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American Morning

Interview with Bill Nelson

Aired September 03, 2002 - 07:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Capitol Hill, where the Senate returns to work this morning. It is the home stretch for the 107th Congress, and there is plenty to do. At the top of the legislative agenda: The proposed Department of Homeland Security and debate over Iraq.
For a preview of what may go on, we are joined now by a member of the Senate Armed Forces and Foreign Relations Committees, Florida Senator Bill Nelson, who joins us from our Washington bureau.

Welcome, Senator -- good to have you with us this morning.

SEN. BILL NELSON (D), FLORIDA: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: So let's talk a little bit about the creation of this Homeland Security Department. Where do you think the Senate is going to end up on this bill?

NELSON: I think it's going to require accountability. I think it's not going to shift all of the power to the executive branch. There's going to be congressional oversight. And I think at the end of the day, the civil rights of workers are going to be protected, instead of stripping away those under the guise of management flexibility.

ZAHN: So when you say not all of the power in this bill would be shifted to the executive branch, what you're telling the president, then, is you're not going to give him the full power he wants to be in complete control of the 22 agencies and control the budget and the hiring and the firing?

NELSON: One hundred and seventy thousand people from 22 agencies worth $38 billion a year, all of that is not going to be shifted to the executive branch total control. That's part of our constitutional system of checks and balances, Paula.

ZAHN: What do you make of what Ari Fleischer (sic) had to say yesterday, when he was talking about the Senate needing to get this one right? Let's repeat what he said when he sounded off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I need the flexibility to put the right people at the right place at the right time to protect the American people, and the Senate better get it right. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: So if the president doesn't get the bill he wants, and it sounds like he's not going to get it, just based on what you're saying, the bill he wants, do you expect him to veto it?

NELSON: No, I don't. Again, the president is saying that he wants to protect the homeland. You don't have to strip away people's civil rights in 170,000 employees in order to protect the homeland. There are kinds of management efficiency that you can put in it, but still have the civil rights.

This is -- this will get worked out, Paula. This is all part of the legislative give-and-take.

ZAHN: When you talk about it being worked out, just point to one area where you think some compromise might be reached.

NELSON: Well, for example, there's going to have to be, on the funding, congressional oversight. You can't just turn over all of this without the Congress, since the Congress has the purse strings and appropriates the money. You've got to have that kind of accountability, and I believe that's what it will be at the end of the day, and I don't think the president will veto that.

ZAHN: On to the issue of Iraq, one of your colleagues, Republican Senator John Warner, says that you guys aren't going to sit on the sidelines as the whole issue of Iraq is being debated. And he is actually calling for congressional hearings to be held. What is the likelihood of that, and do you support that idea?

NELSON: I do. Senator Warner is right on. The Congress has a major role. The president has not made the case yet to the American people. If he does make the case, then I think the American people will be united behind him. But right now, the president's own administration is split right down the middle, as well as the American people are split right down the middle.

So there's going to have to be a full and fair debate, and the president is going to have to engage in this. Otherwise, he's not going to have the people with him.

ZAHN: There has been a great deal of analysis of whether the president would have the right to declare war on Iraq or, you know, create any sort of military action against Iraq without congressional approval. Is there any doubt in your mind that Congress would give the president that approval, particularly when you look back at the history of the 40 or so Democrats that really got singed on their no vote against going into Desert Storm?

NELSON: If there is a clear threat to the interests of the United States, the Congress is going to back the president. And the president should make that case to the people and to the Congress.

Now, short of that, I believe that the president has the authority, if there is imminent danger, he can act as commander-in- chief. He can also act if there is al Qaeda that is being harbored by Saddam Hussein under the original war resolution to go after terrorists that we gave him.

ZAHN: Do you think that's the case? Do you think Iraq is harboring al Qaeda members?

NELSON: No. In all of our hearings thus far, there is no evidence that al Qaeda is being harbored by Saddam Hussein.

ZAHN: Let's talk about, then, where the debate goes from here. You support the idea of these congressional hearings. How might that slow down the rest of the very important work you all have to try to get done before these midterm elections?

NELSON: Well, so be it if it slows it down, because this is a very important policy question. And by the way, that's what the debate will be. It will be a debate of policy, not of tactics, not of strategy, but of policy. And just think back, 11 years ago, how good that debate was, and then, when the Congress passed the resolution, the country was united behind the president when we went into the Gulf War. That's what needs to happen this time.

ZAHN: Senator, before we let you go, do you want to make some midterm election predictions this morning?

NELSON: I believe the Senate will pick up Democrats. I have spent the last four weeks going all over the country, and I am very encouraged with our candidates.

ZAHN: All right, we're going to leave it there this morning. Senator Bill Nelson, thanks for traveling so much territory for us this morning.

NELSON: Thanks a lot.

ZAHN: Appreciate your time.

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