Houston, sylvester turner. After a brutal august, a nowweakened President Trump faces a challenging september. I am fully committed to working with congress, and i dont want to be disappointed by congress. Do you understand . Can he get a budget passed, raise the debt limit, keep the government open, get his border wall funded . Ill talk to republican senator roy blunt of missouri. Joining me for insight and analysis are nbc News White House correspondent kristen welker. Matthew continetti. Susan page. And eddie glaude of princeton university. Welcome to sunday. Its meet the press. Announcer from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, celebrating its 70th year. This is meet the press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning. Were going to get to the latest on the flooding in texas and the Recovery Efforts in a moment. But we begin with some very big news overnight while you were sleeping. North korea carried out its sixth nuclear test and claims that it has detonated a Hydrogen Bomb that they say could be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile. Whether or not it was a Hydrogen Bomb or a larger version of its previously tested atomic bombs, south Koreas Defense Ministry says the explosion was five or six times as powerful as the last test the north conducted. Now this comes amid increasing tensions and elevated rhetoric between north korea and the United States with President Trump last month warning of fire and fury if north korea continues to threaten the United States. So, lets go now to south korea. Our own ron allen. Ron, do the South Koreans see this test as more as the most provocative step yet this year . Reporter oh, yes, chuck. This is a huge step. This was a massive explosion. Registered 6. 3 on the Richter Scale according to the usgs. It comes at a time that actually pointing out, theres been an escalation, a constant exclas back and forth. Reporter the North Koreans fired a missile over japan not long ago. They threatened guam not long ago. And now this after just a couple of days ago, a massive show of military force by the United States, south korea and japan, a massive flyover. Military exercises here that were to some extent unprecedentsed. And yet the North Koreans keep pressing forward. The analysis in this part of the world is that the North Koreans are clearly testing and pushing the Trump Administration to see how they will respond. They see an administration thats perhaps weakened, that has low approval ratings, thats somewhat in disarray, and isnt able to get much done, so now they are seizing this moment, many would argue, North Koreans are trying to assert their will. This regime sees its very existence tied to Nuclear Weapons and advanced missile capability. They see themselves acting in selfdefense. They see the regime dependent on having these armaments. And they dont see much coming back to the United States. Many analysts in this part of the world and elsewhere will tell you that the options that the u. S. Are perhaps limited. People see military scenarios playing out in this part of the world with just cataclysmic consequences. Sanctions havent worked. So weve heard the outrage, weve heard the concondemn nati. Remains to be seen. Ron allen on the beat in seoul for us, thank you very much. Joining me now, our chief Foreign Affairs correspondent, andrea mitchell. Good morning, anticipated ya. Good morning. Let me run through the president s tweets this morning. All north korea focused. Three of them. North koreas conducted a Major Nuclear test. Their words and actions continue to be very hostile and dangerous to the United States. North koreas a rogue nation which has become a great threat, an embarrassment to china which is trying to help but with little success. Then the third tweet south korea is finding, as i have told them, that their talk of appeasement with north korea will not work. They only understand one thing. Andrea, he singles out china. Singles out south korea and uses the word appeasement. How is that being read by both china and south korea right now . The word appeasement is just such an insult to south korea which is sitting there right theyll view this as an insult. Oh, that is an insult as well as his threat to cancel a trade deal with south korea right now, worse possibly timing to make that threat. The fact is this is a game changer. Whatever this was, and intelligence officials and the pentagon still trying to confirm to u. S. Satisfaction that it was hydrogen. But the scale, the size of this, is so big. It likely will prove to be a test, at least, of an advanced thermonuclear device. This means that they are getting closer and closer. And if they have achieved a Hydrogen Bomb, they still have to prove miniaturization, reentry on an icbm, an intercontinental ballistic missile. The fact is the explosive nature of this kind of blast is so big that they need a much smaller rather, much less of a lift. They can put this kind of a warhead on a missile and have a much more explosive effect so they dont have to miniaturize as much as they ordinarily would. So it feels as if, to use a metaphor here, that kim jongun has put his foot on the accelerator when it comes to the nuclear program. These are just missile tests, north korea. His father, kim jongil, conducted 16 missile tests throughout his entire reign. Okay . Kim jongun has already done 84. Hes done 18 missile tests just since President Trump was inaugurated, more than his father just in that sixmonth period. Ron in his report from seoul alluded that the North Koreans are paying attention to the president s political standing. Is this all about testing trump, or is this something more going on and are we almost reading too much into it