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American Morning
Columnist Discusses Senator's Possible Party Switch
Aired May 23, 2001 - 09:31 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The Jeffords factor, as we're calling it this morning, and the political power shift it would cause are the talk of Washington today.
Let's get more on what this all means from Jeanne Meserve, who's standing by in our Washington bureau this morning.
Hi -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Leon.
Washington is abuzz with the news of a possible Jeffords defection.
And here to do some buzzing with me is Ron Brownstein, political columnist for the "Los Angeles Times," and also a CNN political analyst.
Those of us who count ourselves as political junkies know this is a terrific and important story, but if you're Joe in Nebraska and not particularly tuned into the political process, why should you care?
RON BROWNSTEIN, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Because both the agenda of what is debated in Washington and the results of those debates are going to change. The policies that come out of Washington are going to change from this.
One thing a majority would give the Democrats in the Senate is the ability to set the agenda. They'll control the committees, and they will control access to the floor. So you'll see things, if this happens, like the minimum wage, prescription drugs for seniors, patients' bill of rights, the Democratic agenda that had no ability to move to the floor moving forward.
Secondly, it will give them much more leverage in negotiating with President Bush and the House Republicans over the outcome of the whole broad range of issues, from energy to education. It doesn't guarantee successful Democrats, but it gives them more leverage in these negotiations.
MESERVE: How does the White House have to change its strategy to deal with this new landscape?
BROWNSTEIN: The White House is being pulled in two directions at once. Clearly, this puts much more pressure on them to reach bipartisan agreement, because Democrats will have much more capacity to block what the White House wants to do and to advance their own ideas.
At the same time this is going on, though, Jeanne, you have a lot of uneasiness among House Republicans over the way the White House handled the education bill, for instance, by negotiating with Democrats, making concessions to Democrats. The House leadership has said, look, this is not the way we want you to proceed in the future. It's going to be very hard not to proceed if Democrats are in control of the Senate.
MESERVE: The Republicans' obvious move is to make a play for Zell Miller, a Democrat from the state of Georgia. Are the Democrats worried that Miller may defect?
BROWNSTEIN: I think that based on his voting, they have to be a little worried. But in talking to some Democrats this morning, they are talking about this. They are measuring the drapes in their new offices. They're not anticipating that they are not going to be able to hold those chairman's gavels, which is very important.
In the past, even with a very narrow majority, the majority party has demanded a majority of the seats on the committees, a majority of the seats on the conference committees. That would give Democrats much more ability to move their agenda and to frustrate Bush's.
But still keep in mind that you need 60 votes to beat a filibuster, and the balance of power on the floor doesn't change from this; everybody's still going to vote where they were before.
MESERVE: Does the White House have anyone to blame for this but itself?
BROWNSTEIN: Not really, no. We are in a situation where Hughie Long's fantasy has come true in Washington, 2001: every man a king, in the Senate, at least. Every single senator has enormous leverage because of this 50-50 split, and when the White House puts pressure on Jeffords, if, in fact, he goes, there will surely be many second- guessers who say they went the wrong way, they followed the conservatives who said you need discipline and you have to discipline him for breaking from the party -- but you didn't really think you wanted him to break from the party, and that's what they're ending up with.
MESERVE: Any discernible impart on Jeffords' political future?
BROWNSTEIN: He's been a man behind enemy lines. The Northeast has been trending more Democratic, along with California, than any other part of the country. I've got to think this only helps solidify him in Vermont -- a lot of unhappiness among Republicans, but it is a state that has been trending away from them.
MESERVE: Ron Brownstein, thanks.
The 67-year-old Jeffords has a black belt in tae kwon do, and he may need some of those moves today as he takes his potentially bold move in the Senate.
Right now to Kate Snow, up on Capitol Hill, with the latest from there -- Kate.
KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jeanne, our producer Ted Barrett, on Capitol Hill just ran into Senator Jeffords as he was coming in to the Capital for his first moments today. He asked him what he was planning for later today, the senator saying, I have made up my mind, but declining to comment any further. The senator wouldn't confirm or deny that he has decided to go independent. He just said, I have made up my mind; I will let you know at 2:00.
That's the first word we're getting, Jeanne, that they will hold some event at 2:00 this afternoon to make Senator Jeffords' announcement official. He was asked whether that would be on the Senate floor, and would he actually say it to his colleagues on the floor, and he said no, it would be in some other format. We can only assume, perhaps, a news conference or an event like that.
He did also say to our producer that he has talked with both Senator Lott, the majority leader, and Senator Daschle, the minority leader, this morning to inform them of what his decision will be.
Finally, our producer asked him, What are you planning to do today? To that, Senator Jeffords replied, I'm voting against the president's tax cut. A very interesting comment from Senator Jeffords, of course -- that's what led to all of this in the first place. Senator Jeffords came out a few weeks ago against the president's $1.6 trillion tax cut over 10 years, and that's what set off this battle with the White House in the first place.
Again, Senator Jeffords is set to make an announcement at 2:00 this afternoon.
Jeanne, back to you.
MESERVE: Kate Snow, thanks for the latest from Capitol Hill.
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