President trump heads to texas today in the wake of Hurricane Harvey we joined by former white house staffer now president ial historian tevi troy author of the book shall we wake the president . Two centuries of Disaster Management from the oval office. As the president steps into texas what advice would you give him on this trip today . Guest thank you for having me. Our hearts go out to the victims in houston and i also want to a a special thanks to all of the rescuers the First Responders and the volunteers. We should have all of those people in our hearts and prayers at this time. Anderms of President Trump leaving the white house its very important to show a number of things. Leadership you are on top of the situation. Competence to your people are running the operations appropriately and compassion and if you dont show those things then you start to have problems. We have seen this in the past with the president. Its also important the location of where he is going. Go to a place where he is in the disaster zone itself so that he is detracting from the rescue efforts. To ants to go look location that is far enough away that is not getting annoyed at the rescue efforts, president s have shown in the past and ability go there and do helpful things that inspire rescue workers and volunteers. Host the schedule from the white house from the Daily Briefing expected to arrive in Corpus Christi. Right near where Hurricane Harvey mailing call made landfall. He will be at a fire station around noon. He will travel to austin. Expected to be in austin around 2 30 local time. As you are hearing about what the president will be doing any advice for what he should not do when hes on the ground days after a major Natural Disaster . Guest im not sure this is something i would say of a typical president. I do not think you should tweet about extraneous matters. We should not hear about the other things he likes to talk about on his twitter. You need to be compassionate. If you are callous it is a real problem. Nobody should be callous in this terrible situation. You should listen to the people on the ground. You can have meetings and conferences from washington. If you are on the ground me to listen to the people there and hear what they have to say. Host mentioned tweeting about extraneous matters. The president tweeting about the storm over the weekend but also some other issues including promoting a book of one of his political allies. As the storm is making landfall late last week there was the decision to pardon joe arpaio. What do you make of those decisions as the storm was bearing down and over the weekend as we started to see the extent of the storm . Guest im glad you mentioned that. Verynk there is a interesting dichotomy going on. I think on President Trumps tweets that have had to do with beenisaster i have relatively impressed with them. They were somber. They were responsible. They gave people information about where to go to get help and they tried to help the rescuers and the First Responders in terms of saying what a good job they are doing. I thought that was all good and appropriate. Some of the other tweets about the dave clark book and the Sheriff Joe Arpaio are not the kind of things you want to be doing during a disaster. Recognize the white house works on a lot of things. You cant just say only disaster during this period. ,t seems to me that you can say i think it makes sense to tweak and responsible way about the disaster and twitter is a very useful tool in a disaster. Its a way to reach a lot of people. I also think there are certain topics you should pass on tweeting about those issues right now. Tevi troy is with us for the next 45 minutes on the washington journal. Taking your calls. Republicans 202 7488001. Democrats 202 7488000. 202 7488002. Tevi troy, the author of the book shall we wake the president . Read a passage. In addition to the proliferation of disasters there is also the politicization of disasters. The presidency is an inherently political job and president ial actions are increasingly viewed through a partisan lens. When did the politicization of the disastrous start to happen. When did we start seeing it the extent that you are talking about now in that book . Experience of a president getting involved in disasters is something that did not exist at the beginning of the republic. It has evolved over time. The first disaster with serious president ial involvement was the 1927 mississippi floods current president coolidge sent secretary of commerce hoover to deal with the destruction down there. The politicization started to increase later in the 20 century. You first saw this with hurricane andrew in 1992. President george h. W. Bush was in the white house. He was seen as not to have done a good job in responding to andrew. Fact that he was seen as somewhat disconnected was something that counted against him in that president ial election in 1992 which of course lost to bill clinton and bill at usingas very good disasters in a way to was politically effective. He had a very clinically savvy fema director. Could haveisasters political benefits. It was around then the politicization started to happen. Host what are the stakes this being his first big Natural Disaster test . Theres obviously a lot of discomfort and a lot of circles with President Trump. People are wondering is he the right person . Does he have the right temperament for being president . A lot of people are going to be watching to see how he does in responding to this event and how he handles it and whether he can put aside some of the stuff people dont like about his presidency and just focus on making sure the rescue efforts go forward to the federal role is handled appropriately and the relations between the state and federal which is a very important issue is handled appropriately. So far the relations are going well. The governor says the Trump Administration gets an a