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American Morning

Senate Shifts to Democratic Control

Aired June 06, 2001 - 10:03   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.
LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: In less than an hour from now, the U.S. Senate convenes and a new page of U.S. history will be written because for the first time ever, a party switch by one senator -- specifically, James Jeffords of Vermont -- will wrestle control of the Senate from one party to the other. So for Democrats, it is, indeed, the dawn of a new day.

CNN national correspondent Bob Franken is on Capitol Hill right with all the very latest goings-on there. Hello there, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Linda, and I bet you can feel the tension building already. Here we are, just an hour away from what, to be serious about it, is historic. The Democrats, in the middle of a term, will be taking over power from the Republican, the party that won it the election.

One of the members of the Republican caucus, of course, Jim Jeffords, has decided that he is going to be an independent and has positioned himself with the Democrats. So that tiny margin that really was the Republican control of the Senate, now switches over to the Democrats.

It's a new era as you pointed out. It is the end of the Trent Lott majority leader era, the beginning of the Tom Daschle era. Both of the two have tried to build consensus. They have negotiated with each other, and Tom Daschle promises that he is going to try, even though there's a bitter struggle going on, he is going to try to keep it polite.

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SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), DEMOCRATIC LEADER: My message will be, let's find the way to work together to find the middle ground on the array of issues that we all care about. Whether it's education, the patients' bill of rights, prescription drug benefit, energy policy, hate crimes, there are a lot of things that we can do together, and I am hopeful to find a way and that we demonstrate that this is a new day and that will be my message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. GEORGE VOINOVICH (R), OHIO: If the Democrats want to get something done in some of these issues that Tom Daschle talked about, he is going to have to gain consensus and that's the way we move things along in the United States Senate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: That's easier said than done. The first thing is the Republicans and Democrats will have to have a consensus on the formation of committees. There is still all the reorganization struggle going on. At some point that will be resolved. Then, let the Democratic game begin -- Linda.

STOUFFER: We'll be watching. Bob Franken, thank you very much.

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