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Daschle, Lott Speak After Meeting with Bush
Aired September 18, 2002 - 08:11 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We go straight to the White House, where I believe it's Representative Gephardt, I'm being told. I can't see the picture yet. Oh, actually, it's Senator Daschle talking about his meetings with the president this morning.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
SEN. THOMAS DASCHLE (D-SD), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: ... was thrown off to a certain extent by his actions over the course of the last 24 or 48 hours. But I believe at the end of the day, the United Nations is going to be where it needs to be, standing strong in opposition to his ploy and recognizing that it's just that.
We need to insist on open inspections. We need to insist on the destruction of weapons of mass destruction.
QUESTION: Are you willing to go with a resolution which would not have the backing -- in other words, unilateral resolution that would not have the backing of other countries?
DASCHLE: Well, as the speaker noted, I think this is an important moment for our country and for the international community to work together. I'm not going to make any precondition or any supposition about what the resolution ought to say at this point. We'll work in concert with the administration, Republicans and Democrats, hopefully with a recognition that this ought to be done in the international arena, and I am confident that that's where it will be done.
QUESTION: Speaking at the end of the session (UNINTELLIGIBLE) discussion of a continuing resolution and then Senator Daschle, how long do you think (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me write this down.
DASCHLE: Well, I think it's fair to say that that is a topic that will continue to be of high concern, of great concern to all of us. We want to get our work done and we don't want to telegraph prematurely that we can't get our work done. If we can get it done now, we want to get it done. And I think we're going to work as diligently as we can before the middle of October to ensure that we get all that is possible done and then make some decision about whether we need to come back or whether or not we could take some other form of action. QUESTION: Senator Lott (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
TRENT LOTT (R-MS), MINORITY LEADER: Let me just make this point. While most of our time, or a lot of our time was spent in the foreign policy arena, particularly in discussions about Iraq, and that is the case most mornings when we have these breakfasts, a little more than half the time is in the president giving us a report on what's going on in the war on terror.
But today we did talk about the importance of a strong national defense, the need for a defense appropriations bill. I know that we're going to work to get that done. We did talk about things that need to be completed by homeland security. We need to find a way to come together...
ZAHN: All right, you've been listening to what congressional leaders had to say after meeting with the president.
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 September 18, 2002 - 08:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We go straight to the White House, where I believe it's Representative Gephardt, I'm being told. I can't see the picture yet. Oh, actually, it's Senator Daschle talking about his meetings with the president this morning.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
SEN. THOMAS DASCHLE (D-SD), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: ... was thrown off to a certain extent by his actions over the course of the last 24 or 48 hours. But I believe at the end of the day, the United Nations is going to be where it needs to be, standing strong in opposition to his ploy and recognizing that it's just that.
We need to insist on open inspections. We need to insist on the destruction of weapons of mass destruction.
QUESTION: Are you willing to go with a resolution which would not have the backing -- in other words, unilateral resolution that would not have the backing of other countries?
DASCHLE: Well, as the speaker noted, I think this is an important moment for our country and for the international community to work together. I'm not going to make any precondition or any supposition about what the resolution ought to say at this point. We'll work in concert with the administration, Republicans and Democrats, hopefully with a recognition that this ought to be done in the international arena, and I am confident that that's where it will be done.
QUESTION: Speaking at the end of the session (UNINTELLIGIBLE) discussion of a continuing resolution and then Senator Daschle, how long do you think (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me write this down.
DASCHLE: Well, I think it's fair to say that that is a topic that will continue to be of high concern, of great concern to all of us. We want to get our work done and we don't want to telegraph prematurely that we can't get our work done. If we can get it done now, we want to get it done. And I think we're going to work as diligently as we can before the middle of October to ensure that we get all that is possible done and then make some decision about whether we need to come back or whether or not we could take some other form of action. QUESTION: Senator Lott (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
TRENT LOTT (R-MS), MINORITY LEADER: Let me just make this point. While most of our time, or a lot of our time was spent in the foreign policy arena, particularly in discussions about Iraq, and that is the case most mornings when we have these breakfasts, a little more than half the time is in the president giving us a report on what's going on in the war on terror.
But today we did talk about the importance of a strong national defense, the need for a defense appropriations bill. I know that we're going to work to get that done. We did talk about things that need to be completed by homeland security. We need to find a way to come together...
ZAHN: All right, you've been listening to what congressional leaders had to say after meeting with the president.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
