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Lou Dobbs Tonight
President Bush Vetoes Stem Cell Bill on Federal Funding; Congress Poll Plunge; Amnesty Backlash; Detroit Public Schools Struggling; Senators Weigh in on Immigration Reform; Mexican Truck Pilot Program Moves Ahead Despite Congressional Concern; New Passport Requirements Delayed Once Again
Aired June 20, 2007 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU DOBBS, HOST: Tonight, the national crisis in our nation's public school system, a system that's failing an entire generation of our students. Ten of this country's largest cities will graduate fewer than half their students. Detroit will graduate only a quarter of their students.
We'll have a special report. The mayor of Detroit among our guests here tonight.
Also, voters have had a belly full of this Congress, all five months of it. A new opinion poll says Congress' approval rating has plummeted. Believe it or not, it's lower than the president's.
And more political theatrics on Capitol Hill on the issue of so- called comprehensive immigration legislation. Pro-amnesty senators insist on putting the interests of 12 to 20 million illegal aliens ahead of the interests of their constituents. Two leading opponents in the Senate of that grand bargain, Senator Jim DeMint and Senator Jeff Sessions, also among our guests.
All of that, all of the day's news, and much more straight ahead here tonight.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT, news, debate and opinion for Wednesday, June 20th.
Live from New York, Lou Dobbs.
DOBBS: Good evening, everybody.
We begin tonight with a new showdown between the president and the Democratically-controlled Congress. President Bush today vetoed legislation that would have expanded federal funding for stem cell research. President Bush said the destruction of human life in the hopes of saving human life is unethical. Congressional Democrats tonight say they will try to override the veto.
Ed Henry reports now from the White House -- Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Lou, Democrats in the Senate tonight think they're just one vote short of overriding that veto. They'll have a steeper climb in the House. But the broader issue is that this veto reveals a president digging in deeper and deeper.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY (voice over): Kicking off what may be a flurry of vetoes in his final days, the president rejected a bill increasing federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If this legislation became law it would compel American taxpayers for the first time in our history to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos.
HENRY: Democrats charged the real motive is political payback to conservatives at the expense of millions of Americans suffering from diseases like Alzheimer's.
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is just one example of how the president puts ideology before science, politics before the needs of our families. Just one more example of how out of touch with reality he and his party have become.
HENRY: Despite the criticism, a president who has only vetoed a total of three bills will bull ahead with a series of vetoes in coming days, especially on spending bills to please his base.
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He certainly will not hesitate to use the veto.
HENRY: Mr. Bush did hesitate to use his veto pen for six years because he got his way with the Republican Congress, though now he needs a weapon to blunt Democrats.
SNOW: The ball really lies in the court of those in Congress who have to decide, is it better for them to have a confrontation and have a bill fail, or is it better for them to work through perhaps a slightly more expanded collegial process and have a bill that can be signed for which they can take credit?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: So this is really just a prelude to a much broader veto showdown. This president potentially on a collision course with Democrats on a whole range of issues ranging from spending, to energy, maybe even health care as well, raising questions about whether very much will actually get done in the next year and a half -- Lou.
DOBBS: Ed, thank you.
Ed Henry from the White House.
The president's approval rating according to the latest polls averages just about 32 percent. But Congress' approval rating is even lower. A new Gallup poll shows the public's faith in this Congress has plunged since January.
Kitty Pilgrim has our report. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Only one in four Americans thinks Congress is doing a good job. And the confidence rating in Congress as an institution is plunging to an all time low, 14 percent.
FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP ORGANIZATION: It's the lowest level of confidence that we have ever measured in Congress for the decades that we have been doing this particular measure here at Gallup.
PILGRIM: The last session of Congress, the 109th, labeled the "do-nothing Congress," spent the least amount of time on the job in Washington since Harry Truman's campaign against the original do- nothing Congress in 1948.
Democrats swept back into power in January of this year, but the 110th Congress approval ratings have fallen lower, from 35 percent to 24 percent. Perhaps a measure of how much legislation has been actually enacted.
CHRISTOPHER ARTERTON, GWU SCHOOL OF POLITICAL MGMT.: There were huge expectations built up during the 2006 campaign that if the Democrats came in, they would make major changes. And now we're down into the reality, where some of those changes cannot be made without the agreement of the president. So I think there is a disappointment factor that has set in.
PILGRIM: Three-quarters of Americans polled say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time. The highest level of dissatisfaction since the recession of 1992.
The war in Iraq, a continuing source of frustration.
STEPHEN HESS, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Each community is starting to feel it. Somebody gets their National Guard extended. Somebody gets killed in your neighborhood. And you all go into mourning. I think it is really getting to the American people.
