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American Morning
Discussion With Senator Lieberman
Aired May 21, 2003 - 09:06 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: To talk more about the elevated terror threat now, senator and presidential candidate, Joseph Lieberman is now our guest from D.C. The senator giving a speech later today on health care. We'll talk about that in a moment. First, though, the threat of terror.
Senator, good morning. Thanks for coming back here on AMERICAN MORNING.
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: Good morning, Bill. Good to be with you.
HEMMER: We are getting indications that perhaps Al-Jazeera might run this audiotape very soon, the second in command to Osama bin Laden. I know the news is just breaking. Anything to add on this, senator?
LIEBERMAN: Well, it just reminds us of two things. One, we won some battles in the war against terrorism, but we can't really say, as the president did recently, that the tide has turned. These terrorists are out there, and they mean evil. And we've got to raise our defenses to stop them.
The second thing it reminds us of here at home is that we ought to spend a little less money on the dividend tax cut that the Bush administration wants and more on helping our homeland security department do what it's supposed to do and giving more money to local firefighters and police officers.
You know, there are firefighters and police officers being laid off today by cities and towns across America, which makes about as much sense as laying off soldiers in the middle of a war. So we've got to help them in our budget from the federal government.
HEMMER: Senator, you bring up a good point. We've heard from police chiefs across the country. But what we're also hearing is the White House cannot afford not to go out and elevate the threat level based on the information they're getting. How do you defend that?
LIEBERMAN: I would not second guess the elevation of the threat level. It makes sense to me. I got a brief call from homeland security about it yesterday. It seems to me I was told that there was specific chatter related to possible terrorist attacks against the United States. What I'm saying is, let's accept the reality of that, and not just raise the alert level, but invest the money we need, particularly to our firefighters, and police officers and emergency personnel at the local levels, so we can defend ourselves better than we are today against the terrorists. We don't actually have a centralized watchlist. The federal General Accounting Office gave us a report on this a while ago. Remember, there were some people on the watchlist got in and were part of the September 11th attack. We still don't have a centralized watchlist in the federal government. That's unexcusable, particularly as the alert level goes up again.
HEMMER: Let me take you back to the issue of the war in Iraq. You supported that war, on board I believe from the very beginning the argument was raised publicly.
LIEBERMAN: Yes.
HEMMER: There are those who are now saying that Al Qaeda was essentially let off the hook once the war began. To those critics, what do you say?
LIEBERMAN: Well, I don't believe that's true. Of course, I'm not in the administration. I certainly hope it's not true. I believe that the victory over Saddam was a victory that not only eliminates a source of attack against us, but a leader in a country that was supporting terrorism against us and would continue to support it. So I think the victory over Saddam was a victory in our war against terrorism.
And you know, in this very unsettled, dangerous time of our history, you can't just do one thing at a time. We're strong enough, thank God, to both win a war against Saddam and to continue to fight the war against terrorism, particularly against Al Qaeda. That we can do, and that we must do.
HEMMER: We're about, let's say, 16, 18 hours removed since the terror alert was raised. There are more police officers in certain parts of the country right now on the lookout. Can you say right now with the increased level of alertness that Americans are safer today than they were yesterday?
LIEBERMAN: Well, I hope so. Yes, I'd say somewhat safer. We're not safe enough. We haven't given our Coast Guard enough. We haven't given the Border Patrol enough. We haven't invested in enough in finding out what's in all of those containers that are coming into our country.
But when you put the nation on alert, you raise our guard, and you say to every American citizen, no matter where you go now, be a little more alert to what's happening around you, and if you see anything suspicious, let the police know immediately.
HEMMER: Senator, let's talk about your issue today, quickly here, on health care. That's your big push today. You want to create a new agency that would go to fighting incurable diseases. The National Institutes of Health is already out there. This could cost a lot of money at the outset of our conversation. You mentioned the topic of money in a cash-strapped country. Is this necessary?
LIEBERMAN: Yes, it's critically necessary, and it's also a very exciting opportunity. What I'm saying today, Bill, is that everybody is talking about closing gap in health insurance. I have ideas for how to do that, but I want to talk not just about more health insurance, I want to talk about better health. We can cure diseases that afflict 100 million Americans, chronic diseases -- Diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, heart disease -- and to do it, we've got to invest public money.
NIH does basic research. This new agency that I'm proposing will take that research and bring it to out medicine cabinet so we can live longer, healthier lives. Incidentally, that will also save costs in our health care system.
