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Lou Dobbs This Week
Congress Hears Testimony on Recalls of Chinese Imports; Feds Releasing Foreign Criminals onto U.S. Streets?
Aired September 17, 2007 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Suzanne Malveaux with a look at what's happening "Now in the News." An anti-war message voiced loud and clear in the nation's capital today. Thousands of protestors marched from the White House to the Capitol demanding U.S. troops be withdrawn from Iraq. Capitol Police say some 150 people so far have been arrested.
They have traveled a good distance, but still have miles to go. Negotiators from GM and the United Auto Workers union report progress in their talks this weekend. But key sticking points remain though, including retiree health care. GM workers' contract expired midnight Friday and they could strike at any time if those talks go downhill.
I'm Suzanne Malveaux. LOU DOBBS THIS WEEK begins right now.
KITTY PILGRIM, HOST: Tonight, alarming testimony on Capitol Hill about dangerous imports from communist China and other countries. We'll have a special report.
And shocking new evidence the federal government is allowing tens of thousands of criminal illegal aliens to roam our streets. All that, much more straight ahead tonight.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS THIS WEEK, news, debate and opinion for Saturday, September 15th. Sitting in for Lou Dobbs, Kitty Pilgrim.
PILGRIM: Good evening, everybody. Congressional Democrats tonight are trying to win support for a new legislation to restrict the role of U.S. troops in Iraq. The Democrats' political offensive follows one of the president's most important speeches of the entire war. President Bush called for an enduring relationship with Iraqis that will last beyond his presidency. But he also announced plans to end the surge. Nearly 6,000 of our troops will leave Iraq before Christmas without replacement.
Elaine Quijano reports from the White House -- Elaine.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And, Kitty, the White House says the reason that those troops will not have to be replaced is because there has been success on the ground at the local levels in Iraq. That's the optimistic tone that we heard from President Bush when he addressed the nation earlier this week. It is also the tone that we heard from General Petraeus' congressional testimony earlier in the week. At the same time, though, the Iraq report card that the White House submitted to Congress on Friday paints a much bleaker picture of progress on the ground at the national level in Baghdad. It found that of the 18 benchmarks, the Iraqis have made satisfactory progress on just nine of them.
Nevertheless, on a visit with Marines at Quantico, Virginia, the president tried to reinforce his message that the surge is working and he urged Congress to consider the bigger picture beyond just benchmarks painted by his top commander and top diplomat in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I call upon the United States Congress, listen very carefully to what General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker reported and support the troop levels that these two men think are necessary to achieve our objective.
QUIJANO: Now the White House argues that even though the benchmarks have not all been met, officials here say that the goals behind them are being met and that there is progress on that front. Nevertheless, critics continue to look at this report as more evidence, they say, that the president's Iraq strategy is not working and has so far failed to produce what is the ultimate result, they say, national reconciliation in Baghdad -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Elaine, a series of reports on Iraq over the last week. This week was supposed to be the real deciding moment for the war. The president's speech, an attempt to put his print and his version of events on all of the reports and tie them together?
QUIJANO: Absolutely. And what we heard essentially is the president sort of laying the groundwork all week with General Petraeus' testimony, the ambassador's testimony, and then the president's address on Thursday followed up with the report on Friday as well as the president's visit to Quantico, Virginia.
All of this really meant to try to address the concerns that have come not just from Democrats, but from some Republican quarters as well that the surge, while militarily a success, has not yet produced any significant movement on the national political front.
This is a White House that understands full well it may have the Republicans in line for now, continuing to support for the president, but unless there is some kind of sign down the road that these disparate forces in Iraq are coming together, they understand here at the White House it's going to be very difficult for these Republicans continue supporting the president's surge strategy -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much, Elaine Quijano.
Well, congressional Democrats say it's time to begin what they call responsible and rapid redeployment of our troops out of Iraq. Those Democrats say our troops should force on anti-terrorist operations, training Iraqi forces, and force protection.
Now Democratic Senator Jack Reed says the president's plan does not amount to real change.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JACK REED (D), RHODE ISLAND: An endless and unlimited military presence in Iraq is not an option. Democrats and Republicans in Congress and throughout the nation cannot and must not stand idly by while our interests throughout the world are undermined and our armed forces are stretched toward the breaking point. We intend to exercise our constitutional duties and profoundly change our military involvement in Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PILGRIM: Senator Jack Reed and other Democrats asked tough questions of the U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, when he gave testimony to Congress. Now several leading Republicans also hammered General Petraeus. General Petraeus insisted most of the military objectives of the surge are, quote, "being met."
Barbara Starr sat down with General Petraeus after his testimony and here's her report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After a national press conference and two days of congressional testimony, a visibly tired General David Petraeus sat down with CNN to discuss not just the war, but how the troops are doing and how much more combat they can take.
