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sassi says oh yeah oh and charlayne hunter gault reassessing the waco raid the us attorney general and the houses man with a mission all tonight on the macneil lehrer newshour what time is it santa santa santa santa santa santa santa santa
as b a nice boy and on tomorrow in washington and i'm charlayne hunter gault in new york after tonight's news summary correspondent danny and browser reports on the lingering questions from the raid on a cult compound near waco texas we'll pursue those questions and others in a newsmaker interview with attorney general janet reno and correspondent margaret warner profiles the kindest man who hates reading house budget chairman john casey major funding for mueller and for 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 attorney general reno has asked for an independent council to investigate commerce secretary ron brown it followed a preliminary justice department investigation into charges of financial misconduct the attorney general said the department was unable to determine whether prosecution of round was warranted but you said it appeared the commerce secretary had no criminal intent brown's attorney spoke to reporters at a news conference this afternoon in washington the independent independent counsel will see this were just what it is a cynical highly partisan effort to take advantage of the bailey florida statute to create as much messages as possible for a highly successful commerce secretary president clinton issued a statement today saying brown would remain commerce
secretary during the investigation he said he was confident in the end the independent counsel would find no wrong guy the senate voted today to create a white water committee the special panel would investigate whitewater charges against president and mrs clinton the vote was ninety six to three white house press secretary mike mccurry said in a statement we are certain that the facts presented and fair hearings will continue to show that the white water charges are without merit try the senate ethics committee has found substantial cause to investigate allegations against senator bob packwood the oregon republican is accused of sexually harassing eighteen women tampering with evidence and misuse of his senate office the committee will now begin a formal inquiry into the charges packwood said today at last i will have a chance to have a hearing in the past he has apologized for what he described as terribly offensive behavior toward women president clinton said today he will veto
sixteen point four billion dollars in spending cuts approved yesterday by house senate conference committee the legislation is called rescissions bill it's designed to reduce the deficit and provide money for disaster relief the president said he also wanted to reduce the deficit but not by cutting education and job training programs he spoke at a maryland graphic arts shop that train students for jobs i want more than sixteen billion dollars in spending cuts that there's a wrong why in a right way to do this bill that came out of the committee plus our efforts to make sure our schools are siphoning drug free which is a big deal in a lot of places in america it that's our efforts to help our schools meet new higher standards for an innovative reforms and yes it also cuts school corporal now in this bill without a way to pay for a one and a half billion dollars worth of courthouses and special interests highway projects and other low priority spending i believe a bill
that cuts in education to put in or it's the wrong way to balance the budget and i'm going to now speaker gingrich was among the republicans have criticized the president's position politically on the needed emergency funds he spoke at a capitol hill news conference i don't see a president of the oklahoma city is he's going to veto their aid money i don't see i can talk about the middle east and peace process because he's going to veto the jordanian definitely i was going to california because he's going to veto their emergency relief i was telling the louisiana or texas because you have these other emergency relief and for him to play this kind of again with the lives of people out there when his staff had plenty of time to negotiate his staff failed to do their job whether it was quite deliberate manipulation or by incompetence i don't know and i think it is shameful president states to abandon the people of oklahoma city and abandon the people of california louisiana because his political consultants tell him it's good posture
the christian coalition today released what they called a contract with american families the ten point agenda includes proposals to allow voluntary school prayer tax credits for families and abortion restrictions it also advocates abolishing the education department and federal funding to the national endowment for the arts and public broadcasting house speaker newt gingrich pledged to bring each item to a vote on the house floor coalition director ralph reed spoke at a capitol hill news conference this is not a christian agenda is not a republican agenda it is not a special interest then it is a pro family again and it is supported by the vast majority of the american people republican and democrat crist into black and white protestant and catholic i wanna make it clear that these are the ten suggestions an option man this is a public policy document
it is not a theological state we may know that rats today we use you know all tomatoes and we make no demands of either party this afternoon a group of clergy representing various faiths criticize the christian coalition agenda the christian coalitions whole proposal was a hard ball political agenda that is covered with a very thin religious veneer the contract is the payoff that ralph reed and the christian coalition are seeking for their partisan politicking they conducted last november and a candidate who fails to back it now will face their wrath in the future does this morning muster reid said the date we make no threats issue an alternate ems present no demands but i think the protests are too much because indeed these measures will be the litmus test for every political office from school board to the united states presidency the christian coalition planted two million dollar advertising campaign to draw support for its agenda
