Transcripts For FBC Countdown To The Closing Bell With Liz Claman 20170831

Blake burman is at the white house and our Political Panel is ready to react. And finally, the sun breaks out in texas today, the Harvey Recovery efforts picking up the pace. The storm reduced to tropical depression but moving to the middle of the nation as the death toll stands at 31 and growing. Were going to talk to retired Navy Captain Chuck Nash to compare and contrast that but right now lets go to the white house and the press secretary. Questions related to hurricane harvey, and as you all know the president was in Corpus Christi and austin earlier this week and today at the president s direction, the Vice President , mrs. Pence and five cabinet secretaries are back in texas meeting with local officials and storm survivors and thanking many of the First Responders and other volunteers. The president s team here working around the clock to support state and local authorities following the storm, and now want to bring up tom bossert, the president s Homeland Security adviser to provide an update on the administrationwide effort to support the recovery and relief efforts in the wake of hurricane harvey. Hell make a few opening remarks and stay to take questions specific to the storm and what the administration is doing to help the state and local authorities and the people of texas and louisiana and as always, after tom speaks, and takes your questions, ill be back up to take questions on other topics. Thanks, tom. Thanks sarah. See if i can start by addressing maybe different audiences. Weve got international audience, national audience, state and local audience, want to speak to each one of them with a brief update where we stand from the international perspective. We weve hadded heads of state from canada and mexico called to express condolences prayers and thoughts and assistance if they could lend to the effort. We very much appreciate that, and the president was deeply touched by the phone calls. I joined him for the call from Justin Trudeau moments ago, and we appreciate the neighborly gesture. Quite seriously. And its an International Expression of what were seeing at a very local level. Weve got neighbors helping neighbors in texas and louisiana but also neighbors that arent in close proximity internationally expressing help to our International Neighbors and canada and mexico are offering condolences and very much appreciate it. Seeing deployed from state, 28 searchandrescue teams and task forces from i think 16 different states, all sending down their support to texas. Thats a pretty large activation. In fact, i believe that thats the first time weve activated all the task forces since 9 11. This is a allhandson deck operation and state and local officials from all walks, even from pennsylvania where, im from. There are people now addressing this problem by getting their hands dirty and going down to texas to help. I want to thank them for that. Move to the nation, many of you are watching this and want to hear from us what were doing. You should continue to have confidence what were doing as a government. There are significant commodity be ins and personnel and material moving into the affected region and increasing number every day as we move forward. I would be remiss if i didnt stop and say none of that matters if youre a respected individual. 10,000 liters of water doesnt matter if i dont have the one liter of water i need right now. If i can stop and give a message directly to the people who need assistance. Might seem mundane, if you have access to a functioning computer, get to a shelter where you can do this, very important to go www. Disaster assistance. Gov. You can find what you need to register for the assistance you might need. If you dont have access but find a telephone, 18004627585. Again, 1008004627585. Another number of 6213362. Im going to clarify and think i think 18008213362 spells fema. The second number of 7585 is the tty number. I want to make sure people use the numbers and resources to register. Give them the advice its never too early to call insurance adjustor, if have you property loss or damage, you got the process under way, theres going to be a high volume of calls and want to make sure needs are attended to as soon as possible. So thats where we stand right now. Id like to go through additional messages. Life saving, Life Sustaining operations are still under way. Seen hospitals suffer damage in beaumont, most of you that are tracking the event have seen that. The d. O. D. And the hhs officials responsible for coordinating the federal response are actively figuring out and deploying resources to move the patients to better definitive care locations. We will see probably upwards of 7,000 estimated patients moved to better and safer definitive care, hospitals elsewhere in texas and see that happen expeditiously and comfortable where the operations stand. Secondly, word of caution, a lot of lost lives end up in this time zone right after a response. We lose unfortunately some lives in an immediate disaster, but then in the Immediate Response and recovery phase, people will use chainsaws, people will remove debris, people will be stressed. Elderly when theyre stressed, tend to get sick. The sickness can lead to death unfortunately. Unfortunately we will see additional losses of life if history is any precedent here or precedent, if that history is prologued. We will see additional loss of life. Please try to avoid, that try to avoid strain and stress, get to where there is food, water and shelter and take care of yourself so we can take care of others. With that, i would like to suggest from the fema perspective theyre continuing that operation but from the white house, important we look at cost of these events and look on the horizon about whats next. As we look into it, these are estimates at this point but looks like round about 100,000 affected homes, thats a big number. Were going to have 100,000 affected homes with different degrees of insurance. Some with Flood Insurance, some underinsured, some uninsured. Well have to address those on a casebycase basis but put a scope of magnitude on this, well have damage to publicly owned infrastructure. What well do as administration is put together a responsible supplemental request for congress, appropriations request, well make that request shortly. Well make that request based on the information we have now and what well do then is come back later for a second supplemental request when we have Additional Information to make a more informed total for congress to consider. Id like to stop on that point and take a few questions. Reporter question for you, obviously some after hurricane sandy, some money flowed fairly quickly, but the big bill didnt happen until two months after the hurricane hit, hurricane hit october 29. The bill was signed into law on the 6th of january. How important is it do you believe with texas for congress to get the money through faster. The president promised it would happen quickly. Three things, look at health of the Disaster Relief fund funding most of this operation, a relatively healthy fund, had 3. 