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American Morning

Fox to Address House

Aired September 06, 2001 - 10:50   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.
JEANNE MESERVE CNN ANCHOR: And you're looking at live picture now of the U.S. House of Representatives, members still milling about. They are waiting for the arrival in just a few minutes' time of Mexican President Vicente Fox. Something very unusual is going to be happening this morning. He will be talking to a meeting of both chambers.

LEON HARRIS CNN ANCHOR: That's right. And we're going to talk about his talking to both chambers today.

And joining us to talk about this this morning is our analyst Bill Schneider, who's there in our Washington bureau.

Kate Snow is standing by on Capitol Hill.

And, as you see there, Major Garrett at his usual post there at the White House.

Bill, let's start with you as we're sitting here watching this crowd begin to assemble there in the House.

We've been thinking -- trying to figure out exactly how often this has happened, where a head of state or someone else has come in and addressed both houses of Congress in one of these joint meetings like this. Can you give background on that? And tell us exactly how significant is this one?

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it what happens occasionally. I believe the prime minister of Israel has spoken to the joint session of Congress recently. I believe Ehud Barak, if I'm not mistaken did that. And the former president of Mexico, Carlos Selenes, did it some years ago. So it does happen occasionally, but it's not very frequent, so it's a special occasion.

HARRIS: All right, and the significance of this particular one and this time around with Vicente Fox in particular?

SCHNEIDER: Well, of course, Mexico is a major neighbor of the United States, and Bush has a very close relationship with him, even though it's fairly recent. They both got elected, they're both conservatives who believe in entrepreneurial government; they both are ardent supporters of free trade. Bush, of course, was the governor of Texas, and Texas is the major border state with Mexico. And he's always had a special feeling, not just for Mexico, but now, since they both got elected, with the new president of Mexico, who is the first president from a conservative party in over 70 years. So I think there's a kind of special kinship there.

MESERVE: Kate Snow, let me ask you if we're expecting lovefest up there on Capitol Hill today?

KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, one aide said to me earlier, Jeanne, that he's going to be treated like rock star. He has rock star status here on Capital Hill, President Fox. And indeed, I saw him here last night at a reception with members of the Congress, and he was getting a very warm welcome and just an embrace from lawmakers here.

Senator Pete Domenici, yesterday, speaking about President Fox said, this is the first time I can remember as a senator having a president of Mexico who is not bad-mouthing the United States. Those are the words of Pete Domenici, a Republican from New Mexico. So clearly they are -- they like Vicente Fox, they want to hear what he has to say.

You see a very full chamber there, which, Jeanne, isn't always the case. As I understand, a lot of times not everybody shows up for these.

HARRIS: Kate?

MESERVE: Kate, we have to interrupt.

Dennis Hastert's speaking. Let's listen

REP. DENNIS HASTERT (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: ... the gentleman from Arizona, Mr. Colbe. The gentleman from California, Mr. Dreier. The gentleman from New Mexico, Miss Wilson. The gentlemen from Texas, Mr. Bonilla. The gentleman from Texas, Mr. Barton. The gentleman from Utah, Mr. Cannon. The gentleman from Missouri, Mr. Gephardt. The gentleman from Michigan...

HARRIS: Yes, they're just obviously doing the role call right now. So while they're doing that let's continue our discussion.

MESERVE: Yes, Kate, we stopped you mid sentence. If you can remember where you were.

SNOW: Actually, those are -- I think what he's reading there, Jeanne, is the people that are going to be accompanying Mr. Fox into the chamber. I was speaking with an aide to Chris Cannon earlier this morning and he said he, indeed, was one of those who was going to have the honor of walking into the chamber with President Fox.

We expect him to speak for about 20 minutes. I'm told that most of the speech, if not all, will be in English. Of course, President Fox is fluent in English. He may do a little bit in Spanish. There will be a translator for any of that.

Mr. Fox seems to realizes, Jeanne, the power of the U.S. Congress. He was here yesterday. He's here today for this joint address. And tomorrow he's coming back for a breakfast with about 40 members of the House and the Senate, some of the key leaders on Mexican-American issues.

So he seems to realize that he needs to make friends with these on folks on Capitol Hill.

