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CNN Live At Daybreak
Wake-Up Call: Shuttle Columbia Tragedy
Aired February 03, 2003 - 06:39 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: President Bush's agenda was already packed with global concerns before Saturday's tragedy, but he is devoting time in the next couple of days to Columbia.
CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash is on the phone with our "Wake-Up Call."
Good morning -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: Before you get into the rest, I want to go over some numbers. The space agency, NASA's budget, is $14.89 billion. The president's 2003 budget calls for $15 billion. That's really not much of an increase. Could there be more in light of this tragedy?
BASH: Well, you know, the White House was quick to point out that there is about a $500 million increase in NASA's overall budget. That's the budget that they're going to release today. They're releasing the massive $2.2 trillion budget today, and that's just, of course, a part of it, the NASA operating budget.
But the NASA budget has kind of plateaued in general over the last decade, and of course, the talk of funding and whether or not inadequate funding had anything to do with it is already -- it's already, you know, going on all around Washington. The White House is saying, you know, just hold off on any kind of prejudgment here. We don't know what the cause is. So, until we know the cause, they're saying here at the White House, we can't determine whether or not the funding really had anything to do with it.
But as you see, there is about a $500 million increase for NASA's overall operating budget...
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: What you would think from NASA's standpoint isn't very much. I want to talk about what world leaders are saying about this tragedy to the president, because certainly Russian officials are going to weigh in on this, because they have so much at stake in the International Space Station.
BASH: That's right. The president actually spoke with Vladimir Putin on Saturday and discussed the situation. He also -- you know, he was receiving condolence calls really from all over the world all weekend. Yesterday, he got calls from the leaders from Pakistan, from Spain and from India. Of course, India is where one of the astronauts was from, Kalpana Chawla. So, that was an important phone call for the president to get.
And you know, he was -- the president was getting briefed all weekend, Carol. The White House Situation Room here was up and running. Andy Card, the chief of staff, was constantly briefing the president all weekend, so he has certainly been in touch with the staff here.
And the other thing I should point out to you is that after Sean O'Keefe, the NASA administrator, talks to Paula Zahn, he's going to come over to the White House and talk to the president. He's going to have a one-on-one briefing with the president and discuss all that he knows about the investigation as it's gone so far.
COSTELLO: We can understand that. Dana Bash, thanks for waking up early with us. We'll let you get on to work now.
BASH: My pleasure.
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 February 3, 2003 - 06:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush's agenda was already packed with global concerns before Saturday's tragedy, but he is devoting time in the next couple of days to Columbia.
CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash is on the phone with our "Wake-Up Call."
Good morning -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: Before you get into the rest, I want to go over some numbers. The space agency, NASA's budget, is $14.89 billion. The president's 2003 budget calls for $15 billion. That's really not much of an increase. Could there be more in light of this tragedy?
BASH: Well, you know, the White House was quick to point out that there is about a $500 million increase in NASA's overall budget. That's the budget that they're going to release today. They're releasing the massive $2.2 trillion budget today, and that's just, of course, a part of it, the NASA operating budget.
But the NASA budget has kind of plateaued in general over the last decade, and of course, the talk of funding and whether or not inadequate funding had anything to do with it is already -- it's already, you know, going on all around Washington. The White House is saying, you know, just hold off on any kind of prejudgment here. We don't know what the cause is. So, until we know the cause, they're saying here at the White House, we can't determine whether or not the funding really had anything to do with it.
But as you see, there is about a $500 million increase for NASA's overall operating budget...
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: What you would think from NASA's standpoint isn't very much. I want to talk about what world leaders are saying about this tragedy to the president, because certainly Russian officials are going to weigh in on this, because they have so much at stake in the International Space Station.
BASH: That's right. The president actually spoke with Vladimir Putin on Saturday and discussed the situation. He also -- you know, he was receiving condolence calls really from all over the world all weekend. Yesterday, he got calls from the leaders from Pakistan, from Spain and from India. Of course, India is where one of the astronauts was from, Kalpana Chawla. So, that was an important phone call for the president to get.
And you know, he was -- the president was getting briefed all weekend, Carol. The White House Situation Room here was up and running. Andy Card, the chief of staff, was constantly briefing the president all weekend, so he has certainly been in touch with the staff here.
And the other thing I should point out to you is that after Sean O'Keefe, the NASA administrator, talks to Paula Zahn, he's going to come over to the White House and talk to the president. He's going to have a one-on-one briefing with the president and discuss all that he knows about the investigation as it's gone so far.
COSTELLO: We can understand that. Dana Bash, thanks for waking up early with us. We'll let you get on to work now.
BASH: My pleasure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
