♪ >> c-span as a public service along with these other television providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. from government executive to talk about the response to hurricanes. for people who are not familiar with government executive what is it? guest: we cover the federal agencies and the workforce. host: one is the actions of fema. can you remind viewers the role

fema has at this point as we have hurricanes bearing down on the united states. guest: what fema is doing now is pre-positioning supplies, getting people and materials ready. they are bracing in florida and alabama so they can deploy quickly. that includes things like dry foods, water, generators, things like that. they have thousands and thousands of reservist to deploy and are activated anytime there is an emergency situation and they help people on the ground. they give them good, shelter, water, power individually, help people through the long-term recovery with financial assistance and flood insurance and things like that. in the immediate term, they focus on the acute needs and

make sure they are fed and have shelter. host: how much coordination do they have with state and local governments and how much of a role do they take when they take the lead in these events? guest: they have relationships and emergency responders that the state and local level with governors and things like that. generally, in puerto rico they are taking a support role, they want the local people in charge. they coordinate the federal response, there are lots of agencies that play a part. fema is the one that takes charge. host: when it comes to money, how much does fema have to's end on these events on the broadside? guest: it can be billions of dollars per event. in 2017, when we saw three major hurricanes in a row, congress

had to keep appropriating more emergency funds. tens of billions of dollars they had to appropriate. generally, there is a reserve fund that they can tap into when they need it but occasionally, congress gives them more money when it is really serious. host: you brought up puerto rico, in light of hurricane maria, their power grid and flooding and the like, what did we learn this time around with hurricane fiona with what happened to the island in the response of fema to that? guest: fema officials have said they were much better positioned this time in part because they had people there already that were working on the response. it is been five years since that happened but they are still just starting to rebuild right now.

the advantage that they had, people could pivot to this response. so, they knew how to get those people in the right position quickly and they also had better relationships with people on the ground there and they had more materials prepared and. when maria hit they only had two warehouses of food and now they have five. they knew they were underprepared last time. they were able to send out way more employees, but there were already 700 fema employees that lived and worked there full-time. that gave them a leg up to respond quickly. host: if they are there full time outside of a disaster situation, what are they doing in the meantime in their

day-to-day roles? guest: trying to get the benefits out to the people who were affected by maria. unfortunately, that was most of the island. it took a long time and several years to get the dollars that were appropriated, dispersed throughout the island. there was some controversy to why that was. they are now trying to rebuild. obviously, puerto rico has taken a lot of heat for the state of their grid, their electric supply. they were just starting to get underway of a more permanent project to improve the situation when fiona hit so that was a major setback. those employees that were there

were working on those issues. trying to get the island better position so that they could sustain another disaster without the same sort of catastrophic impact that maria had. unfortunately, that work was not finished yet. so they are still dealing with a crisis situation. host: eric katz our guest from government executive if you want to ask about hurricane relief. it is (202) 748-8000 for eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8001 for mountain and pacific time zones and (202) 748-8002 for elsewhere. if you want to texas you can text us at (202) 748-8003. you talk about that money going to puerto rico. how much was slated to the commonwealth and how much made it there? guest: there were tens of billions of dollars that was

slated to go. only about a third of that actually made it there in the big chunk of that was at the end of the trump administration. it took a few years to get out there. some of that has been obligated but not necessarily spent. some of the projects were slow to get off the ground. so, there is a lot of money available and one thing that has come up in the emergency response previously, authorization to repair things as they were before the disaster. this time, they got money to make things better and rebuild in a way that was more sustainable and could allow the island to grow and sustain

damage and away that would not knock out the whole system like we saw in maria. unfortunately, that work was not completed yet. there has been a complete shutdown in this case. although, they are slowly restoring power over the last few days. host: majority leader chuck schumer held a press conference talking about these events. one of the things he did talk about was money going to the island. he brought up some concerns and we will get your response. [video clip] >> we were able to deliver $21 billion, $21 billion to our fellow citizens in puerto rico. to deal with housing, health care, water and half of it went to power. $12 billion, this is not a lack

