Ball field, the first thing i did once i was down and i couldnt move anymore, is i just started to pray. And i will tell you, it gave me an unbelievable sense of calm knowing that at that point it was in gods hands. But i prayed for very specific things, and i will tell you, pretty much every one of those prayers was answered and there were some pretty challenging prayers i was putting in gods hands, but he really did deliver for me and my family and it just gives you that renewed faith and understanding that the power of prayer is something that you just cannot underestimate. [ applause ] so i am definitely a living example that miracles really do happen. The first place i want to go to thank true angels along the way, it starts with the United States Capitol Police. [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] when i was elected majority whip as you know the elected leadership has a security detail and if anybody ever wondered why were assigned security detail, i surely found out that day. Let me tell you, i want to specifically mention crystal griner and david bailey. [ applause ] [ applause ] crystal and david were assigned to my security detail that morning and day in and day out, theyre part of our family. Jennifer and i truly do treat them as part o our fam lay because theyre with us every where we go. On june 14th they came 6 30 in the morning we arrived at the baseball field just to play and practice for a game of Charity Baseball and nobody would have suspected what ensued. And yet, as soon as those shots were fired, ill tell you, when i was laying on the ground, one of the things i prayed for, is that david and crystal would be successful in carrying out their duties and both david and crystal are incredibly well trained, incredibly professional, but when i was laying there not long after the first couple of shots were fired, i could hear a different caliber of weapon and that told me that they had immediately engaged the shooter. Let me tell you, if they didnt act so quickly, and even after being shot both themselves, continued to engage the shooter and ultimately got him down, which not only saved my life, but saved the life of a lot of other people that are here in this chamber today, crystal couldnt be with us today, but david bailey is with us. David, you are my hero, you saved my life. Thank you so much. [ applause ] thanks. Tiger blood. I also thank owe thanks to a lot of people on the field with me right after the shooter was down, a lot of my colagues came and ran to come check on me and one i want to mention in particular, is one of those things that jennifer and i call the Little Miracles that happen, that day and throughout the next few months of our recovery. Happened to have brad winstrom on the field that day and he was one of the first to come to my side. As you know brad is not only a doctor, but hes a decorated army ranger who served in combat and one of his roles and missions was to take care of people that were wounded before they went off on the helicopter to go get prepared. Who would have thought that god would have put brad out there on the field with me because the tourniquet he applied, many will tell you, saved my life so that i could actually make it to the hospital in time with all the blood loss. Brad, where are you at . Right down front. Right down front. [ applause ] im glad. Thank you. [ applause ] [ applause ] once i arrived at medstar hospital, i was a little bit out of it at that point. But luckily i ended up in the trusted hands of dr. Jack sava and his great team over at medstar. They gave me a Second Chance at life and through many, many surgeries, where my life was truly in the balance a few of those, they did a wonderful job at making sure that i was well taken care of and ultimately made it through that point so i could get to dr. Golden and his team who actually put me back together again which was quite a task, to the point where im actually able to relearn how to walk again. So dr. Sava and dr. Golden, thank you for being here and thanks for your teams work. [ applause ] [ applause ] above all else, i want to thank my lovely wife jennifer. [ applause ] [ applause ] those of you who know who, know how strong jennifer is. Shes an incredibly warm and loving wife and an incredible mother to our children and somehow through the late nights and the surgeries and all the other things, she managed to hold our family together, to make sure that harrison and madison were cared for as well and still to this day, shes not only by my side, but shes also serving as a great mother. I am lucky to have you. Thank you for being here. Love you, sweetheart. [ applause ] and while its been a challenge in time for my family, the thing that really overwhelmed us from the start was the outpouring of love and warmth and prayers from southeast louisiana, the district that i represent, we saw blood drives at saint catherine, prayer groups at First United Methodist Church in slidel, but what we also saw were prayer groups and well wishes being given from people we never met before throughout all of your districts. And you shared it with me. And it was one of those things that it was hard for us to completely comprehend, you had people from all walks of life that had never met be manufacture and yet they saw what never met me before and yet they saw what happened and wanted to offer prayers. Please convey it to your constituents and i convey it to my constituents back home that warmth and love gave us just incredible strength that you cant imagine during some really, really difficult