domestically . I think it is probably both. Certainly testing President Trump and seeing the mixed messages coming from secretaries mattis and tillerson on one hand talking more about diplomacy, and the fire and fury, worse than anything that the world has ever seen, the ret tihetorirhet and loaded coming from President Trump. That kind of mixed message. And the uncertainty about who President Trump is in Foreign Affairs that is, frankly, worldwide. Ive been speaking to a lot of foreign leaders about this. Right now we dont know exactly what this is, but theres no question that the pace that youve just alluded to is so remarkable. I met his father when we were there for Diplomatic Mission with secretary albright. We were getting close to normalization of relations. This is a very different north korean leader. It is clear they are getting some help. Theres been some reports that ukrainian scientists. Is there another outside foreign power here helping as well . Is this russia . This is russia and china in terms of giving them the economic help. The energy supplies. So the ukrainian reports were discounted, widely discounted. But russia has been helpful as well. And we still see china most recently pushing back against the unilaterally u. S. Sanctions which went against chinese entities. They are not yet ready to really press hard. Maybe this will change it but not clear it will. Andrea mitchell, long night for you. Appreciate you getting up early this morning. You bet. Lets turn to the hurricane Recovery Efforts now. If there is one number that helps illustrate the biblical nature of the flood that hit Southeast Texas this week, its eight. Thats the number of feet. The river in beaumont has risen. Think about that. Eight feet. Thats 96 inches above the alltime record there in beaumont. Thankfully, harvey will not be the deadliest storm in history but the destructive stotoll the storm took and the misery it caused is hard to consider. Houston had the greatest event ever in the United States. 43,500, the number of people in shelters. 436,000, the number of households seeking help from fema. 7. 85 billion, the amount of money President Trump has initially requested in federal funds for first round of harvey relief. 250,000. The number of Harris County homes with Flood Insurance policies. There are 1. 75 million Housing Units in the county, including apartments. 9 . The drop over the past five years in Harris County homes with Flood Insurance. Finally, the saddest number of all, 43. Thats the confirmed death total so far. Unfortunately, that number is likely to rise as well. Hurricane harvey caused what is being called the thousandyear flood. We want to take a look back at the past week, at scenes of tragedy, survival and of common purpose. This storm intensified quickly making landfall overnight. This whole area was grass earlier. Now weve got two feet of water. Behind me, you can see wow this is one of the major highways in houston. The waters rising way too fast. I just was in such denial. I didnt put anything up. I didnt grab anything. Alarming situation is playing out right now in crosby, texas. Explosions and smoke at a flooded chemical plant. The situation they warned that might happen is happening. You have the firefighters getting out their air canisters and their masks. The weather in beaumont has been deteriorating all day long. We were like so happy like god handed us our prayers. You can see these large helicopters that have been plucking people out of the sky. We have grass here. People are going neighborhood to neighborhood. My baby. Couldnt find him and once our dive team got there it was too treacherous to go under and look for him. He said the man was bobbing in the water. Thats how deep it was. He kept yelling at the kids. You can hear the kids screaming and crying trying to get out of the van. Four mega shelters are operating. Three in houston, one in dallas. If we cant get, we have to figure out a way. I wasnt going to give up on my son. I was crying hysterically. I thought i was going to die. Im very thankful that we are here safe. I lost my home and im thankful my children are safe. Its just i have nowhere to go. Were signing a lot of documents now to get money in houston. 7. 9 billion. It looks like around about 100,000 affected homes. Thats a big number. All my assets in my house, all gone. I left the garage full of stuff. I keep thinking like whats in there. Just to watch all your stuff kind of floating away pretty much. Our entire lives. Just passed the 15 million mark. Ive said it so many times before, but i think the worst times bring out the best in people. Whatever we can do to help these people in time of need, thats what we want to do. We want to see your kingdom joining me now is perhaps the busiest man in the country right now, the mayor of houston, sylvester turner. Mr. Mayor, welcome to meet the press. A whole country pulling your city right now, sir. Well, thank you. We appreciate that. Let me start with Tuesday Morning. This coming Tuesday Morning. How much of the city is operational . How many businesses do you feel like can open . How many people do you feel like can go back to work, et cetera . What is the goal for Tuesday Morning . Well, the goal is to open up. Of course, for example, like city hall. We return to a full functional day on tuesday. The School Systems will not open. Not all of them. That scheduled date is september the 11th. But the airport is now open. The port of houston, the port is now open. Transit, metro system has returned to regular service. And so we are moving in a very positive and progressive fashion. I suspect on tuesday many, if not most, of our businesses will be open. Over 95 of the city is now dry and im encouraging people