plus from him. That means the state and federal officials are working together at this point. Host the Washington Times Editorial Board looking into this issue. They say the organs of the magpie media are eager to set the president up for failure on this trip to texas. The president s critics are looking for goofs and other mistakes and will try to turn any slipup in Hurricane Harvey rescue operations against him and shame on them. That is what the Editorial Board rights. In terms of the focus the media will have on this do you think they are looking for slipups by the president . Guest absolutely. But they are always looking for slipups by the president. Thats what the media do. Is ank perhaps there special focus on President Trump and we know the relations between trump and the media are not that great. Pleasuretake special if they find any. I have to say in the first four or five days of the crisis criticism has been relatively muted. I think its because the scar the federal efforts are going well. They did predeploy resources. The federal and state officials are working well together. Relativelyhave been responsible and somber and appropriate. There hasnt been that much to criticize about the federal response. Host taking your calls as we talked to tevi troy this morning. Some time in this 8 00 hour we are expected to have an interview with congressman al green of the houston area. Likely in about half an hour or so. We will be talking to him over the course of this conversation. Taking your questions and comments. But first in williamsburg, virginia. Good morning. Caller good morning. My prayers for those children and families in houston. I suggest the president when he shows up immediately asks for teachers and school administrators. Some activities host randy, youre going in and out. Tony is in west virginia. Good morning. Caller ever you do . How are you doing . This guy, whats his name . Tevi troy. I just had a couple comments. I think that guy is pretty spot on when he talks about the president s visit. Even though its good. Its just basically kind of symbolic. He might be able to give money to maybe like some organizations like the red cross and stuff. Ultimately i think its going to be a lot of the people who are affected its going to be there insurance. Its going to tell whether or not they get Disaster Relief or they get their houses built. One other comment i wanted to make. Maybe he can clarify it. Somebody told me once that one of the other colors had said about other nations helping us out now. Someone had told me once the United States basically does not want other nations felt in times of disasters. Maybe he can comment on that. The other thing, i have been following politics for quite a few years. People say i am out in left field on this comment. Always seems like for years it has been democrats against republicans. As where that came from was in the Clinton White house. I think before that things could deals underout and the table and everything and everyone was fine and happy. When the Clinton White house was in and bill clinton had that affair, correct me if im wrong. Newt gingrich was the one who wanted to impeach the president. He was having an affair on his wife who was dying at the time. Hes having an affair but pointing the finger at bill clinton. Host we will hold off on the political history between the two parties. We want to focus on your first question with tevi troy. A couple of viewers have brought this up already today. Why arent other countries paid to help us . We are always involved when theres Natural Disasters and other countries. Is the caller correct in saying he had heard that we dont necessarily want that kind of help . Guest what i learned when i was isking in the government there are legal hurdles and challenges and bureaucratic red tape when it comes to accepting aid from foreign governments. And theres actually an office at the state department that helps sort through these requests. Its not necessarily something that help will in the immediate period and it taxes resources of the federal government in terms of figuring out which ones we can accept. We happen to be a wealthy nation. We spend a lot of money on disaster preparation. We have the tools we need for the most part to deal with these things. There were some wildfires in israel and the Israeli Government didnt have the type of planes that could put out the fires and they had to go elsewhere to get the kind of equipment they needed. In the u. S. That is generally not a problem. We dont need equipment from other countries. We welcome packages of food and money to help the Recovery Efforts. There are a couple of extra hurdles. Frank in wharton, new jersey. Good morning. I was just wondering on the mention of mr. Trumps mr. Troys credentials on which administration he worked with. I dont appreciate interjections about trumps tweeps in the middle of a national emergency. I also want to ask the commentators how much of his book proceeds are going to be donated to the American Red Cross or what organizations hes going to be donating to and thats about it. Host frank in new jersey. Do you want to go through your background . Guest i worked in the Bush White House and i was also the deputy secretary of health under the bush administration. Im also a president ial historian. I got my phd from the university of texas. I have written a number of books about the presidency including book about president s and their relation with pop culture. Book. En i wrote this in terms of my proceeds, they are quite minimal at this point. I have already made a donation to the victims. Ithink thats a good idea if get additional sales as a result of this appearance could i am happy to donate those. Host were you in the bushes ministration during katrina . Guest i was in the white house. You got the sense that things were not going well and it was very hard to fix them once that perception was