tour of the damage down there. i'm sandra smith. continuing coverage with trace gallagher in for shep live from houston. >> trace: it's 3:00 in the east, 2:00 p.m. on the texas gulf coast where an already miserable situation is getting worse. one town filled with filthy flood water now without any clean tap water. and a blast at a chemical plant. in houston, people are desperate to get back to their flooded homes and see what is left. one man said the water in his home is chest high. he's taking the valuables out before anybody else can get to them first. all that as the weather center tracks the next big storm already hurricane irma spinning

at see. we continue breaking news coverage of the aftermath of hurricane harvey from texas. trace gallagher in for shepard smith. the largest rainstorm in the history of the united states has killed 31. we're told the morgue is full and rescue crews have began the door-to-door search for any survivors. also today in the city of beaumont, which is about 80 miles northwest of us, or northeast of us, some saw the worst of the storm this week. reports is they lost an entire water supply. we're talking about 120,000 people that live there. the feds say a chemical plant outside houston burning today. officials in crosby, texas ordering a mandatory evacuation for people within a 1.5 mile

radius of the plant. the plant lost its ability to safely store the chemicals when the flooding knocked out the power supply. in turn, that knocked out the refrigeration system. the epa reports that there right now is no immediate danger to public health. in downtown houston, people have been sending boats in the area trying to get their valuables out. in port arthur, texas, police say shelters are desperate need of food and clothing and all the supplies, especially for young children. port arthur and beaumont yesterday after harvey made another landfall and began moving north and east through louisiana. both cities dealing with rising water today. rising water and though the sun is out, it may continue to rise. vice president mike pence today surveyed some of the damage and met with survivors of the storm.

we'll have more on that ahead. first, let's toss to the white house briefing. yes, tom bossert instead of sarah huckabee sanders. >> we have got neighbors helping neighbors in texas and louisiana but also neighbors that aren't in close proximity internationally expressing help to our international neighbors. canada and mexico are offering condolences. we appreciate it. deployed assets from a lot of states. we have 28, for instance search and rescue teams and task forces for 16 different states all sending down their support to texas. that's a pretty large activation. in fact, i believe that that is the first time we've activated all the task forces since 9-11, this is an all-hand-on-deck operation. there's state and federal officials from all weeks, even

from pennsylvania where i'm from. people are getting their hands dirty and going to texas to help. we want to say thank you to them. if i can move to the nation. many of you are watching this and you want to hear from us, what we're doing. i want to make sure you understand, you should have confidence in what we're doing as a government. there's significant commodity numbers and numbers of personnel and material moving into this affected region and increasing number every day as we move forward. i would be remiss if i didn't say that none of that matters if you're an affected individual. so 10,000 liters of water. doesn't matter if i don't have the one liter to drink. so if i could, i would like to give a message or two to the people who need the assistance. if i can, this might sound mundane from a white house podium but if you're in need of assistance and you can get to a computer, if you can get to a shelter, it's very important that you go to disasterassistance.gov.

you can find what you need there to register for assistance that you need. if you don't have access but can find a working telephone 800-462-7585. there's another number that fema has given us of 621-3362. that's the number. 800-621-3362. 7585 is the tty number. make sure that people use the numbers and use the resources to register. i'd like to give them the advice that it's never too early to call your insurance adjuster if you have probability loss or damage. that process is underway. there will be a high volume of calls. make sure that your needs are attended to as soon as possible. that's where we stand right now. i'd like to go through a few additional messages. life-saving, life-sustaining operations are still underway. we've seen some hospitals suffer

damage in beaumont. the dod and the hhs officials responsible for coordinating the federal response here are actively figuring out and deploying resources to help move those patients to better definitive care locations. probably upwards of 7,000 patients moved to other hospitals in texas and that will happen expeditiously. i'm comfortable where those operations stand. secondly, a word of caution. a lot of lost lives in this time zone after a loss. we lost lives in an immediate disaster. in the immediate response and recovery phase, people use chainsaws, people will remove debris, people will be stressed. the elderly, when they're stressed, you heard the doctor say, tend to get sick. the sickness can lead to death. unfortunately we'll see additional losses of life if history is any precedent here or

p prologue. tried to avoid that and strain and stress and get to where there's food and water and shelter. take care of yourself and others. with that, i'd like to suggest from the fema perspective, they're continuing the operation. from the white house, it's important that we look at the cost of the events and look on the horizon about what is next. as we look into it, these are estimates at this point, but looks like roundabout 100,000 affected homes. that's a big number. we're going to have 100,000 affected homes with different degrees of insurance. some flood insurance, some under insured. we'll have to address those as we move forward. i want to put a scope and magnitude on this. we'll also have damage to publicly-owned infrastructure. we'll put together a supplemental request for congress. we'll make the request shortly.