to get up and lets get going. There are still tremendous needs. I dont want to downplay that. We have two areas that are still somewhat underwater, the northeast, the kingwood area, and of course the west houston area with water being released from the dam. But most of the city is dry. Im saying to people, if you can open, lets open up and get started. Lets talk about your immediate needs right now. You talked about this issue where you had to order a very small evacuation of folks because of the relief of water from the dam. How long is that going to be in place . Is that week . Two weeks . And you said it is only for houses that are already have water in them that they have to get out. That is correct. Explain why that is. Let me explain that, chuck. This is for the area in west houston where they most of those homes didnt flood because of the rainfall. They are flooding because waters being released from the reservoir to establish capacity on the west side of the reservoir. That is probably going to continue for the next ten days. And what i have said in very narrow terms for those homes that are already inundated with water, if you have water in your homes, i have issued a mandatory evacuation for them because it is dangerous for those who are choosing to live there, but also it is very, very dangerous for our public responders, First Responders, who are needing to be out there trying to provide protection to them. So ive issued a mandatory evacuation for only those homes where water exists in the homes already. And that will probably remain in place probably for the next ten days. Let me ask you about, there have been some reports overnight from the Associated Press about some superfund sites, sort of toxic cleanup sites, that are essentially run by the federal government, the Environmental Protection agency. How concerned are you about the flooding thats occurred there . Is there any chance you think this could impact Drinking Water . I know you have said the Drinking Water in houston is safe to drink now. What do you know about these superfund sites and is the federal government on this . Well, the superfund sites right outside of the city of houston. Theyre not in the city of houston. I am i feel very comfortable about our water system, the system is safe. The plants are functioning. And so im fine about that. That may be along right around river areas, but those are sites outside. I cant speak specifically as to whether or not the epa is on the ground. Certainly would be important to have them on the ground and to inspect those sites and to try to contain any possible contamination. So ill be visiting with some other people in the region. But those are sites specifically within the city of houston. Many times with water damage, there are invisible toxins where you dont know you think your house has the waters gone, but the mold could be so bad that you cannot live in there. Who is making the determination whether a house needs to be condemned completely or it can be rehabbed . Is that a federal government decision . Is that something your government handles . Walk us through that. Right. That is something that we will be handling locally. What i have said, even though most of 95 of the city is dry, for many homes, the damage is on the inside. And especially, let me note, especially with regards to lowincome communities. And so now what we are doing, we started this several days ago, were going literally door to door. We are a lot of volunteers, First Responders and others, firefighters, are going door to door to check on people, possibly anybody that we have left behind. Especially seniors who may be in their home but really dont appreciate the danger of living in homes, dry now, but the mold is starting to set up. Sheet rock that needs to be pulled out. So thats going to be our local responsibility to watch out and take care of our neighbors. Im particularly sensitive to seniors, people with disabilities, people in the lowincome communities and neighborhoods. But thats a door to door, checking on them, looking in their homes, and, where possible, assisting them in pulling out those carpets, the rugs, sheetrock. What i said to the president , for example, yesterday, what we need is rapid repair housing. That is a very, very high p priority to provide assistance so people can stay in their homes, make the necessary repairs that allow them to stay in their homes while they do the repairs. Let me ask you. The president s visit yesterday helpful . The president s visit yesterday was very positive. The goal for this week for me, were going to take it one week at a time. Thats housing, housing, housing. Checking on people, especially in these communities, that dont necessarily get all of the attention but where Senior Citizens exist, people with disabilities, lowincome communities. Were checking on them. We need to make sure that their housing is good enough for them to live in. So its housing, housing, housing. Reducing the number of people, for example, in our shelters. That number has dramatically gone down. This major shelter in downtown, at its peak we had 10,000. Now the number is down to 1,400. The other thing this week which is a high priority debris removal. And every community, every part of this city, was touched by this storm, and so people now are already putting that debris out and i said to the president we need to get the debris removed like yesterday. Otherwise well have a Public Safety hazard. And so the citys crews started on thursday removing the debris. Were working every day but we need advanced funding. The president was certainly amenable to that. In fact he issued a statement that it would be 90 reimbursable in that category. So housing, housing, housing