fema set up a website to deal with what they have said is misinformation about fema funds and what femas doing. would you trust that? there is on your screen? caller: the problem i have with that is with obamacare, when that came out years ago they set up all of that program. people that work for the government get paid regardless of whether they do anything or not. they have to do their work, but if they decide i think i will go do this because i know a lot of people -- i live in michigan and they work for the state -- they kind of get to do what they want. you can set up anything later. it is just amazing to me that things do not get done in a manner that should be done and more transparent. they can sate we threw this out on the internet and this is what $1 billion went for, this is what $1 billion went for and stuff like that. that does not tell you anything. host: tim's thoughts. the tampa bay times this morning as we transition from that footage on your screen, which is by a producer for the weather channel. this image from the tampa bay times. this is the home of the rays the roo

fema is doing humans work an incredible job. they should not have to be doing it they are first responders meant to be dealing with emergency assistance. they have had to become disinformation experts and there was meant to be a bureau within dhs focusing on this that i was meant to lead. >> this is why nina should be employed today in the federal government. >> i would be happy to work for her. elon musk is not he is not just taking these things down he is the number one distant former after donald trump. he goes on tucker carlson hey elon musk you think you are a big free-speech guy come on msnbc talk to these guys talk to me he is out there amplifying the fema stuff the migrant stuff and hundreds of millions of people it is him it is foxnews it is the gop that enables this. it is the entire conservative movement that says donald trump's misinformation is okay and they played into it. >> when the secretary transportation has to pick up the phone and call elon musk to tell him what he is saying is a lie and can he please stop i

fema has been here, so has the national guard, in fact, fema saying assistance for helene has already topped $210 million. and david, one more thing tonight. a sign of the times, fema saying they put up a website called hurricane helene rumor response. david? >> david: responding to the rumors tonight, as well as to the tragedy there on the ground.

that there was just no fema. you virtually don't see anybody from fema. >> reporter: but our team has been on the ground in the storm zone for days, personally witnessing the efforts of fema and the national guard. homeowners who have told us fema has been there to help them. today, president biden accusing trump of misleading people and creating panic. >> it's un-american. it really is. people are scared to death. people know their lives are at stake. all that they work for, all they own, all that they value. >> reporter: david, four weeks ago and this race is still locked in a dead heat, but a new poll out tonight is showing some movement. vice president kamala harris holding a slight lead over donald trump at 49%. the former president at 46%. also notable tonight, it's the first time this poll has shown more voters view harris as the candidate representing change, 46% to 44% for donald trump,

maria: i know there has been a lot of talk about this administration using fema money, getting fema after mayorkas said it was running dry and they would not be able to make it to the hurricane season but the administration is calling it misinformation they are denying that they use fema money for illegal migrants despite the fact that karine jean-pierre said this two years ago, here it is, watch it. >> fema administrators have been meeting with city officials on site to coordinate available support from fema and other federal agencies funding is also available through fema emergency food and shelter programs to eligible local government and not-for-profit organizations upon request to support humanitarian relief for migrants we will continue to do what we can as the federal government to support the cities as they rebuild our asylum processing system after it was guided by the trump administration. >> she said it was guided by the trump administration we see it's been gotten, what is the truth, what can you tell us about fema money going toward illegal migrants is instead of emergencies.

host: what does fema not do? guest: fema does not make anybody hole after a disaster. i think that is one really major misconception especially with forums that i have seen. fema will provide some aid to survivors. we have seen that with the 700 $50 initial cash infusion for folks -- $750 initial cash infusion for folks. and also the money they are making available through individual programs for things like housing. the amount of money you will get from fema is not meant to be enough to actually have you fully recover from a disaster. they are there to try and fill some of the emergency gaps that individuals have. host: who does make you whole? does anyone make you whole? guest: unfortunately, the way our recovery system is set up in the u.s., the responsibility of getting you through a recovery is you. there are resources through fema and other government agencies like the small business administration has a loans that people may be able to access if they are eligible. then we have the nonprofit groups that work on rebuilding and other aspects of the recovery who wil