of money. let me say this, listen to this, according to gao only 2% of the money has been spent. 2%, when the island was already devastated by maria and laid open to even more devastation by fiona. is that outrageous? while in large part that was due to the trump administration's callousness, and action and intransigence, it is also because of ongoing conflict for which resources should power the island. half of that funding, more than half to rebuild the grid devastated by maria. while fema is working hard to support that effort, the ongoing conflict between the energy bureaus has stronghold it those

efforts. instead of getting power to the people and making a resilient grid and locally based grid, they are busy fighting with each other. it is outrageous. host: let's start about that fighting between the federal government and local authorities. what is the senator referring to? guest: after maria, when they were trying to find the best way to rebuild the grid. a private contractor was brought on to help those efforts. the existing power authority has a role to play in this new private entity has a role to play. chuck schumer is referring to the clash there in terms of who is in charge of what and how do they allocate the dollars properly and dealing with the puerto rican government on top of that has made it more

complicated than intended when they sent these dollars or appropriated these dollars for that cause. host: the senator highlighted actions of the previous administration is the cause, can you elaborate? guest: the previous administration took criticism for being slow to respond when the storm first hit. there were storms happening elsewhere in the country, texas at the time. there was some criticism that they let puerto rico hang in the balance for a while. and they were slow getting those dollars out the door. there was criticism for that. host: let's hear from jamaal in atlanta, georgia for our guest

eric katz. caller: two questions, who makes the decision on what to spend money on? who makes the decision on whether to rebuild or relocate people who are affected by these things, natural disasters? if you look at louisiana and you have people who have been impacted, what is the point of rebuilding rather than relocating? who makes those decisions? host: jamaal there, thank you jamaal. guest: in terms of where the dollars go, fema works on that with local entities and they

also solicit information from the people impacted so they can give them financial assistance and disaster relief grants or small business loans to help them. and of course, there are other elements in the government to help with that. in order of the decision to rebuild or relocate, that is up to the individual. they received assistance for rebuilding or repairs as part of that, it's a complicated process. especially if fema is taking too long or too cumbersome for the individual. obviously, every individual has to weigh that cost/benefit. they could go through this all again in certain areas, you have to get flood insurance.

that is something every individual has to weigh. but the federal government isn't going to forcibly relocate you. host: again it is (202) 748-8000 for the eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8001 for the mountain and pacific time zones. why is the federal government not dealing with the puerto rican government directly? why are there groups in between? guest: think of how you get your power at home, there is a third party to get power in your home. there's this other entity hired by the utility and all of that has created a complicated structure and they all work in coordination. i don't want to suggest that it is every man for themselves down there with these entities. in terms of getting the dollars were they need to go and what

projects need to be prioritized, it has slowed us down a bit. host: as far as the concerns about the government itself? are they meeting in washington dc or in puerto rico? how much of that is being coordinated there and here? guest: fema tries to be forward, on the ground to coordinate these efforts. they have coordinators for each disaster they respond to. a fema employee that as well experience and other agencies will report to them. they handle interactions with the local government and figure out the best path forward for whatever accounts they have to tackle. they really do try the local decision-makers lead the charge.

host: this is louis from pennsylvania. good morning. caller: hello, how are you guys? host: you are on with our guest. caller: the natural reserve, the gas, what happens if florida needs that? will we be impacted, will the price go back up? that is my question. host: you are asking about gasoline prices in light of hurricane disasters? caller: yes sir, that's it. host: that's louis from pennsylvania, what he think of that? guest: we saw in 2017, and taxes when the oil refineries got hit. we were impacted by the hurricanes and it had a trickle-down impact on gas prices. in this case, obviously, a lot

of the reserve which the caller mentioned was dispersed to deal with high gas prices. there is still reserve, i don't think we are at a risk of a critical gas supply situation because of the hurricanes. as far as i know, they are not on the path to affect that infrastructure. host: so, how did it perform? guest: the entire island had a power outage in the immediate aftermath. speaking of gasoline, there was a run on that for generators to try to get their power back on in the interim. that cause a gasoline shortage there.