times and so that is one more example of the power of prayer. Something else i saw firsthand, wasnt a surprise to me, but it was the outpouring of love from you, my colleagues. Both republican and democrat. I know right after the shooting, we were practicing on the republican side and the democrats were practicing too. And my colleague and friend and sometimes arch rival in baseball from back home in new orleans, unfortunately, the star of the game too many times, Cedric Richmond somehow figured out which hpital i was sent to and got there probably the first person there on the scene in his baseball uniform to check on me. So many others of you, again, both republican and democrat, reached out in ways that i cant express the gratitude and how much it means to me, jennifer and our whole family. It really does show the warm side of congress that very few people get to see. And so i want to thank each and every one of you for that. You dont know how much it meant to me and when i come back into this chamber today, seeing the faces of all of you, it just means more to me than you can imagine, so thanks for all of that love and support. [ applause ] a lot of people ask, did this event change you . And i think those of you who know me know im an optimistic person, just a funloving person, from south louisiana and we believe you work hard and you play hard. Is an event like this going to change that and the first thing i can tell you is, yes, it changed me, but not in the ways you might think. Its only strengthened my faith in god, and its really crystallized what shows up a the goodness in people. I got to see that goodness in people and so while some people might focus on a tragic event and an evil act, to me, all i remember are the thousands of acts of kindness and love and warmth that came out of this and kept me going through all of it and again, just reemphasized just how wonderful most people are and how much compassion there is out there. And finally, i want to talk about something that i guess hit me and probably struck me more than anything that i was not expecting and that was the outpouring of love and support from World Leaders. People ive met and known, Benjamin Netanyahu and i have had some incredible conversations from the hospital, theresa may reached out, king abd abdul of jordan so many of us have met reached out. But other World Leaders also reached out. People i had never met before and that touched me in a different way because each and every one of us we come here and fight for the things we believe in. I have passionate beliefs. For some reason some of you dont agree with all of those. But its so important we come up here. We are the peoples house. This is the place where these ideas are supposed to be debated and we fight through those issues but ultimately we come together on whatever the board shows is 218. If you can put the majority together, thats what rules the day. Its so important that as were having those political battles, we dont make them personal. Because one of the things i saw and i guess this is the thing that really kept coming back to me, is i tried to make sense of all this and comprehend the outpouring of love that i saw, it kept coming back to those World Leaders. Why would leaders from around the world that i had never met before, reach out and say, steve, we hope you can get back to work. We hope you can come through this. And what it says is, sure, they cared about my well being, but more than that, they saw this as an attack on all of us. They saw this as an attack on the institution of the United States congress and our government and they really count on us to be successful. Look, we all know the United States is the leader of the free world. Its something that weve, frankly, had the honor as a country to hold as a distinction for generations. And yet, when you look at that title, what it really means is that there are people all around the world that want freedom, maybe that have freedom, but they know that the United States being strong is critical to the rest of the world having the opportunity for freedom. [ applause ] but thats why im so excited to be back, because as were fighting through the issues of the day, lets just keep in mind that we rise above the challenges of the day and understand its not just us and our consti wants and the country, the United States counting on us being successful, people all around the world that believe in freedom are counting on us as well and we will deliver for them. Thats why im so honored to be back here in the house serving with you. God bless each and every one of you and god bless the United States of america. [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] mr. Speaker, with that i yield back the balance of my time. Gentleman yields back the balance of his time for what purpose does the minority leader seek recognition. I ask unanimous consent to speak out of order to join you in thanking god for the return of our colleague Steve Scalise and to do so have him do so in such a strong way. Youre brief, mr. Speaker, i will be briefer, thank god our prayers are answered. I take great pride in steve because were both italianamericans and i think thats a sort of some of his strength, right, steve. I, too, want to say how proud we are of Jennifer Harrison and madison and of your staff and of our first responders, our Capitol Police, who took such good care of you. But if, as you said, an attack on you is an attack on all, we all came through this magnificently because of your strength. So the power of Steve Scalise today we