people to get loans. -- set up those for people to get loans. host: let's go to carrie in new york city. caller: good morning. i think in the wake of natural disaster response, when he could -- ourots of money disasters relief only if we care about people's lives [indiscernible] bad.t is not all of this money is from our people's tax and should be spent for our own country's people, and not to be spent in middle east. guest: i am not sure i followed all of the question. one thing that is important to

story got a lot of debate over is not whether we should spend money on disaster response, it is who should spend the money. should it be the federal government or the states taking care of it? the argument is if it is the more is responsible for and more disaster response, they will take steps to reduce the potential damage from disasters. talk aboutrock long stronger building close and better land use. states can do that kind of thing and they can say, we have this area just keeps getting destroyed by hurricanes and we are just not wanted -- not going to allow development anymore or stronger building codes, so people's houses do not get destroyed. that is the argument for putting states more in control of disaster responses so they can

affect the actual cost of disaster recovery, like taking this mitigation and prevention steps. host: there is likely to be a request coming after hurricane after thesome sort hurricane occurs, and i wanted to point out an article in the "florida phoenix." the actual money coming back for hurricane michael, it is taking forever for michael disaster aid to reach the florida panhandle. typically, how long does it take for fema aid to reach after the disaster happens, the money has been approved by fema, how long does the response to get the aid to the states? guest: decades. i am not kidding. it can take years. fema is not a fast food kind of agency. hurricane katrina which occurred is still considered an open disaster, meaning fema is still writing checks to

louisiana for the expenses they paid. it is a very, very long and cumbersome process that involves just a lot of bureaucratic accounting. it is just one of those things that takes a while. the thing is, in the case of michael, it is not that florida is not going to get paid. they are going to get paid, is just going to take longer than they might want. once fema says they are going to pay you, reimbursed 75% of your cost, they will do it, it just is a matter of making sure the numbers match up. host: you write, fema sends about one hundred emergency workers on average to disasters. to, rescuerything survivors, coordinate recovery, provide emergency food and shelter, and more. a lot of states do not have full-time disaster teams. you also write that fema says

that seven states are participating in the disaster management program created in 2001. what is that? tost: that was a program shift to the management of disasters from fema to the state. the states, we're going to give you a block of it, and we arege not going to go over every single line item, and you are going to be in charge of a lot of the response. as the story says, most states did not want to do that because they were perfectly happy with fema managing disasters. host: you also write in there that a senate hearing last year, a senator from massachusetts voiced a concern when she questioned then director and administrator long's wish to pull fema back from disasters and because a couple million dollars worth of damage.

quote, "in my state, that is a huge disaster." she was talking about snowfall. about snowfall. brock long pushed back on that. is there any agencies now making similar to pull fema back from smaller disasters? guest: this is the issue that you need in a permanent administrator in place. the answer is no, fema is not doing policy in a big way right now. that is where you have a permanent administrator and that is that person's role. in any department or agency, they are not going to be pushing major reforms. beyond pretty strong the record about wanting to do that. o assuming byard gets confirmed -- response,ral disaster

we welcome your comments at (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, and independents and others, (202) 748-8002. give us of the scale of the largest, biggest things that fema covers and the smallest type of disaster or national emergency response that they would respond to. thing theybiggest cover is hurricane katrina, hurricane harvey, r hurricane maria, the kind that just and has hundreds of billions of dollars of damage. or hurricane katrina in 2005. i wrote about, one where they gave the state of to pay for75,000 some police overtime after a fire in a county park.

just to give you the sort of low end, that is as low as it does. goes. it is a huge range. host: has there been a push and congress to set a dollar figure? guest: on occasion. you get some of the budget hawks and reformers that have occasionally pushed that, but it is a very hard thing to get through congress because congress likes to spend money. you are not going to get solid majority that says sure, senator sure, we don't need fema money when she just said they need fema money. host: let's get to lila from california. caller: hi, if i can recall right, during hurricane katrina,

