Return to Transcripts main page
Lou Dobbs Tonight
Senate Showdown: Alberto Gonzales Under Fire; New Blow to Bush Administration Policy on War on Terror; Sectarian Terror
Aired June 11, 2007 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KITTY PILGRIM, HOST: Tonight, trouble at home. President Bush returns from Europe under scathing criticism from the left and the right.
Also, amnesty push. Pro-amnesty senators ignore the will of the people, try to revive a stalled illegal immigration bill.
And dry as a bone. Drought spreads through one third of the United States. Meteorologists say the worst is still to come.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to go into late summer and fall with a water supply situation that could reach crisis levels in some basins in the West.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT, news, debate and opinion for Monday, June 11th.
Live from New York, sitting in for Lou Dobbs, Kitty Pilgrim.
PILGRIM: Good evening, everybody.
A showdown in the U.S. Senate tonight over the future of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Senators are voting now on a non-binding resolution declaring no confidence in the attorney general.
Gonzales has refused to step down. And President Bush has repeatedly expressed support for Gonzales.
Dana Bash reports from Capitol Hill -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kitty, as we speak, the Senate is voting on that Democratic symbolic resolution which simply says that the Senate has no confidence in the attorney general.
Now, there are many Republicans who agree with that statement, that they don't have confidence in Alberto Gonzales and his ability to do his job, but many of those Republicans are going to vote no. In fact, they're probably doing so as we speak, because they say what we're seeing right now on the Senate floor is political theater by the Democratic majority. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BASH (voice over): The Democrats' one-sentence resolution is simple and straightforward. "It is the sense of the Senate that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales no longer holds the confidence of the Senate and of the American people."
SEN. KENT CONRAD (D), NORTH DAKOTA: This attorney general needs to leave his office. He has tainted his office.
BASH: The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee agrees.
SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R-PA), RANKING MEMBER, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Have I lost confidence in Attorney General Gonzales? Absolutely yes.
BASH: Half a dozen of the president's fellow Republicans in the Senate have called on the attorney general to resign, and many, many other Republicans say they have deep reservations about Gonzales' ability to lead the Justice Department in the wake of the fired federal prosecutors controversy and Gonzales' trouble answering Congress's questions about it.
ALBERTO GONZALES, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I don't recall specifically.
I don't recall ever saying...
I don't recall whether or not I made the decision that...
BASH: But most Republicans, even those who want Gonzales out, are against the no-confidence resolution, calling it a meaningless Democratic stunt.
SEN. TRENT LOTT (R), MISSISSIPPI: We ought to summarily punt this out into the back field where it belongs. This is beneath the dignity of the Senate.
GONZALES: I'm not focusing on what the Senate's doing. I'm going to be focusing on what the American people expect of the attorney general of the United States.
BASH: Speaking to reporters in Miami, the attorney general still showed no sign of going anywhere, after he got yet another boost from his boss.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'll make the determination if I think he's effective or not. Not those who are using the opportunity to make a political statement on a meaningless resolution.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: Now the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, made some private pleas to Republicans by phone and in person earlier today, even in public on the Senate floor, saying the Republicans should vote against this because, as you just heard, they think that this is pure -- political theater from the Democrats. But there's something very telling here, Kitty, in what we're not hearing from Republicans.
As much as they say vote no, we're not hearing any defense at all of the attorney general. They say that this is something that Republicans should do just because they want to close ranks and they want to show Democrats this is not the way to do business, not because they support the attorney general at all.
PILGRIM: And that is telling.
Thanks very much.
Dana Bash.
A reverse for the Bush administration tonight over its policy against suspected terrorists. Now, a federal appeals court today ruled the military cannot indefinitely hold an al Qaeda suspect who is a legal U.S. resident.
Jeanne Meserve has our report -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Kitty, you've got it just right. The U.S. cannot keep residents accused of being terrorists locked up indefinitely on U.S. soil, an appeals court panel says.
It is a big setback for the Bush administration's war on terror. And the Justice Department is already asking for a review.
At issue, the case of Ali al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar and legal resident of the U.S., held in solitary confinement as an enemy combatant in a South Carolina military brig. The government has accused him of being an al Qaeda sleeper agent.
In a 2-1 ruling, a Richmond, Virginia, appeals court panel said the government cannot subject al-Marri to indefinite military detention, for in the United States, the military cannot seize imprisoned civilians, let alone imprison them indefinitely. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says the Justice Department will ask the appeals court to reconsider the decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GONZALES: I would remind you that this is an individual that -- that was in the training -- Osama bin Laden's training camp in 2001, met with KSM. And we believe is, in fact, a dangerous individual. But again, we'll seek re-hearing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: Al-Marri's lawyer, on the other hand, says his client is extremely gratified by the ruling, which the lawyer characterized as rejecting the president's position that he can treat the world as a battlefield and detain individuals without charge or trial. The controversial U.S. detention policies for terror suspects have been dealt several recent setbacks. Just last week, two judges at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility ruled that the cases of two enemy combatants being held there could not go forward. That decision is being appealed by the military.