came to the floor when you werent here, we were all team scalise today we are team scalise. Thank you for being so wonderful. God bless you. [ applause ] [ applause ] fivemin voting will continue. The question is on passage of the bill, those in favor say aye. All right. With that, i think we can all say welcome back, congressman scalise. Congressman Steve Scalise, after three months of being in the hospital, in patient recuperation after being shot in the hip on a baseball field in alexandria, virginia, walked into work today for the First Time Since that horrific incident with such a powerful message and to sew, so many Standing Ovations from his colleagues. Steve scalise back in the peoples house as he says for the First Time Since his shooting. With me david and phil mattingly, who are listening along in this powerful moment. Phil, these are one of these moments that just give you chills and that its a really important you were there to be able to witness it. Just seeing Steve Scalise there and the powerful message he gave that he is a living example that miracles can really happen. Look, you flashback three and a half months ago, kate, and how palpable it was that everybody was so shaken. Nobody could believe the vulnerability. Nobody could believe a targeted attack could occur. More importantly nobody knew if congressman scalise was going to be okay. There were several days and nights where it was very touch and go. The congressman referenced those. One of the interesting and best elements of what was an excellent return to the house floor, was pointing out david bailey, one of the Capitol Police officers along with crystal griner, in the audience, who saved his life, also pointing out his doctors at medstar who admitted made very clear had to save his life on the operating table multiple times as well. I want to point out the man sitting directly behind congressman scalise, Cedric Richmond, democrat from louisiana, these two individuals are nowhere near one another ideologically and on the opposite side of the Congressional Baseball Team as well as congressman scalise mentioned yet theyre two very close friends. Once everybody was assured that congressman scalise was making a recovery, was there are moments tonify no matter h divergent people are on the policy no matter how poisonous politics have gotten and this was one of those moments. You heard it from Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, you heard it from Speaker Paul Ryan. I think everybody is very happy, very thrilled, and just to underscore one point here, this was very bad. There were multiple people who were attacked. There was a targeted attack on individuals. Matt my ka a former congressional staffer hurt badly. A lot of people were concerned if he would recover. He recovered. The two Capitol Police officers have recovered. Another congressional staffer also hit has recovered and now congressman scalise. Walking again, slowly but surely, recovering. Nothing but good news and good vibes coming out of this moment today in the capitol, kate. Good vibes. Something that is much needed, david. We will keep an eye right where phil is standing we might see Steve Scalise walk past once again as hes making his way out of the house chamber. David, i mean, the message from Steve Scalise, was a powerful one. And i think one that is worth taking a moment to appreciate, a bipartisanship. He says thats the warm side of congress, the very few people get to see. Thats something that i think we can hopefully carry on going forward. A powerful message delivered powerfully. I mean, i just cant believe the strength that Steve Scalise has on his return i cant believe he walked into the chamber. Its amazing. It is truly astonishing and it is unbelievably heart warming, of course. It gives you chills. I think back when i was just listening to the Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on the floor, and i think back to the time when they all came to the floor the day of the shooting as she referenced and Steve Scalise wasnt there, and to your point about bipartisanship, kate, that day they spoke of that as well. Between that day and this day, theres lots of anything but bipartisanship that took place in the halls of congress. It seems remarkably difficult for the members to hold on to this sentiment, but Steve Scalise made a very powerful argument about the benefits of the togetherness, the unity, the family of congress, that america just doesnt see at all, sadly, and it seems that even hugely tragic moments like this, kate, it remains still difficult for congress to operate in a way, the way you see it operating right now, and it maybe is a little poly anaish but it would be everybodys wish to see a little more of this in the daytoday base of congress. And i think it is okay to be poly ana about that thats for sure. The reminders still even if they are short lived and the partnershipship retur partisanship returns, its okay. Talk about moments of power, when the other congressmen, called him up to hug him, to give him just the kudos well deserved of that tourniquet and his skills from his military days and as a doctor that saved his life. Yeah. Look, and i think that was something that a lot of people may have missed in kind of the craziness that occurred over the course of the 24, 48 hours after the shooting. Brad is a congressman, he was also a combat medic and served down range, served in combat and his just being there, was so crucial to stabilizing Steve Scalise to the point they could get him to the hospital. Congressman scalise talked about