That to make sure we get what we need to the people. I want everybody to know that we are in this for the long run. We know that once the water recedes, that is when the work really begins d we will be at it until we finish. Members of the texas congressional delegation spoke to reporters about the response to Hurricane Harvey. Ted cruz and john cornyn, among 20 texas congressional members who voted against four aid for victims for hurricane sandy, were asked about aid for texas victims. The 20 minute briefing was held in austin. Obviously we have been traveling with the president today. First in Corpus Christi and here in austin at the Emergency Operations center. I think all of us have expressed our gratitude to the president and his cabinet for leaning in on the terrible disaster that has hit the state of texas. We know that even as the sun comes out in austin, there are parts of the state where flooding continues, the loss of life continues. We need to keep that forefront in our minds. But we also know that the governor has done a tremendous job and the professional staff have pulled together an Incredible Team to deal with this disaster and others like it. I mht just say a word about what senator cruz and i and our house colleagues will be doing once we get back to washington. Under the federal law, states and state citizens are entitled to certain federal benefits if they are the victim of a disaster. Part of that starts with people disaster i a keep trying to remember what the account is. 1800621fdma, disasterlief. Gov. But people need to register online and it is in part in that message get out, or by phone, so they can be eligible for benefits under federal law. We will be working on a supplemental appropriation bill to benefit the victims of Hurricane Harvey. This is something we have done in the past for hurricane sandy, Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters. Of course, most of this is done according to federal formulas that already exist. This is not just money that is doled out for any purpose. This has to be targeted for Disaster Relief and recovery from Hurricane Harvey. We will be working with the president. The presidt called me this morning at 6 30 Central Standard time and said, i want you to know that whatever you need, whatever the state of texas needs, we are there for you. I appreciate his call and his presence here today and his leadership, helping texas through this challenging time. With that, let me turn it over to my colleague, senator cruz. Sen. Cruz this continues to be a difficult time for the state of texas. Let me reiterate what john said, that i am grateful to the president and admintration for their strong leadership. From the outset of this storm, President Trump committed to me and john and the congressional leadership that he would be committed to texas. He convened a cabinet member this weekend, in which he instructed the cabinet, lean in aggressively and swiftly. We have seen in the midst of this devastation remarkable coordination and cooperation between the federal government, the state come and county and local governments. I want to commend Governor Abbott, it was done and asked ordinary job marshaling resources, whether it is Texas Troopers or calling up their National Guard and getting them on the ground in houston, saving lives. We have seen thousands upon thousands of high water rescues. I want to commend the bravery that we are seeing over and over again. Daily acts of heroism. First responders, whether it is firefighters or Police Officers or ems, National Guardsmen or coast guardsmen, risking their lives to save people. I want to commend the individual citizens, mean and women, who when call to action, saved their neighbors and friends. It is extraordinary courage under tremendous challenges. Yesterdai spent much of the morning at the convention nter, which has been set up as a shelter for many of those who lost their homes. I willell you, there was a great deal of suffering that you could see, but there was also incredible courage and incredible gratitude just to be alive. It reminded you, as difficult and heartbreaking as it is to lose your home or possessions, possessions are fleeting and momentary and what really matters and is irreplaceable are human lives and your family. Andle were thanking god filled with gratitude they were alive and with their loved ones. One woman iisited with yesterday at the shelter, an older woman using a walker, who described to me how she had to leave her home because the water was rising. She walked through waist deep water with the walker, if you can imagine how difficult that is. She ended up being picked up by a Gallery Furniture truck. That truck took her to the shelter. She felt incredibly grateful. We are gratified that even in this time of great challenge and there are still people in harms way in texas, houston and rmaumont as the sto moves east we are gratified that texans come together helping texans and we stand united as one. I am chairman of the Homeland Security committee. Let me say, this has been one of the worst hurricanes the state of texas has experienced since the 1900 hurricane that my grandfather survived. But it has been one of the best sponses i have seen. The state of texas stepped up to the plate, and severe the president of the United States. And so did the president of the United States. My response was the oversight of Homeland Security to make sure fema was