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American Morning
Interview With Roy Blunt
Aired September 03, 2003 - 08:15 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Congress is getting back to work this week after its August recess and there is no shortage of critical issues waiting to be dealt with -- the cost of rebuilding Iraq, the economy and energy policy in the wake of last month's massive blackout, to name just a few.
Joining us this morning from Washington, D.C., the House Majority Whip, Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri.
Congressman Blunt, good morning.
It's nice to see you.
Thanks for joining us on AMERICAN MORNING.
REP. ROY BLUNT (R), MISSOURI: Good morning, Soledad.
It's nice to be here.
O'BRIEN: Well, thank you very much.
You have, of course, heard about this proposed, potentially proposed U.N. resolution that would call for more international help with troops in Iraq. Give me first your reaction to that word.
BLUNT: Well, I think that that's what the secretary of state has been working on. We do want to see a more international force there. It's critically important that the United States troops stay under United States command. That's been our tradition. It's worked well for us. It's worked in other places. I think we'll continue to see that.
But, you know, Soledad, what we're really seeing in Iraq is not just the targeting of U.S. troops, but the targeting of anybody who seeks to bring stability to that country, whether it's a leading cleric or the police chief or our forces. And while internationalizing that force will help some, this truly is an effort to meet terror in its nest and do something about it.
O'BRIEN: Do you think the administration's willingness to consider a greater role for the United Nations is indicative of being aware that they were vastly mistaken about the costs of this operation?
BLUNT: No, I don't. I think that the United -- I think the administration, if they are like me, at least, is surprised that the world community after the war fighting part of this is over hasn't stepped in more aggressively on its own. I think they are waiting for some change in format, some kind of U.N. presence would make that happen. I'm surprised, I don't know if the administration is, that we haven't seen more of -- more countries in the world step up and say we're glad to see Saddam Hussein gone, we understand that this has now become a challenge for terrorists from around the world and around the Middle East and we're going to help you do something about it.
O'BRIEN: But aren't they saying that's...
BLUNT: I don't think...
O'BRIEN: Forgive me for interrupting you, but to some degree aren't they saying that with the added -- with in exchange for some authority in Iraq?
BLUNT: I don't know of anything that anybody in the administration has ever said that would suggest that in a post-war Iraq that we didn't want a larger international presence. I've never heard that. I don't think that's been out there. I think you've seen the secretary of state meeting with Kofi Annan and others, saying now it's time to do what we've said all the time had to happen. We needed -- we've always said we needed more countries and I've said repeatedly for months now that I anticipated that we'd see a much more greater international involvement once the fighting was actually over and the peacekeeping began. The peacekeeping is a little hotter than anybody would have anticipated, largely because of the focus of various terrorist groups, some Iraqi, some not, in that country right now.
You know, I don't think, Soledad, this is going to be a huge discussion in the Congress. Certainly there will be members of Congress talking about it. But as you mentioned earlier, we've got such critical opportunities with energy policy, adding prescription drugs to Medicare, looking to see that the economy, which continues to -- seems to be on the move now, continues to be, I think that's where our debate is going to be over the next few weeks.
O'BRIEN: Well, then let's talk a little bit about that. You are on the Energy Committee.
BLUNT: Right.
O'BRIEN: How do you expand domestic energy production, which is clearly necessary here?
BLUNT: I think the way you expand both energy production and electricity specifically is to create some certainty in the marketplace. For 10 years now, we've been without an energy policy or an electric -- including an electricity policy. President Bush, when he came into office two years ago, said this was a priority. We've passed legislation now in both of the last two years trying to get this done.
I think that the blackout may be the thing that pushes this to absolute finality. We need that sort of thing to happen occasionally. Once people know what the rules are for the next 15 or 20 years, we're going to see much more willingness to invest in generation, invest in transmission. Not having a policy in electricity has hurt badly. Not looking at all the alternatives in addition to fossil fuels and coal is something that we're paying the price for at the gas pump and at the electric meter right now. We need to move on with a policy that works for this century.
O'BRIEN: You also mentioned legislation to overhaul Medicare. Give me a sense of at the end of the day what this final version is going to look like?
BLUNT: I believe the final version will include the importance of continuing to have private sector incentives to discover new drugs and make them available. The House now, for three Congresses in a row, has passed legislation that would add prescription drugs to Medicare. The Senate's finally joined us. We've got a conference. The president wants to sign a bill that changes Medicare like medicine has changed.
You know, medicine has changed dramatically since 1965, but Medicare hasn't changed. This is the time to change it, but we don't want to do it in a way that means we won't have continued advances in pharmaceutical medicines and we're trying to find that balance right now.
O'BRIEN: Congressman Roy Blunt of Missouri, nice to see you, sir, the House Majority Whip.
BLUNT: Nice to see you.