to fulfill fema's request when fema testifies in front of congress. host: when you talk about climate science, what exactly are you looking for? what should they be looking at or factoring in? guest: with hurricane helene, what we know is scientists from the berkeley lawrence national laboratory estimated that climate change made the rainfall 50 times heavier and made the event 20 times more likely. so what we can do is take a look at projections for the rainfall which is harder to do, but the national oceanagraphics and atmospheric administration is working on updating the rainfall projections. host: and i want to show this chart. it's on climate.gov. it shows as of last month, the u.s. had had more than 60 disaster declaration including 20 in the billion-dollar threshold. this chart shows that reached the billion dollar threshold last year. there were 20 of them. when we hear a cost like that, what is included? guest: yes. so the last year there, were 28. and actually, 2022 was the record year with 165 billion dollars. so these disasters are increas

money to illegals and cleaning out the money emergency funding as the dhs inspector general report fema is sitting on $8 billion and unused funds even though alejandro mayorkas said there was none left, fema confirmed it is running out of money. >> we don't have enough money to continue the rest of the year and we went into immediate needs funding earlier in the year to make sure we do what we've been doing through helene as well as the preparation for milton. >> the white house is struggling to explain why kamala harris announced $157 million from lebanon but less than that for struggling americans causing karine jean-pierre to storm out of the press conference with no answers, joining the conversation all morning long national review staff writer caroline downey michael lee strategy michael lee and cheryl casone, "mornings with maria" is live right now ♪ ♪ had. maria: time for the hot topic of the hour we are four weeks away from the presidential election and income of the harrison tim walz continue what they believe is a media blitz last night the vice president attempted to slew of

fema is responding to them.ave marjorie taylor greene saying they control the weather and a lot of people wonder if she's talking about jewish people because she in the past has said that jewish space lasers caused the california wildfires. what is all this disinformation do in a moment like this when we are less than a month way from an election? >> well, that's a good question because we don't know. i mean, you've never seen this level of disinformation. there is always been in campaigns sort of a back and forth, but there is always -- also been, you know, fact checkers. and you see now, you know, donald trump and the whole republican apparatus, you know, attacking fact checking because they don't want the facts to be checked. and, look, it is something i pick up -- and we pick up in focus groups all the time, the level of misinformation and disinformation that is out there among voters who are -- who think that nothing is happening and growing cynical about voting or participating in a election, so why partic

fema and the u.s. army corps of engineers, are also making available generators of many different sizes that are ready to be deployed upon the request of any state. and as power is being restored throughout parts of florida and georgia, power crews are being moved into other states to assist with additional restoration efforts. we see power outage numbers improving where restoration teams are able to gain access to communities and the debris is cleared. once we get power restored, we can then get a lot of other things working again -- utilities, water utilities, in particular communication systems, medical and health care facilities are those capabilities that depend on the source of power supply to function. we're also very focused on restoring communications capabilities. fema, the fcc, and private telecommunications providers are working together to help restore temporary communications as quickly as possible, by establishing temporary cell sites and allowing for roaming where possible where a resid

with assistance of fema and u.s. army corps of engineer, we can improve electric grid to ensure we can bridge the gap between current fleet and future of reliable clean energy generation that genera is working towards. we look forward to building a meaningful relationship with you and brighter future for the puerto rican people, we are confident we can work together to ensure that this is aen successful energy system transformation that we can all be proud of the role we play in. >> thank you. >> the chair willth recognize members for five minutes of questioning. >> my questions are going directed to mr. saca.th luma took over operations and maintenance of distribution systemon in 2021, genera took or the operation and maintenance of prepa's thermal generation assets in 2023. could you please starting with you mr. saca, would you please describe the challenges your respective companies inherited from prepa? >> first of all, it's an aging system that is on the average 32 years older than the average system. that means

>> i haven't seen fema. i don't know anything about fema hussars them coming around. this is the first time i've ever had to experience anything like this. i don't know what protocol is son justine patient and waiting. i have heard rumours that they are around. but i haven't seen anybody and we are right here in the middle of ground zero and we've been here every day. so it's not that we've missed them. snack it's been a real canary effort. >> yeah, just brings me to tears to see people chip and like this. >> right now "the new york post" and others have reported that basically fema has allocated $1.4 billion. that money was allocated for illegal migrant crisis. not for hurricanes, not for natural disasters. for the illegal migration crisis. when you hear that as a taxpayer marcus rea mind? >> anger. look out for your people that are helping you run this country >> speaker-08: just need help. we need fema. we need somebody to start rolling in with some dollars. bad. this is dire. >> you told me earlier you've never asked for a dollar in your life from anyone. this is

