landrieu: thank you. had to slip away from the floor for just a few minutes and i understand that no one from the other side has come down to speak this afternoon. i can't say i blame them, because it's a very tough position to take. we're getting ready to take a very important vote in just five minutes on whether we're going to provide disaster relief for the country. and particularly for the east coast that's been so terribly hit with hurricane irene an then of course tropical storm lee who came up from the gulf coast. but then it dumped additional rain in an area that was already saturated. we have wildfires in texas, we have the destruction still in joplin, missouri, and places throughout the midwest and the question is for americans in all of these states -- democrats, republicans, and independents and some that are totally unaffiliated with the political process is -- is congress going to help? and our answer today needs to be "yes." we need to fill the fema coffers that are empty. our fiscal year e

i want to recognize the leadership, senator landrieu. she chairs the homeland security subcommittee on appropriations. she's our expert on disasters. she's done a wonderful job in maintaining this in the eyes of the public. friday morning's vote we established beyond a shadow of the house that the senate can't pass the house-passed c.r. it got 36 votes. with today's vote senate republicans are showing they'll back up the house vote on the question of offsetting spending in 2001. that's the vote we just took. today's news also points a away of understanding and a way out. today's news story says fema disaster aid has enough money to last through this fiscal year. this afternoon i received word from jack lew of o.m.b. and fema that they'll be able to get through the week without additional funding. that means they can get through the fiscal year without more money. i think that it's very clear this is the right way to go. it shows us the way out. it means we no longer have to fight over 2011 funding. i repeat what i said, mr. president, at

mary landrieu. >> yeah. mary landrieu -- >> a mystery wrapped inside an enigma, wrapped inside a lot of oil money in that state. >> mary landrieu, you are very welcome on the show if you want to talk about that or any other issues. for real. chris hayes, ertd at large of "the nation" and the host of "up with chris hayes," which is an excellent show, and i would say that even if you weren't my friend. congratulations on your success. it's great. >> awesome to have you. i really enjoyed it. >> thanks, chris. the key, the heart, the catalyst of the best new thing in the world today coming up at the end of the show is acting. the imitation of life. thespians. all in the name of social equality. that's just ahead. >>> fair warning because my girlfriend susan is here watching the show tonight and i know she's very concerned about the fate of puppies as seen on television. i'm here to tell you that tonight's show, best new thing in the world, includes a dramatic puppy rescue. the rescue also connects to other large

earlier in the week new orleans mayor mitch landrieu declared an emergency over there.ernor jindal also announced the state laugh la is shutting down the oyster grounds until the storm is over. let's bring in one of the largest seafood providers. to be transparent here, we would tell you that he's running for lieutenant governor of louisiana. billy nun gasser. i know you've been watching the foreclosu forecasts closely. what are your concerns this. >> our concerns are with 15, 20 inches of rain projected, this sits over one area, populated area for any length of time will see severe flooding. we're hoping to get breaks in between the bands and give the pumps a chance to catch up. that's our main concern as well as the levees that have been authorized by congress. the corps is not starting construction on them. 3.5 feet levees that we're expecting to be close to over the top in the middle of plaque um's parish. >> what about the ones that are already there. how concerned are you when it comes to potential storm surge? >> we've had those levees, we saw a breach and during

landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i know that the short debate that we had just in the last couple of hours and the votes are important about the senate and figuring out a way to move forward on some of the trade agreements that are pending and the important ways to make sure american workers are not left behind but actually helped and supported. and those issues are very, very important. but i come to the floor today to talk again about another important issue that's pending before the congress right now that's of extreme importance to millions and millions of americans that are following this debate through the viewing of the procedures here on the senate floor and in the house and also following on twitter and other internet sites and opportunities on their local news and radio stations about what we're d

landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i wanted to come to the floor and spend the next 15 minutes or so and maybe even longer to support the arguments made just recently and i might say eloquently and passionately by the senator from michigan. who was one of the key architects of this very successful job creation program that the republican house leadership is trying to kill. that is in large measure what this debate this weekend and through next week is about. and that is why almost unanimously democrats in the senate are supporting our democratic caucus in the house as we try to bring this debate forward so the american people can understand it and hopefully give their voice of support for what we're trying to do, keep government operating, and keep jobs being created in this country. which is a struggle. we know we're not creating as many as we would like but one of the programs that's creating thousands of jobs and has broad, broad support in america america -- and i'm going to read the groups supporting it in just a

mayor mitch landrieu says the pumps are all working but the city cannot breathe easy yet in the big easyikely to cause headaches as it heads for the northeast. jacqui jeras joins us now. labor day could be a washout for a lot of people. you have been busy following fires, tornadoes. >> you basically have to live out west if you are looking for a nice holiday weekend. it is not good along the east coast. lee is a depression now. the winds are weaker. it doesn't really change anything. this is an inland flood maker. that continues to push to the north and east. it picked up forward speed. it will be hovering across the deep south and a lot of roadways will be flooded. we also have the tornado threat so make sure you have your noaa weather radio on tonight. it's dark outside. you can't see. we have had a little bit of damage in mississippi. we have had damage from the cold front coming from tornadoes. look at the video we got in. this is incredible. this is in upstate new york. it's in a small town called cranesville. the tornado crossed the new york thruway and caused quite a bit of damage

landrieu: thank you. mr. president, i wanted to get here a little bit earlier this morning and was chairing a panel and was unable to get here, so i know i only have, i think, 10 or 15 minutes or so before the senator from texas speaks. so i really appreciate the opportunity just to say a few words about our disaster recovery and the debate going on between the house and the senate about that. yesterday the house was unable to find the votes to pass the continuing resolution, and one of the issues of debate is how and when to fund our disasters. so i wanted to -- there are a lot of people following this debate, so i wanted to bring a few people up on a couple of recent developments. first, the chamber of commerce has submitted a letter to us strongly objecting to the house using the alternative advanced technology vehicle manufacturing as an offset to fund disasters. and i'd like to submit this to the record. it is a position that the democrats and some republicans have taken that this is not the right way to

evacuations have begun just in case and the mayor of new orleans, mitch landrieu, he'll be holding a news conference as they are all watching this disturbance as well heading precariously closely to their government line. we'll keep an eye on all of it and let's move on to some other news. moammar gadhafi, a la saddam hussein, is threatening to plunge his country into a drawn out civil war, but did you know it is 42 years to the day since a much younger gadhafi seized control of libya in a military coup. now presumably on the run but apparently still alive, gadhafi is extorting supporters -- exhorting -- excuse me, exhorting supporters to fight to the death. here's his message. this was aired today on a syrian tv station. >> translator: go. use -- use the guns. go and fight an fight and we're going to fight from one place to the other, from town to town, until we show them that this battle is going to be very long and then they will regret. you want a long battle? we are ready for them. you want war? you've got war. >> you get war as you just heard from moammar gadhafi purportedly. w

landrieu: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu: mr.ident, i'd like to speak for up to 15 minutes and may extend my time as the debate goes. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i'd like to follow up on the remarks of leader reid by reminding everyone how this unfortunate but in some ways necessary situation is that we're in. this whole debate which, in my view, is worth having, it's unfortunate that it's so close to the end of the year because the senate actually offered a bill, as you may remember, earlier in september to try to avoid getting to this last minute. but this whole controversy started when republican leader cantor just a few days after hurricane irene had raked the east coast and wreaked havoc from north carolina through connecticut into vermont and new hampshire, which people are still reeling over, a few days after that the way this controversy started was when representative cantor said, "before we can provide help, we need to find an offset in the budget." in other words, b

