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unidentified
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C-SPAN's Washington Journal, our live forum inviting you to discuss the latest issues in government, politics, and public policy from Washington and across the country. | |
| Coming up Thursday morning, Senior Vice President and Policy Director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Mark Goldwine, discusses the organization's recent analysis of the Republican tax and spending cuts bill. | ||
| Then, Utah Republican Congressman Mike Kennedy on the One Big Beautiful Bill and Republicans' efforts to advance President Trump's agenda. | ||
| And Maryland Democratic Congresswoman Sarah Elfruth talks about the GOP tax cuts and spending package and Democrats' strategy going forward. | ||
| C-SPAN's Washington Journal join in the conversation live at 7 Eastern Thursday morning on C-SPAN. | ||
| C-SPAN now, our free mobile video app, or online at c-SPAN.org. | ||
| Welcome back to Washington Journal. | ||
| We're talking about FEMA, the cuts there, hurricane season, disaster response. | ||
| We've got with us former FEMA Chief of Staff Michael Cohen. | ||
| Welcome to the program. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thank you, Gigi. | |
| So explain to us your previous roles with FEMA and your experience with disaster management. | ||
|
unidentified
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Sure. | |
| Recently, I was chief of staff to Administrator Deanne Criswell at FEMA during the Biden administration. | ||
| I was also chief of staff for Craig Fugate during the Obama administration at FEMA. | ||
| I started my career in emergency management working for James Lee Witt during the Clinton administration at FEMA. | ||
| Well, as you know, hurricane season has kicked off. | ||
| It started this past Sunday and it goes through November. | ||
| Do you think FEMA is ready for that? | ||
|
unidentified
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I think FEMA has robust capability. | |
| I don't think they're as ready as they have been in the past. | ||
| I believe with staff departures, morale, you know, cuts to training and travel has reduced FEMA's coordination with states and local governments. | ||
| There was an internal document that was released recently where FEMA said that they're not ready. | ||
| What do you make of that? | ||
|
unidentified
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I think that that's them being realistic of what their challenges are for this season and them preparing their leadership for the challenges ahead and directing and presenting to their leadership that they need direction on what is expected of them based on the reduced capability at the agency, | |
| and letting the new executive administrator know upfront, you know, this is not going to be easy. | ||
| I want to talk about the acting administrator, but first, if you can kind of delineate those changes that have taken place as far as budget cuts and how many people from FEMA have been laid off. | ||
|
unidentified
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Yeah, so there was only 200 people that actually have been fired. | |
| Most of the departures have been because of morale, because of the unknown of what's going to happen with the agency. | ||
| From the first week of this administration, President Trump and senior leadership in the administration have talked about the role of FEMA and whether it should be eliminated. | ||
| For career employees, that's troubling. | ||
| Your agency is being talked about and not being valued. | ||
| Do you stay and continue to put your all when you're eligible to retire, when you're not being respected? | ||
| So a lot of employees, I estimate maybe about 2,000 employees have departed since January 20th. | ||
| Do you think that there's bloat in FEMA, that that level can be absorbed and that they can be more efficient with less people? | ||
|
unidentified
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Well, a lot of the leaders that have left brought are left with a lot of institutional knowledge. | |
| There's a lot of experience in emergency management. | ||
| We learn every year from responding to events. | ||
| And with this continuous improvement, we've become stronger and better in responding to new challenges. | ||
| With the departure, there's going to be a lack of capacity. | ||
| Also, you know, as far as cuts, some of the programs that were cut were in particular in mitigation, the building resilient infrastructure communities, which was really focused on reducing future disaster costs by helping states and communities build resilient infrastructure. | ||
| When you say a lack of capacity, lack of capacity to do what? | ||
|
unidentified