And yesterday, when former secretary of state Colin Powell was asked if he would close Guantanamo tomorrow, he said that wasn't quick enough. He would close it "this afternoon".
Kitty, back to you.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much.
Jeanne Meserve.
Now, President Bush is refusing to make any concessions to critics of his policy on the war on terror, Iraq, or any other issue, for that matter. At the end of a visit to Europe, the president thanked Bulgaria for sending troops to Iraq. President Bush said the United States and Bulgaria both believe in freedom. Now, the president returned to this country a short time ago, is back at the White House.
The military says eight more of our troops have been killed in Iraq. Thirty-two of our troops have been killed so far this month, 3,511 of our troops have been killed since this war began. 25,830 of our troops wounded, 11,622 of them seriously.
The number of Iraqis being killed in sectarian attacks is rising, and that increase is a major setback for supporters of the U.S. troop buildup in Iraq. U.S. officials were hoping the surge would help reduce the number of Iraqi casualties.
Paula Hancocks reports from Baghdad. And we should worn you, her report does contain graphic images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For well over a year, there's been little or no room in Baghdad's morgues. Bodies found around the capital are simply laid out in the morgue courtyard, awaiting identification from devastated relatives.
The Baghdad security plan was in part based on the theory that the more U.S. troops on the streets, the less bodies on the streets. It appeared to be working for a couple of months, as many militias kept a low profile during March and April. But the number of murders are now almost back to pre-security plan levels at the start of the year.
Almost 750 bodies were found last month, many of them with hands bound and showing signs of torture. The number for June is already were worryingly high.
One Iraqi police colonel who did not want to be identified says the killings will continue as long as the security forces remain on the outskirts of neighborhoods. Few Iraqi police dare to enter, but U.S. officials deny this increase in murders represents a long-term trend, pointing out that overall violence in Baghdad has still lowered since the U.S. began to increase numbers.
(on camera): At the same time, the U.S. military, all the way up to the commander in chief, President Bush, has already admitted that things in Iraq will get worse before they get better. And add to that one U.S. commander admitting that only a quarter of the capital is under control. It's difficult to see how increased troops on the ground will consistently reduce sectarian violence.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Still to come, President Bush pressures U.S. senators to ignore the will of the people and save his pro-amnesty agenda.
We'll have a special report.
Also, a new opinion poll has good and bad news for presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton.
And a day of dramatic legal developments in a teen sex case. The latest actions sparking new outcry over the severity of the sentence.
We'll have the story.
And we'll bring you the results of the Senate vote of the no confidence on Alberto Gonzales as soon as it comes in.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: President Bush back home tonight from his European trip, and he says he's not giving up his immigration bill. He still believes it will pass. But the president and his supporters are facing a tough battle in the Senate.
Lisa Sylvester has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Supporters of the Senate immigration legislation are trying to revive a bill that had been declared dead.
CARLOS GUTIERREZ, COMMERCE SECRETARY: This bill is alive and well, and we are more determined than ever to get it through.
SYLVESTER: Saying it is one thing. Political reality is another.
The bill's proponents need at least 60 senators to bring it to a vote in the future. To do so, they need to resolve the amendment issue. Senate staffers are reportedly still working to whittle down hundreds of amendments to roughly 10 for each side. Any way you look at it, it's an uphill climb.
SEN. EVAN BAYH (D), INDIANA: That won't be easy. Every time you try and enforce the borders more, you offend people on the left. Whenever you try to regulate the status of people, you offend folks who want to enforce the borders.
SYLVESTER: President Bush will use whatever political muscle he has to lean on senators during a rare trip to Capitol Hill Tuesday.
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Senate Majority Harry Reid is really -- it's in his court. He has the opportunity to bring it up, to entertain the remaining amendments. And this can probably be wrapped up in a period of a couple of days, maybe slightly more.
SYLVESTER: But a visit by the president may do little to convince skeptical Republican senators. Many are also hearing from constituents who adamantly oppose the legislation.
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R), TEXAS: Glad to see him. Glad to chat with him about this or any other topic. But I think that by itself will not alleviate the concerns I have with this underlying bill.
SYLVESTER: The spotlight has been on the Senate, but it could shift to the House, where representatives are waiting for their turn to weigh in.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVESTER: Many senators say it's up to Majority Leader Harry Reid, if he's willing to bring back the bill. Reid's response to that is, well, it's really up to the White House to deliver more Republican votes. That's a tall order, because they're not buying into this amnesty bill -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much.
Lisa Sylvester.
Now, the president will meet with GOP senators tomorrow to convince them to support his immigration compromise, but does President Bush still have the political clout to sway even senators in his own party?
