CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown Transcript

CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
September 16, 2003 Tuesday 10:00 PM Eastern Time

HEADLINE: East Coast Braces for Hurricane Isabel; Bush Clear Skies Initiative Gets Mixed Reviews; Clark Likely to Run for President

GUESTS: Max Mayfield, John Edwards, Ron Fournier

BYLINE: Aaron Brown, Jeanne Meserve, Susan Candiotti, John King, Kelly Wallace, Jonathan Karl, John Vause

HIGHLIGHT: East Coast braces for Hurricane Isabel. Then, President Bush's Clear Skies Initiative gets mixed reviews. Finally, General Wesley Clark is expected to announce his bid for the presidency tomorrow.

BODY:

BROWN: Thank you, Jon—Jonathan Karl, Little Rock tonight,

Last night, Senator John Edwards joked on "The Daily Show" that it would actually be news to most people that he was running for president. Today, with the Clark story trumping Edwards' official announcement, it seemed as if the joke were on him.

I spoke with the senator from North Carolina a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: So far, I think there is a perception, Senator, out there that it has been Governor Dean and all of the rest. I'm not sure you necessarily agree with that. But do you agree that, so far, you've yet to break through in a significant way?

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, here's what I believe.

First of all, I'm out there fighting my heart out for the same people that I fought for all my life. They're the kind of people I grew up with in a small town in North Carolina, working people. That's where I had my announcement earlier today. And I'm convinced that, if I—what I'm seeing on the ground in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina is representative, which I think it is, that this campaign will get stronger and stronger. I'm already moving in all those places.

Now, I actually feel very, very optimistic about this, because I think the core of what my campaign is about is what the American people are hungry for, opportunity. They want real opportunity for folks.

BROWN: And what does that mean, real opportunity for folks? Everybody wants that.

EDWARDS: Oh, sure, but here's what it means specifically.

It means making sure that kids who want to go to college get a chance to do it. I have a college-for-everyone program that says, if you're a young person, you're qualified and you're willing to work in order to earn the right to be in college, that you should be allowed to go. I have—I have ideas about health care, to make health care available for every child in America and make that the law of the land, and also specific ideas about bringing down the cost of health care, stopping some of the price gouging and the other problems that are going on with our health care system, using the tax system in a way that allows people who need to, the middle-class Americans, to build wealth, be able to save, to be able to buy a home.

And, basically, all these things, Aaron, are aimed at the same thing, which is, as I said earlier, trying to make sure that folks get a chance to do what they're able to do.

BROWN: As we sit here talking tonight, the country is running, at least in dollar terms, a record deficit. What would you do to close it? Do you think Americans are undertaxed? Would you raise taxes? And if so, on whom?

EDWARDS: I think the middle class actually needs tax relief.

What I think the president is doing is actually shifting the tax burden in America from wealth to people who work for a living. And he's also shifting responsibility from the national level to state and local governments. I mean, people's property taxes are going up. Their state and local taxes are going up. So, their taxes overall aren't being recused. It's just being shifted from one place to another.

No, here's what I would do about the deficit, to go to your specific question. I would stop the tax cuts for people who earn over $200,000 a year. Second thing I would do is close a whole series of corporate tax loopholes that will be revenue-generating; and then, third, take some steps to reduce the size of the Washington bureaucracy, outside of defense, over the next 10 years.

And, at least according to outside measures, that would produce somewhere around $1.5 trillion over the next 20 years, which would pay for all the things that I'm proposing, also would reduce the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars.

BROWN: Just one more on what sometimes is mind-numbing, these economics discussions.

EDWARDS: Oh, I know.

BROWN: Do you see a time in the next decade when the budget will again be balanced?

EDWARDS: I think that depends.

What I'm planning is to move the country back on the path to fiscal responsibility. That's what I want to do as president. To answer that question, I think the honest answer is, it depends on what happens with the economy. If the economy gets back on track, grows the way that it's capable of growing and, as a result, we have revenue growth over that period of time, yes, we can—we have a real potential for getting there.

But I think those things are inextricably intertwined. We have to get right back on the right path, back toward balanced budgets. But how quickly we get there depends on what's happening with the economy at large, I think.

BROWN: Let's try and do two more, if we can.

A couple of the Democratic hopefuls have said it's time to bring American troops home from Iraq. Is it time to bring American troops home from Iraq?

EDWARDS: I think it's time to bring our friends and allies into Iraq.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Well, but they may not want to go.

EDWARDS: Yes, well, that's fair.

But I think the way to get them there is for America to be willing to give them a seat at the table, in other words, let them participate in decision-making, give them some responsibility. I think that will clearly reduce the burden on our troops, also reduce the burden on the American taxpayer and, in addition to that, help reduce some of the hostility toward America that exists there. But I've said for a year now that's what we ought to be doing. And that's exactly what we ought to be doing.

BROWN: Are you interested in any other job at this point from president?

EDWARDS: I am not—as you know, I've announced I'm not going to run for reelection to the Senate. I'm 100 percent committed to being president of the United States, not for me, Aaron, but for what needs to be done for the people of this country.

BROWN: Senator, it's always good to talk to you. We appreciate your time. I know it's been a long day. Thank you very much.

EDWARDS: Aaron, thanks for having me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Senator John Edwards.

Content and programming Copyright 2003 Cable News Network Transcribed under license by FDCH e-Media, Inc.