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Lack of capacity to support multiple events simultaneously, support the coordinate forest fire on this side of the country, a hurricane. | |
| A hurricane or it could be earthquake, could be two hurricanes. | ||
| You know, FEMA doesn't always have the opportunity to just respond to one disaster at a time. | ||
| Sometimes multiple things happen at the same time. | ||
| And if there's two catastrophic events happening simultaneously, it's going to be a challenge. | ||
| And you also mentioned mitigation strategies. | ||
| Can't that, and shouldn't that be done by the states themselves? | ||
| Why would the federal government need to get involved in that? | ||
|
unidentified
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The states do. | |
| All states have mitigation plans in place. | ||
| The states do put robust resources into mitigation. | ||
| But the federal government is an important resource as far as funding to fund projects across the country. | ||
| If you'd like to join our conversation with Michael Cohen and talk about FEMA, the cuts there, hurricane season, that is already underway, you can do so. | ||
| Our lines are by region this time. | ||
| So if you're in the eastern or central time zones, call us on 202-748-8000. | ||
| If you're in a mountain or Pacific, it's 202-748-8001. | ||
| Especially want to hear from you if you have lived through a disaster, if you have used the services of FEMA in the past. | ||
| Let us know. | ||
| Call us and give us your impression, your experiences, and also any questions. | ||
| If you want to text us, you can do that on 202-748-8003. | ||
| What are your thoughts on the current FEMA management and specifically the acting administrator, David Richardson? | ||
|
unidentified
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I think it's unfortunate that we have the second acting administrator since January 20th who has no experience in emergency management. | |
| So the career staff will be spending a lot of time just educating him on the basics of emergency management, the functions of FEMA, the processes in place. | ||
| It's a challenging job being the FEMA administrator when you do have a career in emergency management. | ||
| So it's a challenging time. | ||
| This is an article on The Hill who says FEMA chief was joking with hurricane season awareness remarks according to DHS. | ||
| And I want to show you Caroline Levitt, who was responding to that, and we'll get your comments. | ||
| Well, of course, we know that we are into hurricane season now, and I know FEMA is taking this seriously, contrary to some of the reporting we have seen based on jokes that were made and leaks from meetings. | ||
| But Secretary Christino and the FEMA leadership are all over this. | ||
| They are committed to ensuring that federal resources and tax dollars are there for Americans in need. | ||
| And the President continues to review requests for emergency aid and carefully considering them. | ||
| However, this President has made it clear we're not going to enable states to make bad decisions with federal tax dollars and then have the federal government later have to bail these states out. | ||
| We want to see states be responsible with their tax dollars to do as much as they possibly can. | ||
| And then the president will deeply and thoughtfully consider any requests for federal aid that come to his desk. | ||
| And I think some of the media reporting we've seen on this is frankly sloppy and irresponsible. | ||
| There are serious people who are taking this issue seriously. | ||
| And what do you think of that, and also about what happened to President Trump's original FEMA director, Cameron Hamilton? | ||
|
unidentified
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Sure. | |
| So in regards to Acting Administrator Richardson, I don't believe it was a joke. | ||
| Why would you, what's the joke about hurricane season and not understanding that hurricane season had started? | ||
| How is that a joke? | ||
| So I don't believe it was a joke. | ||
| I believe the administration, Department of Homeland Security, and the White House is trying to cover up the inexperience of the current acting head of FEMA and trying to make it out that he was making a joke. | ||
| I don't know why you would make a joke about hurricane season if you're the acting FEMA administrator. | ||
| In regard to Cameron Hamilton, I believe Cameron Hamilton came in with good intentions to be a loyal political appointee in the Trump administration. | ||
| He, over time, gained an appreciation for the mission at FEMA, the complexities. | ||
| And when he testified to Congress, I believe he was a man of integrity and was testifying based on what he had learned during his time at FEMA. | ||
| And unfortunately, because of that, he was reassigned. | ||