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, CMDR., MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ: Well, it's a tough call, Barbara. And, candidly -- and I know I'm not carrying a rucksack these days, but I have actually been deployed, I think it's coming up on about four out of the last six years. So, my family is familiar with certainly at least the separation piece of this.
We're particularly concerned, frankly, about the younger members of the force.
STARR: As he routinely travels and meets troops in Iraq, he gets their views firsthand.
PETRAEUS: No one has been happy about the 15-month tour, and they make no bones about it. I don't make any bones about it.
STARR: In fact, he says, the stress of the long tour is part of the reason he has recommended sending some of the surge troops home. But he doesn't waver from the view the U.S. can't let Iraq become a terror safe haven.
PETRAEUS: Certainly, that's one of those areas in which we would have enormous concern were our objectives not achieved in that country, also concerns about potential Iranian influence, a humanitarian disaster of enormous proportions. STARR: He says there have been recent communications from senior al Qaeda leaders to al Qaeda members in Iraq, and Iran remains a threat.
PETRAEUS: We have no question whatsoever about Iranian weapons being used to kill our soldiers. In fact, we have the remnants of .240-millimeter rocket that hit one of our camps yesterday and caused a number of -- caused wounded to a number of our soldiers.
STARR (on camera): While he sees progress on the security front, General Petraeus says he still believes Iraq is very fragile and in fact could still crack apart
Barbara Starr, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Presidential election politics were never far from General Petraeus' testimony in the Senate. Four Democratic presidential candidates and one Republican were among the senators who grilled General Petraeus. Now, Iraq is the top issue in the race for the White House. Candy Crowley has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The campaign trail moved indoors Tuesday, with five of the '08 presidential candidates in the spotlight of the Petraeus hearings.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that the reports that you provide to us really require the willing suspension of disbelief.
SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD (D-CT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't seem to get an indication, don't get a feeling here that there's any real opportunity or optimism that this is going to get better.
CROWLEY: It was campaign-light, similar substance without the fierce rhetoric sometimes heard in town hall meetings across Iowa and New Hampshire. Talking to a crowd of anti-war Democrats is different than talking to a diplomat with a portfolio under his arm and a general with ribbons on his chest.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is not a criticism of either of you, gentlemen, this is a criticism of this president and the administration which has set a mission for the military and for our diplomatic forces that is extraordinarily difficult now to achieve.
CROWLEY: With more than 60 percent of Americans opposed to the war, the hearing was not expected to, nor did it ever change the ever- hardening positions of the '08 Democrats.
SEN. JOE BIDEN (D-DE), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't see any plans in terms of leveling with the American people where we're going to be able to tell them their kids are coming home.
CROWLEY: While the Democrats used the Petraeus hearings to air their opposition to the war, Republican Senator John McCain found reinforcement, the kind he rarely gets along the campaign trail.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe we cannot choose to lose in Iraq. And I will do everything in my power to see that our commanders in Iraq have the time and support they request to win this war.
CROWLEY: The Petraeus hearings gave Democrats a chance to underscore their rhetoric, next week is about reality. The Senate is expected to take up the defense authorization bill, which will likely include a number of amendments about Iraq, including one to de-fund the war.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Still ahead tonight, disturbing testimony on Capitol Hill about the safety of imports from communist China and other nations. Christine Romans will have the report -- Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kitty, just who is to blame for dangerous Chinese imports? The communist Chinese government? American toy brands? Or our federal government? That report coming up.
PILGRIM: Thank you, Christine.
Also a confrontation on Capitol Hill between police and supporters of deported illegal alien Elvira Arellano.
And rising anger about the Bush administration's determination to push through the so-called free trade deals at the expense of our middle class.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: Disturbing revelations from the Department of Homeland Security. Criminal illegal aliens, hundreds of thousands of them, are being released back onto our streets.
And as Lisa Sylvester reports, this policy may be discouraging local law enforcement from contacting immigration authorities when they have criminal illegal aliens in custody.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Department of Homeland Security inspector general estimates more than 300,000 illegal aliens convicted of crimes will be locked up and stayed in local jails this year. After serving their time, instead of being deported, most will be released onto U.S. streets because Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not have the resources or bed space to deport them.
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R), MAINE: The DHS inspector general has called this, "an unofficial mini amnesty program for criminals and other high risk aliens," end quote. I call it an outrageous failure of homeland security.
SYLVESTER: There have been several recent high profile cases of criminal illegal aliens accused of committing heinous crimes after being released. Jose Carranza, accused of killing three university students in New Jersey. He pled not guilty. In Virginia Beach, Alfredo Ramos was convicted of killing two teenage girls in a drunk driving accident.
JACK MARTIN, FEDERATION FOR AMERICAN IMMIGRATION REFORM: That's a threat to the public, basically, that these people are in their hands, may be turned loose, even though there is reason to suspect that they've been involved in a crime and have a previous rap sheet.