a bombed out federal building in oklahoma city will be demolished by next tuesday the mayor of oklahoma city made that announcement today yesterday an attorney for suspect timothy mcveigh ask that the demolition be delayed in order to gather evidence one hundred and sixty six people were killed by the blast which occurred for weeks ago three people were killed and four wounded today when a man opened fire at a factory in asheville north carolina police say the gunman had been fired from the plant on monday he gave himself up following the shooting that's it for the news summary tonight now it's onto waco attorney general we know and a profile of john j sick attorney general reno his first tonight the oklahoma city bombing has brought a refocus on her and other government action in the death of the branch davidians in waco texas two years ago
we'll talk to her about that among other things after this background around the waco tragedy it endows her reports the fifty one day standoff between david koresh and the government ended the way it began with a tragedy as forty mile an hour winds whipped across the texas prairie that april morning fire spread quickly koresh and seventy nine of his followers were consumed twenty five of them were children almost immediately actions of the two government agencies involved came into question the treasury department's bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms and the justice department fbi the president promised the nation a full and complete accounting of what happened but said the ultimate lame would rest with koresh mr korus his response to the masters around about federal agents was to destroy himself and murtha children who were his captors as well as all the other people who were there who did not survive
within days attorney general janet reno was called before congress to explain i believe we were dealing with a situation that would not resolve itself by mere acquiescence to the stand off negotiations have proven to be fruitless and despite our best efforts we could not secure the release of the children the federal government convened to new independent panel fifth one to figure out what went wrong in the atf raid the compound on february twenty eight and another to explain the role of the fbi as it tried for fifty days to talk or rash out of the compound after hundreds of interviews with witnesses the atf investigation found the decision to proceed with the raid was tragically wrong because garage had been tipped off that the atf was coming they also found atf brass took an acceptable risk in allowing the right to proceed with flawed intelligence and then afterwards some officials lied and
covered up what the panel did not find was a conspiracy to harm the davidians egg othman a pulitzer prize winning newspaper editor was an independent member of the investigating team this was a bungled law enforcement operation that's all it was and it's a tragic and there is a lot to learn from only the atf and the fbi and everybody but not everybody believes it was just a part of raising two years after congressional hearings into investigation some americans still lingering troubling questions about waco some of them have organized into groups asking for answers the most important thing is the motivation we really necessarily the committee for waco justice is a washington dc grassroots organization calling for new congressional hearings into the government's role in
waco and appointment of a special prosecutor was effective get into questions from volatile now why were questions asked members of the committee questioned why the atf needed to conduct a raid was such a massive show of force in the first place but former atf director stephen higgins says there was more than ample justification they were stockpiling automatic weapons illegally and richard there were making explosive devices grenades and other type devices they were doing they were billion devices in a very worthy here's a minute of danger to the people who are in that so after a nine month investigation nearly eighty agents went to the compound a servile war looking for those illegal weapons but they lost the element of surprise when to
rush was tipped off they were coming to gunfire erupted twenty ten dead four atf agents were get along with two davidians you're in charge of a federal agency and somebody comes to users we had some people out here who are making automatic weapons and there and billy explosive devices and they're threatening to do something illegal and some sort of enormous scale and you would've said at their just religious fanatics or there's a salmon this is rhetoric don't worry about him and also they planted bomb outside of the billing in oakland city reportedly there's an online to review so far it appears that they knew that from the beginning the atf said it was ambushed the investigation of great but critics say the davidians were defending their home i'm an all out assault by the government doctor alan stone a psychiatrist and harvard law school professor who was asked to study the government's role in waco doesn't
buy the ambush theory i feel very strongly that they have misrepresented but they ran into an ambush this was the most incredibly incompetent attempt by any more unfortunate agency in recorded history test terrible there was nothing evil there was nothing on so intentionally out to destroy people it was just toe incompetent there are other areas of dispute between the government and its critics and one of those is why didn't the atf tried to wrest arrest outside of the compound and says they couldn't the reports they got people inside was he wasn't going to come out to a lot of the sidewalks aren't available so the austrian people's on job announcer agent johnson i know you see more plays an outlet maybe with not much action at all the time david citadel is one of the few branch davidians to survive the fire anyone wanting