| President Trump has said he wants to get rid of FEMA. | ||
| He said that it has not worked in the past. | ||
| Do you think it works? | ||
| And what changes are needed to make FEMA better and more responsive to the needs of disaster victims? | ||
|
unidentified
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Yes, I do believe that FEMA works. | |
| FEMA is a misunderstood agency. | ||
| It's an agency that distributes about over $30 billion a year when you're responsible for administering tax dollars of that volume. | ||
| There has to be controls in place. | ||
| There's also an unexpected expectation of what FEMA is going to provide after disasters. | ||
| And it's different. | ||
| Everybody's disaster experience is different, whether you had insurance and whether you didn't have insurance, what other programs are available besides FEMA. | ||
| So, you know, I think FEMA plays a critical role in helping communities go from response to recovery. | ||
| All right, let's talk to callers. | ||
| John is in Delaray Beach, Florida. | ||
| John, you're in a hurricane area. | ||
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unidentified
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Yes, I thank you, C-SPAN. | |
| So I've lived in South Florida since 1973, and welcome to the hurricanes season. | ||
| We also, these tornadoes, just our thunderstorms recently are getting violent with huge wind. | ||
| And what I'd like to say is you mentioned insurance is my biggest concern. | ||
| My insurance had gone from a doable $2,000 a year to about $7,000. | ||
| And I'm worried about increases. | ||
| And the fact of the matter is the country is subject to emergencies of all types, whether it's earthquakes, hurricanes, natural, or man-made disasters. | ||
| I'm getting to the point where I can't afford the insurance. | ||
| And between the deductible and the cost of insurance, I'm almost out $18,000. | ||
| So I really think we need to nationalize the insurance, not just for disasters and property, but for health and everything else. | ||
| And why should I pay insurance if the insurance companies probably won't even pay? | ||
| I'll just go ahead and, if God forbid, there's a problem, I'll just admit that, okay, instead of paying $7,000 for deduct for premiums and a $7,000 deductible, well, okay, that's already $14,000 in the hole. | ||
| All right, John. | ||
| What do you think, Michael? | ||
|
unidentified
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Yeah, John, thank you for that. | |
| Insurance is a significant issue across the country. | ||
| We see it in the hurricane-prone states, earthquake-prone states, wildfire states. | ||
| And there needs to be a conversation nationwide about insurance. | ||
| FEMA does administer the National Flood Insurance Program, but there's, you know, families across the country are having to make decisions on how they're going to be able to keep their insurance and pay their insurance. | ||
| And that's why mitigation is so important, because the insurance industry wants to provide coverage, but if the risk is too high for them, they have to raise their rates. | ||
| If a community is mitigated and John's home is in an area that maybe isn't going to flood or is going to have minimal risk to response to a disaster, you know, maybe the insurance can come down. | ||
| Explain the National Flood Insurance Program. | ||
| How does that work? | ||
|
unidentified
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So the National Flood Insurance Program is administered by FEMA. | |
| Congress put the program at FEMA primarily because flooding is really an uninsurable risk. | ||
| I mean, the insurance companies can't make money on flood insurance. | ||
| So the mortgage industry won't provide a mortgage unless you have insurance. | ||
| And if you have a flood risk, you live in a flood hazard area, you're required to have flood insurance. | ||
| So the flood insurance is really a backstop to ensure that your mortgage is protected after a flood. | ||
| And you mentioned mitigation a couple of times. | ||
| What about people that build houses in places that are prone to hurricanes and to being destroyed by natural disaster in areas of Southern California, let's say, that could have a forest fire? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, so the building industry has made a lot of strides and are, you know, we see this in California now, we see this in Maui, building back stronger, building back to be able to be more resilient to fire, building so that that structure can actually be insurable. | |
| The challenge is in some communities they're still building in at-risk areas like a floodplain or communities want those tax dollars. | ||
| They want more people living in their community. | ||
| So there's a challenge there. | ||