out there. When tony mentions the thing about the visit as symbolic, symbolism matters. We are showing the image now of president bush looking out the airplane of air force one. Was what dan bartlett called one of the worst photo ops of the entire presidency. That really helped cement the sense that president bush was not compassionate, not paying attention. He flew over new orleans and looked down as opposed to landing on the ground and trying to address the problems there. I recognize also that if the president goes to a disaster area that contacts local resources. You can have a situation where the people who are the First Responders are instead dealing with security cordons and setting up motorcades for the president. You want to be careful not to go into the area and text the resources of the First Responders who need to be working on the rescue efforts. Andyover picture like that president bush is not the only one to do it. In my book i talk about Lyndon Johnson in the 1968 riots in washington after Martin Luther kings assassination. He flew over in a helicopter and looks down ineffectually at the devastation and he looked eerily like president bush. The flyover is never a good strategy. Sometimes going to the disaster area to show leadership is a good move. President bush went multiple times to new orleans and the rescue area. After the terrible photo. By then it was too late. Host one of the viewers earlier talked about interactions between president bush and new notans residents necessarily good interactions tween the residence. Can you talk through how he was seen in the community afterwards and whether it was a good idea to keep going back despite those interactions . Guest i think it was. First of all he suffered from this perception that he did not do a good job in the rescue. I took about this in my book. Talk about this in my book. There were clearly problems he talks about in his own book how the problems of the new orleans for the rested him of his administration. I think going down and showing he was willing to listen to criticism but also that he directed a continuing effort was important and its important to her member that right now we are in the rescue phase. Thats important and there are lives at stake. Whats going to be much longer than the rescue period is the Recovery Period and that literally will take years. The government cant lose focus. In fairfax, virginia. Go ahead. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. Sending my prayers to the families impacted by this. I would like to make a comment and a question for your commentator guest speaker today. Trump isruck going down there. Hes going to make an appearance. Your guest speaker is a president ial historian. He talks about the andticization of events Environmental Impact in hurricane in texas. What can the president really affect at this point . I would like to your guest comment about the undocumented immigrant community. Not only in texas which is by far large. Compared to the destination. View givenur guest that President Trump just recently put out executive orders and whatnot mining laws of basically making it more harsher on undocumented immigrants all over the nation. Your guest just mentioned their lives at risk. There are lives at risk. Guest in terms of undocumented immigrants, nobody is asking for your green card or your id and they rescue you off the roof of the building. When they help you in a situation like this. I think that is something we shouldnt worry too much about. The other issue is what can a president do . I think a president can show leadership which is important. He can pick good people who know about how to handle disasters and if you look at this white house there have been some throughout that i was not necessarily comfortable with. If you look at the chief of staff john kelly, he knows about what fema can do and he knows about Disaster Recovery efforts. His top aide has experience in the Bush White House dealing with disasters. The Homeland Security advisor has acquitted himself pretty well on tv far to someone with. Omeland security experience he is the fema administrator and he is someone who is the head of Emergency Response in alabama and really knows what he has doing. He has held a number of tabletop exercises. The president can make sure they are doing the preparation and the exercises they need so they are ready when problems happen and let those people do their work. Host i want to draw on your past work as deputy secretary at dhss. Tom price declared a Public Health emergency in the wake of harvey. What does that mean . Guest theres a group that doesnt get enough credit. It is the Public Health service. These are dedicated professionals. They usually have some kind of advanced degree in the medical field. They work at hhs. They work for the federal government. They take off their suits and put on the uniform of the Public Health service which is the unarmed branch of the u. S. Military. And they go to disaster areas all over the country often all applyhe world and they their Public Health expertise to saving people who are in trouble. Emergency isalth the way that you trigger deploying those people. Federalfrees up resources. I think its important that secretary price took that step. Host in new york, good morning. Yes. R i would like to say that i dont believe anything thats on the news about how many people have perished in this time. In texas, they keep reporting on and theywho died havent even got a lot of people. I wish the press would tell the truth about how many people. Today i heard that x people drowned in a truck trying to come out to theres more deaths than two and i wish the press would just tell the truth. The number is going up. The Washington Post today taking it that nine. Of course by the deadline last night when they had to publish that theres a lot more Recovery Efforts expected today. That number expect to to go up. I