Late Edition-Transcript

Late Edition-Transcript

BLITZER: The Democratic speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, promising bipartisanship as she took up the gave up the gavel this week. But even before her speech, Republicans were complaining that the Democrats had already broken some promises.

Joining us now is the number two Republican in the House, the minority whip, Roy Blunt of Missouri. Congressman, thanks very much for coming in.

REP. ROY BLUNT (R-MO), MINORITY WHIP: Wolf, it's good to be here. I do still wince just a little bit when I hear that "minority whip," but that's where we are and...

BLITZER: That's your new life, at least two years. We'll see what happens after that.

Let's talk a little bit about this letter that Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, the majority leader in the Senate, wrote to the president on Friday.

"Surging forces is a strategy that you have already tried and that has already failed. Like many current and former military leaders, we believe that trying again would be a serious mistake."

Are you fully on board with the president on this expected announcement that he's going to send thousands of additional troops into battle in Iraq?

BLUNT: Yeah, I think the key there is the expected announcement. Let's see what the president has to say.

BLITZER: Do you have any reason to believe he won't do that?

BLUNT: You know, I think that it's a mistake for members of Congress to think that they can fight about whether the right number of troops is 20,000 more or 40,000 more or 20,000 less. I've been to Iraq a couple of times. I've never come back thinking I knew the exact right number of troops.

I think the president and military leaders -- and I know we hear that the military leaders may not be on board. I have a feeling they're much more on board than we know. General Petraeus I have confidence in, as the president does. I think he'll make the kinds of recommendations that will be significant.

BLITZER: He's going to be the new commander of the forces in Iraq.

BLUNT: He'll be the new commander there. I think it's a huge mistake, you know, to begin to jump to the commander in chief's job as a member of Congress. And I think my friends Nancy and Harry are making that mistake by thinking they can strategize what's the best thing to happen. What's more important is the mission. And that's what I'm interested in hearing the president talk about is the mission.

BLITZER: On this issue of the mission, as you know, a lot of Democrats are critical of the president, but increasingly we're hearing from Republicans in the Senate and the House who are very critical of what the president's strategy has been and looks like it still is. Listen to Gordon Smith of Oregon and Heather Wilson, a Congresswoman from New Mexico, both Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

U.S. SENATOR GORDON SMITH, R-OREGON: I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way, being blown up by the same bombs, day after day. That is absurd. It may even be criminal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

U.S. REP. HEATHER WILSON, R-NEW MEXICO: I am not a supporter of a surge to do for the Iraqis what the Iraqis will not do for themselves. I also have not seen a clarity of mission, and I think that's the greatest weakness that we have right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: She's a member of the Intelligence committee. As you know, she's just back from a visit to Iraq. You have a serious problem with your own Republicans.

BLUNT: Well, she's a good friend of mine. I have particular confidence in her judgment. I talked to her about this speech before I gave it, and the two points that you just focused on that she made, I believe there's a general agreement on, including agreement at the White House.

The Iraqis have to do a better job. They have to accept more responsibility for their own future. And the goals have to be clarified. We've got to look now in the context of the last months and years and decide what the goals for the future need to be and how we achieve those goals.

BLITZER: But if the U.S. does it for the Iraqis almost four years into this war, where is the incentive for the Iraqis to finally step up and get the job done themselves?

BLUNT: My guess is there will be no suggestion the U.S. should do this for the Iraqis. Whenever General Casey wanted to secure Baghdad, he wanted to do it with one of our battalions and six of theirs.

BLITZER: Yeah, but most of their guys didn't -- never showed up.

BLUNT: They only came up with two of theirs. That's exactly the point I want to make. And hopefully the president's very frank discussion this week with Maliki, hopefully the other discussions that going on indicate that the partnership will be appropriate and fundamentally a partnership where the Iraqis are the principal source of strength and manpower for whatever has to happen there.

If that doesn't work at the end of the day, Wolf, this is not going to work. And so it has to happen. I hope the president is able to move forward with the kind of support from the Iraqi people that he needs. Ultimately, our foreign policy has to be about us. And at some point, you can't secure the future for a people who don't want to secure their own future. I see this as one of the last chances for the Iraqi people to secure their future with us as a principal partner.

BLITZER: Because if they don't want it, the United States can't simply keep on doing it, try to do it for them.

BLUNT: We just simply cannot achieve that without them.

BLITZER: As you know, the American public, based on all the polls, not happy about introducing more U.S. troops into Iraq. In our most recent poll, mid-December, only 11 percent supported the notion of sending more troops into Iraq. Fifty-four percent, a majority, either want them out immediately or within a year. Only 32 percent, a third or so, say keep them there as long as necessary.

The president has an uphill struggle, and you as a Republican leader in the House, to convince the American public that sending more troops into Iraq is a good idea.

BLUNT: Well, I think the one -- in my mind, I'm giving the president some credit here because he's not doing the popular thing. He's not doing the easy thing. There's really only one thing left he must be doing, which in his mind is the right thing.

So I'm going to listen carefully as he and I had a chance to talk this week. I'm going to listen carefully to the final plans next week and do everything I can do give our troops in Iraq a chance to get the job done and get home.

BLITZER: The Democrats saying the first 100 hours that the new House is in session, the working hours, if you will, that's about the first two weeks, two and a half weeks or so, they want to pass a whole bunch of legislation, including implementing all the 9-11 Commission recommendations, raising the federal minimum wage, expanding embryonic and other stem-cell research, lowering drug costs, prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients, and eliminating some of the oil subsidies for big oil and using that money for renewable energy sources. Are you on board with that agenda for the first 100 hours of the new House?

BLUNT: You know, some of that agenda we've already accomplished. I'm going to be on board with that. Some of it I think they're no longer for.

BLITZER: What don't you like? BLUNT: The 9-11 Commission, for instance. Of the 41 recommendations, essentially, we'd already implemented 39 of them. I believe they suggested last week they were not going to make the intelligence budget public. That would have been a bad idea even though they said they were going to do it.

They were not going to turn the covert operations over to the Defense Department instead of the CIA. Those were about the last two things left. In terms of energy independence, I think that needs to be one of the critical things for the future of the country, but as Jeff Bingaman said, a Democrat who's the lead Democrat on energy in the Senate, if you do things that only encourage American companies to look for energy other places because you've taken the incentives to look for it here away, how's that to our advantage?

We need to focus on energy independence, not just rhetoric. And on minimum wage, we need to do things that ensure that people get to work. That's what minimum wage really provides, a path for people to get to work. And if you raise the minimum wage without doing some things to offset the impact of that to the principal minimum-wage job creators, the person who was going to hire four people winds up hiring three.

BLITZER: But -- we're out of time, but they have the votes to get it done even though you might not like it.

BLUNT: We'll offer some alternatives. We wish we had more of an opportunity to offer alternatives. My guess is the final bill on the president's desk will look more like what House Republicans would like to see happen on these issues than what House Democrats want to see happen.

BLITZER: Assuming the Senate goes ahead and revises it.

BLUNT: If there is a final bill, I think it will be revised in a way that meets the concerns that we're going to have next week.

BLITZER: Roy Blunt, thanks very much for coming in.

BLUNT: It's good to be with you.

BLITZER: Appreciate it very much.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0701/07/le.01.html