Candy Crowley reports on what is looking more and more like a lame duck presidency.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Wrapping up his overseas trip, President Bush looked homeward, into the legislative void left when his immigration bill went under.
BUSH: I believe we can get it done. I'll see you at the bill signing.
CROWLEY: He talks a good game, but there are indications the president has lost his game, at least his ability to play offense. His poll ratings are terrible, the clock is running out, and members of his own party are not afraid to go up against him.
Consider that on immigration reform, the bill the president saw as the centerpiece for his second term, 38 of 48 Republicans basically bucked him. The ingredients of lame duck.
STU ROTHENBERG, THE ROTHENBERG REPORT: I think increasingly, they're viewing him as part of history, the past, not the future. They're looking out for themselves and they're listening to their constituents and not to the White House.
CROWLEY: Essentially, this president is a short-timer. Constituents are forever.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The yeas are 45, the nays are 50.
CROWLEY: Immigration is the latest sign of a lame duck presidency, not the only one. The White House backed off a re- nomination of General Peter Pace as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff because of expected too much heat from Congress.
And then there is this...
JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And Americans have made great sacrifices, some of which were unnecessary because of this management of this conflict.
CROWLEY: John McCain is regarded as the war's biggest supporter. He is clearly not George Bush's.
Whether it is the war or U.S. image abroad...
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I do think that we have suffered over the past several years for a number of reasons, and I think you probably know what they are.
CROWLEY: Republicans are cutting loose from George Bush. The president may have better luck with Democrats.
ROTHENBERG: A problem may be developing for Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and congressional Democrats. They do want to accomplish something significant. They want to be able to go to voters in 2008 and say, see, we took over Congress and we did this.
CROWLEY: The White House bites back at suggestions the president has morphed into a lame duck. Officials say the president had several successes at the G8 summit, recently won a protracted Iraq spending battle, and has what they call a very active legislative slate, which brings us back to the immigration bill.
BUSH: And tomorrow I'll be going to the Senate to talk about a way forward on the piece of legislation. (END VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY: But with an election season to find his replacement bearing down on him, this 32 percent president is running out of tomorrows -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Candy, any kind of support? What kind of muscle does he have when he goes to Capitol Hill tomorrow?
CROWLEY: Well, you know, not much with Republicans, but as you saw, the Democrats have a vested interest in getting something done. The Republicans, we are learning from Mitch McConnell, seemed pretty dug in on how they feel about this bill. It's a tough row with his own party. It may be a little easier with the Democrats.
PILGRIM: Ironic.
Thanks very much.
Candy Crowley.
Later in the broadcast, we're going to hear from two vocal critics of the compromise immigration bill. Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill will join us. And also, we'll talk with Edward Tuffly of the National Border Patrol Council. And his local represents 2,600 Border Patrol agents in Arizona.
Time now for some of your thoughts.
Bob in Louisiana wrote to us, "How can an ineffective president determine if his attorney general is effective or not? It makes no sense to me," Bob wrote.
And William in Arizona, "Passport regulations well be suspended because of a huge backlog. This is with a year and a half of preparation. This is the same government that would require a 24-hour verification in the immigration bill? What is in the water they're drinking in Washington?"
And John in New York wrote to us, "So we can't process passports fast enough. I guess it's a good thing the immigration bill failed. How would 12 to 20 million green cards ever get issued?"
We'll have some of your thoughts, more of them, later in the broadcast.
Still to come, there's disbelief a teen sex case sparked national outrage over unusually harsh prison sentences. We'll have a special report on that.
And one third of the nation is facing a drought. Meteorologists say conditions are likely to become even worse.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: Senate Democrats have just failed to win a no- confidence resolution in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Now, that vote, 53 in favor of the resolution, 38 against. This resolution needed a minimum of 60 votes to pass.
And Dana Bash is here with more on that -- Dana.
BASH: Hi, Kitty.
As you said, as expected, this symbolic no-confidence resolution that the Senate just completed did fail, but was most interesting about the vote, if you take a look at it, is that about half a dozen Republicans broke ranks with their party, broke ranks with their president, and voted yes. Voted yes on this motion that would have led to a vote of no confidence -- symbolic, but still a vote of no confidence -- in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Now, if you look at those Republican senators, what might even be more telling politically, Kitty, is that about five of them, at least five of those Republicans, are going to be facing voters in 2008. Some of them are going to be potentially in very tough reelection campaigns.
And so you see here an example not only of -- of the disillusionment with the attorney general, but also with the president of the United States and the desire among some Republicans who are going to be facing voters to break with the president in a very public, very definitive way. And that's what some of these Republicans have voted yes on this no-confidence measure has essentially illustrated just a few moments ago on the Senate floor -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much for bringing that to us.
Dana Bash.