by fema? >> we have been reimbursed 173 million, we've received 418 million of working capital advances. >> that's an odd thing so you just received 173 million. >> one hundred 73 million have been reimbursed. >> how much is been approved? >> we have an obligation this about 171 projects obligated and approved. >> how much money have you been approved? if you don't have the data please submit it. >> 1.1 billion, correct. >> you submitted 12. $3 billion and you've only been approved 1.1 billion. how much has your company spent? >> we've spent 1.3 billion, we have 552 million spent pending obligations, another 352 million submitted in rfp, rfrs. >> how much expenditure has your company built for you to obtain reimbursement? >> we have incurred in costs $1.3 billion. >> so you have not built for the rest of the 11 billion you asked for. how much has been paid out? 173 million and the 100 million for capital extenders? >> what was the question? >> how much has actually been paid out. >> one. 3 bil

fema has a hard job. i have to imagine that these lies make it harder. >> from the standpoint of the finding, congress is pretty strict on what they allocate money for. fema cannot just move money around. they can't use money on disaster relief fund that funds disasters to use the something else. congress watches that closely. when i was the fema administrator, the committee staff were looking every time we were spending money to make sure where it was going, what was going toward and we were not using money were not authorized to use. this is to many people. the speaking to an audience. talking about these people who've been affected by disasters, all that window is help is coming. i think you're talking to an outside audience. think how many people are losing power and won't hear this message. same thing with helene in the mountain areas. much of the conversation they did not hear it. if they got a radio, they may have gotten it on the radio. they were almost down to no communications. a lot of this noi

i haven't seen fema.y may be there but the presence is not felt and we are too strong of a nation to have our people suffering like this. >> trace: exactly right. i want to go back to you, mark, because when i talked with kevin corke earlier about elon musk, i know you are trying to get a star link for your helicopter so you can go after people and put them in contact with people they love. it's very important, why? >> if we had a star link on board, which we are trying to get but haven't had any luck yet, we could go into these places where these people are trapped and have no communication and they can come up to us and we can let them sign on for as long as we are there and they can get communication out to family, friends, tell everybody they are all right, tell them what they need. it's just imperative we try to at least get one for us to ride around. i can't imagine not being able to talk to anybody, even if they know you are alive or not. >> trace: the cofounder of save our allies said this about f

call fema.ou can also apply at disasterassistance.gov. i know a lot of folks are still without power in florida. anthony isn't detroit on the line for independence. good morning. caller: good morning. talking about health care, very important. i've had some big expenses, but i think, going to get insurance soon through my job. it's important to me, but i actually wanted medicare for all , which kamala said she supported in 2020 and totally slipped off that mat. i think medicare for all would be the best way. too much paperwork, too much bureaucracy with the private companies. host: anthony, where does health care rank for you in terms of importance as you are deciding how to vote in november? caller: i'd say it's about number two or three, right behind all the wars we've got going on. behind that, health care is two or three. i can't believe bernie sanders, that was his big issue. look at him, he sold out. he ain't even talking about medicare for all anymore. the corporate democrats, that is why

, fema has over $22 billion available to them so there's no way that fema is running out of money heremaria: why did the head of the entire division, the secretary of homeland security alejandro mayorkas tell us last week that fema was running out of money. >> i think of my experience with the secretary mayorkas, it is difficult to know when he's telling the truth and when he is it but this particular individual has never been forthright, to the people or congress, it is a scare tactic in my opinion, fema has enough money, what they don't have is enough solid good leadership. maria: i want to talk to you about this worry that they are is intermingling with this money, i understand the republicans are saying these are two separate funds but why did karine jean-pierre tell us two years ago that fema was going to be helping in fema money was going to help illegal immigrants, watch this. >> fema of the original administrators have been meeting with city officials to courtney available federal support from fema and other federal agencies, funding is also available through fema emergency foo

fema, they supported the strike. he met me on the tarmac and i appreciate all that's been done for south carolina but he was tell me about how the people running the ports are making too much money and me and governor master said mr. president if you don't get these ports up and running were going to run out of medicine and our hospitals, these ports are a lifeline to the people would been devastated. you're adding misery to pain and it looks like we've had a breakthrough but there is no sense, the urgency that we need is missing. i promise you president trump would be all over this. star link has been a godsend. i hope people are looking. >> sean: you can thank trump and elon musk for that. >> elon musk god bless you. i've been going all over south carolina like most people i have not slept much but what's going on in israel equate surrounded by people that want to kill them destroyed them a second holocaust in the making and biden says be proposed no, what is a proportional response to people wanted to kill you and

