virgin islands. >> we are praying for the safety of the families in harm's way and for the heroic first responders who come from across america to hell. we owe the communities facing hurricane florence a solemn pledge in the incredible months of incredible recovery to come the government will do think can to save make them whole. promises we owe every american facing disaster but sadly that promise was that kept for our fellow americans in puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands. at the end of july, a bipartisan delegation of 16 members to puerto rico and the virgin island to see firsthand what still needs to be done. it's our goal to expedite the assistance, the cooperation that would be necessary. it was my honor to be joined on that trip by representative nita velazquez of new, ranking member of the small business community. congresswoman sheila jackson lee who will be joining us shortly of texas and ranking member of judiciary subcommittee on crime, terrorism, and homeland security and investigat

virgin islands. at the end of july, a bipartisan delegation of 16 members to puerto rico and the virgin islands to see firsthand what still needs to be done. it's our goal to expedite the assistance, the cooperation that would be necessary. it was my honor to be joined on that trip by representative nita velazquez of new york, ranking member of the small business community. congresswoman sheila jackson lee who will be joining us shortly of texas and ranking member of judiciary subcommittee on crime, terrorism, and homeland security and investigations, and also a member of the homeland security committee and the budget committee so she takes about three bytes of this apple at least. and, of course, represented stacey plaskett abuse virgin islands ranking member of the oversight and government reform committee of the interior energy and environment committee, a member of transportation infrastructure and agriculture. the three of us, three members and i are part of the 16 member delegation. this month

the president has yet to visit the virgin islands. and we hear almost nothing in the news media about what is happening on the ground in the virgin islands today. i'm really grateful to you for having this. we lost 17 of our 31 public schools. our children were on split sessions where they were sharing facilities and only in school for four hours a day for a year. we still now are trying to bring our schools up to par. we have young people sitting on milk grates. sitting on desks. sitting on blankets on the the floor when school opened this september. so we're far from where we need to be. i think it is the slow walk of this administration and putting out the funding. in terms of having the funding to be in place so we can begin the rebuilding. >> it is stunning the president hasn't been to the virgin islands. one thing the virgin islands, specifically st. john benefited from was private philanthropy. that did a lot. if you didn't have all of that private fill tlphilanthropic su where would you be? >> well, we'd be in a sorry state ri

virgin islands.e don't even know what the response was from the virgin islands. he mainly takes money out of the disaster to put it into immigration. his concerns are about his immigration policies. his racist overtones towards that. happens tocare what americans. for the southerners on your line , he thinkshis man they are help really backwards people, so i don't know where they would hold confidence in him. 2st: last call for this hour, hours left. we will ask you leading up to the midterm elections in november if you have a top issue driving that vote. whether it be a specific issue, general issue, what would you say would be the deciding factor few going to the polls this november and voting? .emocrats, (202) 748-8000 .ndependents, (202) 748-8002 republicans, (202) 748-8001. we will take your calls when "washington journal" continues. ♪ booktv, thoughts on the trump presidency and its detractors in "liars, leakers, and liberals." >> one of my press people said ,jeanine, there is already an articl

virgin islands are not eligible to receive islands, and u.s. virgin islands are not eligible to receive u.s. department of education funding for preschoolers with disabilities. finally, my bill removes a number of antiquated and unnecessary restrictions in current law to allow the u.s. department of education to exercise the same flexibility in awarding oy eye defunding to the -- awarding idea funding to the territories as the department does under other programs. as a daughter of a school teacher and many members in my field as part of education, and someone involved in special education on guam over many, many years, the education of our island's youngsters with disabilities is very close to my heart. students with disabilities and the territories deserve funding less than the full support of the -- nothing less than the full support of their federal government. exactly what my bill would provide. while i will be leaving congress at the end of this year, i'm confident that my colleagues from the other my itories will take on exactll idea pari

virgin islands responding, large group coming from the mainland to assist. that being the only lines of communication in the early days, first few weeks after landfall. it was tremendous to see what they were capable of doing, what kind of communications capacity they could provide, not to mention thousands of health and welfare messages sent back to the mainland to let loved ones know they were okay. it was impressive to see the response and that they're stepping up to do it again with this storm. >> yeah, absolutely. mike corey, thanks for your time and everything you're doing as well. >> thank you. >>> the next hour of cnn news room starts now.