Now, a Georgia judge today voided the 10-year sentence given a young man in a teen sex case. Genarlow Wilson was 17 when he was convicted for having consensual sex with a 15-year-old girl. Now, the judge ordered Wilson's release, but tonight he's still behind bars.
Bill Tucker has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
B.J. BERNSTEIN, ATTORNEY: We win!
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Shouts of joy...
BERNSTEIN: This has been a really long 28 months. It's a very long fight. And right now we have an order of release, and I beg the attorney general of the state of Georgia, please, enough. Do not file an appeal, please.
TUCKER: ... turned to disbelief...
BERNSTEIN: The attorney general of the state of Georgia has just filed a notice of appeal of this opinion. That puts a stop to what's been happening, the joyous news this morning.
TUCKER: ... and then to anger.
BERNSTEIN: This is about power. We just won. And instead of letting it go, instead of letting this count, they want to use the power, the power of a prosecutor.
TUCKER: And right now the district attorney who sought and won a conviction opposes releasing Genarlow Wilson on bail. Wilson has no prior record, was a good student, an outstanding athlete, and wants to go to college.
Wilson's crime? Having consensual sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17.
GENARLOW WILSON: It's real hard, because I started off with -- it was like I had everything one day and the next day I have nothing.
TUCKER: The girl agrees it was consensual, but because there's a videotape of the event, the district attorney tried him for rape and child molestation. He was acquitted of rape, convicted of child molesting. That state law has since been changed, and the crime that Wilson was convicted of reduced to a misdemeanor, which was the basis of his appeal.
Judge Thomas Wilson who issued the ruling Monday morning, releasing Genarlow Wilson, said, "If any case fits into the definitive limits of a miscarriage of justice, surely this case does."
He then reduced the sentence to time served, and that is where Georgia's attorney general stepped in. In a press release, Attorney General Baker said, "There is absolutely no authority for a habeas court to reduce or modify the judgment of the trial court."
Genarlow Wilson's life is caught in the machinations of justice. He remains in prison.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER: Now, Genarlow Wilson has currently served two years. He has eight years left on his sentence. And when he does leave prison, he must register as a sexual predator and remain registered for the remainder of his life.
Now, Kitty, both sides have requested a speedy trail date before the Georgia Supreme Court to reach an ultimate determination and resolution of this.
PILGRIM: A tough day in court.
Thanks very much.
Bill Tucker.
Well, that brings us to the subject of tonight's poll.
Is the Georgia attorney general being overzealous in continuing the prosecution of Genarlow Wilson? Yes or no?
Cast your vote at loudobbs.com, and we'll bring you the results later in the broadcast.
Joining me now with his view on the case is Jonathan Turley, law professor at George Washington University.
And thanks for being with us, sir.
JONATHAN TURLEY, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIV.: Hi, Kitty.
PILGRIM: You know, this young man is now 21 years old. He served more than two years on the 10-year sentence that's now been -- the crime has been reclassified as a misdemeanor.
Does the punishment fit the crime in this instance?
TURLEY: No, it clearly doesn't. This is an outrageous case.
It was an archaic law that the state had, and they wisely got rid of it, a bit too late. But it's also a case involving prosecutorial abuse.
Those prosecutors are supposed to do justice, and little of that was done here. For some reason, this prosecutor pursued this individual, even though in most states this is either a misdemeanor or no crime at all. I mean, if you'd try to prosecute all teen sex, you'd be criminalizing a very significant number or percentage of our youth population.
PILGRIM: You know, Wilson's lawyer says she plans to look into filing a bond for the release of her client while the appeal is pending.
Do you think that will be doable?
TURLEY: Well, it's relatively rare that you see a bond when you have someone who's serving a sentence and is being appealed. It's very rare for them to get out of jail on that type of mechanism, but it's possible.
You know, the attorney general has a point in saying that this law was not retroactive, but the judge here saying that this truly shocks the conscience, that justice can't just turn away from such a clear abuse of the law.
But what surprises me is there's not a lot of review of the prosecutor's original position and efforts in this case, which I think are clearly abusive. And where is the governor of the state? And why aren't -- why isn't the governor working to resolve what is clearly an unjust situation?
PILGRIM: You know, Genarlow Wilson rejected a plea deal on this. That would have given him first-offender treatment, and also there would be no requirement -- no criminal record and no requirement that he register as a sex offender. Do you see the logic in rejecting that?
TURLEY: Well, I can see -- I can understand it. Look, I've gone through this with a lot of clients who have been offered pleas, including clients who are innocent. And, you know, they have a real problem with pleading guilty to anything that they feel that they didn't do wrong.
And this is a case where most people would look at it and say, wow, this is basically teen sex. Why is it being criminalized?
But when you turn down that type of plea, a lot of times prosecutors will go positively medieval. They will just pursue you to the end of the earth. And I think that's the case here, where I look at this case and I can't imagine why the state spent such effort to ruin this individual's life for something that's not even a crime in some states and in most states is a minor misdemeanor.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much for your analysis of this very tough subject.
