The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour

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the hj i share it in an underwater and washington and i'm robert mcneill in new york after the news summary tonight we debate the stryker replacement issue before the senate and spencer michael's updates the flood situation in california and we discuss what's happening in iran today president clinton kill an american worldview funding for the macneil lehrer newshour has been provided by the archer daniels midland company with at an ingredient in thousands of consumer products it's no wonder at a supermarket to the world and by new york life yet another example of the wise investment philosophy new york life has been following for the last one hundred and fifty years and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by the annual financial support from viewers like you the house began debate today on the seventeen billion

dollar rescission bill it cuts money already appropriated for a wide range of domestic programs this year the largest would be and housing assistance for the poor summer jobs for youth in grants for clean water projects the debate showed sharp divisions between democrats and republicans i support cuts in this resolution but i ask the american people well we sent here to cut the money from seniors from students from youth in our summer were we hear to do those kind of cuts i don't think so and i don't think that those of the cats that we should be voting on and the floor today if we don't make these cuts take a position that what happened in mexico ten weeks ago with the devaluation of the peso the collapse of their economic system the prospects of recession or a recession or possibly depression joblessness massive joblessness and the streets could happen in this country are not prepared to do

senate republicans failed today to break a democratic filibuster against a strike or replacement bill the republicans are trying to overturn president clinton's new policy a forbidding federal contracts to companies that replace striking workers an attempt to break the filibuster failed by two votes will have more on the story right after the news summary problem in economic news today the government reported that wholesale prices rose three tenths of a percent last month there were leaden increases in prices for food drugs and heating oil and industrial production was up half a percent in every capacity of us factories mines and utilities rose to the highest level in more than fifteen years president have met with kaine the son of morocco today at the white house both called for an acceleration of middle east peace negotiations yesterday secretary of state christopher announced israel and syria would resume talks about the disputed go on heights region the talks broke off in the summer december president clinton spoke of the agreement a rose garden news conference this is a very

encouraging development combined with a new energy we see in the israel palestinian discussions and continued progress in implementing the jordan israel peace treaty i believe there is now a real opportunity to secure adorable resolution the arab israeli conflict king hassan said the negotiations between israel and syria could lead to a lifting of the arab economic boycott against israel thousands of people rioted against the government in turkey for the fourth straight day today violence began after radical muslims killed three us wants to support istanbul secular government demonstrators protested against the government response to the shootings at least thirteen of them killed during a demonstration four people were killed today turkey is a key nato ally that's our summary of the news now it's on to strike a replacement california funds and insider on the stryker

replacement fight in the senate is first deny it is about president clinton's recent executive order that bars federal agencies from doing business with companies that hire permanent replacement workers during a strike some republicans of kennedy's legislation overturned that order democrats are filibustering against it an attempt to break the filibuster failed today by to build sweet join the issue now with labor secretary robert reisz and senator orrin hatch republican utah chairman of the senate judiciary committee senator hatch will there be an attempt again tomorrow to break this filibuster i don't know i'm not sure whether a bit more about that senator dole was thinking that over right now i hope so because i do believe that the number of job democrats a pretty jittery about a work early voting to sustain the filibuster you have the votes in other words you do have the two boats or think we can get them out you know i'm present clinton one strike reportedly came up before he was telling these momentous community that day he really been supportive and that the and that you know that wasn't going to

happen and now of the sudden turn into doing this by executive order has just caused us insertion all over this country among small donors because they realize that you know he's really interfering with rights of congress why is it so important to you and your fellow republicans will return this well first of all we've had plenty of congressional debate on this and the democrats have not been able to push through a provision that would vote for bed employers from hiring a permanent replacements are for strikers which is one of the few leverage is that they have one strike occurs and that and if we take away that right and if we especially if we don't by a merit second of order it smacks of a youngstown's steel assorted chairs where and truman tried by zach warren takeover the stairwells and that frankly there is no precedent in law that would be a sustained constantly sustain the president doing this in fact it's a direct violation and interference with the separation of powers in congress tried to deal with this issue and congress has been dealing with that for years and turning it down year after year after year but

