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American Morning
Dick Gephardt Comments on Airline Security and Economic Stimulus Package
Aired November 28, 2001 - 09:01 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: A couple of minutes ago, we heard from Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott after the weekly congressional leadership meeting with the president. Now from the other side of the capitol and the other side of the aisle, House Minority Leader Democrat Richard Gephardt, welcome back. Good to see you, sir.
REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D), MINORITY LEADER: Good morning.
ZAHN: Let me ask you this. We know that Secretary Mineta, because we just heard a small part of his news conference, is saying that it's unlikely he will meet that 60 day deadline to check all airline's passenger's bags for explosives that President Bush had just signed into law. And you have asked for the National Guard to be brought in immediately if necessary. Is that going to happen? And have you gotten assurances from the administration that it's a possibility?
GEPHARDT: Well I hope so, Paula. We're going to be communicating with Norm Mineta today and try to get that point across. I think it's unacceptable to continue to send these planes out without checking all the bags in the belly of the plane. We're checking all the bags that go upstairs, we need to check all the bags in the belly. We can do that with the National Guard or other law enforcement organizations until we get the X-ray machines in place.
ZAHN: Why wasn't the Transportation Secretary able to make this happen?
GEPHARDT: Well there may be a...
ZAHN: Is there any -- is -- are they excuses, in your judgment, or are they legitimate reasons?
GEPHARDT: I'm sure it's hard to do. I'm sure that it's difficult to get all the National Guard to agree to do this, and it may take a presidential action. But I'm hoping, in fact I think this has to be done. I think -- we've got pilots and flight attendants in the air right now who are worried that bombs have gotten through in bags that are in the belly of the plane. That's an unacceptable situation. It's why we included the language in the bill in the conference report to say that we needed this done in 60 days. I think it has to be done. ZAHN: So what do you think the American public should be thinking about all this, particularly as we head into this very busy holiday season?
GEPHARDT: Well the American public wants to be safe. They want to fly, they want to resume normal activity, but they want to know they're going to be safe and that's why we put the language in. We know it's going to take a long time to get X-ray machines, but we can get the National Guard and other law enforcement organizations physically looking at every bag.
I talked to somebody that was in Germany the other day, they said they do that now in the Munich airport and in other airports in Germany there's -- if they can do it, we can do it, and we need to do it.
ZAHN: Want to close with the issue of the economic stimulus bill. Trent Lott was just on. He says the Democrats are creating all kinds of impediments in trying to get this bill passed. And "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting today that -- in their words -- "Tom Daschle is leading a guerrilla campaign blocking the president's agenda at every turn." And the implication is that Mr. Daschle doesn't want an economic stimulus bill to pass because he wants the Republicans to be blamed for a bad economy. What do you make of that analysis?
GEPHARDT: Well, I don't buy that at all. I really think all of us want to get an economic stimulus package done. We talked about it in the meeting this morning. I don't think it's acceptable for us to leave here without doing a bill. I think there can be an easy agreement. Tom and Trent Lott are trying to figure out a way to get a bill out of the Senate this week. I hope they can do that. But in any event, we need to get a bill done.
The thing you've got to remember is we are in a recession, we now have said we're going to get a stimulus package done, the markets and the economy have already assumed that package. We don't need more negative news if we can't get this done. So we're going to do everything we can to get it done this week and next.
ZAHN: So you obviously don't think Mr. Daschle is practicing guerrilla warfare here?
GEPHARDT: I really don't. I think that's a way overstatement and an inaccurate statement. I think he's working very hard, and I think the Republicans are working hard to get this done. We need to get it done. The economy is to going well, and we need to do our part to help it go in the right direction.
ZAHN: As always, Representative Gephardt, thank you for letting us buttonhole you there as you were leaving the White House. Thank you for your time this morning. Appreciate it.
GEPHARDT: Thank you.
ZAHN: Let's check in with Jack Cafferty. The most interesting part of this "Wall Street Journal" article went on to suggest that the president will not challenge Mr. Daschle right now in fear of losing bipartisan support for the war.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: That's interesting.
ZAHN: So it's a very complicated political picture.