how lucky he was, the power of prayer, talked about being a miracle, the things that had to go right on that day beten the curity detail, how incredibly good they were at their jobs as the congressman noted, as congressman winstrop being there as well, as well as several other congressmen who helped, the doctors at the hospital, everything went the best possible way and again, based on what weve heard, based on what weve been told, without that, nothing good was going to happen at the end of that. So all of that coming together, the congressman being there with his combat medic experience, was just its unbelievable and it just kind of underscores that this was a moment that very likely could not have happened based on just the scope of the attack. The attack could have been significantly worse and yet Steve Scalise, back on the house floor, calling for unity, thanking everybody. Its just a good moment. Its a really good moment and there were so many ways this could have gone significantly worse, kate. Absolutely right. Phil, david, thanks for being here. Im glad we could all have this moment to see this. Well see if maybe phil has a chance to grab Steve Scalise as he makes his way out of the house chamber. We will continue our breaking news, coming up for us we will be talking about the growing crisis playing out in puerto rico and the growing calls for the federal government to do more to get there, to be to get there faster and things out faster. Shipping containers is what youre looking at right now holding critical supplies, theyre just sitting at the port of san juan. Fema administrator brock long is here to answer some questions for us. Thats coming up. Its ok that everybody ignores me when i drive. Its fine, cause i get a safe driving bonus check every six months im accidentfree. And i dont share it with mom. Right, mom . Right. Safe driving bonus checks, only from allstate. 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The mayor of san juan said this morning there is no reason at all that the cargo should be just sitting there. The latest update from the governor not painting a much better picture. 97 there still without power. 44 have no access to clean and safe drinking water. 90 of the cell phone towers out of service. Forget the numbers, just look at the images thats all you have to see. Lets go there now, somewhat shocking image of shipping Containers Holding supplies sitting at port of san juan. Leyla santiago is joining me now right there, what you hearing about this . Its also what im seeing about this, kate. Look behind me, the aid is here. This is the port where all of the aid is just sitting. Water, generators, food, it is on this island and they cant seem to move it from where we are right now. I was just talking to some of the Port Authority workers who tell me it is just sitting behind the fences of where we are. Its been doing that for days now. We are eight days now since maria struck this island leaving it devastated and one of the shipping companies here, the president , tells us they have about 3,000 containers right now, 4 , 4 , of the 3,000 containers have actually made it out off this port. So whats the problem . Why is it just sitting here . They dont have the drivers. They dont have the commercial drivers that can transport this to the parts of the island that need it most, not just san juan but the remote parts of this is island that we have visited, we have taken choppers to go to and found elderly people without food and water, what is sitting right here, not being transported. The governor saying that fema has been able to reach 35 municipalities with aid. Sounds like a large number. Problem is thats not even half the island that has received aid from fema. So the frustration is, they dont have the drivers to get it out. If they have the drivers the drivers dont have the gas. The diesel to get to where they need to go. Meanwhile, the help that is so desperately needed across this island of 3. 5 million u. S. Citizens, is not reaching the places it needs to get to right now. Kate . Leyla, i appreciate it. We will come back to you. A lot of questions that are unanswered. Leyla is one of our many reporters we have fanned out across puerto rico to cover this story for all of you. Were going to be getting back to leyla and our other correspondents and the teams that theyre working with to bring you the story and continue to do so. Leyla right there youre hearing talking about the what the Cargo Companies are essentially saying that they dont have the drivers to get the much needed supplies out into the communities. Earlier this morning, i was able to speak with the fema administrator brock long about this issue and the rest of the relief efforts under way in puerto rico. Administrator thank you so much for joining me. Good morning. We were hearing from san juans mayor this morning and she says there are thousands of shipping containers full of supplies sitting in the port of san juan. We have images and video of it as well. As the mayor put it, she says there is no reason at all that theyre sittithere. Do you know why first of all, i dont even know if those are our shipping containers or not. I dont know what image youre referring to. The next thing the mayor of san juan needs to understand, that theres a joint federal field office in san juan right now where unified planning and execution is taking place with the governor, with my staff, with the department of defense, and so what we need is a unified effort and we need for everybody to make sure that we are coordinating our