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American Morning

What Now For GOP?

Aired May 24, 2001 - 14:09   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.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: What now? That's what a lot of folks in Washington and elsewhere are asking after a longtime Republican decides he can no longer be part of the Grand Old Party. Instead, Senator Jim Jeffords will become an independent just as soon as President Bush signs the compromise tax bill.

That means Democrats will regain control of the Senate, its committees, and the floor agenda. Back home in Vermont today, Jeffords said many GOP leaders tried to talk him out of making the switch. But, in the end, he says he could not reconcile his principles with how conservative the party was becoming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JAMES JEFFORDS (R), VERMONT: In the past, without the presidency, the various wings of the Republican Party in Congress have had some freedom to argue and influence and ultimately to shape the party's agenda. The election of President Bush changed that dramatically.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: In reaction, some Republicans in Vermont are calling on Jeffords to resign his Senate seat and run again in a special election. Many of the folks in his hometown, though, seem to be supportive. And among his colleagues on Capitol Hill, Jeffords is being praised for his integrity.

Beyond that, everything seems to be up in the air. And that's where we turn to CNN's congressional correspondent Jonathan Karl.

Jonathan, what's up in the air now?

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Senator Don Nickles, who is the No. 2 Republican here in the U.S. Senate, described the mood of his colleagues as shell-shocked and also deeply hurt.

I mean, they are facing the possibility and the reality of imminently losing all those committee chairmen. He talked about the case of, for instance, Senator Grassley, who, of course, we learned about as the chairman of the Finance Committee writing that tax cut.

Well, Grassley had just become chairman this year. He's been in the Senate more than 20 years. And Nickles was taking about now he is faced with the possibility of losing a chairmanship he waited 20 years to get -- so clearly some very troubled, sad Republicans up here wondering about the next step.

Senator Lott, who is still the majority leader until Senator Jeffords makes that switch official, held a press conference a short while ago. And he said that he had worked very hard, along with other Republicans, to keep Senator Jeffords in the Republican Party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TRENT LOTT (R-MS), MAJORITY LEADER: I worked an awful with Jim Jeffords, trying to be helpful to Jim and to work with him on feeling like he was a part of our team. He has, you know, certain personal considerations and philosophical considerations that came into play.

We always need to listen and include everybody. And we are going to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: Now, Lott said that Jeffords told him his decision -- his actual leave date from the Republican Party will be effective on June 5 or when the president signs the tax cut, whichever date is later.

Now, when that happens, of course, Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, now the minority leader, becomes the majority leader. He was the majority leader for 17 days back in January before Dick Cheney got sworn in as vice president. But this will be his first full-time shot at being majority leader. But Daschle held a press conference a couple of hours ago and acknowledged he's going to be the leader of a very narrow majority here in the U.S. Senate. And he acknowledged it is going to be a tough time and he's going to have to work with the Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MINORITY LEADER: I think it's important that we all recognize the value of compromise, the urgency of compromise, the real practicality of compromise. We can't dictate to them, nor can they dictate to us. This must be bipartisan or tripartisan spirit or it can't be achieved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: And, on that point, Senator Lott reminded Senator Daschle that it can be very difficult to govern with such a narrow majority.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOTT: Well, he's going to find that sometimes being majority leader is probably tougher than being minority leader. And he'll also see that some of the tactics that they used on bills like the tax relief package are not helpful. And he will not want to see those same tactics employed. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: But, of course, those same tactics: That's what a Senate minority does. They can throw up procedural roadblocks. If they want to, they can prevent a majority from getting almost anything done -- back to you, Natalie.

ALLEN: And there were also reports that Republicans, in trying to get Jeffords not to do this, said that staffers would lose their jobs if he did this. And is that true? Would some people lose their jobs because of the switch of power? And what about offices? Are people going to have to move out of offices and switcheroo?

KARL: Well, absolutely you will be seeing some of that happen. But one thing you need to know is that the majority leader's office and the minority leader's office actually won't change. Senator Daschle, the Democratic leader, has permanent offices as Democratic leader. Trent Lott has permanent offices as the Republican leader -- unless, of course, there were a leadership challenge.

