CNBC Capital Report - Transcript

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SHOW: Capital Report (7:00 PM ET) - CNBC

HEADLINE: Senator Charles Schumer of New York and Congressman David Dreier of California on US homeland security and new terror warnings from Homeland Security Department

ANCHORS: ALAN MURRAY; GLORIA BORGER

BODY:
ALAN MURRAY, co-host:

Senate Democrats offered their response to the administration's terror warning. Joining me now from Capitol Hill is Senator Charles Schumer of New York.

Senator Schumer, thank you for being with us.

Senator CHARLES SCHUMER (Democrat, New York): Hi, glad to be with you, Alan.

MURRAY: I want to read you a press release I got today from a group, a Democratic group called America's Coming Together. You know them; they're one of the active campaign groups. The headline said, 'There is no explanation. It must be politics.' Do you really think that these terror warnings are an effort to scare people for political reasons?

Sen. SCHUMER: No, I don't. I've gotten all kinds of briefings. Being from New York, I'm very concerned, and I think that what Secretary Ridge conveyed was real. And I think they have no choice but to make it public, because once you let 18,000 individual law enforcement agencies know, from around the country-and that's how many there are, and you have to let them know-you may as well make it public, because it's going to leak out and could leak out in a way you don't really-that's not really what you want to convey. My objection to what the administration has done has nothing to do with the timing or announcement of this event. I have to give them the benefit of the doubt there, it's too serious to play politics with, but rather, that we're doing nothing on homeland-we're doing so little on homeland security to make us safe, to cut down the odds that one of these events could happen, to cut down the odds of the danger that would occur. The amount of money, the amount of focus, the amount of effort that's gone into homeland security from this administration, and frankly, from this Congress, is small. Much too small.

MURRAY: Well, shouldn't the administration-shouldn't the government get some credit for the fact that there has not been an attack on US soil since September 11th?

Sen. SCHUMER: Well, you know, you just don't know why. Yes, I think that we're better prepared than we were before, but I can point to 10 or 15 instances where we haven't done what we're supposed to be doing. There's a homeland security appropriations bill; the House passed it. It's not even scheduled in the Senate. Back in April, after Madrid, we passed something on train security. We spend, you know, 40 or $50 a person, a traveler, on air security. We spend a penny on rail and transit security, and after Madrid, that should be a wake-up call. Just today after the Ridge announcement did the Senate leadership put it on the calendar, and that doesn't mean it's going to be called up.

MURRAY: There has been a big increase in spending by the government on homeland security, though, since September 11th.

Sen. SCHUMER: Not close to enough. And, you know, we do spend every dollar to fight a war on terror overseas, and we should be backing up our soldiers there. We don't come close on homeland security. And if you talk to some of the leaders in homeland security who've quit this administration out of exasperation, they will tell you that they're not spending enough. For shoulder-held missiles, we're slow-walking it. For nuclear detection devices to prevent a nuclear weapon from being smuggled in, slow-walking it. For rail security, for port security, we're going at much too slow a pace. For the border, much too slow. And everyone of these, it's not that we don't have the technology or ability to make ourselves safer, the administration does not want to spend the money. They're penny-wise and pound-foolish.

MURRAY: All right. Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York. Thanks very much for being with us on CAPITAL REPORT.

Sen. SCHUMER: Thank you.

MURRAY: Now let's get the Republican view from Congressman David Dreier of California, chairman of the House Rules Committee.

Chairman Dreier, 'not spending nearly enough money on homeland security.'

Representative DAVID DREIER (Republican, California): Yeah, let me say at the outset, Alan, that I'm glad there is bipartisan agreement that this announcement that has been made by the secretary of Homeland Security is not a political decision. You know, it's absolutely ludicrous to try and make that claim, and I can't understand why anyone would believe that any administration, Democrat or Republican, would have a desire to try and frighten people.

MURRAY: Well, you know, just before we leave that point, you may be right; it may be ludicrous, but this is out there.

Rep. DREIER: Oh, I do know it's out there.

MURRAY: It's in Michael Moore's film.

Rep. DREIER: Of course.

MURRAY: We got a half a dozen e-mails today...

Rep. DREIER: Yeah.

MURRAY: ...when the announcement was made, saying this is election-year politics.

Rep. DREIER: Yeah. And, I mean, we all know the impact that Michael Moore's picture is having, and we all know that it's a mockumentary and people are discrediting so much of it, Democrats and Republicans. But it is resonating with a lot of people, and that's led to this sort of conclusion, which is, I believe, very, very unfortunate. I'm reminded, of course, of that cover of The Economist magazine right after March 11th when we saw those playing cards with photographs of Jose Maria Aznar, a red X through his picture on the playing card, and then photographs of President Bush, Prime Minister Blair and...

MURRAY: Mmm.

Rep. DREIER: ...Prime Minister Howard. And so, you know, I do think we live with a very serious threat of this on the horizon, and I think that this is why that was said.

MURRAY: OK, so...

Rep. DREIER: On this specific issue...

MURRAY: Yeah, on Senator Schumer's point.

Rep. DREIER: OK, let me just say $32 billion, an unprecedented level, is being expended. There is a new handheld device to detect whether or not there is a dirty bomb out there; we know that that threat exists. There is an operation center, homeland security operation center, in place 24/7. Can we do more? Of course, we can do more. We can always do more, and we're striving to do more, better.

MURRAY: Can we afford to do more?

Rep. DREIER: Well, we can't afford not do more, and we're going to continue to do more. But I believe that $32 billion is appropriate level. Now, having spoken with a lot of people about this, Alan, I think it's important for us to recognize the resources are there. We need to make sure that they're managed appropriately and that they get through the pipeline. And so...

MURRAY: Yeah.

Rep. DREIER: ...you know, to argue that Congress hasn't done its job, yes, we have done our job in providing this $32 billion appropriation level, and we just need to make sure that it is handled effectively. And remember, this is the unchartered waters.

MURRAY: Yeah.

Rep. DREIER: We never before in the history of our country have dealt with anything like this.

MURRAY: Let's go back to the point about the terror warnings, though. If these things happen over and over again and there's no information about the time, the place, the method, does it become the boy crying wolf? Does the public become less and less responsive to each successive warning?

Rep. DREIER: Well, I think that's one of the reasons, Alan, there has been a great deal of care taken in raising the alert level. But when you have the kind of trafficking, you know, the chatter that is taking place that obviously has led to this conclusion, there is understandable concern. And I think that my colleague is absolutely right in saying that it's important for the public to be informed. I mean, we're all going to these two conventions. I'm not going to both of them; I'm only going to go to one. But the fact of the matter is we're going to see the capital and the conventions under very, very high security because people would like to disrupt them.

MURRAY: Yeah. Yeah.

Rep. DREIER: And we live with that daily.

MURRAY: Well, we'll be at both conventions and we...

Rep. DREIER: Yeah.

MURRAY: ...appreciate the security.

Rep. DREIER: OK.

MURRAY: We appreciate you being with us.

Rep. DREIER: Always good. Thanks, Alan.

MURRAY: Thanks very much.