it seems to me like i remember it was either blackwater or halliburton that went in and did clean up, and it showed on tv that i think they hired a lot of it seemspeople, and like i remember that people were very upset that more local people were hired or companies to come in and help in that situation, and i thought that was pretty disgraceful. i do not remember now if it was halliburton or blackwater. maybe you could just straighten me out on that situation. thank you. does not exister anymore, it was a security company, and halliburton was an oil services company, so i do not know if either of them would have been doing cleanup, but to your point, fema does have contracts with large service

companies that do cleanup. products,ome national and the reason that fema does that is that way you can get cleanup workers on the ground quickly. you don't have to hire someone because fema has already hired them. point --r makes a good should you give this money to local companies, and that is a give and take it, that is a push and pull. there are people saying exactly what the caller says which is higher the local companies and workers and and eight ideal world, that is which -- and in an ideal world, that is what you want to do, but you want people on the ground right away. you will get rodents in all sorts of problems if you leave debris on your streets. host: texas, ricardo. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. taking advantage of the public forum and to call here to

disperse things that might not be -- are you there? host: yes, you are on the air. caller: it is a public forum and for the public information, we need to know exactly how fema works and for example, outkwater, money that came of the mutual funds, and they deployed the money, but it is the people's money. fema, one of the bigger responsibilities -- and i have personal experience as i was a part of the deployment in houston for harvey -- it is to mitigate expenses for the insurance companies. they use third-party for many reasons. they get funded through their own security accounts, the deployment efforts that people do. thats to do with the fact

like the person said, quickly upscale, but also liabilities involved when people come in. adjusters were not able to see some of the houses. i helped a lot of people, and they all had the complaint that the adjusters would not come in, -- a lot ofmmended people were asking the insurance company to get a denial letter, which is a legal matter. they forgo their rights to the help they are going to get for the disaster. fema, they are mitigating teams, and they have two spend about $33,000 per person, and trying to disengage the insurance companies and the liability that they have because of the acceptance.

financial records, they are not the ones that pay. the ones that pay is the covenant that we have with the government, and the covenant that the insurance companies, all they do is collect the funds and to mitigate against the people who pay them to supposedly pay for disasters. or to minimize and put it in writing, minimize the rights they have from the federal government with the covenant that started with the new deal. so all of this stuff, you need to address this stuff. there is a wave of truth coming. and a bunch of liars -- i could go to any court, and make this liability case. guest: the caller makes a good point. fema covers uninsured damages. if your house was destroyed in a hurricane and you have insurance, fema is not going to

give you anything. if your city hall was destroyed in the hurricane and the city was insured, fema is not want to pay to reconstruct it. of lastthe reimburser resort and that is what you will hear fema say as often as they can, get insurance. or at least is should pay you a lot more than fema is going to pay you. the caller said, fema pays $33,000 -- that is about right, $34,000, which is nothing. hopefully if you have insurance, they will pay a lot more. if insurance companies are not paying for damages and just saying, we will deny your claim and go ahead and get your money from fema, that does not sound right and insurance companies ensure your property to pay for this kind of damage, it gets into some of the details of each individual policy. host: a couple of comments for

you on twitter, back to our conversation on snowfall. saw north if you ever carolinians drive on two inches of snow, you would know that 12 inches is a disaster. states use said that fema as their personal pocketbook. repeatedly getting burned or flooded, insist on strict building codes. u.s. borrowing is out of hand. john is calling in. go ahead. caller: good morning. look here. since we are in the age of hurricanes, why don't we treat all disasters militarily and at security risks? we have units that are sitting in all sorts of ports in the country and the world that could be activated in a disaster.

if it is a federal emergency, that is what should happen and i thought it would've happened in while theo because roads were impossible, we had -- across the u.s. we have units that are engineering. all the way to afghanistan and iraq. guest: can i interrupt? great point. you would be surprised to know that the federal department does respond to a live disasters. puerto rico. department including the army corps of engineers, did exactly what you are talking about. department -- fema has the authority under federal law to order any federal department or agency to undertake a disaster related response to help recovery. fema does that all the time.