HARRIS: Well, Kate, since you mentioned his Mexican-American issues, I want to go to Major Garrett at the White House. Because, Major, when was it, barely 24 hours ago when you and I were sitting here, we were listening to the welcoming ceremonies there and Vicente Fox came out with that statement about wanting to have an agreement reached by the end of this year. And you and I both had our ears pick up, Major, when we heard that.

Now, what kind of a -- what do you make of that? And was the White House really surprised when they heard that? And do they expect any more surprises like that today?

GARRETT: The White House was surprised, Leon. It wasn't the kind of surprise where jaws dropped to the table and people said, oh, my gosh, how can he even talk like that.

It's clear and it was clear to the White House that President Fox wants to drive the issue, wants to drive it as fast as possible, not only for reasons of politics here in the United States, but for politics back home. There are high expectations in Mexico for this new president. As Bill pointed out, he is the first president who is not a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, the socialist party that has run Mexico since 1929. He's from a conservative, National Action Party.

There are a lot of expectations that this man, President Fox, has to fulfill. One of them is to try to deal with this issue of immigration.

So for domestic political reasons, the White House now says, President Fox, with President Bush standing right next to him, had to make a firm statement about goals, at least, for resolving this issue.

Now, privately, White House officials say both governments understand reaching this deadline by the end of the year will be almost impossible. And what they're trying to work out is an agreement to agree, a set of principles, and then work on the legislative details next year or very soon thereafter -- Leon.

MESERVE: Bill Schneider, let me ask you about the immigration issue and how it's been handled by President Bush, who seemed to raise expectations a few months ago and now seems to go for a slower approach.

SCHNEIDER: Well, President -- one of President Bush's principle political strategies is outreach to Hispanic voters; they're the fastest-growing constituency in the United States; about 60 percent of them are Mexican origin. He has been the governor of Texas and therefore feels a special relationship with Mexico. And he believes that that's the future of the Republican Party. And immigration is an issue that he brought up. He said he would be willing to consider some form of legalization, limited legalization. He said no blanket amnesty, which was signed into law some years ago in 1986 by President Reagan. He said no blanket amnesty, but he's willing to consider limit legalization of Mexicans who are in the United States undocumented right now and possibly a guest-worker program.

That split the Republican party. There are some conservative who are outraged by this and said it's equivalent to rewarding lawlessness. One of them is Phil Gramm, the retiring senator from Texas, who told the president: this will happen over my cold, dead political body.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: Well, let's talk some more about that split amongst Republicans with Kate on the Hill there.

What are you hearing about the nature of this split? And which side may end up holding sway here? Because there's also the fact that the business community has a very big voice in the matter as well.

SNOW: You mean in immigration issue, right?

HARRIS: Exactly, yes.

SNOW: Yes. What we're hearing is similar to what Bill Schneider just said, there is a real division among Republicans. In fact, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who you just saw a moment ago, who's leading the session here this morning, he spoke out yesterday and he said that he could see Congress doing something, maybe soon, on a guest-worker program. The way he put was to have a guest-worker protocol so people have a legitimacy to what they do; these would be people, Mexican immigrants or other immigrants, who live in the United States and work here. So that's one Republican saying that maybe there is some room for some reform this year.

On the other, as Bill mentioned, Phil Gramm, a very staunch opponent to opening up too much to immigration.

Also Mr. Tancredo, Representative Tancredo on the House side. He's also a Republican.

So there is a bit of division, and it's unclear, just in terms of timetable, Leon, would able to get anything done towards the end of year, because they have so much else on their plate right now. A lot of folks up here think that that's not a top priority, legislatively.

MESERVE: Major, in the past when there have been meetings between Mexicans and U.S. officials, drugs has been near the top of the agenda. We aren't hearing much about it this time around. Why not?

GARRETT: Because immigration has become such a much bigger issue, and the issue of trade and the economic destiny of the two countries has sort of overshadowed the drug issue.

Also, because of President Fox, and because he is a reformist president, many in the law enforcement community at the Federal level, and many members of Congress are willing to give his administration a chance to see if he can deal with the corruption that they have said gas so long bedeviled Mexico's effort to fight Narco trafficking. They want to give that some time.

Yesterday, when Condoleeza Rice, the president's National Security Adviser, gave an assessment of all the presidential meetings, she didn't even bring up drugs. She was leaving the podium, and I said, quickly, Miss Rice, what about drugs? She gave a very bland answer: Things are going well. We think they're doing a good job.