PILGRIM: Also, congressional gridlock on such issues as immigration, trade policy, education costs and health care feed into the low approval ratings.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Now, one of the other big negatives, America's nervousness about the economy and what Washington is doing about it. Higher energy costs are eroding the general well-being, and as one expert put it, gas prices are the one expense you're reminded of every time you get into your car -- Lou.
DOBBS: And the idea that this Congress talking about ethics and rolling back the influence of lobbyists and also, of course, earmarks, this Congress is behaving just like the congresses before. Certainly not helping that approval rating in any way. Kitty, thank you very much.
Kitty Pilgrim.
Congress' reputation also suffers from the political theatrics surrounding the president and Senator McCain and Senator Kennedy's so- called comprehensive immigration legislation. Pro-amnesty senators insist on ignoring the will of the people. They are continuing to demand amnesty. Senate Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid today, in fact, said the grand compromise on illegal immigration will not return to the Senate floor until now next Tuesday at the earliest.
One of the top Republican grand bargainers, Senator Trent Lott, is now facing a firestorm of protests after his criticism of opponents of amnesty. Senator Lott said talk radio hosts who "don't even know what is in the bill" are trying to kill that legislation. Talk radio hosts say Senator Lott's remarks are inflammatory and insulting.
Dana Bash reports from Capitol Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): You might call this Senate office ground zero of the internal Republican war over immigration.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator Lott's office.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator Lott's office.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator Lott's office.
BASH: GOP Senator Trent Lott is getting bombarded with angry calls spurred by fellow conservatives.
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: How are we going to deal with Trent Lott? What are we going to do about him?
BASH: Talk radio hosts are lashing out at Lott for calling them a problem in the immigration debate that we "have to deal with".
MICHAEL SAVAGE, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Trent Lott saying today that talk radio is running America and we have to deal with that problem is gangsterism. It sounds like something out of "The Sopranos".
BASH: His jab at talk radio hosts for railing against immigration was just one example of an increasingly outspoken Trent Lott.
SEN. TRENT LOTT (R), MINORITY WHIP: Are we men or mice? Are we going to slither away from this issue and hope for some epiphany to happen?
BASH: Lott was thrown out as majority leader four and a half years ago... LOTT: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him.
BASH: ... after making what appeared to be a racially insensitive remark.
Now with his resurrection as the number two Senate Republican, colleagues say he feels more free to speak out on divisive issues like immigration.
DAVID CRANE, FMR. LOTT AIDE: Everyone knows that Senator Lott -- can recognize that he feels someone liberated to win back, if you will, in many ways the support of his Republican peers and to send back into leadership. He's in a different place than other people are right now.
BASH: Just like other Republicans who support an immigration compromise, he's getting attacked back home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why is Senator Trent Lott selling out Mississippi in favor of illegal aliens?
BASH: But GOP colleagues say Lott's skin has thickened from his political scars, and he fights back knowing full well it makes him the target of conservative ire.
LOTT: I would say to my constituents, do you no faith in me after 35 years? That I'm just going to buy a pig in a poke here?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: Obviously Senator Lott would prefer not to be taking all of these conservative harpoons on immigration. But it is a role that he seems to be comfortable with.
And Lou, the fact that he is getting all of this attention and the anger is being focused on him from the conservatives, some other Republicans who support this immigration bill who are more politically vulnerable, they say the fact that they're focusing on him means they're focusing less on them -- Lou.
DOBBS: Well, if I may, Dana, that sounds like a very large dose of wishful thinking on their part.
In point of fact, Senator Lott sounds more like an elitist suggesting that his ignorant constituents put their faith in him rather than their own lying eyes, and apparently their minds. Perhaps the epiphany that he was discussing on the floor is something that will await the good senator.
By the way, he did suggest, did he not, Dana, that all of those troublesome amendments would just be pitched before going to the rotunda for conference?
BASH: That might have been one of the things that he said in one of his lengthy gaggles with us reporters in the hallway here. Bottom line is, you're right, he has been very aggressive in public and behind closed doors, Lou, in making it clear that he believes that Republicans or Democrats need to just essentially make -- make compromises on these amendments in order to get immigration reform through the Senate.
DOBBS: Compromises that he apparently -- in the form of amendments -- that he would simply pitch, as he put it.
Dana, thank you very much.
Dana Bash from Capitol Hill.
Coming up here tonight, two leading opponents of the Senate's amnesty legislation, Senator Jim DeMint and Senator Jeff Sessions among our guests.
Also tonight, a top official in Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign facing federal drug charges. We'll have that story.
Our public education system failing an entire generation of our students. Live reports tonight from Los Angeles and Detroit. I'll be talking with the mayor of Detroit.