| So mitigation needs to be part of the conversation at the local, state, and federal level. | ||
| Let's talk to Mary Alice in Missouri. | ||
| Good morning, Mary. | ||
| Mary Alice, I should say. | ||
|
unidentified
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Good morning. | |
| We live in Texas County, the south central part of Missouri, and our gravel roads are supposed to be controlled by the township, but the township people claim that they're waiting for FEMA money to fix our old gravel roads. | ||
| And many, many people have trouble getting in and out. | ||
| There's been so much damage to the gravel roads. | ||
| Plus, the people who do, if they ever go dead, they're unqualified. | ||
| They don't know how, and they do it the wrong way. | ||
| So any rain and flooding, it just ruins the roads. | ||
| And so, but they all claim waiting for FEMA money to repair our roads. | ||
| And meanwhile, if we're lucky, we have a pickup or a four-wheel drive or something. | ||
| Otherwise, and even by going slow, you have to be so careful, or sometimes you can't get out at all. | ||
| So I'm just wondering why, why it takes so long and why we can't have more help on these rural roads. | ||
| I know there's not thousands of people living on a gravel road in this area, but all right, Mary Alice, let's get Michael Cohen to respond. | ||
| So, Mary Ellis, not knowing the particulars of why this is considered a FEMA project, you know, I would encourage you to really work with your, you know, your member of Congress, and they can, you know, work with FEMA if this is a project that is funded by FEMA. | ||
| It could be that it's a project that is currently on hold. | ||
| A lot of grant funding at FEMA is on hold and was under review by this current administration to ensure that the grants met all the requirements in the president's executive orders. | ||
| So, yeah, unfortunately, I can't speak specifically to this roads issue. | ||
| Well, something that is a FEMA issue is the Hurricane Helene. | ||
| And Dave in Dalton, Georgia says, if you want to know how good FEMA works, ask the people in North Carolina and Tennessee, the storm victims, still waiting on FEMA. | ||
| What's happening there? | ||
|
unidentified
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In North Carolina, over 150,000 families were applied for FEMA assistance and are receiving assistance from FEMA. | |
| It was last year was a busy year for FEMA. | ||
| We saw Helene impacting multiple states other than North Carolina. | ||
| We also saw multiple other hurricanes, including Hurricane Milton, impacting Florida. | ||
| So I would encourage people if they applied for FEMA to continue to follow up with FEMA to ensure that they get everything that they deserve. | ||
| Explain how you file with FEMA for people that have not ever gone through this. | ||
| So let's say a hurricane comes through your area, you're homeless, your home's been destroyed or is unlivable, what do you do? | ||
|
unidentified
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So the first step is the governor makes a request to the president. | |
| If the president declares a federal disaster declaration and offers assistance to disaster survivors, then FEMA will provide a 1-800 number. | ||
| FEMA will also provide a website, and FEMA will work with the state and set up disaster recovery centers. | ||
| Those are all different ways that people can apply. | ||
| People can apply for FEMA assistance on their phone. | ||
| They can apply online. | ||
| They can apply in person. | ||
| Until recently, FEMA would actually go door to door. | ||
| There's a current proposal that FEMA won't be going door to door in future disasters. | ||
| I'm not sure whether that'll be next year because the current acting administrator said that they were going to continue with the plan on how they responded to disasters last year. | ||
| So why would they not go door to door? | ||
| I mean, some people can't get internet connection or don't have a phone, whatever. | ||
|
unidentified
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Yeah, I mean, I believe going to where people are at is the best way to reach people and register people. | |
| Not everybody has a car. | ||
| Nekas a computer. | ||
| And some people just need someone to sit down with them in their home or wherever they're staying following that disaster and take the steps to fill out that application. | ||
| So Erin from Texas survived Hurricane Harvey. | ||
| She said, I don't recall ever seeing a FEMA employee. | ||
| We prepared and have a generator. | ||
| Our goal is to not expect much from the government. | ||
| Families have to be self-sufficient. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah. | |
| Yeah, you won't always see FEMA. | ||
| But when urban search and rescue is in your neighborhood, FEMA coordinated that. | ||