in fact mayor mitch landrieu of new orleans has urged residents to clean storm drains and open up catch basins. >> the city of new orleans is taking all necessary precautions as i said earlier today i issued a declaration of emergency so we could have as much flexibility and authority to act as quickly as possible. >> reporter: in the wake of katrina, they spent $14 billion shoring up the flood protection system, this includes repairs to the floodgates, the levees and the pumping system and also making sure they have got strong enough floodgates to stop a storm surge from lake pontchartrain. back to tropical storm lee, a very slow moving system. here's that forecast now going over the next couple of days, and we're talking about a lot of rain as it jogs toward the coast, it's expected to move onshore sometime tomorrow or on sunday. spot some spots could see as much as 10 to 20 urges of rain. and it will cause flooding. but because down here on the gulf coast it's flat and we do have sandy soil, we're not going to see anything like that we have seen in the past week following hurricane i

picture i'm tom hartman coming up in this half hour republicans can't stop talking about the failed so landrieu alone i'll be trying to turn into a phony scandal to cut off funding for your green energy projects that are so dire that willing to sacrifice our nation's future security and prosperity just to win political points against president obama and the occupy wall street demonstrators have something on their side that the banks do one percent doesn't tell i'll tell you what that is and tonight still each. day the house of representatives passed a short term spending bill putting an end of fears of a government shutdown at the end of the week and closing the book on a bitter political battle over whether or not disaster relief aid should be offset by budget cuts elsewhere but it's a fight that could pick up again in the middle of november when funding for the government runs out again and republicans will once again demand more spending cuts and we already know what programs the republicans will target for these cuts through exploiting the failed government loan that went to solar companies

just getting ready he was gearing up to hold a support sign were guarded list is it too much for landrieu to hide his love for big oil for thirty minutes and listen to what the president of the united states of america has to say i think as we all know big oil has no trouble having their views and opinions heard in washington d.c. when they spend two hundred. the million dollars a year on lobbying congress that was back in two thousand and ten according to open secrets for your information i'm pretty sure they don't need the advertising for a freshman member of congress with anthrax like this it's really not hard to understand how congress has a fourteen percent job approval rating and not surprisingly this is not the first time congressman landry has had a public issue with president obama he was invited to the white house back in june to talk about the deficit crisis but he refused at the time saying this he said i don't intend to spend my morning being lectured to by a president who has failed policies have put our children and grandchildren in a huge burden of debt all right this is e

landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i know we've had several speeches in the last couple of hours on very important topics, the jobs bill, our efforts to stimulate the recovery, a response from our democratic leader to senator sessions, and the good senator who was just speaking talking about health care. but i've come to focus our attention, if i could, again this afternoon -- we spent most of yesterday talking about a matter that is absolutely right at hand, and that is disaster relief funding, and calling on this senate and the house of representatives to focus some immediate and comprehensive thought and attention on this subject, which is affecting so many of our constituents. republicans, democrats, and independents, big cities, small towns, and rural areas, all over this country. in fact, this is the first year in our memory and in i think the recorded recent history that, mr. president, we've had a presidentially declared disaster in 48 of our 50 states. just a few days ago, we along the eastern seaboard and the

martha: before i let you go i want to and you among your fellow senators, jim webb and mary landrieu against the bill as well. are democrats in the senate, starting to leave from the president? >> i think they will and they'll leave on particularly energy issues and the regulatory issues. a lot of these senators are in states where jobs are being killed directly by regulations. and, this is something that would be easy to stop, but the president is just so controlled by labor unions and radical environmentists, that he cannot act in good faith on behalf of the american people. so, republicans and democrats are likely to come together on alternative job ideas and it will be to roll back some of the policies of this president. martha: very interesting if they come together and the president is outside of that discussion. senator jim demint, it is always good to get your in sight, sir, thank you so much for coming today. good to see you, the author of the book "great american awakening." bill: 20 minutes past the hour, a republican just won new york's 9th congressional district. why is

martha: and talk about this: look at what mary landrieu is saying from louisiana, she's a democrat as well, of course and comes from the energy producing state of louisiana, where she's none too happy about the plan to help pay for the $447 billion bill by using basically -- relieving tax and oil subsidies from producers in those commodities in her state. and she says that is not the way to go. hers her quote: "that offset is not going to fly and he should know that. maybe it is just for his election, which i hope is not the case. those are pretty song words. bill: two of the lawmakers, too and we have a list of a dozen, a dozen senators on the senate side alone, 11 of whom are democrats and one independent, joe lieberman have different issues with the jobs plan, either it is too conservative or too liberal and they are going through it now and rand paul is a tea party member on the senate side, who was with us last hour and believers it is a make or break moment, for the presidency. and, he expects, you know, if you want to get it passed, you have to make changes to the bill, and, th