also standing that no, fema is not going to run out of money and that fema cannot seize your property. that is trump trying to save his constituents from misinformation spreading rapidly. he is not alone. when social accounts started spreading a false rumor that fema was hiring private security contractors spreading lies like this can have serious consequences. she has spent much for careers spreading anti-somatic, anti- tran23. imagine how bad the misinformation has to be for her to say enough is enough you are endangering people's lives. same can be said for rubio. telling his social media followers, another fake job a supporter, all of the fake numbers in the world, telling his followers the path of hurricane milton you see, the problem here, right, the big lie circulating about fema. >>, la spent all her fema money, billions of dollars on housing for illegal migrants. >> the housing assistance under fema almost any reasonable person would think would have. >> they can't even it take care people in north carolina from hurricane because they are too busy taking care of illegal alien

fema has been here, so has the national guard, in fact, fema saying assistance for helene has already topped $210 million. and david, one more thing tonight. a sign of the times, fema saying they put up a website called hurricane helene rumor response. david? >> david: responding to the rumors tonight, as well as to the tragedy there on the ground. morgan, thank you. >>> it was one year ago, the hamas terror attack inside israel. tonight, people across israel and right here in the u.s. remembering those who were killed, and the nearly 100 hostages who are still being held by hamas. tonight here, matt gutman with the american wife and her message, with her husband still being held, one year later. matt from israel again this evening. >> reporter: tonight, one year after hamas' surprise terror attack on israel, the israeli military pounding hamas in gaza just today. and now, expanding the effort to target hezbollah in lebanon, too, with strikes again today. across israel today, people marking the moment hamas terrorists murdered 1,200 people one year ago. at the scene of the nova music

now the head of fema is pushing back.ecord straight after her and has been related accused of inadequate response to hurricane helene by former president trump. >> kamala spent all of her fema money, billions of dollars for housing on illegal migrants. >> she responded on cnn. >> it's false and no funding has been taken from the disaster relief funds. >> the last two weeks fema has distributed $1 million to shelter migrants in cities across the u.s. but the white house and fema both say that is a separate deposit program, not for disaster relief adding no funds have been diverted. it comes assess the federal government rushes to prepare florida for a second hurricane. governor ron desantis saying on monday the government is working with his state. >> we have gotten what we need from the feds. >> the federal government also sending 500 troops to north carolina to help with search and rescue efforts and to bring aid to people left with little after hurricane helene. have they come to your neighborhood and knocked on the doo

why is fema hording cash right when people need it most?ven inspector general for homeland security said fema could access $7 billion here. >> i mean, so frustrating that mayorkas is in the house and tells you where the house is relating to secretary mayorkas. hay care more about illegal immigrants and giving illegal immigrants housing and money than they do american citizens. that's where we are at in our country with the biden harris administration. my district and the biggest issue we have is we have debris on the side of the road from hurricane helene. we're mott going to be able to get it up before this next hurricane hits us, milton is coming right at us. people that experienced a 5-7-foot storm surge may experience a 12-foot storm surge and the fact that our fema administrator and our secretary of homeland security in charge of that is ignoring the needs of americans is very, very frustrating. liz: watch dogs warning that fema is running slush funds and they can spend however it chooses and dhs inspector general going for them sittin

>> fema has what they need right now. >> okay. i want to talk a little bit more about what both you and president biden talked about in this briefing. >> and each of you has talked about many times over the past few days, which is this dangerous misinformation that is coming from a lot of corners including your opponent in the race for the white house several local republican leaders have been pleading with them to stop. have you spoken to gop officials in florida to figure out how to help combat that right now, as it's about to get a whole lot worse. >> well, i'll tell you. i have spoken with local officials who had been struck, for example, by hurricane helene and they are doing an extraordinary job in trying to combat the misinformation. and i'm talking about sheriff some talking about mayor's. i'm talking about local officials. i don't we even know their party affiliation by the way, but leaders on the ground who know that it is not in the best interest of the people living in those areas to not know their rights, not to know