senator why did the president decide ago the executive order wrote instead of through legislation can it is the right thing to do the president is the chief executive he has the power under the constitution with regard to federal contractors to make sure that federal contractors are maintaining quality goods and are also maintaining a certain level of behavior for many many precedents for this in fact the office of legal counsel of the justice department has issued an opinion making very very clear they are the ones who are the guardians of the constitution with regard executive branch had made it very clear that the president does have the executive authority with regard to companies that want to contract with the federal government to condition that contract on a an agreement not to hire permanent striking workers do you agree with the senator had his view of history that attempts to get this and act it into the wall the land have failed and that's the reason the president with this risk of the prisoners made it very clear from the beginning that the permanent hiring a replacement workers permanent replacement workers and the shiites the ability of workers to strike if you're going to

strike and employers can permanently replace republican that temporarily replacing permanently replace you and what is the point of striking the anti nobody wants to strike when striking is not something that workers like to do is i go around this country american workers are finding their wages going down there finding that they they don't want a strike it's a tremendous hardship but if you have to strike to get the employer to the bargaining table then it is necessary and to allow the permanent the permanent replacement of striking workers basically means you don't have a job to you simply don't have a job now the president did try to get legislation this he failed i would remind everybody however including iowa senator hatch that president bush tried to well in fact the republican congress trying to get legislation which would require employers to post a notice at the workplace telling the workers didn't have to join a union they could not get that legislation through and then president bush issued an executive order requiring all federal contractors to posts

that same notes there are ample precedents and i think senator infection hatch was quite supportive of president bush when he issued an executive order other two issues you're either not sound or there are there's the issue of whether the president has the power not the power to do this or not exactly water issue but there's also the basic issue about whether or not employers should have the right to to permanently replace a striking worker what is your only what is your bleeping on that respect in and the second one another why should an employer have it have the right to immediately replace permanently a striking work well let's see on the right employer has of its employees go on strike an employer has no concomitant right there's a lot to save my venice on the harbor and the replacements and michigan back to work you're going to have more stripes or maybe longer strikes the employer will have any leverage at all and you're going to find that employers are going to have to cave in to whatever the union demands are just not a fair way of donna secondly just think about this this is a

very very dangerous precedent if the president can ignore the congress was right to resolve these problems that spore which of course i contend it as congress is right and the worst situation was certainly not important that certainly it can be distinguished but if f if if the president can barely change and alter major areas of labor law then any subsequent president can do the son and i mean you can have liberal on the state of quandary of from here on end because i know you got a liberal present like president clinton then he'll be interfering with the writer's moments to protect themselves then you get a real conservative president in their amended in for interfering with the rides beginners to strike in the first place so by executive order that's not the way to do it it's a very very dangerous precedent it's a wrong thing to the idea smacks of youngstown state owes stay aware presenter was slapped down unceremoniously by the veteran bothered by the supreme court and frankly and i think it's so varied

gross overreach by the president in violation of the separation of powers as sutter what about the point that the president can do this well then the next president can disproportionately and people will never know what the rules are as i said to president bush should do it by executive order to do what he did do in an apparent was very clear that what we're talking about federal contractors were talking to companies that wish to contractor the federal government and the president has made a determination based upon quite a number of studies that federal contractors who engage in the permanent replacement striking workers outcome of the products that may not be quite as reliable they have workers who are not as experienced do we want our future troops in the future doesn't store to be relying on equipment produced by the industrial equivalent of modern lady replacement players we have a quality issue with regard to present procurement authority there's no question about the german authorities year and it there's also the case that it is necessary for the president to ensure it the quality and