| FEMA's paying for that. | ||
| When helicopters are helping people to evacuate off of roofs like we saw after Katrina, FEMA is coordinating that, working with the Coast Guard, working with the National Guard, working with the Army. | ||
| So there's a lot that happens behind the scenes. | ||
| In North Carolina, FEMA coordinated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to pick up all the debris. | ||
| That's still an ongoing project more than seven months after the disaster. | ||
| So you might not see people in FEMA shirts, but FEMA is there and FEMA is coordinating the recovery efforts. | ||
| Let's talk to Kelly, Nashville, Tennessee. | ||
| Good morning, Kelly. | ||
|
unidentified
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Hi. | |
| Hi, go right ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
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Okay, so I'm actually calling because I want to volunteer in any way I possibly can and I'd like to stay more East Coast and in the center, but there's disasters going on everywhere. | |
| I mean, where can I call? | ||
| What can I do here? | ||
| Because it seems to me that volunteers are needed and I'm available. | ||
| I don't have children. | ||
| I can pick up and go. | ||
| So give me a phone number. | ||
| Tell me who I can talk to. | ||
| I can help. | ||
| I know I can. | ||
| Just point me in the right direction. | ||
| Well, it's nice of you, Kelly. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, thanks, Kelly. | |
| No, there's always volunteers needed for responding to disasters. | ||
| We've seen the flooding and tornadoes this spring. | ||
| We're expecting an above-average hurricane season. | ||
| I would encourage you to contact your local Red Cross chapter and let them know that you want to volunteer. | ||
| You can also go online and look up voluntary organizations active in disaster, voad.org, v-o-a-d.org. | ||
| Kelly, thank you for your support, and you'll get more out of that volunteering than the people will get from your services. | ||
| So, thank you. | ||
| And Gus in Brooklyn, New York, wants to know if FEMA has a weather prediction division. | ||
|
unidentified
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So, FEMA does have forecasters. | |
| FEMA has forecasters primarily that are some are detailed from the National Weather Service. | ||
| There's also forecasters that work for FEMA that are embedded in NOAA operations. | ||
| So, the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, there's a team of about three FEMA staff there that are forecasters that work to make sure there's coordination between the National Weather Service and FEMA operators who are planning for what that response might be for any storm, you know, from when it's out in the Atlantic to when it comes ashore. | ||
| There have been cuts at NOAA. | ||
| Are you confident that those cuts haven't affected the nation's ability to predict these storms and to prepare for them? | ||
|
unidentified
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Yeah, so I have been tracking the cuts at NOAA, and I know that that is going to be a challenge for them. | |
| It's been a challenge this spring to make sure that they have the coverage in their different weather service stations around the country, especially when you have to be ready to put out alerts and warnings, whether it's for tornadoes or hurricanes. | ||
| So, you know, I think the National Weather Service, the career staff, will find a way. | ||
| But I am concerned that something might fall through the cracks. | ||
| Here's Mary in Philadelphia. | ||
| Good morning, Mary. | ||
|
unidentified
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Good morning. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| You know, having seen the devastation on, you know, the south side of one of the barrier islands in New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy, it was shocking. | ||
| And houses piled up on top of each other, boats on roofs, and things like that. | ||
| And it always, you know, the last woman from Texas talking about like self-reliance. | ||
| It's like, in the face of certain things, I mean, it's really kind of this John Wayne approach to things that people have. | ||
| You know, we all have to be self-reliant until disaster strikes. | ||
| And I just wanted to ask, though, the gentleman on what happened in Asheville, North Carolina, because I have family members in that region, and they're on the other side of the political spectrum than I am. | ||
| And they insisted there was no FEMA help down there. | ||
| And I took that with a total grain of salt because, you know, understanding how a flash flood works, washing out roads and things like that. | ||
