first priority is going to be the saving of lives. >> we had flood levels that were 20 feet above anything people had ever seen before. >> we are seeing a totally different san juan. >> it's like a "house of cards" that has basically collapsed. >> thousands and thousands of people coming out and making enormous human effort to save lives. >> there are believed to be signs of life beneath the

rubble. >> the rhetoric is escalating once again between president trump and kim jong-un. >> the north korean foreign minister suggesting there could be a hydrogen bomb over the pacific ocean. >> rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alyson camerota. >> good morning, everyone. welcome the your "new day". the governor of puerto rico tells cnn 13 people are dead after hurricane maria. there have been 700 people rescued. fema is beginning military aid to get water, food, and generators to the millions of i in need because the entire island is without power. >> we have the potential nuclear showdown brewing between the united states and north korea. the leaders both engaging in what seems like a school yard insult contest. trump called kim jong-un rocket man. kim called him a senile old man

north korea now threatening to test a hydrogen bomb in the pacific ocean. we have a lot to cover. let's begin with cnn's leyla santiago live in puerto rico, san juan, the capital there. hurricane maria's aftermath still being measured. leyla? >> reporter: you know, chris, people are waking up in the neighborhood where i am. i'll share an interaction i just witnessed. one neighbor called out to the next saying is there water? and the woman with the biggest smile on her face said, yes, we finally have water. that is one small victory in quite a bit of harsh reality. you just mentioned the 13 people who died. the governor is saying that is very preliminary. in the meantime, rain is expected to continue here today. >> reporter: sections of the

northern coast under water two days after hurricane maria ravaged the island. the striking aerial images show the devastation as flash floods inundate the island. residents seen trudging through waist-high floods, cars driving through a sea of batter as many come home to find their houses destroyed. search and rescue teams working around the clock to rescue survivors as heavy rain continues to fall. maria dumping as much as 40 inches of rain in some parts of the island. >> people at home are elderly. if we don't get to them in time, it is those that i cannot get to that really worry me the most. >> reporter: search is and rescue complicated but a paralyzed communication system and impassable roads. >> the first priority is saving of lives. >> reporter: this dramatic rescue of a mother and two sons

of their research vessel capsized sea. catastrophic flooding claiming at least 13 lives according to the governor we watched rescuers go home to home finding anyone that needed new shelter. everyone seems vulnerable. they were fighting back tears after firefighters and the national guard reached her 84-year-old neighbor. 16-year-old maria santos had to cross floods. her family of six filled bags with food, toiletries, pillows, grabbed their small dogs and left to find help when the water got too high. >> i'm scared what's going to happen now to us. where are we going now?

>> reporter: once at the evacuation shelter, some safety. a future already filled with uncertainty. and as i've been talking to people on the streets, you see as they go through the different stages of coping. people who came out of their homes to see damage and destruction like this on the roads. and now people who are getting very frustrated, getting very ang angry. much of that is not being able to talk to loved ones, not being able to reach family. they are asking have you heard from other parts of the island because it is hard to establish communication with loved ones.

chris? look, you are seeing it in real-ti real-time. not knowing would be the hardest part. think of their loved ones back here. so many connections in new york, puerto rico, and they can't reach their family either. leyla, you're doing a great job. stay strong. you and the team stay safe. thank you. 3.5 million americans are without power. why? the grid was so flimsy to begin wfpl joining sus the ceo of puerto rico's electric power community. mr. ramos, it is is about describing the realities of need and the time that it will take to get back up, sir. ? well, chris, good morning.

it is devastation. we have only been able to fly helicopters due to weather conditions. it is is raining hard right now. we said after the eyewall passed our grid will be destroyed. >> in terms of getting it back, do you think that the fema officials, that the government officials understand what is needed yet is the commitment there? >> yes. the commitment is there. the local and u.s. fema personnel for the last couple of weeks. we have a pretty good idea of the help we need. we have already requested an amount of additional personnel, drugs, materials. we're ready to begin the work.

the assessment is very important in order to have logistics made. we have a plan to bring power for a medical center. that's where the federal health aid is going to be operating from. in terms of time, chris, the assessment will be very hard to tell. you i can give you some references. for example, hurricane hugo took about six months to have even, all the people connected. as you can see, we are expecting to have the medical center with power in three days. it's a long stepping process in order to get there. this moment actually most of the work we are doing is rescue, search and rescue. there's no access to the power plants. no access to other place.