O'BRIEN: Thanks for joining us.
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 September 3, 2003 - 08:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Congress is getting back to work this week after its August recess and there is no shortage of critical issues waiting to be dealt with -- the cost of rebuilding Iraq, the economy and energy policy in the wake of last month's massive blackout, to name just a few.
Joining us this morning from Washington, D.C., the House Majority Whip, Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri.
Congressman Blunt, good morning.
It's nice to see you.
Thanks for joining us on AMERICAN MORNING.
REP. ROY BLUNT (R), MISSOURI: Good morning, Soledad.
It's nice to be here.
O'BRIEN: Well, thank you very much.
You have, of course, heard about this proposed, potentially proposed U.N. resolution that would call for more international help with troops in Iraq. Give me first your reaction to that word.
BLUNT: Well, I think that that's what the secretary of state has been working on. We do want to see a more international force there. It's critically important that the United States troops stay under United States command. That's been our tradition. It's worked well for us. It's worked in other places. I think we'll continue to see that.
But, you know, Soledad, what we're really seeing in Iraq is not just the targeting of U.S. troops, but the targeting of anybody who seeks to bring stability to that country, whether it's a leading cleric or the police chief or our forces. And while internationalizing that force will help some, this truly is an effort to meet terror in its nest and do something about it.
O'BRIEN: Do you think the administration's willingness to consider a greater role for the United Nations is indicative of being aware that they were vastly mistaken about the costs of this operation?
BLUNT: No, I don't. I think that the United -- I think the administration, if they are like me, at least, is surprised that the world community after the war fighting part of this is over hasn't stepped in more aggressively on its own. I think they are waiting for some change in format, some kind of U.N. presence would make that happen. I'm surprised, I don't know if the administration is, that we haven't seen more of -- more countries in the world step up and say we're glad to see Saddam Hussein gone, we understand that this has now become a challenge for terrorists from around the world and around the Middle East and we're going to help you do something about it.
O'BRIEN: But aren't they saying that's...
BLUNT: I don't think...
O'BRIEN: Forgive me for interrupting you, but to some degree aren't they saying that with the added -- with in exchange for some authority in Iraq?
BLUNT: I don't know of anything that anybody in the administration has ever said that would suggest that in a post-war Iraq that we didn't want a larger international presence. I've never heard that. I don't think that's been out there. I think you've seen the secretary of state meeting with Kofi Annan and others, saying now it's time to do what we've said all the time had to happen. We needed -- we've always said we needed more countries and I've said repeatedly for months now that I anticipated that we'd see a much more greater international involvement once the fighting was actually over and the peacekeeping began. The peacekeeping is a little hotter than anybody would have anticipated, largely because of the focus of various terrorist groups, some Iraqi, some not, in that country right now.
You know, I don't think, Soledad, this is going to be a huge discussion in the Congress. Certainly there will be members of Congress talking about it. But as you mentioned earlier, we've got such critical opportunities with energy policy, adding prescription drugs to Medicare, looking to see that the economy, which continues to -- seems to be on the move now, continues to be, I think that's where our debate is going to be over the next few weeks.
O'BRIEN: Well, then let's talk a little bit about that. You are on the Energy Committee.
BLUNT: Right.
O'BRIEN: How do you expand domestic energy production, which is clearly necessary here?
BLUNT: I think the way you expand both energy production and electricity specifically is to create some certainty in the marketplace. For 10 years now, we've been without an energy policy or an electric -- including an electricity policy. President Bush, when he came into office two years ago, said this was a priority. We've passed legislation now in both of the last two years trying to get this done.
I think that the blackout may be the thing that pushes this to absolute finality. We need that sort of thing to happen occasionally. Once people know what the rules are for the next 15 or 20 years, we're going to see much more willingness to invest in generation, invest in transmission. Not having a policy in electricity has hurt badly. Not looking at all the alternatives in addition to fossil fuels and coal is something that we're paying the price for at the gas pump and at the electric meter right now. We need to move on with a policy that works for this century.
O'BRIEN: You also mentioned legislation to overhaul Medicare. Give me a sense of at the end of the day what this final version is going to look like?
BLUNT: I believe the final version will include the importance of continuing to have private sector incentives to discover new drugs and make them available. The House now, for three Congresses in a row, has passed legislation that would add prescription drugs to Medicare. The Senate's finally joined us. We've got a conference. The president wants to sign a bill that changes Medicare like medicine has changed.
You know, medicine has changed dramatically since 1965, but Medicare hasn't changed. This is the time to change it, but we don't want to do it in a way that means we won't have continued advances in pharmaceutical medicines and we're trying to find that balance right now.
O'BRIEN: Congressman Roy Blunt of Missouri, nice to see you, sir, the House Majority Whip.
BLUNT: Nice to see you.
O'BRIEN: Thanks for joining us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