plans and making sure that were all operating off the same plan and being able to go through. Unmet needs the mayor needs to be tied in to the jfo in her city. She said when she made a plea to fema to get the stuff moving she sees in the port she was twice told she needed to write a memo. Is that really whats needed right now . No. I cant even clarify that that actually came through. Its my understanding we have embedded a staff with her over the last two days from new york, though. So do you see do you think those supplies are going to get moving soon . Is there any yeah. Guidance you have on that one . So the supplies is moving, but i think we have to have a greater conversation. This is a complex disaster. One, irma created quite a bit of damage. Two, maria knocked everything out. So the goal right now is to establish critical lifelines to be able to move commodities. Were getting commodities to puerto rico. The question is, how do we get it to the last mile. And in many cases weve set up regional points of distribution. We have to expand those capalities t you can only shove so much through the airports that were not operational, you can only shove so much through the shipping ports that were not operational. Once we get it to islands we establish Distribution Sites and doing air lifts to the remote locations. The road system is gone in many places. Its not possible to pick up the supplies and move it forward. That last mile is a coordinated sequenced process to be able to get it to the points of distribution. Many communities are coming in to these points of distribution to pick up the supplies themselves and being very resourceful in doing so, while were also trying to push as much out as we can. Online we will be able to ack increase the amount of supplies that are going. But listen, were not going to be able to move as fast as everybody would like us or as i would like. But we are pushing everything that we have, the entire workforce of the federal government of the agencies represent ready working tirelessly around the clock to alleviate this situation. The other thing that Everyone Needs to understand is, is that the local governments were decimated. There is diminished capacity. So were having to operate from a federal government standpoint through the governor to be able to build and reconstitute a baseline working capability for nearly all of the municipalities in puerto ric that coupled with the complex Logistical Movement of getting in is creatg delays and making things difficult. I hear you that it is complex and we you dont need to look any further than just seeing the images of how everything was knocked out in puerto rico. Everyone understand that and has a lot of sympathy with that and the complex efforts of getting stuff there. But when the mayor seems to have gone from being pretty satisfied, the mayor of san juan, with how things were going, to seeming desperate now in how things arent moving fast enough and i hear you folks no one is going to be satisfied that things are moving fast enough, but are you satisfied with how fast things are moving . Because its over a week and folks are now seeing shipping containers, Cargo Containers sitting at the port and theyre desperate. As i said, you know, the situation is not allowing things to move as quickly as we would all like. What do you need . Is there anything is there ive heard lawmakers say its time for a three or fourstar general to come in to take over because this response needs to be coordinated at that level. Do you think its time for that . Hold on. A sustainment force of d. O. D. Was deployed several days ago and there are things coming in, theres a press conference that was held this morning in puerto rico with general kim, admiral hughes, my staff, and the governor to talk about jointly where we are versus where we need to be that was not picked up by Major Media Networks across the country ts morning. So those Conference Calls or those press conferences are occurring on a regular basis from now going on to make sure that were putting out enough information about where we are versus where we need to be. Those press conferences need to be picked up by the major news Media Networks to make sure that the message gets out that everybody understand what were trying to accomplish. Press conferences ill take any press conference that falls in my hour i promise you that. I can promise you that. But so are you satisfied right now with how things are going in terms of the federal response in puerto rico . I know that my guys back here are doing everything that they can. We all wake up every morning trying to dot best we can. And we are pushing forward. Right now we need unity of effort which we are instilling with the governor and pushing forward and everything is pushing forward. No, im not satisfied, because the fact is, is that we will not be satisfied until we stabilize the situation which is why we work day in and day out, hour after hour, to try to alleviate the situation the best that we can. I mean, do you have everything you need . Its gone from harvey to irma to maria, does fema need more . So what were trying to do is get a baseline level of government to come back up. What we need is to continue to increase those supply chains. We have everything we need as fema to be able to put forward the forces. The question is, is thatast mile as ive been explaining, to get it and distribute it. Its there. As not that im being hampered or i dont have this or that to be able to do this job. We are trying to force everything in that we can. Were limited