so we order our people, our personnel to try try to help in any way they could as soon as they could make it to their work. the next couple of days, the roads will be clear. they will get their instructions. we will start rebuilding the power system. >> so you have power workers helping with search and rescue until power plants could be a place to go and start their job. everybody is chipping in. we understand that. what do you say to the people there? because time breeds desperation. no power means to cell phone. no sewage treatment. all of the things that people fend on in life. and the more time goes, the more scared they get. what do you say? >> well, i will tell them to rest assured at least that we will do the best we can. we will be working very hard. and by priorities. hospitals, water treatment plants, pumping stations,

drainage pumping stations. so we know exactly what we need to do. water is a more precious utility. we are giving all the support to the water and sewer company. people who depend on medical devices should go to shelters or family homes. people are passionate about returning the service. we will do our best. probably we will be able to make it much faster than hugo. that's our expectation. we are working as hard as we can. once we do the assessment, we will let you know how much time we expect repairs to take.

>> mr. ramos, thank you very much. prepa is the puerto rico electric power authority. they are dealing with their own loss, their own families in need. be well. let us know how we can help. alyson? okay, chris. the island of dominica has been destroyed. it is mostly inaccessible after hurricane maria. cnn is one of the only reporting teams on that island right now. michael holmes is live with the widespread destruction. michael? >> reporter: alyson, you know, i'm at the prime minister's office, the main government building here in roseau. you look to my left and right, and all i see is destruction. many buildings survived this storm. what is concerning is the rest of the island. we got here yesterday and had a look around. it was will quite stunning what we found.

from the air you can see every inch of the island of dominica has been brutalized. on the ground, it is so much worse. this was a car dealership. this a bridge. this is a middleclass suburb. every house has been hit. there's a little cafe here. popular. just gone. houses are just pieces of word. >> reporter: just about every building is damaged. this just scratches the surface. dominica has been defiled from end to end. the prime minister of this tiny country is just coming to grips with the enormity of what has happened here.

>> people not knowing what tomorrow will bring. the difficult circumstances as the days go by. it has been heart wrenching. very, very heart wrenching. >> what worries officials here is what they haven't seen, hillside villages hard to reach or even to communicate with. the fate of those living there unknown even to family members just on the other side of the island. aid was expected to start flowing in here thursday. precious little arrived. this need water, food, medical supplies, shelter. pretty much everything. one of the ironies here of dominica, the people are so loving and caring. they had aid, food, medical supplies they had prepositioned in case of a disaster. after irma came through, they shipped that out to other islands like st. march tip. so they have nothing now. so many other islands by you ma and then maee ya, the people of

dominica, whose needs are great, hope they don't get forgotten. and the prime minister told us he's heading off today to new york to the u.n. g-8 to make an appeal for international help here them. do need everything. aid is going to start coming the next few days. we have seen aid workers here as well trying to assess the damage. the problem is getting around, distribution and getting to some of those images we flew over that look in terrible shape. >> michael holmes, thank you very much. stay safe there as well. hurricane maria say powerful category 3 storm barring down on turks and caicos. cnn meteorologist chad myers has the latest. >> i see it in the atlantic. let's just hope for that.

both islands are in such bad shape. the storm is moving away. i think we get much better weather for the cleanup there. there is the storm the next 24 to 36 hours. after that it moves to the north and northeast. at least slightly. right there this is a minor wiggle to the left. why? pause the european model takes it left at least briefly. so the hurricane center put that forecast right through the middle. of that, out to sea. it is days and days and days away. alyson? now, to mexico. rescuers are still digging through the rubble to find more earthquake survivors. the death toll continues to rise. rosa, what's the latest? >> reporter: well, alyson, overnight a serious complication

to an already dangerous and very delicate search and rescue operation. rain pummeled over mexico city and the metro area. and that added weight to already collapsed buildings, fragile buildings and triggered the stop of the rescue operations in the building that you see behind me. this is not the only building in mexico city where presumably people are trapped. search and rescue teams frantically combing through collapsed buildings, desperate for signs of life amid the mangled rebar and blocks of concrete. mexico's president telling authorities they believe there are people still buried alive. emergency officials using high-tech cameras and rescue dogs, hoping it isn't too late. these workers build a makeshift ladder before calling for silence to listen for any survivors. these scenes playing out across mexico city and surrounding towns as thousands work together

removing buckets of debris. and pieces of wood one piece at a time. a painstaking task done carefully to avoid a further collapse. amid the chaos, moments of joy as people are pulled from the rubble. workers celebrate as this survivor is brought to safety. other efforts coming up empty. like the urgent seven for a young girl authorities believed was trapped under this collapsed elementary school. the world eagerly awaited news of her fate before officials announced that all the students and teachers had been accounted for, either at home, in hospitals or dead. nevertheless, rescuers remain determin determined. the global community rallies around mexico. volunteers from around the world coming from as far away from japan and taiwan, working together with hundreds of ordinary people who have flocked to the area to do whatever they can to help save lives. >> i'm a graphic designer.