to waste than it has been thank you yes we won it and shape an indiana bust because we are running every single day two weeks before the raid no it certainly isn't why it's a bald faced lie you are with an indefinite commitment atf investigators agreed and because of that another findings higgins and several other atf officials lost their jobs but on appeal two of them were reinstated in lesser positions with back pay when the second investigation look at the other government agency involved in waco the fbi it found neither attorney general reno's nor fbi officials made any mistakes and a separate independent review of the fbi report also exonerated officials of any wrong to oh i was from the moment the fbi took over in waco agents said they wanted to resolve things peacefully those cases continue with all of the ten official resolution to the
situation no further budget still officials characterized rash who was once known as burma and howell as a criminal vernon hal thinks he's the lamb of god when all he has is a cheap thug who interprets the bible through the barrel of a gun theologian dean kelly says that kind of rhetoric illustrates what his research has show the fbi didn't have the vaguest idea of what they were dealing with they focus was a hostage rescue situation dr kelly is a consultant for the national council of churches on the rights of religious groups he recently completed a waco chronology critical of the fbi that core ration somehow tricked these people into following him and that they are would welcome rescue from him that was not remotely the case they were devoted followers of his vision that he and they were trying to live out together in this
little ideal community critics of the government say this home video of corrosion a number of his children were taken during a stand up shows even the children were there by choice while fbi negotiators tried to talk russia out of the compound the fbi tactical forces tried to choke or as she was in control they turned the electricity off they turn bright floodlights on and played loud music late into the night dr allen stone by far the most critical of those asked by reno to review the fbi investigation says that was a miscalculation finally their strategy began to be we just promise of tightened the noose around the
compound and won on a show david koresh and the branch davidians whose books now they were going to do this despite the fact that everyone had told them that david koresh if push came to show that there was this risk of mass suicide the fbi investigation shows reno worried about that laid awake at night asking herself oh my god what if he tries to blow the place up but was reassured that the possibility of mass suicide was remote and when fbi tactical leaders wanted to end the standoff by injecting tear gas into the compound she was concerned about what effect it might have on the children she had first rejected fbi plans for use of cs gas then on april seventeenth she gave the go ahead being assured the tear gas would be a gradual step by step process and that law enforcement's intent was there would be no d day so at about six am on the morning of april
nineteen the fbi began to inject cs gas into the compound independent fbi reviewer stone says when he asked the agency questions about the effects of cs gas used on people in an enclosed space he had a brick wall to work the fbi has stonewalled me and i believe that hadn't been candid and they certainly aren't today i asked for the journal i got nothing but gobbledygook there were no gas mess or small enough that we had for the children so what the mothers had to do was they took what we had a lot of rice lot of new revenue rise and i just kept wanting to rise in the name of the faces and kept waiting anymore after several hours of injecting cs gas into the compound the fbi says its stepped up the attack and started granting a building because the davidians spied on them shortly after noon fire broke out
not to attorney general got every note with us well for a newsmaker interview originally know i'll come and you feel personally about the decision you made about waco two years ago it was the hardest decision i've ever had to make and i've thought about it so often since i was faced with the decision to wait that created the risk to go forward in a more assertive attack created terrible risk we were trying to figure out the best way to resolve the issue without loss of life and without injury knowing what i do now i obviously would've taken the other risk rather than take certain steps that i now no excess that it was a balancing effort with the old one purpose being to save human life the risk that you wouldn't have taken what was you mean the book to put the gas in their own and to proceed or just what what we were faced with was the situation that i inherited when i took office march twelfth after this the initial assault where four
agents lay dead it's fifteen or sixteen were wounded and we had a dangerous person with weapons in the building the fbi tried to negotiate tribal waited out exercised extraordinary restraint in trying to resolve the issue peacefully there were gifts disagreements unusually before i took office on how the negotiation should be conducted but when we had reached the conclusion that we should go forward the conclusion was that and we talk i had someone talked to the chief negotiator to make sure that there was no hope for resolving it peacefully at that point we were advised that to keep people are listening to the hostage rescue came on this same when it had been there for fifty one days created a dangerous situation because they needed to be pulled back and retrain are we were looking at that the deteriorating situation in the building we were looking at the fact that it created a dangerous situation and you couldn't walk away from people who have murdered and killed what we try to