And the White House still pushing hard for amnesty, of course. Still failing to distinguish, interestingly enough, between legal and illegal immigration.
We'll show you what they're doing. And you will believe it. Believe me.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Well, former House speaker Newt Gingrich is considering a run for the presidency and blasting now the Senate's proposed immigration legislation in a new Internet video posted on YouTube. Gingrich saying passage of that legislation threatens our national security.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH, FMR. HOUSE SPEAKER: Instead of protecting the borders, the new McCain-Kennedy immigration plan will put millions of people who are in our country illegally, including potential terrorists and gang members, on a path to U.S. citizenship.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Newt Gingrich says he will make a decision which he will announce this fall.
A new push by the White House today to further the amnesty agenda and blur the line between legal and illegal immigration. A report by the president's Council of Economic Advisers outlines what it considers to be, at least in rough terms, the economic impact of immigration. I said immigration, not illegal immigration. Interestingly, here are some of the council's key findings.
"On average, U.S. natives benefit from immigration. Immigrants tend to complement, not substitute for natives raising natives' productivity and income."
Skilled -- quoting again -- "Skilled immigrants are likely to be beneficial to natives. In addition to contributions to innovation, they have a significant fiscal impact."
But interestingly enough, that report -- and absolutely nowhere does it distinguish between legal and illegal immigration. In fact, the word "illegal" does not appear in the report's text at all. Except in the footnotes, of course. And there are so many qualifiers in the report, one wonders why they even bothered.
Let's take a look at some of your thoughts, which are considerably less ambiguous and certainly better drafted.
Terry in North Carolina sent this note about our Secure Borders First Act. "Peter King" -- one of the sponsors of that act -- "is on the right track. How many times do these people in Congress have to be told by the voters that the borders of this country have to be secured before anything else?"
Vern in North Carolina, "Lou, As a union member, I'm angered at the silence by big labor on this immigration bill. Not a peep coming from these people."
And Donald in Arizona said, "Dear Lou, I want to thank you for speaking for the American worker and the middle class. As a retired auto worker, it is sad to see the exporting of our jobs to foreign markets. Please keep up the good work. I'm changing my voting status to Independent."
We'll have more of your thoughts here later.
New concerns tonight that the Army is on the verge of the breaking point because of the stress of fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, extended tours. And more tours.
Many senators are simply outraged that our soldiers and Marines now serve combat tours of 15 months, compared with 12 months previously. Senator Jim Webb, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, wants to restrict combat deployments for our troops.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JIM WEBB (D), VIRGINIA: We are pushing our troops toward the breaking point in a way that is going to affect retention and also potentially has the additional situation of causing some pretty severe emotional stress on people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: The Pentagon says it's considering all options to ensure that combatant commanders have the troops they need to fight terrorists and insurgents. And, of course, one of those options is extending the length of tour and the number of tours.
That brings us to the subject of our poll tonight.
Do you agree with Senator Jim Webb that extended troop deployments are detrimental to our men and women serving in the military, and that a new strategy is needed?
We'd like to hear from you on this. Yes or no? Cast your vote at loudobbs.com. We'll have the results upcoming.
Next here, is New York mayor's Michael Bloomberg going to enter the race for president as an Independent? We'll hear what he has to say about that matter.
An unpleasant surprise for the Giuliani campaign. His South Carolina campaign chairman indicted on drug charges.
We'll have that story and a great deal more. We're coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: A top official in Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign in South Carolina has been indicted on federal cocaine charges. The official, Thomas Ravenel, is the South Carolina chairman of Giuliani's campaign. He's also treasurer of the state of South Carolina.
Rusty Dornin has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THOMAS RAVENEL, FMR. CHAIRMAN, RUDY GIULIANI CAMPAIGN, SOUTH CAROLINA: And it's a great honor, privilege and joy that I introduce to you...
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thomas Ravenel raised eyebrows when he signed on as campaign chairman for Rudy Giuliani in a state as ultra conservative as South Carolina. This week, a bigger shock.
The 44-year-old state treasurer was indicted on a charge of conspiring to possess cocaine with intent to distribute. Law enforcement officials allege that the millionaire real estate developer was buying cocaine for himself and his friends, even as he campaigned for treasurer.
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford suspended Ravenel from his state post, and Giuliani's campaign immediately announced that he had resigned.
Will there be a fallout here for Giuliani? Longtime political columnist Lee Bandy says South Carolina Republicans may object more to Giuliani's choices on social issues than his choice of campaign chairman. LEE BANDY, POLITICAL COLUMNIST, "THE STATE": Ravenel's indictment may have some impact on the campaign, on Rudy's campaign. But again, I don't think it's going to have that much of an impact, I really don't.
DORNIN: Giuliani has done well in South Carolina polls so far. A surprise to some observers.