mary landrieu has just been an amazing leader on this issue.just hearing her on the floor again, convinced of the importance of getting the funds and never giving up until we got them. debbie stabenow made it clear to the caucus how important the job as portion of the bill was and how to trade jobs on the one hand to help victims on the other was unfair and wrong and she succeeded and congratulations to you. now it took longer than i should have that for the disaster victims across the country help is on the way. all of us hope disaster aid would have been settled two weeks ago when the senate acted in a bipartisan way on a package to fully fund fema. but the house insisted on a different approach that complicated matters needlessly. against the urging of many of their own party blocking the house to hold that to impose a political agenda but to insisted that we sacrifice critical jobs programs in order to afford aid for hurricane victims putting the poor victims of the hurricane against workers who just found work because of the successful job

mayor mitch landrieu telling residents to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. we have fox team coverage right now. casey stegall on the ground in new orleans. meteorologist maria molina tracking the storm in the fox extreme weather center. first, we go to meteorologist maria molina. >> right now the center of the storm system is 40 miles southwest of morgan city, louisiana. the center of it is starting to approach the bay. that is something to keep an eye on. this is large. if you look at the satellite, rin over central portion of mississippi and thunderstorms firing up offshore in the yucatan peninsula. this is a large storm system and a slow-mover. plan to see up to 20 inches of rain locally. generally speaking we are looking to 10 to 15-inchs of rain there is report that seven inches have fallen across southeastern louisiana and it will continue through monday because the center of the storm will be a slow-mover. this isn't exactly bad news for the gulf coast states. we are currently under a drought across the state here. but when you get that rain in a shor

landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i wanted to come to the floor and join my colleagues who were here just a few minutes ago talking about the importance of funding -- robust funding and immediate funding for disaster relief in our country. the senator -- the leader reid came to the floor to explain the importance of this issue, followed by the senator from north dakota, senator conrad, who has himself helped to lead portions of his state back literally from the brink of destruction several times. so when a member like senator conrad speaks, we really should listen. he has been through, excuse me, hell and back in parts of his state. and he really does understand what is at stake here. and some members who think they know about disasters and have not really quite experienced them in their state would be well-advised to listen to his plea to get this done right now. i want to address three specific statements that have been made on the floor of the senate by my friends on the other side of the aisle that are, with all d

forward, how important is it that senator bob casey, democratic senator ostensibly, jim webb, mary landrieu, other democrats are complaining about the jobs act in public to the press by name including complaining about the president's perceived motives on the jobs act? >> i thought those -- i thought those quotes were really shocking that were in the "new york times." and i think they were shocking for a few reasons. one, tom carper in delaware had this quote where he basically parroted a completely ahistorical, empirically ignorant and economically ignorant theory of the case in which we have to have long-range deficit reduction in order -- that's what a real jobs bill looks like. i mean, that is what extreme right-wing senators say. here is a democrat from a safe state of delaware saying that kind of thing. it is craziness. and the only reason i think he's saying it is because they believe it. they all believe, they have all bought this big lie of the fact that long-term deficit reduction is actually what is going to get the economy going in the short term. and there is essentially no evi