we'll make that request based on the information that we have now. what we'll do is come back later for a second supplemental request when we have additional information that would make it more informed total for congress to consider. i'd like to stop there and take a few questions. >> question for you. obviously some -- after hurricane sandy some money flowed quickly. the big bill didn't happen until two months after the hurricane hit on october 29th. the bill was signed into law on january 6. how important is it do you believe with texas for congress to get the money through faster? the president promised would happen quickly. >> yeah. three things here. you have to look at the health of the disaster relief fund. that was a relatively healthy fund. it had about $3.6 billion. that allowed us to get through the initial response operations that draw down rate is something that we keep an eye on. we'll need some disaster supplemental shortly. we are heading up into the end

of a fiscal year. so any available money from a regularly-appropriated perspective in a department or agency is running out. the end of the fiscal year is upon us. so congress had already planned to provide us some replenishment in that fund through the regular course of operations. and thirdly, if there's needs for additional funding in the future as the draw-down numbers become more clear on the recovery phase, we'll be able to look at them and ask for a third kind of bite at the apple on this. that's where we stand. i'm not worried at all that we don't have the money for the operations underway and the operations that we foresee in the next month. >> you mentioned the assistance from the leaders of canada and mexico. will the president be accepting any of those offers of assistance? >> sure. the answer here is that the president didn't get into much of it. they wanted to express their

prayers and condolences to those that lost their lives. we'll turn it over to fema to accept that request for additional concrete or tangible assistance. fema has an office of international affairs. they'll figure out how to integrate that with the operators. there's no reason to not take that assistance. >> would you let us know what -- >> i would say yes, but i would highly encourage you to ask fema how that is unfolding. i've done that before. the operators have to integrate something carefully in a logistics chain that is complex. >> talk about what is next in the recovery. it's not just months but years. and also the administration has imposed significant cuts to fema. are you encouraging the president to rethink the budget cuts? you've been in emergency management awhile. do you think he should reconsider that?

>> there's a number of misnomers on that. the core operating function will be well-funded under the president's proposal. disaster relief fund that you don't plan for that you prepare for, those things will be all well-funded through that disaster relief fund. but what you will see are responsible proposals in the president's budget for some reductions in the homeland security grants. the grants, i was around for their creation. they were never meant to be permanent. we'll have to do all of this in a responsible way. you'll see not just the request for cut in money in the budget the president put forward but you'll see additional details that allow the states to responsibly develop a glide path to get off of those grants and their dependence on them over four or five years. understanding that is important for the american people to know that the president wasn't irresponsibly cutting money. he was doing something that would further empower state and

locals. the disaster relief fund is strong. it has plenty of money in it for now and we'll ask for sum responsible surplus supplemental. >> could you talk to me about the issue of those -- temporary housing is a big issue. what can you tell us about what is happening at hud, what is happening with this administration as relates to this? a big issue during katrina. it was a major problem. are you looking at issues of finding and designating vacant locations for people to -- for some of these victims and survivors to go into? >> i met with the chief of staffs with all of the cabinet today. we talked about housing quite a bit what is happening now is hud in cooperation with fema and state and local officials are getting together. the housing stock, manufacturing housing which often fit as need in this type of disaster but also available housing stock for those that receive assistance under hud programs. section 8 in particular.

so we're trying to put all the housing stock solutions and the government programs together, think through what is available and how people might utilize that. right now fema is doing that in a planning section but operators are focused on saving lives. one additional point there. this will be a housing challenge. i don't want to concede any kind of housing lack of coordination. what we'll have to do is allow this to unfold. when i say 100,000, some portion of those homes were affected with two feet of water or less. some were affected with eight feet of water or more. you have to look at it on a case-by-case basis. we'll have to work with the mortgage lenders around others as we address the problems. >> during katrina, there was a big issue when the people received housing, temporary housing. rent prices went up dramatically. is there any kind of safety net or safeguard that that won't happen as the survivors won't be gouged? >> you just used an important

word. i'll make a clear point here. gouging won't be tolerated. jeff sessions and the president won't tolerate gouging. if you gouge somebody, law enforcement will come down with a hammer. that's not acceptable on a regular day and certainly not when people are suffering. we'll use the latitude that we have to come back to the first administrative point and provide a fair market value, rental rate, a little higher than 100% to accommodate the natural demand and supply attention. >> the follow up on april's question about gouging and housing. what about gas prices? is the administration looking at in terms of gouging for profit? >> gouging is a problem if it exists and if it happening at all markets. the idea on fuel is a good question. we had at one point somewhere around 4% of our oil shut in in