they did that especially like they have never done it before, in puerto rico, probably because it is an island, and they needed the airpower of the u.s. military so it is a valid point. fema has been doing it for several decades at least. they do it all the time. they did it today, they did it yesterday, they are activating military, epa, the department of health and humid services -- health and human services. host: how often do you get out and into the field to watch what they are covering? guest: not often enough. very, very rarely. host: pete in new hampshire, democrat line. caller: good morning. what we need to do is up to the building codes by region -- up

the building codes by region across the country. here in new hampshire, we have had major flooding. it all goes back to the state. maggie hassan was responsible for part of this issue and other administration, governors and the state -- in the state. they will not give money out to the new hampshire dot to maintain the ditches and keep the waterways open. ,hey spoonfeed the money to dot and i know this for a fact is i have friends of mine that work and the dot and they tell me this. this has been a lot of the problems. we are concerned in new hampshire about a high-speed commuter rail service between manchester and boston that they want to propose, that they are now proposing instead of maintaining, and repairing the infrastructure. good: yeah, he has a point. there is so much that states and

counties and minister polities could do. the example of not -- and municipalities could do. the example of simple things that states and localities could do to reduce their exposure to damage. i think he makes a fair point, there is not a lot of in digging ditches like there is an building high-speed rail from manchester to boston. host: one more call, rick from south carolina. caller: this is rick. a little conspiracy theory here. 's -- hurricane sandy, fema announced they had no money. all the sudden, about 12,000 ounty, myrtle beach, cherry beach road, people who tore his tear know the area -- tourist here know the area. plainre considered a flood

about 10,000 houses. we were target rich environment that paid for a surveyor to come. he said we were five feet above flood. they had to come back, fema, and survey.veyors to re they used old maps before development was built, so i feel it was used to pay for sandy. guest: i'm not sure i follow the question. he is correct. there was no money, fema had no .oney when sandy hit fema disperses money from what is called the disaster relief fund which is a fund that sits there and collects money, and fema writes checks. the fund goes up and down depending on when congress puts in money and when fema spends it. and it just so happens that

sandy hit at a time when the disaster fund was very low. you get hit with a big home repair bill when your own banking account is very low. appropriate have to $8 billion in emergency, which is something that congress does all the time. justthe fund gets low, it antes up more money and it will probably happen again with dorian. host: you said one of the biggest challenges is that they have an acting administrator now, peter gaynor, and the nominee in the pipeline since february. any indication that the senate would take that up before the end of the year? guest: i could not imagine that it would. it is nothing to jeff byard. there are dozens and dozens of andnees for judgeships commissions that have been in the pipeline for months and months. i do not see any reason why the

, there is no controversy, and it is just a matter of getting it on the calendar and getting it through. said on the, you headline, why did the u.s. disaster agency is not ready for catastrophes. thomas frank, our guest. we thank you for being here. guest: thank you for having me. host: up next, we will continue getting your thoughts on disaster response and ask you how prepared you are for natural disasters. here are the lines, (202) 748-8000 for eastern and central firmzones, (202) 748-8001 mountain and pacific time zones. back with your calls in just a moment. ♪ campaign 2020n's

coverage of the democratic candidates at the new hampshire democratic party convention. live coverage is saturday at 9:00 a.m. eastern on c-span, c-span.org, or listen with the free c-span radio app. thisis is the story of how whole new economy was built and how -- and i am always really interested, ever since i was working in washington, in how business and government interact with one another. antagonistic relationship, but also collaborative relationship. the story of american history is public-private partnership in many ways. sometimes unseen. this story is a great way to get into that. >> university of washington history professor margaret o'mara discusses her book "the code." sunday night at 8:00 eastern on

c-span's q&a >>. >> washington journal continues. host: up until 10:00 this morning, and anticipation for hurricane dorian, asking you how prepared you are for natural disasters. east coast and central time zones, (202) 748-8000, and mountain and pacific, (202) 748-8001. we welcome your comments on facebook and @cspanwj on twitter. we are joined on the phone by the deputy administrator for female. joining us -- for fema. idea ofus, give us an the extent of fema's presence on the southeast coast today. guest: thank you for having me and i appreciate the opportunity to make sure that all americans understand that they need to be prepared for the risks they