SYLVESTER: During a confirmation hearing this week, the head of Immigration AHD Customs Enforcement acknowledged the problem, saying the agency ranks jail and prison facilities to identify the highest risk.
JULIE MYERS, IMMIGRATION & CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT: Now, we're systematically going through and looking at where's our gaps. You know, how can we get to full screening to all institutions in the United States?
SYLVESTER: But a survey by the Department of Justice found inaction by ICE has created a chilling effect. The report found that some sheriffs and jail administrators are not bothering to contact federal immigration officials about aliens in custody, one writing: "Our experience has shown that ICE is not going to respond anyway." Another saying: "Past history has shown that they will rarely pick the subjects up for transport."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVESTER: Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it has doubled the number of deportation actions taken against criminal illegal aliens in the last year. But many illegal aliens continue to slip through the cracks. The DHS inspector general said this is a significant risk because federal authorities are unable to verify the identity, criminal affiliation or possible terrorist connections of many of the aliens being released -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Lisa, the public outcry certainly has to play a role in this after a violent crime by a criminal illegal alien.
SYLVESTER: Indeed it does. And in fact, in many of these cases what we have seen is some of these cities are actual sanctuary cities so they have policies where local law enforcement cannot contact Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And now you're seeing public outrage regarding those sanctuary cities -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much, Lisa Sylvester. Well, deported former illegal alien Elvira Arellano today continued her campaign for amnesty for herself and millions of other illegal aliens in the United States. Now Arellano's 8-year-old son was in Washington, brought there by open border and amnesty advocates, used as a pawn to lobby for illegal aliens.
Casey Wian has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Elvira Arellano spoke to U.S. reporters through the border fence during a cross-border rally in Tijuana and San Diego.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's only a mother that is looking for a better life for her son.
WIAN: The twice-deported former fugitive illegal alien wants permission to return to the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're asking for there to be no more raids, no more deportations.
JOSE LAGOS, HONDURAN UNITY: Just because Elvira Arellano was unfortunately, unjustly deported, the battle is not over.
WIAN: Meanwhile, Arellano's 8-year-old U.S. citizen son, Saulito, is in Washington, D.C. He scrambled up the steps of the Supreme Court, but will soon join his mother in Mexico to begin school.
Supporters are filing a class-action lawsuit, seeking to allow the illegal alien parents of U.S. citizen children to remain in the United States. They also lobbied Congress so aggressively, at least two protesters were taken into custody after an altercation with Capitol Police.
Walter Coleman is pastor of the Chicago church where the Arellanos sought sanctuary for a year.
REV. WALTER COLEMAN, ADALBERTO METHODIST CHURCH: The failure of the Congress to act has left 20 million people, that is 12 million undocumented, 4 million U.S. citizen children, 4 million legal and citizen spouses and extended family, have left them in a reign of terror, have left them really in an attempt at ethnic cleansing.
WIAN: Another group of amnesty advocates protested outside the Social Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in Chicago. The Bush administration was scheduled to send out 140,000 Social Security number no-match letters this month, warning employers they had 90 days to resolve the discrepancies or fire improperly documented workers.
CARL ROSEN, UNITED ELECTRICAL WORKERS: We're here today to tell Social Security not to send out these new no-match letters. And we're here to tell them further that, if they do, they better be prepared for a large demonstration by many, many workers. Their no-match database is filled with literally millions of errors.
WIAN: A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Bush administration from sending the notices. Even so, the labor and immigrant rights groups claim workers are being fired because of older no-match letters.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security says the administration will vigorously challenge the judge's ruling and expects to prevail. As for a timetable to send out those letters, he says the wheels of justice sometimes turn slowly -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: In the meantime, it really holds up the works, doesn't it, Casey?
WIAN: Absolutely it is. And the rhetoric from the amnesty advocates continues to grow more strident. It is unbelievable that that preacher is accusing the federal government of ethnic cleansing -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: It certainly is. Thanks very much, Casey Wian.
Up next, the Bush administration continues to push so-called free trade at the expense of the middle class. That's despite the concerns of some in Congress. We'll have a special report on that.
Also, alarming testimony at a toy safety hearing on Capitol Hill. We'll talk to the chair of that hearing, Senator Dick Durbin. We'll have those stories and more, so stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: The Bush administration continues to aggressively push its free trade agenda, at the expense of our middle class. The commerce secretary this week said, pending free trade agreements with Peru, Colombia, Panama, present great opportunities for the United States. But as Bill Tucker reports, after years of signing off on these agreements, some in Congress are now taking a much closer look at the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Peru's economy is smaller than the size of post-Katrina Louisiana. Colombia's is the size of North Carolina. And Panama's economy, the size of North Dakota's. Despite the relative small size of the economies, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez wants Congress to ratify free trade agreements with those countries.
