ourselves in a manner that represents the best. and when we stoop to uncivil discourse, when we stoop to , we haves -- pettiness to remember that the entire world looks to us. they do. >> i am deeply concerned by our president, on many levels. , i think he think to not been helpful long-term relationships across the globe. you can read about that on a daily basis, long-term allies who question the support of the united states. the united we in states can go it alone. i don't think that's the case by any means. we have extraordinary power in but we needlves, partners around the globe to achieve the goals we seek. >> join us for our conversations with senator bob corker and congresswoman niki tsongas tonight at 8:00 eastern on

c-span and www.c-span.org, or listen with the free c-span radio app. >> the white house did not release a weekly address this week. new york representative nydia velazquez delivers the democratic weekly address. she talks about hurricane florence and hurricane relief efforts. rep. velasquez: hello. i am congresswoman nydia velazquez, and i represent new york's seventh congressional district. as our fellow americans in the carolinas face the devastation of hurricane florence, we are reminded that this week marks one year since maria made landfall in puerto rico, and when irma and maria devastated the virgin islands. ia cameto rico, mar ashore in my hometown as a category 4 storm with sustained winds over 150 miles per hour, ravaging bridges and roads and

destroying more than 87,000 385,000ith another seriously damaged. sical damages are expected to exceed $90 billion. the entire territory, all 3.4 million american citizens, lost power. thousands of businesses, hundreds of thousands of would not regain electricity for nine months, marking the longest blackout in american history. it will probably remain forever unknown, the exact number of puerto ricans who lost their lives from maria. earlier this month the government of puerto rico finally acknowledged maria killed nearly 3000 puerto ricans, after months of insisting the official death count was 64. s wouldmany of the live have been saved if the trump

administration had fully marshaled the resources of the federal government. sadly, that never happened. in fact, just last week donald trump shamefully tweeted comments calling into question the death toll in puerto rico, and belittling the suffering that occurred there. that is unacceptable. when disaster strikes, the president has a solemn responsibility to be the president for all americans, whether they live in texas, florida, or the territories like puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands. puerto ricans are american citizens. they serve in our military. blood in our wars. they have died for our freedoms. and yet in puerto rico's darkest hour, this administration failed them. the administration must be held accountable. so far, congressional republicans have failed to live up to their constitutional responsibility of exercising

oversight regarding the failures of the disaster response. instead, they are bending over backwards to protect the white house. we need answers. that is why i have authored legislation creating a 9/11 style commission to investigate the response to maria. i have called to introduce an act establishing better procedures for death toll after disaster strikes. one year after maria, the american people deserve to know what happened to their fellow citizens in puerto rico and the virgin islands, and as the hard road of recovery begins for the communities devastated by hurricane florence, we can only pray this administration has learned from their mistakes. we can never let what happened after maria happen again. thank you for watching. for all those in florence's

path, the safe. please know -- be safe. please know we are praying for you and will help you recover. god bless you. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. created in 1979 as a public service by america's cable-television companies, and today we continue to bring unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court and public policy of ends in washington, d.c. and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >> this week on "the communicators" we introduce you a executiven, director of the open markets institute. if you could give us a little history, what is the open market institute? and how did you get there? >> a sort of think