do is to figure out how we can introduce the gas we try to make sure we check with the expert the person i was told it was an expert that there was no permanent danger to children and we proceeded based on what could best be done to save human life did anybody say too attorney there are no you must understand that there's a possibility that this could trigger a mass suicide attempt of people on sunday we carefully considered the fact that there might be that risk but what i was told was that that could occur at any time and we had the best situation of preventing something catastrophic happening while we still had forces on the ground who were prepared and work were properly prepared without being too tired that was in this decision that i faced yes it might occur but it might occur at any time it might occur as in the form of an all out assault on the fbi agents i had to make the best judgment i could they stomp all the facts that we had at the time
looking back on it now you say that you would probably have done it differently if you knew then what you know now was it the fact that you did not know all of that it didn't have all that information then was that the result of just bad intelligence work or somebody just didn't watch it and the information what what what if your own conclusion about why you didn't have the same i had all the information i think that i could at the time that we made the decision nobody at that time could tell what david koresh would do nobody could tell that he wins set the place are what we looked at was what do we know we have a risk of him doing something catastrophic to the people inside the building we have a very real you felt that if you head didn't move that the people that want that somebody inside would kill each pig no no we didn't know what was going to happen all we knew was that the capacity of the fbi
forces on the sleeve probably can poke control the situation was main lesson as each day they remain on the scene there was no hostage rescue team that's a good substitute for them we were told and believed that based on his statements he could affect something at any time either the next day two weeks from now or six months from now and that we were with its forces on the same in the best position to control what we simply didn't know what david koresh would do we tried to figure all the possibilities and where we would be in the best situation of controlling one of the advantages that we would have now because we have tried to learn from the experience and one of the recommendations was to expand the number in the hostage rescue team so that we could paul some back and have been retrained all at the same time maintaining an effective force we have enhanced the training swat team so that they can be properly prepared to take over and provide us additional waiting time if i had had a hostage rescue team that could substitute and i specifically talk
with experts who said there was no other similar pain that could probably sensed to ensure the safety of this fish around in your ear and the agents involved what you said a dr stone and others have suggested that that the mistake was the state of mind that that the ap yeah i had that this was a hostage rescue situation and that they ought to to grasp the reality of the fact if you were in there voluntarily the core issue is not going anywhere because the tora prison i think what we had what we were faced with and my understanding i didn't characterize it is one where the other i just knew that after march the twenty third nobody had come out voluntarily so i didn't know what their motivation was what i was faced with again was a situation where there were four people dead sixteen wounded having been killed by the people who were in that building and i simply could not walk away from it and i had to end just take
steps but more reasonable to ensure the safety of everybody concerned including the surrounding area you make of all these conspiracies stores have gone on the last two years since then i think inevitably stories like that filter out and i think it's so important that we try to address each concern and kreidler make sure the facts are known this was an extraordinarily difficult situation i hope never have to face something like this again you have to balance the interest of all concerned with the one ultimate purpose protect human life for instance a member of congress from texas republican steve stockman successes that you have proof that raid as a way to dramatize the need for gun controls well i wasn't even confirm his attorney general at the time of the raid so i'm not quite sure and i think that was a statement made some time ago by the congressmen eyes think if he knows all the facts that goes through it and detail he would have a
better understanding of the afflicted with this is to what do you attribute the fact that that you're a member of congress really wanted other people to get to the us to that little part of the conspiracy that you and others were involved in for all kinds of political reasons i think it's important again that people look at the facts understanding that with the punisher radar wasn't even in office art the atf fbi the end of the day the decision to put the gas in what i mean all of them again the ultimate purpose there was to try to save human lives to try to hold people accountable who had killed four federal agents more than fifteen or sixteen others and who had to be ultimately held accountable he can't walk away from what i say to now congressman stockman because i think he made that statement before he was fully apprised of the facts is that it is so important for us to deal with the hard issues that this nation face is based on facts based on respect and respectful
dialogue respectful questioning untold we can show people exactly what the troopers were you aware before oklahoma city were you aware of that that waco was such a focus of attention of show many a militia and other and some other groups people had when i would go to meetings there would be people with signs standing outside saying remember waco so i knew that there was some concern or did you say what was your what was we did you did you realize before oklahoma city that you had a problem that the us government ever problem but wait till that needed to be a tourist what i've always said is that when something tragic and terrible like that happens it is important that it be addressed that's the reason i told congress early on that i would be happy to answer any questions address any questions what i've discovered in those few people that have talked to me about the waco situation is that they