for this week. Debris removal this week. And then saying to our businesses and others, lets get going. Were in the recovery phase. So lets move forward, open up the businesses, provide the necessary employment. But lets get going. All right, mr. Mayor, sylvester turner, as i said at the top, i know youre among the busier people in the country right now dealing with this. Like i said, you got to whole country behind you. Thanks for coming on. Well, we appreciate it. Just a cando city, chuck. Come and visit us in one year and ill show you a better city than it was before the storm. Thats a deal. Ill be there. I cant wait to interview you then one year from now. Thank you, sir. Well have a lot more on harvey later. But whether we come back, august was a rough month for President Trump. So what about september . How much can a president get done . Low poll numbers and being increasingly at odds with his own party. Ill talk to a leading republican senator, roy blunt, of missouri. And as we go to break, here are just a few more scenes from texas this week. Their experience is coveted. Their leadership is instinctive. Theyre experts in things you havent heard of researchers of technologies that one day, you will. Some call them the best of the best. Some call them veterans. We call them our team. So we know how to cover almost almoanything. Hing even a swing set standoff. And we covered it, july first, twentyfifteen. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum wherwhere we always welcome you, thats texas. Exas. Where we always find a way, thats texas. Welcome back. Even before Hurricane Harvey hit, President Trump in congress had a pretty big todo list for september, passing a budget, raising the debt limit, basically our credit card line, keeping the government open, deciding whether and how to pay for mr. Trumps border wall, and of course, getting tax reform started and the president claims he still wants to do health care. All that would have been hard enough if President Trump werent weakened by poll numbers in the 30s now and increasingly testy relationship with his own party. Joining me now to talk about what could get accomplished this month is roy blount of missouri. Welcome back to meet the press. Good to be with you, chuck. Let me start with north korea. It seems the conversation is the same and it used to be three months we have the north korea conversation and unfortunately, were having it every three weeks. Sanctions arent working. These joint military exercises dont seem to have an impact on him to wrap ratchet things back and he things to ratchet things up. Whats left in the diplomatic arsenal . Well, for 20 years, the diplomacy by itself appears not to have worked very well. Sanctions without russia and china interested on solving this problem dont work very well. I think the president putting everything on the table is is not a bad thing right now both for north korea, but maybe more importantly for china to be thinking about how consequential this behavior is. The Intel Committee serve on doesnt disclose anything to say that in the last year this has been the number one topic month after month, what was happening there and what we were going to do about it and i hope the neighborhood understands how critical this is. Is the assumption now among the highlevel folks in the government that russia and china in some ways have actually north korea appears to be on a faster track in their developments. How helpful has the russians and perhaps the chinese been to them . Well, you know, we theres some sense that they have been more helpful than they should have been and more sustaining to the economy than they should be. Everybody in the world, as well as particularly the countries that are in the region have a lot at stake here. Nobody in their right mind would want this to happen. Youve got a leader who is both spoiled and reckless. Spoiled and reckless is not a unique thing to find in the world today, but it is unique with somebody who has control of what may now be Hydrogen Weapons as well as Nuclear Weapons. The chinese, theres been some a nales nalysis, why they afraid and theres at least diplomat being understanding. What are the russian up to . Is this simply to distract the United States. The russians have had an interest for well over 100 years. It is close to them and it is another outlet potentially for them. I think the chinese have more at stake and do more to sustain that economy and they can also do more to quickly cool that economy down, though with this leader, does he really care about the other people in the country or does he just care about himself and staying in power and intimidating whoever is necessary for him to stay in power in his own country . Let me start with the todo list that you guys have in september. It isnt a full month because theres a lot of holidays, so actually, you have about two working weeks to actually get some stuff done. The aid to harvey. Does this mean that the debt ceiling fight is postponed because of harvey. The Government Shutdown potential is not going to happen this month because of harvey . Is that fair to say that all of this will be packaged together to keep the lights on for three months and raise the debt limit . I think it does create another reason as to why you want to keep the government open. Frankly, no interest in Republican Leaders and i would think any leaders on capitol hill of not keeping the government open, but the president s attention to this issue, i think puts another reason on the table to get things done in september. There are some religious holidays in september. There is a limited number of days to work. Theres a child insurance bill to be extended. The faa, the federal aviation you just added