the gulf having to do with the rigs pulling themselves in. to go back to housing, to bring back the business operations and the houston petrochemical triangle, we have to make sure those people have safe housing. while there's some effect to our fuel prices as a nation, right now we're hoping it's not a large price at the pump problem. we'll also look for the health of the pipelines. there's still rain falling. texas is i think not experiencing any rain today. maybe some small storms, but not any major storms. now louisiana and the rest of the tennessee valley and the middle of the country are seeing rainstorms. colonial and plantation will keep an eye on that. we talked about that today in our meeting. if we have any update on that we'll give it to you the rest of the week. >> on this crosby chemical plant on fire, the sheriff said the plume is not dangerous. fema says it's dangerous. which is it? >> if you were there, could be

dangerous. the good news, the people have been evacuated because of the storm and the notice that we had on the pending explosion. some really responsible reporting took place in that facility. what we saw is the electric power that went to the pumps and the maintenance systems shutout. couldn't responsibly get it back. the temperature rose in a confined tank and we had an explosion. they're testing the air quality as local responders, but they don't know of anyone that is in the area plume that would be affected. if they were there, it would be dangerous. they would have to keep an eye on it and take it seriously. a tree falling in the woods, if you will. >> there's 575,000 undocumented immigrants in houston. does this white house believe they should be eligible for long-term federal recovery assistance? >> illegal immigrants and that issue has come up a new of times.

if you've committed a crime, that's the priority for the department of homeland security. john kelly has said that clearly. what i would say though is in terms of immediate life saving, no individual, human being should worry about their immigration status unless they committed a crime on top of coming here illegally when it comes to getting food, water and shelter. the authorities won't be conducting any routine swipes or searches inside those shelters. those are shelters for food, water and providing kind of inflation against exposure. that will happen, and we won't go rounding people up. subsequently, our priority will be illegal immigrants that have committed crimes. they will be rounded up and taken out of the country. that is clear. tom? >> refineries went off line as a result of the hurricane. is it your understanding they're

back on line? is this a concern for you? are there any thoughts tapping to the spr because this represents 25% of the u.s. oil refining capacity? >> i don't have an answer for you right now. certainly the president will make that decision. if necessary, you don't want to tape into the strategic petroleum reserve if you don't have the refinery capability to have it. i haven't checked on the status of the refineries. people. have i can get that answer back to you. we worry about that. for right now, i don't -- i'm not aware of any major damage to the refineries. that's why i suggested earlier might have an effect to fuel prices but shouldn't be huge. don't told me to it. tomorrow we'll have a better answer. >> two questions. first off, super storm sandy the federal recovery package was around $60 billion. governor abbott suggested this could exceed $100 billion. does the governor's estimate

sound reasonable that it will exceed $100 billion? we received a lot of reports about coordinations between federal, state and local agencies. give me a sense of one or two challenges where the coordination may require improvement. >> in the first question, there's nobody that is wrong on estimates right now. i don't have any information to challenge anyone's estimate. i don't think that they have a reason to think their estimates are wrong. we're in the estimate game right now. as a result, what we'd like to do is not get into second guessing anybody. in particular, the governor who has the first-hand knowledge of what is happening. what we would like to do as a strategy, figure out the burn rate for the response operations and put up a supplemental request to congress to meet the needs quickly. that's the bite at the apple approach. we'll go to congress and give them a sound supplemental request number. we'll add to it. we have some internal numbers

we're thinking. there's some regular funding coming in here because we're headed out to the end of the fiscal year as it is. we'll have a supplemental request later when we get a better handle on the damage and we can come back with a responsible last so to speak supplemental request and get congress to give us an informed amount of money. >> the second part of the question. were there any areas where coordination has been wanting, where you have seen a need for improvement? >> no. at this point, the message is that coordination is happening better than any storm we've seen before. stressing on anything that is not working well, especially from this podium will be ill informed. i've seeing nothing but positive, appropriate coordination. if there's a problem there, brock long will get a handle on it. i don't have a negative word on coordination right now. >> let me ask you about the

strategic petroleum reserve. 500,000 barrels were pushed out today. the department of energy said katrina on alone basis, it will nearly 10 million barrels. we're talking a fraction of what was put out for katrina. what is the administration's thinking going forward as to how the spr will be used and what we saw today just a start of what might happen going forward? >> yeah, i'll come back to you on where we stand after talking to secretary perry. i don't have the numbers right know. i caution comparisons between storms. every storm is different. what it hits and who it affects constitute massive changes in how we respond to those storms. in terms of your structural question, if any need for that strategic petroleum reserve manifests, we would be comfortable in tapping into that and providing that alleviated resource. >> there's some talk about attaching supplemental to the

debt ceiling increase. i'm talking rolling a supplemental increase on the debt. from an emergency management standpoint, how important is it to your thinking to get a clean supplement? >> i think everybody wants a clean supplemental. as we tie the -- hopefully we get a responsible budget. the congress comes together and finds a way to take the president's request and meet it. that would be an ideal answer. you're presupposing that we'll have a continuing resolution. that's not the best way to run a railroad. if that happens, it's fine. not fine but less ideal. the drf supplemental when you say "clean" should focus on replenishing the disaster relief fund and in other needs that might come for departments and agencies and repairing roads and highways that will be separate and distinct from the debt ceiling. we have every reason to believe that that will happen in a

