Interview With National Journal-Transcript

Interview

Interview With National Journal-Transcript

Q: On the trail, you leveraged your experience as a former U.S. attorney to speak out against President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program. Do you think the issue has been properly resolved?

Whitehouse: I think that the decision by the administration to put the program under the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] court has gone a long way toward resolving the concerns. We just had a hearing on that [on Feb. 15] in the Intelligence Committee, and we're going to work through the details at this point.

But the general goal of having this comport with the FISA statute and fall within the traditional oversight of wiretap activities by the executive branch, I think has been a very good step.

Q: Let's talk about another contentious issue that may arise in the Judiciary Committee: federal judges. As a lawyer, will this be your time to shine?

Whitehouse: I don't know that that is so much a time to shine; it's kind of an up-or-down vote. I do think that the picture has changed dramatically for the president as a result of the '06 elections.

At this point, [Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.] has indicted, loud and clear, that he will honor what is traditionally referred to as the "blue-slip process," which is the process where the senator on the committee or the senator of a home state can stop any appointment that is not agreeable to them.

With only two years left in the Bush administration, I think they've got to be looking at the calculation that if they continue to appoint a lot of extremist hard-liners, what they're going to get is nothing except vacancies for the next president. Whereas if they try to work with us, and find people who are just competent judges, then they'll be doing the job that they're supposed to be doing, which is to fill the judiciary with capable people.

So, I'm hoping they see it that way, and we've actually had some early indications that there is a new tone in place. Before she left, [former White House Counsel] Harriet Miers came by to talk to me. We had a very good conversation. So, we'll see. Talk is cheap and actions will really define them. But so far the talk at least has been accommodating.

Q: Another issue that you constantly returned to during the campaign was Medicare. Why is this particular issue so important to you?

Whitehouse: I'm extremely animated on this subject because... a great deal of testimony we've heard in the Budget Committee... has been about the looming fiscal catastrophe that the entitlement programs could present.

Very responsible people in very significant offices have used words like "tsunami." So, there clearly is going to be a lot of pressure on these programs. In my view, Medicare and Medicaid are wonderful programs. If anything, they're too narrow in scope. I support universal health care, but programs like this that at least help provide health care to various populations I think are very, very good programs.

And before we face the false and artificial choice of either raising taxes or borrowing more money from the Chinese or cutting these vital programs that people depend on, it is really incumbent on us in the Congress to make sure that those programs are efficient, are effective.

So what I see is that if we don't do our job in reforming the health care system, then we're going to end up facing tragic choices for Medicare and Medicaid.

Q: What is No. 1 goal and legislative priority for Rhode Island in the 110th Congress?

Whitehouse: I think, like everyone else, it's finding a responsible way home from Iraq.

Q: But in terms of issues that are specific to your state...

Whitehouse: In terms of the specific stuff: The health care reform is my next biggest one, and I think it's going to be a big battle on Part D -- the Medicare prescription drug plan. We have a significant senior population in Rhode Island. The only two states that have a bigger senior population are destination states for wealthy seniors: Florida and Arizona.

So, reforming the Part D program and making sure that seniors have access to health care, and that there isn't lots of money being wasted on high prices to the pharmaceutical industry is pretty darned important.

Q: Another committee that you serve on, Environment and Public Works, was once chaired by John Chafee.

Whitehouse: Yes.

Q: Who roomed with your father at Yale.

Whitehouse: Sure did.

Q: Is there anything in his record and his legacy that you'd like to continue working on?

Whitehouse: Absolutely. John Chafee and then Lincoln Chafee following him had really exemplarily environmental records. I think it's an important tradition for this seat, and it's one that I'm working very, very hard to maintain and going to continue to work hard to maintain.

I'm extremely conscious of that Rhode Island legacy. It's something that both the Chafee family and the state of Rhode Island can be very proud of. Fortunately, I'm of very strong environmental beliefs myself so it's easy and natural for me to follow that path.

Q: As a senator representing the Ocean State, how do you balance fisheries' environmental and recreational concerns with commercial harvesting?

Whitehouse: I think that any member of Congress who comes from a state that has a fishing economy has to be concerned about this, and it's not an issue that I've addressed in any way in the month and change that I've been here.

But my wife is a marine biologist and has been involved in a lot of fisheries legislation at the state level, and we do really face the risk that our present policies really sweep the oceans clean of species.

Just yesterday, I was talking to some of the folks from [U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service], and they were pointing out that the spiny dogfish market was under some pressure. And my reaction was: Can you imagine that there's even such a thing as a spiny dogfish market?

They said, "Well, you can't catch cod any longer in the waters off Rhode Island." When this country was first settled, cod were so rich off the coast that it's almost not an unrealistic exaggeration that you could have walked out to Block Island on the cod. Now we're scraping for spiny dogfish to keep the fishing fleet going.

Q: Have you had a chance to talk to Lincoln Chafee? I'm sure you've talked with him, but have you sat down to have a cup of coffee and catch up?

Whitehouse: He very kindly invited me to his office in [Providence]. I had signaled a couple of times that as soon as he was over the initial shock of the election and wanted to sit down with me, that I'd be very delighted to meet with him. He was kind enough to respond and to invite me to the office and we sat down for I'd say the better part of an hour. [We] went over what was interesting to him and some of the caseload, and he presented me with his No. 2 Senate license plates. We had a nice meeting.

Q: Which Republican senator would you most like to work with?

Whitehouse: I think the person I'd like to work with the most is Michael Enzi [R-Wyo.], because he is the ranking member on the [Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions]. I think everyone considers him to be very kind, a real gentleman, thoughtful. He works very, very well with Sen. [Edward] Kennedy [D-Mass.] on health care issues.

That has not been a committee that has been charged with partisan attacks and counterattacks. Given my interest in health care and my desire to reach across the aisle -- 51 votes won't necessarily do the trick here -- I think Sen. Enzi would be a very good person to work with and indeed I've already met with him to talk about some of my ideas on health care.

Q: Which aspect of D.C. and the Senate has been most surprising for you?

Whitehouse: How nice everyone has been to the freshman class.

You read the old books about the Senate, and it's sort of like being hazed in the first year at school. You're not supposed to speak until spoken to. You're not allowed to stand up on the floor and give a speech until you've been here for a year. You have to call all the senior senators "senator," and they all call you by your first name.

Those are sort of the traditions of the place, but I find that the Democrats in particular, but really everyone, has been extremely generous and friendly and accommodating.

Q: On the flip side to that, what's been the most disappointing aspect?

Whitehouse: I'm not completely convinced yet, but I'm beginning to get the impression that there's more talk than substance from the other side of the aisle on the subject of bipartisanship. I hope that this is a misimpression, and that further events will correct it.

Q: What would you call your crowning achievement to date, before getting elected to the Senate?

Whitehouse: Marrying Sandra.

Q: How about in the professional realm?

Whitehouse: The most exciting thing was arguing in the United States Supreme Court. That was just a thrilling thing for any lawyer to do. Anyone who goes to law school dreams that one day they might have that chance, and by gosh I did. It was just a spectacular experience.

But the thing that I really enjoyed the most was when we had a workers' compensation meltdown in Rhode Island. It was an emergency, and it was a complete meltdown, and time was of the essence, and there was no way to fudge the results, and we just had to fix it in a real hurry. We were able to do it.

Q: And lastly, as someone who was born in New York City but represents Rhode Island, who's going to win the pennant: Yankees or Red Sox?

Whitehouse: I'm Red Sox all the way.

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