6 billion heading into the storm. That allowed us to get through the initial response operations. That drawdown rate is something we keep a close eye on. Zeal to ask for disaster supplemental shortly. And heading into the end of fiscal year, any money from a department or agency is running out, the end of the fiscal year is upon us and so congress planned to provide us some replenishment through the regular course of operations, and thirdly, if there are, and will be needs for additional funding in the future as the drawdown construction numbers become more clear on a recovery phase, well be able to look at them and ask for a third kind of bite at the apple. Thats where we stand and not worried at all that we dont have the money for the operations under way and the operations we foresee in the next month. Reporter thank you, you mentioned the Office Assistance from the leaders of canada and mexico. Will the president offer any of those offers of assistance . Sure, the president didnt get into the specifics, that is the heads of state calling. Primary purpose was to express and extend thoughts and prayers and condolences to those who lost their lives. What well do is turn over to fema, the department of state to accept that request for additional actual concrete or tangible assistance. Fema is office of international affairs, theyll figure out how to integrate that with the operators. If they have unmet needs to offer valuable supply for, well take that. No reason not to take that assistance. Reporter will you let us know exactly what you say . I would say yes but highly encourage you to ask fema how thats unfolding, you have to look at that from a specific perspective. It is complex. Reporter you talk about voefr not six months but years in the making, this is a administration making significant cuts to fema. Are you given what the president did on the ground in texas are you encouraging the president to rethink the budget cuts . Youve been in Emergency Management a while. Do you think he should consider that . Number of misnomers on that. The core operating function at fema is well funded under the president s proposal. The Disaster Relief fund which provides the money for the events you dont plan for but prepare for, those things will be all well funded through that Disaster Relief fund. No cuts . You will see responsible proposals in the president s budget for reductions in Homeland Security grants. I was around for the creation, those grants were never meant to be permanent, and what we need to do is reduce clean, local dependency on the money, its wonku but you will see not just a request in the cut in money that the president put forward but Additional Details that allow states to develop a glide path to get over the grants and dependence on them over a period of four, five years. Its important for the American People to know that the president wasnt irresponsibly cutting money, he was doing further power and state locals and reiterate the fact the Disaster Relief fund is strong, plenty of money in it now and ask for responsible surplus, supplementals. Reporter tom can, you talk about the issue of those displaced . Temporary housing is a big issue. What can you tell us about whats happening over at hud . Whats happening with this administration as it relates to it was a big issue during katrina, and it was a major problem, are you looking at issues of finding and designating vacant locations for some of these people, some of the victims or survivors it go into . I met with the chief of staff of the cabinet today and we talked about housing quite a bit. Whats happening now is hud in cooperation with fema and state and local officials are starting to get together the available Housing Stock, available rental stock, manufacture housing which often fits the need in this type of disaster, but also available Housing Stock for those who receive assistance under hud programs. Section 8 in particular. Were trying to put the Housing Stock solutions and the Government Programs together, think through whats available and how people might utilize. That fema is doing that in the Planning Section but operators are focused on saving lives. One additional point there, this will be a housing challenge, but i dont want to concede any housing lack of coordination. Well have to allow a lot of this to unfold. When i say 100,000, some portion of those homes affected with two foot of water or less. Some affected with eight foot of water or more. You have to look at casebycase basis whether they are under water financially and actually and work with the mortgage lenders as we address the problems. Reporter during katrina, rent prices went up. Is there a safety net that will not happen if the survivors will not be gouged when they go into the temporary housing situations . You just used important word, and ill make a clear point right now. Gouging will not be tolerated, Jeff Sessions and the president of the United States will not tolerate gouging, anybody that takes advantage of a disaster victim expect Law Enforcement to come down on them with a hammer. Not acceptable on a regular day and not when people are suffering. Well use the latitude to come back to the administrative point and provide a fair market value rental rate that is a little higher than 100 to accommodate the National Supply and demand attention. Reporter the followup on aprils question about gouging on housing, what about gas prices . Is the administration looking at that in terms of gouging for profit . Gouging is a problem if it exists, if it happens at all level in every vertical market and horizontal, the issue on fuel is a good question, we had 4 of our oil shut into the gulf due to the rigs having to pull themselves in. That number is going to come back online, to bring back all the Business Operations in the houston petrochemical triangle, make sure the employees have responsible and safe housing. While there might be affect to fuel prices as a nation, right now were hoping its not a large or sustainable fuel price at the pump problem. What well also do is look for the health of the pipeline. So remember, there is rain falling, texas is not experiencing rain today, maybe small storms but not major storm. Now louisiana and the rest of the Tennessee Valley and the middle of the country are starting to see rainstorms. Colonial and the pipelines, we talked about that in the meeting. If we have update, well give it to you the rest of the week. The Chemical Plant theyre saying is not dangerous to the community. The fema director is saying its dangerous. Which is it . If you there were, it would be dangerous, the good news the people had been evacuated already because of the storm and the notice that we had on the pending explosion. Some really responsible reporting, Public Partnership took place on that facility and what we saw was that the electric power that went to the pumps and the Maintenance Systems shut out, we couldnt responsibly get the power back so the temperature rose in a concealed tank and ended up having an explosion. Theyre testing the air quality as local responders, but they dont know of anyone yet thats in the area of plume that would be affected. If they were there, it would be dangerous and keep an eye on it and take it seriously, but for right you in, the people arent there. The tree falling in the woods. 