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American Morning

White House Denies Anti-Gay Deal With Salvation Army

Aired July 10, 2001 - 11:40   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: President Bush's controversial faith- based charities initiative is at issue today. The White House is denying reports of a deal to secure the Salvation Army's support for the initiative, in exchange for a form of federal protection.

Joining us now to explain is our White House correspondent Major Garrett, who has been working this story all morning.

Major -- hello.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

The essence of the story is did the White House cut a back-room political deal with the Salvation Army to win its grassroots political support for the president's faith-based initiative, a very high priority of this president, in exchange for federal protection of a particular practice that the Salvation Army and other religious organizations engage in, namely specifically discriminating in hiring of homosexuals or of providing what are called domestic partner benefits.

Federal law already allows the Salvation Army and other religious organizations just that, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and not providing what are called domestic partner benefits. But states and cities have begun passing laws and ordinances to override that. What the Salvation Army, according to "The Washington Post," has suggested to the Bush administration was a new regulation that would tell states and cities that you cannot force these religious institutions to change that practice, and in exchange for that new regulation, the Salvation Army would add its significant political clout at the grass-roots level to the faith-based initiative.

CNN was able to talk to the White House press secretary, Ari Fleischer, about this very topic this morning. I asked him a series of questions while the president was boarding Marine 1, en route to a trip to New York today.

The helicopter is in the background, but you can hear it very clearly through the use of some Chyrons -- we are going to tell you what Ari Fleischer had to say to my questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's important to fully comply with the civil right laws. And the faith-based legislation as passed by the Judiciary Committee with hardly any Democrats voting against it, fully complies with civil rights laws.

GARRETT: What about the underlying deal with the Salvation Army, though? It looks as though you're trading one regulation for political support.

FLEISCHER: Oh, no. Absolutely not.

GARRETT: There's no deal? There's no arrangement with the Salvation Army?

FLEISCHER: Never has been. Never has been.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GARRETT: Fleischer went on to say that the Salvation Army misinterpreted and misread the administration's overall support for its suggested regulation.

It's interesting to note in his answer he was talking about pending House legislation that talks about the whole issue of discrimination, but the issue here is not about the legislation pending before the House, but about a federal regulation that would be written by the Office of Management and Budget. But again, Mr. Fleischer denies that there's any deal between the Salvation Army and the White House -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Interesting stuff, Major Garrett, at the White House -- thank you.

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