ad info

 
CNN.comTranscripts
 
Editions | myCNN | Video | Audio | Headline News Brief | Feedback  

 

  Search
 
 

 

TOP STORIES

Bush signs order opening 'faith-based' charity office for business

Rescues continue 4 days after devastating India earthquake

DaimlerChrysler employees join rapidly swelling ranks of laid-off U.S. workers

Disney's GO.com is a goner

(MORE)

MARKETS
4:30pm ET, 4/16
144.70
8257.60
3.71
1394.72
10.90
879.91
 


WORLD

U.S.

POLITICS

LAW

TECHNOLOGY

ENTERTAINMENT

 
TRAVEL

ARTS & STYLE



(MORE HEADLINES)
 
CNN Websites
Networks image


Morning News

107th Congress Set to Begin

Aired January 3, 2001 - 11:50 a.m. ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, the other big story that we are following today. This is the beginning of the 107th Congress. Lead story there, first lady becomes Senator Clinton actually within the next hour.

For more on that, let's bring in our Chris Black.

Chris, we saw live here on CNN "MORNING NEWS" that Mrs. Clinton has actually already arrived on Capitol Hill?

CHRIS BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Daryn. She did arrive and, she, in fact, arrived early, which as someone who used to cover Bill Clinton I can tell you is most unusual. She arrived with the president here on Capitol Hill. At noon, with the other 33 senators who take the oath of office today. She'll be escorted into the Senate chamber by Chuck Schumer, who is now the senior senator from New York.

It is a tradition that usually another senator escorts the new members or any member in who is taking the oath office, and typically, it is the other senator from that senator's home state. The president and their daughter Chelsea will be watching from the gallery. And then, afterwards, there will be a reenactment ceremony, which is also traditional, in the old Senate chamber, and the president, we are told, will hold the bible for the pictures, as his wife pretends to take the oath a second time.

KAGAN: That is -- those are pictures we will certainly see live here on CNN. Give us an idea of what the protocol is. Who gets sworn in first, the House side or the Senate side?

BLACK: Well, they're simultaneous. What happens is that both the House and the Senate begin at noon. In the Senate, which I'm most familiar with, the chaplain will say a prayer, there will be pledge of allegiance and then Al Gore, the incumbent vice president, will take over as the president of the Senate.

The senators will take the oath of office, again, it is 34, only one third of the Senate comes up for reelection every two years in alphabetical order. They'll come up in groups of four. Al Gore will administer the oath, and then something very unusual will happen in the Senate, the audience will be allowed to applaud. Applause typically is not allowed. But on this one occasion, each group of four will be applauded after they take the oath -- Daryn. KAGAN: We saw in the live pictures, Chris, as Hillary Clinton arrived on Capitol Hill, she has an incredible security contingency. She, of course, is still the first lady and is also along with the president. That would explain the huge Secret Service. Will that continue as she is a senator, and how is that going to logistically change things?

BLACK: Obviously, the security today really was a presidential- level security, because President Clinton, himself, is coming to the Capitol. In fact, Mrs. Clinton normally would have to wait her turn for that reenactment ceremony in the Senate chamber, she is 97th in seniority. But because of the security constraints put on the Capitol by the president's presence, she has actually been moved to the head of the list. She will be done first.

After Mr. Clinton finishes his term of office on the 20th, Mrs. Clinton can retain Secret Service protection, but it will be scaled back. But here on the Hill there is very large Capitol Hill police force and typically they take over security for senators who need it. It will be done on a need-to basis, obviously if she is the target of any threats, things which we are usually not talking about on television, usually not told about, her security would be increased in proportion to that.

KAGAN: Chris, how do you think that's going to play with her fellow senators, especially the veteran senators Mrs. Clinton being moved to the front of the line?

BLACK: They don't mind that. It is understood that it is for security reasons. It is understood that her husband is the president of the United States. There won't be any problems with that.

Mrs. Clinton is taking a very deliberate low-key posture. She has been very clear that she wants to be just another member of the Senate, just another freshman, even though of course she isn't. But that actually goes down well here. Bobby Kennedy came here as a celebrity senator from New York, 36 years ago, and actually took tips from his brother Ted, who preceded him in the Senate by two years, when he took his brother's spot as a senator from Massachusetts. And he took a trip to try to get along with colleagues, try to be low key, try to blend in.

And I am told that Mrs. Clinton will try to do that, though she will clearly use her influence and her celebrity to draw attention to the issues she most cares about.

KAGAN: Chris Black, on Capitol Hill, thank you for the insight.

Here is Leon.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: After the pomp and the ceremony, the senators will then get down to work. And of course their work will be cut out for them from the agenda of President-elect George W. Bush.

Let's go now to CNN's Major Garrett, who is standing by now live in Austin, Texas with a look at that -- Major. MAJOR GARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon, how are you?

HARRIS: All right, how about yourself?

GARRETT: I am doing well down here, a little chilly in Austin, but we are holding on just fine.

HARRIS: What signals are you getting about what exactly the president-elect is going to be pursuing agenda-wise here with this Congress?

GARRETT: Well, no deep hit secrets, Leon, the campaign the president-elect carried out will be the one he brings to Congress, specifically he will lead with education. There are very intense conversations going on now between the Bush team and members of Congress about how to proceed on education. That will be the first bill out of the box for the president-elect. Then, of course will be president on January 20th.

They hope to get a bipartisan consensus and still keep some hope alive for putting a small experimental voucher program in the system. But it's going to emphasize money and high standards, and holding principals and school districts accountable when they receive larger amounts of federal funds.

Then we will come to tax cuts. The president-elect has made very clear he believes a tax cut is necessary to deal with a slowing economy, that is going to be big topic today here in Austin as the president-elect convenes a conference on the economy with CEOs from around the country dealing with a slowdown in their own companies. The tax cut will be brought to Congress. It hasn't clearly been put together yet. What the president-elect will try to do is find exactly how much Congress is going to cut taxes by for that program before them and see if it flies.

HARRIS: That, for many people, is the big question here. It appears to some, many of the pundits that we've been speaking with, that President-elect Bush here is pursuing this tax cut, as if he had a mandate from the election, which definitely has not been the case, clearly?

GARRETT: Well, he will say and has said that with or without a mandate, the economy is slowing, and his first priority as president is to do what he can to turn that economy around.

Now there are some mixed signals out there. The Bush team points to ones that are negative. The Clintons still in office say the economy is not nearly as bad as the Bush people suggest. What the Bush people are trying to do, however, is create the impression in Congress that you better act now, you better get on board this tax cut, lest your constituents -- the people who put you in office -- will hold you accountable if the economy continues to slow and there is no tax relief coming.

The Bush people point also to larger surplus totals, $5 trillion. And they say, now is the time for the slowing economy to give some of that some of that money back. The big question is, how much will be given back and how quickly will it be given back? That is another key factor in all of this.

HARRIS: As they say, the devil is in the details. Major Garrett reporting live this morning from Austin, Texas. Appreciate it. We will talk to you later on.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

 Search   


Back to the top  © 2001 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.