Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
Smart Calls on Congress to Pass Federal Amber Alert
Aired March 13, 2003 - 13:46 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: More now on the incredible story of Elizabeth Smart and her safe return to her family. If you were with us at the top of the hour, you heard her father, Ed Smart, and his joyous mood about the return of his daughter, but also his pleas to Capitol Hill to come up with a federal Amber alert. He really believes that that could have helped bring his daughter home sooner, and it could help save the lives of other children.
About that battle, we want to go to Capitol Hill and bring in our Jonathan Karl -- Jon, hello.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Daryn. How are you?
KAGAN: Doing good. Now, what we have here is -- it would seem like a no brainer. You have kids. You have politicians. Why has -- it sailed through the Senate. What is the problem in the House Judiciary here?
KARL: Well, you had an extraordinary moment there with Ed Smart making this a very personal crusade against the chairman of that Judiciary Committee, Jim Sensenbrenner. And what has happened here is the Senate passed unanimously last year a program funding a nationwide Amber alert program.
But over in the House, Jim Sensenbrenner had his own bill, which included funding for Amber alert, but all included other measures, including putting tougher penalties against those that commit crimes against children, and also providing some money for child abuse and child abduction prevention programs.
As a result, you had two different bills pass, and that means nothing passes, and what you heard from Ed Smart and what you have heard from others up here on Capitol Hill, including Senate Republicans, is a call on Jim Sensenbrenner and the Republicans in the House to go ahead and pass simply a stand-alone bill providing money for this Amber alert program.
Right now, it's dead locked. It was an extraordinarily personal attack on Jim Sensenbrenner you heard from Mr. Smart. He will answer that attack later this afternoon at 3:30 local time, Eastern time here. He's going to have a press conference making his case, which is, Yes, Amber alert is fine, but we need more. We wants to have this full bill, this more expansive and comprehensive bill passed.
KAGAN: Well, a couple questions here for you. You mentioned we're going to hear from Jim Sensenbrenner. Also understand we're going to hear from Kay Bailey Hutchison, one of the Senators who sponsored that, a fellow Republican, but she sponsored it on the Senate side, of course.
KARL: That's exactly right. We're going to hear from her in about 20 minutes. She has been echoing the criticism, not as harshly worded, but echoing the criticism of Ed Smart, saying that we need to pass this nationwide Amber alert bill immediately. Let's not get bogged down into other issues. Simply calling on the House, the House Republicans, her fellow Republicans, to pass a stand alone bill, providing the money for this Amber alert program. By the way, another thing that Jim Sensenbrenner points out is that about 38 states already have Amber alert programs, including, incidentally, the state of Utah.
KAGAN: It does, but looks like -- at this point Elizabeth Smart had traveled across state lines, and perhaps that would indeed have brought her home sooner. It will be interesting, nonetheless, to see the spin that the politicians put on this later this afternoon. Jon Karl on Capitol Hill, thank you.
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 March 13, 2003 - 13:46 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: More now on the incredible story of Elizabeth Smart and her safe return to her family. If you were with us at the top of the hour, you heard her father, Ed Smart, and his joyous mood about the return of his daughter, but also his pleas to Capitol Hill to come up with a federal Amber alert. He really believes that that could have helped bring his daughter home sooner, and it could help save the lives of other children.
About that battle, we want to go to Capitol Hill and bring in our Jonathan Karl -- Jon, hello.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Daryn. How are you?
KAGAN: Doing good. Now, what we have here is -- it would seem like a no brainer. You have kids. You have politicians. Why has -- it sailed through the Senate. What is the problem in the House Judiciary here?
KARL: Well, you had an extraordinary moment there with Ed Smart making this a very personal crusade against the chairman of that Judiciary Committee, Jim Sensenbrenner. And what has happened here is the Senate passed unanimously last year a program funding a nationwide Amber alert program.
But over in the House, Jim Sensenbrenner had his own bill, which included funding for Amber alert, but all included other measures, including putting tougher penalties against those that commit crimes against children, and also providing some money for child abuse and child abduction prevention programs.
As a result, you had two different bills pass, and that means nothing passes, and what you heard from Ed Smart and what you have heard from others up here on Capitol Hill, including Senate Republicans, is a call on Jim Sensenbrenner and the Republicans in the House to go ahead and pass simply a stand-alone bill providing money for this Amber alert program.
Right now, it's dead locked. It was an extraordinarily personal attack on Jim Sensenbrenner you heard from Mr. Smart. He will answer that attack later this afternoon at 3:30 local time, Eastern time here. He's going to have a press conference making his case, which is, Yes, Amber alert is fine, but we need more. We wants to have this full bill, this more expansive and comprehensive bill passed.
KAGAN: Well, a couple questions here for you. You mentioned we're going to hear from Jim Sensenbrenner. Also understand we're going to hear from Kay Bailey Hutchison, one of the Senators who sponsored that, a fellow Republican, but she sponsored it on the Senate side, of course.
KARL: That's exactly right. We're going to hear from her in about 20 minutes. She has been echoing the criticism, not as harshly worded, but echoing the criticism of Ed Smart, saying that we need to pass this nationwide Amber alert bill immediately. Let's not get bogged down into other issues. Simply calling on the House, the House Republicans, her fellow Republicans, to pass a stand alone bill, providing the money for this Amber alert program. By the way, another thing that Jim Sensenbrenner points out is that about 38 states already have Amber alert programs, including, incidentally, the state of Utah.
KAGAN: It does, but looks like -- at this point Elizabeth Smart had traveled across state lines, and perhaps that would indeed have brought her home sooner. It will be interesting, nonetheless, to see the spin that the politicians put on this later this afternoon. Jon Karl on Capitol Hill, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