more. Plus keeping the government running and some of those things will have to be combined. I will say this on harvey. One, the things the mayor just talkeded about, the fema money, the stabilization money, the cleanup money. All are important to do quickly. The sba loan money to get back in operation to do quickly and thats the money the president appears to be asking for beyond that i dont think we want to make the same mistake as sandy which is to ask for way more money. Do it in multiple occasions just like the joplin tornado. Are you comfortable with raising the debt ceiling with the harvey money . It sounds like the president wants that . Thats one way to do it. Youll vote for that. The whip and the leader need to look at how the votes come together to make that happen, but you could support Something Like that . Well, im, you know, i never have great enthusiasm for raising the debt ceiling, but the debt ceiling is to pay for things that the government is not committed this is not a future spending thing. This is the bills weve already encumbered and whether you put that with leaving the doors open for the government or the debt ceiling vote is something that will be decided in the next few days, i would expect. Let me ask you this. Whats been the reaction among Senate Republicans with the president s tough words for Mitch Mcconnell in the month of august. Is it going to get harder to get things done . Theyre both tough men. Theyre both tough men. I think theyre both longtime ney gosch wra negotiators where things didnt go exactly the way they wanted to. I imagine what most members were hearing were either you are too supportive of the president or not supportive enough of the president without much discussion about a Mitch Mcconnell president or a paul ryan president ial relationship discussion. I want to ask you, though, about a john mccain op ed from friday, he writes this, Congress Must govern with the president who has no experience in Public Office and we must respect his authority and Constitutional Responsibilities and we must where we can, cooperate with him, but we are not his subordinates. Wei we dont answer to him. John mccain may be in a different place than where you are, is that the senate and the house Republican Leadership want to establish that the legislative branch is equal to the president and not answerable to him . I think the congress to understand fully and the country to understand that these are two separate branches of government is a good thing. I think its also a good thing to understand that these are not people that you have much hiring or firing opportunity when it relates to what individual members of the congress decide they need to do so certainly thats important. In terms of the president s ability in his job, i will tell you the one thing the president understands better than anybody in the country today is to how to drive a message, how to communicate with people using new ways of communication and frankly, youre just a lot better about that. I have to ask you about a comment. He was pretty tough on the president , he said now comes trump who is exactly what republicans are not, who is exactly what we have opposed in the 160year history and we are a party of the union and theres want been a more divisive person since george wallace. He wrote this response to charlottesville. Any part of the statement that you agree with . Senator danworth has always been helpful to me and hes a friend of mine. This is not unusual for him to set a standard that is not necessarily the standard that gets things done. We have to work with the president and its a mistake to get in a fight with the president. Its not a mistake to disagree when you disagree. It is a mistake to suggest that somehow this president who was elected just as the constitution prescribed and has the responsibility to lead the country that somehow we need to not work with this president , i think, is a bad road to go down. Is the president as devicive as senator danforth is claiming . I dont think so. I dont think so. I was with the president in springfie springfield, missouri, my hometown wednesday and he talked about the importance of better jobs and more takehome pay and thats a message that resonates in the country. We are almost at the end of a full decade of peoples takehome pay and what they can spend on their family has not increased. The president wants to see that happen. We ought to all be focused on making that happen and that will be a test of whether this congress and this president can do the job. All right. Roy blount, you have a busy september. Good to see you, sir. Thanks for coming on. When we come back, the president s tough august has taken a toll among his supporters. What trump voters told thus week about what they think the job the president is doing so far. Finally. Hey ron theyre finally taking down that schwab billboard. Oh, not so fast, carl. Oh no. Schwab, again . Index investing for that low . Thats three times less than fidelity. And four times less than vanguard. Whats next, no minimums . No minimums. Schwab has lowered the cost of investing again. Introducing the lowest cost index funds in the industry with no minimums. I bet theyre calling about the schwab news. 