CNN Lou Dobbs Tonight - Transcript

LOU DOBBS TONIGHT 18:00 January 20, 2004 Tuesday
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CNN

SHOW: LOU DOBBS TONIGHT 18:00

January 20, 2004 Tuesday

Transcript # 012000CN.V19

SECTION: News; International

LENGTH: 8302 words

HEADLINE: President Bush Set to Deliver Third State of the Union Address; John Kerry Surging; Interview With Senator Bill Frist

GUESTS: Bill Frist, Paul Anger, Steny Hoyer, Alexis Simendinger, Roger Simon, Ron Brownstein

BYLINE: Lisa Sylvester, Kitty Pilgrim, John King, Candy Crowley, Kelly Wallace, Lou Dobbs, Casey Wian, Christine Romans

HIGHLIGHT:

President Bush is getting set to deliver his third State of the Union address. Senator John Kerry is in New Hampshire trying to build on the momentum of his victory in Iowa. A Border Patrol agent recently lost his life saving an illegal alien from drowning, and prosecutors say the man who smuggled illegal aliens across the border is responsible for the agent's death.

BODY:

LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, President Bush delivers his third State of the Union address. Senior White House correspondent John King tells us what we'll hear.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD), HOUSE MINORITY WHIP: Good to be here.

DOBBS: Has the president co-opted part of the Democrats message on immigration, on healthcare.

HOYER: Certainly on immigration he has recognized the problem. I don't think we're going to agree with his solution but certainly is an area we are going to work on in a bipartisan way to solve a real problem that confronts our country. On healthcare, Lou, healthcare costs are escalating faster than they escalated in a long, long period of time. 43 million Americans without health insurance. We just passed a bill which precluded the federal government of negotiating on price, notwithstanding the fact drug prices are going up very quickly. So I think certainly on healthcare they are going to be some significant differences.

DOBBS: Well, the president has enunciated an exciting proposal to many on further initiatives in space going back to the moon, on to Mars. And as you and I just discussed, immigration. He is effectively turned over $400 billion of federal money to the Medicare Prescription Drug Program.

How are the Democrats going to respond to these initiatives both in Congress and on the campaign trail as we head toward November?

HOYER: Well, Lou, first of all, with respect to the space program, I have been and continue to be a big supporter of the space program. But I'm also very concerned about what is going on here on earth. And I am very concerned about the escalating deficit which I believe is immoral transfer of the obligations of this generation to the next generation. The president said he wouldn't do that. He inherited a surplus of 5.6 trillion which we turned into a $4 trillion deficit. That's a $10 trillion turnaround.

We need to focus on, A, paying for what we buy, B, doing what we say we're going to do. We said we're going to leave no child behind. We pass a bill to do that. The president talked about it, but we have underfunded it very substantially so we're not accomplishing the objective the president said we would. Many other things, healthcare. I talked about the environment, the president when he was a candidate said we're going to make sure the air and water and land on which we live is fit to do so, but in fact we have undermined environmental protections. So I think Democrats are going to have a lot to talk about, particularly as it relates to the welfare and security of our people in terms of their jobs and their economic well-being. This president, as you know, said we were going to create jobs. In fact he lost 2.5 million jobs since he became president. The worst performance since Herbert Hoover.

We have 8.3 million Americans unemployed. We have 300,000 Americans so discouraged they dropped out of the workplace. John Snow, our secretary of the treasury, said we're going to create 200,000 jobs a month. Last month, as you well know, we created 1,000 jobs.

So there are really some substantial challenges facing this country. We need to meet them together. Hopefully we can meet them together in a bipartisan fashion, but that has unfortunately not happened with the president nor certainly in the Congress.

DOBBS: Congressman, the president in the two of the most recent polls showing some slippage on approval rating. Basically, a statistical dead heat against a generic or unnamed Democratic opponent. How will the Democratic Party capitalize on this apparent newfound vulnerability?

HOYER: Well, I think you saw in Iowa that positive messages were responded to. And I think the Democrats have a positive message. A message that this is a great country, that we can make it greater and we can solve the problems, we can keep it safe. We can have a strong national defense. We can have a strong homeland defense. And we can also invest in the domestic needs of this country in creating jobs, making sure we have education for our kids, and that we have health care available to our people.

I think we're going to have a very positive message, and we're going to have a message that really contrasts the four years of the Bush administration with the previous eight years, where we had the best economy, we created surpluses, we were paying down the debt, we had created 22 million jobs. So I think that contrast is going to be very stark, and I think we can say to the American public, that's where we want to go again and we can go again, working together.

DOBBS: Congressman Steny Hoyer, the minority whip of the House.

HOYER: Thank you.

DOBBS: Thanks for being with us tonight.

HOYER: Good, good to be with you.

END