In Columbia, South Carolina's state capital, the headlines are blaring about the criminal case. At the Sunset restaurant there is not much table banter here about the impact on Giuliani's campaign.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It shouldn't affect my decision at all.
DORNIN (on camera): Would it affect your opinion of Giuliani?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not really.
DORNIN: Would you still -- would you vote for Giuliani?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a possibility.
DORNIN (voice over): But for South Carolinian Mary Ann Shapiro (ph), it's a deal-breaker.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But if you run with the dogs, you may be a dog. So regardless if the affiliation is the same, perception is everything. And I think it will hurt him.
DORNIN (on camera): Repeated calls to the Ravenel's attorney have gone unanswered. Giuliani, at a campaign stop in Iowa, told reporters that he didn't know much about the case, but they had replaced Ravenel with Barry Wynn (ph). He's the former GOP chair in South Carolina.
Rusty Dornin, CNN, Columbia, South Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: And just one day after he quit the Republican Party, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg insists he will not be running for president in 2008. Mayor Bloomberg talked with reporters in New York after returning from California. The mayor switched to unaffiliated, or Independent, fueling speculation that he will run as a third party candidate.
But today the mayor said he will serve out his full term as mayor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), NEW YORK: It doesn't change my future aspirations. It's very flattering. And I think if -- my thought this morning when I was looking at it was I guess a little bit selfish. I thought, you know, I'm not running for president, and I'm going to be mayor for the next 925 days. (END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Well, we want to welcome the mayor to the ranks of the Independent in this country.
A new Quinnipiac poll of New York State voters shows Bloomberg is trailing his New York rivals for the presidency, both of them. Senator Hillary Clinton leading with 43 percent. Rudy Giuliani second at 29 percent. Bloomberg is third, not in the race at all, but still posting 16 percent.
The poll found Mayor Bloomberg pulls votes from both Clinton and Giuliani.
Mayor Bloomberg has repeatedly dismissed suggestions he's running for president, saying, "How likely is a 5'7" Jew from New York billionaire who is divorced and running as an Independent to become president of the United States?"
Well, it's an intriguing question to a lot of folks, particularly in New York and around the country who think he might be an interesting Independent candidate.
The most critical problem for many big city mayors, however, is the state of public education. New York is no exception.
Right now the public school system in this nation is failing an entire generation of our students. More than a million students will fail to graduate high school this year. Half our black and Hispanic male students are dropping out of our public high schools. In Los Angeles, the graduation rate rose during the 1990s, but now is in rapid decline.
Casey Wian has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA (D), LOS ANGELES: I'm standing here to say to my city of Los Angeles, our schools are in a state of crisis.
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The Los Angeles Unified School District is in such bad shape, that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa tried to do something no mayor has ever accomplished in California, take over his city's schools.
VILLARAIGOSA: A glancing review of the grim report card on the state of public education in Los Angeles should alert any parent to the urgency of this crisis.
WIAN: That report card includes a graduation rate that, according to the district's own calculations, has plunged for five consecutive years, from 74 percent in 2001 to 64 percent last year. Independent researchers say the dropout rate is even higher. That at least 40,000 students quitting each year. That's equivalent to the entire school district of Buffalo, New York. Some say education has suffered because of an emphasis on test scores to comply with the federal program No Child Left Behind.
A.J. DUFFY, PRESIDENT, UNITED TEACHERS: All of the elementary school teachers are now doing pretty much scripted program teaching in literacy and in math. There is very little, if any, instruction going on for science and social studies. There are large numbers of elementary schools that no longer have art or academic enrichment classes because everything is geared towards taking tests.
WIAN: Other problems facing the 727,000 student district include the fact that more than 40 percent of its students don't speak English well. Also, district officials say state property tax law limits their financial flexibility.
However, throwing money at the problem hasn't helped. The district's budget has jumped from about $8 billion in 2004 to $13 billion next year.
As for the mayor's plan to take control, the state legislature agreed, so did the governor, but an appeals court ruled against them. The mayor did win more clout when four allies were elected to the school board.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: For now, L.A. Unified's new superintendent, former Navy admiral David Brewer (ph), promises an aggressive transformation, including more parental involvement and a bureaucracy cutting- management shake-up -- Lou.
DOBBS: It's fascinating to hear the complaint from the teachers union that their teaching for the tests. I mean, that's pretty much standard in education, is that teachers have been teaching for tests, whether it be the standardized objective test that is administered by the federal government, the state system, whatever it may be. When we're dealing with issues like overcrowding, teacher pay, parental involvement, all of these contributing to the crisis, lack of discipline, what in the world are those people thinking about?
WIAN: Well, the teachers say that those tests are very, very narrow and they don't allow teachers to provide the broadest possible education for students -- Lou.