the power is coming back more quickly than last time. there was a full week after maria when the island was without power. i think about two thirds of the customers have had their power restored. about half a million witches and extremely large number without power. they are working to repair that and every day has been going down but they are not there yet. host: was the power grid repair to pre-maria standards or improved? guest: the goal was to improve. they are not there yet. the pre-maria grid, everyone was in agreement that was not a good situation and they had a lot of work to do. they were trying to rebuild it in a way that would be more durable and more sustainable. you heard senator schumer talk about that.

the money that was allocated for that has not been spent. the majority of it has not been spent yet. the bickering over who is in charge, how to find the right projects, it is slow going. part of that was the money getting there later. it was slow going, but we can hope that after this, they can restart those projects they were working on to make a more resilient grid. host: this is dave from lynchburg, virginia. caller: this is such a perfect snapshot at the federal government at work. one of our representatives give

the money and then figure out what we will do. we throw money at every problem and then try to figure out what to do. there is so much waste. it goes into the process of trying to figure out how to help anyone at government's expense. why don't they use their money when i do when i put in a requisition to spend money. i think about it, i scrutinize it. i ring my hand so i don't spend too much of the company's money. why don't we do that for the sake of our grandchildren? what is the current debt load right now? or-year-olds into-year-olds, how much do they owe right now based on what our government has been up until now? host: that was dave there in lynchburg. guest: the government, there is oversight of the spending.

there is a government accountability office looking into it. so far, the problem has not been wasteful spending as much as being able to identify the projects to spend the money on. there has been some allegations of some fraud. generally that happens, there's a push to get the money out as quickly as possible. you want to do that without burdening the individuals or small businesses too much. sometimes i can lead to a lack of oversight. there are functions a place to prevent that. in the case of puerto rico, like we were talking about, a lot of the money has not even been spent yet but they do have oversight in place to make sure that doesn't get carried away.

in terms of just throwing money at the problem, things were broken, things were flooded, these wins came in and caused damage that needed to be rebuilt. you need to confront that problem with some funding. host: from twitter, the question of electric and phone lines being above ground. would it make sense to put underground cables in? guest: that is one of the things they may be looking at. i am not an expert and structure utilities. the grid there was antiquated and patchwork and not designed with a lot of potentiality and how to make it resilient to the storms that they are vulnerable to.

there is definitely a lot more thought going into how do we build this back in away that makes more sense and we will be able to sustain this type of damage without having a catastrophic event. people who are smarter than beer making those decisions. host: they asked about disaster of disaster in southern new york. people end up with new vacation homes, why does that continue without the building of infrastructure? let's go back to the oversight. we are putting these funds out there, what kind of oversight comes after the money is dispersed? guest: there is oversight and terms of fema, they have layers in place. there is a process for that. you have to go through certain steps.

dhs has its own inspector general that constantly evaluates every disaster and how to make things better and they deploy immediately to help that process. gao is the government wide and they have a role to play in this. give advice on how to do things more efficiently and how to identify fraud of prevent that from happening. host: we will see congress back in session before they go on break for campaigning. do you get a sense that puerto rico will be on the agenda? guest: we have heard requests from representatives already. they asked the federal government take on 100% of the rebuilding cost. right now, it is at about 75%.

they want the federal government to for all of it. we are coming up on the deadline and the biden administration has requested 6 billion dollars for emergency relief that is attached to the spending bill to keep those agencies funded. there is some wishy-washy about whether that will be included. republicans of said we don't need that or we can use leftover covid funds for that. maybe now with the way these hurricanes have made landfall, there could be a little more of an appetite to provide those funds. host: one more call from ed, in new york. caller: good morning, quick

question. i wanted to ask you a couple of questions. one for myself, i had a fema problem 12 years ago when that big storm came through new york. they were supposed to inspect my home that was destroyed by a local creek that ruined my house. i don't live in it. they were going to send a guy to give me an estimate and he calls me back the day before he shows saying that because it is not your primary residence, i was ineligible. all the rental homes on the jersey shore that were affected, how come those homes who are not lived in by the owners but rented out for summer vacation and they are covered? ok fine, good question. the other thing about puerto rico, i had three friends of mine on the island during that