have seen as much as 10 or 12 at this point. At what point will we know the told of the storm . When can we expect to get those numbers and data of the full effectiveness . Effect of this . Guest its going to be a while. The reports that you hear are not always fully accurate. I remember hearing stories about some of the things going on in the superdome that were found not to be true. The death toll is something we should be watching. Be some people who may have drowned and we wont find their bodies for a while. Ishink the focus right now trying to save every life that you can in the affected areas. People who are in danger and we can count and mourn our dead later. Flood 1927 mississippi which was a terrible devastating flood the death count was between 200 and 1000. Here we are 90 years later and we dont know an accurate death count for that flood the took lace 90 years ago. The president s role in getting out Accurate Information . Im not sure thats the president s role in terms of whats going on on the ground. You have to make sure everything you say is true and accurate. Whatss of finding out going on on the ground, laterers are telling us down the road when we get the official statistics about the number of deaths that number will probably come from some kind of governmental count. Its not necessarily the federal job to report on whats going on. I have been very brave reporters doing a very good job on this. I think it is incumbent on all sure they pute out Accurate Information so you dont have the problem of rosetta. How do you think social media has changed not just the reporting on Natural Disasters and also the federal governments role and how do they get their information out . Guest i am a big fan of social media in general. It opens up new worlds of access to information to people. I think the president can tweet and get his message not only to his 30 odd million followers but also the media reports on his tweets and amplifies what he is saying. If he has Important Information to get out the best way to do it is a president ial tweet. On the downside in social media sometimes you will see false stories reported and they get bring out a life of their own. Mark twain never lived in an era of twitter. Its even worse today. Host jack in north carolina. Good morning. Caller good morning to both of you. My son did two tors in iraq and afghanistan. I just wondered if the media ever say one thing good about trump . Vote for either candidate in past elections. If i had to do it over i would vote for trump. I dont know how many millions of dollars these people make in writing books. It looks like i can say one good thing about the man. Older veteran i dont watch the news because i dont believe anything they say. Trump. L against the democrats and everybody else. I dont know what kind of president because they never have a chance to make it. I would like to be able to write a book like everybody else and make millions of dollars. I sure need the money. Host tevi troy, millions of dollars . [laughter] i would like to thank them both for their service to his nation. I barely make thousands of dollars off my book. Book writing is a labor of love. It is not a lucrative endeavor except for a very small subset of the authorial community. Host maybe you could give some perspective on the historical conflict between the press and the presidency in times of disaster. I think jack is onto something in saying that the coverage of trump has been pretty negative. I think trump bears some responsibility here, too. He has set himself up as someone who is opposed to the media and its a constant fight between the media and trump. That thet surprise me media will address him in a way that makes clear their disdain for him. There was a story in the New York Times this week about the editor of the wall street journal complaining to his staff that they are spending all of their time commenting on what trump is doing as opposed to just reporting what he was doing. I think that can be a problem. Also if you antagonize the media theyre going to respond accordingly. Host dennis in arizona. Go ahead. As someone who was working in new orleans after katrina, whether the same thing is going to happen in houston afterwards. Contractors likely to use american citizens to do the work and user the place illegal aliens as labor for it. An them a dollars to 10 hour to do the work and charge uncle sam 57 an hour for the labor. Arpaio goes how can the media tries to make it sound like it was all his full fault . As an american of mexican descent i had my livelihood destroyed here in arizona because of illegal alien labor and the greedy contractors also who keep the wages down to what they were 20 years ago because of illegal labor. They can take their families back to their home country. How about illegal aliens that have wife and kids in their home country and wife and kids in arizona for a green card . Host a lot of issues there from dennis. Guest if you have the kind of behavior that dennis is talking about where people are charging a certain amount for labor and then paying less for the labor that is fraud and inappropriate and shouldnt happen but i cant speak to whats going to happen in the response efforts here and in terms of the Recovery Efforts. Obviously the federal government has is against fraud rules against fraud. People really spend time making sure the right people get the contracts and the people who do the contracts to the work appropriately. Have been very encouraged by the resilience of the rescuers. I have to applaud one person mentioned in the wall street journal this morning. Of a Hardware Store inside houston. His store was open today and he said, we only close five days a year. Terms of managing the crisis versus managing the recovery and you talk about the difference for a present and is there an x apple of a president who was good at one and not at the other . Guest the Crisis Response