tople were already deployed texas, florida, and the virgin islands. they had to supplant their staff. they had to call in dod to provide more support than they normally provided these disasters. one thing that stuck out october 2017, 54% of an arear working in where they were not qualified. guest: they have a qualification system to determine for its programs who has expertise and who has experience. they use that information to deploy throughout the country to different disasters. open disaster declarations. they have to have expertise in all of the complicated response and recovery programs. a lot of the employees had not reached a level of proficiency that would deem them to be qualified. that has an impact downstream in the application of the federal program. that is something that fema recognized in its own report, it needs to do a better job to make sure it has qualified employees for certain jobs. host: chris currie works for the government accountability office. he is talking about the 2017 and them federal response. we are taking your calls o

this week many virgin islands students returned to school. some still await their facilities being prepared for them. it's a significant step forward. it also serves as a reminder that there is much work yet in restoring an virme wholly conducive to the needs of our students. after the hurricane, both school districts lost estimates of $700 million in facility supplies and food for educational purposes. it's incumbent on all of us, all of us, to put our shoulders in to push our children forward. i want to thank those who have been gifted with one of the most important roles in our community, the hardworking teachers, administrators, faculty, and staff who played an integral role in our student's returning to school today, this week in the virgin islands. we're grateful for your efforts. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from kansas seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i seek unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore:

the virgin islands board of education reported a drop of almost 40% in student enrollment and poirk's department of education closed -- puerto rico's department of education closed 250 schools. only 19 of the 33 public schools throughout the territory reopened on time and many of those didn't -- are in no shape for learning. lack of school supplies in classrooms, resources for students, students resorting to either standing or sitting on crates, floors, desks, libraries with little or no books and unfinished construction. let's not be fooled, however, the level of damage to the schools in the virgin islands are due in part to the continual cuts over the years to the children of the virgin islands' education by funding from this body, u.s. congress. on thursday, september 27, i and other congressional democrats will host a forum to discuss the state of public education and related recovery efforts in the virgin islands and puerto rico. the forum's most important mission is to discuss new ideas and plans, to speed up recovery and process and place our schools in better economic state. w

the virgin islands got hit by irma. >> reporter: a week before. >> right. am i in the same position? will i make that same mistake? no. i have five warehouses now. i had one then. >> reporter: stock full. >> stock full. we didn't have what we needed on the island. no doubt about it. >> reporter: did the effort match the effectiveness? >> i think that in a lot of cases, it did. there were areas of shortfall that we've been honest about and we've identified, and we're going to work to get better. >> ninan: and, david, when you went back to puerto rico, you discovered that there's been an exodus of people leaving. how many people are we talking about? >> reporter: rowel 200,000 people, and that comes from the center for puerto rican studies of new york's hunter college. and of that number, reena, about 39,000 kids didn't re-register for schools. so that gives an idea the people who fled were young parents who moved their kids to the mainland, who felt it wasn't worth staying-- as much as i found people who loved their island and be so proud of it, they felt th

can you provide an updated activities in puerto rico and virgin islands related to the 2017 hurricanes. -- he hurricane season is it is imperative we apply the lessons learned from those hurricanes to prepare for future storms. can you please describe activities the corps has undertaken or plans to undertake to better prepare our nation for future hurricanes this coming season. major general spellmon: i would start out by saying any loss of our hearts ic and and thoughts are with the families that lost loved ones. i refer you to the g.a.o. report that came out this month effectively described the conditions that the corps and our other fema partners were operating in. harvey, irma and maria were disaster 25, 26 and 27 -- mrs. napolitano: what about the preparation? major general spellmon: we go through a very detailed process and learn from our. we do action reviews at the district level and regional level and headquarters' level. the actions we have taken already this year include pre-positioning of people well in advance of the storm. hurricane lane, a couple of weeks ago that approa

this is a serious revenue coming into the virgin islands. i have told you, personally, i find it very frustrating that i cannot get tsa to agree to a meeting with the local officials, my office, and customs and border protection. it is frustrating at the most basic level. personally, i find it very disrespectful. a member of this committee in particular, member who has gone through what we have gone through in the virgin islands, cannot get tsa to agree to sit down and have a meeting, and between these groups, pointing the finger at each other for being responsible. i am glad that you have committed, the you have someone from the office facilitated discussion. we need to come to a resolution so that we don't keep losing air traffic into the virgin islands. >> we will certainly have someone from tsa at that meeting. i will follow-up. to make that would be a senior -- sooner rather than later? >> i will follow-up with you after the meeting. >> i sire leadership in action, following hurricane irma in st. thomas. i credit you for that. >> thank