DOBBS: All right, Casey. The problem -- the problem is nothing less than a national crisis.
Thank you very much.
We're going to have more on this crisis in our what was once the great equalizer in this democratic society. We'll have a live report tonight from the city with the worst high school graduation rate in the entire country.
Also, new fears that dangerous trucks from Mexico could soon be free to be traveling anywhere in the United States despite the protest and disapproval of Congress.
New evidence of the Bush administration's sheer incompetence. Passport applications, nothing works, so change the rules. We'll be talking about that.
And I'll be talking with the mayor of Detroit about his efforts to save his city.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Our school system is failing a generation of students, and in Detroit, the crisis there is simply overwhelming. An Education Week report shows only a quarter of Detroit's public high school students are graduating.
Christine Romans has our report -- Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lou, that rumor getting a lot of attention here. The Education Week report putting the graduation rate here the lowest in the nation. The public schools here say it's not quite that bad, but everyone agrees, Lou, far too many kids here in Detroit are dropping out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (voice-over): There is little doubt Treandous Cuthbertson will graduate from high school, but if statistics hold true, anywhere from a third to three-quarters of his high school classmates won't graduate with him.
TREANDOUS CUTHBERTSON, DETROIT HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: Don't be a statistic. They tell us that all the time. That's one of the things I've grown to know. Do not become a statistic. Grow up and be somebody.
ROMANS: Treandous lives in a place where auto jobs are disappearing. Families and students are fleeing the public school system. And dropout and poverty rates are among the highest in the country.
Anthony Womack has been an educator here for 29 years. He says students today are distracted, and parental involvement in their children's lives is declining.
ANTHONY WOMACK, PRINCIPAL, CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL: In no uncertain terms, public schools have become the educator and the parent.
ROMANS: He'd like to see greater involvement from parents, but also pay for performance for teachers. And more funding for urban schools.
WOMACK: Money, financial state aid, that whole piece, is needed to make it work. ROMANS (on camera): According to the Census Bureau, Detroit has the highest poverty rate of the 20 largest American cities. And the state of Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, 6.9 percent.
(voice-over) From March to May this year, 28,700 Michigan jobs gone. As the manufacturing jobs disappear, so do opportunities and resources.
CINDY BROWN, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: Public institutions like schools have seen their tax bases decline, their revenues decline.
ROMANS: To compete in a global economy, our workers need education and skills. But our education system is not keeping up. Education Week says more than a million American high school seniors won't graduate this year.
CUTHERBERTSON: Are we going to make this planet a better planet? We all have to come up together, you know.
ROMANS: Christine Romans, CNN, Detroit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: As Christine just reported, Detroit's school system is in critical condition. What's being done to address the crisis?
Joining me now, Kwame Kilpatrick. He's the mayor of Detroit. Mayor Kilpatrick, himself a graduate of the Detroit public school system.
Mr. Mayor, good to have you with us.
KWAME KILPATRICK, MAYOR OF DETROIT: Thanks for having me, Lou.
DOBBS: The -- the -- what your students are facing, what your parents are facing, what the community of Detroit is facing is -- has to be extraordinarily painful.
Is there, first of all, in your judgment, enough attention being paid to this crisis, first in your city, the state, and the nation?
KILPATRICK: Well, absolutely not. I think that is very evident. The constant conversation on the federal level is about Afghanistan and Iraq and what we're doing with wars in the Middle East.
All you hear about when you hear about appropriations bills in Washington is how much is going to the war, billions of dollars. We don't even know now where $8 billion is.
And so no, not enough attention on the federal level or the state level. But our state is wrestling with the biggest transformation in our economy in the history of this state. As we, you know, diversify industry base and rush to change over from an automotive supplier base to now diverse industry. So no, not enough attention is being paid, and children are being forgotten.
DOBBS: The solution to this crisis, when one talks about -- and I know that the public school system in Detroit is arguing with the Education Week numbers, but it is also defying reason that, with all of the problems that beset Detroit, to even imagine, as the Department of Education in Michigan suggests, that Detroit is graduating something near the national average.
What can be done in your opinion? We're talking about children's lives. We're talking about every -- every month counts here. What can be done to turn this around for the young people in your schools in Detroit, in schools across this nation?
This is not something -- we have a five-year plan, a ten-year plan is so much poppycock.
KILPATRICK: Yes, yes. We need immediate national action, similar to the way that we went out and went into action, sprung into action in the Middle East. We need the same kind of national effort with our -- with American schools.
There's no reason why we're not coming in and diversifying how we teach children. We have jobs in Detroit: nursing jobs, computer technology jobs, jobs in many fields. But how do you move a family that's been in the plant for 20 years into that type of field? How do you change the way education is taught? How do you get fame (ph) schools here, high skilled schools?