reliability of products will have permanent replacements coming in those strikes tend to be longer and more contentious there is an issue with regard to the experience of workers were making products why should taxpayers pay for projects that may not be of the same quality as experienced workers can provide sara well first of all as distinguished bush are precedents in the ambushed at mission to executive orders president western that in neither case was the matter of our debate debated by congress that has been thoroughly debated by congress and updated every time secondly and at the end both of his executive orders they simply expanded the rights of the of both sides were completely distinguishable in this particular tenets of the president has overreached what about equality issue that sectarian threats that the that the president has the authority to maintain the quality of the goods that the taxpayers while i'm happy that i am on the federal government well i think it's outrageous to assert that unless people were union

members they can't do quality work the fact is no employers comply anybody weather isn't your shoes and replace a worker not i will not do quality work and neither does the government has to take any work that has not done inequality fashion that's just a phony issue i think we'll go and secretary rice is fine man i like him a lot his very bright but i think even in addition to make that argument a sector are there are there regulations that regulate the quality of autumn had anything at all to do with the workers first loss in the center can choose a fine i like him but i am and i don't it should be ashamed to the argument he's making it is politics on his side at a very clear but i'll tell you something very clearly it is the right thing to do to make sure that workers who have no other alternative who don't want a strike can get their jobs back after a strike were not saying that employers with regard to government contracts cannot hire

temporary replacements to keep their businesses going that's ok if you're a government contractor you can do that but to permanently replace any worker who goes on strike the president has the authority clearly under precedents for condition excelling to if you want to contact with him you know have to cut federal government if you want to contact the federal government you're going to treat your workers with that degree of respect you raised the early the word politics isn't and strongly suggested by folks even other than republicans that this particular strike a replacement policy was announced by the vice president before the apple ceo meeting and for her that this was a poll on that presidential politics president and the shore up his his democratic party base with organized labor the measure the president has made it clear since the beginning of the administration that he opposed the permanent replacement striking workers he did seek legislation that affects just as again center had a disagreement me that the president was pretty clear that the republicans

tried to alter labor law didn't do it to then president bush did to executive order that the president has been very consistent on this issue right from the start and he read the politics on a sounder hatch well there's no question that the present one knows that the next elections will be a difficult one and he asked of organized labor with them they have wanted to get change the law with regard to the kind of permanent struck a replacement by the way that such a motorboat one issue very seldom in any given year are their permanent structure replacements garden only in those cases for the most part where businesses and that a lot of the us and the second chances in jordan and this i can do major major changes in some of these have industrialized and this is a debate as with the federal government and put a wet bias in temporary employees why that's insanity the fact and the fact of the matter is the fact of the matter is the president has to us satisfy organized labor so he's doing this to satisfy them and is taking every small business person in the country and that

anybody anybody has government on for several hundred thousand dollars just think it right to take and you're going to have more strikes are going to be more prolonged will have more difficulties all this is to say it's a first of all they show that when you hire permanent strike replacements those strikes or seven times longer than other kinds of strikes the other point i want to make before the nineteen eighties it was very very rare for any employer government contractor or not government contractor to three vote threatened to replace striking workers after president reagan fired air traffic controllers then it was open season for american employers to say to their employees we're going to replace him probably if you go on strike and the nineteen eighties are literate with the vestiges of companies that tried to replace the striking workers currently undermined labor management relations undermine the trust on which worker management relations in this country are built whether it's organized labor or not organized labor i've seen company after company in this country try to

establish relationships with labor but the legacy of what happened in the nineteen eighties and the legacy of companies repeatedly saying to their workers you don't dare strike because we're replacing if you do that has that has undermined the whole fabric of life is it is the more of a soul is a hazard passers problem now are already you're the senator said that is it's not a serious problem because it's never been a serious problem has never been more than four percent in any given year but a permanent replacement and the downside reagan tourist because he actually fired air traffic controllers as they were violating the law they were permitted to strike as their own voices layout a character to it is that it's an illustration but robert let me just say something that hasn't been greatly years to issue most unionized companies don't want mr striker replacement the only time they get to that point is when they don't have any choice if they want get their businesses going they've got to be able to do that and that's what finally brings the unions to the table that's the

