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DeLay: Gingrich 'Wounded' But Can Lead

Two senators square off on a chemical weapons treaty

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, April 7) -- House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) called House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) "wounded" politically, but affirmed the speaker's leadership abilities within the GOP. Speaking on CNN's "Late Edition," DeLay said Gingrich is a "leader of our time and he's going to lead us into the future."

While other Republicans, like Empower America's Jack Kemp, have recently raised eyebrows over the speaker's budget- and tax-cutting strategy, DeLay emphasized the House GOP's commitment to tax cuts.

"We are not backing off of tax cuts," DeLay said. "My goodness, Republicans backing off of tax cuts? You would think we would have lost our minds."

As for Kemp, DeLay added, "If Jack had called us when he heard that we were looking at a new strategy, he would have understood that we're not backing off of tax cuts, we realize that 50 percent of families' incomes goes to government. And we think that's immoral and we're trying to shrink the size of government so that the American family can have tax relief."

Also appearing on the program, Senate Intelligence Committee member Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), called the Chemical Weapons Convention "meaningless," saying it will do "more harm than good." The Senate is due to vote on the measure April 29.

Kyl said the U.S. will continue to lead the way by destroying its own chemical weapons, but added that "history shows that a lot of the treaties that have been signed have not advanced the cause of peace but have actually set them back because the responsible nations of the world don't need treaties to do the right thing, and the rogue nations of the world just continue to do what they believe is in their best interest."

Another member of the committee, Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), derided Kyl's argument as "preposterous reasoning." Said Biden, "If we are not one of the nations that sign on, what kind of ability do we have to deal with biological weapons? What kind of ability do we have to deal with nonproliferation?"