29 Nov 00
(Sunup Program to be aired 30 Nov)1. Watching the post-election drama, can we now say "President-elect" Bush?
–It is probably upsetting 30-50% of the people, but for the sake of argument, let’s say Bush will be our next president.
–Vice-president apparent Cheney is leading the transition team and names for key positions are already floating out.
–If those "leaks" are to be believed, those who are worried about Bush being too inexperienced to be a world leader may be comforted. However, for those who were expecting a fresh new look in the new Administration, there will be much criticism.
2. Can we quickly go thru some of the names that are being suggested for Administration positions?
–Names that have a connection to Former President Bush are:
1. Andrew Card–White House Chief of Staff was Deputy Chief of Staff for the elder.
2. Colin Powell–Secretary of State was Chair, Joint Chief of Staff for the elder.
3. Condelizza Rice–National Security Advisor was Chief Soviet Advisor for the elder.
4. Paul Wolfowitz–possible Secretary of Defense was an undersecretary of Defense for the elder.
5. James Baker–an unnamed advisory position was the elder’s one-time campaign manager and a former Secretary of State.
–Names that may be "outsiders", or not previously connected with the elder Bush include:
1. Frank Keating–possible Attorney General, now of course our own OK governor.
2. Mark Racicot–possible AG, now MT gov.
3. Rick Lazio–possible HUD secretary, now NY Congressman who lost to Hilary Clinton for a Senate seat.
4. Sam Nunn, a former Democratic Senator from Georgia, withdrew his name from possible consideration for Secretary of Defense.
3. You didn’t mention Secretary of Agriculture. Any new names there?
–We’ve mentioned them before. That this is not getting much press suggests it may be somewhat lower priority for Bush.
–The 2 names of note for the next Secretary are:
1. Charlie Stenholm–now Democratic Congressman from Texas and minority leader on the House Ag Committee.
2. Susan Combs–now Texas Commissioner of Agriculture.
–Combs comes from a ranching family in Brewster County. She has a law degree and was a Texas legislator prior to election to her current position. She is perhaps best known for authoring private property rights legislation that mandates compensation if property rights are taken from land owners.
4. Moving to Congress, they’re supposed to start up the lame-duck wrap up of spending bills next week.
–Dec 5 is the date they agreed on.
–The uncertainty in the Presidential election will affect what happens.
–The GOP leadership has some choices to make on making compromise easy or tough.
–What is intriguing is that, with the apparent split of the Senate 50-50, the Democrats will hold power for 17 days in January.
–The Senate is sworn in 3 Jan. The new President doesn’t come in until 20 Jan.
–Thus, if Cantwell’s win in Washington survives a recount this week, Vice President Al Gore will be the tie-breaking vote in the Senate during this 17 days.
–Sen. Tom Daschle, ND Democrat, will be the majority leader for that period.
–He and other Democrats say they won’t take advantage of the brief anomaly, but they do want to use that time to build bridges with the GOP leaders to reduce the likelihood of gridlock after 20 Jan.
–Agriculture would be one of the places to look for a more even division of power and agenda-setting, since it was largely nonpartisan as recently as 8 years ago.
5. Global warming meetings in Europe last week broke down. What happened?
–The US and Europe couldn’t reach a compromise.
–This has been a 3-year effort to achieve an international treaty on global warming with over 170 countries.
–Germany thought the compromise would allow the US to continue polluting at too high a level.
–This comes at a time that there is increasing evidence that global warming is real.
–The debate over what practices will fight the phenomenon is intense.
–The 1997 treaty has yet to be approved by the US Senate, and the current political divisions make it unlikely any time soon.
6. China’s talks with the WTO will resume Dec. 5.
–Some negotiators remain optimistic that China may become the 140th member of WTO in 2001.
–If there are no further "incidences" that reflect negatively on China, things should proceed.
–China is facing internal strife from rural farm areas that feel threatened by this move.
7. Congress
a. Recent/Current:
–Few House and Senate sessions on continuing resolutions.
–Few committee meetings to wrap up business
b. Upcoming:
–Primary focus is to complete action on all appropriations bills & close 106th Session, set to begin again 5 Dec.
c. Other key issues for this session of 106th Congress:
–dealing w/Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid (little change likely this year)
--consideration of tax cut & appropriations bills
(tax cuts for farmers appear dead).