But whoever the Republican leader is will stay in that office. But in these committee chairmen, you will have change in staff. You will have change in office. This has a very direct and important impact. Now, for a lot of the committees, there's been a pre-worked- out agreement that the committees will remain the staff levels -- 50 percent Republicans, 50 percent Democrats -- until the next election.

But, for others, you will see significant change. Staffers could potentially lose jobs. And certainly they've lost clout on the Republican side.

ALLEN: Jonathan Karl on the Capitol Hill, thanks.

LOU WATERS, CNN ANCHOR: And at the White House, folks are trying to figure out what all this means for the president's agenda. They're also a bit surprised, not at Jeffords' decision, but at the reasons he gave for opting out of the Republican Party.

Our senior White House correspondent John King is back with us -- John, what's it all about?

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, the president just back at the White House -- he was traveling in Cleveland today to promote his faith-based initiative, using church and religious organizations to help people down on their luck -- that one of the president's key priorities -- the president back -- you see him here arriving back on Marine One -- back into the White House.

And we're told this afternoon that it's likely he will have a telephone conversation with Senator Tom Daschle, the soon-to-be Senate majority leader -- that looking ahead.

Earlier, though, in Cleveland, the president did look back a little bit. Senator Jeffords, in announcing his switch, said that he didn't feel comfortable in a Republican Party, that he didn't feel that this president was being as open to Democrats and moderates as he had promised he would be during the campaign -- Mr. Bush, in his remarks in Cleveland, making the case that he didn't buy that, that he had been bipartisan and that he would be in the future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This morning, a distinguished United States senator chose to leave the Republican Party and become an independent. I respect Senator Jeffords, but I respectfully -- but, respectfully, I couldn't disagree more.

Our agenda for reforming America's public schools and providing tax relief for every taxpayer represents the hopes and dreams of Main Street America. Our agenda for reforming our military and modernizing our military to defend America and our allies represents the best hope for peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now, here at the White House, though, they know that that agenda now faces a much tougher road in the U.S. Senate with the Democrats in charge -- a phone conversation likely today -- other meetings to try to reach out to the Democrats.

Already you see evidence of how much tougher it will be for this president: Democrats talking about coming back from the Memorial Day recess, when they presumably will be in charge, and bringing up the patients bill of rights, an issue on which they have considerable differences with this White House -- so a much more difficult political climate now for this president. He's had some early successes on tax cuts, pretty happy with the education bill making its way through the Congress.

But when it comes to health care issues, judicial nominations, defense issues and others down the road, a very changed climate for this new administration -- they're getting about the business of trying to figure out how to deal with that just now -- Lou.

WATERS: And, John, what do administration officials think about Jeffords pinning so much of his decision to leave the party on the president?

KING: Well, they disagree with that. They say that if Senator Jeffords is surprised with the issues Mr. Bush has focused on as president, then he simply didn't pay attention during the campaign, because here at the White House, they say this president is very consistent with his campaign agenda.

Privately, what they think here -- and they don't want to say much of this publicly because they don't want to upset other Senate Republican moderates -- but, privately, they think here, this is much more about Senator Jeffords thinking about A: keeping a chairmanship as he stays in the Senate; B: perhaps running for governor of Vermont four or five years down the road.

So they think this is much more personal and that Jeffords is blaming the president. However, they do realize there could be perception problem here -- this a president branded as a uniter, not a divider, said there's a big tent in the Republican Party. They're trying to make sure that, out in the country, the perception does not take hold that this president drove a moderate out of the party.

WATERS: All right, senior White House correspondent John King.

The Jeffords decision has put a hot glare on another maverick senator, Zell Miller of Georgia. This lifelong Democrat had broken ranks with his party on key issues and fueled speculation that he may be leaning toward the GOP -- more from Senator Miller in a one-on-one interview with CNN's Judy Woodruff today on "INSIDE POLITICS," 5:00 p.m., Eastern 2:00 Pacific right here on CNN.

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