literally what is fema.hose house got really -- meets with a fema person, a place for everything in my getting at 750 that transcend that she supposed to get their markets approved for $20 for personal items. what is not going to? that literally where she got her entire first floor is wiped out, we hold everything off,'s counsel what is fema? and being a mayor -- >> so did amy get the full 750. >> eighty-nine -- paper $20, no when cover was in her refrigerator. >> john you're the coroner in avery county so you know, sean, he would have the information on the people in his county pennsylvania new york city police, fire, outpouring of individual indices and people just coming down and helping us has been wonderful. citizens helping citizens, neighbors helping neighbors and how we've gotten bibee made the initial response was very slow and i understand that, nobody could prepare with the british but on the fourth day -- >> your national guard -- so you understand what response should be, where it should be. >>

i want to bring in the former administrator for fema.ore that, he served as director for florida's emergency management. so glad you're with us tonight because unfortunately more and more people are confused about who fema is. help us understand what is the first thing fema is going to do once the storm passes? >> work with the governor. i think that's the thing people keep confusing. the theme is not the initial response, but the governor, the state, local officials. fema has deployed 13 search and rescue teams that will be going out as the state directs them. but the initial response is really the responder for fema supporting that. then as they start getting assessed of how bad and where the heavy hit areas are, i would imagine they would ask for more assistance from fema, the president, and fema will be working to administer that. it's really important fema is not the initial response. what did you think of how they handlinged that part of the crisis? getting people prepared, out of the storm's eye, but not getting people overly pani

at the end of the day,s it's fema money, and they used fema money for illegal migrants which is whatyour colleagues just told us. here's what he said, watch. then i'll get your response. >> this worry that there, in fact, is intermingling with this money. i understand the republicans are saying these are two separate funds -- >> two different pots of money is irrelevant. i think what the biden-harris administration has done is they have twisted the mission of fema, and now they're using fema money to support illegal aliens coming into this country. that should never be the mission of fema, you know? maria: i mean, mr. chairman, can you believe this? we are looking at florida and north carolina, people hanging on from trees to, you know, to stay alive. they've lost everything because of these storm surges, and now they're worried that fema doesn't have any money to help them? why? because they used the money? kamala harris and alejandro mayorkas used the money for illegal migrants? is this true? >> you know, maria, it's absolutely heartbreaking to see what's happened in appalachia. bu

fema is ready.e are here to save lives and that's exactly what we are postured to do for these incidents. >> fema says it will be utilizing other federal agencies to help out. it also says it has folks who don't normally respond to disasters but who are trained to do that who are going to be surged into florida after this storm to help out. they say they are ready. we will see how it goes. stuart: thank you very much indeed. real estate guy mitch rishel joins me now. are these storms going to make it unaffordable for residents of florida to ensure their homes? >> i think right now it is unaffordable for many floridians to ensure their homes. the last 2 or 3 years as a result of other storms the premiums have skyrocketed and some companies have dropped their insurance and said we won't ensure you because there is too much risk. fast forward, two massive acts of god hitting florida, it could be an epic wipeout of people's ability to afford insurance. stuart: with that not be a serious impediment to fl

how is fee mal fema out of mond? >> fema is not out of money.as has access to $8 billion of funding from the fema disaster relief funds accumulated since 2012. as i've said, as mike johnson has said, congress is ready to replenish the funding as soon as we get back to washington. they have the money to take care of florida, north carolina and georgia. they need to get about delivering it and listening to what their governors are asking and meeting those governors' requests. maria: is that money frozen for some reason? >> this is where the inspector general says no. congress' staff says no, they have access to the funding. but mayorkas is using this i guess for political purposes but who are we want to believe anybody in the mayorkas administration, he's been impeached by congress because incompetent. he's a terrible, misleading member of the president's cabinet and a disservice to the government. so i don't think anyone in congress has any confidence in mayorkas or what mayorkas says. maria: what about the money from fema used for i illegal migr

they desperately need fema if aid, but fema is out of disaster funding. d.c. watchdogs warn the biden white house has been quietly turning fema into a services agency for illegal aliens. let's get right to fox news if senior congressional correspondent chad pergram live from capitol hill. you got the story. what's going on? >> reporter: liz, good afternoon. the department of homeland security says claims that the migrant crisis is leaving dry hurricane resources are, quote, false. that said, republicans asked why there's money for a manmade disaster like the border but not a natural disaster. >> everyone should be waking up this morning outraged by that comment. this is not something that has just happened recently. and now, right now in florida, north carolina, tennessee the, georgia, all of these states are hurting because of this truly natural disaster, not a biden-harris-made disaster. >> reporter: congress loaded fema's disaster relief fund with $20 the billion last week, but a storm of thissing magnitude could exhaust those resources quickly. dhs says mo