| And so I was confused by them and I didn't want to get into a big hoo-ha. | ||
| So could you explain some of the issues you had with Asheville? | ||
| Yes, thanks, Mary. | ||
| Yes. | ||
| I mean, what happened with Asheville is really a telling story for communities across the country. | ||
| Hurricanes don't just impact coastal areas. | ||
| Hurricanes can impact inland areas like North Carolina, Asheville, North Carolina. | ||
| So when you talk with your family, ask your family who's picking up the debris in North Carolina, who's repairing the roads. | ||
| All the progress to critical infrastructure, there's been a significant volunteer effort helping individuals, you know, gut their homes. | ||
| So it has taken a whole community approach. | ||
| But a lot of the government work that has taken place to repair or replace bridges, pick up debris, that has been FEMA. | ||
| FEMA has coordinated all of that and up until about a month ago was paying for that 100% federal, FEMA was paying for that 100%. | ||
| So when you talk with your family in North Carolina, just I think they'll acknowledge that there's been a significant amount of progress. | ||
| They may not know it was FEMA, but when that bridge was replaced, it was done by FEMA. | ||
| Let's talk to Ben in Florida. | ||
| Hi, Ben. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Listen, Mike, for my own, just my own knowledge, the budget for FEBA is what? | |
| So there's a significant budget for the disaster relief fund, about $30 billion a year. | ||
| And then you have funding for grants, Homeland Security grants, grants for mitigation. | ||
| So probably another $8 billion a year, and then maybe another $2 billion for administering FEMA's operations across all the states and territories. | ||
| So say about $40 billion a year. | ||
| Forgive me for interrupting you. | ||
| I hope you can clear something up. | ||
| Here in Florida, we were told a lot of the times that FEBA did not have allocations of money, and we do understand that the disasters scared a huge area, including California. | ||
| How much of this budget was allocated to non-Americans, to illegal aliens that utilize FEBA money for their purposes? | ||
| I was told that there was something like $200 million or billion dollars. | ||
| Is that a fact or just something that you hear on the street? | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| So, yeah, it's a good question. | ||
| So FEMA is not appropriating any money for people who are not U.S. citizens. | ||
| FEMA was directed by Congress to administer a grant program for CBP, Customs and Border Patrol. | ||
| Customs and Border Patrol had a grant program to provide money to nonprofit organizations that were supporting migrants. | ||
| And that I don't know the exact amount. | ||
| It was different every year. | ||
| It started during the first Trump administration, the grant funding for that program. | ||
| And this administration has indicated that they were not going to continue that program. | ||
| But FEMA did administer that, but there was no FEMA funding. | ||
| The funding was transferred from CBP to FEMA to administer this grant program because FEMA has experience in managing grants, and FEMA actually manages probably 99% of all grants for the Department of Homeland Security. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Well, Jerry in Kentucky has been affected by adverse weather. | ||
| Jerry, what happened? | ||
|
unidentified
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Okay, I live in Pulaski County and I'm a volunteer farming. | |
| And one of the first things I done when after the, of course, Plasky and Law County is the ones that got hit. | ||
| And one of the first things I done was go out and start cutting trees out of the road so people could get in and out. | ||
| After that, we went on and started working with the electric company, going ahead of and checking to see what lines were down and posts were broken, if there's any trees on the line. | ||
| And when FEMA came in, the first thing he asked us to do was keep track of all the errors. | ||
| We've been out. | ||
| And they surveyed the area and then they came in and set up offices and places where people could come and report any damages and everything ahead. | ||
| So I just want to give you a point on that. | ||
| Thank you, FEMA. | ||
| We appreciate you. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Thank you, Jerry. | ||
| Kentucky's had a tough spring with tornadoes and floods. | ||
| Thank you for the support that you've provided to your community. | ||
| You talked about FEMA coordinating with local and state authorities. | ||
| What happens when those local and state authorities really don't have the capacity to do the things that you need them to do? | ||
| Does FEMA step in and cover for that capacity, or what do you do? | ||
|