CARLOS GUTIERREZ, SECRETARY OF COMMERCE: We're working with Congress to do these as quickly as possible.
TUCKER: Not everyone in Congress is as enthusiastic. Some would like to slow down the process to better review the benefits of the agreements to the U.S. and its workers. But they can't. Trade agreements are currently subject to a rule known as fast track, where Congress cannot amend the agreements. They can only give it a vote of yes or no.
SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D), OHIO: Trade agreements are the only place in the entire Senate where you always only need 50 votes, where debate is restricted, where a senator can't put a hold on something to slow it down or actually to kill it in some cases, because the administration and the moneyed interests in this city, in Washington, are so enamored of these trade agreements.
TUCKER: Just how much of a market the economies represent for American products is not clear. Not only are they small; they're poor; 54 percent of Peru's population lives in poverty, 49 percent of Colombia's, and 37 percent of Panama's. And that, say critics of the administration's trade policies, should raise questions about the purpose of those agreements.
LORI WALLACH, GLOBAL TRADE WATCH: None of the Bush NAFTA expansions to Peru, Panama, Colombia, are about creating new markets for U.S. exports. What they are about is setting up foreign investor rules that will create incentives to offshore U.S. jobs overseas and that limit things like our food safety standards when the products come back. That is what these agreements are really about, lower wages, fewer good jobs, and unsafe imports.
TUCKER: Commerce Secretary Gutierrez is leading a bipartisan congressional group for a three-day tour of the countries.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER: Now the purpose of these visits were to give congressional representatives a chance to see and ask questions. Ironically, while they were in Central and South America, a group of workers from Peru and Panama were in Washington.
And, Kitty, they weren't here in support of the trade agreements. They were here protesting the pending agreements.
PILGRIM: You know, what is very interesting to me, Bill, is Peru, Panama, you are not talking about high consumption economies where the citizens are going to be buying vast amounts of American- made goods.
TUCKER: No. As Lori Wallach made in the piece, the point is these are tiny economies. They don't represent a market for us. What they do represent though is a potential labor pool for multinational corporations who quick to go down there and drive wages down, which is why the union workers who were in Washington, D.C., this week were saying, no, we don't want any part of this.
PILGRIM: Fascinating. Thanks very much, Bill Tucker. Thanks, Bill.
Well, coming up, some of the biggest U.S. toymakers are accused of trading your children's safety for profits. How much do they know about the toys they were selling? And we'll hear from Senator Byron Dorgan. He led the fight against a program which would have allowed Mexican trucks unlimited access to this country.
And Senator Hillary Clinton has a few words for Lou Dobbs over the illegal alien debate. We'll have all that, much more with our esteemed panel of political experts so stay with us for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Here's what's happening. CNN has learned that one of President Bush's leading choices for attorney general is former federal Judge Michael Mukasey. The long-time jurist is known to be respected by some of the same liberal voices who led the charge against Alberto Gonzales. An announcement could come next week.
A fire in the mountains of Southern California is burning out of control this hour, it has already charred thousands of acres in less than a day. Smoke from the fire near Big Bear Lake has drifted all the way to Las Vegas. Some 600 firefighters are battling the blaze without major success so far. People in one community near the fire have been told to leave.
O.J. Simpson tells CNN his brush with the law in Las Vegas is being blown all out of proportion. He's still considered a possible suspect in an alleged armed robbery of sports memorabilia. Simpson claims the stuff is his. He told CNN today that one of his purported victims called him and that both agree the case is being overblown.
I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Now back to LOU DOBBS THIS WEEK.
PILGRIM: Alarming testimony on Capitol Hill this week about serious failures in product safety. Senators are demanding answers and change from American toy companies. The Consumer Product Safety Commission, retailers, communist China, all need to do a better job on safety. In the hot seat this week is Mattel, the world's largest toy brand. Mattel makes the majority of it products in communist China because of low production and labor costs. Now so far this year, more than 21 million of those products have been recalled.
And as Christine Romans reports, critics accuse Mattel and other companies of trading away safety for profits.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The maker of Barbie, Matchbox cars and American Girl imports 65 percent of its toys from China. Mattel's CEO says his company closely monitors Chinese suppliers.
ROBERT ECKERT, CHMN. & CEO, MATTEL: Since 1997, we have had outside, independent auditors go into our facilities and check who is working on our products and what conditions they have. And we publish those on Mattel.com, so anybody can go look at independent auditor reports and what we have done to correct things. ROMANS: There has been plenty to correct. One report found: "China's national laws are openly and regularly flouted by both the local authorities and area factories." Any enforcement of labor and environmental law is "largely at the discretion of factory owners and managers." And the law requiring paid time off, "it was frequently violated by many of Mattel's China vendor plants."