MESERVE: And right now we're looking at members of the cabinet walking in. We see Spence Abraham, the Secretary of Energy, shaking hands there, coming down the aisle. Various others. A warm receptions from Member of the House and Senate who have gathered together in the House toady.

HARRIS: Rod Paige there, Secretary of Education there. And Norm Mineta right behind him.

SCHNEIDER: Leon?

HARRIS: Go ahead, Bill.

SCHNEIDER: Well, I was going to say this is unusual, because officially Mexico, for over 70 years, has been officially anti American. That was the official position of the PRI, the left wing party that's governed Mexico. This is the first pro American president of Mexico in anyone's memory.

So therefore, it is an occasion. Of course, as I said, George Bush, former governor of Texas, feels a very special warmth toward Mexico.

GARRETT: Leon, if I could jump in just a second, if you don't mind.

HARRIS: Sure, go ahead, Major.

GARRETT: From my previous life as a congressional reporter, I well remember speeches delivered in this very same well by Vaclav Havel, the new president of Czech Republic, and by Nelson Mandela. People who had just obtained power, and were new to America, new to members of Congress.

Those speeches were very powerful, transformative in a way, because members sat there and listened to these new leaders. They told them what their destiny was, what their vision was. It made a big difference in the way Congress dealt with those countries. We could see the same effect happening with this president talking to Congress today.

HARRIS: That's a very good point, Major. SNOW: Leon?

HARRIS: Yes, go ahead, Kate.

SNOW: A little bit of information that we had just gotten about this speech. I said earlier that we expected the president, Mr. Fox, to speech in English. Well, I stand corrected. I understand now that the first three pages of his speech are in Spanish, the next two pages are in English, and the last page, again, is in Spanish. So, there will be some simultaneous, we understand, translation of his message here.

HARRIS: OK. Thanks for that, Kate, appreciate that. We're going to work on finding out how we can get that translated version of the speech in here.

Bill, I want to go back to you. Because, here in the newsroom we were talking before the show this morning about past presidents and their relationships with other world leaders. And in the past we've seen Bill Clinton and Tony Blair develop a close relationship, and the same thing with George -- I'm sorry, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, and George Bush also working with Thatcher, George Bush, Sr., if you will.

What do you make of the fact that now we're talking about the first major relationship that we're seeing developed here not be one with Europe, but with Mexico and with Vicente Fox?

SCHNEIDER: What I make of it is it's a statement President Bush is trying to make, that he gives priority to relationships with this hemisphere, specifically with Mexico. But, he also see President Fox as kind of a mediator between the United States and the rest of Latin America.

It also helps prove he is not, as he is sometimes accused of being by his critics, an isolationists or a unilateralist. He can have strong, close, personal bonds with other world leaders, in this case Vicente Fox of Mexico.

There's of course economic issues which both of them share similar views on, like trade and investment. And also, politically, they have a similar philosophy. I would say Reagan and Thatcher certainly shared a philosophy. They were going to bring a conservative revolution to the world. And Clinton and Blair shared a philosophy. Remember people used to talk about the third way? Well, they too were going to bring a revolution. They were going to change the left, so it was more close to the center and reform.

Well in a way, Bush and Fox, they share a philosophy. I call it entrepreneurial government free trade, and they'd like to export that to the rest of the world.

MESERVE: Major, yesterday we heard President Bush say there's no more important relationship in the world than our relationship with Mexico. Quite a sweeping statement from the president. GARRETT: A sweeping statement that speaks to a couple of things that Bill said. A lot of what yesterday was about was conferring not only legitimacy, but political capital from one leader to another; President Bush, leader of the world's only superpower. A nation that has often been suspected, viewed skeptically, sometimes hostilely by Mexico, reaching out to Mexico, to this new reformist president,and saying you are number one on my agenda.

That's a very important signal that President Bush was sending, not only of course to President Fox, but to his entire country. And it's worth pointing out that this is really a moment in time, at least as far as President Bush is concerned, in the future of Mexico and the United States, with this new party running Mexico, with this new dually and freely elected reformist, conservative president.

President Bush wants to give him as much legitimacy as he possibly can, to make sure that conservative entrepreneurial government approach spreads throughout Mexico. Because if it does, not only will this president but succeeding U.S. presidents have a much better relationship with Mexico.