working with our locals. We had an excellent briefing by our emergency manager, by steve mccraw, by the fema administrator, and by the president , and the governor, who i commend for his Emergency Declaration that he sent to the president , not after the hurricane hit, but before it touched ground. I think that was very significant to declare an emergency disaer before it hit, so we could get the fema assets and assistance and First Responders into place, unlike the 1900 hurricane where 10,000 people died. Im hopeful we will see a different scenario. We have had a few fatalities thus far. We hope that loss of life right now it is still our first priority. Rescue and Search Operations are still underway as i speak. This h not ended by any st rain and these winds and will continue through the rest of this week. My prayers go out to those in need. It goes from my district all the way to west Harris County, which is under water as i speak. A lot of people are hurting right now. People have lost their homes and possessions and some have lost their families. That is when Congress Needs to step in and provide that assistance. I know working with senator cruz and senator cornyn and my colleagues in the house, one of the first things we will be doing upon return is working on a fema, on a Hurricane Harvey supplemental relief bill to provide that assistance to the state of texas. But i think it was mentioned before, the acts of bravery, not just on the part of government officials and the National Guard, which has been the floyd from 3000 to which has been deployed from 3000 to 13,000, the average citizens responding in a time of crisis. It is texans helping texas. And that is what it is really all about. Thank you. I am kevin brady, chairman of the house ways and means committee. This is an unprecedented disaster and it demands an unprecedented response and i feel that is what we are getting, from the governor on down, to the president and fema, and the support i am getting from senator cruz and senator cornyn. I could not be more grateful for that. I brought here and having the president here with his aid tea m, and they have been on the ground, i think it is incredibly helpful and says a lot about where their heart is, and the president s heart. I got an urgent request today. Our Emergency Responders are pulling people off of roofs and evacuating families. Rivers and creeks are cresting, and we are seeing flooding were flooding has never occurred before. My county have not yet been included in the federal disaster declaration. I made that request directly to the president and the fema administrator. With the support i am single floor with Governor Abbott and our two texas i am grateful for with Governor Abbott and our two texas senators. We need to make sure our families can count on the assistance they need now, our communities need assurance they can rebuild and taxpayers will not be made worse by this. I am really encouraged by what i have heard today from our leaders, from President Trump on down. After the waters proceed, we will sit down with our local officials, with the governors office, with our colleagues in louisiana as well, because we expect damages there, to determine what a full recovery will mean and what role we can play in congress to make sure that happens. And im Roger Williams represent a good portion of Travis County. I just want to first of all say, as my colleagues have said, how much we appreciate President Trump, theeadership he has exhibited and also, Governor Abbott. It has been phenomenal. That is what we do in texas, we stand ready here locally to receive the thousands of evacuees as they become in need of a home and food. Thats the texas way. Ive been in contact with local leadership about how we can help them and i also think it is important, as you have heard from my colleagues, that we will address this in washington from a funding standpoint, so nobody goes in need in this great state. This is a storm like weve never seen before, may never be seen again 500 years ive heard. We have seen what the private sector can do, how families join families and how neighbors join neighbors, and how people who never knew each other reached out to those in need. I am grateful to serve with all these men here and the women we serve with in congress. He will get it done fast and right. We will get it done fast and right and we will rebuild this community as quickly as possible. I thank all of my colleagues were what they have said today and i thank President Trump and governor of it. Could you describe what president trumtold you, what would be the result of this trip today . I would be glad to tell you what he told me. He said, anything we need, just call him directly. I think he told senator cruz basically the same thing. We realize the are channels to go through and hoopse have to jump through, but basically, we are talking about existing federal statutes that have formulas and based on demonstrated need, either individuals or communities, n get relief. Everything from rent to put a roof over your head to the Small Business administrations business loans. I think we heard today the sba they did their First Mortgage loan, if im not mistaken. And communities that have seen damages to the infrastructure. Theres a lot of different categories, but this is where we have to do our due diligence, working with Governor Abbott. Under katrina, under sandy, there were a lot of different categories