by a damaged air Traffic Control system, we were limited by airports that werent operational. We were limited by ports that werent operational. Now as those are coming back up were increasing capacity. Its not a factor of what can congress could for me or what you know, additional supplies we need. Were working with the private sector. We can only sequence so much stuff in. We have to prioritize lifesaving missions with the private sector who brings in telecommunications. We cant just park hundreds of power trucks on the island before the storm because they would be damaged. It takes time to ship those in. Or airlift those in. Its a process that is that takes a lot of time. Its very complex. We have to set the expectations. Were trying to do that ahead of time before the storm hit. As i have been saying, the power could be out for months. And it will be out for months. But we also deployed the army corps of engineers who is taking oversight and complete control of the power grid rebuild process. Not only are we trying to work to establish emergency Generation Power for critical facilities all over the island, but also we are already taking control of figuring out how were going to basically rebuild the entire grid on behalf of puerto rico. And that is a huge undertaking. Finally administrator, patience is running thin and what i hear you say is you need patience because you have to get this stuff in in the right way and at the right process. Other than saying please be patient, what is your message to the folks of puerto rico right now . Well, not the message to puerto rico. Its a message to all americans. Go to involuntary. Org. Understand on behalf of the governor were handling the donations through puerto rico. Cash donations, understanding what type of help can be rendered, you know, from afar, should be funneled through that website to ultimately, you know, help the governor and people of puerto rico. We are doing everything we can. We realize people are frustrated and theyre going to be frustrated because of the complexities of the response but these guys have been working almost 40 days around the clock starting with harvey until now and we will not stop until we stabilize the situation and start to bring back baseline capabilities. Administrator long, thank you so much. Appreciate your time. Good luck. Thank you. All right. From there i want to head straight back to puerto rico. We have breaking news. Ivan watson joining me now. Ivan, i have very few details about what youre seeing but youre looks like there are rescues under way behind you . Let me set the stage here. Were at the entrance to the village of san lorenzo where a major bridge here was washed out by floods after the storm and here we are eight days after the storm and as you can see here people are having to walk out, out of their vist village, on foot, through this river after the bridge was washed out. This is the United States of america, eight days after the storm, you can see this family here, on foot, walking through knee high riv water. Theyre using a metal cable that residents here erected themselves, strung up across the river, to help people through this river, kate. And this is the best way the fastest way that residents of these neighborhoods, these villages up here, have of kind of reaching the outside world. If theres a medical emergency, if they need to try to get fuel. The alternative is a three hour drive through the mountains to try to reach the outside world and because of the fuel shortages, thats really not a viable option, especially at a time when theres basically a fuel crisis on the island and people are being rationed about 10 worth of gasoline. So people in 2017, more than a week after this hurricane, are being forced to travel this way on foot, knee high water, from the village of san lorenzo to try to reach the broader municipality of morovis. I spoke with a man who runs a small shop in the village here named manolo gonzalez and he helped set up on his own this metal line across the river. And hes described how a couple days ago they had to take somebody in Urgent Medical care who needed dialysis on a raft across this same river, dragging the elderly person across, through the water, to try to get them to a dialysis mhine because, of course, theres no electricity in the communities on the other side of this river. Theres no electricity, theres no real running water. Theres no refrigeration and as he explained to me, there are people there who are diabetic who need insulin, insulin needs to be refrigerated and theyre having problems with supplies of insulin, for example. So im just bringing, again, this situation. You have children here crossing knee high deep water, hanging on to a line thats been put up by locals, not by government officials, not by fema, not by any authorities. This is pure voluntarism to basically try to survive through this very dire situation in the wake of this natural disaster. And the sheer force of the water, the flash flood that ripped through here, kate, i dont know if the bandwidth of our signal will show you, but the actual bridge and brad, perhaps, can try to pan across to where the bridge used to be, you can see its 20, 30, 40 feet up. That was a serious bridge out of concrete and segments of it have been swept down the river. Theres like 100 foot long segment of the bridge that was swept down 100, 200 yards down the river. So here we are more than a week since the storm, and youve got a community there, three neighborhoods im told, three villages essentially up here with more than 1,000 