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American Morning

Lieberman to Take Control of Senate Governmental Affairs Committee

Aired June 05, 2001 - 09:12   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: As the balance of power in the Senate tilts from the Republicans to the Democrats, control of Senate committees will also change. Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut is expected to take over the Governmental Affairs Committees, and he is joining us from Capitol Hill this morning. Senator, good morning.

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: Good to have you with us.

LIEBERMAN: It's great to be with you, too.

KAGAN: Before we actually get to your new gig as head of the Governmental Affairs Committee, how do you think this is going to go in this transition? This looks like it could be a little rocky?

LIEBERMAN: Yes, I mean unfortunately, once again, we see that it is the exception not the rule that procedures move smoothly here in Senate. Unfortunately, Republican colleagues are not going to just let the transition occur and let it go into effect, but they're going to use it as an opportunity to argue about President Bush's nominations, which unfortunate.

So, as you probably have been reporting, tomorrow we're going to be in the unusual circumstance of becoming chairman of committees, Tom Daschle becomes majority leader, but we revert back to the committee membership of last session, so that all the newly-elected freshman senators don't have committees and Republicans will control most of the committees. Pretty odd, but in the nature of the Senate, nothing happens smoothly. Usually, it doesn't take too long to work it out.

So, I hope the inevitable, which is Democratic control, is acknowledged quickly and we go on to work across party lines to get some things done.

KAGAN: Republicans are concerned that the Democrats are going to hold up these judgeships and these other nominations. Why not make a deal where you can say those will go through and get on with the business of the Senate and the country?

LIEBERMAN: Well, because that would not be fulfilling the Senate's responsibility under the advice and consent clause of the Constitution. The president nominates, we advise and consent. I think if Democrats on any of the committees, particularly on the Judiciary Committee, begin to unduly, unfairly hold up judicial nominations, then there will be a public outcry and they'll be let out on the floor.

But to just give a blanket promise that automatically everything will come out of the committee onto the floor just is unprecedented, and it's never happened and for good reason and particularly if we're dealing, as we may, in the next couple of years with a nomination to the Supreme Court, That's a very weighty decision, and it ought to go through every step of the Senate process.

But I don't think there will be any sort of just instinctive block-headed stopping of nominations, not on anything as important as Supreme Court. There's too much public interest in it.

KAGAN: Let's look at what will be your new post. You're in line to take over the Governmental Affairs Committee. For those not familiar with the Senate, as you are, some of the things that fall into that committee: the budget, the postal service, the census. What's going to be your priority in terms of getting legislation out of the committee and onto the Senate floor?

LIEBERMAN: Yes, the great work of this committee has been oversight, and, if necessary, investigation. This is kind of the committee that has responsibility for overseeing the entire federal government, apart from those particular subject matter areas that we specifically cover. In other words, we're there to make sure that the whole government works efficiently and economically and ethically, and in that sense, to be the people's representatives, to make sure government doesn't go fat or dishonest.

I'm going to focus in immediately on the energy problems and see if we can review what the government is doing, particularly the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, in its decision not to get involved to put some caps on wholesale prices of electricity for California, where people and businesses are really suffering, and they could bring down the whole economy notch or two because California represents 15 percent of the economy.

So, I'll use it for oversight. I'm going to take a look at some of the regulatory rollbacks of the Bush administration, such as the one that lowers the limit of cancer-causing arsenic in drinking water. In some ways, I feel like I'm back being attorney general, which I was in Connecticut, as the people's advocate, and I'm looking forward to it, and I think if it's done right and not in a partisan way, not to the use committee for personal destruction, politics of personal destruction, then it could really make the government work better. I hope it will.

KAGAN: Calling on that old job experience. Senator Joe Lieberman, we could talk a lot longer if we had the time. Unfortunately, we don't. Thanks for joining us.

LIEBERMAN: Thanks, Daryn, and have a good day.

KAGAN: And in this game of musical chairs, Republican Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee will be losing that seat as chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee. We'll hear what Senator Thompson has to say about that a little bit later this hour.

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