570,000 undocumented immigrants in houston. Does the white house believe they should be eligible for federal longterm recovery . I think Illegal Immigrants and that issue has come up a number of times. If you committed a crime, thats the priority for the department of Homeland Security, you heard john kelly say that clearly, the head of immigrations of Customs Enforcement and the head of cbp. In terms of immediate life saving, no individual human being should worry about their immigration status unless theyve committed a crime on top of coming here illegally. When it comes to getting food, water and shelter. The authorities wont be conducting routine swipes or searches inside the shelters, those are shelters for food, water and providing kind of insulation against exposure. That will happen and wont go rounding people up. We dont want to encourage that. Subsequently, theyre going to be rounded up as they always are and taken out of country if we find them. Thats pretty clear. Sir . Reporter the refineries went offline as a result of the hurricane. Is it your understanding that theyve gone back online . Is this a concern for you . Are there any thoughts tapping into the spr because this represents 25 of u. S. Oil Refining Capacity . I dont have an answer for you right now. Certainly the president will make that decision, if necessary, you dont want to tap into the Strategic Petroleum reserve if you dont have the refinery capability to handle. That so i havent checked today on the status of the refineries but i know people have and i can get that answer back to you. We worry about that but for right now, im not aware of major damage to the refineries, so thats why i suggest to the earlier question, we might have effect to fuel prices but shouldnt be a huge one. Dont hold me to, it well come back tomorrow and get a better answer. Right here. Reporter two questions, superstorm sandy, federal recovery package was around 60 billion. Governor abbott suggested this might exceed 100 billion. Does governor abbotts estimate sound reasonable it will exceed 100 billion. And we received sanguine reports between federal, state and local agencies, you can give me a sense of one or two challenges, areas where the coordination may require improvement . Sure, in the first question, theres nobody thats wrong on estimates right now. I dont have any information to challenge anyones estimate, and i dont think they have any reason tong their estimates are wrong. Were in the estimate game right now. As a result, wed like not to get into secondguessing anybody, in particular the ghor has firsthand knowledge. The strategy is figure out the predictable burn rate for the responsible operations and put up responsible supplemental request to congress to meet the needs quickly. Thats the bite of the apple approach they suggested. Well give congress sound, supplemental request number, well add to it. I think weve got internal numbers were thinking. I dont want to get out in front of director mulvaney. There will be funding as a matter of the plan because were heading to the end of the fiscal request and well have a supplemental request when we get a better handle on the damage we can come back with a responsible last so to speak, supplemental request and get the congress to give us informed amount of money. Reporter the second part of the question. Were there any areas where coordination is a need for improvement . I think at this point, the message is coordination is happening better than any storm weve seen before, stressing on anything not working well from the podium is illinformed. Im seeing nothing but positive, seeing nothing but appropriate coordination, if theres a problem somewhere, brock long is going to fix it. Thats my perspective. Not to be political on that answer but i dont have a negative word on coordination right now. Reporter let me ask you about the Strategic Petroleum reserve, 500,000 barrels were pushed out today. The Energy Department says during katrina on a loan basis it was nearly 10 million barrels, so were talking so far just a fraction of what was put out during katrina. What is the administration thinking Going Forward as to how the spr will be used and what we saw today just a start of what might happen Going Forward . Ill come back to you on where we stand, after talking to secretary perry. I dont have the numbers right now on what were going to do and why. I caution comparisons between storms. Every disaster is different, every emergency manager knows that. When it hits and who it affects constitute massive changes and how we respond to the storms. In terms of structural question, though, i think if any need for that Strategic Petroleum reserve manifests, we would be comfortable tapping into that and alleviating that source. Reporter there is talk about attaching a supplemental to debt ceiling increase, rolling supplemental ceiling increase into overall continuing resolution. From Emergency Management standpoint, how important is it to get a clean supplement . Well, i think Everyone Wants a clean supplemental. As we hopefully get a responsible budget, right . And that the Congress Comes together and finds a way to take the president s request and meet it. That would be ideal answer. Youre presupposing we have a continuing resolution, based on your question, we might have a cr, if that happens, its fine, not fine but less ideal but nevertheless fine, to my needs as an emergency manager looking for the drf supplemental. When you say clean, should focus on replenishing Disaster Relief fund and ancillary and obvious needs that might come for other departments and agencies for repairing highways and roads of that nature. That would be separate and distinct from the debt ceiling, every reason to believe thats going to happen in responsible way as well and amplify that if you have additional questions, from my perspective and the planning sfregz this morning, i dont think there is particular problem in our approach to the congress in the fall. Thats our sense. Reporter im a little