there are plenty of people from fema working hard,le from but a of taking money out of fema to help illegal immigration, illegal immigrl immigrants is jt really unconscionable. you know where i'm going to get money help with this disaster. there's a couple of hundred billion dollars. the inflation reduction act, which was which was justh y th a democratic giveaway that hasn't been spent. bet we take the money from the inflation reduction act and apply it to this disastern and to thi. >> that's what i'll be trying to do. wanted me the guard. why don't we mobilize the military? why don't weake at get military equipment in there? >> my understanding is not slow. yeah. okay. can i stopg. can i you?govern governor mcmaster has done a hell of a job. the south carolinas done a national guard was mobilized on day one. every person i met singing the praises of the south carolina national guard. that was done by ourd that w governor. there are no dod assets really been yet. 1000 the military, a thousand, i think, went to north carolinne . they need to get in on gro. the ground. again, this has been s

i had the fema administrator on back and forth about fema money going to immigrants. thought about funding does fema have enough money? >> brit: that's right. one thing to keep in mind, bret about fema. first of all, fema is not basically a first responder. it does generate a lot of supplies. it comes in and helps out. it puts stuff on the ground. no doubt about that. no role. first responder work is principally the responsibility of the states, the localities, and to considerable extent as well private organizations, charities and so forth. they do remarkable work as we have seen in north carolina in particular. the second thing about it is that fema's funding is often done through a case-by-case appropriations. so, there will be some money appropriated, fema will use it new disasters come along, you can't predict when they are going to be. can't budget for them. supplemental measures being passed i'm sure there will be some needed here. fema may on paper running out of money for further disasters, but, this would hardly be the first time when more money had to be in

call fema.ou can also apply at disasterassistance.gov. i know a lot of folks are still without power in florida. anthony isn't detroit on the line for independence. good morning. caller: good morning. talking about health care, very important. i've had some big expenses, but i think, going to get insurance soon through my job. it's important to me, but i actually wanted medicare for all , which kamala said she supported in 2020 and totally slipped off that mat. i think medicare for all would be the best way. too much paperwork, too much bureaucracy with the private companies. host: anthony, where does health care rank for you in terms of importance as you are deciding how to vote in november? caller: i'd say it's about number two or three, right behind all the wars we've got going on. behind that, health care is two or three. i can't believe bernie sanders, that was his big issue. look at him, he sold out. he ain't even talking about medicare for all anymore. the corporate democrats, that is why

fema funding was part of it. were a variety of for voting against it when you're a storm like this to those details matter? >> is part of the politicalization. apply thisgu came up because republicans will tell you, they told me some of their camps are getting it they supposedly voted against fema and voting is other things in this bill. also have to add after hurricane sandy was a big dispute in congress over funding and recovery funds over that storm. it would not surprise f me if we see something similar later this year after the election. >> anthony and brooklyn republican. >> yes, why it was a fema only offering $750 to people from the disaster? >> we talked about them that before. as the initial money fema offered for immediate needs like a medicine, food, clothing for those folks. and then you have to apply for more money. that's with the number of the seven comes from. gary in new jersey democratic collar. >> yes i have a couple of questions. one, the effect of the $750 was registered from the last caller

roll that tape. >> biden did not take a fema relief money to use coordinating for fema and other federal agencies and we'll continue to do what we can as a federal government to support the cities as we rebuild our asylum processing system after it was gutted by the trump administration. david: g senator, they're saying this and then the on the other hand they're saying something different. i leave it to you to find out what's going on. >> country is in a mess and the world is in a mess, this administration, david, has no clue what they're doing. aye been in the senate for going on 40 years and been like this the entire time. when it comes to spending money, they know how to do that, but don't know how to prepare for anything. go back to north carolina. first of all, it's not about money at north carolina the first few days, it's about security, people on the ground like military helping find people stranded, opening up roads. doing the things to get communication into the area in north carolina. they heard zero from fema for five or six days and it was a disaster. it has continued to be