holler all very loudly and they don't let you talk very much what a dollar actually remember waco and other things i don't remember all that statements you have no problems with it with a new congressional investigation are hearings about like oh i've always said that he once i'm accountable for this the buck stops with me and i'm happy to answer any questions because we made the best decision we could we were faced with the man who killed we were faced with the man then turned around and sat he and his followers on fire and that how to deal with a person like that how to cope with the situation like that requires this much thought and consideration as one can give and i certainly gave it at the time and i will continue to address what we can do to avoid such tragedies in the future do you agree with the use of the word incompetence that used to have three times in the course of the dance piece just now that that it that there wasn't a conspiracy it was just a
bungled launch fortunate jolly was just simple incompetence by people were who were running things you buy that i think what i heard and in terms of the incompetence was with not with respect to the fbi i think with respect to the fbi they had a most difficult situation and they took the best judgment they could and they continue i'm been so impressed with the fbi's willingness to follow up to learn from the experience to make sure that they've developed a critical incident review group that brings behavioral experts together with law enforcement experts so that they can train together and understand it increased the hostage rescue team capacities that we would have an opportunity to wait for a longer period of time i think any time we have such a terrible situation with a man that is so unpredictable and would do something like what he did we have got to be prepared with this much information as we can get to try to prevent such tragedy for the future based on what you know about the oklahoma city investigation is there any doubt that there was a connection
between waco in a homestead in other words that the bombers or motivated well what happened in waco i think there's been public comment about that and i don't think that i should really common sense that the pending matter what's the state would what is the status of your commissary investigation again that is the pending matter the arrests that have been made to date has been made public and i really shouldn't comment except to let the record speaks for itself is there any question in your mind as the attorney general of the united states the the people all the people who were involved in oklahoma city will in fact be identified apprehended and prosecuted i have been so impressed by the great job of law enforcement has done state and local law enforcement has cooperated with the fbi and us attorneys around the country are for braiding together it has been just an excellent undertaking and i have every confidence that the people responsible will be brought says things are on track i think so well on an island very
unrelated matter your decision to refer the ron brown matter to a three judge appeals court for eighty independent prosecutor what caused you to make that decision i would let the record speaks for itself what is the image you you felt that there was a cause to ask an independent counsel to do that i read it again i would let the record speaks for itself well that you issued a public statement in your own words on as who's to say no more go beyond that community felt that there was there was the reason i disagree with that said that any public statement ever we have there's an appropriate statement has been made i want to make sure that i comply with the independent counsel statute and that i don't make a statement that goes beyond i am trying to ensure but all that we do that there is an independent investigation that it's probably down and that you could resolve it yourself other words the humane and enough what the law says that if you can resolve it yourself you hear them refer to an independent prosecutors at the independent counsel statute requires
that the attorney general conducting preliminary investigation that preliminary investigation does not get to the attorney general certain tools that are normally provided for an investigation if you sheer he determines that further investigation is necessary then we're required to ask for an independent council which is the procedure we follow was a very crucial point is from the largely misunderstood i would think that that if this had not been a matter in other words and member of the president's cabinet and dusk called falls under the independent counsel law than you might have been a result on the aromas aren't the justice department can make the decision and proceeded again as i describe the independent counsel statute as it is in two stages you conduct the plenary investigation and further investigation is necessary and it must be referred obviously have there was not a conflict it's created by the statue turned the parents of conflict that would require that i step aside we would proceed with the investigation and might well conclude that there was no
wrongdoing but that at the end of the council will preclude you from going out that's the one that's grown right and update it add what do you think of the end of the council on it but you had to use a two three times and two then attorney general was working as a visit good for america to have the eye prof my experience as a prosecutor and miami were there was a conflict where there was an apparent conflict i think it is important that there be a process established that provides for another prosecutor to look at the situation to ensure all concerned that there is no conflict of interest or even an appearance that would undermine the credibility of a proper solid investigation said that a yes that you think is terrific in it should continue i said i'm drawing from my experience that i think we need to continue to look at any off and see how it works but i don't think there's an adequate opportunity to refute that yes some people have suggested that the councils are not responsible than a political law known