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This is a tomato tracked from farm to table on a blockchain, helping keep shoppers safe. This is a financial Transaction Secure from hacks and threats others cant see. This is a skyscraper whose elevators use iot data and ai to help thousands get to work safely and efficiently. This is not the cloud you know. This is the ibm cloud. The ibm cloud is the cloud for enterprise. Yours. Welcome back. Panelists here matthey conte, editor in cheer of the beacon. Kristin welker, and susan page, and eddie glaude the chair of the center of africanamerican studies of princeton university. Welcome. Not quite the Holiday Weekend feel, i think, to the news. Weve got a lot to get to, and i want to get to it through the prism of how the president is being perceived right now even by some of his supporters. There isnt a striking focus group this week that peter hart, one of the democratic hats that the wall street journal poll conducted in pittsburgh, and im going to play some sound and these are all people that voted for President Trump. Take a listen. Hes not even professional, let alone president ial. The thing that drives me crazy is all of the tweeting he does. Maybe theres personal motives for his businesses involved, but i truly think he wants this country to be the best it can be. He is our president until and if he gets impeached. As much as i thought he would be a quick learner and delegate to topnotch individuals, he hasnt done that. Matthew. I emphasize again, those are people who supported the president , all of them there. Those sound like grades that theyre not ready to look at again yet. One thing struck at me, chuck, which was the criticism of President Trumps tweeting habit, and you see two different trumps. One is when he conforms to the mold of what we expect of a president , and there, i think, his supporters and some leaners or independents generally approve things like hissing a a afghanistan speech and his budget speech and his response to Hurricane Harvey. When he gets outside those official capacities and when he starts tweeting and when he dukes it out with the media like he did with the postcharlottesville press conference and then those supporters start going, can he just change a little bit . I think they like the disruption and thats what they like, the idea that its not working and we like somebody who will shake things up and they want to see a little more function and thats one of the big tests for both the Hurricane Relief and the response to north korea. They want to have the feeling that he has some control in these two big challenges and especially north korea. I mean, that is a challenge that has the most catastrophic possibilities of any weve seen since the end of the cold war. This reaction isnt new. We saw it during the campaign and we saw people questioning his confidence and his temperament and this isnt new. In some ways, you remember in 1982 when mayor bradley ran for california and we had the bradley effect and there was the social desirability progress, and he was leading in the polls and he lost and we need to talk about the trump effect and there are folks who will tell us that hes incompetent and the tmz video is horrible, but in the end of the day theyll support him. For his supporters, they tolerated the tweets, some of the chaos during the campaign because they thought that he would be more restrained, he would rein it in once he was in the oval office, out of the good of the country and out of selfpreservation and thats part of why youre hearing the frustration because they feel the chaos has persisted for too long and i also think, more broadly, theres the frustration that he hasnt had any major legislative achieve ams and thats why theres so much riding on this fall agenda which you were discussing with senator blount. What can get done this fall . On one hand they have the must dos. On the other hand he does need something thats a signature. Right. How does he get the signature . They look look theyre in conflict. Senator blount occurred to me that tax reform kept going down the bottom of the list when you have the priorities to keep the federal government functioning. The legislative agenda is a tax cut of some kind that keeps going down that calendar and maybe even until next year now. Think about health care and tax reform, and health care only the president is messing around still with health care. In this way, the hurricane which is a tragedy and were thinking about the people that weve seen on tv and elsewhere. Its also an opportunity because it changes the agenda. If he can deliver on Hurricane Relief in a serious way, even though it doesnt get to tax reform. Maybe thats an agenda item, but gives him something that makes him competent. If he stays focused on harvey and hell move over there, but then hes not and the developer in him, this could be an opportunity for him to be in his comfort zone. You know, i think so, and i think thats right, but we need to understand that donald trump is just the tip of the ideological divide iceberg that we tend to put trump over here and those who are against trump over there, but underneath theres all of this division, right . The freedom caucus, right . Corporate republicans, right . Libertarian, you have democrats and corporate democrats and you have the left within the democratic party. All of this is underneath and we tend to focus it toward trump, whether youre successful or not, but this is happening which complicates and mix up the legislative process. I think you will see shortterm harmony over trying to get relief for Hurricane Harvey systems. I do think theyre going to tie the debt limit to Hurricane Harvey relief. I am being told that that is increasingly likely and what happens next . How do you get tax reform done . There are divisions between the white house and capitol hill over the specifics and thats where it gets more will cha efrjing. And i havent brought up daca. I will bring up daca. Why houston is vulnerable to flooding and why it is so difficult to have the city prevent Something Like this from happening again. Needles. Essential for him, but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. Because there are options. Like