. >> the gentle lady from the virgin islands is recognized. thank you, mr. chairman.nd thank you for being here. with respect to my colleagues just questions just a moment ago about those documents and the request for that. so it's your position that you're following the executive branch's guidance and it's that guidance that's counter to what your counsel is giving you, then what's the position to us receiving documentation. >> with the guidance, ma'am, that my counsel is giving me should be absolutely consistent with what the dhs guidance is. in fact, the general counsel is the direct supervisor of the chief counsel of tsa. so if that leads your counsel to refuse to give this committee what it has the oversite laws to receive then you'll follow that guidance, correct? of your counsel. >> yes, ma'am. >> which would then lead to this committee having to do what it has done in the past which is then issue a fisa which seems to be counterproductive to the work that what congress is supposed to be. do you see a way for us to work through that without us having to go thro

i went down to puerto rico and virgin islands to see how the recovery had gone. i went down in may.the administration did a horrific job with the recovery. and the president is completely out of the circle of reality when he says they did a fantastic job in puerto rico. go down and see the fact that it took a full year to hook up electricity again after that storm and the way they redesigned it was essentially to reimplement the same engineering problems they had previously. so the next big storm will take down the puerto rico grid once again or visit the hospital in virgin islands that the storm damage was massive and they only have a small section of the hospital in operation and the patients are having to fly in and out of the united states, which is an extraordinary expense. fema did a poor job in both those locations. there is a lot of undone work in texas as well. >> up on the screen right now we have what the president said yesterday about the puerto rico response. this morning he disputes the claim that you just made right there. the president says we got a pluses for our re

virgin islands is significant but there is still a long way to go. llion of aid have gone to the people of the islands to help rebuild their new normal. >> i think the recovery is like one of the most amazing things to watch because everyone just dusts themselves off but it's the caribbean. you can't take that charm away. >> reporter: the storms could not crush the resilient spirit of the u.s. virgin islands like the phillips family who we met last year. >> how are you? >> oh, good morning. >> i heard so much about you. >> reporter: after the storm, the family of 14 took matters into their own hands, feeding their community day and night, providing over 3500 meals. >> i cook for 25 people normally. that's just us. so it's not too much extra to share with the community. >> so it was out of necessity that you came up with this idea? >> yes. >> reporter: and today just like the rest of their beloved community, the phillips family are getting back on their feet. >> i trust you had a good trip. >> reporter: recently starting a new venture as a roofing and

this is a serious revenue coming into the virgin islands. i have told you, personally, i find it very frustrating that i cannot get tsa to agree to a meeting with the local officials, my office, and customs and border protection. it is frustrating at the most basic level. personally, i find it very disrespectful. a member of this committee in particular, member who has gone through what we have gone through in the virgin islands, cannot get tsa to agree to sit down and have a meeting, and between these groups, pointing the finger at each other for being responsible. i am glad that you have committed, the you have someone from the office facilitated discussion. we need to come to a resolution so that we don't keep losing air traffic into the virgin islands. >> we will certainly have someone from tsa at that meeting. i will follow-up. to make that would be a senior -- sooner rather than later? >> i will follow-up with you after the meeting. >> i sire leadership in action, following hurricane irma in st. thomas. i credit you for that. >> thank

harvey morrow had put steven's inheritance money into an off-shore bank account in the british virgin islandshe said he would, but then he secretly brought it back to the u.s. in small increments and used the money to refurbish the boat. >> harvey just sucked up all that money? >> all of it. >> reporter: steven, by his own admission a lousy money manager, trusting, vulnerable after the death of his father, was, said detectives, the perfect mark. >> steven was no match for this man at all. >> reporter: nor, apparently, was his wife, debbie. >> i was really very much in love with harvey. >> reporter: but as she now began to discover the man she loved had lied. a house in vail, colorado, which he told her he owned outright, actually belonged to someone else. the money she sent him when she went back to work? vanished. the auto insurance he told her he bought for her didn't exist. and what he said was a $125,000 diamond ring he slipped on her finger when he proposed? a fake. >> it was cubic zirconium. >> reporter: just who was that man she married and believed she loved? >> i don't think harvey e