unidentified
|
So just like with police and fire, all local communities have compacts with neighboring communities. | |
| So states have the same thing. | ||
| They have cooperative agreements where communities helping other communities, states helping other states. | ||
| When it exceeds the capacity of the state, that's when a governor makes a request to the president. | ||
| Here's Harold in St. Louis, Missouri. | ||
| Good morning, Harold. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| How are you doing? | ||
| Good. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And you're lucky. | |
| Yes. | ||
| I was calling about the tornado that hit St. Louis late 16th. | ||
| And when they hit, we hit a very poor neighborhood right in the middle of the St. Louis city. | ||
| And when we hit it, when it hit, it created a lot of damage for about 20 miles. | ||
| And it really destroyed St. Louis. | ||
| And now the state of Missouri is hesitating. | ||
| We're not talking about FEMA. | ||
| We're talking about the state of Missouri is talking about comparing a football stadium, a baseball stadium, against the disaster that St. Louis had. | ||
| And they're putting deals together with a baseball building, helping billionaires build a baseball stadium. | ||
| Baseball state land a football stadium in Kansas City. | ||
| This is a terrible situation, and we need some help. | ||
| All right, Harold. | ||
| Let's get a response. | ||
| Michael Cohen. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So, yeah, St. Louis did experience a traumatic event with that tornado. | |
| And, you know, people are, it's going to be a long road to recovery. | ||
| As far as the stadium, that's not something I can really speak to. | ||
| But I encourage you and everybody who lives in St. Louis to listen to your local weather forecasters, listen to your local officials, because you do live in a significant tornado risk area. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| How much notice does one get for tornadoes? | ||
| I know hurricanes do take a while to move. | ||
| They can be erratic, but tornadoes, how much time do you have? | ||
|
unidentified
|
So the National Weather Service, they become a lot more sophisticated over the years. | |
| And, you know, tornado watches and warnings, we've even seen it here in the D.C. area just, I think, a week ago. | ||
| And the alerts you get on your phones, you know, they save lives. | ||
| So, you know, I think we're getting better every year. | ||
| It does require significant funding, and that's why funding from Congress to NOAA is significant because the satellites and the experience in monitoring these systems can save lives. | ||
| Here's Al in Newcastle, Delaware. | ||
| Good morning, Al. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Thank you for taking my call. | ||
| Good morning, Mr. Cohen. | ||
| I served with the Delaware Air National Guard during Katrina, and through the chain of command, I guess from FEMA, put out a request through the National Guard Bureau and everything down to the state adjutants looking for people to come assist. | ||
| So we got a contingent together and went down there. | ||
| We were based out of the Jackson, Mississippi Airport, Air National Guard base there. | ||
| And we went out and deployed into the different areas as we were called. | ||
| We had guys up in Hattiesburg. | ||
| We had guys down in, men and women, in Bay St. Louis. | ||
| We had people everywhere. | ||
| Working like the gas lines, people were lined up for half a mile or more, you know, asking us if there was gas, was there going to be gas? | ||
| And if they told us, you know, we pass that information on. | ||
| But other than that, you know, you couldn't do anything. | ||
| Anyway, one of the parishes that we were assigned to, and the name escapes me now, but the trucks were coming in. | ||
| They were getting deliveries of food. | ||
| They were getting deliveries of ice. | ||
| It was amazing watching everything coming in. | ||
| And they had just a simple concrete platform for the forklifts to go up to access the trucks. | ||
| Well, folks from other parishes, counties, were inquiring to the guy that was there. | ||
| He's like, how come you're getting all this stuff? | ||
| And the gentleman there, I don't know whether he's sheriff or what, but he says, I submitted the paperwork. | ||
| So they knew what assets he had locally to help. | ||
| And apparently the other areas did not. | ||
| But it was heartbreaking. | ||
| But on the other side of the cooling, it was very encouraging because a tremendous amount of stuff flowed out. | ||
| I was on one day, we were on rural roads in the back of a deuce and a half, two and a half ton truck, five ton now, distributing food and water. | ||
| And we had guys up ahead, like clearing the roads so that we could get through. | ||
