not a restructuring of the bureaucratic deck, in the words of one Democrat, who voted no.

But now with this overwhelming vote in favor of the department, it goes to the White House. The president is expected to sign this bill into law as early as next week, creating the new department, at which time he will also announce the new secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and that person is expected to be former Pennsylvania governor and the current director of the Office of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: All right, Jonathan, thanks.

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 November 20, 2002 - 06:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The Senate has passed and sent to the president a bill creating the Department of Homeland Security. It is the largest reorganization of the federal government since Harry Truman was president.
Here's CNN congressional correspondent, Jonathan Karl, to tell us about it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The vote to create the new Department of Homeland Security was overwhelmingly bipartisan -- 90 to 9 in favor of the greatest restructuring of the federal government since the creation of the Department of Defense more than 50 years ago.

The new Department of Homeland Security will be a vast structure that will include such major agencies as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Customs Service, the Coast Guard, the Border Patrol, the Secret Service and much more.

Now, this -- although it was an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote -- came after a long and occasionally bitter and divisive debate on the floor of the United States Senate. And in the end, nine senators voted against it, saying that this restructuring would do nothing to address the fundamental problem that happened on September 11, which was a failure in intelligence. They argued that the intelligence failure is what needed addressing, not a restructuring of the bureaucratic deck, in the words of one Democrat, who voted no.

But now with this overwhelming vote in favor of the department, it goes to the White House. The president is expected to sign this bill into law as early as next week, creating the new department, at which time he will also announce the new secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and that person is expected to be former Pennsylvania governor and the current director of the Office of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: All right, Jonathan, thanks.

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