At plant 18 in Dongguan, a Mattel supplier, auditors found environmental and safety lapses, insufficient ventilation in an assembly area, hearing loss in high-noise areas, many faulty fire extinguishers, a locked exit door, workshops next to hazardous chemicals warehouses. In some cases, auditors said it was clear plant management had coached employees how to respond in interviews. Mattel responded by withholding any new orders until the plant improved.
Charles Kernaghan tracks labor conditions in Chinese factories.
CHARLES KERNAGHAN, NATIONAL LABOR COMMITTEE: China has a 40-hour work week, not enforced. China has overtime premiums, not enforced. China has mandatory health insurance for their workers in the factories, not enforced. So, in other words, it's a game. It's a joke. There are laws there. They're just not implemented.
ROMANS: All these toys, he says, were made under illegal conditions. Manufacturing centers like this, he says, are the norm. Corporate codes of conduct, he says, mean little once the auditors leave the factory floor.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: But Mattel and many other toy companies are making their products in developing countries because it is cheaper. And now they're finding they cannot control some of those suppliers. Mattel's CEN, in Senate testimony this week though, praised China's growth in capitalism and what he called its growing industrial revolution.
PILGRIM: Well, hopefully they'll get some of the laws enforced in that growing system. Thanks very much, Christine Romans.
Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois chaired the hearing on toy safety and we asked him if bureaucracy and confidence and lack of responsibility on the part of our government are making the problem worse.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: I was really disappointed with the answers to the questions that I asked of Chairman Nord at the Consumer Products Safety Commission. They were very specific about the standards of safety that we're expecting from the Chinese.
You know, we know that this agency has been notoriously understaffed. It doesn't have the resources, the laboratory, even the building that they need. But equally important, they need leadership from the commission, where people are aggressively setting out to protect American families and consumers. PILGRIM: You know, speaking of the laboratory, you asked Ms. Nord to describe the conditions. The CPSC laboratory is in utter disarray. Do you think that they're capable of keeping American consumers safe with this kind of a chaotic situation in their labs?
DURBIN: I can just tell you that what they call a laboratory wouldn't pass any high school laboratory test. It is basically a work table with toys stacked up on it. One man -- one person has a responsibility for the safety of all the toys imported into the United States of America, trillions of dollars worth of products.
And the bottom line is this agency has not been well funded. It has not been taken seriously. And, sadly, it has been populated by a lot of people who want to look the other way when we run into these safety issues.
PILGRIM: You know, I was also struck by Mr. Eckert's testimony, the head of Mattel. And he acknowledged a few of their vendors violated the rules. That seems like a gross understatement, given the magnitude of the recalls that have gone on.
DURBIN: Well, I'll say this about the toy industry and toy retailers. I've been encouraged by the response. You know, it is not uncommon to run into corporate denial, a kind of a defensive posture, tossing around phrases like "junk science" and dismissing the charges.
The toy industry and the toy retailers have taken the opposite approach. They've accepted the challenge and they know they have to, because American families and consumers need to have a dose of confidence before they are going to turn around and buy toys for this holiday season.
PILGRIM: We certainly applaud your efforts in holding these hearings. But it really is very glaringly obvious to the American public that lead has been banned in toys for 30 years and yet it's still turning up in American-produced toys.
How is that defensible, by any toy maker?
DURBIN: It's indefensible. For 30 years, we've banned lead, and yet we still find it, primarily in products coming out of China. And I have to say, it isn't because lead paint is cheaper in China, it's because their workers are paid so little.
There are no environmental standards. There are very few government inspectors. And so as a result, you may get a cheaper toy, but it's going to be made under conditions which most American families wouldn't want to see.
PILGRIM: Senators Pryor and Klobuchar have suggested perhaps legislation banning lead. But we already have rules in effect. So would this do anything different?
DURBIN: It's almost impossible to ban all lead. But I think establishing federal standards -- strict standards, is a step in the right direction. And Senator Pryor of Arkansas is moving toward a reauthorization of the Consumer Products Safety Commission. We need to put some teeth, some bark and some bite in this agency, as Sally Greenberg at Consumers Union said.
We have to give them the authority and the tools and then demand the people to enforce the law.
PILGRIM: We have also been talking with officials in China. And the head of China's consumer product safety agency vowed that the toys made in China will be safe in the Christmas season. We're so close to the Christmas season, some of these toys, presumably, have been manufactured already.
Do you think that the toys from China will be safe this Christmas season?
DURBIN: I can tell you that it's a misleading statement for the Chinese to say that, because the toys that we're likely to see on shelves in this holiday season were made a long time ago. They're sitting in warehouses and on ships. They're on their way to the stores.