Jonathan Turley.
Thank you very much.
TURLEY: Thank you, Kitty.
PILGRIM: Coming up, Democratic voters think presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton is a good leader. They're not so sure they like her.
We'll have a special report.
Also, drought conditions are spreading throughout the country. We'll tell you what some communities are doing to deal with the extremely dry conditions.
And the shuttle astronauts go on their first spacewalk. Now, could their second spacewalk be to fix the damaged space shuttle?
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: The Democratic field of candidates showing a clear leader today. In a new poll, voters were asked to rate the contenders following the New Hampshire debate. Now, Bill Schneider reports on now the candidates fared.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): In early April, New Hampshire Democrats were all over the place. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, very closely matched.
Jump ball. Who jumped highest after the debate? Clinton increased her lead. Obama held fairly steady, while Edwards lost support. The debate got Bill Richardson into the game. His support has reached double digits.
Clinton impressed Democrats by taking charge.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: The differences among us are minor. The differences between us and the Republicans are major.
SCHNEIDER: Asked which candidate is the strongest leader, Democrats picked Clinton hands down. None of the guys even came close.
But can she be elected? Democrats think so. They see Clinton as the candidate with the best chance of beating the Republican next year.
But do Democrats think she's likable? Not so much. Clinton runs third on likability. Obama comes across as most likable.
Here's the way he answered a question about making English the official language.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), ILLINOIS: When we get distracted by those kinds of questions, I think we do a disservice to the American people.
SCHNEIDER: Edwards may have lost points because he criticized other Democrats.
JOHN EDWARDS, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Senator Clinton and Senator Obama did not say anything about how they were going to vote until they appeared on the floor of the Senate, voted. They were among the last people to vote.
SCHNEIDER: Richardson may have gained points because he sounded firm and decisive.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: First day as president, I would shut down Guantanamo. I would shut down Abu Ghraib and secret prisons.
SCHNEIDER: The key factor behind Clinton's lead? Women. Clinton leads Obama by 2:1 among Democratic women. Among Democratic men, Clinton and Obama are just about tied.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER: Among Democrats, the war in Iraq overwhelms all other issues. Fifty-seven percent of New Hampshire Democrats now say Iraq is the most important issue to their vote, and that's up from 39 percent in April. Even though she has drawn some criticism in the past from anti-war activists, Senator Clinton's lead is just as strong among Democrats whose top concern is Iraq as it is among Democrats concerned about other issues -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Bill, a question on this likability issue. I mean, it's such a subjective value. How does she overcome that? SCHNEIDER: Well, it's very hard. I mean, it's a matter of connecting with the voters, personality. Her husband always rated high on likability. She much less so.
There's a rule in American politics which she could come up against, namely that Americans are reluctant to vote for people they don't really like. She's going to have to figure out how, somehow, to win over the American people. Because we know Republicans don't particularly care for Senator Clinton, and here's some evidence that Democrats don't find her particularly likable either.
PILGRIM: Unbelievable. Thanks very much, Bill Schneider.
Now, President Bush will make a rare visit to Capitol Hill tomorrow. He's about to meet with GOP senators in a new attempt to move his immigration compromise forward. One Democrat who opposed the legislation is Senator Claire McCaskill. She joins me now. Thanks for being with us.
SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), MISSOURI: Thank you for having me.
PILGRIM: You know, the president goes to talk with Republicans tomorrow, conservatives who oppose the bill.
Now, this White House says that the bill -- the stalled bill is doable. It's a temporary setback. They're basically denying that this is dead. They say it's alive and well.
Let's listen to what President Bush had to say about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And tomorrow, I'll be going to the Senate to talk about a way forward on the piece of legislation. It's important that we address this issue now. And I -- I believe we can get it done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PILGRIM: One of the bill's architects, Republican Jon Kyl, says that the Senate can still pass this by July 4th. What is your view?
MCCASKILL: I don't think that's likely. I think for the -- for the president to get the number of votes, he'd have to get in the Republican Party to get this bill across the finish line, is really a stretch. And there are some of us who, on the Democratic side, who feel very strongly that this is not the right way to go about this problem.
This is very similar to what President Reagan did in 1986, when he said, well, we're going to go after the employers after we do this amnesty, and we're never going to have this problem again.
Well, that never happened. And employers still in this country can hire illegal immigrants without any fear that they will really be held accountable under the law. And frankly, Kitty, until we do that, we're never going to get a handle on this problem. It has very little to do with legislation.
PILGRIM: You know, you are very big with this enforcement with the employers issue. You had an amendment which would deny companies who employ illegal aliens from government contracts. What is the status of your amendment, Senator McCaskill?
MCCASKILL: Well, it was not put on the bill. But, frankly, I don't think the bill is going to end up passing, so I don't know that that's as important.