We're building more houses in Detroit than we built in 50 years. We're building more streets. There are more vacant carpenter, plumbing, electrician positions in our city now than there have ever been before.
We built our last hotel, Lou, in 1989 before I took office. We're building seven hotels. But Detroiters are not building those hotels.
So there needs to be a national effort to match what's needed to L.A. to L.A., what's needed in Chicago to Chicago, and what's needed in Detroit to Detroit.
I don't argue with the numbers. I mean, sure, we think it is slightly higher, but this is a problem. It's a crisis. And we need America and the state to respond as such.
DOBBS: Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, we thank you very much for being with us. We wish you luck. We know it's a daunting challenge, and we know that you're putting everything you've got in your community will into solving this problem. We thank you very much, Mayor.
KILPATRICK: Can I -- can I say one more thing, Lou?
DOBBS: Surely. KILPATRICK: I think we also need a teachers' union. We've got to have a teachers' union work with us. No longer can we use excuses like we're teaching to the tests. Come on now. We have to teach our children and create a way to get them to where they need to be.
DOBBS: Yes, I couldn't agree with you more, Mr. Mayor. And I don't care whether it is a union, a school, Department of Education...
KILPATRICK: Exactly.
DOBBS: ... State Department. Come on, we're talking about kids' lives. We need to get -- take control of those schools and provide quality, successful public education. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor.
KILPATRICK: Absolutely. Thank you.
DOBBS: Coming up next, the Bush administration once again failing to protect our borders. It's easing passport rules for American travelers. Good news.
Oh, well, I guess it isn't good news. It's because the State Department, Department of Homeland Security are so incompetent they can't live up to the laws and regulations of the land. There's a lot new in that. There's also a lot old. We'll be telling you about both.
And coming up next, I'll be joined by senators Jeff Sessions and Jim DeMint. These two senators talking about their fight against amnesty and the absurdity of the legislative initiative in the United States Senate.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: The Bush administration and pro-amnesty senators continuing to push their grand compromise on illegal immigration, despite the wishes of the American people, their constituents.
But yesterday, several senators, including Jeff Sessions and Senator Jim DeMint, sent a letter to the president, calling upon him to enforce this nation's current immigration laws.
Joining us now, Senator Jeff Sessions and Senator Jim DeMint.
Gentlemen, good to have you with us. Have you heard back from the president or anyone in the White House about your suggestion?
SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: I don't think we've heard anything yet. I think the letter went off yesterday. But I think the letter emphasizes there's a lot of good laws out there not being enforced today. We need some more, but those are -- can make a real difference if they were actively pursued.
SEN. JIM DEMINT (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Lou, I hear more than anything else back home in South Carolina, just enforce our laws. Just do what you've already passed. I think people want us to earn their trust, and right now they don't trust the Senate or the Congress.
DOBBS: The announcement today that new passport rules are going to be ruled back. We just had the previous announcement in the State Department that those rules -- rule after rule is being rolled back. Passport applications now taking three to four months.
How in the world does the federal government, whether on the elective side that is Congress, or the president, or in the administrative side have any credibility at all? It's as if this government has simply -- the wheels have come off.
SESSIONS: I would just emphasize particularly that the U.S. visit exit system that was passed in 1996 required to be in place in 2005 and is still not in place.
And if you don't have the ability to catalog people when they exit the country, like you do when you -- at your workplace, then we don't have a system that will work at all. So that's a fundamental flaw, and this bill does not fix it.
DEMINT: Lou, the only thing the American people are sure of is that we're going to grant immediate amnesty. The rest is just a hope and a promise. And they really don't believe that the government is committed to securing our borders and to having the data system that would really have a good worker I.D. system in place.
DOBBS: The absurdities of this legislation is, you have both pointed out, and on the floor of the U.S. Senate, in your own work. They continue, they're compounded and yet we hear Senator Kennedy, we hear Senator McCain, we hear Senator Lott, others talk about -- this is the right thing to do, using the same language that was used 21 years ago, bring people out of the shadows.
The president puts forward $4.4 billion, he says, for border security. At what point does this charade become such a cheap sham that this White House and Senator Kennedy and Senator McCain are utterly embarrassed by it?
SESSIONS: Well, you know, it is a situation in which you can't -- they're selling an idea. The idea is a good idea. But when you read the bill, it doesn't get us there. The bill won't work.
Congressional Budget Office said it will only reduce illegal immigration by 13 percent. That's totally unacceptable.
DOBBS: And Senator DeMint, your colleague, Senator Lindsey Graham, pushing very hard for this, talking about what a -- idea it is. What are you -- what are the senators of South Carolina hearing from your constituents?
