on the ground. it does not gibe with what we just heard in the press conference from the white house. mariana thank you for bringing us the images on the ground and telling us what people are feeling and seeing and contrasting that with what we re hearing from officials. joining me now by phone is alejandro garcia padilla. he served as the governor of puerto rico from 2013 until a little bit earlier this year. governor, thank you very much for joining us. i know that governor rossello is in a tight spot. he wants to reassure the people that he s getting them the aid that they are asking for, it s a dire situation down there. logistical nightmare. obviously it s hard considering how devastated the island is. but do you think that there is something that the government can do right now in order to make things run a little bit more smoothly or more quickly? well, first of all, as you just point out and as mariana
this is a difficult christmas for many in creek. the territory is suffering through a terrible economic crisis. and it is now looking north as in your wallet for some relief. correspondent phil keating has the story from miami. puerto rico in recession for nine straight years is $7 billion in debt. since august the island has cut services, hiked sales tax to 11%. but the commonwealth continues to plummet toward default. us be clear. we have no cash left. puerto rico governor alejandro garcia padilla told a senate judiciary committee that his island of 3.5 u.s. citizens needs congress s help now. this summer the european commission bailed out greece, but the obama administration has ruled out a bailout for puerto rico. instead calling for congress to
and tragic weather conditions. heavy rain on christmas day brought flooding and mudslides to a state still reeling from rare outbreak of december tornadoes. the number may continue to climb. search and rescue teams were on the ground looking for victims, while survivors began to rebuild on christmas day. it s devastating it crushes you here at christmas. crushed but alive. marvin and his wife survived a tornado in mississippi by widing it out in their bathtub. i said hold on, hold on. i held on as tight as i could. i m going to think about that. there s people that are not going to go home. they re not going to have a house to go to. 20 tornadoes were reported across ten states. more could be on the way. flooding rain and severe thunderstorms are headed for texas up to illinois. but first the same system is bringing much more welcome weather to the west coast. in the drought-stricken state of california, the snow pack is higher than average for the first time in
crisis. tens of billions of dollars in debt and no simple solutions for the u.s. commonwealth. nbc s gabe gutierrez has the latest for us now from san juan. reporter: for juan carlos cabrera, the desperation is piling up like the moving boxes inside his home. it s been really regard really hard trying to make ends meet. reporter: the puerto rican economy so dire he lost his business. you work for a lifetime to build what you have and all of a sudden you have to start all over again. reporter: now his family s uprooting to florida joining a growing exodus to the u.s. mainland. governor alejandro garcia padilla says the island cannot pay its $72 billion in debt and is facing a financial death spiral. the unemployment rate already tops 12% more than double the continental u.s. because it s a commonwealth puerto rico can t declare bankruptcy like detroit did. the white house says no bailout. the crisis would also affect
is there a deadline sir? we have our own sets of deadline. and cutting ties. macy s and donald trump end their relationship amid the backlash over his controversial comments on mexico. good day to you. i m peter alexander here in washington where we are of course following that breaking news on a major step in the renewed relationship between the united states and cuba. my colleague, andrea mitchell the host of this show live in vienna again today covering the iran nuclear talks. andrea, we heard from the president on cuba in the last hour. i want to get you to bring us up to speed on the latest developments even as we just saw you peppering the secretary of state with some questions just a matter of moments ago. reporter: it s been such a big deal and such a big announcement and so long awaited, peter so, we had the president speaking in the rose garden followed by secretary kerry here. these were secret negotiations undertaken and finally announced on december 17t