Oddly enough, the relationship works in other way as well. President Fox presence here also helps George Bush politically, because it gives him a symbolic message to Hispanic Americans all over the United States, saying in fact, I am a new kind of Republican. I do take this country seriously, and I'm trying to change my party in ways that might surprise you. For example, on the immigration issue.

HARRIS: Major and Bill, I would like you both, or either one of you, to give us what you know about Vicente Fox's standing in Mexico.

You were saying, Major, earlier that some of the comments that he made yesterday were specifically for his own country's domestic consumption. What do we take from that as to how he stands within his own country? As I understand it, he's had a number of problems and roadblocks in trying to affect some of the changes that he's been trying to do.

GARRETT: Well, first of all, he won the presidency, but his party did not win all of Congress. He has many of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, the PRI members still in Congress. They're hostile. They're not happy he won the presidency. They see him as a real political threat to their livelihoods and their whole political ideology, which as we have pointed out, has governed Mexico for decades.

So, not only are there high expectations among all Mexicans, but there is intense opposition within the Congress. He has to deal with that. Mexico's economy has suffered under his watch, not necessarily because of things he has done or not done, but primarily because the U.S. economy has gone into a very sluggish period.

Twenty five percent of Mexico's economy is tied up in exports to the United States. When American consumers aren't buying, Mexican producers aren't selling. That's become a problem for Vicente Fox. So, from a political point of view, he needed nice boost, I think, to a degree he got one here yesterday from the White House. He'll get another one from the U.S. Congress today.

SCHNEIDER: That's right. In an important way, he's staked his political future on the relationship with the United States. He is Pro U.S., and that's got to pay off. It's got to pay off in investment, it's got to pay off in immigration reform, it's got to pay off in the Mexican economy, which looks like it may be in some trouble right now.

He is personally very popular in Mexico. But, as Major said, his party doesn't have a great deal of power in the Congress. So, he's found himself blocked at every turn. So, there's got to be some kind of a payoff for him to be able to survive, and just show that he is -- he can bring a different message, and that it can work in Mexico.

I think there's some concern that if it doesn't, he'll go back to the populist anti Americanism that's been the prevailing philosophy in Mexico for 70 years.

MESERVE: We are told that President Fox has entered the capitol building, though not the House chamber as of yet.

Bill, you were speaking a few moments ago about the importance of the Hispanic vote. Is there unanimity in the Hispanic community about this immigration issue and how it should be handled, or is there a division here as there is within the Republican party?

SCHNEIDER: Actually, surprisingly, there is a division among Hispanic voters, and in fact it's right about 50/50, when you ask them about -- quote -- "amnesty" -- unquote --. That's not what President Bush has proposed. He's proposed limited legalization. In fact, Hispanics are split.

The White House believes though, that if you speak gently and warmly about Hispanic immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, that it can at least open the ears of Hispanic voters, if you talk about immigration reform. It's something that President Fox definitely wants, and is pressuring the United States to give him.

Even though the Hispanic community is divided, they don't want to be scapegoated on this issue as they were some years ago, in 1994, in California when that state passed Proposition 187. It was supported by Republican Governor Pete Wilson. It enraged Hispanic voters and created a huge wave of new Hispanic voters who registered and voted as Democrats, and it essentially put California beyond the reach of Republicans.

George Bush is trying to say, I'm not that kind of Republican. I want to change this message.

GARRETT: He's not that kind of Republican now, and he wasn't back then, Bill, as you well remember.

SCHNEIDER: Yes.

GARRETT: In 1994, then Governor Bush opposed that, spoke out forcefully against it, at least in Texas. He has done that in Texas throughout his political career, said:

Illegal immigration, though it may be against the law, is also an act of human drama. These people are crossing the border in very perilous conditions, and they need to be recognized as people seeking jobs. Something must be done to alleviate their suffering and incorporate them into the American experience.

HARRIS: All right, well gentlemen, and lady, Bill Schneider, Kate Snow, and Major Garrett. You folks stand by.

And folks at home, you stand by. We are just waiting for President Fox and President Bush to enter into the House chamber. Once that happens, we'll get back to it.

We're going to take this moment now to take a break. We're back in just a moment. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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