responsible way as well and i'll amplify that if you have additional questions. from the planning session we had this morning, i don't think there will be any particular problem in our approach to the congress in this fall. that's my sense. >> i asked you about -- >> aim little confused about your answer on undocumented immigrants getting long-term funding is. that a yes or a no? >> what question? >> undocumented immigrants eligible for long-term relief help. >> what happens -- >> the point here would be that if you're an immigrant that committed a crime, you're removed. if you're an immigrant looking for assistance that is eligible as a citizen, you're not eligible in that case, but i think that that doesn't mean that we'll let somebody starve or die of thirst or exposure. i don't through too much of a problem there. i'm not sure where they were living before they got into the shelter. i'd be making some gross

suppositions at this point. i understand what you're getting towards. just not looking to deal with it. >> [question inaudible] you're saying the priority is still to deport people that have committed a crime on top of that. so if you are an undocumented immigrant and you had a home and it was destroyed in a flood and you're in a shelter, what happens? >> a lot of ifs there and i'll figure that out when ideal with them. the priorities couldn't be any clearer. i don't know how to begin to answer that question. i will say that there's no real waivering here. it's clear our position on immigration. hopefully that answers your question. i don't think there will be a lot of benefits going to illegal immigrants in terms of the american taxpayer. that those that come to the country and have committed crimes are what we focus on. he also said that's not a victimless crime. so i think that the focus on

gangs and other things have people pretty well busy right now. the focus on saving lives and providing food, water and shelter have everybody busy right now. what you find is the good men of cvp and ice are providing assistance to the people of texas and louisiana that are american citizens and people of any immigration status that need food, water and shelter. if i could, i would like to leave it at that. that's the clear message i want to leave behind that somebody otherwise might, no disrespect intended, discouraged from finding something to save their life. that's the message today. >> let's ask about the flood insurance program. before this year, it was $25 billion. now this. the question is, should homeowners that are in flood zones have to pay even more than they already have been paying in premiums to fund the program or should this be a problem that taxpayers help solve? disasters prove even if you're not in a floodplain you still

can have your house flooded. >> just for clarity, there's people right now suffering that are looking for immediate answers. for clarity's sake, if you have a flood insurance policy and you've been paying your premiums, call and get your claim in. there's no problem, there's no shortfall. we have enough money to meet those claims. you'll get what you have coming to you under your policy. that's the first answer from the national flood insurance program. the second one for people watching this, you have to understand that that flood insurance program is coming up to be reauthorized. it's about to expire. it has to be reauthorized. i have all the confidence that congress will reauthorize that program. the third part, how much money is left in that fund under the borrowing cap. the answer is enough. $1.86 billion to get through this round of claims and then some. it will push us to the late fall, wintertime frame when we have to discuss what the forecast projections are. the last part of your question, the future policy discussion.

this administration has been clear that we would like to see some responsible reforms to the national flood insurance program. i don't think now is the time to debate those things as we need to help people that have pending claims. we'll debate that late fall here as we come up with good policy ideas as we move that to the risk-based private sector. fema has been clear about how to do that and do it responsibly so to not throw anybody off to fund that program. for anybody that doesn't know, you can't buy a flood insurance program that is not underwritten by the united states of america. the agent that sold it might be a private agent and it's a public private partnership scenes the reagan administration. but at the end of the day, the policy that you have is underwritten by the federal government. so can i go back in the back? >> i have a question about undocumented. the president is reported to be poised to make a decision about the dacca program. right now the believers believe

they're documented to work. there's those in the pipeline that have applied for extensions or new applicants. in the time going forward, what is your advice to them about their risk of being deported in any of those three categories under the dacca program? >> the question is on deferred against childhood arrival. the administration is still reviewing the policy. the second part of your question, what happens to people that are in an illegal status that require assistance. i'd refer you to how i answered the first question. anybody needing food, water or shelter will get it. anybody here illegally that has committed a crime will get caught and thrown out. anybody in between has to wait for a decision or policy announcement on how we'll handle deferred action going forward. >> you believe that is likely to be revealed in the days that are coming up now and what you're trying to manage an emergency? >> i don't know the timing of

that. as soon as the president is ready to announce the result of our policy process, he will do so. >> have you been consulted on the >> i have. >> yes. just want to -- hopefully the threat of lawsuits from the state attorney general, is that -- >> say that one more time. >> the lawsuit from the state attorney general for the dsa -- >> it won't of course the policy decision but will affect the timing of it. have to watch the lawsuits and how they matriculate through the courts. that will informed our decision-making process but not the policy decision. if i could, it's been -- i've been told to turn to -- i think we have skype questioners. not that you folks in washington d.c. don't matter to but, but for the rest of the people watching -- where do i turn? we have skype questioners.