. >> mary landrieu's got a problem with it because it goes after oil companies. louisiana senators always, always protect the oil industry. that was predictable. we could see that coming. what other problems do they have with what other democrats in the is that the? >> well, last night i had an interesting conversation with kay hagen, the democratic senator from north carolina. she was elected in 2008 on the ticket with barack obama. barack obama won north carolina by less than half of 1 percentage point. kay hagen reminded me that she had won her race in north carolina by nine points. so i don't know how many of those nine points she's willing to give up for the sake of her president. she's concerned because she wants to look and see, again, if big pieces of legislation with big names on them are going to be able to be sold to her constituents back in north carolina. a lot of people were urging barack obama do something, do something, do something. he came up with a big bill with a big number. but the problem is for a sort of moderate democrat like kay hagan fro

mitch landrieu says the city is keeping a watchful eye on the slow-moving storm. >> this is sitting there and it won't make up its mind what it wants to do. you have to be very, very careful. >> reporter: but back in the bayou, where they're used to this flooding, curtis is taking the storm in stride. >> cleaning everything off, waiting for it to come back, we'll pick it up the worms as the water go down to go fishing again. >> reporter: well, no one is bringing out their fishing rods just yet. the storm watch continues along the gulf coast all the way from texas to the florida panhandle. the tornado watch is still in effect for south louisiana, and a thunderstorm is now moving over new orleans metro. back to you. >> charles hadlock in new orleans, thank you. a check on where the storm's headed from the weather channel's alex wallace. alex, you heard thunderstorms coming into new orleans. where do things stand now with lee? >> it's slowly moving, alex. this thing doesn't want to go anywhere any time soon. the latest stats on it. sustained winds 45 miles per hour, tropical storm, 50 miles

mayor mitch landrieu says despite some flooding, all 24 of the city's storm pumps are working.nly about 200 homes in the city are without power tonight. >>> the former head of the >>> the former head of the international monetary fund dominique strauss-khan has arrived back home in paris. this less than two weeks after sexual assault charges were dropped against him in the u.s. a judge threw out the case against stras khan citing credibility issues with his accuser. a maid at a hotel where he was staying back in may. his troubles are not completely over though. he still faces a civil suit from that woman and another woman in france, a journalist, accuses him of attempted rape. >>> those are the headlines. i'll see you back here at the top of the hour. and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. that's yours. lower cholesterol. lower cholesterol. i'm yummy. lower cholesterol. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste? honey nut cheerios. want whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. it's a win win. good? [ crunching, sipping ] be ha

and senator mary landrieu said that offset is not going to fly, she know that maybe it's just for his election, which i hope isn't the case. so he's got skepticism on both sides. >> and of course he's about to compound his problem when he announces how he wants to do long term deficit reduction by talking about entitlement cuts perhaps in social security and certainly medicare and medicaid. so right now he's not pleasing anybody and rather than building a coalition either on the left or in the center, he's losing people senators from the right, but also liberal members from the left. >> thanks so much. good to see you. >>> and up next, msnbc's rachel maddow live with us here in the studio and the strange but true tale of "don't ask, don't tell." a new peek at the new documentary before the repeal goes in to effect. this is apdree a mitchell reports. . [ venus ] what are they doing to stufy? they're making him triple double. why? this! new triple double oreo. ♪ yo stufy, come here! [ shoes squeaking ] looked better on paper. [ strike! ] helps defends against occasional constipation, di

this isn't made up by mary landrieu. go call craig fugate. go call anybody on this list.u think this is manufactured -- they stopped their projects. why? because fema ran out of money, technically ran out of ney months ago. they're operating on fumes. in other words, they sort of stopped paying all of their regular work that was going on, rebuilding lots of places in america, so they cld give out their emergency aid to the east coast. they had no choice because we didn't give them enough money really to make it through the year. now, i sent a letter on this to the leadership mths ago because, of course, i know this. i'm the chair of the committee. they report to me regularly. they keep saying to me, senator, we're running out of money. we're running out of money. i've been saying this and i'm going to present letters to the record. anyone that follows this, knows this is true. so this is not a manufactured crisis. this whole issue started when representative cantor decided that the way to fix this problem is to cut something in the budget and have to offset something in o

