Tip Sheet for the Week of May 5

This partial transcript of The Beltway Boys, May 5, 2001 was provided by the Federal Document Clearing House. Click here to order the complete transcript.

The Beltway Boys give you the scoop on what to watch for in the coming week.

FRED BARNES, CO-HOST: Welcome back to THE BELTWAY BOYS.

Mort, remember the SATs? Well, this is the tip sheet that you're going to have to answer for...

MORT KONDRACKE CO-HOST: I get -- I get...

(CROSSTALK)

BARNES: ... next week's political action. All right.

Item No. 1, watch for President Bush to begin the push for trade promotion authority on future trade deals.

KONDRACKE: Well, he's got, he's got a tough road to hoe. He needs 190 Republicans and 28 Democrats. He wants to -- he -- that -- 218. He -- and he need -- he needs to give the Democrats enough to get from about 18 or 19 up to 28, and he -- without offending Republicans on the issue of labor and environmental standards.

BARNES: Yes, but the Senate can always bail him out. They're going to -- I mean, he'd have to have both houses go against it...

KONDRACKE: No, no, no, trade...

BARNES: ... trade promotion...

KONDRACKE: ... promotion authority is something new...

BARNES: Yes...

KONDRACKE: ... that he wants.

(CROSSTALK)

BARNES: So he needs them both.

KONDRACKE: Yes.

BARNES: Oh, all right.

Item No. 2, key members of Bush's national security team will begin consulting allies next week on the U.S.'s missile defense plan.

KONDRACKE: Well, you know, I think you can get some of the allies round up. The problem is, is that he has to convince them that this is not a -- unilateral Fortress America plan, but that he will defend them too. And that's the key to it.

BARNES: You know what will prevail for Bush? Resolute leadership behind missile defense.

Item three, President Bush is expected to submit recommendations for up to 30 federal judicial appointments next week. Watch for a big fight in the Senate.

KONDRACKE: Big fight indeed.

BARNES: Yes, yes, big is right.

KONDRACKE: It's called payback time.

BARNES: Yes.

KONDRACKE: The Republicans left 100 vacancies on the federal bench. Why? Because they didn't want to give Bill Clinton any, any of his nominees. The Democrats are going to try to pay back now.

BARNES: Well, I think Democrats are going to do something new, though, and that is, it used to be on a judgeship, you'd have to reject somebody because they were unethical, they had some -- in their career, or they were an extremist. Now they're going to say, But, hey, gee, this person's a conservative. They're just going to go against them purely on, on, on the grounds that they don't like their ideology.

KONDRACKE: That's not their own story...

BARNES: It -- watch for it, Mort.

Item four, the search begins in earnest next week for a new FBI director.

KONDRACKE: Well, my nominee, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who's term-limited out of office. He's a tough prosecutor, and he'd make a good FBI director.

BARNES: Mort, I'm with you on that, very good. I second that nomination.

KONDRACKE: All right, good.

BARNES: All right. Item five, the DNC's new Voting Rights Institute kicks off regional hearings next week on overhauling voting practices. Their first stop, Palm Beach County, Florida. Now, why do you think they'd go in there?

KONDRACKE: I know, the DNC is just waving the bloody shirt. This is an issue that George W. Bush should -- electoral reform, voting reform -- should seize from the Democrats, get it over with, get new voting systems, and he can win on this. There's no reason he shouldn't...

BARNES: ... blame everything on Bush. This is just more...

KONDRACKE: No, I'm advising him.

BARNES: ... PR for Terry McAuliffe, saying, you know, that this is a -- that Bush stole the election. You watch, that's what it'll be.

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