happens immediately. It usually takes a few days. You are dealing with people who need to be rescued. Youre trying to make sure the waters receded. You are reopening goals and hospitals. Thats the Immediate Response. The recovery is when you have to deal with people who have lost theirhomes, lost livelihoods. Theyre trying to get aid from the federal government. That can take months and in the case of new orleans years. There were some encouraging signs in terms of the statistics show the School System is better in new orleans now and the Police Department seems to have a better handle on crime. Lord knows thats not the way you want to go about making reforms in a city where there was a terrible tragedy. I hope the devastation isnt as bad here and therefore the response, the recovery wont have to be as significant. It does seem the federal government is going to spend a lot of money to try and make. Ure people can rebuild that is a multiyear effort. A president who is seen as not doing well on the response and recovery, i would point to president george w. Bush. He got bad marks for the Immediate Response to katrina. Generally he has gotten better historians and journalists about the Recovery Efforts that took place later. We had the 10 Year Anniversary of katrina and some of the articles actually praised him for the recovery. Tweeting president about 25 minutes ago that he is leaving now for texas. There is his twitter page. We will be seeing the president in texas. Expected to arrive in Corpus Christi. Also stop in austin. He will be traveling with the first lady this morning and this afternoon. Expected to return to d. C. Later this evening. Were talking with tevi troy. If you have questions for him republicans 202 7488001, democrats 202 7488000, independents 202 7488002. From onepecting a call of the congressman from the houston area to get an update on whats happening in his district. Until then, patricia in north carolina. Go ahead. Caller i wanted to comment on a few things for the present has to tweet. It helps the American People know whats really going on in the world. Himthe media talking about are not honest except for fox news. Leftwing, they are not working with the president. If they are working with him we could get things done in washington. As far as this protesting on the street, they need to put a stop to it because its too much killing and our policemen are being killed. Host tevi troy. I am not opposed to president ial tweeting. I think president have long used to direct forms of medication to get their message out in an unfiltered way. This goes back to Franklin Delano roosevelt and his fireside chats via the radio. He would speak directly to the American People because he felt the newspapers werent reporting what he was saying accurately. John f. Kennedy used television very effectively not only in his 1960 campaign but also in his presidency where he was very good at going back and forth bantering with reporters in life White House Press briefings. Entities use of tv was so effective in the 1960 campaign that in one of my books i tell the story about how kennedy walked by a television with one of his aides after he won the election and said, we wouldnt have had a prayer without that gadget. I love that in 1960 he was still colored tv that gadget. Calling tv that gadget. Host good morning. Houston is not doing so well. Few phone calls to see if they could possibly assist in any way. I know joel osteen has finally come around and opened up his doors. The hurricane is kind of a big problem. Not meant to counties have had the support they need. Agent is going to be here later today. Hopefully he provide some federal funding. Int the president s role getting that funding, congress controls the purse strings. What can the president do . Guest the president can work with congress. Obviously the president has feet of power. In theves him leverage negotiating process. We have not seen a lot of legislation in this Administration Just far. Theres a lot of disagreements between democrats and republicans. Im hoping they can come together and figure out a rescue package. Im also hoping they can come together and figure out what to do about infrastructure and taxes. Theres a lot of things the federal government needs to work on. I think if you between the executive and the legislative ranch in order to get the rescue package together. From rollcallne newspaper on capitol hill. Money is there to deal with the hurricane and carnage. The Vice President saying officials truly believe that ample federal funds are on hand. Does mike pence have a different rolled another Vice President s when it comes to Disaster Response . Is there something unique about him and the trumpet ministration . He has had a very active role throughout the administration in terms of being the voice on capitol hill and representing his poised to view point of view and white house meetings. He has been a very active Vice President and i think in the last 20 years or so we have really seen the emergence of a much more active Vice President who has a much bigger role to play in the operation of the government. Dick cheney was obviously very involved in foreign policy. Joe biden seemed to be all over the place when he was Vice President. Al gore had his reinventing government initiative. Over theice president s last 20 or 30 years have realized just sitting around and being available if something happens to the president is not active enough of a roll. Host in ohio, good morning. Caller good morning. I think your next book should be how we awaken the American Public with donald trump as the president. This man is going to see the of what it takes to reconstruct. I dont think there has been a smarter president in the white house but knows more about Holding Construction from the ground up and thats what we need to rebuild the attitude of the American Public in the awakening that is taking place in