Fox News Special Report with Brit Hume Transcript

SHOW: FOX SPECIAL REPORT WITH BRIT HUME (18:31)

HEADLINE: Political Grapevine
Ralph Nader's Presidential Campaign Is Now Qualified For Federal Matching Funds

BYLINE: Brit Hume, Brian Wilson, Todd Connor

BODY:
HUME: And now the most interesting two minutes in television, the latest from the "Political Grapevine."

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BRIAN WILSON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): September 11, 2001, members of Congress were being evacuated from the Capitol building. And I'll never forget what a panicked police officer told me that morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A plane was hijacked 20 minutes south of here and they're headed towards the capitol.

WILSON: In the chaos of the moment, his facts were a little scrambled, but many now believe that Congress was the intended target of the Flight 93; the plane that crashed north of Washington in this grassy Pennsylvania field, after brave passengers struggled with the terrorists.

But imagine for a moment that the events of 9-11 had transpired differently. What if terrorists were successful in decimating the ranks of Congress? Well, the Constitution allows new senators to be appointed by state governors, but House members but be elected. This week, the House will consider a Continuity of Congress measure put forward by the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

REP. JAMES SENSENBRENNER (R-WI), CHMN., JUDICIARY CMTE.: The issue is pretty simple. My bill provides for special elections quickly, to fill vacancies quickly if 100 or more members are killed in a terrorist strike.

WILSON: His measure calls for those elections to be held within 45 days. Many long-time Hill watchers believe the bill will pass, but some Democrats have serious concerns about waiting that long to reconstitute the House of Representatives. What if Congress was needed to quickly declare war or provide emergency funding?

REP. BRIAN BAIRD (D), WASHINGTON: Congress has a responsibility to the American people, to the institution and to the framers, to make sure that if the terrorists do manage to kill us, that within days, this institution is back up and functioning.

WILSON: So representative Brian Baird and others are suggesting a constitutional amendment allowing each representative to pre-appoint a short-term successor, who would stand in if some or all of the House were wiped out in an attack.

REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D), CALIFORNIA: I think it's important that members of the House be elect the, but to have a temporary appointment for a matter of weeks would not destroy our electoral system.

WILSON: Sensenbrenner is strongly opposed to that approach.

SENSENBRENNER: Nobody has ever sat in the House of Representatives who hasn't been first elected by the people. That's something that we ought to maintain.

WILSON (on camera): Interestingly, past presidents have though a great deal about how their administration was react, if an attack against Washington wiped out large portions of the government. According to some reports, Ronald Reagan came to the conclusion that his administration would just go ahead and respond to the demands of a national emergency, without waiting for Congress to be reassembled.

In Washington, Brian Wilson, Fox News.