What really needs to happen is, you know, Attorney General Gonzales survived a no-confidence vote on the Senate just now. What really needs to happen is President Bush, when he comes to the Senate, he should instead be saying, "I have instructed the Department of Justice to meaningfully go after employers in this country."
We just had a -- a raid on a chicken processing plant in Missouri. They arrested 136 illegal immigrants. Not a word about the employer.
We can deter the crime of hiring illegal immigrants if we go after the employers that are doing it, and then we take away the magnet that are drawing these people across the border to try to feed their families.
PILGRIM: Let's talk about the guest worker program, which is what you saw, the whole draw of this. You voted to cut the guest worker program to 200,000 workers a year and sunset the guest worker program after five years. If that provision isn't in, do you think that this bill is doable at all?
MCCASKILL: I don't know that it is. And frankly, my view on the guest worker program is very simple. As a former auditor, you don't grow a program that's behaving incompetently. You starve it. Right now, as many as 4 million of the 12 million immigrants that are here illegally in this country came here under a legal pretense of the guest worker program or other type of program. And we're not keeping track of them.
And so until that department of government can demonstrate that they can competently run that program, we should not be growing that program; we should be shrinking it.
PILGRIM: Well, that logic is inescapable. Thanks very much for being on the program, Senator Claire McCaskill.
MCCASKILL: Thank you.
PILGRIM: Thank you.
Still ahead, we'll be joined by the president of one of the largest locals of the National Border Patrol.
And also coming up, from California to Florida, some of the worst drought conditions in years. We'll have a special report.
Also, shuttle astronauts make repairs on the International Space Station. Will astronauts also fix the damaged shuttle? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: Parts of the United States are facing the worst drought since the 1930s. And the drought is spreading from coast to coast, from Southern California to Florida. Communities are experiencing extremely dry conditions, threatening agriculture and water supplies. Casey Wian reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A plea from the mayor of Los Angeles.
MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, LOS ANGELES: Today, I'm asking every Angelino to reduce their water consumption by 10 percent.
WIAN: And a prayer from the governor of Georgia. Sonny Perdue declared June 11th a day of prayer for rain and relief from a devastating drought.
GOV. SONNY PERDUE (R), GEORGIA: God is a God of mercy, a God of grace, and he uses obviously weather many times to influence the affairs of men.
WIAN: The National Drought Monitor shows dry conditions spreading and intensifying in recent weeks. Drought is now present in about a third of the United States. Los Angeles has received just four inches of rain since last July, the driest year in more than a century.
VILLARAIGOSA: We could be facing a potentially very hot summer. The convergence of no rainfall and no snow melt and a very hot summer is a perfect storm.
WIAN: In Florida, Lake Okeechobee is dry and partly on fire, and the southeast is suffering its worst drought in more than 50 years. In Nevada, officials warn Lake Mead could be dry in 10 years, endangering water supplies in three states. And in California, wildfire season arrived months ahead of schedule. Twenty-three counties are already eligible for federal disaster assistance.
BRAD RIPPEY, METEOROLOGIST, USDA: A lot of the West is going to be facing a situation where there's not much water to use for irrigation and other purposes this summer. We're going to go into late summer and fall with a water supply situation that could reach crisis levels in some basins in the West.
WIAN: The federal government is trying to help. Congress recently passed $25 million in emergency drought relief for agriculture.
SEN. HARRY REID (D), NEVADA: We are able to finally, after all the many years, get drought relief, disaster relief for farmers and ranchers. WIAN: Forecasts for the summer are not encouraging. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts the drought will either persist or intensify in most areas, and spread to others.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: For the southeast, federal weather officials say the best hope for an end to the drought may be the upcoming hurricane season, Kitty.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much, Casey Wian.
And this is the driest spring of the southeast since record- keeping began in 1895.
Astronauts on the International Space Station are studying climate change here on Earth, and tonight, astronauts from the Space Shuttle Atlantis are continuing their first spacewalk to add new components to the station. NASA engineers are also studying a tear in the thermal blanket on the shuttle and they are trying to determine what, if anything, should be done to repair the damage.
Now, space correspondent Miles O'Brien joins me now with the very latest, and Miles, what are the astronauts doing right now?
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kitty, they're two hours and 40 minutes into their six and a half hour spacewalk. And essentially, what they're doing is they're taking this 15-ton, $360 million truss and solar array and removing the shipping crate, essentially, and attaching all the electrical items that will make it work and will provide additional power to the space station.
There you see, on the lower part of the screen, you see Danny Olivas. He's one of the two spacewalkers up there, the veteran Jim "J.R." Reilly with him. And so far, they're about 30 minutes ahead of their timeline.
They got out of the airlock late. There you see Jim Reilly, as he's doing his connector work. Talk about high-flying electrical contractors.