face. on risks we are facing today the southeast united states is hurricane dorian and it remains a significant storm and one is quite damage or -- quite dangerous along the coast. fema has pre-positioned assets including personnel, equipment, response teams, and anything that might be needed in the eight aftermath of the storm. that includes food and water and other commodities. honestly, this is a partnership and it requires individuals and communities to be prepared. host: it sounds like you have to be prepared for a lot because of the uncertainty of the tractor just a range of states and locales with not only fema come about the response agencies have to be prepared for, and not just wind, baha'i water -- but high water as well. guest: that is correct. when the storm comes near the

resources,shifting shifting personnel throughout the southeastern united states. ,hat does present a challenge but for better or for worse, this storm is moving slow, so it is giving us time to shift those resources. host: when you saw what happened in the bahamas in the abaco islands, and some 13,000 homes destroyed in the bahamas, reports from the red cross say that, that must have been a wake up call. guest: yeah, absolutely devastating impact to the bahamas and our thoughts go out to those impacted by hurricane dorian. andhas moved across frankly, very slowly across the bahamas. serve as a wake-up call to everyone about frankly, the devastating consequences natural disasters can cause. it is certainly wait-and-see mode about what kinds of consequences will figure in the united states, but absolutely a

wake-up call. host: as the storm moves through for those who are impacted by are them, what and who first point of contact for ?isaster relief through guest: fema. guest:hope the individuals -- what and who are the first points of contact for disaster relief through fema? fort: fema is there supplemental assistance. the governors are responsible for disaster response in their state, and we provide the supplemental assistance, so really at all levels, local governments need to be prepared, and we as the federal government. as the storm passes through and if there are declarations, we would call for individual assistance provided to

individuals. we would make that available to the individuals in the impact area. both on our website as well as through our 800 numbers provided after the disaster, that is how individuals would apply for aid, but only after the storm hits and after individual assistance is approved by the president in designated counties. --t: in your role as this as deputy administrator, what is your primary responsibility in the ongoing storm? guest: i have two storms. theof them is all of predisaster programs, so during a steady state, my focus is making sure that americans are prepared and governments are prepared for the risks that are faced. it includes all of our preparedness programs, it includes mitigation and how we can invest in hardening infrastructure prior to

disaster, and that includes insurance. every american should have insurance, and specific insurance for perils like flood which are not covered by your homeowner's policy. a disaster, i support the administrator in whatever he may need and in his absence, making sure that we have an effective response here at headquarters. , deputyniel kaniewski administrator for fema. thank you for joining us. guest: thank you for having me. host: all never. this note -- on that preparedness note, that is our last question for you. how prepared are you for a natural disaster? for eastern time zones, (202) 748-8002 --(202) 748-8000. and mountain time zones and central, (202) 748-8001. fema is, and i was on

the ground floor in deployment. it up scales quickly and they respond, and they try to help. little caveat, a and the caveat is for example, before, it did not get cleared out, insurance companies -- will go to brentwood, california. jonathan. caller: hello, can you hear me? host: we can. to believeould like that alertness should be done through intelligence agencies, local police, and in cooperation with locals. it must be very important for the people in tragedy to find that they can find people that they can trust and confide in. whether that be their family, a coworker, or someone who is

faced in a tragedy. hello? host: go ahead. caller: be very careful of crazy people because they will pretty much ransack your house. are you forepared natural disasters? jean is in texas. caller: good morning. i commend fema and they have a task that is almost impossible. when i went through harvey, i had four feet of water in my house and as a 75-year-old fixed income person, they generously gave me $9,000 to fix my house. i had a lot of help and volunteers. i have black mold and my health is going down, but i found another agency that said they would come and fix all of that,

so there are resources. i did not have flood insurance before but i have flood insurance. host: who is the other agency coming in? guest: it is -- caller: it is called orange disaster relief. it is probably a state approved -- state thing. wonder will its turn. hurricane dorian chewed its way across grand bahama killing at least five people, and forecasters warned they will move dangerously close to the east coast soon. millions of people under mandatory evacuation orders all the way to north carolina. in miami beach, this is thomas. hi, i just wanted to say i've been living in what people call paradise are about 25 years. i am originally from north carolina.