unknowns but online at and calls or problems independent counsel are required to can follow the guidelines that have been developed by attorneys general over time and are alternately i think responsible to the department of justice and to the american people killed another run in among some people lose but i think again the court the whole process is one that should be followed carefully i think let's see what the investigations bring an uncommon at the conclusion very much religion on it now the man behind the drive towards a balanced budget when republicans took control of the house of representatives last fall they gave charge of one of their top agenda items a balanced budget to budget committee chairman john casey since the process began months ago correspondent margaret
warner has been watching young and his colleagues put the budget plan together here is her report ohio congressman john casey has spent his political life railing against the budget deficit last wednesday as chairman of the house budget committee he produced his blueprint to balance the federal vouchers in seven years he lay down for you today we believe the document that the american people will support in overwhelming numbers it is a revolution it is a bold plan we will downsize government shift power from the city in the american family some tax relief and guarantee the american dream for the next generation as case exposed house speaker newt gingrich slipped into the back of the room gingrich had chosen the hard charging case it to leave the budget balancing effort and its success would mean a lot to the new republican majority on capitol hill tony blankley is gingrich's spokesman and political advisor i think that if
the congress is able to cut the gordian knot of the deficit has haunted our sense of our own future and has undermined our ability to expand as rapidly as it ought to be expanding the political landscape of america will be change for a generation casey's thrilled to save one point four trillion dollars over seven years goes to a vote in the house tomorrow it's only the start of a long process that won't end until september at the earliest yet just getting to this day to represent a real achievement on a six part as minnesota congressman martin say though the ranking democrat ok six committee jesse too first let me congratulate you know i frankly am impressed by the ability of the majority to pass an agreement among your members on this committee and while i have watch i disagree with and your resolution i still imam pressed by the political skill work with which to operate
cia has taken us from were you trying to cut spending to we're gonna bounce a budget and his caring country with and i can't imagine that's trying to do just that interim legally you know much money the cost of how john case it got to this point is a very human story it involves a lot more than crunching numbers case it had to overcome a spending culture on capitol hill that afflicted republicans nearly as much as democrats and he had to transform his own personal style from the maverick back bencher to a policymaker neither change was easy mr president if you're watching would you please give us your specifics we're getting tired of all the generalities colleagues of both parties if you replace it in the past when he put forward republican budget proposals that stood no chance of passing say bao liberal democrat even voted for a case a lecture once for further for substance
he thinks ascendancy chairmanship required an adjustment on everyone's part we have to remember that that we're dealing with a chairman who stir up as a total loner fellow ohio congressman david hobson is a friend of calle six and an ally on the budget committee nobody was interview after that these budgets he and most everyone to the floor you would be any roads people would look at him and say you know who is this guy build and then when i met jt job again chairman to raise the what what we got to approach the budget in two steps first we had to produce one hundred and ninety billion dollars in savings on the spending side to offset tax cuts promised in the republicans' contract with america denny had to produce a sweeping budget resolution laying out the path to a balanced budget by the year two thousand and two i don't have some passion for the deficit i have a
passionate by the passion to change government to make a war piece it firmly believe that the public was ready to balance the budget despite the painting some exchanges to prove this point case it took his committee on the road in january to hear ordinary citizens in his home district of columbus ohio suggest how they would cut federal spending and looked at my state but this year on social security at four hundred and ninety five dollars was always the driver medicare that's ridiculous why not political thousand dollars or at least fifty percent more for medicare program some witnesses did seem willing to take some budget hits themselves are like i want to thank you for your testimony about one democrat on the committee mike parker mississippi warns of what lay ahead for casey i don't know any way we scoured his seat right now because over the next few months they're going to tear him alive of compare him apart and he's going to talk to
an end and it's it's not going to be a pretty sight congressman parker was like most of the newly elected republican freshmen were gung ho about cutting the deficit that case it's about some of the more senior republicans despite their campaign rhetoric was squeamish at what it would take to bring the budget in balance casey had to get along that's because the budget committee only sets out a broad budget blueprint the actual spending laws are written by the powerful authorizing committees and the appropriators known on capitol hill as the cardinals they didn't want a steak encroaching on their turf republican congressman jerry lewis of california is chairman of one appropriation subcommittee i would guess that he and his staff would presuming all about as much about these subjects those as our individual china and are members of committees know why some gossip always helpful but there are those who believe that they are the dictate of