is it somebody from texas? here we go. >> greg groogan in houston. >> we have a houston corps of engineers that are -- flooding -- and examining that situation. the administration is considering adding additional sources to the -- >> i think -- did everybody hear that question? just to repeat it in case we're not wired up right here. the question is good. the people in houston are worried about the two reservoir systems that the army corps of engineers maintains. they have been pictured on television overtopping. they've been in a controlled release environment allow ago

lot of water through the affected populated areas of houston. you want to know if they're safe and if there's any additional funding needed. i'm going to answer that question. i think that's a question. the answer is -- just so happens earlier this morning, before i came out here, i was in contact with the commander of the army corps of engineers. three answers here. first, he's got engineers monitoring those systems right now for structural integrity. what you don't want to have happen is water coming over the top and eat away at the other side of the water and have the structural integrity undermined that we've seen in other events. as of an hour ago, there was no structural integrity determined by any of the engineers standing there watching the facility. that means that nobody is in immediate harm's way of damage and additional property loss. lastly, the question is, do we need additional money to shore those facilities up.

i would try to answer that differently. we're not going to get into a position saying they're safe or not safe or asking for money right now. what we'll do is continue the controlled release. the reason the controlled release is good is it's the alternative to an uncontrolled rest release. if you don't release the water, you'll end up with the structural integrity failure. as soon as the water goes down and rapidly going down right now, we'll have some flooding for some time, but the big, large heavy masses of water that are going down and out are flowing in a way that will allowing to do an engineering assessment. if there was structural integrity problems, we'll assess that and put together a responsible number for repair and put it forth to congress. very last on that, we'll do it in a way that thinks through a mitigation perspective. you don't want to rebuild it to

the way it was before and have it undermined again. when you put federal dollars, you want to do it smartly so the next storm doesn't cause problems. that's the answer to that. the good news for the people in houston is that both of those reservoir systems are holding up and there's engineers watching them on a 24/7 basis. thank you for that question. thank you for doing what you're doing. i hope your home hasn't been affected. all right. do i have another question? one more? all right. sir, you're on. >> hi. this is justin with ktrk abc out of houston. how are you? >> doing well. >> what are you do differently -- we've had disasters all over before. how do you re-assure the people of texas that real help is coming and is coming quickly?

>> how do you re-assure that help is coming quickly? a real short answer to that we send help and we send it quickly. i don't mean that glibly. when the governors ask for help, we send it. the re-assurance comes in the pudding. the proof is in the pudding. if we're not getting where we need to get, we need to hear that i'm not immune to criticism and neither are the local officials there. the mayor has taken a great deal of smart criticism, but he's also taken a great deal of smart action. from my perspective, what you have to do is hold us accountable. what i think the president is doing, president trump, is holding me and brock long and elaine duke and the rest of his cabinet accountable. when we're not telling him what he wants to hear, he goes to the governor and find out if we're doing it right from his perspective. that is the answer. it's straightforward. is there anything that is unmet from a needs perspective right

now that you want to inform of us? if you do have something, i'm 20 yards from the president. we'll take it to him. >> i mean, not as of yet. but there's a lot of communities that have been devastated here. there's going to be a lot of needs really quickly. >> yeah. let me pick up on that and use that. that's a great point to wrap up my remarks here today. we are still in response mode. that means life saving, life sustaining. there's still people up to their waist in water. the elderly an infirmed that require attention. hospitals that need evacuation and relocation. we activated from those forces from dod and hhs to move those patients. we're soon going to move into a long frustrating recovery process. the important message for me to leave for the people of texas at that point is we're not going anywhere. all this talk about supplemental

funding, it's about having to money in the reservoir of cash for us to use to help you as rerebuild and get you back into your homes and get your jobs and kids back to schools. that's what makes america great. we'll have houston and texas bigger, and better and stronger before the storm and the resilient nature of the american people is awesome. thanks for your time and attention. that's the last question. a local gets it. i'm sorry. i appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you, tom. finally, before i open it up for further questions, i wanted to be sure and highlight a major step forward in the fight against isis. earlier today, the iraqi prime minister declared that after nearly two week-long military operation, the city of talifir fully liberated from isis.

this represents the loss of a very important isis strong hold. the hometown of a number of top isis commanders. we congratulate the iraqis on achieving this big milestone and will continue to support them in their fight to take their country back from radical islamic terrorism. with that, i'll take your questions. jeff? >> one follow up only tom's remark. he said the white house would put together a supplemental. do you have an idea when that will go to congress? can you confirm reports that the president is leaning towards or deciding to end daca and what are the ramifications of that for the dreamers? >> i'll take care of the first question in terms of supplemental funding. as tom said, we're working with congress. we're not going to get ahead of director mulvaney. he's working with them around the clock to make sure that process moves forward quickly and effectively. in terms of daca, echoing on what tom said earlier. final decision has not been made.