i'm a mom. i'm not prepared to do any of this. but there is always something you can do. >> reporter: as we take another live look here i can tell you rescuers tell families people are trapped in capsules created when this building collapsed. they can't get them food or water because the building is too unstable. chris, these rescue workers say -- they are asking family members to be patient. when i talked to these families, they say agony feels no patience. it only feels pain. >> that's the truth, rosa. waiting is the hardest part. that's understood. but there is just no good outcome right now until they are able to get in there and continue the digging. thank you for being there. we'll check back with you. tensions are also escalating on a very different scale. politics of the geo-political

variety. the president of the united states and the leader of north korea are going at it an insult contest. north korea upped the ante. they said we're going to test a hydrogen bomb of the pacific. what would that mean, next. tech: when you schedule with safelite autoglass, you get time for more life. this family wanted to keep the game going. son: hey mom, one more game? tech: with safelite, you get a text when we're on our way. you can see exactly when we'll arrive.

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president trump and north korea's leader trading one insult after another. the reclusive regime is now upping the ante and testing a hydrogen bomb is what they are doing over the pacific ocean. joe johns is live near b bedminster, new jersey where the president is live tweeting. joe? >> reporter: the latest sal sroe in this war of words coming from the president a little while ago on twitter. kim jong-un is a mad man who doesn't mind starving or klg his people will be tested like nephew before. this follows a highly

provocative and personal statement from kim jong-un following the latest sanctions against north korea by the president after a try lateral meeting with south korea and japan. now, that statement reads, he's unfit to hold the supreme command of a country. he is surely a rogue and a gangster, fond of playing with fire rather than a politician i will make the man holding the prerogative of the supreme command pay dearly for his speech, calling for totally destroying the dprk. behalf trump might have expected, he will face results beyond his expectation. i will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged usdot ard with fire. when asked what the north korean leader meant by that, the foreign minister said it might mean the test of a hydrogen bomb over the pacific. though he said that decision of

course would be left up to kim. today the president is expected to have a quiet day in new jersey before flying off to will alto participate in a rally for the election of senator luther strange, who is in a tight race against the very is popular former georjudge roy moore. >> let's discuss it with editor at large chris solizza and national security analyst david sanger. great to have both of you. david, before i get to the overheated, colorful rhetoric coming from pyongyang, can we talk about what was a development yesterday. that was what was happening in beijing. it appears that china central bank sent some instructions to its ancillary banks to stop doing business or transactions with pyongyang. how big a development is that and do you think that's a byproduct of something president trump has done?

>> i do think, alyson, it is a byproduct of this. you saw these treasury department regulations or at least the executive order authorizing them that came out yesterday. and i think the chinese had a pretty good sense from the u.s. of where that was coming. as we get out ahead of it, not let their financial system be at risk. the essence of that order is if you do business with north korea, you're not going to do business with the united states or in dollars. to be able to clear transactions in the u.s. so the chinese have taken that part of it seriously. but i wouldn't kwroef estimate whether or not that particular kind of sanction is going to change kim jong-un's behavior. cutting off oil to north korea might. stopping shipping in north korea might. the banking system will certainly hurt him if he can't get access to it. but north korea is pretty good at abating sanctions and learned

how to operate on cash pretty well. >> and china is pretty good at saying one thing and doing another as well when north korea is involved. what do you make of this war of words, david, here? we had tillerson on tv this morning saying diplomacy is still our primary mechanism for changing north korea. and you have the president tweeting this morning kim jong-un is a madman who will be tested like never before. what kind of diplomacy is this? >> it is is not terribly diplomatic wording. what worries me about this, chris, until now, while kim jong-un has said a lot of wild things, he has not directly addressed the president of the united states. and certainly hasn't directly insulted him. but i think after seeing the speech and its suggestion that nerc tphoerbg could be destroyed. though the president did put some conditions on that statement. he's now gotten into this

directly with president trump. sit not in his character to back down. it is not in president trump's character to back down. we have heard from the foreign minister there might be an atmospheric nuclear test that you have to take quite seriously. north korean diplomats don't freelan freelance, chris. it is not a terribly healthy thing for them to do. we haven't seen an at mott severic test in 40 years. the chinese were the last to do one. been banned by the united states and the former soviet union as far back as 1963 because they are such an environmental risk. and risk to human health. and i think the u.s. would face some very, very hard questions if it had to decide whether or not to try to preempt such a test. >> so, chris, what's the response to all of this in washington? >> well, i think you wondered

last night when we heard the kim jong-un statement, okay, this was a moment. let's see what president trump did. his actions, when you call kim jong-un rocket man.