confused about your answer on the immigrants getting longterm funding. Is that a yes or no . Im sorry . Yes or no. Reporter undocumented immigrants eligible for longterm relief, help. What happens when they leave . Will undocumented workers get longterm help . The point would be if you are an immigrant that committed a crime you are removed. If you are an immigrant looking for assistance eligible for citizenship its my understanding you are not eligible in that case. That doesnt mean were going to let somebody die or starve of exposure. There is not too much of a problem there. Im not sure where they were living before they got to the shelter. I would be making gross supposition, i understand hypothetical you are looking to drive towards. Reporter that is the question coming to the usa commits a crime and deport them and youre saying that the priority is still to deport people who committed a crime on top of that, so if you are an undocumented immigrant and did have a home and you are in a shelter, what happens . Theres a lot of ifs there and ill figure them out as i deal with them. The priorities couldnt be clearer. I dont think i know how to begin to answer that question, but i will say there is no wavering here and clear our position on immigration, so hopefully that answers that question. I dont think theres a lot of benefits going out to Illegal Immigrants in terms of the american taxpayer, those that came into the country and commit crimes constitute the priority of offense we need to focus on and he said that is not a victimless crime. So i think the focus on gangs and other things have everybody busy right now and the focus on saving lives and providing food, water and shelter have everybody pretty well busy right now. You will find the good men and women of cbp and i. C. E. Providing assistance to the men of texas and louisiana but the interim of people in immigration status that need food water and shelter. Id like to leave it at that. Thats the clear message i want to leave behind somewhat someone otherwise might be discouraged from finding something that would save their lives. Thats the message for today. Reporter the Flood Insurance program, the treasury 25 billion. Now this. The question is, should home owners who are in flood zones have to pay even more than they already have been paying in premiums to fund the program or should this be a problem that taxpayers solve . This disaster proves if youre not in a floodplain you run the risk of having your house flood . First for clarity, there are people suffering looking for immediate answers. If you have a Flood Insurance policy and paying for premiums, call and get your claim in. There is no problem, no shortfall. We have enough money to meet the claims and youre going to get what you got coming to you under the policy. Thats the first answer for the national Flood Insurance program. The second for people watching this, the Flood Insurance program is coming up to be reauthorized. Its about to expire. I have every confidence congress will reauthorize the program. And the third part of the question is how much money is left under the fund under the Borrowing Authority . And the answer is enough. I think its 8. 6 billion to get through this round of claims and then some, it will push us into the late fall, winter time frame when we have to get into discussing what the forecast projections are, and the last part of the question, future policy discussion, this administration is clear we would like to see responsible reforms, i dont think now is time to debate the things as we need to have pending claims, well debate that late fall as we come up with good policy ideas to move that into the risk based private sector. Fema is clear how to do that responsibly to not throw anybody off the current program. Cant buy a Flood Insurance program not underwritten by the Insurance Institute of america. That is a Public Private Partnership Working since the reagan administration. That standard Flood Insurance policy that you have, sfip that you have is underwritten by the federal government. I can go back in the back . Reporter i have a question about undocumented. The president is poised to make a decision about the daca program. Dreamers in that program believe they are documented, that they are documented to work, have work permits, et cetera. Those in the department who applied or applicants. What is your advice to them about their risk of being deported in any of those three categories under the daca program . The question is on deferred action against childhood arrival and i think what youll see is my position today is that the Administration Still reviewing the policy. On the second part of your question, what happens to people in illegal status that require assistance. Anybody needing food, water and anybody in between has to wait for a decision or at least a policy announcement from the administration on how were going to handle deferred action moving forward do you believe that is likely to be revealed and the days that are coming up now in what youre trying to manage . Well, i dont know the timing of that, but as soon as the president s ready to announce the result of our policy process, hell do so have you been consulted on this decisions . I have. The threat affect the decision or influence the decision . Say that one more time. The threat of a lawsuit from the attorney general to the doj, will that affect the decision it wont affect the policy decision, but it will affect the timing of it. We certainly have to watch the lawsuits and when the deadlines are imposed, that will inform our decisionmaking process, but it wont affect the policymaking decision. Ive been told to turn to i think we have skype questioners. Not that you folks in washington, d. C. Dont matter to me. But for the rest of the people watching, i would like to turn to where do i turn . Weve got skype questioners. Where do i go . Okay. So i think first, is it somebody from texas thats going to ask a question from skype . And how do i get that, sarah . Sir, youre on. Go ahead good. Gregg fox 26 in houston. Gregg, we got you loud and clear. We have in the houston area army core of engineer reservoirs flooding, the administration considering adding additional sources to the i think did everybody hear that question . I think just to repeat it in case were understand wired up here. I think the question good one is that people in houston are worried about the two systems, the two reservoir systems that the army core of engineers maintain. They pictured on television overtopping. Theyve been in a controlled release environment, a lot of water through the affected Populated Areas of houston, and you want to know if theyre safe and if theres any additional funding needed. Was that the question . Okay. Im going to answer that question. I think thats a yes. So the answer is