mayor mitch landrieu says despite some flooding, all 24 of the city's storm pumps are working.homes in the city are without power tonight. >>> meanwhile, president obama today got a firsthand look at the damage caused by last weekend's big storm, hurricane irene. he toured hard-hit areas in northern new jersey where irene's torrential rains caused the passaic river to overflow. the president offered moral support and government aid to people struggling to recover from that storm and he said the people hit hard by irene will not be forgotten. >>> the former head of the international monetary fund dominique strauss-khan has arrived back home in paris. this less than two weeks after sexual assault charges were dropped against him in the u.s. a judge threw out the case against stras khan citing credibility issues with his accuser. a maid at a hotel where he was staying back in may. his troubles are not completely over though. he still faces a civil suit from that woman and another woman in france, a journalist, accuses him of attempted rape. >>> in italy, the sister of the woman th

that said, senator landrieu is representing louisiana. she is representing energy interests in this case and expressing that concern. i think with respect to those particular provisions, with what oil prices are today, i do not think the oil companies need added incentives to drill for oil. host: one more and we get to telephone calls. yesterday a conservative group put out a comprehensive list of all 14 tax hikes in the president's stimulus plan. it was appearing all over the internet in various websites. they also highlighted one which they said would raise $4.8 billion of the spectrum tax. a new $4.8 billion hidden tax on wireless consumers levied on users of license spectrum. do you know anything more about this provision? guest: it is sort of like saying the president can launch a nuclear attack on ahi of the checks and balances within government are completels ignored, the sec could raise thr tax.corais actually, it is a pretty simplet policy. opening up more of the spectrum and they are going to auction it so that is a way to alloc

new orleans' mayor mitch landrieu. >> this storm is one of the stranger ones that we've had and how unpredictable it's become. all of the experts have said these rain bands continue to hover around it. >> reporter: which is why the army corps of engineers activated one of its three main pumping stations in new orleans built after hurricane katrina. excess rain water is pulled from the city and dumped into nearby lake ponchartrain. but in the coastal community of lafitte outside new orleans there are no pumps, and the water keeps rushing in. with an evacuation order in effect, dorothy ordered a high- water rescue truck to escape high waters gushing into her trailer. you were trapped. >> i couldn't get out. trees were falling and everything. it was horrible. >> reporter: tropical storm warnings remain in effect from eastern texas all the way to the florida panhandle. charlie, here in new orleans the rain may not stop until monday. >> osgood: thank you. just days before the 9/11 anniversary, the associated press reports the federal government has alerted law enforcement agencies nationwide about a p

that said, senator landrieu is representing louisiana. she is representing energy interests in this case and expressing that concern. i think with respect to those particular provisions, with what oil prices are today, i do not think the oil companies need added incentives to drill for oil. host: one more and we get to telephone calls. yesterday a conservative group put out a comprehensive list of all 14 tax hikes in the president's stimulus plan. it was appearing all over the internet in various websites. they also highlighted one which they said would raise $4.8 billion of the spectrum tax. a new $4.8 billion hidden tax on wireless consumers levied on users of license spectrum. do you know anything more about this provision? guest: it is sort of like saying the president can launch a nuclear attack on a whim. yes, assuming all the checks and balances within government are completely ignored, the fcc could raise the tax. actually it is a pretty sensible policy. they are opening up a more of the electromagnetic spectrum and they are going

but the mayor of -- mitch landrieu of new orleans yesterday was talking about they had gone through thend backup generators that control those pumps and everything is working fine. here in new orleans, obviously with the levee system and canals a lot of this is making sure you can just pump the water out as it comes in. and they seemed confident yesterday they will be able to handle that. having said that, you know, just too much rain falls we've seen in areas here throughout the central business district of new orleans where you've seen rain fall and then you get about a foot of water on a street and come back in an hour and the water is gone. clearly that pumping system and that system for moving the water out of areas seems to be working. but that's probably what you're going to see. might take time for the water to go down. so far here in new orleans, everything seems to be holding up well. >> all right. ed lavandera there for us, thank you as always. just a couple minutes past the top of the hour. say good morning to alexandria steele keeping an eye on this storm for us. you told m