how much nastier can they be to one another rhetorically and is there a then what, does it just continue like this while the rex tillersons of the world seek diplomatic solutions and the sanctions they hope do the work? >> all good questions and all answered by collateral example with what's going on with the russian investigation. how petty can it get? how long can everybody cover him and look like fools. yesterday we had h.r. mcmaster, national security adviser to the president. and he said the questions about russian interference matter, that they have to be taken seriously, and that the

president agrees. let's play the sound just to remind everyone what he said yesterday. >> the questions about what they did, who might have helped them, and how to stop it, you believe those are all legitimate questions to look at? >> of course. and so does the president. he's been in different positions on that issue. why did i say that? because he's tweeting, the russia hoax continues. now it is ads on facebook. what about the totally bias and dishonest media coverage in favor of crooked hillary? the greatest influence of the election was the fake news media screaming for crooked hillary clinton. next. she was a bad candidate. chris, forget about embarrassing h.r. mcmaster, putting a person of integrity out there to give a message and then demeaning him immediately.

facebook said it clearly came from a russian troll farm. >> forget facebook. every intelligence agency we have had said, yes, we think the russia sought to influence the election to help donald trump and hurt hillary clinton. now, that's -- unless you think that every intelligence agency is somehow controlled by the media, which would be -- that's a really big story. >> facebook say it came from a russian troll farm. so they have to be added to the list. >> this is what's difficult here. there is no evidence that this russia investigation is a hoax. you can say it a million times. you can blame the media for it. there is no evidence there. is there evidence that donald trump or trump associates colluded with the russians? we to the floor that. he's conflating the two things. but there is no question. no one who knows anything about the story, who has followed the

story in any way, shape, or form, can reasonably conclude that this whole thing is a hoax. frankly, it matters because we're talking about a foreign power actively seeking to influence the election. whether they were successful or not is important but not the central point. that they did it, that this facebook shows how widespread it was, how advanced and innovative in terms of using social media it was, that's the point here. >> yeah. >> that he never, ever, ever gets. sorry, alyson. >> only because i think that's the bigger point we need to get to. >> yes! >> that is the president doesn't grasp or doesn't i guess -- >> like. >> -- believe or like the pernicious effect that russian troll farms had on the election by creating, yes, fake, the word that he uses, accounts. facebook now says is bigger than we thought. the scale is bigger. and people believed it.

we talked to voters all the time. they believed the fake news that they saw on facebook. and we know it had an effect on how they voted because they told us that. and that whole element, the president rejects. >> alyson, you're exactly right. he rejects it for a simple reason. he has a hard time the fact of the russians affecting the election and the outcome. we cannot prove and we will never be able to approve whether the russian influence had any vote on the end or any consequential effect. but in the president's mind, as many around him have said many times, he believes this entire thing is about delegitimizing his legislation. my own view, how hard could it be to say i know i was legitimately elected as

president. however, we can never tolerate a foreign power messing in our election. they have tried. here are the five things we're going to do starting with a commission that will look at what that was and how we prevent it in the 2018 and certainly the 2020 presidential election. it strikes me that would probably have gone a long way toward solving a lot of the problem months ago. >> it would make him look strong. where these tweets make him look weak. >> david's point is so essentially important. two things. you can hold these two ideas in your mind. yes, russia sought to actively affect the election. 509 important point, if the president of the united states calls the investigation into a foreign power trying to influence our elections a hoax over and of again, and we know from intelligence agencies that

they will, the russians, believe this was very successful and will continue to do so, then missed the potential threat coming in the future elections rather than addressing what happened in this past one. >> and how long do you keep a rex tillerson and h.r. mcmaster. if you keep embarrassing them where they go out and say things and the president makes them look like they didn't know what they were talking about. >> that's right. >> david, chris, thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. caribbean islands reeling from the destructive force of hurricane maria. a coalition of new york civic leaders joining forces to help victims. we'll talk with one of them, a congressman, next. stpha when heartburn hits, fight back fast with tums smoothies. it starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue. and neutralizes stomach acid at the source. ♪ tum -tum -tum -tum smoothies! only from tums

the puerto rico of yesterday is no longer there. i'm just concerned we may not get to everybody in time. that is a great weight on my shoulders. >> that is the mayor of san juan in a dire situation after hurricane maria. the island's governor said at least 13 people have now been killed. joining sus new york congressman adriano, a member of the new york delegation determined to give those communities a voice. congressman, thank you so much for being here. you have a large concentration of puerto rico-americans.