and it just so happens that earlier this morning almost before i came out here, i was in contact with general, in charge of the commander of the army core of engineers. And three answers here. First, hes got engineers monitoring this systems right now for instruct integrity. So what you dont want to have is water come over the top and then eat away at the side of the wall and then have the Structural Integrity be undermined that weve seen in previous events. As of an hour ago, there was no Structural Integrity determined by any of the engineers standing there watching the facilitate. So that means nobody is in immediate harms way of damage and additional property loss. But then lastly, the question is do we need any additional money to shore this facilitates up . So i would try to answer that a little bit differently. Were not going to get into a position of saying theyre safe or not safe or asking for more money or not more money right now. What well do is continued a controlled release. The reason a controlled release is good is its an alternative to a uncontrolled release. So it seems youre dumping more water on people that dont need more water. But if you dont do that, youll end up with this Structural Integrity failure that i mentioned a moment ago. As soon as the water goes down, and its rapidly going down right now, were still going to have flooding for some time. But the big masses of water that are going down and out right now are flowing in a way that will allow us to do an engineering assessment over the coming days and weeks. And if there was Structural Integrity problems caused by the coming days or weeks or by the storm, well assess that, well put together a responsible number estimate and then very last on that, well do it in a way that think so through mitigation perspective. You just dont want to rebuild it to the way it was before and then have it undermined again. So when you put federal dollars into a project like that, you want to make sure that you do it smartly so that the next storm doesnt cause any structural problems. So that the way for the process to go. But the good news right now for the people in houston, both of those reservoir systems are holding up and theres engineers sitting there watching them on a 24 7 basis. So thank you for that question and thank you for doing what youre doing down there. I hope your home hasnt been affected. All right. Do i have another question . Is there one more . All right. Sir, youre on. Hi, this is justin with ktrk abc out of houston. How are you . Im doing well. What will you guys do differently . I mean, weve had disasters all over before. How do you reassure the people of texas that real help is coming, and its coming quickly . How do you reassure help is coming and help is coming quickly . Theres a real short answer to that. We send help, and we send it quickly. When we get a request from the governor or mayor, we send in as much as they asked for or more to make sure that theyre there to meet those needs. The reassurance part comes in the kind of pudding; right . The proofs in the pudding. So if were not getting where we need to get, we need to hear that. And im not immuned to criticism and neither are local officials there. The mayor has stood up and taken a great deal of smart criticism, but hes also taken a great deal of smart action. And from my perspective, what you had to do is hold us accountable and what i think this president s doing, President Trump is holding me and brock long and. And hes going to write to the governor and find out if were doing it right according to his perspective. Thats the answer. I think its pretty straight forward. Is there anything thats unmet from a needs perspective right now that you want to inform us of . If you do have something, im 20 yards to the president , well take it to him. I mean, not as of yet. But theres a lot of communities that have been devastated here and theres got to be a lot of needs really quickly. Yeah. Let me pick up on that and use that because thats a great quickly to wrap up my remarks here today. We are still in response mode, and that means lifesaving, Life Sustaining. There are still people up to their waste in water. There are still the elderly and the infirm that require our immediate attention. There are still hospitals in need of evacuation. Weve activated all this forces from dod and hhs to move this patients. Were soon going to move in a long, frustrating recovery process. And the Important Message to the people in texas and louisiana at that point is that were not going anywhere. And all of this talk about supplemental funding, its about having the money in the reservoir of cash i already used that pun, for us to use as we help you and get you back into your homes, back into your jobs, and get your kids back into the schools. Thats what makes america great. Were going to have houston and texas bigger, better, and stronger than it was before this storm and the resilient nature of the American People is just awesome. I couldnt be even more proud to be in this job, and i thank you for your time and attention. Thats going to be the last question. A local gets it. Im sorry. And i appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you, tom. Finally, before i open it up for further questions, i wanted to be sure and highlight a major step forward in the fight against isis. Earlier today, the iraqi Prime Minister declared that after a nearly twoweek long military operation, the city fully deliberated from isis militants. This victory represents the loss of a very important isis strong hold. The hometown of a number of top isis commanders. We congratulate the iraqis on achieving this big milestone and will continue to support them in their fight to take their country back from radical islamic terrorism. And with that, ill take your questions. Jeff. One followup on toms remark. He said that the white house will be putting together supplemental. Do you have a sense of when you will submit that to congress . And secondly, can you confirm reports that the president has been leaning towards or deciding to end daca and what other ramifications for that . Ill secure the first question in terms of supplemental funding. As tom said, were working with congress. Were not going to get ahead of director mulvaney. He is working with them around the clock to make sure that that process moves forward quickly and effectively. In terms of daca, echoing, again, on what tom said earlier. Final decision on that front has not been made. And when it is, we will certainly inform everybody in this room. Said that dreamers shouldnt be worried. Can you stand here today and say dreamers should not be worried . Once again, when we have a final decision, this is under review. There are a lot of components that need to be looked at. And once the decision is made, we will