when it is, we'll certainly inform everybody in this room. >> the president said that dreamers shouldn't be worried. can you stand here today and say they wouldn't be worried? >> when we have a final decision -- this is under review. a lot of components that need to be looked at. once a decision is made, we'll let you know. glen? >> there's a specific report out by fox that talks about a decision is made to roll back the program by the end of this week and that there will be provisions allowing dreamers in the country right now to stay until their work authorization expires. are you denying that report? >> no offense to your colleague from fox news, but i think i'm a little bit better informed than they are in terms of when the white house has made a decision. as i just said a moment ago, it has not been finalized. when it is, we'll let you know. >> can you at least talk about

the time line? september 5 has been one of the dates. does that mean a decision will come down tomorrow? can you talk about the time line for this? for those folks wondering what their status will be. >> i'm not going to get ahead of something when a decision hasn't been made. we don't know when the final review will be completed. it would be disingenuous for me to create a false timeline that isn't workable. >> do you have any -- >> there's a lot of conversations around the timeline and when that has to be made. again, that hasn't been fully reviewed and vetted and decided. >> and there's obviously been a huge outpouring of support from people around the country. you've seen people lining up to volunteer and donates thousands of dollars. can you say what the president has done personally? >> yes, i can. i had a chance to speak directly with the president earlier. i'm happy to tell you that he's -- he would like to join in the effort that a lot of the

people that we've seen across this country do. he's pledging a million dollars of personal money to the fund and he's actually asked that i check with the folks in this room since you are very good at research and have been doing a lot of reporting into the groups and organizations that have the best and most effective in helping and providing aid and he would love some suggestions from the folks here and i would be happy to take them. as i said, he will pledge proudly a million dollars of his own people to help texas and louisiana. franchesca. >> previously the president had said that he may return to texas and may go to louisiana over the weekend. do you have an update on the president's travel schedule? we know that vice president mike pence is there today. the president is going, where might he go and will he meet -- >> the president and the first lady will be traveling to texas

and louisiana on saturday. the specific cities and locations are being finalized. hopefully we'll have that information for you later today. i believe as of right now, tentativelily he plans to be in houston and possibly lake charles, louisiana. again, varying on conditions, that may change a little bit. that's a tentative plan. >> and yesterday the president went to missouri to push for tax reform. he said -- the administration has said they would like to see a bill before the house of representatives in september. there's differences between where the administration is and how gop leaders are. do you still expect that to happen in september? >> as we have said before, this is going to be a big priority for the administration. certainly moving through the fall. the biggest part is that we make sure that we get it right and we provide tax relief to middle class america and we help americans across the board.

that's the goal. if we can do that by september, that would be great. blake? >> picking up on that. with the president hitting the road yesterday, he made it seem as if this should be a simple bipartisan fix. however democrats are saying there shouldn't be tax relief for those who are the wealthiest 1% of earners. does the president believe the wealthiest 1% -- >> the president laid out clearly what his big priorities were yesterday. i'll be glad to repeat those. permanently reducing tax rates, simplifying the process, incentivizing american companies to bring back jobs and profits. the president is focused on helping all americans across the board. the biggest priority is on helping middle class americans and making sure more of those people keep more of their money. >> does the white house think working with democrats on this is reasonable or likely? they're already laying down the marker for where they stand. you just said for all americans. presumably that includes the top

1%. >> i would love for democrats to want to help all americans. i don't know why they would want to be against that. helping more americans is better. i don't know why anybody would want to be against that. hopefully they be reasonable ant want to come to the table. matthew? >> i have a tax reform question. quickly about the charitable donation. will that be coming from trump personally as opposed to the trump foundation or the trump organization? >> i know the president said he would personally give. i don't know the legal part of exactly that. he said his personal money. so i assume that comes from home. >> secretary mnuchin said the administration will release a blueprint that will go to congress. when can we expect that and how much detail will that go into and is that a change from letting congress take the lead on drafting the legislation? >> again, members of the administration, the president said our job is to lay out the

core principles, the primary pillars that we want to see in tax reform. it's congress's job to legislation. we want to work through that process and allow them to do their jobs. we're going to do our jobs and lead the conversation, set the table, set the priorities and let them do their job and legislate, get it passed so the president can sign it. john decker. >> when will we see the blueprint? >> we've been laying out a lot of the principles. we'll continue to add to that. john? >> this push for tax reform is a priority for the president and the administration right now. have you put the repeal and replace effort to the side for the moment to focus exclusively on your tax reform proposals? >> as the white house, i don't think you ever get to exclusively focus on one issue. it's certainly one of the top priorities for the administration moving into the fall. as we said many times before, we can walk and chew game at the same time. we plan to push through a lot of different things throughout the