the American Public. Donald trump is a catalyst that is waking up people in this country and i think thats going to be a big surprise to a lot of the socialists that want to control this country and bring it down. I would like to see these masked go down and do some help in the high waters. Maybe that would be a good move for these liberal socialist communists in this country that want to complain about the goodness of our country. Thank you so much for your time and have a wonderful day. Write your book about waking up American People. An author i always love book suggestions. I appreciate that. In terms of the issue about the president being a builder, theres a great story in David Axelrods book. He was a top aide to president obama. He said during the Gulf Oil Spill he got a call from someone who said the generals and people in charge of the efforts to plug the hole to know what theyre doing. Put me in charge and i will fix it. The person who was calling was no other than donald trump. Suggestedavid axelrod they had it under control and didnt need his help. Trump pivoted and said that the way that they do the white house dinners was not very appealing and he said put me in charge and i can build it will look much better. Out to thent to turn city of houston. Joining us now on the phone, congressman al green. He has joined us a couple of times since the storm hit. Good morning. Youre down in the ninth district of houston. How are you doing today . Good morning and thank you for allowing us to be on. Im appreciative to cspan. Im also very much appreciative people who have volunteered, and have literally come in from other states to help us out. They are Good Samaritans within the state and without the state. My sympathies and prayers extend to those in harms way and those who have been victims of this horrible circumstance. Currently in houston we still have rain and we still have people who are stranded in we are trying to get help to them as quickly as possible. We have people volunteering to go out and help. The coast guard is in and they are out rescuing people. Seen people rescued by way of helicopter and there are more helicopters available now. There was a concern i had earlier. There were people stranded on theyops and places where could be. We have an area in the southern part of the state that i represent. The river would engulf several communities. We had to open an emergency at Thurgood Marshall high school. Andches are opening up allowing parishioners to come in. Which is something parishioners expect especially with smaller churches because they live near a place of worship. They expect to be able to go and get help in houston has been a city that has always responded in a time of crisis. When katrina hit new orleans , we havemy hometown many people come here. Many of them have stayed. We rolled out the red carpet. That kind of behavior is being rewarded. People from all over the country are helping us here in houston. For this we are eternally grateful. Want to get your thoughts. I dont know if you will have time to watch any of the president s visit downtown today. What do you think of president coming your way this morning . What you want to hear from him . Guest i want to hear the president talk about not only what we are doing currently which is very important. There is still great work to be done. I want to hear him talk about how we are going to recover. Because this is not a matter of months, weeks, years. This may be more than a decade in the making, this recovery. Its going to be expensive. It will engulf the entire state of texas and into louisiana. Epic event. N an this is something you just dont see in your lifetime if youre lucky. Unfortunately we are seeing it and i want to hear talk about how we are going to recover. About howhear us talk we will fund the recovery. How we will help without hurting others. I am a believer in the notion that the federal government is supposed to step up and take care of its people in times such as this. I supported help in Superstorm Sandy. This is what the government is for. The security of people. My hope is that we will be able to provide the necessary funding. Im not talking about being extravagant. Im not talking about adding things to a bill such as border wall. I want to see a bill thats going to talk about helping people without hurting other people without getting into petty politics about some jingle of whos going to pay for the wall. That is beyond the pale. This is Serious Business and we ought to keep it as such. Host as we get into that relief bill do you have a ballpark figure in your mind of what youre going to need . Guest i was in louisiana after katrina. I saw the devastation in the lower ninth ward. I saw where the levees breached. The streets and the cars that were turned over and how homes had literally been moved by the force of the water. Sense of what the damages were there. I have traversed my district. I was out earlier this morning on highway 288 which is more than 100 yards wide. Levels below grade because the streets go over this highway and its a river now. Very is flowing through it much akin to the way water flows down the mississippi. I have been out to the southern part of the city and i have seen where the tornadoes hit and how trees were snapped and homes have been damaged. My District Office in the Missouri City area has been damaged by a tornado. We are looking for an office in a time of crisis when we need the office. We are out searching for an office. The people coming into the center that was opened just last night. Afternoon we opened up a shelter for people having to evacuate. Mandatory evacuation because of the flooding. Or two the place was filled to capacity. People with their children and their animals. People of all stripes. My district is so diverse. You saw all of the diversity there. Havingseen new orleans, seen what has happened in houston and continually