What we need to do is to be honest about the toys on the shelves. And that means that the companies, the toy stores, as well as the manufacturers, have to accept the responsibility for testing. They've got to convince American consumers these toys are safe for their kids.
And, unfortunately, they do it in a climate of suspicion.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much for being with us today, Senator Durbin. Thank you, sir.
DURBIN: Thank you, Kitty.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Up next, a plan allowing Mexican trucks on our highways. That plan is blocked for now. We'll have a special report.
And later, Republican presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson battle it out in the polls. We'll discuss that and all the week's political news with three of the best political analysts in the country.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: The Senate voted to cut off funding for a program to allow Mexican trucks open access to U.S. highways. Opponents of the program called the vote a victory for the American people and public safety.
Now Lisa Sylvester has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVESTER (voice-over): The Bush administration's trucking pilot program hit a rough road in the Senate. Senators voted 74 to 24 to cut off funding for the demonstration project that began last week. Senator Byron Dorgan, who led the fight to kill the program, said the vote would turn the tide on the rush to dismantle U.S. safety standards.
SEN. BYRON DORGAN (D), NORTH DAKOTA: This is about safety. We have developed standards in this country to provide basic safety for the American people, and if you want to obliterate those standards, go ahead, but it won't be with my support and it won't be with my vote.
SYLVESTER: The program's proponents argue the United States was obligated to allow the Mexican trucks in as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and it would be a money-saver.
SEN. JON KYL (R), ARIZONA: It is much more efficient and much cheaper for American consumers if those Mexican trucks can travel in the United States.
SYLVESTER: But Senator Sherrod Brown said the only savings would come to large multinational corporations, with consumers and drivers getting the short stick.
BROWN: In both chambers in this Congress, we write trade deals that ignore consumers and coddle corporations and produce massive trade deficits and ensure unsafe imports and export U.S. jobs.
SYLVESTER: Consumer watchdog groups, labor unions and environmentalists lobbied against the program, noting Mexico's safety standards fall well short of the United States'.
ROBERT SHULL, PUBLIC CITIZEN: After the administration just barreled ahead with the pilot program, for the Senate to stand up and say, enough is enough, we have to guarantee safety, that was really good news.
SYLVESTER: The federal agency overseeing the program issued a statement after the vote, calling it "a sad victory for the politics of fear and protectionism and a disappointing defeat for U.S. consumers and U.S. truck drivers."
(on camera): The House of Representatives passed a similar amendment to the transportation appropriations bill in late July. Those two bills will now head to the conference committee. Now, the president has threatened to veto the legislation, not because of the trucking provision, but because of the cost, $4 billion more than the president requested.
Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Well, as Lisa just reported, Senator Byron Dorgan is the author of the Senate measure cutting off the funding. He's highly critical of the administration's stand on the issue.
SEN. BYRON DORGAN (D), NORTH DAKOTA: Well, Kitty, the White House is so impossibly out of touch here. I mean, the president wants to veto a large transportation bill because he can't get long haul Mexican trucks allowed in this country?
It makes no sense to me. You know, the inspector general said the following. The inspector general's report said there's no data bank and you can't verify vehicle inspections in Mexico. You can't verify driver's records or accident reports. I'm sorry, that's the ball game for me.
If you can't do that and you're going to allow that kind of long haul trucking into this country, you're compromising safety on America's roads. That's just a fact. And so, you know, now we're going to go to conference. This provision almost certainly will prevail and we'll send it to the president.
I can't believe he really would veto this. I almost feel like sending him that book, you know, "All I Really Need To Know Is What I Learned In Kindergarten." Just a smidge of common sense on this issue will tell him what he needs to know, and that is we need to keep America's roads safe. And it won't be safe by allowing long haul Mexican trucks in at this point.
PILGRIM: That seems like pretty good common sense. You've taken your share of criticism over this. The program was one of the conditions agreed on through NAFTA. The San Francisco Chronicle editorial board took direct aim at you and your colleagues who voted against it, saying: "A U.S. Senate vote on whether to allow a limited number of Mexican trucks into the United States was a test of this nation's ability to live up to its trade agreements. Senators failed that test."
What do you say to that kind of comment?
DORGAN: Oh, that's just rubbish, you know what I mean. They have a lot of ink, so good for them to printing it. But it's just rubbish. The fact is I didn't vote for the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA. It has been a horrible trade agreement that undermines this country's economic interests.
But even those that did vote for it have no obligation to decide that they're not lawmakers for this country. There's nothing in a trade agreement that says that we have to abrogate safety on America's roads.
There are two issues here, Kitty. One is, yes, this is more low- wage competition for American workers on the roads, we have got a lot of truckers who work very hard in this country and care about their jobs. But I focused a lot on this question about are we really ready and do we really believe that the Mexican standards and enforcement with respect to trucking are equivalent to ours?