leverage that can be used and it was less than three percent the patent senator has been exactly the reverse actually strike slip sometimes longer and there has been a fundamental undermining of the collective bargaining process because of the threat is not just killing and it's also a threat to bring in strike replacement and let me remind you gentlemen the center here we're talking only about companies that want a contract with a federal government were talking about the president's authority as the chief executive to contract like any business owner and a business executive to contract with the people that are going to provide reliable goods that represents what we presenter a ceo wants finally out to yuma sector is i ask a southerner to begin with what his camp was on the boat all that summer dash of the senate minority leader said the second and that the president is encouraged all democrats in the senate for being very tough on this is that to set the weary the president's due to well i think it's very important for the democrats to hang tough and

republicans are not used to having democrats a filibuster republicans tried this so many years after the first two years and now they're getting that upset because the democrats are showing some some backbone about some serious issues that uphold the rights of workers and that in fact that represent the needs and the aspirations of american workers who side for the republicans and the democrats aren't so the taxpayers were on the side of the small business people who know that their bonuses and around the dry and if they don't have some leverage in strikes military is something if the president's executive order is upheld and i don't think it will be over the district and passengers never know if that ever happens to be upheld i guarantee you would have more strikes that have a longer stride says countries that have more turmoil than ever before when in fact it's an overblown issue because striker replacements have very seldom been used on only a very small percentage is on small businesses we talking about a hundred thousand dollar contracts were above these are

not small business or so coarsely a secretary at next an update on the flood damage in the artichoke capital of the world a rich california farmland two hundred miles south of san francisco around monterey in salinas but he says most of the nation's artichokes along with vast amounts of other winter fruits and vegetables state agricultural officials today estimates crop losses of three hundred and three million dollars in the so called salad bowl we have a report from correspondent spencer michaels about one out of every eighty acres of farmland in monterey county california's premier lettuce and artichoke growing area suffered substantial damage in this week's storms here along losses total nearly a quarter of a billion dollars and most of the nation's artichokes growing this region near the

pacific ocean where it's damp much of the year but not this day ocean this farm the state's largest artichoke producer lost up to a third of its crop at the height of the harvest season they'll has a production manager says irrigation ditches and canals filled up with floodwater and overflowed inundating the fields they're underwater made their diet and if if the roots can breathe which is what a person every mean these plans and force and we are done while the losses will be in the millions says it's more than just the money artichokes are special for him to go to sleep at night not all i think about is art you know i see him and i come out here when it was here on saturday besides all its primary thing or i was and where i was and then in the deep water i could actually feel these are grown and out of the back for the moment as the water recedes there's plenty of work artichokes it before the floods are still being hacked

that these workers can expect layoffs later in the season when the size of the harvest because it's just a few miles away the jefferson family which has been farming here since the civil war and most of its lettuce crop wiped out for jefferson's raise iceberg romaine another lettuces was vegetables in a fertile band of the salinas river early this week thirty jefferson says the river broke through the levees that protected the family's life it's an ice didn't buy back your analog and the water just came and came and within i would say two and a half hours i saw it over two hundred and fifty acres and my rolled into hair was covered so just totally whacked unreal as one those things that you know you saw in a movie you would not have believed it was happening even three days after

the break the water continues to pour from the river into planted and cultivated fields when it recedes it leaves behind an unassailable product according to many years that is completely filled with money which will fuel down morrill in saudi worse and yet it is not the worst lieu of the law school drop was a lot of money yes and then we made an effort to me and to mourn and they will they'll arrest we have which is worse the losses that we fear the violently and three and by itself and this registry poses big so how do you how do you estimate which is you're really like how many slots are more gerson was born on this farm in this house for sixty five years ago somebody listening to this is going to say why should i feel sorry for anybody who can afford to lose a million or a million and a half dollars all i can say is it the guy gets a big