the gentlelady from the virgin islands is recognized. ms. plaskett: mr. speaker, i have no other speakers at this time. and i continue to reserve the balance of my time. and i'm ready to close if need be. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman has the only time remaining. and is recognized. ms. plaskett: mr. speaker, i urge all members to support the passage of h.r. 6720 and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 6720 -- sorry, i need my reading glasses. h.r. 6720. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and, without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid n the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? mr. roskam: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 669 0the fighting fraud to protect care for seniors act of 2018. as amended. the speaker pro t

came fromts involved countries including russia and the british virgin islands. the bank can't say how many of those transactions were suspicious. the involvement is one of the biggest money laundering scandals ever. tendering his resignation, thomas morgan said he deeply regretted the scandal and best for all parties that he resigned. finishing the investigation into the mcdonald tax affairs. >> they did not give a sweetheart tax deal to the fast food giant. it found the advantages were the result of differences in the tax system between luxembourg and the united states and did not amount to a legal state aid. the outcome is in stark contrast to the recent decisionons involving american multinationals. >> the latest on the trade war and the world's biggest economies rolled on. >> local support is needed for as his country plunges deeper into the trade war with the united states. announcing the tariff on $60 billion of american imports, the retaliation on $200 billion worth of chinese goods. will notse premier devalue currency to boost competitiveness. >> we feat

virgin islands interschool systems last year? -- into your school systems last year? how many displaced students to delaware taken? -- take in? >> about 100. >> how about south carolina? about 50? do expect more students this year because of hurricane florence? >> we do. today is not a good day and some of our school districts in south carolina. arriving in many school districts. e anticipate a much larger number. >> this is exactly the point. when disasters hit, they don't affect only the communities that are directly hit by the eye of the storm. it massachusetts, we took in over 3200 students who were displaced by marriott. we did that because that's what we do in a disaster. we reach out, we take care of people who need help for as long as they need it. i know that in most of our states, including tennessee, the same thing as happened. on the first day of school in puerto rico last month, more than 250 schools were permanently shuttered. the first week of the school year, or than 56,000 enrolled students, or the prudery can department of education expected to be in

president but understanding also that we all have responsibilities to the people of port rico and the virgin islands to do the right thing. >> president trump claimed the official government estimate that 3000 people died from hurricane maria was a lie. >>> back here in the bay area, there are new health concerns in hunters point neighborhood after a small radio active object was found a few feet away from people's homes. >> jack ward is here to explain what this means for residents and the company hired to clean up the naval base. >> a naval deck marker is causing a stir. >> reporter: the california department of public health says this marker was found last friday, discovered on the northside of parcel 1a, undeveloped area behind a fence under less than a fat of soil. >> it's been clear -- fat of soil. it's been clear we were duped and corporate agreed overtook the safety of the people who chose to move out here based on a dream. >> reporter: deck barkers were used to light up the naval base at night. the radium contained glow in the dark paint. made up of a radio active substance that causes bone

minority leader pelosi expected to talk about repair and recovery in puerto rico and the virgin islands

virgin islands. the puerto rican government recently revised its death pull, 2900 and 75 american citizens who lost their lives, due to maria and its aftermath. that makes it the deadliest natural disaster in modern american history. we also know that this storm has ripple effects all across the country, displacing tens of thousands of children and families. sending many students who weren't able to stay on the island, to new schools, all across the country. just by a show of hands, how many of you absorb students from puerto rico or the u.s. virgin islands into your school last year? and how many displaced students did delaware take in? >> about 100. >> and superintendent, how about south carolina, about how many students? >> you had about 50? and superintendent, do you expect more students this year because of hurricane florence? >> we do in fact today is not a good day. and some of our school districts in south carolina, because the floodwaters of florence are arriving and the orie school district

hear is that fema and other agencies are saying what can we learn from puerto rico, from the virgin islands and texas so that we can do it better this time around. >> and you think that it is fema, and his point, and brock long's point is that it is not their fault they have decaying infrastructure, and is puerto rico being treated differently, because they are off shore, and is there a double standard? >> it is clear. i came back realizing that a major reason that so much was done so slowly is that puerto rico does not have a voting voice in congress, and not in the house, and not in the senate, and maybe there should be a individual, and maybe we need to revise and make sure that all of the american cities that are in the additional territories have a direct voting voice in congress, because unless the administration is g going to stand up for them, and unfortunately, they have done a very poor job of doing so, then it is up to congress to act, and there needs to be a voice in congress. but let me say that this is kind of, and this information about taking the money out of response and re