| Thanks, Al. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks, Al. | |
| Yeah, what Al is describing there is really states coming to the assistance of other states and then FEMA reimbursing those states for that support. | ||
| As far as the commodities, Every state, after an event like that, there'll be lessons learned. | ||
| There'll be an after-action report. | ||
| And so that way all the communities will have the knowledge of what they should be requesting. | ||
| Maybe it sounded like maybe those other communities hadn't made a request and said that they needed commodities. | ||
| So each one of these events, these disaster responses, there's opportunities to improve. | ||
| And one more call for you, Hank, in Calamay City, Illinois. | ||
| Good morning, Hank. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| My response is that we have had flooding in this area quite a few times. | ||
| I've been here about 30 years and about seven different times we have had emergency flooding. | ||
| And FEMA came in and they gave us money for a grocery. | ||
| We lost it because we had electrical problems when the storm came through. | ||
| So your basements would flood. | ||
| Also, we had issues with our sewage and they have came in and given us money to revamp our sewage system where it will stop flooding. | ||
| And I myself have mitigated, put in a backflow preventer in my home where the sewage will not come back in. | ||
| It only flows one way. | ||
| So FEMA has been spectacular. | ||
| They don't make you 100%, but they are there to help when there is an emergency where there's just a disaster where it's just overwhelming to everyone in the neighborhood. | ||
| They have came in and moved trees and everything. | ||
| So FEMA has been just spectacular for our area. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| All right, Hank. | ||
| Last comment, Michael. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Hank. | |
| Well, you know, people like Hank talking about their experience with the federal government, that's important because a lot of times the loudest voices are the people who are frustrated. | ||
| And it leaves the impression sometimes that agencies like FEMA aren't effective and aren't responsive to the needs of the American people. | ||
| So thanks for, Hank. | ||
| Thanks for sharing your story. | ||
| And Michael Cohen, former FEMA chief of staff, thanks to you for coming in. | ||
| Appreciate it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Gigi. | |
| On Thursday, Commerce Secretary Howard Luttnick is on Capitol Hill to testify on his department's 2026 budget request before a House Appropriations Subcommittee. | ||
| Live coverage starts at 11 a.m. Eastern on C-SPAN 3. | ||
| C-SPAN now, our free mobile app, or online at c-span.org. | ||
| Mr. President, no doubt about it. | ||
| This is today's historic in many ways. | ||
| The proceedings of the United States Senate are being broadcast to the nation on television for the first time. | ||
| This week, we mark the 39th anniversary of the U.S. Senate's first live television broadcast on C-SPAN 2. | ||
| Join us as senators take to the floor to reflect on this landmark moment in American democracy. | ||
| Thanks to C-SPAN 2, this public service allows our constituents to see the swearing in of newly elected members, watching all-night sessions during photoramas, and tune in to history being made. | ||
| That's why on its 39th birthday, Senator Grassy and I wanted to highlight how important it is for all television providers, including major streaming services like YouTube TV owned by Google and Hulu Plus Live TV owned by Disney, to provide the American public with C-SPAN and the opportunity to see their government work on the Senate floor. | ||
| C-SPAND does not receive one penny of taxpayer dollars. | ||
| It's funded primarily from satellite and cable providers. | ||
| We're at a different stage in our history and a lot of people are seeing their news this way, so we need to expand it and make sure we're on all of those platforms as well as the ones we already are on. | ||
| So thank you again to Senator Grassley for working with me to highlight C-SPAN's critical role. | ||
| And thanks to everyone who has had a hand in C-SPAN's success. | ||
| Happy birthday. | ||
|
unidentified
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C-SPAN 2, 39 years of bringing the U.S. Senate live into homes across the country. | |
| Thanks to the support of our cable partners. | ||
| Together, we bring you democracy unfiltered. | ||
| In a nation divided, a rare moment of unity, this fall, C-SPAN presents Ceasefire, where the shouting stops and the conversation begins. | ||
| In a town where partisan fighting prevails, one table, two leaders, one goal, to find common ground. |