i was briefed by the fema administrator along with more than 1000 fema personnel. there are significant water and wind damage across central florida. as of this morning over 3 million customers are without power, structures have been severely damaged and collapsed, and tragically we know that lives have been lost. we are praying for them and their loved ones. right now, search-and-rescue is our highest priority and we are also praying for those who are unaccounted for for their safe return. it is very significant that many follow local guidance and evacuated ahead of landfall. we cannot minimize the impact of that. it is imperative that everyone continues to follow the direction of local officials. milton may have passed, but the danger it poses has not. downed power lines, floodwaters, non-potable drinking water, and debris are creating deadly conditions. keep listening to local officials and shelter-in-place until it is safe to do so. only use generators when and where it is safe to do so. you can find more tips on staying safe after a storm on the fema app or by

let's discuss with former fema administrator craig a few gate craig, good to see you this morning. first, can we talk? talk about just the potential dangers of this, the fact that fema now has to take away some of its very valuable resources away from these disaster areas. just to focus on, on controlling these rumors and how these rumors can also be potentially life-threatening well, thanks. >> first of all, it doesn't take a lot of resources to do this so it's not taking away from her response. what is really focused on his misinformation. that's harming people look fema is used to being criticized and quite honestly, that's part of the response in disasters this isn't about defending criticism. it's about making sure people have good information especially we start recovering. >> and the first thing is he was not leading this response. bemis supporting the governor, every one of these states that are hit it's led by the governors and famous and support and that's not a cop-out. that's how the system works. >> so when you talked about this response, i think theme is become a verb

that's what fema does.ple -- lifetime civil servants who have been working on disaster relief and once upon a time that wasn't considered a partisan issue. trump has politicized it in a way that we've never seen before. you know, another example of something he's done that nobody has ever done before and as you pointed out the shelter program which is a fraction of the $20 billion budget, was created by congress precisely to help cities that were in need because sometimes because they had a lot of legal immigrants and sometimes because they were suffering from disaster and they needed that help. it's money that's prescribed by congress. once again, he has politicized something that was once upon a time not political. and i think people have to understand that, you know, this idea that goes back to ronald reagan that you know, government isn't the solution, government is the problem. he's still exploiting that ignorance on the part of people that don't understand that government is there to help. i know i so

about fewhat about fema? fema? i haven't seen him. i don't know anything about fema as far as them coming around. me this is the first time i've ever had to experience anything like this. sonce an i don't know what protl is. so i'm just being patient and waitintient g. ar i have heard rumors that they are around, but i haven't seen anybody. and we're right here in the middle of ground zero. we arehtinso and we've been hery day. so it's not that we've missed thems no. we just miss them. it's just been amazing that it's beensnack a real comy effort. yeah. yeah. like i tel. l you, it just brings me to tears to see people chipped in likeyork pos this right now. the new york post, some others have reporteothers hd that basiy fema and fema has allocated $1.4 billion. that money was allocated for illegal migration crisis. mm-hmm. not for hurricanes, not for natural disasters, for, no the illegal migration crisis. when you hear that as a taxpayer, what goes through your mind? anger. r pe you should look out for your people that are helping yo

these staffing challenges at fema are nothing new.e've known about them for years, in fact, a government accountability office report from last year raised concerns about staffing revealing a 35% shortfall at the agency, and because of the response to helene and we'll see what happens after milton, house oversight chair james comer says once the dust settles on these hurricanes he wants to bring in the head of fema for a congressional hearing. >> i think we need to have a complete review of fema, just like we did with the secret service when the house oversight committee brought in kimberly cheatle. it was apparent to the word that the secret service wasn't up to the task. there are a lot of questions for fema. reporter: yeah, so, we'll wait for that potential hearing. comer says it could be scheduled for mid-november. maybe we'll get more answers about the response to helene but in the meantime, the fema administrator has been on all sorts of platforms today, including briefings with the president and in the white house press briefin

. >> we haven't seen fema and we haven't seen red cross.have seen -- most people with their cameras out and fema don't stop. >> laura: when this is allowed to happen, how do we even qualify as a superpower anymore? how can the people running things this heartless and this incompetent? ensuring that we have money and supply set aside for emergency is a basic duty of government officials. so, we expect when we allow our fellow citizens, we help them when under siege by natural disaster like this, that are top officials will be fully engaged. but as hurricane victims are waiting for relief, kamala was rallying supporters in vegas. six days after the lights went out and the floodwaters rose in georgia, she did finally do a drive-by. >> federal relief and assistance that we have been providing has included fema providing $750 for folks who needed immediate needs being met such as food to, bay b formula, and the like. >> laura: imagine losing your house, your transportation, basic necessity and people looking for diapers. earlier today i was watc