DEMINT: Well, our constituents are very clear. Over 90 percent, probably over 95 percent of all our calls and e-mails and letters are telling me to keep fighting to kill this bill. I mean, they see it as a much bigger issue than just immigration. They see it as a selling out of America, as some kind of betrayal. And it's really showing us how alienated so many people feel from this government and how much mistrust there is. This is a bad bill, and it's the wrong time to try to stuff it down America's throat.
DOBBS: Well, Senator Reid says he's going to do just that. We were initially led to believe, Senator Sessions, that the majority leader would bring this forward using Rule 14, the so-called clay pigeon approach, as part of the strategy in that, to get this bill underway. That was supposed to originally have happened either Monday night or Tuesday. Now we're told that perhaps next week.
What's going on? What are you being told?
SESSIONS: Well, they're planning it with the precision of the Normandy invasion if not more so. They have got every avenue covered to limit the number of minutes it will be debated, and they've conjured up this clay pigeon approach that, to my knowledge, has never been used before, at least to limit amendments.
DOBBS: Right.
SESSIONS: Sometimes people have used it to try to get amendments. But then the group has met. They picked the amendments that will be allowed to be voted on and, of course, the amendments that I've offered, I suspect the amendments Senator DeMint have offered are not going to be part of that group. So it's a railroad, I think, pretty surely.
DEMINT: Well...
DOBBS: Yes, Senator.
DEMINT: Lou, this debate is tearing America apart, the Republican Party apart. We're going to do everything we can to stop it, because it's unprecedented for a bill to go down three times and then keep bringing it back up.
They're using procedures that are never used in the Senate. And so something doesn't smell right here. And so I'm more convinced than ever that we've got to stop this bill.
DOBBS: Let me ask you, both, the final question here, are we going to see this president and this Democratic leadership in the Senate back off at all on this? Or are they going to drive it through? And if they do, will it prevail or fail?
SESSIONS: I believe the majority leader's made clear he's going to attempt to move this bill, but I think it's uncertain right now whether he'll have the votes to move it forward. Maybe Jim has a better idea.
DEMINT: Well, I hope your viewers will continue to call their senators and let them know what they think, because they need to hear from America right now. And this time America is right. DOBBS: Well, Americans tend to be right, in my humble opinion.
DEMINT: Yes.
DOBBS: Senator DeMint, thank you very much. Senator Sessions, thank you, sir.
SESSIONS: Thank you.
DOBBS: Gentlemen, thank you.
A reminder now to vote on our poll. Do you agree with Senator Jim Webb that extended troop deployments are detrimental to our men and women serving in the military and that a new strategy is needed? Yes or no. Please cast your vote at LouDobbs.com.
And by the way, while you're there, as Senator DeMint suggested, let your senators know how you feel about the so-called grand bargain on immigration legislation. Our web site provides an easy way for you to contact your congressman and senator if you need that. It's there to help you.
Coming up next, the Bush administration once again giving travelers a little more time to apply for those passports. And the reason has nothing to do with compassion, conservative compassion or compassionate conservatism. It's just another screwed up program on the part of the federal government and this administration.
And rising opposition to the Bush administration's plan to allow Mexican trucks on American highways. Why is this administration defying Congress? Well, we'll have the answer for you, next. Stay with us.
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DOBBS: Members of Congress, union heads, public safety advocates today criticizing the Bush administration's plan that would allow Mexican trucks on American highways. Congress thought it had blocked that plan. But the Department of Transportation says it's above all of that congressional nonsense, meeting all of the necessary requirements.
Lisa Sylvester has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Department of Transportation wants to grant Mexican trucks full access to U.S. highways. But U.S. lawmakers hope to put the brakes on that pilot program. At stake, U.S. jobs, highway safety, and national security.
REP. NANCY BOYDA (D), KANSAS: Even though Congress tries loudly and unambiguously rebuked the DOT's plans to open our border, they're moving forward full speed ahead.
SYLVESTER: A provision in the Iraq war spending bill laid out 22 lengthy conditions that the Department of Transportation had to meet before moving forward with the program.
But less than three weeks after the bill became law, the Transportation Department declared, "The agency believes the provision mandating that the demonstration project satisfy the requirements has already been satisfied."
Safety advocates and some lawmakers are accusing the Bush administration of ignoring the will of Congress.
JACKIE GILLAN, ADVOCATES FOR HIGHWAY AND AUTO SAFETY: The administration's actions are similar to giving a three-hour final exam to a student, having him or her finish it in only five minutes by marking the answer "C" to all the questions.
JOAN CLAYBROOK, PUBLIC CITIZEN: It's a farce. The whole purpose of it is just to open the border. And let the public be damned, because there's no basis for this.