administration failed to adequately prepare to the storm that devastated puerto rico and the virgin islandsappropriately respond in the immediate aftermath, and continues to fail to respond in terms of the recovery to help puerto rico and the virgin islands rebuild themselves. and so i'm certainly hopeful that in this particular instance -- and we as house democrats, and all of us as americans here in the congress, do stand ready to assist the people of north carolina and south carolina and virginia and the other americans who will be impacted. hopefully the trump administration will engage in some self-reflection so they can get it right this time. >> while i have you, congressman, let's turn to some other important news right now. the president signed an executive order today intended to punish foreign entities for election interference. was that enough? >> it certainly is not enough, because donald trump, one, has still singularly failed to acknowledge that russia attacked our democracy. it was an act of war by a hostile foreign power. perhaps done as part of a conspiracy with members of

they did a horrific job in puerto rico, they did a terrible job in the virgin islands. and what we'd like to hear from them is after those storms, we did a thorough evasion. these are all things we can do better. we don't want to have a situation where like we had in puerto rico, nine months later there were thousands of homes covered in blue tarps because people hadn't gotten funds to repair their roofs. there were hospitals completely knocked out of action or almost knocked out of action. there were thousands of families that didn't have power, electric power. and that was the sort of response you would expect in a developing country, a very poor country, not in the united states of america. so did they take those experiences and say here's how we can improve our operations in a massive way so that if storms strike in 2018 we'll do a far better job? and so far there's no evidence that they have taken that as their mission. >> and senator murkily, isn't one of the big differences in what we're going to see this week in the carolinas and what we saw in puerto rico is pu

i hunkered down on the virgin islands during a cat 5 storm. i understand the seriousness of florence. as well as the entire army corps of engineers. about an hour ago i just got off the phone with lieutenant general seminite. he called me and asked me what do i need. this isn't just the wilmington district providing support to the great state of north carolina. this is the entire enterprise of the united states army corps of engineers, 43 district commanders on line, asking how we can support. i'm communicating to my fellow commanders up to the north. colonel pat kinsman to the south. lieutenant colonel jeff pelledini. >> what are you hearing from them, colonel? what are you hearing? anything from them? are they giving you any updates on situations there? >> they're in the same situation. they're well postured to support both their local and state partners as well as other federal agencies. part of our civil works mission, we support the u.s. coast guard. we are postured with survey vessels that are standing by with crews nearby and when the w

tople were already deployed texas, florida, and the virgin islands.hey had to supplant their staff. they had to call in dod to provide more support than they normally provided these disasters. one thing that stuck out october 2017, 54% of an arear working in where they were not qualified. guest: they have a qualification system to determine for its programs who has expertise and who has experience. they use that information to deploy throughout the country to different disasters. open disaster declarations. they have to have expertise in all of the complicated response and recovery programs. a lot of the employees had not reached a level of proficiency that would deem them to be qualified. that has an impact downstream in the application of the federal program. that is something that fema recognized in its own report, it needs to do a better job to make sure it has qualified employees for certain jobs. host: chris currie works for the government accountability office. he is talking about the 2017 and them federal response. we are taking your calls onl

host: kimberly leonard >> the democratic delegate from the virgin islands joins us to talk about the trump administration's responses to hurricanes maria and harvey 2017 on the latest response to hurricane florence. be sure to watch as he spends "washington journal," live at 7:00 eastern. bob woodward is joining us on september 17 to talk about his trumpet in the: white house -- trump in the white house." ken starr also joins us to talk about his book. >> coming up this weekend on book tv, saturday at 8:00 eastern if fox news host discusses her thoughts on the trump presidency and his detractors with her book. >> when i went through a dairy and came out and what my press people said to me, there was already an article on what happens at the dairy farm. i'm like, really, what did it say? it said nothing that i said. said x, alleged that i y, and z. i didn't realize it was fake news, but i said how can i un against someone where the fix is in? its already rigged. they are saying i did things i never did five minutes ago. >> on sunday starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern, coverage of the 2018

virgin island where is people lost their lives, 11 months or so passed on the entirety of the island. and additionally, this let's us learn from those persons. . >> it was a disaster for both sides, 26 and 27. >> of our stock that we responded. >> all right. we are not good enough, or -- >> i would thank you as well as all of congress for the generous determining a. congress gave us $7.24 billion, and that is going to fund 235 projects in 33 states. our communities. we are taking this very, very seriously. >> thank you very much, sir. goodbye. >> thank you chairman, thank you for being here. the 15th of june, i think it was -- so support from our valley division. >> us i have to refresh my memory. i think the one lock, what's the status for that? the cost ratio, the question about how it leads to scores, and where do we stand on all this on the cost ratio? >> yes, sir. the analysis that our team has done, 2.42, if memory serves. i think that's some of the differences that we have with the local sponsor and how we calculated that economic benefit. >> thank you mr. chairman. general tha