corporations that had the cash that's fine but we operate very close to the us this what we're doing or you dig up that martin jefferson must now repair the loving a job that will take all his family's time and at least ten thousand dollars to break he says needn't have happened if we were allowed to build the levee like what we like to do it why haven't you been allowed to do that because you got so many agencies and say you can't do it a certain height they're mature you can use the one way even bill that and you know all of them the people that come down and tell you what you can do but never seen were aware of floods lost crops weren't the only problem caused by the rampage in salinas river is normally placid stream is now polluted with raw sewage which occurred when a pumping station nearby broke down in fact authorities are warning that all

streams in this area should now be considered looting nearby in the small town of castro real water was all the residents had to get their drinking and washing water trucked into town on the river's banks or community of farmworkers and others got no help in cleaning up their mud infested houses and trailers yes and they just move that set anthony think they did that then that would have to review for prison now once we caught a beheading income the red cross and i'm a king a little further north mostly for community of karma was evacuated as waters from the highroad river isolated attack many residents were angry with authorities and kept them away from their homes for two days because of the health hazard from the polluted waters we'll be not asking for information since saturday

morning and we haven't got any information at all the human toll frayed nerves new worries lost future wages was impossible to assess but the county agricultural commissioner's office tried to count up the more tangible lawsuits were estimating now somewhere in the vicinity of thirty thousand acres have been damaged by this or destroyed by recent flooding which would put this to be the most severe damage that we can recall recent in recent history in this county done right gestures assistant agricultural commissioner of monterey county have been several factors that have to contend with from the weather to market conditions to labor and everything else you ask any farmer and they'll tell you don't have to go to three not a gamble because it's a it's a gradually returning fire scenes around here many farmers are calling this week's floods the worst disaster ever to hit california's central cuts and despite clear skies today they are not convinced the spring rains are over with repairs to be made

money to evolve and then repaid prof to be plowed under and fields to dry out a new seeds to be so and predictions are two years to fully recover from the march floods of ninety five still to come on the newshour tonight an update on the situation in iran but first as his pledge week on public television we're taking a short break now submit your public television station can ask your support that support helps keep programs like this on the air those divisions not taking a pledge read the newshour continues now with a look at the lighter side of washington dc last night many members of the washington press corps gathered for an annual dinner as is the custom the president was given a chance to poke fun at himself and his audience there are some excerpts well you're not come here even though i've only been here a couple years i recognize more and more places and now getting so that i can tell when people are missing

this year thanks to the story and others pbs couldn't afford of paper of all it's been the peaks i know that because louis' with kaiser told me that when he checked my coat like a man who was working on saturday a couple weeks ago finally the things the president really doesn't have time for during the week i was reinventing my filing system according to your reading of my own record battling in the roosevelt room i noticed i looked outside and there was the a vice president more thing the environment in the rose garden so i invited him in and we were there we were all alone inside of a beautiful saturday and we got into the discussion about the

new ideas we needed for reinventing government exciting ideas breakthrough ideas wave ideas and so we began to think right off the bat in this broader downsize government we discovered that there was a useless extra city and the fcc in government why why don't we ask ourselves and i was for consolidation do we really need north and south dakota but when we talk about the low end inexpensive they were and when we remember the votes on the balanced budget amendment said yes we do want a more car companies say god we had sent a proposal a sign to recover their scallop vice

president ever the humble public servant suggested that this year we can save money by doing away with the white house christmas tree we could just hanging ornaments on him now ukraine that joke i want to know this is a serious proposal still getting rid of all these domestic observances that we have all these domestic programs what we do on all the athletic event you know like the mobile cotton bowl us get corporate sponsorships where government like we get my bed went well lincoln mercury's that and you all tell me on tiny to be better marketing so you have a new idea we were going to but ed mcmahon picture on the irs response that's just imagine when you get you're on the low when the treasury department of the gore says you

also we decide to do something or that group of constituents that supposedly so it made for the democratic party we want to come by the bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms with bulger bureau of history's and the interstate trucking commission the problem of guys at and i was so out or not in this enormous area and of the water so you know in action so the republican nominee a lot of what you know you still get your money's worth out of us so to calibrate thinking you get out want a highly motivated people don't get mostly but not like you know like this forever but you know that was going to cry