one big storm that devastated puerto rico. the power grid is inadequate. there were wires out of the hills that look like car speaker wires. the hangers that they stored airplanes in were full of food, diapers, everything for the people. the government of puerto rico was making sure that their friends were getting the stuff first before the people who really needed it. number three, a friend of mine that worked there, he said there was so much crap going on with the government taking the goods. he sought for himself in the airport on the island. guest: the government has taken some criticism for the way that it responded to maria. in addition to the federal

government and how it is taken the money that the federal government has appropriated for it and what it has done without money. we talked about how there is little to show in terms of long-term improvements for the grid and the ability for puerto rico to sustain the type of disaster they went through with maria and we are seeing that now after fiona. there just has not been sufficient improvement and the citizens are feeling that. generally, there is blame to go around and there is still money sitting there that can be spent. there is still hope that things can eventually get better the next time a storm comes through,

we will not have such a devastating impact. host: the work of our guests could be "washington journal," continues. host: if you want to participate and open forum and you want to text you can do that at (202) 748-8003. you can post on various things at http://twitter.com/cspanwj and facebook at facebook.com/cspan. politico reporting that the president is set to travel to the demilitarized zone near korea to meet with service members and receive an operational briefing from u.s. commanders. it aims to reaffirm the united states alliance with south korea , according to the white house. the visit to the dmz will

be a symbolic effort. we are working with you and south korea. again, we will show you some more news as we go throughout the 45 minutes. it is open forum, the lines to call or text. let's start with josh on the democrat line. caller: good morning pedro. i just wanted to point out to the american people that there is the internet and a thing called google. stop listening to fox

>> good morning, thank you for taking my call, more of an observation then a question. i think our generation, i am a

50-year-old man, our kids generation will have to realize what is taking place now is a function of the plurality of ideas that did not exist in the 40's. there were not that many spigots of information that could allow any tom, dig, harry to gather thousands of listeners. there was a vetting process of how we got it, people were, a few generations ago, before they could get a bigger microphone than their local town square, we have gone cuckoo for cocoa puffs. there are people who feel validated with their ignorance because they hear it from a news

source or from an information source. just because it is on the intra-webs they think it is legitimate. we need a paradigm shift in this country, to understand just because you saw it, heard it on the internet does not make itself. >> let's hear from ken, arkansas, independent line. guest: good morning. given donald trump and the crazies that are running the gop , i think we have a good candidate in lisa hutchinson, he is governor of arkansas. he is not crazy he is measured. he seems to be a good christian and a good law person. the state is always in a good shape.

i heard he might be running as a candidate for president, i think it would make a very good president, thank you very much. >> a couple things to let you know as far as the networks are concerned today, things might be interested in watching today, 2:00 this afternoon the heritage foundation offers what they are looking at and calling supreme court preview term. to former u.s. solicitor generals, will look at the upcoming october supreme court term, you can see that 2:00 eastern on c-span, watch on our mobile app c-span now if you want to watch it there, 4:00 on the senate side the rules committee will markup the electoral account reform bill, to reform the electoral account act, so that each state reflects their vote for president. you can see that on c-span now,

for the website, later on this evening, an interview at the economic club will feature the white house economic council director, will join the club to talk about president biden's economic agenda, inflation, the goebel economy as well. our main network -- global economy as well. our main network is where you can see that. you can go to the store we download things from and download their coming can do that there. scott, illinois, republican line. go ahead. >> can you hear me? >> you are on. >> can you hear me? yes, pedro, nice tie you have on today. three points i want to make your today, here in eleanor in the last two days they raised the gas price $.50 a gallon. i would like to know what is

going on. it cannot be the hurricane because it is not to the far left. the democrats are screaming about how ukrainians are taking advance on russia, i have a secret, russia is lining up to come back in. thirdly, before biden exits china will take taiwan. i appreciate anyone else calling in get their feedback. >> trent, alabama, is next democrats line. >> how are you doing this morning? >> fine, go ahead. >> i have a question to the panelist earlier. do you think donald trump has a chance of winning the next election? if he does, what do you think the conditions of america shall be after that? can i get an answer from that? >> we have no guests, it is just