of benefits. Fema tells us there are 52 different federal gernment pay orders. It is an incredibly complex system and it is part of our job to make that job easier for citizens and communities to apply for those federal benefits, and that is what we will be dog together as the texas delegation. Estimate,e any early any rough numbers . I think it is too early to tell, but certainly, it looks like the mnitude of this storm is gng to be a couple times bigger at least than hurricane sandy. But we will have to do the counting after we get more information. I am the editor of a newspaper. In what ways can the Travis High SchoolCommunity Health after help aer Hurricane Harvey . That is a great question. What we can do, it is a good time at an early age to offer what you can. You offer a lot of energy, a lot of sweat, and they think a lot of that you can do, and helping a lot of folks in need of that, and have a great positive attitude, like you do. The red cross is operating shelters in Travis County and would be great to volunteer at one of those shelters to help one of your fellow texans. You can go and volunteer directly and make a difference in the lives of fellow texans. Yesterday i spent a couple hours llie andserve chil helping give up close to the people who had lost everything and they were so thankful for a clean change of clothes. You can also go online to the red cross or the Salvation Army and sign up to volunteer and support their efforts. There are lots of ways to be directly involved in helping fellow texans. It makes no difference. Supplemental i think it is too early to tell, but i did speak with general kelly and some of the president s staff and his cabinet to say, i think we would like to get a down payment early, so we can meet the unmet needs early, while the compile the information to qualify for e various categories of federal assistance. That will take a little while. So, were going to try to build that case with the down payment of front. There are phases it in dealing with a disaster. Right now were in the phase of saving lives. They are in a high water situation. We have First Responders risking their lives to save people in peril. That is the focus of the federal government, the state government, and of local officials. Willthe storm is on we move into the next phase which is rebuilding. Rebuilding will take many weeks, many months, perhaps many years to rebuild the homes and bunesses that were lost. Under the famous statute, we will go in and calculate the extent of the damage. We know the damage is enormous. This is a 500year flood. Be quantification will according to federal statute and that will take a long time to get. The government will step in the aunt help the state of texas rebuild. The president made a clear and unequivocal statement that the president will have texass act. And i think i and all texans appreciate that. [indiscernible] helping people evacuate . The governor does not have any authority as i understand it under state law to order evacuation, it is up to local officials in thaturisdiction. What kind of longterm plans are you making in discussing the needs to take place in aftermath . One of the things that came out from the fema director yesterday in Corpus Christi, he pointed out that 52 separate willal Government Programs pay money to citizens or communities and a disaster like this. As you can imagine, it is a nightmare for local communities. Managers and mayor have to navigate this bureaucracy. One of the things i talked to the governor and fema director about is we will want to work about those with jurisdiction over fema and the department of Homeland Security to help cut through the red tape in build a portal where they can communicate with and satisfied the various requirements for each of the 52 different Government Programs because there will be a lot of people frustrated. Right now, they are tired, many of them lost a roof over their head. They are seeing the beginning of will get very frustrated in these communities if they have to navigate the bureaucracies. And we will help them. A lot of you voted against the tax, are you guys going to do anything to make sure indiscernible] i voted for funding. I voted against a larger bill because it included things that were not Sandy Superstorm related. To remember the supplemental appropriations for emergencies are in exception. Not the standard way Congress Appropriates money. There was always an opportunity to come back behind that after the money was depleted to do more so that is the thought here. We are not going to compare ourselves to anybody else, were just going to do we might get chairman mcauliffe, he understands better than i do, explain different categories of benefit whether community or individual to quantify the type individuals or qualify for. Ill there is individual assistance, which by declaring in a disaster area these individuals are eligible for. Then there is Property Damage and rebuilding and clearing the assistswill which fema with and becomes part of a as well. Insurance is already in place. The first coverage. Team up provides for the backstop, if you will, for people who do not currently have insurance to pay for these losses. Want to get the debris cleared. Get people back itheir homes. That will take a long time because of the devastation. It is so extensive. One of the last resorts is prefabricated homes they can bring in. We saw the trailers and what happened