and ammo next tonight a look at that land in light of president clinton's decision to kill a proposed deal there by an american oil company margaret warner has the story down to white house pressure the country will company has backed off from its plans to develop to offshore iranian oilfields the one billion dollar deal would have been the first such us investment in iran says the two countries' severed relations during the iranian hostage crisis in nineteen eighty us administration since that time i've tried to contain iran economically and politically yesterday white house spokesman mike mccurry said that policy would continue until iran stop what he called it unacceptable behavior we get three views now on developments in iran and how the us is responding show about cash is a

history professor at george mason university and author of several books on iran kenneth to merman publisher of iran brief newsletter directs the middle east at a project a washington consulting group and robin wright is a mideast analyst and writer for the los angeles times she reported from iran last november mr chairman explain for us first of all what is the behavior that horizon teaching and that the us find so unacceptable that would try to kill this well beyond what we've basically got five major problems with a rat is there support for international terrorism including attacks on us citizens it's there and remain in pursuit of the nuclear weapons program it's their desire to subvert neighboring regimes in the middle east and to work really against us us interest throughout the region there hostility to the peace process and the funding for groups which are dedicated this to do that dragnet down to destroy the peace process and really they're absolutely horrible human rights record you have things of the

land such as women being executed for adultery who have their arms tied behind their backs the facts and their struggle ten story buildings this as a means of the execution which has been reported on in the iranian press i think this type of behavior or that is clearly this is up and we cannot accept not this administration and the previous administration ms wright some of these complaints the us government has against other regimes in the world with whom it nonetheless is our engaging economically say china for instance what makes one different as the us is concerned world iran denies it's have tension dating back to the hostage affair nineteen seventy nine to nineteen eighty one and i think that continues to shape our feelings about iran i think ironically one of the greatest incentives for the president to act was not necessarily would rise during which hasn't changes sea change significantly it's really the pressure domestically of the bill by senator d'amato proposing a ban on all trade at the same time the european allies are saying the united states look you want us not to deal with iran and yet you are

the home of a company that's about to do in a billion dollar deal and so was more on the pressure of allies and our present one's own constituency that forced to because what impact has the us campaign our efforts to isolate iran had on a ring true for internet think very little because of a trade sanctions themselves are full of the cases we know and european countries and japan have no compunctions in dealing with iran the government has all the state tried to break out of its isolation that that the us imposed isolation on it by improving its relations with the european countries and with the gulf states i don't think one second and said really applies your observations about subverting neighbors your observations with the gulf states with a turkey with pakistan are these years but they've caught

accordion i think suggests that the iranians would like to deal with american companies to do so in fact approve the us attempted sanctions isolation has fed his turn before we go deeper into what's going on in iran could you explain for us how if the us has this policy of trying to isolate iran how was conical how's the comic and you're able to get this far along the start with us about a good question until now there has been no overall trade that embargo with iran as a ban on iranian imports that's been for since nineteen eighty seven and the senators mccain and lieberman passed the bill in nineteen ninety two that was signed into law by president bush in october of nineteen ninety two cups awful high technology trade which is covered by the commerce license but outside of that there's no trade which means that us companies are indeed afraid to do business with iran overseas they're feeling through their

subsidiaries series we are today we are the single largest purchaser of really oil us oil companies are buying four point two billion dollars worth of iranian oil that's twenty five percent of all of their oil into overseas it's not important in this country and it's legal it will be legal unless under the bottles bill becomes law and how much does that help the iranian regime this kind of trade could still going on this international investment well iran is dependent on a lot of the imports they need to satisfy consumers at the moment iran's revolution is facing serious challenges within and so it needs the kind of goods that will keep people happy and have you been there recently ms wright tell me what is the economic situation serrano well i think it runs revolution is at a precipice and part are largely because of economic reasons ironically not because of its islamic ideology the fact is that the value of the rio has plummeted in value over the last several months the average person is holding too often holding two jobs

