All Things Considered - Transcript

National Public Radio (NPR)

SHOW: All Things Considered 8:00 AM EST NPR

November 3, 2004 Wednesday

HEADLINE: Mitch McConnell discusses what he hopes to accomplish in the next Senate term with a larger Republican majority

ANCHORS: MELISSA BLOCK, ROBERT SIEGEL

BODY:

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.

ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

And I'm Robert Siegel.

Today Republicans are celebrating not only President Bush's victory over Senator John Kerry but also gains in both chambers of Congress. The Republican Party widened its majority in the House by at least four seats, and in the Senate the Republicans will hold 55 seats, up from 51.

BLOCK: We're joined by the Senate majority whip, Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

And, Senator McConnell, the lessons you take from the results last night?

Senator MITCH McCONNELL (Republican, Kentucky; Majority Whip): Well, we're certainly gratified by the president's re-election and the fact that he's actually the first re-elected president to gain seats in both the House and Senate on the same day. So we're humbled by the support of the American people and look forward to the new session of Congress with a slightly expanded majority in both the House and Senate.

BLOCK: Well, as you look forward to that session and maybe looking back at the same time at the report card from the last Congress, you couldn't get agreement on an energy bill, you couldn't get a budget last year, couldn't do appropriations bills on time. Do you think that a stronger Republican majority will help your agenda prevail?

Sen. McCONNELL: I hope so. I think that going from a 51-49 Senate to a 55-45 Senate, plus hopefully some enhanced cooperation from the Democrats-because in the Senate, as you know, unless you have 60 votes you can't do a whole lot-we hope there'll be more bipartisan cooperation. We've gotten the election behind us. We've got a full two years ahead of us. That should diminish the political gamesmanship, frankly, on both sides of the aisle and produce the kind of bipartisan cooperation that we need to advance the agenda of the American people.

BLOCK: You talked about getting to that magic number of 60 votes that you would need to break a filibuster. Sometimes in the last term you would be turning to Democrats who are no longer in the Senate, whose seats are now held by Republicans based on last night's results. So who do you think you can pick up to help you get to 60?

Sen. McCONNELL: There are a number of Democrats on the other side who are not excessively partisan. And we hope to be able to reach out to them and put together the kind of bipartisan coalitions you need in order to be successful in the United States Senate.

BLOCK: There were a number of judicial appointments that didn't get through the last Senate, and you have potentially a number of Supreme Court nominees coming up before you. Do you think that the outcome might be any different for those nominations, or will they be equally contentious?

Sen. McCONNELL: Well, we did have a number of filibusters on circuit judge appointments. The Democrats were very reasonable on district court appointments. I'm hoping that we'll have a more cooperative view of how to respond to those judicial nominations in the next Congress.

BLOCK: The Supreme Court nominations in the past have occasionally been very controversial, though. I mean, do you think that the president needs to be mindful of what is still a strong and large Democratic minority in the Senate?

Sen. McCONNELL: Well, sometimes Supreme Court appointments are controversial; most of the times they aren't. And we'll just have to wait and see how that develops. But I'm anticipating, if and when we have a vacancy, that we will not start off in a very partisan way of reacting to the president's nomination.

BLOCK: You know, it's really common after elections like this to say, 'Election's over, and now it's the time for bipartisanship and reaching across the aisle.' But what signs are you seeing that that's actually going to happen?

Sen. McCONNELL: Well, the reason I think it'll happen is that the 2000 election was disputed. The president actually was elected without a majority of the popular votes. Neither of those things are happening this time. Now we have a larger majority. I think the attitude is going to be that the president clearly demonstrated the support of the American people, and let's give him a chance to succeed. I think that a number of Democrats are going to have that view.

BLOCK: You've got the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, out on a victory tour with Republican senators in the South. I wonder if you think that might be the wrong message, that it's not the time for gloating but for real cooperation and reaching out.

Sen. McCONNELL: Well, I don't know that he's gloating. I think he's-it's OK to celebrate for at least one day, and this is the day after the election. There's nothing wrong with a brief celebration. But then we're going to get down to the work, and we've got to go back in session week after next and finish up the rest of this year's business.

BLOCK: Well, Senator McConnell, thanks for being with us.

Sen. McCONNELL: Thank you.

BLOCK: Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is the second ranking Republican in the Senate. He spoke with us from Louisville.