new orleans mayor mitch landrieu said sometimes you get what you ask for.han we needed. if it forms lee wowould be the 12th named storm of the season. that as another storm, katia, brewing for days in the atlantic, could become a major hurricane by this weekend. though so far it's believed it's not on track to make landfall. hurricane irene did not bring the wind damage that people had suspected or feared, but it did bring tremendous amounts of rain and flooding similarly to hurricane katrina which didn't do that much damage in terms of wind but flooded that area of the gulf coast. we're seeing a similar recipe developing now. heavily densely populated areas, lots of wind, very possibly devastating floong. matt gutman, abc news, miami. >> let me tell you, i lived in new orleans for ten years, it does not take a lot for that city to flood badly, even during a heavy rainstorm let alone a tropical system. you heard matt say 20 inches of rain, the storm drains can't keep up with that. it could be a real disaster there. >> i guess because this is such a slow-mov

the mayor, mitch landrieu, joins us on the phone.ou could be looking up to 20 inches of rain in some areas. what are you most concerned? >> anytime we have a potential heavy rainfall over a short period of time and that turns into a potential water event for us. there could potentially be flooding. one of the things of most concern is that this particular depression is for the most part unformed, but it's very close to us. so the governor and the parrish presidents, they are prepared, of course, and you talked earlier to the corp. of engineers, and when it gets wet in a short period of time the water events can become significant. >> with the governor there declaring a state of emergency, what specific preparations can you do right now? what is under way? >> well, first of all, of course, we have been through this many times and we learned a lot from katrina and ike and we have very specific protocols that we follow, and storm gates are being closed and sandbags are being filled, and we're making sure we're in full communication of e

. >> reporter: since taking office in 2010, mayor mitch landrieu is addressing these alarming statisticsamerican men killing other african-american men at a level of violence that's unnatural. what's unique about what's going on now that didn't go on ten years ago, 80% of these individuals know each other. some of it is drug related but it is not gang related. evidently we have a whole generation of young people who have learned how to resolve even the slightest difference by a violent act. >> reporter: peter sharp is a criminologist and tulane university's school of public health and has researched this issue for years. his studies show some residents have become accustomed to violence. >> murder is normal. kids walk around the yellow tape to school. tlp sneakers of dead kids hanging between the buildings so it became part of the culture of some neighborhoods. it's just true. >> reporter: who's responsible for making sure those young men are safe? >> it's everybody's job. it is a problem that starts in the home. it's a problem that continues through the school. it's a problem where peop

. >> it's mayor mitch landrieu. louisiana governor jindal has declared a state of emergency. it was six years ago this week when hurricane katrina came roaring through that city. boy, we've got pictures to show you what it looks like but i don't think anybody is going to forget that. >> i don't want to see that picture anymore. no good memories from that. >> jennifer delgado tracking this system, live from the extreme weather center in atlanta. what's it looking like? i saw you giving these forecasts a little earlier with carol and it looks -- never seen a storm forecast like that. >> yeah. you know, the problem is we don't have any steering winds to push tropical depression number 13 anywhere and over the last several hours it's really been kind of basically stationary. you can start to see more convection popping towards the south and southeastern portion of the storm. you can't pick out a center of circulation. the rain working into parts of louisiana, gusts up to 45 miles per hour, sustained winds at 39 or should say 35 miles per hour. now as i show you the trek, ali, thi

andersen cooper waved a finger and senator landrieu space. exactly how do you go about retracting a post? this would all be for ecg are farmed for these templates not so powerful in shaping public understanding of major events. the notion of the thousands of baghdad he toppling the statue served as the metaphor for an administration's claim that the invaders would be greeted as liberators by the time everyone realized the mistake, a little insurgency was going on. the template version of the new orleans story, a man-made disaster transformed and tripoli merchandise is the freak weather events happening down there in the wacky, corrupt town and mainly the amazing poor black people meant a rapid withering of political will to tackle the real problem before the creator of the disaster, and the unreconstructed army corps of engineers had been handed $14 billion to do a bigger version if we are learning some of the same flaws. it's interesting to note in that context that no official engineer within the army corps suffered any if consequences, not