the final solution congressman hudson who sits on the budget and appropriations to try to mediate between the two our ranking members said all i wanted carlos and they so i can go use your money here's your money you know as they can and they would argue of having from the cartels make it insanely then our personal radio is your money is right and there's this young guy or a sam nunn it's different if you don't do it either now that the power that we i won't do it casey felt he needed to produce a list of specific cuts along with his overall blueprint or otherwise he felt his budget would seem credible that plan angered many of the appropriators have taken some hits from i mean no one guy that really keeps its like real clothes to be impersonal you know in his attacks on may an arm you know what it's easy to like people who are partial with
you the real challenge of being a good person tharpe spiritually is a white person who's attacking you late in january gingrich and house majority leader dick armey stepped in they said casey could issue a menu of suggestive cut leave the details to the other chairman still case it found some chairman were trying to push the savings off on two other committees we hope that the balanced budget amendment promised in a contract would change that attitude it says that everybody got with a soft or the firms buy and i'd love to help you but but on march second the senate defeated balanced budget amendment he said what's the vote with his old friend tom downey a former democratic congressman now a washington lobbyist caucuses are real as you say
during her office just basics defeatism didn't last long columbus attorney ron hartman is a longtime friend would john likes likes arguments and the lights of the challenge that there isn't any time he's challenged and then goes for the jogger as far as winning now it doesn't mean if he loses steadily as immigration is a loser because he has a gracious loser barry watch on those like to lose at forty three years old divorced and without children caisson horses energy into his we're done so high energy first a compass is so much more than most average people eat he uses every manatees got a man he's soft or whether it's going to the gym was running weather site and the bill the least costly thinking of his job fever we have any self doubt no
i don't think so dance as you made up his mind as to which direction to go in and that's direction goes what is confident hard charging manner sometimes the noises colleagues majority leader army has been quoted as saying there are times he wishes he secretly used to treat hyperactivity in children gingrich and armey advise casey to ease off the other committee chairman found him high handed too brash an assertive not deferential enough to their prerogatives or points of view does learning how you have to deal with people who also have our organs like dr certain issues and is living that is isn't the only opinion i have to learn how to bite my tongue is not an easy idea think about that answer what i'm interested in though is call them like i see a spear it on not like well it might've been a striking then again it might have been a ball mean you know what you think about that you know
that's that's rice and crazy he's also had to moderate his fierce independence even though it's been an essential part of his political success till now johnny i'm making history here when the coffee he grew up in the keys rocks pennsylvania a blue collar ethnic suburb of pittsburgh his father was a mailman both of his parents were democrats became sick at a big institutions in the steel mills that shut down and through neighbors out of work for the bureaucracy at ohio state university where he went in the early nineteen seventies people where i came from we were we weren't so we knew we couldn't determine our own destiny big institutions somehow kind of controlled your destiny i just dont like people try to tell me what do and i see the democrats as essentially being for like rules and regulations and hassles and stand in this line and i don't wanna stand in any line job of down dog settling in central ohio case it also knew that he'd go a
lot further in politics as a republic say happy particularly a populist independent law john likes to perceive him sell them is perceived by many people as an average guy a guy who identifies with than the person in the cheap seats in the ballpark and kodak sit down in the in the boxes mike curtain is an editor of the columbus dispatch he watched case of leapfrogged from state house aide to state senator and then congressman by the age of thirty he signaled a conservative record over thirty years in congress as a deficit fighter he didn't hesitate to take on republican sacred cows he fought hard to limit funding pentagon weapons systems he considered wasteful what it would cost over six hundred million though these new sometimes angered his party's right wing independent played well for him politically at home you to succeed in ohio not binding it all on the apprentice and
johnson center now casey can't be quite so independent anywhere you voted with the democrats to kill a contract with america pledge to speed up the deployment of a costly strategic missile defense system to enrich an army took a sick to task you know you can't be off off leave the ranch regulation saying please stay on the ranch this time and so everything everybody in positions of leadership one that they have to balance that on another issue casey tried to fight gingrich's judgment the chairman originally planned to reduce just a five year down payment on the deficit he didn't think a full seven year plan that to the deficit to zero could be credibly written in such a short time i'm not to be driven ata some macho instinct that have two would do something that i don't think is the right thing to do the gingrich insisted that the republicans couldn't sell controversial budget cuts led it plain unless the american people could see
