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CNN Live At Daybreak
Cabinet to Congress
Aired February 12, 2004 - 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: In Washington, it is cabinet day on Capitol Hill, with Secretaries Powell, Rumsfeld and Ridge all scheduled to testify.
CNN's Paul Courson joins us live to...
PAUL COURSON, CNN WASHINGTON MORNING PRODUCER: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Good morning, Paul.
Paul, they're testifying, but not together. They're going to be in separate committees. So, why don't we start with Secretary Powell?
COURSON: Well, we have to first point out that this isn't the lawmakers sitting around with their calculators saying let's go over your numbers and your budget. Instead, it will be more a philosophical discussion with Secretary of State Powell, where the emphasis lies in foreign policy as we come into another budget cycle, whether enough money is being spent in various regions that the U.S. has interests in to accomplish the job that Secretary of State Powell would have us do.
So, that's one of the things. They don't sit around and go down the columns and say, well, here we could use a little more money here or that. It's more a chance to question the secretary of state as to whether we're spending enough money and what sort of basis that money was concluded upon.
COSTELLO: OK. On to Donald Rumsfeld then.
COURSON: Donald Rumsfeld has as least two issues to deal with, with lawmakers today. One is why he chose not to put into the main Pentagon budget the cost of war. The cost of war is difficult to arrive at.
We had a Defense Department official yesterday tell us that it might be better for taxpayers, and most definitely a bit more reliable, if we were to wait until a supplemental budget to submit to Congress, getting a better idea of how much we're spending in Iraq and in the military action in Afghanistan.
The second issue, Carol, that he has to deal with is whether we're spending enough money on fortifications for the troops who are still over in Iraq. For example, we've seen these kind of ad-hoc hometown fund-raising efforts to pay for ceramic body armor plates that the troops are using, roadside, as they patrol in Baghdad and around Iraq. And even voluntary civilian welders, who are willing to fortify Humvees to protect against roadside bombs.
He'll likely be -- Secretary of State Rumsfeld will likely be questioned as to whether we're paying enough and sending out enough contracts to fortify some of the hardware we're using over there.
COSTELLO: That should be an interesting one.
How about Homeland Security Secretary Ridge?
COURSON: Homeland security, we still are waiting for some of the organizational details for the Department of Homeland Security to take place. You remember right after the attacks of September 11 when we were talking about making one big agency for homeland security, Secretary Ridge was telling us that a lot of different agencies would be folded into that. That's yet to happen. It's still sorting out.
So, he'll probably spar with lawmakers as to the pace of that reorganization and what kind of money it will cost to accomplish things like port security, the Coast Guard doing that, and other areas where homeland security needs to be fortified.
COSTELLO: And I'm sure one of your jobs today is to watch all three committee hearings...
(CROSSTALK)
COURSON: UNINTELLIGIBLE) it all out.
COSTELLO: Yes. Paul Courson live from Washington this morning.
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 12, 2004 - 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: In Washington, it is cabinet day on Capitol Hill, with Secretaries Powell, Rumsfeld and Ridge all scheduled to testify.
CNN's Paul Courson joins us live to...
PAUL COURSON, CNN WASHINGTON MORNING PRODUCER: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Good morning, Paul.
Paul, they're testifying, but not together. They're going to be in separate committees. So, why don't we start with Secretary Powell?
COURSON: Well, we have to first point out that this isn't the lawmakers sitting around with their calculators saying let's go over your numbers and your budget. Instead, it will be more a philosophical discussion with Secretary of State Powell, where the emphasis lies in foreign policy as we come into another budget cycle, whether enough money is being spent in various regions that the U.S. has interests in to accomplish the job that Secretary of State Powell would have us do.
So, that's one of the things. They don't sit around and go down the columns and say, well, here we could use a little more money here or that. It's more a chance to question the secretary of state as to whether we're spending enough money and what sort of basis that money was concluded upon.
COSTELLO: OK. On to Donald Rumsfeld then.
COURSON: Donald Rumsfeld has as least two issues to deal with, with lawmakers today. One is why he chose not to put into the main Pentagon budget the cost of war. The cost of war is difficult to arrive at.
We had a Defense Department official yesterday tell us that it might be better for taxpayers, and most definitely a bit more reliable, if we were to wait until a supplemental budget to submit to Congress, getting a better idea of how much we're spending in Iraq and in the military action in Afghanistan.
The second issue, Carol, that he has to deal with is whether we're spending enough money on fortifications for the troops who are still over in Iraq. For example, we've seen these kind of ad-hoc hometown fund-raising efforts to pay for ceramic body armor plates that the troops are using, roadside, as they patrol in Baghdad and around Iraq. And even voluntary civilian welders, who are willing to fortify Humvees to protect against roadside bombs.
He'll likely be -- Secretary of State Rumsfeld will likely be questioned as to whether we're paying enough and sending out enough contracts to fortify some of the hardware we're using over there.
COSTELLO: That should be an interesting one.
How about Homeland Security Secretary Ridge?
COURSON: Homeland security, we still are waiting for some of the organizational details for the Department of Homeland Security to take place. You remember right after the attacks of September 11 when we were talking about making one big agency for homeland security, Secretary Ridge was telling us that a lot of different agencies would be folded into that. That's yet to happen. It's still sorting out.
So, he'll probably spar with lawmakers as to the pace of that reorganization and what kind of money it will cost to accomplish things like port security, the Coast Guard doing that, and other areas where homeland security needs to be fortified.
COSTELLO: And I'm sure one of your jobs today is to watch all three committee hearings...
(CROSSTALK)
COURSON: UNINTELLIGIBLE) it all out.
COSTELLO: Yes. Paul Courson live from Washington this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