virgin islands where people lost their lives and it took 11 months to restore power to the entirety of the island. can you provide an update of the corps activities in puerto rico and virgin islands related to 2017 hurricane? additional additionally, the hurricane season has left us largely unscathed thus far, i believe it is imperative that we apply the lessons learned from those hurricanes to prepare for future storms. can you please describe activities the corps has undertaken or plans to undertake to better prepare our nation for future hurricanes this coming season. >> yes, ma'am. i would start out by saying that any loss of life is tragic and that our hearts and our thoughts are with those families that suffered the loss of loved ones in the storms of last year. ma'am, i would refer you to the gao report that came out, i saw it for the first time yesterday, it came out this month, that effectively describes the conditions that the corps and our other fema partners were operating in. first of all, we had concurrent and overlapping storms, harvey, irma and maria were disaster numbe

democrats will talk about hurricane preparedness and recovery efforts in puerto rico and the virgin islands. after last year's deadly storms. we'll have live coverage at 10:15 eastern time. then at heritage foundation, nato secretary-general sti stillenberg will talk about the value of the transatlantic alliance. and a celebrity chef talks about helping to feed the puerto rican people after hurricane maria. live coverage 7 p.m. eastern at c-span. c-span. >> orders of the latest on the hurricane florence response effort. it made landfall at wrightsville beach, winds 90 miles per hour. it's scheduled to start in moments live here on c-span2.

virgin islands with mr. bishop, the chairman of the committee, to see the aftermath of hurricanes marina and irma, i saw americans struggling without power, access to clean water, basic health services or shelter over their heads. the majority leader and i came away from that visit determined to help these communities, and chairman bishop was joined with us. so i thank the committee. i want to thank mr. defazio, too, who like mr. shuster, is a constructive, positive member who wants to make a difference for our country. and my constituents thank you, peter, and the country thanks you. so i come to support a bill that was fashioned by two people who wanted to make sure we did positive things in this house. the american people can be proud of our work today, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. shuster: it's now my pleasure to yield one minute to the chairman of the subcommittee on aviation, the

citizens living in puerto rico and the virgin islands who are still recovering from hurricane maria. while the territories don't need a special permit to receive u.s. national -- natural gas shipments, they would certainly benefit if we allow more u.s. small-scale l.n.g. exports to other destinations in the caribbean. h.r. 4606 will jump-start investments and jobs which will create economies of scale. with more competition, puerto rico and the virgin islands will have more supply options at lower costs. the caribbean islands have some of the identifiest fuel and elech terroristity prices. we shouldn't -- elech terroristity prices. we shouldn't deny them the opportunity to share in some of our surplus natural gas. h.r. 4606 isn't a silver bullet, but it will help deliver cleaner and more affordable fuel to those remote locations. and thank you, madam speaker. i yield back. the chair: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman

delicate stacy plaskett who represents the virgin islands discusses hurricane response during the trump administration. court justice ruth bader ginsburg talks about diversity in the legal profession and some of the supreme court's landmark cases. she also discussed her disappointment that the confirmation process for supreme court justices has become politicized. george washington university law school, and the national asian pacific bar association hosted the event.

miami, and the virgin islands.he problem was in all of those cases not enough department of defense and communications with the volunteers. they have to be able to talk to each other, and they were still successful in saving lives. in florence all the lessons learned from the others, where you have to have a lot of the department of defense. you are 10,000 on the ground. navy ships off the coast. 10,000 guys filling sand bags and all the equipment and gear the department of defense can do. this is done by prior coordination exercises, city, state, local governments, d.o.d., first responders work together before this in training. so when something like this happens, they know what to do. despite losing lives which is unfortunate. the experiment -- the execution of the battle against florence and this weather has been remarkably successful. arthel: north is having a news conference. >> the north carolina national guard and with people ar. we were able to get -- with fema. we were able to get into the air and see sign