fall. john? >> sarah, if i may, on repeal and replace as you know, you received no democratic support in either the house or the senate. as far as tax reform is concerned, are you expecting a different result? you think you can get democrats to support some sort of legislation that comes from both houses of congress? >> as i said a minute ago, i would certainly hope for. i don't know why any democrat would want to help only those in the middle class. would be a sad and a big mistake. john? >> thank you, sarah. just one question. >> just one. >> politics. the president gave a very strong endorsement through twitter. senator luther strange in his bid for nomination in the special election. the run-off is coming up in

september 26. there's published reports that the president is backing away from that endorsement and not taking sides, which would make him the first republican president in 47 years not to back an incumbent senator for another term. is he as committed to senator strange or has his position changed since the original primary? >> due to the legal restrictions that i have, i cannot answer anything political from the podium. so i have to leave that to outside folks and the president himself to answer that. >> today in an interview -- during the campaign the president called this pure political correctness.

is the administration reversing the decision to change the $20 bill? >> i'm not aware of any policy change. i have to check into that. >> on daca, in february the president said he would treat dreamers with heart. does the president stand by his statement to treat dreamers with heart? >> absolutely. the president stands by his statement. right now this is currently under review both from a legal standpoint, primarily and until that review is complete, again, as i answered before, we don't have anything to add further on that front. >> would -- >> i'm not going to get into a back and forth until a decision has been made. >> the -- >> let me come to home -- >> i'll go after chip then. >> the decision -- >> the state department on closing the free facilities in this long tit for tat with russia, a lot of analysts say

the relations between the u.s. and russia is the localest since the cold war. >> right now we're requiring the russian consulate to close their office in san francisco and a trade annex in new york and washington d.c. these have to be completed by september 2. we've taken a firm action in russia's unfortunate decision earlier this we're. we want to halt the downward spiral and move forward towards better relations. we'll look for opportunities to do that. but we also want to have equity in the decisions and anything beyond that -- anything beyond that i would refer you to the state department. >> are relations worse than they have been since the cold war or decades? >> i don't think so. >> is the president determined to improve relations -- >> we're going to look nor opportunities to do that. we're also going to make sure that we make decisions best for our country. >> senators grassley and graham

revealed today they have evidence suggesting that former fbi director comey made a decision to not charge hillary clinton several months before the investigation actually wrapped up and before they interviewed hillary clinton. does the president know about this and does he believe that that adds weight to his decision to fire comey? >> i'm not sure if he's aware of that re-lation. if it's as accurate as they say it is, that would certainly give cause and reason that jim comey was not the right person to lead the fbi and hopefully all of your colleagues will follow suit and cover that story. zeke? >> you mentioned the president's core principles. one is the attack plan on the pledges. has white house taken a position on the tax plan, if it's needs to be revenue neutral or a tax plan that would essentially have

a deficit? the president has talked about the deficits in his campaign. is he laying down the marker there? >> not at this time. i don't have any further announcement on that front. fred? >> a couple questions on obamacare. some governors came out in favor of the approach. among some republicans in the senate. would the administration oppose an obamacare bailout for the insurance industry? >> i would have to refer you to hhs on that question. >> and secondly, the president tweeted in july, i believe, that -- talked about take against way the obamacare exemption for members of staff is. there anything stopping him from taking that action now? something that could be done

executively? >> i think that is something that he is certainly still considering. alex? >> the saudi yesterday coalition in yemen killed 42. is there -- >> that's something that we'll keep an eye on. >> the police say the mayor will be here next week to meet with the president. i want to confirm that. and the russia diplomatic move, did the president initiate this? >> this was a decision made by the president, yes. and i'm not ready to make an announcement on that. i'll have to check on the specifics. >> the president said that he believes all options are on the table when it comes to north korea and has indicated the military option is among them. is negotiating still on the table? >> absolutely.

all includes all. that would include diplomatic, economic and military options. >> one quick follow up. we're getting closer to friday. can you tell us whether the president has confidence in gary cohn? >> yes. the president is working hand and hand with gary and the rest of his team on tax reform. as i said earlier today, it's a big priority for the administration. moving into the fall. gary is an integral part of the team leading the effort. april? >> on the issue of repeal and replace, this president is so set on trying to make sure that he replaces and repeals obamacare. what is happening with the website? is there still active enrollment on the website? >> as far as i know, i'm not aware of any reason that it's not. individual to check in to that. i'm not checking in to the obamacare website daily. so i'd have to look into that. >> you're not actively encouraging people. you're saying repeal and replace. >> i think everybody in the

country knows that obamacare is collapsing. that something still needs to be done. the administration is still very much committed to putting a healthcare system in place that actually works because we know obamacare doesn't. it's not sustainable. so yes, we're continuing to move forward and look for ways to help all americans receive better care. >> the hbcu conference, is it possible -- i asked last time -- can you give us a list? we're hearing more and more from other colleges and universities and the hpc community that saying they're not coming. you say it's at capacity and you have a waiting list. is there a way that you can share some names? >> yeah. the department of education is housing that. again, i will try to look into that. i meant to do that last week. thanks so much, guys. have a great day. >> white house press secretary, sarah sanders confirmed that president trump would in fact be making a personal donation to what is happening down here.