monitoring it i am convinced we are talking in excess of 100 billion. I dont have a yardstick to accurately assess the damages. I can tell you we are talking about the state of texas and other areas that might be impacted. I think we are talking about damages in excess of 100 billion. Congressman, we continue to appreciate you checking in with us on the washington journal. Guest thank you for allowing me to be on and i begged that persons in need of help continue to signal us by placing a white sheet or towel outside of your residence. So that we can make sure help gets to you. Help is on the way. I wish it could get there faster but it is on the way. Return to our conversation with tevi troy. I wanted to pick up on some of what you heard from that interview with al green. President ns for the but also expectations for the relief bill. 100 billion was the number he named. You are somebody who has worked in Disaster Relief. Does that sound feasible . Guest the number doesnt shock me because these numbers have been going up and the sandy bill was about 60 billion. Obviously we have some serious debt problems. I dont know what congress will bear on this yet. Its going to be a very significant package. Of 60e it will be north billion. I also want to applaud him for district. S in his i hope he and his family are safe. He painted a really evocative word picture of highway 88 flowing like the mississippi. It really puts in your mind a picture of whats going on. Host tevi troy is with us, author of the book shall we wake the president . President trump is headed to Corpus Christi and austin in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Waiting on the phone in richfield, wisconsin. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you for cspan3. I have a comment for your guest. Before that, i would simply say that al green is a typical political person. He is taking advantage of the situation. He is antiamerican. Al green, you watched him before talk about everything anticonservative, antirepublican. Im sorry. The guy should move to mexico. , why doesf your guest everybody hate donald trump when he is simply trying to help improve the country . Some missteps as every president has. Lets remember obama when he did the thing with the beer summit. We are not giving trump a Second Chance where everybody else has seemed to get one. Thank you. Think we should be politicizing this. We are all americans and we should all be hoping for the best recovery and rescue of people who are in trouble. I am happy to praise them when things go right. John is in new orleans. Caller i was a journalist with the times picayune. I also lost everything i owned and i lost loved ones. Peoplet goes out to the of houston. They are in for years of hurt. An observation on that. Not to relate to katrina. All i heard was how could those peoples day. Ignoring the fact that over 90 of Southeast Louisiana got on the road and got out of harms way before the storm hit. Yet now what im hearing is how could we leave when it comes to houston . Iseover, what im hearing people repeating tropes and canards and myths of katrina like they are fact. Host i went to keep going. This is a live shot of the present departing for Corpus Christi. He leaving from Andrews Air Force base. Him. Irst lady with a rainy morning here in washington, d. C. Heading to more Rainy Weather in texas. Was here the day after hurricane betsy in 65. Im hearing tropes like that. Victims of orleans the largest Civil Engineering disaster in American History treated like it was their fault . Today, white and in new orleans have Flood Insurance . If you have a mortgage in new orleans, you have to have Flood Insurance. I am hearing the repeat of this looting thing. If you break into a store and steal a tv on the first day of a Natural Disaster, yeah. Youre a looter. If your daughter hasnt had anything to drink in three days and you break into a store to get water you are just human being trying to survive. I would like everyone to moderate their judgments about peoples behavior and put yourself in the position of those people. Host tevi troy. Guest im sorry to john for his losses and i appreciate his perspective as something is been the and recognizing how terrible it is. Terrible human tragedy and we shouldnt lose sight of that. I dont want to focus on the partisanship of politicization. There is a terrible human tragedy going on right now. People are losing their lives, livelihood, homes. Should be focused on that and for the most part we have been and i am really heartened by the people who have gone there. Coming from louisiana. That is the spirit of america and i would like to see more of it. Host the National Flood has been inogram spotlight even more so. Heres a story from the new york ones the graphic focusing the 15 of homes in Harris County which includes houston covered by the national Flood Insurance program. Compared to the percentage of homes with Flood Insurance in other selected Texas Coastal counties. National Flood Insurance program now owes the treasury. The program coming after Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy as well. We want to get your thoughts on the future of that program in the wake of harvey. Guest theres going to have to be some looking into it. Theres going to be a big bill to be paid and this is a program that is already in the red. The New York Times editorial calls for reform of the program. Will have to look at this not only to make sure that it is afford to so we can help people in future disasters. Host that would have to comforted quickly. The program is set to expire at the end of september. One more thing on the list for congress. Dawn in texas. Good morning. Good morning. Im just got a couple comments. Lived when they had freed up town. Own rita in a the governor back then, perry, evacuated. You didnt have any choice. They said evacuated
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