i would say a tip for the wealthy people, most people are not prepared to take care of the storms. it is too expensive and we have tomb and people trying to live in paradises who really cannot afford it. it is like my family back in piedmont, north carolina. they don't get blue skies, palm trees, and oceans year-round, not expect do their tax dollars to pay for whatever happens here. the same for the islands, it is not fair of someone in indiana has to pony up money every year out of their taxes to take care of -- it is irresponsible living, i think. has: your view is that it gotten more expensive because of more people in the miami area because of more housing and roads? caller: oh, yeah. most people can't afford to live here. it has become a fortune year.

here.- fortune and the amount of fraud, when irma came through, every young i knew was filling out paperwork, trying to get that fema money, whether it is $500, or $1000. there is in a norm is amount of fraud on the people's part. talk to an insurance adjuster and listen to the stories and the stuff they see. host: do you think a lot of people got that money when filling out those applications fraudulently? guest: yeah, absolutely. -- caller: yeah, absolutely. it is pretty easy. it was not katrina, maybe wilma. everyone i knew, including myself, got a free generator and chainsaw. we got credit up to $900 to spend.

host: you got that credit? guest: yeah -- caller: yeah, you had to go out and purchase it, and submit receipts, and it took about six weeks. i think they do an incredible thing. i think a lot of people are enjoying paradise, and they won't get to enjoy it for free. that is the truth at the end of the day. people have to take more responsibility. morning,er news this front page of "the new york times", north koreans bolster arsenal as tests persist. as north korea fired off a , presidentissiles trump has repeatedly dismissed their importance as short and very standard tests, and although he has conceded that there may be oneida nations violations, the president says the concerns are overblown. mr. trump explained recently,

just like testing missiles. now they write that american intelligence officials and outside experts have come to a different conclusion. the launchings that mr. trump played down have allowed mr. kim to test missiles with greater range and maneuverability that could overwhelm american defenses in the region. says's defense minister the irregularities were more evidence of a designed to defeat japan systems. in go next to mara massachusetts. caller: yes. the calling to speak about and the amount of rain this hurricane is going to be bringing. maria, there was and 15 totorm surge

19 inches of rain. --n this it the carolinas , there were 10as million hogs that were killed, and 5 million chickens. these farms, if they are still there, is any body doing anything to move our protector these animals? they still might be in the same areas in the carolinas, and the storm surge is going to cause the same amount of flooding. host: we are from debra next in highlands, new jersey. caller: hi. -- reason i am following calling is i may have a difference of opinion from some of the callers. i am a little unusual. i see our problem as one of lack

of planning. problemsle list of that this country has. and the globe has regarding climate change. if you believe in it or not, even those that don't believe in it have no choice but to recognize the reality of what is occurring. , would like a national plan and i realize that is nearly impossible in our current political environment and our economy. , would like a national plan people to start thinking about in government, and national plan for retreat, from extreme repeatedly vulnerable disaster areas due to climate change. that so you are saying people like that guy from miami beach calling saying that to me people living down there that should not be there -- how would that plan be impacted, how would

you get people to move? caller: it is so extreme and upsetting. ok? for people to deal with, for anybody to deal with. unless we ass that a country recognize the situation that we are in, and start making plans for the who live in --le i am one of them, ok [laughter] the retreat of people from are livingareas, we in denial of reality. host: you are calling us from a place called highlands, new jersey. are you closer to the coast than the town's name would indicate? caller: yes, there is a floodplain area to the town. the name of the town is a misnomer. [laughter] caller: we are next to a hill. half the town is in a hell and

half the town is in a floodplain. host: we will go to florida and hear from chris in palm harbor. caller: hey, i get to follow the wacko, thatnge is great. i am on the west coast of florida. i can tell you that every government agency, every school has been closed. this hurricane is not even close to touching us, and they closed them last week. they said they would close them last week because, and even when there was not a trajectory that it was going to come close to us, but any excuse to just go ahead and hey, we get a free day off, and it is a waste of government and that is ridiculous. over 40n in florida for years, i have gone through numerous hurricanes, and every time, it is gloom and doom, and at the drop of a hat, let's close things down.