the devastation across texas. i want to show you -- before that, by the way, tom bossert made it clear that the government was in this for the long haul and they will need it. if you look at the right-hand of the screen that is in katy, texas. we've been hearing 24 hours the big headlines in some of the nation's papers are the water is receding in houston and rising in other parts of texas like beaumont and port arthur. it's misleading. the reason is right there on the right-hand side of your screen. that is 16 miles west of houston. the reason the water is rising there is because there are reservoirs here that are chocked full of water. what they're doing is, they're trying to let as much water out responsibly as they can because they have to take the pressure off the dams. if they don't take the pressure off the dams and the dams bust, that means everybody below the dam is washed out. they know that if they

responsibly try to let as much water as they can out, that you're going to have scenes like this in katy where certain neighborhoods and areas are flooded. so even six days after the hurricane when some people are going into their homes and parts of houston trying to assess the damage, you have people packing up in places like katy. where we're standing here, the neighbors here are flood. so there's a dichotomy going on here of people trying to get their lives on track and some people wondering if it's time to pack up and get out, this is the kind of scene we've seen over and over again the past six days. 100 miles to the east of us in beaumont, texas, that's where rick leventhal is standing by at a hospital that we believe has got some distress there as well. rick, what is going on there? >> we're outside of baptist hospital here where the parking

lot is an evacuation zone. they lost running water here. the main helicopter landing pad is here but there's one in the parking lot. in the last hour, there were five helicopters here, a steady stream of choppers coming in, landing, bringing stretchers in the building and coming out with the critical care patients and loading them up and taking them to other locations to get the care they need. the first group to be evacuated this morning were 16 nursing home patient whose were evacuated from the nursing home last night because it was flooded. they were taken to the hospital and given the care they needed. last night they heard the water supply was no longer usable. the main pump station was lost because it was flooded, a secondary water source was lost. that also flooded. the hospital without running water could not provide the care that it needed for these patients. so it took off, staking them out of here.

some patients this need dialysis treatment. the hospital said due to the failure of the water pump, it's in the best interest of our current patients to transfer to other acute care facilities due to the citywide lack of services, we have no other alternative to discontinue all services including emergency services. this is being done here immediately. more from the hospital spokesperson. >> this is our third hurricane, direct hit. so we practice this all the time. >> the hospital says that the building's waterproofing here, the building is waterproof. that i had plenty of bottled water. they also had their own well system of nonpotable water to run the hvac system. what they weren't prepared for is the city water to go out. that's why they had to get the patients out of here. as you've seen, there's still a

major flooding problem in beaumont and port arthur. rescuers are going door-to-door. the water is receding. the first beautiful sunny days they've had in texas in quite some time. at least they can do the work without the kinds of conditions they've been working in the last few days. >> trace: rick, it's widespread there in beaumont. how much longer before you think they get the water back? >> they say they have no way to determine how long this will take. they have to wait for the flood waters to recede from the water pump station before they can do the repairs they need. it could be weeks. we don't know. >> rick leventhal live for us. thanks, rick, this is another part of texas here. you can see from beaumont here, we flew this area yesterday.

there's 60 or 70 miles where it looks like it's all just water. looks like lake after lake after lake. that's how bad the flooding is. we're talking about, as rick said, some of the waters going down. remember, all the water in all of these watersheds, it eventually has to make its way back into the gulf of mexico. the reason that these areas are flooding and in danger of more imminent flooding is because you simply have to get that water somewhere and it's going to go through these various towns and neighborhoods along the way back to the gulf. just think about this for a minute. six days ago, you had a category four hurricane that hit texas. it was followed by the worst tropical storm in history, in the history of this country, and then you have all the sporadic tornadic activity and now the reservoirs that are full and they're also threatening a variety of neighborhoods. we'll continue our coverage following the aftermath of hurricane harvey.

neil cavuto is next with "your world." i'm trace gallagher in for shepard smith. i'll be here all day long following the aftermath of hurricane harvey. good day. >> neil: thank you, trace. rescue operations continuing now as the cost of harvey continues to mount. up and up and up we go. i'm neil cavuto. this is "your world." president trump plans to donate a million bucks to the relief effort. he will travel to talks and louisiana on saturday. the white house also saying that 100,000 homes at a minimum have been affected from harvey. accuweather has upped its damage estimate for harvey. now expecting the storm to cost in excess of $190 billion. about double the amount of katrina. a hospital in beaumont, talks forced to evacuate. hospital staff members working together to get