sometimes even three are making enemies is very difficult and i think that the revolution hasn't been able to improve life for a long time now in the first year and have it brought electricity and school or running water clinics in some cases eye to vast areas of the countryside then i went through a prolonged a year war with that with iraq and has never really recovered i economically in terms of providing for its people i was going to a lot of its its oil income just to pay for the subsidies because of the kinds of consumer goods city people have a set that back is it the constellation is serious to fiscal mismanagement two large estate sector and lack of confidence and in a way being internally or by outside all the time there is a theological activity in iran and with iran because twelve billion dollars of oil revenues that they are still mean a lot of business but very few businessmen inside the country or international companies are willing to invest long term

in the country and this hurts the economy in addition there is a great deal of political indifference or discontent the government keeps a strong crosstalk control on political activity and that will finally i think there are divisions and differences within the clerical leaders themselves which add to the problems the country's facing and the present leader carrie does not have the brussel you know i was thinking of ayatollah khomeini who is khomeini's successor but i'm curious and have khomeini's prestige or charisma or standing and some analysts believe that it is precisely this weakness of fatah and the increasing odds unreality of

acclaim that the carrots have a divine right to rule the party expands the wrongs radicalism in foreign policy because the regime thinks that this appeals to an important constituencies of home we've been hearing for years about the iranian ties in terrible saipan the regimes in terrible save money is it getting better or worse so it's clearly getting worse and i think to a professor about carson's is absolutely clear that the regime is facing a crisis proportions they've never known for all until nineteen eighty eight they have the excuse of the iran iraq war in the two years after that well they had the excuse of reconstruction then there was the gulf war so there are still an excuse that the government had visited the people today there's no longer any excuse for this money than yours or any excuse for the corruption but one of the things that happened recently and this got people were incensed inside around this is a tremendous corruption scandal which involved government ministers in their families the former head of the revolutionary guards and his family is accused of having embezzled seven hundred

million dollars seven hundred million dollars from the public foundation that he heads up this is really extraordinary i think in any country and got people very angry ms wright do you think this is something that the us should be wishing for that is continued weaknesses in the regime should this be the aim of us house us policy is designed to weaken the regime one of the problems is there is no alternative out there to replace it on the markets are not a force to be reckoned with the mujahideen it is it has no internal support it was based in iraq of course that's a sore point with most iranians aren't there is nothing within the country yet to provide an alternative i am the united states however much he doesn't like the regime also does not have much of an interest in seeing the destabilization of a massively important country in the persian gulf he saved most about west you see they are opposition has set a fragmented and weak as it is right now yes i think the opposition abroad really is is not yet the weighty factor and internally there is dissent but is not to

organize success over the regime sees so there isn't a strong opposition i think you know the us government's position and it's also clear that it's intent is to destabilize the regime i think it is that the aim of the stated aims to change iranian behavior after all the governments of an economic has often said he's willing to talk and enter into dialogue with iran but that their second floors behavior of others which are unacceptable i think there's something about the opposition that have that are not well understood if there is no opposition inside are and why is it that the regime has publicly execute over ten thousand people since they've taken power but there's no opposition inside ran wire all of the senior clerics every single one of them coming out publicly against the regime why is the regime hunting down exiles around the world in opposition leaders they killed over sixty of them and many of these murders these assassinations much of unproven in courts of law in particular in france and germany and caucuses there that recently had either been

concluded in the case of france or still going on in germany i think on the country there is indeed a strong movement of discontent is not organized at this is true but don't forget the four months before the shoplifter ran in nineteen seventy nine there was no organized opposition really the rebel leader before the bbc made ayatollah khomeini i think we will say we don't know who is but i think that we will see leaders emerging inside iran as the situation gets worse if indeed it does questions to pass that historical parallel raises the question how confident could the us be that if there's a successor regime it will be anymore amicable the united states where it so that it would be a question that did their work as robin wright said to no collapse and and end of this regime in iran would do with the results be any better i think the period just before the shah's regime that is just wrong recently an applicable for months before the fall of the shah the continent have gone through eight months of