wait, we have to pay these people. if the government was run like a business, it would be out of business, but it does not matter, because i'm the one paying for it. hey, it is all good. host: gary in newport, kentucky. how prepared for disasters are you? caller: i am not really in a disaster area right now, it is mainly tornadoes out here, but i used to go deep sea sitting out in the cape, and they are at ground zero right now. i would like to give a shout out organization called matthew 25 ministries and it is a good place to donate to if you would like to see money well spent. and do a lot for people they are always in the ground running when they the a disaster, so thank you. host: is that a cross the country, responding to disasters across the country? caller: i believe they do.

they respond to just about anything that goes on big or small, so they have done quite a lot. -- one thing they really need is prescription bottles. if you have something empty, just clean it out. host: remind us of the name of the group again? caller: it is called matthew 25 ministries. host: gary in kentucky, i that. the pages of "the washington they write that the taliban claimed responsibility for a large explosion in the afghan capital monday night just hours after president trump's envoy briefed the afghan government on a u.s. agreement in principle with the insurgent group that would see 5000 american troops leave the country in five months.

the timing pointed up the deep divisions and uncertainties that face washington and kabul. r. trump seeks a way to fulfilld his promise -- his promise. we go to louisiana, robert. caller: i raised my home up 12 1500 people died in new orleans. .5% of them drowned or more you never hear these politicians talk about life preserver's. walmart, andne at everyone should have one in their home for ever member of their family. when the water comes up, you need a life jacket, and you need a hatchet. i can't swing and -- swing an ax anymore.

the water around your house, you have flotation. you need flotation. you don't need a boat to have flotation. that is all i have to say. politicians need to speak up. these brochures need to mention in the survival kits, a life jacket. host: appreciate that, robert in louisiana. this tweet says, callers who say things like why should people in indiana pay for hurricane damage in florida infuriate me. the answer is because people in florida pay for crop insurance that happens in indiana. united we stand, divided we fall. linda in california. is the storm -- linda and castle, florida. is the storm going to affect you? caller: i am not quite sure. i am 40 miles off of daytona. host: are you ready for it?

caller: of course. every year. in 2003,our house , extra pour.k we do not have hurricane windows yet because they are very expensive, however, we have a generator. i do have a metal roof. we have our trees trimmed every couple of years, and it is pretty good. airll not have conditioning, but we will suffer through. host: sounds like you have got everything else covered. caller: we have been through this dance before, every couple -- every few years the last one, irma, was a little rough. i was without power for about two weeks.

worst part was cable. i could not see you. host: for us, that is the worst part. we hope you stay safe. caller: thank you. i agree. i want to say i agree with the gentleman in miami and the woman from -- that guy called her a -- from north carolina. we are overbuilding the coast. we have overbilled everything here in florida. they will not stop building until everything is pavement. there is no place for the water to go. the gentleman said like preservers. we have life preservers. host: we are going to let you go. stay safe. appreciate the call. appreciate all your calls this

morning. thank you for joining us on washington journal. we are back tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. eastern. hope you are too. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] today whenus later supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg delivers remarks in little rock, arkansas. this is part of a special lecture series hosted by the clinton foundation and the clintons will public service. live coverage starts today at 7:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. featuringwe have been book tv programs showcasing what is available every weekend on c-span2.

tonight, the theme is best sellers. authors include melinda gates, who discusses her work with women around the world. you can see that tonight on .-span two we have also been showing you american history tv programs as a preview of what is available every weekend on c-span3. tonight, the cold war. speakers include francis gary powers junior, whose father's plane was shot down by the soviet union. ater, edward merrow nominates -- narrates a film. watch tonight starting at 8:00 eastern on c-span3 and enjoy american history tv every weekend also on c-span3. last week, queen elizabeth agreed to suspend parliament for five weeks in response to a request from a new british prime minister boris johnson.

the prime minister asked for the suspension as the u.k. continues to work out a brexit deal. members of parliament will have questions about that suspension and the way forward on brexit during prime minister's question time. you can see it live tomorrow starting at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span two. ♪ >> campaign 2020. watch our live coverage of the presidential candidates on the campaign trail and make up your own mind. campaign 2020, your unfiltered view of politics. remarks now from independent senator bernie sanders, who is running for the democratic presidential nomination. he regionally held a town hall meeting in raymond, new hampshire. during his remarks, he focused on economic inequality. afterwards, he opened up the event to questions and greeted many attendees. this is almost 90 minutes.