residents, and this is their basically only physical link if they dont have fuel and nobody has fuel, to the outside world. Ive been told that the mayor of the municipality did visit, kate, this area and took an assessment, and that several days after the storm, people from fema did visit, but otherwise weve seen a helicopter fly overhead but in the hour that weve been here weve seen no kind of presence of any emergency workers or anybody from the puerto rican government or federal government either. Also theres no telecommunications here. Were communicating via a Satellite Phone. And just from the image behind you shows how when federal response asks for patience to get things to people its hard for people and their patience is clearly waning as theyre desperate having to find their own way to make it across a river to get to civilization. Ivan, thank you so much. Thank you so much. Ivan is in puerto rico. All of our teams are in puerto rico. Joining me right now is Philip Levine mayor of miami beach, florida. Thank you for sticking around for me. You were just in puerto rico yesterday, chartered a flight there to take 7,000 pounds of supplies to san juan, showing pictures you brought back, you just got back, when you hear the fema administrator basically told me he didnt know what to do with those shipping they didnt have he didnt have an answer for what to do with the shipping containers stuck at the port of san juan, how the supply chain theyve got problems getting things from not just not getting them on the island but getting them out, you got there and you got supplies out, whats going on here . Kate, let me tell you this in my office of city hall in miami beach i have a sign that said the speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack. Iiste to the administrator and fema is a fantastic organization but can you imagine during world war ii, dday if we heard from Dwight Eisenhower or fdr that theyve had a little problem landing the beach or issue landing when they had hundreds of thousands of nazis shooting against them as our troops were landing on those beaches you didnt hear excuses. You heard the greatest generation getting things done. When i look at whats going on in san juan, i say, whats going on in washington, d. C. Why are you not declaring war on the devastation of Hurricane Maria and showing what america can do when we come together. They should have been dropping things in. There should be ships everywhere, landing with amphibious vehicles on the beaches. You a mayor in san juan, mayor cruz, i was with her all day on the streets, shes live in a shelter with those people. She she understand whats happening is there theyre not getting the real help they need and it really derives from washington. If you have someone at the top a real general, who someone that says, im going to make sure this happens and get it done, that fema director, that female organizati fee fema organization would have everything organized. The top is preoccupied im sorry to say. Mayor do you there is puerto rico was devastated and what the administrator was saying they have they have to follow the process to make sure it gets out in the right way. Does that not pass the sniff test . No. When you are starving and dont have water youre missing medical materials, theres no suhing as a process. There waso process during world war ii when we andlanded on dday and normandy. We got it done. Where is that spirit of just getting it done. I can tell you the velvet navy, the cruise ship industry they seem to be doing it. They have rescue missing going on. I saw a Royal Caribbean ship helping people leave and bringing in supplies theyre getting it done. Where is the federal government and the leadership at the top like Dwight Eisenhower and fdr. This was an invasion. This is a war. Our territory was attacked by a natural disaster. Treat it like a war help these people. Mayor, when you were there, i mean, san juans mayor is calling out whenever she can on the Satellite Phone set up for her, what do they need most . And i dont know if thats a worthy question to answer at this point because it seems there are supplies its actually getting it out there. Thats why i i can tell you this. The president waited seven days to lift the jones act which he should have done within 24 hours. Do you think that would have changed it . Absolutely. What you are saying is with the jones act, only certain types of ships can come in to save people who are literally dying. Who cares what ships are coming in if its sitting in the ports and not making it to the community. I fwrea with that and if the federal government brought in fuel and moved fast and get it done, we wouldnt be in this situation today. That starts at the top. Im sorry to say because the speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack. They need everything. You have a mayor who is able to receive it and distribute it. Our massive aircraft landed and she was able to get it unloaded. We had new York City Fire folk who is people who came to volunteer to help remove the products and get them out as fast as possible. They are able to move it. We just have to get it in. I dont care if you airlift trucks in there. Come on. We know how to do this. We have major aircraft. If you dont have trucks and fuel, land it in. Open it up. Cut through the process. Just get it done. You are mirroring the frustration we are seeing on the ground. Thank you so much for coming out. I appreciate it. Thank you. We will keep our eye on puerto rico. 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