demonstrations riots public protest we don't see any signs of that yet although have been disturbances new in cities over the last few years i think before we can say the regime is about to collapse will need more signs of that kind of strikes demonstrations of protest was right what you think we can afford to have a successor regime in terms of us interests i don't think there's anything on the horizon that indicates what a successor regime would look like i think a nice stiff collar ones are a government is prepared to that is not engaged in international acts of terrorism doesn't have links to extremist groups elsewhere in the region are the moderates its behavior i the united states has made clear that several administrations now that it is prepared to accept an islamic regime that's not the problem is the behavior see this is if that's all it would take for the us to serve relax its hostility to the reigning regime why doesn't that for the time being kind of play

along with the west and get the investment it needs what's driving it to engage in a set of behavior i think iran's revolution isn't over yet when you go through peer to revolution go through different stages like an onion peeling away and the issue isn't going down the last play i think the answer is no and they're still they're still loud voices in tehran in powerful positions and believe that there is a revolutionary message to propagate know in the middle east but in the broader islamic world or i'm sorry although that's all the time we have this determines the passions right thanks very much now finally tonight the continuing debate about the house republican proposal would cut billions of dollars from this year's budget and arrived on the house floor today here's an excerpt today on this floor a house republicans are going to begin the effort to stop this runaway spending with a seventeen billion dollar reserves impact in and they were going to lay out a seventy yr plan to balance our budget

and we believe that this year we need to make a significant down payment on that effort renee there from the laugh that were heard in this summer stopping this all the pain today i will say there will be pain today there will be discomfort but our effort is to make the courageous decisions aren't and their children are the republican majority is bringing us impacts and i want to look at those and say i don't know that there's such a good idea hundred ad thousand dollar thousand jobs for us of four used to summon i ask you what we going to do what we plan for them to do this summer join gangs perhaps and what about the cuts and senior housing with tennessee later two point seven billion dollars and the systems will allow seniors live if we cut this assistance and what about veterans we are putting two hundred and six million dollars in an veterans and you know that the contract we made with the men and women who join the armed services and then there's one that's very close to my heart the

coast guard twenty eight million dollars they protect our fisherman on the oregon coast and they do all that hard work in drug interdiction you know they also want a catch up a very tough cut forty seven billion dollars from student loans that you know what there's not one cat not one dollar from the pentagon in this recession bill not one dollar and i know because i offered that as an amendment but you think the republicans want to take food out allows a widows and orphans in fact republicans are determined to help future gen regimes are widows are friends and everybody else in this country to survive the fact of the matter is this is the first step towards a balanced budget we will get to a balanced budget by the year two thousand and two and this is the first step to check the levels but democrats in this congress who had warning heirs to try to bring the fiscal sanity and common sense

and to the american public and totally abdicated responsibility as represented by the budget presented by their president by our president of the united states oh earth knows the balance this budget this year or next year and every year and of the future by calling for two hundred billion dollar debt was as one year after another and essentially said to us about the budget is not necessary and anything you cut is a couple on women children infants infer elderly etcetera etcetera that's a lot of olive young birds on the island opportunity much more confident i guess you're member of the animal had to go to the rules committee is the ranking democrat on the subcommittee on transportation are provided an opportunity to go after some highway demo project that they would abandon your desperate just like they would abandon them pride desperate and you opted out of that one so why are more speeches about tough choices and courage on this

bill and you actually although in the veterans in my district and the kids in my district i don't cost of choices are caught a government chicken wire out so i think it's time we all stop praising ourselves over on that side of the aisle republican party backed government back on the jones a time that you first up and they didn't do it to a final vote on the so called rescissions package is expected tomorrow again the other major story of this wednesday the republicans in the senate fail but two votes to break a democratic filibuster it's against legislation that would invalidate president clinton's recent order banning federal agencies from doing business with employers who hire permanent striker replacements and i run and i do and that's the newshour for tonight and we see you again tomorrow i'm robert mcneill good night funding for the macneil lehrer newshour has been provided by the archer daniels midland company

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