Daschle: Bush will have to 'show he can work with' Dems

Daschle

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush will have to "show he can work with Democrats," and his priorities will new scrutiny when power in the Senate shifts to Democrats, incoming Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said Friday.

In his first interview since becoming heir apparent to the Senate's top post, Daschle, D-South Dakota, said becoming the majority in the Senate "is certainly a change in roles, and we're going to try to live up to our obligations and the expectations regarding that role.

"I think it's important for us to try to find ways to work together," Daschle said on CNN's "Wolf Blitzer Reports." But he also said that Bush "will have a greater responsibility to show that he can work with Democrats. That's the only way he's going to be able to get anything done in the Senate is to work with us. If we work together, there's a lot we can get done."

Specifically, Daschle said the energy package released by the White House last week needs "a lot of work" before it can pass. And he said that while Bush will get "every bit of an opportunity to make his case" for a missile defense system, Daschle remains opposed to its deployment.

Meanwhile, Vermont Sen. James Jeffords -- whose defection from the GOP is paving the way for Daschle to become Senate majority leader -- said he left because of disagreements with his fellow Republicans over politics and principles, not because he was lured away by "aspirations for something else."

Daschle said Democrats began discussions with Jeffords about changing parties about two months ago, and he was "surprised" that Republicans leaders didn't learn about the talks.

"Obviously, given the level of his dissatisfaction, you would think they would have picked up on it and maybe done something constructive with it," Daschle said.

Democratic sources confirmed earlier in the week that, as part of the talks luring Jeffords away from the GOP, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, offered him the chairmanship of the Environment and Public Works Committee. Daschle also said he does not expect any of the 50 Democrats in his caucus to leave, a scenario that could return power to the Republicans.

He also said it will "be a little while" before it is clear which Democrats will chair other Senate committees. The ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, was initially expected to take the gavel from Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. But a former chairman of that committee who has seniority over Leahy, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, has indicated he might want the post.

Daschle said if Biden makes that decision, Leahy would instead become chairman of the Agriculture Committee, supplanting Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa. "I don't know at this point if either senator has made up their mind," Daschle said.

Republicans, privately and publicly, have been suggesting that while Jeffords complained he was treated badly by the White House and the Senate GOP leadership, it was his ambitions to run for governor or to serve on other committees that caused him to defect. Friday, Jeffords admitted he had been offered a committee chairmanship, but denied he was motivated by "aspirations for something else."

"In my conversations with the Democratic leadership over the past two weeks, a lot of possibilities have been discussed, but nothing has been or will be final until the Senate acts," said Jeffords. "While some might find it convenient to describe my decision in terms they can understand, such tactics should be seen for what they are. I hope the spinning will stop so that we can all move on."