are they able to get in touch with their loved ones? >> many have not been able to get in touch with their loved ones. a sad situation on the island. but the puerto rican people have a lot of strength. i'm confident the island will come back up. >> my producer doesn't know this morning if all of her relatives survived. is there any such thing as a database? how are people in the continental u.s. able to figure out what's happening with their relatives? >> well, some through whatsapp, an application that some phones have. there have been some communications. for the most part people have not been able to get in touch with their loved ones because the electrical grid has been down and out. >> speaking of the electrical grid, it is without power indefinitely. we have heard some people say it will be a month. some say four to six months. how are people going to function without power? cell towers, running water,

clean water. how are they going to work? >> that's our task. and congressman velasquez has taken a leadership role as well as the city counsel speaker here in new york city in making sure we take emergency help immediately to puerto rico. that means emergency generators, tphop perishable goods. all the items that are usually important right after the storm. it is important we take the items that are needed right now, not two weeks from now but right now. >> let's talk about how congress is going to pay for this. puerto rico will need billions in federal assistance. what's congress prepared to do? >> it assessed that puerto rico will need $10 billion to come back up. we have approved for hurricane harvey $15 billion. and that was open-ended. the language was written in a way that it would also apply to hurricane irma. that's for houston and florida.

we felt that was not enough. it was estimated $180 million to rebuild texas and florida. so $10 billion for puerto rico, we have to go back, do our work, make sure the funding is there from fema, make sure the funding is there for the non-u.s. territory countries that were also hurt through the state department. and this is important, so important. we played a role traditionally to help out countries that have been down and out. this is the moment to help puerto rico. >> i can tell you these numbers are staggering. and congress never seems that willing to open its pocketbook. and so these numbers are just not -- it wasn't obviously in the budget. nobody knew what was going to happen to houston, florida, puerto rico. >> this is a matter of life and death. and we have to rebuild these communities. puerto rico is an island that has u.s. citizens. they are all u.s. citizens. they fought in our wars. >> it is is our commonwealth. >> we must step up right now and

bring the dollars necessary to puerto rico. hispanic federation hosted a series of meetings with leadership the last couple of days. we will be raising money. >> what pot do you take the money out of? >> there should be funding available for these types of emergency. for some time we have been worried that the administration has cut, for example, the state department which usually helps non-u.s. territories. fema has a cry for help saying they are running out of money. we found $15 billion. but that is not enough. we must go back and do our work. >> thank you so much for coming into our studio today. >> thank you, alyson. president trump jumping into the fray as an alabama senate race heats up. can he put his candidate over the top? he has an old friend going against him. we have a live report next. listen up, heart disease. you too, unnecessary er visits.

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president trump will headline tonight in alabama for senator strange. cnn's alex is live in montgomery, alabama with the latest. tell us what happened, alex? >> reporter: good morning, alyson. luther strange did not miss an opportunity in last night's debate to remind everyone that he is president trump's man in this race. sit an extraordinary move by president trump to weigh into a republican primary. it speaks to the high stakes for the party in this race and the deep divisions as well. it pits president trump against many of his own voters in his own core base of support. with the race in the final stretch, the candidates are bringing out the big guns. judge roy moore, who is thought to be in the lead, taking the stage alongside sarah palin. >> this is a very important

election. i don't know that other people realize that. but everybody in washington is watching this election. >> reporter: moore and his friends trying to define the choice in stark terms, the outsider or the swamp. >> this isn't a campaign. this is a movement. enough is enough. the status quo has got to go. >> reporter: that shot directed at moore's establishment backed opponent, luther strange, who is also supported by president trump, who has praised had his loyalty on twitter. >> the irony is that most of the voters who are supporting moore are trump supporters. you know, i don't think they're going to come off moore because trump says to. >> reporter: strange and moore faced off thursday night in a testy debate. the former alabama attorney general reminding voters time and time again that he is the president's man. >> because we have developed a close personal friendship. i supported him 100% of the time.