I don't think so. I think the evidence is clear that that is not the case. So we have to stand up for this country's interests.
PILGRIM: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the DOT have said that the standards are set on this. But according to the inspector general's report, there will not be sufficient safety standards put on these Mexican trucks or their drivers, and they have not been developed or implemented for checking on the trucks or the drivers.
We are not in a position to move ahead on this, are we?
DORGAN: No, we're not at all. The federal motor vehicle carrier group that you referred to said we will inspect every truck, every time. But the fact is the inspector general says they don't have the capability to do that and they're not going to be able to do that. Those are the facts.
PILGRIM: All right. Senator Byron Dorgan, thank you very much. We applaud your common sense and we hope everyone else sees your point. Thank you for being with us on the program. Senator Byron Dorgan.
DORGAN: Thank you.
PILGRIM: Up next, Democratic presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton says some broadcasters bash immigrants. Is she talking about Lou? We'll talk to three of the best political analysts in the country about that and the week's political news. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: Joining me are three of the best political analysts in the country. We have New York Daily News columnist Errol Louis; syndicated columnist Miguel Perez; and Diana West of The Washington Times.
And thanks for being with us. This was supposed to be the benchmark week on Iraq. We had General Petraeus, Ambassador Crocker, Miguel, what's your assessment? We've had all the reports, we had the presidential speech. What's your assessment of where we stand on Iraq right now?
MIGUEL PEREZ, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: Well, nowhere. Unfortunately the president lives on one planet and the rest of us live on another. He was basically explaining that all of these things, the consequences of us pulling out of Iraq. And when he listed all of the consequences, there are things that already are happening in Iraq and as a result of his taking us there. So the first thing I think the president should have done is say, look, I'm sorry, I really made a huge mistake in going to war in the first place. Now we're there and now we don't know how to get out.
Neither do the Democrats. But it should have began with a huge apology.
PILGRIM: Errol?
ERROL LOUIS, THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: That is, of course, not at all the president's style. He didn't get to be the most powerful man in the world by being uncertain about anything. And there's the situation on the ground which is as bad as ever and not really a lot of signs of progress. And then there's the political world back here where I think the president is doing just fine. I mean, he's going to sort of give back a few troops, maybe 5,700 or so by Christmas. He's going to continue to make the case and to create the reality of a long-term military commitment, perhaps on the order of tens of thousands of troops that are now in South Korea or in Western Europe.
He's running his playbook, the consequences for Iraqis is not as optimistic, I think, as he portrayed it. But he's going to make us stay for the short term and possibly the long term.
PILGRIM: You know, Miguel started this with a big plea for truth. But in fact the president has admitted some of the shortcomings of the policy. Let's play a sound clip from the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: The government has not made its own legislative benchmarks. And in my meetings with Iraqi leaders, I've made it clear that they must.
PILGRIM: So there he is admitting that the Iraqis have not really come up to the benchmarks that have been set out by a variety of people. That is honesty, isn't it?
DIANA WEST, THE WASHINGTON TIMES: Well, it is honesty. But I think when Miguel says the president is on another planet, I think that is true. Unfortunately, I think almost everyone else is on that same planet in the sense that this struggle is not about Iraq anymore. Nothing that happens inside Iraq is going to take us out successfully.
Frankly, I would like to have seen Admiral Fallon brought in, the chairman of -- or rather, the CENTCOM chief, who -- for the regional area of the Middle East, to discuss how we stop this terrible threat from Iran that is creating havoc in Iraq.
And I would also add that when the president calls Iraq an ally and says that we have the same moral and strategic vision as Iraq, I found that very offensive because just -- namely just for one reason, Iraq's constitution enshrines Sharia law, which has -- is absolutely antithetical to a liberty-loving system of democracy in the West.
PILGRIM: I was particularly struck by the president's address on Thursday night where Iran is featured in possibly the back fifth of the speech. It was -- it came very, very late in the speech, and you bring up an interesting point. You know, there is an AP-Ipsos poll on the president's approval rating and Congress' approval rating. And let's take a look at that.
We have President Bush at a job approval rating of 33 percent. Congress, however, is lower, at 26 percent. Do you think that the American people are looking to Congress for some leadership and not finding it?
PEREZ: Absolutely. Looking to Pelosi and not finding it. Unfortunately she -- and the good thing is that she's not running for president. Otherwise the Democrats would really be in trouble. The Democrats -- however, the ones who are running for president are not offering any solutions. They're basically criticizing a lot and not coming up with a solution.
How do you get us back out of this quagmire, nobody has explained? And I think it has to begin maybe with a Republican candidate who will say this, I distance myself from this president, he got us in this war, now we're there and this is how we have to deal with it.
PILGRIM: And we're not really finding that anyone -- at least...
