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Lame Duck Congress Cuts Homeland Security Deal
Aired November 13, 2002 - 13:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: What a difference an election makes. On the first day of its lame-duck session, Congress cuts a deal on the long- stalled legislation to create a homeland security department and that compromise is now on the fast track to passage.
Our congressional correspondent Jonathan Karl, live from Capitol Hill. Like you say, it's amazing what an election does to a frame of mind.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's incredible. And fast track, indeed. As a matter of fact, the House is expected to vote on the homeland security bill, possibly within the hour. But certainly, today, a bill that will pass in the House will pass with a lot of Democratic support.
But Marty, Democrats are not united in supporting this. I just spoke to Nancy Pelosi, who is expected to be elected tomorrow as the new Democratic leader in the House. And less than an hour away from this vote being scheduled, she still didn't know if she was going to support it and still had questions. She said she had not made up her mind yet.
Meanwhile, over on the Senate side, that's where this thing had been bogged down for months and months and months before the election. Senator Trent Lott, as early as this week, beginning of this week, said that he actually would like to see the vote on homeland security take place after the first of the year, when the Republicans formally take charge and the new senators are elected and actually sworn in. But Trent Lott said that he took his marching orders from the president on this one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATOR TRENT LOTT (R-MS), MAJORITY LEADER: A lot of people -- a lot of us were thinking, oh, we'll hit the ground very quickly, we'll be gone. The president said, no, homeland security was not just about an election, homeland security is about security of the people here at home. We're going to do this. You should not leave town. And, you know, we said, "Yes, Mr. President," said, "You're right, and we're going to get it done."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN KARL, CNN REPORTER: So the Republicans struck a deal with just the two named Democrats, moderate Democrats, John Breaux and Ben Nelson and one liberal Republican, Lincoln Chafey. They had all been on the Democratic side before on this. They're now they're with the Republicans. So that means the Republicans have more than 50 votes. That vote in the Senate is expected to happen by the end of the week. Possibly, it could go until next week. But whenever it comes, it's expected to pass and, actually, it'll probably pass by a wide margin, despite the fact that the Democratic leadership does not like this compromise. They still believe those 170,000 employees of this new department of homeland security will not be adequately protected in terms of their labor rights, so people like Tom Daschle and Ted Kennedy are not comfortable with this compromise, but they can't do much to stop it at this point because, as you said, it's after the election. This was, clearly, a pivotal issue in the election and Republicans have the momentum here, especially on this issue -- Marty.
SAVIDGE: Democrats won't be happy, but the president will. Jonathan Karl, live from Capitol Hill, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 13, 2002 - 13:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: What a difference an election makes. On the first day of its lame-duck session, Congress cuts a deal on the long- stalled legislation to create a homeland security department and that compromise is now on the fast track to passage.
Our congressional correspondent Jonathan Karl, live from Capitol Hill. Like you say, it's amazing what an election does to a frame of mind.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's incredible. And fast track, indeed. As a matter of fact, the House is expected to vote on the homeland security bill, possibly within the hour. But certainly, today, a bill that will pass in the House will pass with a lot of Democratic support.
But Marty, Democrats are not united in supporting this. I just spoke to Nancy Pelosi, who is expected to be elected tomorrow as the new Democratic leader in the House. And less than an hour away from this vote being scheduled, she still didn't know if she was going to support it and still had questions. She said she had not made up her mind yet.
Meanwhile, over on the Senate side, that's where this thing had been bogged down for months and months and months before the election. Senator Trent Lott, as early as this week, beginning of this week, said that he actually would like to see the vote on homeland security take place after the first of the year, when the Republicans formally take charge and the new senators are elected and actually sworn in. But Trent Lott said that he took his marching orders from the president on this one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATOR TRENT LOTT (R-MS), MAJORITY LEADER: A lot of people -- a lot of us were thinking, oh, we'll hit the ground very quickly, we'll be gone. The president said, no, homeland security was not just about an election, homeland security is about security of the people here at home. We're going to do this. You should not leave town. And, you know, we said, "Yes, Mr. President," said, "You're right, and we're going to get it done."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN KARL, CNN REPORTER: So the Republicans struck a deal with just the two named Democrats, moderate Democrats, John Breaux and Ben Nelson and one liberal Republican, Lincoln Chafey. They had all been on the Democratic side before on this. They're now they're with the Republicans. So that means the Republicans have more than 50 votes. That vote in the Senate is expected to happen by the end of the week. Possibly, it could go until next week. But whenever it comes, it's expected to pass and, actually, it'll probably pass by a wide margin, despite the fact that the Democratic leadership does not like this compromise. They still believe those 170,000 employees of this new department of homeland security will not be adequately protected in terms of their labor rights, so people like Tom Daschle and Ted Kennedy are not comfortable with this compromise, but they can't do much to stop it at this point because, as you said, it's after the election. This was, clearly, a pivotal issue in the election and Republicans have the momentum here, especially on this issue -- Marty.
SAVIDGE: Democrats won't be happy, but the president will. Jonathan Karl, live from Capitol Hill, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