an unjection™. Xeljanz xr. A once daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. Xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and joint damage, even without methotrexate. Xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. Dont start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. Tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. Your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. Tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. Needles. Fine for some. But for you, one pill a day may provide symptom relief. Ask your doctor about xeljanz xr. An unjection™. Whats going on . Oh hey thats it . Yeah. Everybody two seconds dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance. Through the Tuition Assistance program, every day mcdonalds helps more people go to college. Its part of our commitment to being americas best first job. And we are back, Data Download time. In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, what kind of challenges could houston face as it starts to rebuild . Taking a look at how the city has changed in the last two decades, it could help us start to understand. Harris county, texas, the houston metro area has seen its population explode since the turn of the century from 3. 4 million residents in 2000 to nearly 4. 6 million in 2016, a 35 increase in less than 20 years. Much faster than most metro areas. Notably, one part of houstons population influx came from new orleans residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Roughly 250,000 residents took refuge in houston following that storm and an estimated 25,000 to 40,000 of those folks still remain in houston today. Houston is also a very diverse city. Since 2000, its white, nonhispanic population has declined from 42 to 30 while at the same time the hispanic population has risen from 33 to 42 and this could present another set of challenges to the Recovery Efforts. Pew estimates more are undocumented residents, are they eligible for federal dollars . The population explosion also comes with consequences. Between 2000 and 2015 over 400,000 Housing Units were constructed in the houston area for the population explosion and houston has had to pave the way literally for these new residents. Harris county has 35,000 lane miles of road. Bear county, home to san antonio is similar in size geographically to Harris County, but is less than half of the amount of lane miles of road. Why does this matter . All of this development has led to the paving over of wetlands and prairies and it is less able to absorb the huge amount of rain of harvey and all of this suggests this wont be the last time we see major flooding in houston. When we come back, what we learneded this week about the russia investigation. Well have the latest on what was a litany of new developments. Where the heart beats warm and true, thats texas. Where we always welcome you, thats texas. Where we always find a way, thats texas. But he hasoke up wwork to do. In. So he took aleve. If hed taken tylenol, hed be stopping for more pills right now. Only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. Aleve. All day strong. Welcome back. Oh, by the way, russia. And i say oh, by the way, because as my executive producer put it in one of our morning meetings this week, he said theres a lot of this and that. Let me run through a little bit of the this and that and he obtains a little draft of President Trump firing comey, special counsel mueller is teaming up with the irs and paul manafort, the onetime Campaign Manager turns up a bunch of notes including notes from the infamous meeting with some russians and donald trump jr. , and of course, we find out that yes, the Trump Organization was trying to build a trump tower in moscow. Susan page, it is a lot of this and that. What does it tell us, big picture, about the way the special council is. Its a reminder that you may not be paying attention to the russia investigation, but the russia investigation is paying attention to you. Bob mueller is not happy that there is more attention on him than the blasts, and he is going to persist and he will find things and these are suggestions of them that we dont know now, but we will know eventually. The discipline of the president will get tested on the next 10 days on russia and Hillary Clinton and shell combine the two when her book comes out. Is he going to be able hes avoided the topic of russia for him a lot over the last two weeks. Will it continue . Well see when the headline breaks that he feels compelled to respond to, if he can resist. How central trump is to all of the responses to the russia investigation. Remember, of course, he was involved in the statement of the crafting of john juniors statement when news of that meeting leaked, too. This, i think, is a potential problem for the president as muellers investigation comes to a kind of a climax where he might be asked to testify and that, i think, is a point of maximum danger. I want to switch gears a little bit on tuesday and the president will make some announcement on daca. This is the president s deferred action, and children brought over here illegally by their parents protected by deportation with an executive order by President Trump. Kristin, is the president going to rescind it . Is the president going to ask congress to codify it . Where is he headed on this . My sources tell me he has made a decision. They wont tell me what that decision is, unfortunately, but they also caution, look, he being always change his mind. Theres been a very robust debate inside the white house. A lot of people saying particularly in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, you cannot rescind daca. You cannot take away these Legal