CNN Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics - Transcript
REP. STEVE ISRAEL (D), NEW YORK: Well, it's vitally important because the floor of the House now sounds more like an elementary school auditorium that's out of control than the floor of the people's House. We're not having good-faith debate on issues, we're not exploring issues, we're throwing chairs at one another, we're throwing sound bites at one another. We're questioning each other's integrity, motives, patriotism. And if we're really going to serve the American people, we have to elevate the debate and engage in a process that does justice to those issues.
WOODRUFF: But Congressman Johnson, the country is divided, people do have strongly-felt views on opposite sides of these issues. Why shouldn't the House engage in vigorous debate?
REP. TIM JOHNSON ®, ILLINOIS: I don't think either Congressman Israel or I question vigorous debate. What we question and what we're trying to set as an example for the opposite is the rancor, the nastiness, the seeming attempt to politicize everything and that's what we object to and that's what we want to try to reverse.
WOODRUFF: So specifically, what would you change? I mean, and how would you go about changing it?
JOHNSON: Well, in a bigger sense, we want this to be a bully pulpit, Judy. We want to serve as personal examples in the caucuses, a collective personal example of how people of different philosophies in some cases or even closer philosophies can get along and engage in civil discourse and treat one another with respect and the citizens expect this. People in Steve's district and my district and all over the country have really seen this exponential increase in incivility and I think they believe, I'm certain they believe that that just serves everyone. Them, the Congress and the whole process.
WOODRUFF: So, how do you get people to change, I mean, members to change?
ISRAEL: There are substantive ways to change the culture around here and the interest of advancing our different agendas. One of the things that we want to do is take a look at the rules of the House. Sometimes those rules stifle debate. Sometimes those rules close down a vigorous discussion of issues. You want to take a look at those rules and wherever you can get members on both sides of the aisle looking at those rules and talking about bipartisan policy, that's moving forward. May not be moving left, may not be moving right, but it's moving forward.
WOODRUFF: Let me just read you all a couple of releases I've gotten in the last few days from both political parties. The Democrats saying Terry McAuliffe's office, this is when he was DNC chair, saying a brief history of Rove v. and dirty tricks and skullduggery. This is coming from the Democrats. On the other hand you have Republicans saying, Barbara Boxer and the Democrats' attempt to profit their partisan obstructionism.
We in the media are getting this kind of information all the time from the parties, the political parties you represent. So, you know, aren't-you really are swimming against the tide here.
JOHNSON: I think you have crystallized in those press releases exactly what we're addressing on a widespread basis. And we are swimming against the tide but we want to turn the tide the other way. We want, by personal example, by proactive cooperation with each other, to change the tone and, so that a year from now when you're doing the same show, you won't be getting releases like that. Or at least if you are, they'll be looked on with some askance eye. WOODRUFF: How many members of the House are going to join you in this, do you think?
ISRAEL: Well, right now we are about to announce the caucus. We've had some tremendous response informally. We're in recess next week. When we return, I think we'll get a good response. I think that there is a thirst for this. And it's not just that Tim Johnson and I have figured it out, Bill Clinton, at the opening of the presidential library in Little Rock said, am I the only guy in America who believes that John Kerry and George Bush are decent guys with different ideas. I think members of Congress with the former speaker, Democratic speaker Tom Foley and the former Republican leader Bob Michael, that means we've momentum and credibility.
WOODRUFF: This kind of thing has been tried before. It didn't get very far in recent years. What if this doesn't work?
JOHNSON: First of all, I'm not sure this exact approach has been tried before, certainly the idea has been floated. This is going to work. It's going to work because we've formed it and we're going to be the personal examples to people, hopefully, that will permeate out over some years. But we have to work at it. We have to work at civility. You're not going to do it by simply sending out a press release, doing one interview and assuming that everything will make a radical change.
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