certainly let you guys know theres a specific report out by fox that talks about essentially the decision is made to roll back the program by the end of this week, and that there will be provisions allowing dreamers in the country right now to stay until their position expires. Are you specifically denying that report . No offense to your colleague from fox news, but i think im a little bit better informed than they are in terms of when the white house has made a decision. And as i just said a moment ago, it has not been finalized. And when it is, we will certainly let you know. Ali im glad. Can you at least talk about the timeline . September 5th is when you will begin the action. Thats obviously the tuesday after labor day. Does that mean that some decision will be coming down tomorrow before the Holiday Weekend . Can you at least talk about the timeline for this . This folks who are wondering what their status is going to be here again, im not going to get ahead of something and be presumption when the decision has been made. It would be disingenuous for me to create a false timeline there are a lot of conversations around the timeline and when that has to be made. And, again, that hasnt been fully reviewed and vetted and decided. Theres obviously been a huge outpouring of support from all around the country. You see people lining up volunteer, you see people donating tens of millions of dollars. Can you speak what the president and his family has done . Yes. I can. I had a chance to speak directly with the president earlier, and im happy to tell you that he is would like to join in the effort that a lot of the people that weve seen across this country do, and hes pledging a Million Dollars of personal money to the fund, and hes actually asked that i check with the folks in this room since you are very good at research and have been doing a lot of reporting into the groups and organizations that are best and most effective in helping aid, and he would love suggestions from folks. And i would be happy to take those folks if any of you have them. But as i said, hell pledge a Million Dollars of his own money to both texas and louisiana. Thank you, sarah. Previously the president has said that he will return to texas and all go to louisiana over the weekend. Do you have an update on the president s travel schedule . We know that Vice President mike pence is there today. And if the president is going where mike could go and will he meet . The president and the first lady will be traveling both to texas and louisiana on saturday. The specific cities and locations are being finalized. Hopefully well have that information for you later today. I believe he plans to be in the area of lake charles, louisiana. Again, varying on conditions, that may change a little bit. Thats the attentive plan at this point. Yesterday the president went to missouri to push for tax reform. He has said the administration has said that he would like the bill before the house of representatives in september. But theres differences between where the administration is and where key leaders are. Do you expect that to happen in september . As we said before, this is going to be a priority for the administration. Certainly moving through the fall. The biggest part is that we make sure that we get it right and that we provide tax relief to middle class america and that we help americans across the board. Thats the goal. And if we can do that by september, that would be great. Blake. Sarah, picking up on that, with the president hitting the road yesterday, he made it seem as if this should be a simple bipartisan fix. However, democrats are saying that there should not be tax relief for those who are the wealthiest 1 of earners. Does the president believe that the wealthiest 1 the president laid out clearly what his big priorities were yesterday. Ill be glad to repeat those. Permanently reducing tax rates, encouraging entrepreneurs to invest, simplifying the process, incentivizing American Companies to bring back jobs and profits. The president is focused on helping all americans across the board. The biggest priority he has is on helping middle class americans and making sure more of those people keep more of their money does the white house think working with democrats on this is reasonable or likely . I mean, theyre already laying down the market for where they stand. You just said for all americans, presumably that includes the top 1 i would love for democrats to help all americans. I dont know why they would ever want to be against that. Certainly helping more americans have more money that they would be hard to earn in their pocket. I dont know anybody would be against that. So hopefully they would be reasonable and want to come to the table. Matthew first, just quickly about that charitable donation. Would that be coming from trump personally as opposed to the Trump Foundation or the Trump Organization . I know that the president , he said he was personally going to give. I dont know the legal part of exactly that, but he said his personal money, so i assume that comes directly from him. Secretary mnuchin said earlier that the administrations going to release a blueprint on tax reform that would then go to congress. When can we expect that . How much detail will that go into . And how is that a change from letting Congress Take a lead on actually drafting legislation . Again, as both members of the administration, the president said our job is to lay out the core principles. The primary pillars that we want to see in tax reform. Its congress job to legislate. So we want to work through that process and allow them to actually do their job. Were going to do our jobs and lead the conversation, set the table, set the priority, and let them do their job and legislate, get it passed is that the president can sign it. John decker. I think weve already been laying out a lot of those principles. Thats the foundation, and well continue to add to that. John this push for tax reform the priority for the president and the administration right now . Have you put the repeal and replace effort to the side for the moment to focus exclusively on your tax reform proposals . As the white house, i dont think you ever get to exclusively ever focus on one issue. Its certainly one of the Top Priorities for the administration moving into the fall. But as we have said many times before, we can walk and chew gum at the same time, and we plan to push through a lot of Different Things throughout the fall. John. On repeal and replace as you know, you receive no democratic support under the house or the senate. As far as tax reform is concerned, are you expecting a different result . Do you think you can get democrats to support some sort of legislation that comes forth from both houses of congress . As i said a minute ago, i would certainly hope