every tarp and cot had been sent to the virgin islands for irma. fema had only a handful of satellite phones and less than 100 generators on a blacked-out island in need of thousands. >> we are out of food. we're running out of food and water. >> reporter: from vieques in the east to mayaguez in the west, we documented day after day of desperation. the only help coming from neighbors or kind-hearted combat vets who flew down on their own dime and slept in an abandoned airport. >> i think we're at like 30,000 meals, 35,000 meals. >> wow. >> i don't know how many -- that's just with the small trucks we've had, and by hook and by crook getting supplies. >> reporter: celebrity chef jose andres rounded up an army of volunteers and managed to hand out 3 million meals. but all the while, there was one common refrain. where is fema? >> as soon as i got off the chopper, a gentleman came toward me and he said hey, who are you? i said, i'm cnn. i'm asking him if this is enough. >> reporter: my colleague leyla santiago has been providing relentless award winnin

every tarp and cot had been sent to the virgin islands for irma. >> fema had only a handful of satellite phones and less than 100 generators on a blacked island in need of thousands. >> we are out of food. we're running out of food and water. >> reporter: from vee a case in the east to maya gez in the west, we documented day after day of desperation. the only help coming from neighbors or kind-hearted combat vet who's flew down on their own dime and slept in an abandoned airport. >> i think we're at like 30,000 meals, 35,000 meals. >> wow. >> i don't know how many -- that's just with the small trucks we've had, and by hook and by crook getting supplies. >> reporter: celebrity chef jose andres rounded up an army of volunteers and managed to hand out 3 million meals. but all the while, there was one common refrain. where is fema? >> as soon as i got off the chopper, a gentleman came toward me and he said hey, who are you? i said i'm cnn. i'm asking if this is -- my colleague leyla santiago has been providing relentless award winning coverage since day one. >> and he was so angry. i mean he

virgin islands, hawaii, north carolina, virginia, maryland west , virginia, delaware, pennsylvania. lines of communication remain open. the federal government stands ready to assist. these tropical storms and very dangerous, and we heed the warnings of the state and local officials. lastly, we extend our deepest condolences to the family of col in johnson. agent johnson has served as country honorably. he was larger than life. he was a great friend, father, husband, and member of the united states secret service. the men and women in the secret service are among the most honorable and dedicated public servants you can find anywhere in the world, and colin was among the best of them. neededthere when anyone help. our prayers are with his entire family. i'll take your questions. >> the anonymous op-ed in the -- in "the new york times, the -- times," the president said on friday that he thought it would be a good idea for jeff sessions to look into this. is there anything that would warrant an investigation by the department of justice? ms. sanders: there is an individual, whether or n

democrats will talk about hurricane preparedness and recovery efforts in puerto rico and the virgin islands. secretary-general will speak at the heritage foundation. c-span3 starting at 9:00, a discussion about political activism african-american women at the congressional black caucus foundation's annual legislative conference. this weekend, c-span cities tour takes you to louisiana. with the help of our cable partners, we will explore the hillary life and -- literary life of the town. a group from a long list town for pirates to one of the country's top manufacturers. been a biggas has part of southwest louisiana in terms of the exploration and discovery. it actually really came more to fruition with the actual refining of oil. we had the ideal situation. in termsdeally suited of where rail lines crossed, where water was able to be moved in and out. >> on sunday at 2:00 eastern on american history tv. a visit to the small and predominantly african-american community of boss fell. >> at one time, this was a wonderful community. we had everything that there was. there was family, churches,

delicate stacy plaskett who represents the virgin islands discusses hurricane response during the trump administration. court justice ruth bader ginsburg talks about diversity in the legal profession and some of the supreme court's landmark cases. she also discussed her disappointment that the confirmation process for supreme court justices has become politicized. george washington university law school, and the national asian pacific bar association hosted the event. evening ladies and gentlemen. it is indeed a pleasure to welcome you all to the special event that is being hosted by the george washington university law school. we are pleased to host the national asian pacific bar association as we fondly call discussion on diversity. being moderated by her former law clerk goodwin lou. the george washington university law school always seeks opportunities to bring contemporary programming to the community here. especially to our students. standsrticular program out among all of those that we have given so far. of course, we all know the legendary justice ruth bader ginsburg, but i've g

we got millions of people in puerto rico, guam, virgin islands with their delegates or nonresident but they don't have the right to vote. there are still millions as you.out, for prisoners that have at the other right restored to them but not to vote. what are we going to do about that and we need a constitution amendment guaranteeing everybody the right to vote and be represented? >> if you are an american citizen, boom, you have the right to vote. i think this is a horrific example about what happened in puerto rico. first, hit and then maria just followed up and devastated the island. but because there wasn't the kind of political representati representation, near d.c., that could weigh heavy on this administration, weigh heavy on congress to do something. they were basically left just exposed first to the horrors of the hurricane and then to the -- >> government negligence. they had introduced shortly after hurricane, the statehood measure saying we need statehood so we are treated equally and fairly. of course people in d.c. have been fighting for the same thing. the question is,