But in any case, they were an hour behind, because this heavy piece made the station asymmetric. You know, even though there's no weight in space, there's mass, and the station couldn't keep itself positioned toward the sun properly, so they had to kind of fire some thrusters to get that going.
So far, so good. If all goes well, they'll deploy those huge solar arrays, 210-foot wingspan tip to tip -- it's a beautiful sight -- tomorrow.
PILGRIM: That is beautiful. What about this tear in the blanket? How problematic is this?
O'BRIEN: Well, this is something that they've been focusing on today. The meeting just broke up, I'm told, with the mission managers in Houston.
We're talking about a tear in a blanket which protects this part of the shuttle. This is -- they call this is the orbital maneuvering system. It's just a fancy name for a rocket that provides major navigation changes in space.
Right up in this location, there's a little bit of a tear.
I point out this location, because you need to know that that's one of the cooler places, relatively, when the shuttle comes back from space. Where the tile is black on the leading edge, it can get to 3,000 degrees. At this location, 700 to 1,000 degrees. Still a fair amount of temperature.
Now, what is protecting it is a blanket like this. Let's go -- we can show you the gash and then I'll explain to you what...
PILGRIM: Looks like a normal quilt. What is...
O'BRIEN: It is. It's made of silica and woven glass. You can feel it here. And what happened was, as the shuttle was rising towards space, in the super sonic airflow, somehow the air caught that edge, and started peeling it away.
So there's two things they're considering. How much damage would the heat do as it is, and could it get bigger as they come back? As you can see, when this thing peels up, it kind of has a little memory to it and it stays there.
So I'm told it really has been decided -- they're going to announce it at 8:00 Eastern time -- to have the spacewalkers, either at the end of their third spacewalk or in an additional one, go and tuck in the blanky.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much, Miles O'Brien.
O'BRIEN: You're welcome. All right.
PILGRIM: Coming up, communist China rapidly building up its military. There are startling revelations about how Beijing may use its troops. We'll have a special report.
Also, a representative of more than 2,500 Border Patrol agents will be here. Edward Tuffly says the current immigration bill would be a repeat of mistakes of 1986 and leave our borders unprotected. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: A troubling warning about the rising military threat from communist China. The RAND Corporation says China is rapidly developing a first-strike capability against the United States, and it means Beijing could possibly defeat American forces in battle for the Taiwan Strait.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PILGRIM (voice-over): China is becoming a powerhouse. Economic domination is well under way. As Chinese products flood world markets, China's trade surplus is up more than 80 percent in the first five months of the year.
But the real worry is China's growing military dominance in the East Asia region.
PETER BROOKES, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: It plans to be not only a regional player, but also a global player. It has the world's fourth largest economy today. It has the world's third largest defense budget, and this year announced a decision to increase its defense budget 18 percent.
PILGRIM: A recent RAND Corporation report describes just what China might try to achieve with those growing numbers. It describes the Chinese military strategy as, quote, "gaining mastery by striking first at U.S. vulnerabilities."
"Some Chinese strategists calculate that the perceived U.S. aversion to casualties might be exploited by delivering a sudden blow aimed at causing a large number of U.S. military casualties, sowing doubt and discontent among the U.S. population."
The report also talks about the U.S. military reliance on technology. China would target computer systems based in the United States, and space communications, with the goal of jamming U.S. military information systems to stop the deployment of American forces.
BROOKES: We are very busy, obviously, in the Middle East with the issue of Iraq and Afghanistan and Iran, but the fact of the matter is, is that no country or issue will shape this century for good or bad more than the rise of China.
PILGRIM: The report concludes the net result of these effects could be that the United States would actually be defeated in the conflict with China, noting the U.S. military would not be destroyed, but the United States could lose all power in the Pacific region.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: The Pentagon is also warning about communist China's huge military build-up. Now, the Pentagon last month said China could overturn the balance of power in the whole of Asia.
Coming up at the top of the hour, "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Kitty.
Arming the enemy. U.S. commanders making a stunning turnaround, making plans to arm Iraqi militia groups who once fought against them. Wise move or desperate strategy?
Also, murder over religion and love. A father kills his daughter for dating a young man from a different faith. Now, her message from the grave.
And back in the spotlight. The former secretary of state, Colin Powell, talking with some of the '08 presidential candidates. What's his advice for them? All that coming up right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much, Wolf.
A reminder now: Do vote in tonight's poll, and here's the question. Is the Georgia attorney general being overzealous in continuing the prosecution of Genarlow Wilson? Yes or no. Cast your vote at loudobbs.com. We'll bring you the results in just a few minutes.
Border Patrol agents are on the front lines in the battle to secure our borders. Local 2544 of the National Patrol Council represents 2,600 of those agents working in Arizona. The president of Local 2544, Edward Tuffly, is a very vocal opponent of amnesty for illegal aliens. Edward Tuffly joins us now from Tucson, Arizona. Thank you for being with us, sir.