that's why the president endorsed me. he knows i have a record of defending the constitution. >> reporter: moore, in turn, blasted his lobbying but made clear he supports the president on core issues, like the wall, deporting d.r.e.a.m.ers and kicking transgender people out of the military. >> the problem is president trump has been cut off in his office. he's being redirected by people like mcconnell who do not support his agenda. >> reporter: senate majority leader mitch mcconnell knows moore could be a major headache. as chief justice of the alabama supreme court, moore was twice taken off the bench. first for refusing to remove the 10 commandments monuments he had installed in the building, and then suspended for refuse to go follow the supreme court ruling on same-sex marriage. he suggested that 9/11 happened because americans turned away from god.

and just this week was accused of racially in accepts active remarks saying now we have blacks and whites fighting, reds and yellows fighting. on thursday night, he repeated the line and defended himself. >> i was talking about the division in our society. black and white, red and yellow. they are so politically correct they have become politically stupid. >> reporter: tirade against political correctness the kind we have seen many times with president trump. the rally due to kick off tonight in huntsville, alabama, 8:00 p.m. eastern time. it will be followed monday by visit from vice president mike pence who will be campaigning with strange. the white house pulling out all the stops in this very tight race. chris? >> and you see the extreme right coming into play with steve bannon going against him, booking moore against the president's cancelled date luther strange. interesting political test afoot

alex, thank you very much. the gop's latest effort to repeal and replace obamacare may hinge on the senate parliamentarian. who? what? we have answers for you, next.

you. senate republicans are trying to pass graham/cassidy. it's a short cut for senate bills and replies to bills that impact the budget. the good news for republicans is it requires a simple majority. 51 votes. yes, all votes work that way but when there's a filibuster, that's when a party stalls to delay a vote, the current rule

provides 60 votes to break a filibuster. the dicey part is that while the gop holds the majority they have only 52 senators. that number winds up getting thin real fast. remember what happened last time? it was torpedoed by senator mccain thumb's down. the reason mccain killed the last bill is because it was not debated or analyzed or chewed on the way legislation is supposed to be. graham/cassidy may come before a committee. the homeland security committee. what does that have to do with the health care bill? nothing, except republican senator, ron johnson, is one of the authors of the bill and he chairs it, and he could bring it before the committee and members could say it became before a committee. see what i'm saying?

something as important as a bill that guts the health care bill. a minute and a half worth's of debate. technically it's an amendment to the previous republican health care bill which has already been debated. so just 90 seconds of debate will be required for graham/cassidy. meanwhile, if they don't get it done by september 30th they lose the reconciliation deadline, and that's why they are running to get it through so quickly because measures have to be passed by the end of the fiscal year, and the year ends on that date. the big question is, do they have the votes. we have somebody for you -- you may not know this person exists in our government, but they have a key role in exactly this

process. the senate parliamentarian. allen fruman spent 19 years in the office and joins us now. i have been looking forward to this segment the entire show. tell us why the parliamentarian matters in this situation? >> chris, thank you very much for having me on. the par lliamentarian matters because she's responsible for understanding the rules and the precedence and the variance nuances in the reconciliation process. she's the one that is the custodian of keeping the process focused on making discreet budgetary changes and she's the one that has to interpret the

bird rule and that is to keep comprehensive substantive proposals somewhat at bay, so that's why the parliamentarian matters. >> what's the muscle? the bird bath, i love that term. you could energy some things are not responsible, and the politicians can ignore it, can't they? >> the parliamentarian gives advice to the officer of the senate, and during my 35 years in the senate i can remember one instance where the officer did not take the parliamentarian's advice. they almost always do so. to not take the advice would be

to erode the procedure. >> what is the advice on one of the main -- one of the main qualifications for reconciliation of a cbo score? they are going to say we don't know the bill cbo scored, specifically. what will she say about that? >> she will wait for a cbo score. the whole part of the reconciliation is to bring about changes. the reconciliation process is really the enemy of comprehensive legislation. she needs a cbo score and be able to analyze every provision of everything that will be proposed on the senate floor. by the way, my understand something graham/cassidy will

get less than 90 seconds, that's way too much. a cbo score is critical. the cbo is a critical nonpartisan professional entity whose input is essential to the process. >> don't we have history barrelling at us like a punch in the nose, because they say we have to get a vote done because of the september 30th deadline, and they won't have a cbo score. >> congress is then asking these two entities to perform a super task in a limited timeframe. we are hoping cbo will be able to analyze as much as possible within the