HEMMER: Senator, I want to thank you for your time today. I know you're a candidate for the Democratic ticket, let's say. And appreciate your time today, though.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 21, 2003 - 09:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: To talk more about the elevated terror threat now, senator and presidential candidate, Joseph Lieberman is now our guest from D.C. The senator giving a speech later today on health care. We'll talk about that in a moment. First, though, the threat of terror.
Senator, good morning. Thanks for coming back here on AMERICAN MORNING.
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: Good morning, Bill. Good to be with you.
HEMMER: We are getting indications that perhaps Al-Jazeera might run this audiotape very soon, the second in command to Osama bin Laden. I know the news is just breaking. Anything to add on this, senator?
LIEBERMAN: Well, it just reminds us of two things. One, we won some battles in the war against terrorism, but we can't really say, as the president did recently, that the tide has turned. These terrorists are out there, and they mean evil. And we've got to raise our defenses to stop them.
The second thing it reminds us of here at home is that we ought to spend a little less money on the dividend tax cut that the Bush administration wants and more on helping our homeland security department do what it's supposed to do and giving more money to local firefighters and police officers.
You know, there are firefighters and police officers being laid off today by cities and towns across America, which makes about as much sense as laying off soldiers in the middle of a war. So we've got to help them in our budget from the federal government.
HEMMER: Senator, you bring up a good point. We've heard from police chiefs across the country. But what we're also hearing is the White House cannot afford not to go out and elevate the threat level based on the information they're getting. How do you defend that?
LIEBERMAN: I would not second guess the elevation of the threat level. It makes sense to me. I got a brief call from homeland security about it yesterday. It seems to me I was told that there was specific chatter related to possible terrorist attacks against the United States. What I'm saying is, let's accept the reality of that, and not just raise the alert level, but invest the money we need, particularly to our firefighters, and police officers and emergency personnel at the local levels, so we can defend ourselves better than we are today against the terrorists. We don't actually have a centralized watchlist. The federal General Accounting Office gave us a report on this a while ago. Remember, there were some people on the watchlist got in and were part of the September 11th attack. We still don't have a centralized watchlist in the federal government. That's unexcusable, particularly as the alert level goes up again.
HEMMER: Let me take you back to the issue of the war in Iraq. You supported that war, on board I believe from the very beginning the argument was raised publicly.
LIEBERMAN: Yes.
HEMMER: There are those who are now saying that Al Qaeda was essentially let off the hook once the war began. To those critics, what do you say?
LIEBERMAN: Well, I don't believe that's true. Of course, I'm not in the administration. I certainly hope it's not true. I believe that the victory over Saddam was a victory that not only eliminates a source of attack against us, but a leader in a country that was supporting terrorism against us and would continue to support it. So I think the victory over Saddam was a victory in our war against terrorism.
And you know, in this very unsettled, dangerous time of our history, you can't just do one thing at a time. We're strong enough, thank God, to both win a war against Saddam and to continue to fight the war against terrorism, particularly against Al Qaeda. That we can do, and that we must do.
HEMMER: We're about, let's say, 16, 18 hours removed since the terror alert was raised. There are more police officers in certain parts of the country right now on the lookout. Can you say right now with the increased level of alertness that Americans are safer today than they were yesterday?
LIEBERMAN: Well, I hope so. Yes, I'd say somewhat safer. We're not safe enough. We haven't given our Coast Guard enough. We haven't given the Border Patrol enough. We haven't invested in enough in finding out what's in all of those containers that are coming into our country.
But when you put the nation on alert, you raise our guard, and you say to every American citizen, no matter where you go now, be a little more alert to what's happening around you, and if you see anything suspicious, let the police know immediately.
HEMMER: Senator, let's talk about your issue today, quickly here, on health care. That's your big push today. You want to create a new agency that would go to fighting incurable diseases. The National Institutes of Health is already out there. This could cost a lot of money at the outset of our conversation. You mentioned the topic of money in a cash-strapped country. Is this necessary?
LIEBERMAN: Yes, it's critically necessary, and it's also a very exciting opportunity. What I'm saying today, Bill, is that everybody is talking about closing gap in health insurance. I have ideas for how to do that, but I want to talk not just about more health insurance, I want to talk about better health. We can cure diseases that afflict 100 million Americans, chronic diseases -- Diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, heart disease -- and to do it, we've got to invest public money.
NIH does basic research. This new agency that I'm proposing will take that research and bring it to out medicine cabinet so we can live longer, healthier lives. Incidentally, that will also save costs in our health care system.
HEMMER: Senator, I want to thank you for your time today. I know you're a candidate for the Democratic ticket, let's say. And appreciate your time today, though.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