the end goal balanced budget by the year two thousand and two case it gave and finely but with trepidation i was in a leadership meeting and we're at a pep rally and erase it does it probably said that i was a hero i'm sorry go on to zero and that's fine with me i mean not that i don't want to go to zero i guess this will be a rougher raw from budget than it would be if we held the more time march is it succeeded introducing a bill with enough savings on the spending side to pay for the tax cuts that republicans have promised and on april six the day after the house approved that will become whole deficit cutting freshmen elected basic an honorary member of their class about seventy three human beings who say bought john we we love which are going all these years of being a radical and all these years a raising cane and all these years of been a sore thumb these seventy three people are saying we love that and it's going to be a highlight of my career finding savings to offset the
tax cuts was hard enough but finding a huge savings to balance the budget would really test the resolve of cases fellow republicans were they ready to cut benefits enjoyed by the middle class constituents and their corporate france members are gonna have to understand many of their their pet programs affect their district will not be sacrosanct will not be protected a president democrat or parrot carrot top of it over the basket case he returned to his hometown of west hill just north of columbus his constituents were encouraging that they weren't particularly enamored of the tax code one of the more afflicted but foremost in case its mind was how to realize big savings in medicare and handle the political controversy that was sure to rot how do you prevent medicare from becoming like the school lunch pr debacle the strategy is real simple either no
effect supports gonna go bankrupt families have to get the word out casey calls his committee republicans back to washington a week early to work on medicare and other issues after days of closed door meetings they finally came up with a balanced budget plan they can all support yet even man on the eve of a republican retreat in nearby leesburg virginia case it was meeting resistance dave thompson within to put out one of the fire i'm going to me yeah it's just a power seller the agriculture committee is still to be heard from the defense committee is still being heard from ongoing appropriations this time it was raises means committee chairman steele archer who objected to case it's a list of twenty five billion dollars worth of corporate tax breaks cases want it repealed and agriculture chairman pat roberts was trying to renegotiate the cuts he'd already agreed to in agriculture subsidies the
city and when casey find presented his plan to all his republican colleagues in leesburg a group of mostly freshmen refused to endorse it until they got more details for the first time i saw john have some difficulty with his caucus by the time he returned case again given the rebellious group the details they wanted and accommodated both archer and roberts to some degree well enough i'm ike taylor to the chairman of the budget committee so i think has done an absolutely heroic and frankly amazing job like yours well it ran over here one press conference when it was saying we're really go zero you member and i had to come over and now and then like i get that hey sick of the house leadership are pushing hard to get every republican vote tomorrow and possibly a few democrats to it will mean that kind of strong hand down the road he thinks budget resolution after all is just the house republicans' opening beer cans in a budget balancing exercise that will take not just months or years to unfold people say you know like yo what if you fail or
look how hard this is i mean not telling them might fail one and so what i mean so what this is all going to fade away and when it all fades away i wanna be healthier for having and the experience rather than not healthy and dumb and faith helps keep it all in in perspective and does so it's just it's all kind of pretty cool again the major stories of this wednesday attorney general reno called for an independent council to investigate charges of financial misconduct against commerce secretary ron brown brown has denied any wrongdoing and president no expressed support for ham the senate voted to create a special committee to investigate whitewater charges against president and mrs clinton and the senate ethics committee ruled there was sufficient evidence for an ethics inquiry into sexual harassment and other charges against oregon republican senator bob packwood and i
tried it it and that's the newshour for tonight will be there tomorrow and charlayne hunter gault good night supermarket to the world and buy 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 many thanks video cassettes of the macneil lehrer newshour are available from pbs video call one eight hundred three to eight pbs one
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Series
The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour
Producing Organization
NewsHour Productions
Contributing Organization
NewsHour Productions (Washington, District of Columbia)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/507-gh9b56dz53
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Description
Description
No description available
Date
1995-05-17
Asset type
Episode
Rights
Copyright NewsHour Productions, LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode)
Media type
Moving Image
Duration
00:58:55
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Credits
Producing Organization: NewsHour Productions
AAPB Contributor Holdings
NewsHour Productions
Identifier: 5229 (Show Code)
Format: Betacam
Generation: Master
Duration: 1:00:00;00
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Citations
Chicago: “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour,” 1995-05-17, NewsHour Productions, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed December 22, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-507-gh9b56dz53.
MLA: “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.” 1995-05-17. NewsHour Productions, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. December 22, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-507-gh9b56dz53>.
APA: The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. Boston, MA: NewsHour Productions, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-507-gh9b56dz53