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CNN Live At Daybreak
Senator Bill Frist Takes Over As Majority Leader Today
Aired January 06, 2003 - 06:06 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: Time now to check in with Washington to see what's on tap today inside The Beltway.
CNN's Skip Loescher has an update from our Washington bureau.
Good morning -- Skip.
SKIP LOESCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
Under the very best of circumstances, trying to manage the U.S. Senate is a difficult task, as Bill Frist will find out for himself.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOESCHER (voice-over): President Bush is back in Washington, and members of Congress are arriving, too. Tomorrow, we'll see Tennessee Republican Bill Frist take to the Senate floor for the first time as majority leader. Frist replaces Mississippi's Trent Lott, who resigned the post after he made remarks some found racially insensitive. Lott is expected to become chairman of the Senate Rules Committee.
Facing Frist: a host of bills. He'll be in charge of pushing the president's agenda through the Senate.
STEVEN HESS, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Bill Frist is a person who is not deeply experienced in the ways of the Senate, the mechanics of getting things through, but he's going to have a lot of help.
LOESCHER: Republicans will push a prescription drug benefits plan, welfare reform, and the president's economic stimulus package, a jobs and growth plan that the White House says will include accelerated tax cuts, aimed at encouraging businesses to invest more.
Democrats contend the GOP plan will only help the top 5 percent of Americans. They want tax cuts targeted at the poor and middle class, but Democrats have a problem.
HESS: The problem for Democrats in Congress and the House of Representatives, or any party that's in a minority, is it doesn't control the agenda.
LOESCHER: In the Senate, Bill Frist will control the agenda.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LOESCHER: The president will announce his economic stimulus package tomorrow in Chicago.
We're live in Washington. I'm Skip Loescher.
Carol -- back to you.
COSTELLO: Now, Skip, there is word this morning that the Democrats may preempt the president's unveiling of his budget.
LOESCHER: They are likely later today, Carol, we are told, to announce their own plan, one which they believe will create jobs for lower and middle-class people to the detriment of those 5 percent or 1 percent, depending on how you figure it out, the top earners in this country, who will get tax breaks under the Bush plan -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Skip Loescher, many 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 January 6, 2003 - 06:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time now to check in with Washington to see what's on tap today inside The Beltway.
CNN's Skip Loescher has an update from our Washington bureau.
Good morning -- Skip.
SKIP LOESCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
Under the very best of circumstances, trying to manage the U.S. Senate is a difficult task, as Bill Frist will find out for himself.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOESCHER (voice-over): President Bush is back in Washington, and members of Congress are arriving, too. Tomorrow, we'll see Tennessee Republican Bill Frist take to the Senate floor for the first time as majority leader. Frist replaces Mississippi's Trent Lott, who resigned the post after he made remarks some found racially insensitive. Lott is expected to become chairman of the Senate Rules Committee.
Facing Frist: a host of bills. He'll be in charge of pushing the president's agenda through the Senate.
STEVEN HESS, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Bill Frist is a person who is not deeply experienced in the ways of the Senate, the mechanics of getting things through, but he's going to have a lot of help.
LOESCHER: Republicans will push a prescription drug benefits plan, welfare reform, and the president's economic stimulus package, a jobs and growth plan that the White House says will include accelerated tax cuts, aimed at encouraging businesses to invest more.
Democrats contend the GOP plan will only help the top 5 percent of Americans. They want tax cuts targeted at the poor and middle class, but Democrats have a problem.
HESS: The problem for Democrats in Congress and the House of Representatives, or any party that's in a minority, is it doesn't control the agenda.
LOESCHER: In the Senate, Bill Frist will control the agenda.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LOESCHER: The president will announce his economic stimulus package tomorrow in Chicago.
We're live in Washington. I'm Skip Loescher.
Carol -- back to you.
COSTELLO: Now, Skip, there is word this morning that the Democrats may preempt the president's unveiling of his budget.
LOESCHER: They are likely later today, Carol, we are told, to announce their own plan, one which they believe will create jobs for lower and middle-class people to the detriment of those 5 percent or 1 percent, depending on how you figure it out, the top earners in this country, who will get tax breaks under the Bush plan -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Skip Loescher, many 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.