LOUIS: A great many Republicans probably all the way down to county clerk candidates next year are going to try and distance themselves from those dismal numbers. In Congress in particular, the Republicans, I think, we are going to see something approaching panic because they have to defend a couple of dozen Senate seats and the Democrats only have to defend 12.
And the further away they get from 26 percent approval, 33 percent approval, the more likely they are to have a chance at staying within striking distance of regaining the majority.
PILGRIM: Diana, last thought on this?
WEST: Well, I was just wondering if everyone was surprised that the Democratic frontrunners didn't repudiate the General "Betray Us" ad that the moveon.org group ran. That seemed like such a terrible thing for Democrats to be vested in. And none of them moved away from it.
PILGRIM: Yes. No strong movement to say anything very strong about that.
PEREZ: And they should have.
PILGRIM: Yes. The general does deserve respect for the job that he is doing at this point. But we'll step away from this for a second. We'll come back with the political equation in just a moment. We'll have more with our panel. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: Joining me once again, Errol Louis, Miguel Perez, and Diana West. Let's wade into one of our favorite topics, which is immigration. Caused quite a little stir this week, Senator Hillary Clinton was in a debate on the Spanish-language network, Univision, and they took up the issue of immigration. Senator Clinton seemed to take issue with certain people's position on immigration.
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Senator Clinton, the negative tone of the immigration debate has left the country polarized and has created certain racist and discriminatory attitudes towards Hispanics.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think this is a very serious problem. And as I said earlier, there are many in the political and frankly in the broadcast world today who take a particular aim at our Latino population. And I think it's very destructive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PILGRIM: Well, The New York Times later asked the Clinton campaign to clarify the comments, what the senator meant by these comments. And this is what the senator had to say. "A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton said after the debate that she was referring to the CNN anchor Lou Dobbs among others."
Now, as you know, and we have on many occasions discussed immigration at this desk, we try to keep it in a very intelligent and fair discussion. Miguel, what is your reaction to this?
PEREZ: There is a negative connotation to this whole thing. It is -- the debate is polarizing the country. But picking on one or two individuals -- I mean, talk radio people are doing this all over the country, I think they've changed the tone of the debate somewhat.
Unfortunately on those talk radio programs where they do bash immigrants, they don't allow people like myself to come on and present the other side. On this program, here I am, so -- and I quite often explain that I am for a legalization plan, not amnesty, as some of you folks want to call it.
But still, I am given the opportunity to present the other side of the story.
PILGRIM: We certainly applaud your viewpoint. You know, we were speaking earlier about Elvira Arellano and her crusade. And you had some very interesting thoughts about that.
PEREZ: Yes. Well, it's not about a personality. It should not -- we should not -- this woman -- obviously the attention has gone to her head because people in the beginning began -- when the whole thing started, they started calling her Rosa Parks. And I think that's very offensive.
There is no comparison. This woman was deported and was ordered deported and she defied the law. This is not about demanding -- I am in favor of giving amnesty or whatever you want to call it to illegal immigrants, but it's about demanding anything. It's about asking for mercy and this is not what this woman is doing.
She actually is using her child to promote her cause.
PILGRIM: Yes, yes. Let me move on to some of the campaign issues, because they are very important. Hillary Clinton's campaign -- let's point this out, the Clinton campaign announcing they're going to conduct criminal background checks on fundraisers after the issues have been raised about some of their fundraising. Do you believe, Errol, that this is a positive sign and that the campaign can move forward?
LOUIS: Well, they had no choice. They did it somewhat under duress. The first move was to say, well, we'll give back $23,000 and, you know, we'll put some towards charity. It wasn't clear that they were going to really sort of go the whole distance until it became clear that this was somebody who was not just a fugitive for 17 years, but had been involved in all kinds of stuff, that they really probably could have known about if they had bothered to inquire.
So they're raising the standard, perhaps, a little bit reluctantly, maybe dragged kicking and screaming to this higher standard. But it's something that all candidates will have to do, and that's probably a good thing.
PILGRIM: Diana, I just want to bring up the poll numbers, Clinton, 44 percent; Barack Obama, 25 percent; Edwards, 16 percent. That's a poll of Democrats. We have a few seconds left.
WEST: The juggernaut continues. But I still find it amazing that criminal background checks now are required in this campaign. It's very much typical that the Clintons would introduce this to us, to our politics.
PILGRIM: It has certainly been an interesting campaign so far. It has been an early campaign. And I look forward to further developments. Just in the interest of fairness, we have the Republican poll, Giuliani at 28 percent; Thompson at 27 percent; McCain at 15; and Romney at 11.
And so that -- we have to wrap up our political discussion. Thank you very much for joining us today. And for all of us here, thanks for watching. Enjoy your weekend. Good night from New York. "THIS WEEK AT WAR" starts right now with Tom Foreman.
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