so. I dont know why any democrat would be against wanting to provide tax relief for hard working americans, particularly those in the middle class. I think it would be a very sad and big mistake. John thank you, sarah. Just one question just one just one. Politics. Politics. The president gave a very strong endorsement through twitter for senator strange and his bid in the nomination for the special election. The runoff is coming up in september 26th. There have been published reports that the president is backing away from that endorsement and not taking sides, which would make him the first republican president in 46 years not to back an incumbent senator for another term. Is he as committed to senator strange . Or has his position changed since the original primary . Due to the legal restrictions that i have, i cannot answer anything political from the podium, so i would have to leave that to outside folks and the president himself to answer that. Katherine. Oh. Mentioned today in an interview vague answer. During the campaign, the president said political correctness. Is the administration reversing those plans . Im not aware of any policy change. Certainly have to check into that. Peter. Sorry. I promise ill come back to you on daca, in february the president said he would treat dreamers with heart. Does the president stand by his statement to treat dreamers with heart . Absolutely. The president stands by his statements. Right now, this is currently under review both from a legal standpoint primarily and until that review is complete. Again, as i mentioned we dont have anything further to add on that front would reversing the daca again, im not going to get into a backandforth until the decision has been made. Let me come back to him ill be right after shifting to russia for a moment. Jumped in there for you. Teamwork. By the state department on facilities with this tit for tat that has been going on saying u. S. And russia are at the lowest point since the cold war. Do you believe with that . And if so, whose fault is it . Right now were requiring the russian government to close its consulate in san francisco, a trade an exin washington, d. C. And a trade annex in washington, d. C. Weve taken affirmed action in response to russias decision earlier this year. We want to halt the downward spiral, and we want to move forward toward better relations. Well look for opportunities to do that, but we also want to have equity in the decisions and anything beyond that, i would refer you to the state department. Are situations worse than theyve been since the cold war or at least in decades . I dont think so determine to improve relations with russia look, and as i just said, were going to look for opportunities to do that, but were also going to make sure that we make decisions that are best for our country. Go ahead. Sarah, thanks. Senators grassley, graham revealed today that they have evidence suggesting that former fbi director comey made a decision to not charge Hillary Clinton several months before the investigation actually wrapped up and before they interviewed Hillary Clinton. Does the president know about this . And does he believe that that adds weight to his decision to fire comey . Im not sure if he is aware of that revelation. But if it is as accurate as they say it is, i would think that would certainly give calls in reason jim comey was not the right person to lead the fbi and hopefully all of your colleagues will follow suit in covering that story. Zeek. Real quick. Basically, the president laid out a bunch of core principles. One of them is the attack plan on the budget. Has the white house taken a position on whether the plan needs to be revenue neutral or the tax plan that would that would essentially the president talked a lot over the course of his campaign. Is he laying down the mark today not at this time. I dont have any announcement up on that front. Fred thank you, sir. I have a question on obamacare. Theres governors that came out in favor of a standard elevator approach. Money, some republican and senate. I want to ask you. What did the administration outright type obamacare bail out for Insurance Companies . I cant imagine that would be something we would want to be involved in. But i would have to refer you to hhs specifically on that question. And secondly, the president tweeted, talked about taking away the obamacare convention and members of congress. Is there anything stopped him from taking that action now . Something that could be done executively . I think thats something he is certainly still considering. Alex. The un said that last week Saudiled Coalition in yemen took 42 civilians. Is the president concerned about the humanitarian situation in yemen . Its something that were certainly keeping an eye on, and i would refer you back to them for anything further at this point sarah, saying today that the mayor will be here next week. I was wondering if you could confirm that. And then on the russia diplomatic move. Did the president initiate this . This was a decision made by the president. Yes. And on the im not ready to make an announcement on that. I would have to check the specifics on that when it comes to north korea and military option among them, but is negotiating still on the table . Absolutely. Includes all. So i think that would certainly include diplomatic, economic, and military options. We are getting some friday yes. The president is working hand in hand with gary and the rest of his team on tax reform. As i said several times earlier today, its a big priority for the administration moving into the fall and gary is a integral member of the team leading that. April. The president is so dead set on try to make sure that he repeals obamacare. Whats happening with the website . Is there still active enrollment on that website . As far as i know, im not aware of any reason why its not, but i would certainly have to check into that. Im not checking into the obamacare website daily, so i would have to look into that youre not actively encouraging people . Youre working towards repeal and replace i think that everybody in the country knows that obamacare is collapsing and that something still needs to be done and the administration is still very much committed to putting a Health Care System in place that actually works because we know obamacare doesnt. Its not sustainable. So, yes, were continuing to move forward and look for ways to help all americans receive better care. Is it possible i asked last time could you give us the list . Because were still hearing more and more from other colleges and universities in the community saying theyre absolutely not coming. And you say its at capacity, and you have a waiting list. Is there any way that you could share some of those names . Yeah. I think the department of education is housing that. But, again, i will try to look into that. I meant to do that last week. Thank you so much, guys. I hope youre having a great day. All right. 