Protections for 800,000 young people. I am told most likely hes going to find a way not to have his hand on the knife and that could mean kick it to the legal system or to congress, but his base is saying they want to see him rescind it. Eddie, i smell a hes going to kick it to congress and ask congress to codify it. Look at the responses from orrin hatch. Ive urged the president not to rescind daca, hint, i dont want to vote for it. Paul ryan, i dont think he should do that. Again, he wants to keep it. Is he ready to vote for it . Rick scott, governor of florida, very close to the president personally and politically and also wants to run for the United States senate in the state of florida, he wants protect these kids. Is thissed headed to congress . It seems like if the president wants to pull a political fast one and says i am going to rescind it in six months. That makes political sense and im not sure that fits Donald Trumps m. O. What im interested is in something kristin said. This is about his base and we can think about the policy issues and this is an undertow, that this is red meat to his base and its a deep seeded anxiety, that this immigration issue is not about securing the border and its not about jobs and fixing a bad immigration policy. Its really about what houston looks like. Its a majority, minority nation. Where are we in the party . Complicating the issue is that the Republican Party itself is divided. All of the republicans you quoted, chuck, come from the probusiness moderate wing. The chamber wing. There are two other wingses. One is the Tea Party Conservatives who oppose daca for separation of power reasons and of course, you have the working class populists who are for immigration restrictionism and want to reduce the number of legal immigrants admitted. Thats two lines of the party versus the probusiness moderate wing. I think we might see the end of daca in the coming months. Very interesting. Well be back in 45 seconds with endgame. Chief of staff john kelly already on the white house endangered species list . Well be right back. Coming up, endgame brought to you by boeing, continuing people love free stuff. Before you trash something, see if you can repurpose or reuse it. If not, make a sign or post it online. Youd be surprised what has curb appeal. Im giving away this sign. You want it . Endgame, brought to you by boeing. Continuing our mission to keck, protect, explore and inspire. And we are back. August, of course, brought a whole sea change and the john kelly chief of staff reign here. Look at this, he apparently continues with some Trump Supporters call a purge, if you will. John kellys pushing out now omarosa because he has denied her access to the president believing she was somebody that was feeding him vibes and roger stone tweeting last night, of course, a political consultant on and off relationship with the president , reporting that longtime trump bodyman Keith Schiller is leaving the white house. The kelly purge question mark . I think general kelly is definitely the chief of staff and hes gaining control in the staff in a way Reince Priebus was not able to do. He is still not chief of the president and nor could a chief of staff do that, and you see all those signs and that fuels the speculation about how long will john kelly last if he if President Trump feels like hes being managed. Kristin, it was very interesting, all of the trump reporters called up all of the friends of trump who have now been disappointed that they dont have access to the president anymore or that john kelly listens on the phone conversation. Thats theyre sending a signal to the president that hey, is john kellys handcuffs too tight on the president . I think that some within trump world think it is too tight. Look, the president does feel, to some extent, as though hes being handcuffed, but there is broad agreement, democrats and republicans say the messaging coming out of the white house is more disciplined and i can tell you the president is still talking to some of those former advisers and people like steve bannon. Hes still getting their mind meld as hes making these decisions and thats some of the push and pull you will see in the coming weeks. The schiller think in particular, is there a point where he feels too isolated, where he feels who is with me other than hope . Keith schiller is one of his friends. He might take that as a personal loss if he has distance. John kelly has been through a lot and one question i have is how long is he going to want to remain in the job . And theres always the challenge, you know, to borrow senator blounts language as he described another leader, there is another one that spoiled that he has to manage and i dont know how long this is going to last. The happy new yeariest about john kelly are lawmakers on capitol hill and finally, theyre getting a clear message out of the white house. All of it gets tested in the month of september. You guys are great. Appreciate it. Thanks, chuck. Rough week. Thats all we have for today. Have a safe and enjoyable last gasp of summer this labor dayec wooend, enjoy the football and remember, well be back next week because if its sunday, its meet the press. You can see more endgame in post game on the mtp facebook page. Z2h9iz z14nz y2h9iy y14ny in part by Barracuda Network and Storage Solutions to sichl lie phi i. T. A brandnew federal law changes the way police book suspects and could spell riches for a small, Silicon Valley company. Amazon expands into the bay area. Well tell you how to get hired and what is this guy up to . Softbanks strange strategy. Our reporters, paul carr of the tech blog pando, and katie roo of tech crunch, this week on press here. Good morning, everyone. Im scott mcgroup