with katrina, i do not think we want to repeat the mistakes of that. After the katrina disaster, i passed the fema reform bill that dealt with a lot of the funding and how it takes place to make sure where not throwing a lot of money into the system where a letter fraudulent activity can rip off the taxpayers. There are precautions in place for the right reasons, because of what we saw with katrina. These steps of already begun. I think declaring these disaster gots, as the president did, the ball rolling, got this in motion today place and that is why those are critically important. This is now the highest rainfall county now in the history of the state of texas. Colork, creating a new code to deal with water i think 40t is over 30 inches or inches which is what is happening right now. You are seeing some areas with over 40 inches of rain holding up. And part Harris County of my district are getting ready to possibly break. If that happens, you can have a new orleans scenario where communities get dumped on that if already been dumped on for three or four days. They are predicting rainfall through potentially friday. So this is serious. Were not out of the woods by any stretch. There is a lot of work to. Not just weeks, not just maybe within a year. T one of the things president neump emphasize on air force coming up Corpus Christi was that when Governor Abbott put in the initial declaration of disaster that in the past, president s had issued those weeksations and days or after the disaster and President Trump said he did it while on the phone with the governor. He immediately, with greg abbott on the phone, granted it right there. Ofhink that is an example proactive leadership from our governor recognizing the storm was coming and had the potential of enormous devastation but also with the leadership of the president , that declaration of disaster opens up the ability to marshal federal assets, be in the position to save lives, and start to rebuild. We just returned. Is there anything you can say to let people know in rockport they wont be forgotten . I was there yesterday and senator cruz was still flooded him and could not get down the highway from houston. It is clear that rockport was ground zero when the wind came ashore while houston in other places have not suffered much wind damage, they suffered water damage. Rockport clearly good. There are people there who do not have electricity, do not haveater, do not have food and their homes have been destroyed. So, these are the kinds of people were trying to help now with the rescue efforts that we talked about. Going forward, there is going to be a lot to do to get people in temporary shelters, get the electricity up and running again, get the wat in sewage working in help people rebuild their lives. Certainly we saw a lot of that devastation in rockport yesterday. Faced to disasters. Initially a category four hurricane that made landfall and did devastating damage. Ourthen, texas has faced share of hurricanes. Typicallyhe hurricane hits, you have the damage and you get in and begin rebuilding. And harveys case, became him a Tropical Storm and went a little bit easierd a little and basically sat over the houston area for day after day after day dropping some 50 inches of rain the end instead of dissipating as we have seen in the past comment cap flooding and flooding and flooding. And as we know, and went back to the golf and came back and now beaumont is facing it again. Significantndfall, wind damage. Houses destroyed. Look at victoria, much of victoria does not have electricity. Without at communities water, without sewage. Enormous devastation from that first landfall and then the second wave of flooding and potential threats to life. I know all of us are lifting up in prayer. The Houston Police officer lost his life, drowned today in the floodwaters. First responrs continued to risk your lives getting people out of harms way. [indiscernible] cspans washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that affect you. Coming up wednesday morning, university of north carolinas Robert Hardwick talks about the current fiscal events on the National Flood insurance program. Then, talking about a report on the shortcomings of the federal government when it comes to governance. Ef and be sure to watch cspans washington journal beginning at 7 00 a. M. Eastern wednesday morning. Join the discussion. Coming up, a look at what irs data can tell us about retirement income. Reviewing the findings on two new studies on private retirement and if its. Easterny at 10 00 a. M. On cspan, and you can also see it on cspan. Org and listen on our free cspan radio app. Preview of the global hostingnstitute speakers on topics including the role of the Chinese Communist party on policymaking and relations with taiwan. See it live starting at eastern here on cspan. Cspans city tour is in spokane, washington, with our Comcast Cable partners as we explore that citys rich history. Booktv features the history and Economic Development of spoken spoken ouror of early history. They had the gold strike, the gold rush in 1883. That led into a silver strike. It was one of the most producing silver areas in the United States a lot of the mansionsand big buildings are all built from the mine money. Significante most environmental leaders and father the nationa dark systems, local author talks about his book about john years 1000 mile walk to the golf. Muirs 1000mile