53 minutes and counting. The press conference just wrapping up. You just heard from White House Press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders wrapping up that daily briefing. A lot of information to get to. Dont know where to begin here. But we heard from white house Home Security adviser tom. One of the headlines. The president will donate about a Million Dollars of his own money to charity to help the victims in both texas and louisiana. Lets go right to our guest because we have a lot to talk about right now. Democratic strategist cristy and republican strategist kevin paul scott. Retired navy captain chuck gnash and tiaa chief investment strategist brian nick. All right. We begin with you, kevin. If the administration did Show Confidence to get Disaster Relief. There is enough money, everyones going to get the funds that they need. Would you agree . 100 . I think the whole first half of that press conference was about not politics but just policy positions and results. I think they did a great job at focusing on the facts at hand, not getting into all of the politics surrounding it. And i think what the government of texas is conveying, what fema is conveying, what Homeland Security and the Trump Administration is conveying is that theyre going to do whatever it takes to make sure the people in texas and in louisiana are taken care of. This is a good week for President Trump. Cristy, would you agree with that . This is a very Fast Response from the president. He went straight to the state of texas. Hes going back with the first lady this weekend. Probably going to stop at houston and also lake charles, louisiana. Are you happy with what youre seeing from President Trump as commanderinchief over his first Natural Disaster . Yeah. I think what we need to do, though, is separate what seems to be a very confident, very informative briefing from someone who actually seems like he had a reasonable understanding of what was happening on the ground and actually seemed interested in sharing information that he had with america. And the response weve seen from President Trump, which is very different. His instinct friday night when the rest of the country was waiting to see the impact of what harvey was going to be was to ban transgender in the military, and then to say that he did these things while the hurricane was looming because it would get better ratings. That is disgusting to me. Thats upsetting. So, no, i dont think the fact that he, you know, sat in a room with, you know, melania in her high heels while real people and First Responders were doing hard work. Hard work is donating a Million Dollars. Donating a towards this cause. Putting his money where his mouth is were racing against the clock here, and i really dont care about the shoes that Melania Trump to go help people out. What were seeing, 28 searchandrescue tax forces from 16 states. Saying the first time that was every everything has been activated since 9 11. This is a big deal. Are you satisfied with the response that were seeing from both the federal and the State Government here and the way were working together to help the people . Yes. I am. And just as many forces that are already in play, there are many more waiting in the wings, and theyre waiting for the combined command center to call on those assets. What you dont want to do is just throw assets and people at a problem if you cant coordinate that effort. Its just a waste. So you have to be able to coordinate, and thats up to the governor, the mayor, and the military officials in this combined command center to make those decisions and bring in the right assets at the right time all right. We have 100,000 homes, brian, that are affected here. Obviously, the issue for so many homeowners and small businesses. What about Flood Insurance . 80 of the people dont actually have it. So were still in the rescue mode. We have to talk about the recovery as well here. And were also looking at the price of energy. Will this affect the market and the economy . The key thing to watch here from a markets perspective and Economic Perspective is how quickly these refineries in the area come back online. Because weve seen the price of gasoline right at about 25 . This week its up at 8 today alone. Thats effectively a tax increase on u. S. Consumers everywhere; right . And we learned this morning that u. S. Household savings rate has dropped to 3. 5 . So theres not that much room to weather this shortterm tax increase. So if we see the refineries come back online and it drop again from a nationwide perspective, its behind us. For the region, its going to take a long time to rebuild. And the third quarter, youre certainly going to see a pull back in the area. 5 of gdp in houston. Is the fourth largest city in the country. So thats going to take a hit nationally. But the next couple of quarters after that should be a rebuild scenario where theres a lot of Investment Private and public pouring into that area okay. And lets just take a quick look at the numbers on wall street right now because we have the dow about 40 points from the high of the session. Of course, this is the final trading day of the month of august before we close the scary month of september. Nasdaq about to notch second month of gains in a row at 6423 the level on the nasdaq. It is at an alltime high. Lets go to the New York Stock Exchange and lori rothman. Hey, lori yes. The markets resilient today, considering the horrible pictures coming out of houston the last couple of days. Economy last couple days. Lets go ahead, you pointed out the record of the nasdaq. The dow and s p not too far off records themselves, about 160 points off a new record for the Dow Jones Industrial average with a gain here of about 54 points. We wrap up the month of august, all three benchmark averages post gains. It will be gains for the month of august. The dow and s p up five consecutive months, with nasdaq on a record close. [closing bell rings] there is the closing bell. Send it back to you. Lauren lori rothman thank you very much. Lets hand it over to Ashley Webster and Cheryl Casone. Ashley thank you very much. Doesnt matter what is going on the around the world, the dow up Third Straight day, s p up five days and nasdaq up four. You get the picture. Im Ashley Webster, in for david asman. Cheryl i got it, ashley. Im Cheryl Casone this, is after the bell. We have more on big market movers. Here is what else we will cover in this very busy hour. Mass evacuations in an area around a Chemical Plant in texas where smoke has been billowing throughout the day. There are warnings of more fires to come. We are live in crosby, texas, with more on the looming threat. It has been six days since