me come again tell me why you're asking the question? >> i think donald trump did a good bit for the country when he was in there, he did cause that insurrection, i think they might put him in jail or prison, if the 16 committee finds him guilty. he says once he gets back in there he will pardon all the people -- you know took place insurrection on the capitol building, they had to call in the national guard just so president biden could get inaugurated. i am just concerned about everyday life, will it effect us economically? just prices skyrocket, food prices skyrocket. how are we meant to raise our children in the near future? that is all i'm concerned about. >> trent, in alabama, we will go

for another half-hour, democrats host: --(202) 748-8000 and republicans (202) 748-8001. one of the things congress has to do is to pass legislation to keep the federal government running and funded come here to talk about that and all the related topics is savannah, a senate correspondent joining as via zoom, think you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> can you tell us the next step when it comes the process of keeping the government funded? >> absolute, at step is coming today this evening. the senate will have to vote to begin the continuing resolution that is a funding bill level temporarily fund the government until mid-september. congress has to do this by friday to avoid a government shutdown. it is not anything either side

of the aisle wants, especially six. weeks away from the election, this vote will be key about what olds for the rest of the week, senate majority leader chuck schumer faces likely resistance on attaching a permitting reform provision to this spending bill, what happens today is key for what happens during the rest of the week. >> can you elaborate on senator manchin's proposal on the bill? >> absolute come it was an agreement between him and chuck schumer, for him to check up on the inflation reduction act that passed earlier this summer, they have now attached permitting reform to the spending bill, what this would do is greenlight agencies to be able to go through some of those environmental reviews much quicker to begin the projects come allow these projects in question that would be permitted to move forward is a mountain

valley pipeline, a pipeline that runs from west virginia down through southern virginia. this has been a positive thing to get some republicans and board -- on board. it has drawn the ire of many progressives in the caucus. >> is there a scenario, if there is not enough support for that specific legislation, but they have to keep the government funded that that will be the move from the gestation -- removed from the legislation? >> if there is no cloister, they did not reach the 60 votes needed, schumer will have a tough choice to make. the house can pass their own cr bill without permitting the form. that can happen as soon as wednesday, thursday, that is the senate some time to work to that measure before friday's deadline, schumer could move a

revised cr through. mcconnell himself does not want to be the government shutdown, if the senate votes first the house with then have to pass it quickly by friday to avoid that shutdown. i do not see a scenario where permitting reform moves easily through the upper chambers. there is too much resistance from both republicans and democrats on that. it is going to be very curious to see how the senate leaders do to make sure the government does not slip -- shut down. >> the white house when the sea $50 billion to fund things like ukraine and covid relief and other matters, is that still part of this package? >> some of it is. there is $12 billion to help ukraine in their war against russia. there is a few millions delegated to help europe in

general in this fight. there is billions of dollars for various disaster relief programs and necessities from across the country. as far as it comes to covid funding, as my colleague and i reported last week that was something that was likely to be taken out due to president biden's comment himself a few weeks ago saying the pandemic is over. that is something we will likely not see in the final finished product. >> if there is a scenario where the senate does put these votes to pass in the passes in the senate was next step? >> passage in the house it will be really hard, a lot of house members do not like permitting reform as well. there will have to come to some sort of agreement between the chambers, possibly what is known as a -- funding bill giving them

a few days to resolve the cr. congress simply needs more time, especially if they will be attaching permitting reform. >> savannah, who reports for the national journal he can find her work at nationaljournal.com, the steps when it comes to keeping the government funded, savannah berman, thank you for your time today. . >> thank you for having me. >> the congressional budget office putting out an estimate yesterday looking at president biden student loan cancellation plan, saying an estimated $400 billion over 30 years according to the congressional budget office, the president last month announced the plan to forgive 10000 and federal student loans for borrowers that make less than -- 200 $50,000 if filing

jointly, low income is -- the cbo estimated the cost of the policy instrument payments from september through december 2022 will cost $20 billion. the analysis being done on that figure, there was reaction from the white house as well. brenda, and indiana pennsylvania, thank you for waiting on the open form, go ahead. >> good, one of your previous callers mentioned donald trump have been floating pardons for the january 6 rioters. for me this is another example of how gullible his supporters are. he was the president on january 6. he could have issued a blanket pardon to everybody on that day or sometime over the next two weeks before he left office. what i find is kind of amusing, the rioters build the gallows on