just ask senator landrieu, who's been leading the battle on this fema bill. you can't tell people out there that they only have 30 days of funding because you have to enter into a contract that may take three, four months to rebuild a bridge. it may take six or seven months to rebuild a water treatment system. but that's the way they approach it over there twhe comes to america -- over there when it comes to america. when it comes to funding wars and rebuilding the zones, i don't hear a peep out of them. not a peep. well, i say it's time for america. we have a choice. we can stand up for america right now today, we can pass these three bills: the fema bill which gives our governors the assurances and the people in our state the assurances that fema will team with them and do what it takes to rebuild after these horrifying emergencies, which by the way are becoming more and more frequent because of climate change, but that's another battle for another day. that's another battle for another day. unfortunately, science in this body here takes a back seat to poli

layoffs of middle-class workers; they stopped us from helping small business by blocking senator landrieu's small business innovation act; they blocked the e.d.a., the economic development act, which would have created a million jobs over five years; they have taken no action on the f.a.a. bill; they have not appointed conferees, and we're can't get that bill done, and that's hundreds of job thousands of jo. when the republicans took control of the house, gross domestic product had grown at an average of 2.5%. now it's down to 0.7%. from 2.5% growth to 0.7. the republican congress put the brakes on job creation and that is a strong reason as to why this economy has slowed. and now even before they've read the fine print in president obama's proposal, they say it's dead on arrival. so let's be clear. again, asking millionaires and billionaires to pay the same as their secretaries is not class warfare. it's moral. mark kubin, the owner. dallas mavericks, says "it's the most patriotic thing you can do." okay? coin stead of crying for millionaires and billionaires, i'm thinking of sending a box

landrieu: if not, i'll take the time to close. i want to say thank you to several members, many members on my side that have helped this week to clarify this issue and to build support for disaster funding for the 48 states that are currently experiencing devastation. i want to thank members on the other side of the aisle, particularly senators blunt, senators vitter, senator rubio, senator snowe, that have lent their voice and their vote to help us get to this point. and i particularly want to thank senator blunt for spending 15 minutes on the floor today saying how crucial this is to his state of missouri, but to the whole country. and i want to thank the members on my side, senators leahy and senator schumer and kay hagan and others that have helped so much this week, senator shaheen, that has been at all the press conferences. senator sanders. now, let me say that this is the only vehicle, the only vehicle that we have before us to do long-term full funding for the disaster relief. this bill will provide help to nebraska, to m

i want to recognize the leadership, senator landrieu. she chairs the homeland security subcommittee on appropriations. she's our expert on disasters. she's done a wonderful job in maintaining this in the eyes of the public. friday morning's vote we established beyond a shadow of the house that the senate can't pass the house-passed c.r. it got 36 votes. with today's vote senate republicans are showing they'll back up the house vote on the question of offsetting spending in 2001. that's the vote we just took. today's news also points a away of understanding and a way out. today's news story says fema disaster aid has enough money to last through this fiscal year. this afternoon i received word from jack lew of o.m.b. and fema that they'll be able to get through the week without additional funding. that means they can get through the fiscal year without more money. i think that it's very clear this is the right way to go. it shows us the way out. it means we no longer have to fight over 2011 funding. i repeat what i said, mr. president, at

that said, senator landrieu is representing louisiana. she is representing energy interests in this case and expressing that concern. i think with respect to those particular provisions, with what oil prices are today, i do not think the oil companies need added incentives to drill for oil. host: one more and we get to telephone calls. yesterday a conservative group put out a comprehensive list of all 14 tax hikes in the president's stimulus plan. it was appearing all over the internet in various websites. they also highlighted one which they said would raise $4.8 billion of the spectrum tax. a new $4.8 billion hidden tax on wireless consumers levied on users of license spectrum. do you know anything more about this provision? guest: it is sort of like saying the president can launch a nuclear attack on a whim. yes, assuming all the checks and balances within government are completely ignored, the fcc could raise the tax. actually it is a pretty sensible policy. they are opening up a more of the electromagnetic spectrum and they are going