>> fema manages their budget.n they start seeing that those funding levels -- this is a disaster relief fund. this is a separate appropriation that congress passes for disaster response, can't be used for anything else. and as those funds come down, fema will start slowing down spending on permanent work from older disasters to make sure they have funding available for this initial response. as that continues, there will be a request, and it won't be just f fema, it will be army corps of engineers, hud, a variety of federal programs needed for these disasters and past disasters. right now, fema has the money to do the initial response, but when it comes to long-term rebuilding, congress is going to have to appropriate more funds, more tax dollars for this rebuilding. >> knowing that's what is leading to a lot of concern, now to get those funds out quickly, especially in a time like this, when there's so many other demands on the budget. we'll check back in soon. appreciate you joining us today. >>> it's not just f

to coordinate available federal support from fema and other federal agencies. we'll finish to do what -- continue to do what we can as a federal government to support the cities as we rebuild our asylum process system after it was gutted by trump administration. >> on one hand they say this and the other hand the opposite, i leave it to you no try to figure out what is happening. >> our country is in a mess, the world is in a mess. this administration has no clue what they are doing. i have been in senate on 4 years it has been like this entire time. with spend money, they know how to do, that but they don't know how to prepare for anything. back to north carolina, first, it is not about money at north carolina, the first few days about security, people on the ground like military, helping find people that are stranded. opening up roads, doing the things to get communication into the area in north carolina, they heard zero from fema for 5 or 6 days, it was a disaster. and it has continued to be a disaster, more people still missing. david this administration, m

along with more than 1000 fema personnel. there is significant water and wind damage across central florida. as of this morning over 3 million customers are without power. structures have been severely damaged or collapsed. and tragically, no that lives have been lost. we are praying for them. and their loved ones. right now search-and-rescue is our highest priority, and we are also praying for those who are unaccounted for and for their safe return. it is very significant that many followed local guidance and have evacuated ahead of landfall. cannot minimize the impact of that. it is imperative that everyone continues to follow the direction of local officials. milton may have passed, that the danger it poses has not. downed power lines, flood waters, non-potable drinking water, and debris are creating deadly conditions. keep listening to local officials and shelter-in-place until it is safe. if told to do so. only use generators when and where it is safe to do so. you can find -- people can find more tips on staying safe af

fema, governor desantis is leading this response, fema is supporting them, so you've got a lot of resources that the state is managing and fema supporting that. >> neil: so you are confident authorities, everyone seems to be working well with everyone else. everyone seems to be in sync on this. >> yeah, this is the lesson all the way back to katrina, you can't wait until disaster happens to show up, so fema has been in the state operations center since before helene, but i think there's something else we need to talk about, when the storm passes and the danger is over, the danger hasn't ended because there is so many hazards out there but there is also the truth. you are going to be the fastest response for your neighbors. so as soon as it is safe and you are okay, check on your neighbors. we are going to save more people just doing that because the public -- as much as we talk about government -- ♪ ♪ >> judge jeanine: hello, everyone. i'm judge jeanine pirro along with jessica tarlov, jesse watters, dana perino, and greg gutfeld. it's 5:00 in new york city, and this is "the five." ♪ ♪ fox

is out of phone a fema administrator doubled down yesterday. >> we don't have enough money to -- toun into -- funding -- just what we've been doing through helene as well as preparations for milton. maria: now joe biden is urging congress to come back approve more money for fema, by the end of the year vice president harris still under fire for yesterday two days ago saying she is going to send 158 million dollars to lebanon. lebanon, residents at least six states struggle to recover from helene, fox peter days ie pressed karine jean-pierre. >> president biden saying show me budget i will tell you what you value if you have money for people in lebanon right now continuities congress having to come back what does it say about values? there is not enough money for people in north carolina that is not misinformation. >> the way you are asking the question is misinformation you are asking why are congress needs to come back do their job that is what you are asking me congress needs to come back do their job provide extra assistance funding disaster reef funds what congress needs to do w