capitol hill's supposedly for mike pence. at the end of the day president trump turned his back on his supporters and left his supporters hanging on capitol hill i find that pretty amusing, a second thing is, 2016, donald trump condemned the electoral college, that it should be done away with and it is unfair. all of his supporters phone line and demanded to be done away with. when donald trump one by the electoral college, it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, the same thing with warp speed vaccine, he campaigned for the warp speed vaccine in all his followers said look at what trump is doing for the american people is the greatest thing, when trump lost all of the sudden the vaccine became poison. this is how his supporters twist themselves into pretzels to support. >> in pennsylvania, a spinoff

story from january 6, and metro section of the washington post saying five members filed for seditious conspiracy this week and u.s. possum -- prosecutors will try to convince jurors that the call for a civil war to keep donald trump in power was liable and criminal. his group intentionally inspired the use of force to prevent president biden's swearing in, if the government tips its hands in court about their ties to political figures is an important step in a wider probe. >> independent line, you are next up. >> good morning, coming up the 100th anniversary were

miscellany marched into rome. the former party is in power, is the same in the way of the west, sweden as well. with trump and america, we are going to authoritarian government, i was a republican for four decades i am an independent now. there is no way trump will be president again, the espionage charge, i worked for homeland security, tsa, i know stuff about classified information. in the marine corps i has secret clearance, this is an excusable. the naval exercises that we did, the war with west germany, the love of freedom, and now people who support trump have this pragmatic view of supporting him no matter what your it anyways.

>> ok, san diego, california. there was an event in kentucky, hosted by senator mitch mcconnell, at the university of kentucky, the wall street journal writes about the guest speaker, kristin cinema, highlighting the fact that the remarks of mcconnell center, she defended the legislative filibuster, forcing bipartisanship. she also predicted that democrats would likely lose the house this fall. this guarded a response from representative ruben, a possible challenge to ms. sinema tweeting , you could be out there helping our candidates. mice -- my consensus is that you prefer the dems would lose control the senate and the house. he was able to capture senator

sinema's speech at the mcconnell center, particularly her statements about the filibuster, her thoughts about here is a portion of that. >> the house passes legislation that represents the passions of the moment. that is what it was designed to do when the forefathers created the house. they wanted a body that represented the passions of americans at the moment. they tend to be overeager. when republicans are controlled they pass crazy legislation. when democrats are controlled they pass crazy legislation. the job of the senate is cool that passion. there is a saying, the house is the cup of hot tea. the senate is the saucer you cool that t. the senate is designed to be a place that moves slowly come to cool down those passions, to think more strategically and long-term about the legislation before us. most importantly it was designed to require committee.

to require people to compromise and work together so that the legislation we passed represented viewpoints of a broad spectrum of the country, not just a passion of the comment. while it is frustrating, as a member of the minority in the united states senate, equally frustrating as the member of the majority, right? you must have six devotes to move forward. --60 votes to move forward. that frustration represents a short-term angst of not doing what you want. if you are a parent you know the best thing you can do for a child is not giving them everything they want. that is important for the senate as well. we should not give them everything we want in the moment, later upon cooler reflection recognize it is probably gone too far. >> the whole speech is website -- is available on the website c-span.org. lynn, marilyn, democrats line.

hello. >>hi. : -- hold on. people are not using common sense when it comes to what is happening with our economy. by the time biden got in there everything was going up and up and up. what people have to realize is when biden came into this thing, saying he is going to make sure the rich pay for this, the rich pay for that. here the conspiracies, by the time biden gets in there, everything was good before he got in there. why couldn't it stay good while he was in there? no, people that own the food industry, the gas industry, the utility industry, they decide, because they are all republican ceos, we are not going to -- i do believe some of the

republicans in the senate, in the house, they know the ceos of the corporations. what do they do? we are going to make things look bad for biden we will go up on everything. biden doesn't own food industries are utility industries he does not own any of that stuff. >> let's hear from david in new york, the republican line. hello. >> i am calling in response from san diego about the espionage act against trump, in 2018 former president obama shipped thousands of boxes of confidential, they say, material to a warehouse -- karine: good afternoon everybody. as you all