virgin islands where maria caused an estimated $5 billion in damage and power there has been restoredeporting live, thank you. the clock is ticking on the accuser of the president's supreme court nominee accusing him of sexually sexual assault. we will go over all the latest developments with the panel when we come back you need insurance. but it's not really something you want to buy. it's not sexy. or delicious. or fun. but since you need both car and home insurance, why not bundle them with esurance and save up to 10%? which you can spend on things you really want to buy, like... well, i don't know what you'd wanna buy because i'm just a guy on your tv. esurance. it's surprisingly painless. ito take care of anyct messy situations.. and put irritation in its place. and if i can get comfortable keeping this tookus safe and protected... you can get comfortable doing the same with yours. preparation h. get comfortable with it. whoooo. tripadvisor makes finding your perfect hotel... relaxing. just enter your destination and dates. tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites to find the

virgin islands and guam. all possible through the continuous support of fvpsa funding. the hotline is the only 24-7 center in the nation that has access to service providers and shelters across the united states, including our territories. this service also helps with safety, plan, and support related to questions -- related to questions related to healthy relationships. not only does the hotline answer calls from victims but also provide services and support to helpers who are individuals who contact the hotline on behalf of a person who is now or has previously been the victim of abuse. in addition to abuse i partners, service providers and law enforcement officials. one project the hotline has introduced is the love is respect program. the purpose of this program is to engage, educate, and empower young people to prevent and end abusive relationships. this online resource helps millions of teens and 20-somethings learn about healthy relationships and dating violence. providing hotline services to youth is also authorized as part of fvpsa, another critical need covere

18 months since i have become chairman to 33 states and the territories of puerto rico in the virgin islands. i have been in the muck of puerto rico in the wake of a hurricane. i talked about getting internet access to a woman to let her know she was safe. i visited kentucky, where the first time in scottsville, there is not a single pediatrician in the county. they said for the first time they have a broadband connection to vanderbilt children's hospital, so now the kids who get sick in school simply need to walk to the school nurse's office. i have been to port yukon, alaska and spoken to folks in an alaska native village who are able to get information downloaded to their school to allow their kids to learn in a way they never would have been able to before. i have seen the power of these technologies. i know we talk about the downsides, but i try to be an optimistic person, i'm optimistic by nature. i fundamentally believe if we can get every person on the right side of what i call the digital divide, our countries -- our country is going to be so much stronger. hopefully there will be l

last 18 months since eye become chairman to 33 states and the territories of puerto rico and the virgin islands. i've been in the muck of puerto rico and talked to the mayor about what it meant to be able to get internet access again to let her family know she was safe. i visited scottsville, kentucky, where for the first time in all of allentown county, there's not a pediatrician. they have a connection to vanderbilt university hospital. now kids who get sick in school simply need to walk to the school nurse office. i've been to alaska and i've talked to folks in an alaska native village who were able to get information to download to their skills to allow their kids to learn in a way they've never been able to before. i see the power of these technologies. we talked about the downside -- i try to be an optimistic person, optimistic by nature and i fundamentally believe if we can get every person on the right side of what i call the digital divide, our country will be so much stronger. all these conversations about free speech, hopefully it will be luxuries we can enjoy. the internet is where

island, that in fact fema workers were taking materials and supplies off the island to help the virgin islandshat we needed to do that. but not at the expense, knowing in advance that maria was on track to hit puerto rico. kate, for him to do this and to say that this is political, it just is shameful. >> that's what i was going to ask you. he's also putting it on democrats. i am scratching my head on that one. it was an independent study commissioned by the government, by the governor in puerto rico, by gw, by george washington university. >> well, we have two studies. one by harvard and one by gw. and these are institutions that have credibility. on this issue and on so many other issues, this president lacks credibility. >> well, house speaker paul ryan was asked about this, asked about the president's statement today. let me play what he said. >> casualties don't make a person look bad. i have no reason to dispute these numbers. i was in puerto rico after the hrk. it was devastated. this was a horrible storm and casualties mounted for a long time. i have no reason to dispute those numbers.