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American Morning

Changing of the Guard on Capitol Hill

Aired June 05, 2001 - 10:00   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: We begin on Capitol Hill, where a changing of the guard ushers in a new balance of power. When the Senate draws to a close today, so, too, will the Republican control of that body. And that means critical matters such as President Bush's judicial nominations and legislative priorities that had seemed virtually assured, well, they now seem to be in limbo.

Our national correspondent Bob Franken is joining us now to give us a look at all this -- Bob, good to see you. Let's start off, Bob -- where are you? Oh, Bob's there. Can you hear me, Bob?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I can hear you. Can you hear me?

HARRIS: OK, I don't want to see you just yet, not till you're ready.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Make sure he's dressed.

HARRIS: We're going to make sure that you've got your robe on, OK? Anyway, thanks for scrambling to get in there in time for us this morning.

FRANKEN: I think I'm in trouble, but go ahead.

HARRIS: No, no. Not with us, pal. Not with us.

Let's start off talking about how this change in the Senate is going to affect some pet issues or some of the issues that President Bush is going to face. Namely, let's start off, first of all, with the patients bill of rights. How do you see that playing out now?

FRANKEN: Well, it's going to come to the forefront again. That is an issue where there are huge differences between the Republicans and the Democrats, and the Republicans, for the large part, have been the ones who have opposed giving patients the right to sue their health plans and the Democrats have been in favor of that. So the emphasis is going to change. You're going to see that issue pushed by the Democrats, who are going to be running the agenda up here.

HARRIS: Do you see any change in education as an issue, seeing as how many Democrats are really in line with President Bush and the changes he'd like to affect there? FRANKEN: That's an interesting one. I think there's going to be a change in emphasis in some issues, some of the peripheral issues like child care, perhaps. But President Bush has been successful in claiming that issue as his own. In the past, that's been an issue that the Democrats have normally exploited politically and have been the ones who have been out up front on this one.

But as you point out, the president has had quite a bit of cooperation from some of the aggressive Democrats, most notable, of course, Senator Edward Kennedy, who takes over the education and labor committee.

HARRIS: What signals are you seeing about the changes that are going to happen, that are going to come in terms of the missile defense plan? A lot of talk has been made about how Senator Carl Levin from Michigan is going to be changing the way that debate plays out.

FRANKEN: Well, that's an interesting committee because it's always been a very bipartisan committee because it involves national security so much. Senator John Warner, however, the Republican, has been more friendly to the concept of missile defense. Senator Levin has been quite the critic of it. So again, you're going to see resistance much more pronounced in the Senate now to the various plans, including that one, which, of course, is a pet project of the Bush administration.

HARRIS: But does resistance mean a halt?

FRANKEN: Well, quite probably it's going to mean a slowdown. Of course, missile defense has always been a tough issue if, for no other reason, the technology has been hard to sell and it's so very expensive. You can expect that the Democrats are going to probably slow that down, that is to say, place it further down on the agenda.

HARRIS: Yeah. One last one here. We're seeing President Bush this morning. He's working on a Habitat for Humanity house today and of course that plays right into his efforts to get more faith-based organizations involved in helping solve social problems and getting government money to do so. How do you see that particular issue playing out now that the Senate is in Democratic control?

FRANKEN: That issue has been a difficult one for the administration because many people argue that you come dangerously close to violating first amendment separation of church and state. The Democrats have been the ones who have been more resistant to that, for a variety of reasons. I would think that this is really going to be, at least for now, the death knell of faith-based organizations getting a lot of federal money.

HARRIS: All right, well, thanks much, Bob Franken. We, of course, we'll be watching to see how things play out and you can go play now. We'll see you later. Not a hair out of place, though, mind you. The mike wasn't there, but the hair was. All right, good to see you, Bob Franken there.

KAGAN: That's why he's the professional that he is.

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