SYLVESTER: The groups gave the Transportation Department "F's" for failing to have a database of the driving records of Mexican truckers operating in the United States, not requiring all Mexican trucks be inspected every time they cross the border, and the lack of a certified lab in Mexico capable of conducting drug testing of drivers.
The DOT's federal motor carrier safety administrator, John Hill, was not available for an interview, but in a statement reiterated, quote, "We continue to meet or exceed every condition required by law."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVESTER: The federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has opened up a new comment period. The public has until June 28 to weigh in. Also, the Department of Transportation's inspector general's office is scheduled to issue its own report on how well Mexican trucks could comply with U.S. standards -- Lou.
DOBBS: You mean that the -- this bunch of elitists and arrogant members of the Bush administration are actually going to permit the American public to have a period in which it might express something in the way of opinion?
SYLVESTER: They opened up that period, but, Lou, it's only 20 days.
DOBBS: Twenty days. You know, the Bush administration's idea of democracy and following law is really quite interesting. I have a feeling that historians will be dealing with that issue for decades and decades to come.
Perhaps Congress will respond to this administration's willfulness. We'll put it that way.
Lisa, thanks very much. Lisa Sylvester. The Bush administration once again delaying a new rule that requires U.S. citizens to present passports at border crossings. This is the second time, if you're counting. The second time in a month that the border protection initiative has been rolled back, because the administration says it just can't handle that growing backlog of passport applications.
What? You want government to actually work?
Jeanne Meserve has our report -- Jeanne.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lou, the tremendous backlog at passport offices is forcing a slower approach to security. Beginning on January 31, U.S. travelers entering the U.S. by land or sea from Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean will have to present a passport or some other government issued photo I.D. such as a driver's license, plus proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate.
This is more than the oral declaration that has been the requirement until now. But it's less than what the Department of Homeland Security wants, a special tamper resistant I.D.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says a phrased transition will give people more time to get the necessary documents and ease the current delays in getting passports.
Right now, 8,000 different documents can be used at land and sea borders, making it difficult for border inspectors to spot fakes and, Chertoff says, jeopardizing security.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Those who believe we should continue to allow 8,000 documents and oral declarations are playing with fire. They are gambling with the security of this country.
And while I want to make sure we transition into this in a deliberate way that is as convenient and flexible as possible, at the end of the day we cannot reverse course, and we cannot take the risk that people will come across the border using phony documents to do harm to Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: By next summer, the number of documents accepted at border crossings will be whittled down to about a dozen, all meeting government security requirements. Passports, of course, always acceptable, if you can get one in time.
The House has already voted to delay new travel document rules. Some members of Congress say all homeland security is doing is confusing the traveling public -- Lou.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: Jeanne Meserve reporting. And the homeland -- the Department of Homeland Security secretary apparently doesn't think it's perilous to the nation that we permit the -- an estimated million illegal aliens to cross the border every year.
This isn't, of course, the only incidence in which the Bush administration fails to follow through on initiatives. Just about 13 miles of that promised 150 miles of border fence have been constructed. Six years after, almost, the attacks of September 11, our borders remain still not secured, nor our ports.
And as we reported here tonight, more than a million of our students will fail to graduate from high school this year, despite something called the No Child Left Behind Act.
Coming up at the top of the hour, "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer -- Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Lou.
Amid the bloody conflict in the Middle East, the former president, Jimmy Carter, now suggesting it's partly America's fault. He calls certain U.S. actions -- and I'm quoting now -- criminal. I'll ask the former Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, about that. That's coming up.
Also a CNN exclusive. Secrets of the Secret Service. You're about to see some of the tools agents use to protect most powerful leader in the world.
And the actress Lucy Liu talks about some of the worst violence she's ever seen, intolerable situation she says all of us need to know about. Lucy Liu, a special UNICEF ambassador, will be here to talk about refugees and her cause.
All that, Lou, coming up here in "THE SITUATION ROOM".
DOBBS: Wolf, thank you very much.
And up next here, the results of our poll. Stay with us.
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DOBBS: Our poll, 96 percent of you agree with Senator Jim Webb that extended troop deployments are detrimental to our men and women serving in the military and that a new strategy is needed.
And now some more of your thoughts. Bruce in California: "With an education system like ours, I guess we won't be needing the 12 million illegal aliens to pick our lettuce anymore."
Nancy in New Jersey: "I'm married to an excellent high school history teacher who can't get a job teaching! The education system not only shortchanges the students, it's also failing those who want to teach them!" Thanks for being with us tonight. Please join us here tomorrow.
For all of us, thanks for watching. Good night from New York. "THE SITUATION ROOM" begins now with Wolf Blitzer -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks, Lou.
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