EDWARD TUFFLY, PRESIDENT, LOCAL 2544: Hi, Kitty. Glad to be here.
PILGRIM: You know, your union endorsed Senator Jon Kyl in the last election, and now Senator Kyl is one of the architects of the immigration compromise, which is now stalled. Tell us a little bit about how you feel about Senator Kyl. You wrote a letter just recently to his office.
TUFFLY: I did. We sent Senator Kyl a letter about two weeks ago. And we endorsed Senator Kyl. He was actually the first endorsement that this local has ever made in 40-plus years that we've been around. The clear promise from him that he would be against amnesty for illegal aliens. He was -- we made that endorsement. The elections were in November. It was a very close election.
Soon after that, Senator Kyl evidently began work on this bill. We had no input. We didn't know it was coming. And the first we found out about it was when they made the public announcements. So we felt betrayed by Senator Kyl. He had not kept his promises to us.
PILGRIM: Let me quote a bit from your letter. And we can show this to our viewers also. You wrote -- "We would like any politician, just once, to explain to us why we risk our lives to keep people out of this country when the same people we're trying to keep out will be legalized anyway after they get by. Let's be clear, most of them do get by us, and we are basically destined to fail before we ever get started."
You were a Border Patrol agent during the 1986 amnesty, which granted citizenship to around 3 million illegal aliens. How do you feel about the current immigration legislation, whether it passes or not? How do you feel about even this debate happening?
TUFFLY: Well, I mean, I think it's a fair question, Kitty, and it deserves an answer. We have yet to receive an answer from anyone on that.
But it makes us wonder, what are we doing down there enforcing these laws? We have agents who get shot at. We have agents who get killed down there. And yet everybody that gets by us is going to get legalized.
I saw this happen in 1986, where they promised tough enforcement after this amnesty program, and the tough enforcement never came around. The amnesty -- as a matter of fact, from that 1986 amnesty program, they're still adjudicating thousands of applications. They haven't even finished adjudicating all those applications, yet now we're going to take on another 12 to 20 million.
And what I really find ironic about all this is our own chief patrol agent has stated publicly that it's going to take six years to secure the border. So if we legalize 12 to 20 million people now, then what do we do with the millions that come in between now and six years from now, when he says the border is going to be secured? Do we legalize all of them as well? And it just further explains what our question is.
PILGRIM: One of the things that you really have a beef about -- and it seems like a sideline but it really isn't -- is the sponsorship -- Border Patrol's decision to sponsorship NASCAR racing, $950,000. You claim that Border Patrol agents don't have enough vehicles to actually do the job, much less sponsor NASCAR. What do you think should be done about that?
TUFFLY: Well, I question what in the world are we doing spending $1 million to sponsor a NASCAR team? You know, I like NASCAR. A lot of people like NASCAR, but is that money well-spent when our agents are out there driving vehicles that are completely worn out? It just makes absolutely no sense at all, to spend $1 million on a NASCAR team when we don't have the resources we need to do our job. I mean, our two-way radios are outdated. Our vehicles are outdated. Much of our infrastructure is outdated, including some of our stations. We have a station down in Naco built for about 40 agents, and they're currently running between 300 and 400 agents out of there.
It doesn't make any sense to us. And we haven't received an explanation on that. We assume they're doing it for recruiting purposes, but what's the trade-off? I mean, we could have purchased 25 or 30 patrol vehicles with that money, and we desperately need those vehicles, so why are we sponsoring a NASCAR team?
PILGRIM: You illustrate this point very well, I think, with your example.
Thanks very much for being with us, Edward Tuffly, president, Local 2544 National Border Patrol Council. Thank you, sir.
Still ahead, the results of tonight's poll. More of your thoughts. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PILGRIM: Now, the results of tonight's poll: 92 percent of you think the attorney -- Georgia attorney general is being overzealous in continuing the prosecution of Genarlow Wilson.
Time now for some more of your thoughts. MK in Alabama -- "I would like any politician who's in favor of the shamnesty bill to answer one simple question: Why should we believe that you will enforce border security now when you've never done it before?"
Charles in North Carolina -- "Lou, did you send some hearing aids to the U.S. Senate? It appears some of them heard the people for once."
And Rhoda in California -- "Lou, I believe your journalism and efforts are a large factor in why the amnesty bill has not passed. Americans have a lot of knowledge from their firsthand experience living with the downside of illegal immigration, but we also need a truthful advocate in the media."
And finally, Mort in California -- "Lou, if you drive illegally, they will take your drivers license away. If you are here illegally, they want to give you one. Now, who is in charge?"
We love hearing from you. Send us your thoughts at loudobbs.com.
Thanks for being with us tonight. Please join us tomorrow. For all of us here, thanks for watching. Good night from New York. "THE SITUATION ROOM" starts right now with Wolf Blitzer -- Wolf.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
